How about a non-support ranged dps?

[Sardonia]

You're not the only one that likes it more (though at least among those I talk to/read on the forums, you're one of the few). The distaste is so great for me that I won't even play either class in level-50 content anymore because all it does is remind me how much I liked them before 52. BRD was my third Zeta in ARR, and I had rather grown to enjoy it as an alternative DPS choice next to my main NIN.

But I definitely agree that if it were implemented better, it would have been a much different story. That sort of core gameplay should really be introduced early on (as you suggest, perhaps around level 30). MCH in particular should have had Gauss Barrel from the start, and the fact that it doesn't suggests to me that the cast times were a late-development addition to the two classes (and it's generally pretty obvious they didn't get enough testing given that).

Compared to other classes that received "larger" changes, like BLM, DRG, and SMN, BRD and MCH just feel really careless in the overall implementation. The other three all introduce you to the new concepts gradually—and ultimately the problem with suddenly adding cast times to the class is that it's not something you can add gradually, in addition to the change feeling like a penalty (that doesn't really adequately make up for the loss in mobility for several levels).

By the time I got BRD to 60 I was so disgusted with the mechanics that I did my level 60 class quest and shelved it, not even bothering to do a level 60 dungeon (which is something every other job so far has gotten the courtesy of). And I had leveled MCH first, so I was already accustomed to some degree to the cast times. Both classes are just glamour fodder for me now (and MCH is something I'd been dying for since I had always wanted to use guns in FFXI but never did).

BRD's implementation overall is just really messy—MCH at least has a number of mechanics that interact with GB in a positive way (such as shot procs and Rapid Shot making your shots normal GCD skills again). BRD, though, feels like it was shoehorned into the paradigm in a way that none of its skillset really seems like it "meshes" with WM.

And yes, the animations for both WM and GB are awful, especially when you throw in the really cool oGCD animations and sound effects that both classes have that are constantly getting clipped because of it.

Cannot agree more with this post. The implementation of WM was not very good. In my opinion it makes Bard easier to play since you now just wait for 3sec between shots. I just thought the original Bard played faster and more smoothly then what we have now. I have gotten use to it but I really do not like it.

[Iromi]

I really do not like at all how the ranged dd jobs are in this game. They can't move (wtf?) and almost are carbon copies of one another. One thing I always enjoyed about playing a ranger type job was being mobile and fast. I took bard to 60 and then never touched it again...ew.

[Rowyne]

My husband was a bard main since 2.0 release. The 3.0 bard rework not only killed the class for him, but also the game. Before Heavensward, bard could do decent DPS, support when needed, and was mobile and fluid. Now, you have to work much harder just to do decent DPS and contend with a clunky skillset that feels like it was shoehorned into the class. Yoshi-P says it was not intended for bards to feel like they're stuck in WM all the time, but that's exactly what they have to do when their best skills are gated behind it.

It makes absolutely no sense to completely change a gameplay style that has existed for two years and make it a carbon copy of a new class that's introduced to the game. They should have left bard the way it was for people that enjoyed it and made machinist the non-mobile turret. That way, people would have a choice of gameplay style. Instead, now we have people who had established a beloved main class shelving it, and some shelving the game with it.

[UBERHAXED]

My husband was a bard main since 2.0 release. The 3.0 bard rework not only killed the class for him, but also the game. Before Heavensward, bard could do decent DPS, support when needed, and was mobile and fluid. Now, you have to work much harder just to do decent DPS and contend with a clunky skillset that feels like it was shoehorned into the class. Yoshi-P says it was not intended for bards to feel like they're stuck in WM all the time, but that's exactly what they have to do when their best skills are gated behind it.

It makes absolutely no sense to completely change a gameplay style that has existed for two years and make it a carbon copy of a new class that's introduced to the game. They should have left bard the way it was for people that enjoyed it and made machinist the non-mobile turret. That way, people would have a choice of gameplay style. Instead, now we have people who had established a beloved main class shelving it, and some shelving the game with it.

Maybe it was unbalanced and so they changed it... Also you have the option of playing the lvl 50 style bard at lvl 60, all it is is extra damage anyway, but that's apparently not an issue according to you. In fact all classes have the option to not use the new skills and just use the lvl 50 gameplay style. The new skills are just for people who want to be good players do more damage.