Bard in the party... thoughts?

[vp_cmc]

Also when you do empyrial arrow+rain of death skills combo, bard's legs are doing 360 degree spin around body. I didn't pay attention to this before, but after I got pointed to it, I can't ignore this.

[WhiteArchmage]

The main problem with Bard is that its gameplay changed a lot for the previous mains and it was no longer the class they loved. Wanderer's Minuet was the game-changer that Dreadwyrm Trance was for SMN. Coming from a previous WHM main, I didn't have any problems adapting to HW BRD (enough to make it my new main) and in fact like it a lot even if I rarely break 1.1k DPS (yes, I'm working on it). I WOULD love if WM didn't take away my auto-attacks, though.

Although, really, having used a bow irl, it DOES take a few seconds to nock an arrow, aim and fire it, so...

[Slyqc]

The main problem with Bard is that its gameplay changed a lot for the previous mains and it was no longer the class they loved. Wanderer's Minuet was the game-changer that Dreadwyrm Trance was for SMN. Coming from a previous WHM main, I didn't have any problems adapting to HW BRD (enough to make it my new main) and in fact like it a lot even if I rarely break 1.1k DPS (yes, I'm working on it). I WOULD love if WM didn't take away my auto-attacks, though.

Although, really, having used a bow irl, it DOES take a few seconds to nock an arrow, aim and fire it, so...

Not for Legolas!
Hey look, it's a door.
----->[]

[Maero]

Honestly those still on the "i hate WM" or "WM ruined Bard" bandwagon just need to move on already, no point of playing as something you do not love.

[LilLemay]

Having played both Bard and Machinist (MCH is only 52 so bear with me) I've gotta say the sudden addition of having to charge your shots works for them HOWEVER I think a traditional 1.5s cast time is a bit much, honestly, I think a 1s cast time would be more appropriate for both, given that before hand both classes are pretty fast paced and it's fun to be able to dance in circles around the boss and enemies. with a 1s cast time you'd still be able to move and re-position yourself as needed, but it wouldn't feel nearly as rooted as playing a caster dps does

[Slyqc]

Having played both Bard and Machinist (MCH is only 52 so bear with me) I've gotta say the sudden addition of having to charge your shots works for them HOWEVER I think a traditional 1.5s cast time is a bit much, honestly, I think a 1s cast time would be more appropriate for both, given that before hand both classes are pretty fast paced and it's fun to be able to dance in circles around the boss and enemies. with a 1s cast time you'd still be able to move and re-position yourself as needed, but it wouldn't feel nearly as rooted as playing a caster dps does

You can start moving your character around when your cast bar hit around 65% and it will not disturb your casting. So in the end the cast time is somewhere around the 1 second, only thing is even if you can move you can't start using other skills (Empyreal Arrow, Bloodletter, etc...) until the cast has ended. ^^

[LilLemay]

-snip-

I'm aware you can do that, I'm only talking about the fact that it's very jarring that at level 52 the game suddenly decides to tell you ''you're a caster now, you've got to stand still to cast" I think it'd be nice if they brought our cast times down to a point where by time you register ''hey I've pressed that button'' your bar is already at/past the point where you can start moving and not disturb yourself.

From what I hear, most of people's main complaints with Bard/Machinist is that you suddenly become a caster and the DPS they put out, and I don't want to completely throw out the cast time thing since I think it makes sense (at least for BRD) I think it'd do a lot to quell people's complaints if that transition to pre-WM play and post-WM play wasn't so jarring.

Also, who knows a slightly faster cast time might even help the DPS of both classes? I don't know about that one, that's for people who have the time to do the math to figure out.

[RiceisNice]

Also, who knows a slightly faster cast time might even help the DPS of both classes? I don't know about that one, that's for people who have the time to do the math to figure out.

Your amount of skill that you can use is still limited to your GCD, a faster cast time wouldn't help BRD or MCH in that case (and they wouldn't be able to fit two oGCDs inbetween either without clipping, you need at least more than a split second for an oGCD)

There's so many issues surrounding the gameplay of MCH/BRD, but the biggest one I have to say is that there's no sense of a traditional physical-ranged dps in the game anymore. They're all casters to an extent rather than following the trend of a physical class with auto attacks and instant weaponskills.

[LilLemay]

Your amount of skill that you can use is still limited to your GCD, a faster cast time wouldn't help BRD or MCH in that case (and they wouldn't be able to fit two oGCDs inbetween either without clipping, you need at least more than a split second for an oGCD)

There's so many issues surrounding the gameplay of MCH/BRD, but the biggest one I have to say is that there's no sense of a traditional physical-ranged dps in the game anymore. They're all casters to an extent rather than following the trend of a physical class with auto attacks and instant weaponskills.

Thank you for answering the DPS question

So it wouldn't help unless they reduced both the cast time and the recast time then

[Zari]

Having played both Bard and Machinist (MCH is only 52 so bear with me) I've gotta say the sudden addition of having to charge your shots works for them HOWEVER I think a traditional 2.5s cast time is a bit much, honestly, I think a 1s cast time would be more appropriate for both, given that before hand both classes are pretty fast paced and it's fun to be able to dance in circles around the boss and enemies. with a 1s cast time you'd still be able to move and re-position yourself as needed, but it wouldn't feel nearly as rooted as playing a caster dps does

But...it isnt a "traditional cast time" they are given??? They are given a much shorter cast time than actual casters. You can still move around plenty with how fast it is. You just cant run around like an idiot for no reason like so many bards used to do in ARR