Bard in the party... thoughts?

[Kelevra]

Thank you Square Enix.

I'm one of the ones that believed Bard did need help, but really didn't think they were gonna do potency increases across several skills. I was thinking something like readjusting Foe's so it'll just recognize Windbite and Flaming Arrow as elemental dmg. That or changing Rain of Death's debuff from evasion down to piercing resistance down.

Not really complaining. Glad Bard finally got something.

[Shurrikhan]

That or changing Rain of Death's debuff from evasion down to piercing resistance down.

Not really complaining. Glad Bard finally got something.

Prior to most healers melding to accuracy cap by themselves, I feel like that would have been a raid DPS loss, actually, not a buff. Prior to those melds, a Bard could easily pull the kind of raid DPS support that a NIN would even without a caster, just because of all the healer dps it could allow by decreasing the accuracy needed to hit enemies. If not for MCHs handling the mechanics of this tier so well, you'd likely have seen a lot more healers go only to maybe an extra 3% accuracy in melds, preferring extra healing and offensive strength through Det/Crit melds instead, and while using Rain of Death for the rest.

Bard already outperforms MCH slightly in the hands of a good player against a dummy or with minimal movement. This level of buffing just was not needed, and breaks many of the previous equivalents between them and MCH. A MCH still roughly loses 80 potency per GCD for promoting its Rook turret, or 60*enemy_count for Bishop, while BRD loses only 10% damage (typically up to 39 potency AoE or an absolute max of 150 potency ST).

I truly would not be surprised if these changes bring BRD back in line with the overpowered beast it began as...