Bard in the party... thoughts?

[Dubah]

Here is my 2 gil on the subject. I love Bards, but you gotta at least try. I don't mind being the sole DPS as a Ninja while the bard supports and adds in what he can. But for F sake, please be able to stop the prison and holds some bosses do. For instance, I ran the dungeon with Niddhogg at the end yesterday i forget the name. LUCKILY the boss didnt put me in that stupid prison until after the big waves of adds, but after the adds boss prisoned me, bard got to maybe 50% health and thats giving him some credit, and I was dead, cool not a problem. Healer rezzed me, i got back to work for 5 seconds, then prisoned again... This time BRD didn't even try to release me, just let me die.

I love BRD's but you can't be a horrible bard if you're gonna play one. Learn the role, I can carry DPS. It'll be a little slow, but i can do it. Luckily I haven't done an extreme with a bard yet, but if it's anything like the bard above, ill take the lockout timer.

[Jilliebeans]

BRD or MCH, its pretty much obvious to everyone of us lol. There are reason why BRD still holding the MOST player base in this game. Most of the QUE groups are with 2, 3 or sometimes 4 DPS of bards, it should tell you that BRD is still "useful". so please dont say that everyone "quit" BRD to play MCH. I DO agreed that even tho BRD has the most player base but there are ALOT BAD BRD, most of BRD i ran with are pretty bad because they dont even know how to use their buffs properly.

[randysquirrel]

Current raid is a lot more mechanics based than dps check, so being good at a class you enjoy will serve much better than only being mediocre at a class that is technically better dps. There is less focus on party composition (unless of course you have four brds or something)

[Greywolfamakir]

BRD or MCH? its pretty easy:

2 Melee composition= MCH.
2 Mage composition= BRD.
You don't care about DPS = Either.

[JoelStrife]

What would you say is the proper way to use the buffs? I've been trialing a number of different ways.

I like to keep internal release up as soon as it's ready.

I then combine it with either blood for blood, raging strikes, or hawks eye.

I like the idea of sustained dps compared to burst.

What's the most optimal way?

[Berethos]

Actually it's not an OR. It's an AND. It will remove a current one and block the next one.

I'll have to double check when I get home from work (unless someone wants to check on their own before then) but I'm reasonably certain that the last major patch changed it to only remove detrimental effects, not put a buff up as well that had the same functionality as before.

I use it for the concussion from Toy Hammer from the first boss in Antitower and watch the buff and debuff status of the tank to make sure it hit and I've not seen it add a buff.

[Tsilyi]

there was stuff in here that has basically nothing to do with bard as a class

You could insert any dps into this scenario and describe it the same way. Those nidhogg prisons can practically be autoattacked down. I did the same dungeon as a bard last week and the dragoon with me ignored me when I was in the second of two total prisons as well, despite the fact that I broke them out in the first one in very short order.

[Dubah]

You could insert any dps into this scenario and describe it the same way. Those nidhogg prisons can practically be autoattacked down. I did the same dungeon as a bard last week and the dragoon with me ignored me when I was in the second of two total prisons as well, despite the fact that I broke them out in the first one in very short order.

I'm sure you could insert any DPS, I was just using it as an example, im not saying every bard will do this, but sadly it feels like bards just give up, like they know they are going to be bottom of dps chain so why try kind of thing.

[randysquirrel]

I'm sure you could insert any DPS, I was just using it as an example, im not saying every bard will do this, but sadly it feels like bards just give up, like they know they are going to be bottom of dps chain so why try kind of thing.

Dunno, I'm on Marlboro too, we seem to have a lot of people wandering into content and doing like 200 dps. Anyone can be bottom of the chain lol.
The example you gave is just a scrub player, you can't generalize a class on one specific thing that happened once

[enthauptet]

Nidhogg fetters is a player thing not a class thing, generally when running that I have been the only one to ever attack it (even as healer) so that says a lot lol.

What would you say is the proper way to use the buffs? I've been trialing a number of different ways.

I like to keep internal release up as soon as it's ready.

I then combine it with either blood for blood, raging strikes, or hawks eye.

I like the idea of sustained dps compared to burst.

What's the most optimal way?

I may not be the best 1% bard in the world but I generally just use them when they come up, exception being barrage. I use that when I have another buff up besides internal release since that doesn't affect it at all. Also make sure you refresh your dots with the buffs before the buff runs out so you have most uptime on your buffed dots. If there is one CD I hold onto it is raging strikes sine the CD is so long, the other ones are all pretty fast.