Question, why does Bard and Machinist share the same core mechanic?

[myahele]

Yeah, I do believe that many other jobs abilities were not very well thought out and/or rushed. It feels like some of the new abilities felt like filler ... that they needed an ability for the sake of having 5 per job and I think that it shows. Granted, some jobs (like SMN and WHM) were improved. But the rest were just, eh.

And I agree that BRD/MCH do feel quite similar to each other, especially if you don't get procs as a mch

[Voltyblast]

I feel like it was a bad move, but I will say the gameplay is noticeably different between bard and machinist. I dislike machinist very much but it was obviously designed with gauss barrel in mind (regardless of my feelings on the mechanic) whereas wanderers minuet doesn't feel like it really belongs on bard.

This: when I levelled MCH I actually didn't feel that much annoyed with the casting time, since that the combo is an instant cast and overall feels more fleshed out, much better planned and GB feels like a good addition, albeit an annoying one.

But yes I can't say the same about the bard: some skills are instant now but I just felt it more clunky and less fluid. My guess is that they really added at the last moment so that BRD and MCH weren't too different, because I think they were afraid that the MCH wasn't going to take off due to the casting time in comparison to BRD's free movement. That or they just had no idea.

[Korbash]

I like WM for my bard. One reason I prefer playing range classes over melee is that I prefer being in the far back and not move. I leveled up BLM, then SMN, so I'm already used to not moving, and adding WM simply add more damage to bard, while it's not as limiting in movement as BLM and SMN.

[MugenMugetsu]

How much running around do you want to do as Brd? I feel that WM was an added bonus and I enjoy playing as Brd. I have no problem standing still to use abilities and if I need to fire off some shots on the move I have plenty of options available so that I can continue to DPS even though I'm moving with Wanderer's Minuet on.

Straight Shot to refresh straighter shot, Bloodletter, Blunt Arrow, Feint, Sidewinder, Flaming Arrow, and Rain of Death. (as far as abilities that I actually use on the move are concerned)

[Greedalox]

How much running around do you want to do as Brd? I feel that WM was an added bonus and I enjoy playing as Brd. I have no problem standing still to use abilities and if I need to fire off some shots on the move I have plenty of options available so that I can continue to DPS even though I'm moving with Wanderer's Minuet on.

People exaggerate the movement impairment GB gives too. Guess it helps them make a point?

[NaesakiAshwell]

People exaggerate the movement impairment GB gives too. Guess it helps them make a point?

I notice in pre-52 dungeons a lot of Bards love to run and jump around while using their abilities think they are really ace, so I'm guessing they are one of the vocal crowds crying about having to stand still for brief periods >.>

[Lemuria]

What they SHOULD have done for Bard was give them fresh new songs, like a haste skill, damage buff song, defense buff song etc. Then the job would genuinely feel like a Bard and less like a budget Ranger. Bard being a fun job with lots of mobility? Let's reduce their mobility with WM, give them cast times and rob them of auto-attacks! Barrage actually pretty powerful? Let's change it so it only works on a single weaponskill, and doesn't allow criticals! It's like they were trying to systematically dismantle the job rather than breathe new life into it.

It's honestly not that surprising that Machinist shares a lot of similarities with Bard. I think the creativity was all used up on Astrologian.

People exaggerate the movement impairment GB gives too. Guess it helps them make a point?

It's still an impairment though. Being able to move freely while maintaining damage was one of Bard's biggest advantages. It meant that no matter what crazy AoE you were forced to dodge it did nothing to your aim. In return, we got a weak damage buff which, at the time, didn't even make up for the loss of auto-attacks. They had to increase the damage by 10%, and even then it barely ties even.

[WhiteArchmage]

What they SHOULD have done for Bard was give them fresh new songs, like a haste skill, damage buff song, defense buff song etc.

I would have welcomed more songs, even if I like Bard as it is, although the meta would have torn BRD apart with those examples. A DMG buff song would need to be used at all times and we already have Foe Requiem, so it would either mare FR useless or just be P.Def version of Foe, in which your casters and healers would fight the tanks and melee over who needs it most. Haste song, I can already hear the monk's cries when you stack haste song + arrow + Selene buff. Defense song, very useful but if it didn't gimp your dps healers would be asking for it at all times, and maybe even if it did. Not saying it can't be done (say, for 4.0) I'm just saying it'll have to go through a lot of testing for balance purposes.

[Morzy]

Probably for the same reason melee classes all have combos, tanks all have tank and damage stances, etc...

MNK does not use combos. One thing i dislike about NIN n DRG.

[Saccharin]

I just find it weird that a new job is released and gets a mechanic, that is also given to another ranged physical dps class they both get the skill at the same level.
So the question is, why give Bard wanderer's minuet? You could've kept that mechanic exclusive to Machinist, but you decided to give it to Bard as well. Does anybody know if there is logic behind this? I feel like both lose their uniqueness due to their similarities in skills and how they are played.

As punishment for moving. From a balance perspective Bard had instants so compared to BLM they didn't get punished for moving. To compensate in HW SE made base bard damage lower so for them to be competitive they now have to use WM. The downside is that moving is now bad - like BLM. The same principle applies to MCH,

Simple really.