When do you need Mage's Ballad?

[Chiramu]

Mage's Ballad means I haven't been managing my MP properly. Usually on learning new content where I panic a bit more. When I get the hang of it I can manage my MP just fine on my own and would rather the BRD do their proper DPS.

[Pomelo]

As an AST if I need Ballad it means, I suck. Or that my group are not dodging and dealing with mechanics properly, so they require needless healing.

I have LA, ways to extend it and Ewer if things go downhill, as well as Lightspeed.

[TitaniaYaerem]

Would probably Mage's around 15% MP, if you are in a static then just use it when your healer's ask, another prime time to use Ballad's is during boss downtime when nothing is happening(ie. Oppressor Jumps, Living Liquid Tornado transition, Manipulator Mortal Revolution, etc etc.) If people are at pretty high resources during the downtime, may not need to play ballad and save your mana for Foe's when your spellcasters have their CDs coming up.

[ruskie]

The best bards keep an eye on on the party's status and respond without needing to be told what song to use at every moment, however. Yes, the healer can ask, but if resses are going out and they look low on MP? No shroud icon next to their name? Turn on Ballad. Like the guy below says.

This. Besides being asked, keeping an eye on party resources(MP/TP) is part of our job.

At the same time need to play it smart - are we in the middle of a DPS check - if yes, is there a pressing need for resources? yes/no - if not a DPS check - I'll sing if I see low MP(~30% usually) unless the healers mention they don't need it at that time.
Did the boss just jump - I can sing ballad while doing nothing with no DPS loss.

[Atoli]

I tend to tell people at the start of "normal" content that they don't have to care about my MP unless I ask for it. So no MP recovery (from BRD, MCH) nor waiting for MP to fill back up (Tanks) unless I specifically say so...which usually is never.

In hard content, I like it when BRDs play their song during phase changes and the like when the boss is untargetable.
Well, and in any content in general if I have to raise more than one person. Raise is the bane of any MP management

[randysquirrel]

There are very few times a healer needs it, as others have said only really if the fight has really gone south and a lot of rezzes have had to go out.
In normal circumstances we can manage it ourselves, if I feel my mp is getting a bit low I'll just stop dpsing and be a bit more conservative.

[FoxyAreku]

Literally any time you're not attacking something is also good.

Like the jumps in A1.

[Jonnycbad]

Ballad is almost never needed except for:

1) Bleeding edge content progression, i.e. Alexander normal with i160 gear, Alexander savage/Thordan EX with 180 gear.
2) Progression with new players where there are heavy MP costs due to not optimizing your group, for example: too many deaths (HUGE MP cost), panicky healers spamming AoE Heals/Succors.
3) Towards the end of a raid where healers start spamming expensive spells like Stone III/Broil/Holy.
4) If you have any of the above, plus a SMN or BLM, these may be compounded, because SMN may use Ruin III towards the end of a fight, knowing they have Ballad on because even though it's incredibly MP inefficient, it's their highest damaging GCD while DoTs are on, even outside of DWT

[Jim_Berry]

From a solo-heal perspective, I'm usually calm until I get down so low that I can't even use "Cure". Sometimes, my choice is "Regen" or "Divine Seal + Cure". If a DPS die, it's no biggie until I get MP back. Once two die, then it's a "hope" game, where I can stall healing the tank until enough MP is up for Medica II > Raise.

But, yeah... Back then, BRDs didn't like to use Ballad due to the reduction in their damage. I learned to be able to NOT rely on the Ballad, but by my own decision.

[ruskie]

From a solo-heal perspective, I'm usually calm until I get down so low that I can't even use "Cure". Sometimes, my choice is "Regen" or "Divine Seal + Cure". If a DPS die, it's no biggie until I get MP back. Once two die, then it's a "hope" game, where I can stall healing the tank until enough MP is up for Medica II > Raise.

But, yeah... Back then, BRDs didn't like to use Ballad due to the reduction in their damage. I learned to be able to NOT rely on the Ballad, but by my own decision.

We still have a reduction in damage 15% but that is not the point - it is part of our job to help with resources. But I appreciate healers that can manage their MP efficiently enough so I only need to sing during actual downtime or for short duration.