Thread: BRD/MCH in 4.0

To be honest, the only reasons why Wanderer's Minuet appear to be problematic are due to the following two points:

- Bards have a built in ability that constantly resets its cooldown throughout a fight (Bloodletter/Rain of Death). Actually using said ability has become problematic with the cast times, and delaying usage runs the risk of a 'wasted' reset. No other class has a similar mechanic, or at least one so vital to the class' DPS.

- Wanderer's Minuet is pretty much exactly the same as Machinist's Gauss Barrel. That leads to conspiracy level shenanigans within the community. ("The devs gave Bards Minuet to function as a playstyle nerf because they were afraid nobody was going to play Machinist!") More importantly though, Machinist has guaranteed ways to strategically circumvent the cast times, Bard does not unless they cross-class Feint. (And that latter point only amplifies the conspiracy level shenanigans even further.)

It is very true that many Bards have never really adapted to Minuet usage, and the class as a whole now has a reputation of having the largest population of players that don't actually play the class very well. Though it's for that reason that the Bards that have managed to adapt and excel tend to stand out FAR more than good players of every other DPS class, pretty much to the point where even an above average Bard such as I will basically walk out of every roulette with a near guaranteed commendation or two. The class is fairly simple to play and can inflict damage from anywhere without worrying about positionals, but since Minuet's introduction, the class now has a super high skill ceiling to actually maintain high damage and support all at once.

That said, Minuet definitely needs some kind of rework, either to itself as a whole or how all other skills are to be designed around it. The most common suggestion is to let Bloodletter/Rain of Death resets build up in stacks (up to 3 uses stored, any more would likely be total overkill), instead of simply overwriting a previous unused reset. Another suggestion that I'll put forth here is to let the Eagle Eye buff additionally increase Straighter Shot proc rate to 100%, or give Minuet a built-in effect to increase Straighter Shot proc rate to 50% instead of the current pathetic 20%. Perhaps even allow players to store Straighter Shot procs as well.

Personally, I'd hate to see WM go away.

It's a skill that really rewards lots of practice with high DPS. Actually all the 52-60 abilities add so much depth to a job that feels pretty boring in pre-heavensward dungeons.

Can't speak for MCHs (yet) but WM is fun after the kinda frustrating learning process. I just love the DPS min-maxing and small mistakes really hurt their damage, no BRD-player has the same playstyle and it shows.

Whatever they do with the Job, I hope for at least the same level of complexity.

i still hate WM. but i use it and i need it because it allows me to clear content and not hinder the party im with.

if they're keeping WM for stormblood i hope in it gets a trait that let's you cast while moving but with noticeably reduced speed. it wont fix the initial clunkiness WM introduced to bard but i think it's a good compromise

edit: but then again i find it useful sometimes to just cancel the cast and move to avoid aoes and stuff so yeah.

and the WM/GB argument has been going for so long i don't know what to feel about it anymore

Bard is fine as is.