Empyreal Arrow cast time question...

[Id_Slayer]

Hey guys. I am one of those bards that jumped ship @ heavensward release to play MCH for a change of pace. I played BRD since 2.0 release and beat all coil tiers pre echo sans the initial nerf adjustment made to twisters in T5(I think only the one raid group beat it before that nerf anyway?)

Anyway, quickly found myself @60 MCH/50 brd and not very good at MCH after HW release...but I stuck by my choice, practiced a -lot-, read forums a lot, got pretty good. can do 2500-2700 in a9s, 2100~2150 in a10s.

Just so you know where I'm coming from!

So now I am brushing up on BRD after getting it to 60 and trying to learn the rotation again. I have preached the pain that is minuet on my way to 60 for sure. If you told me this was bard and I missed all the patch notes up to this point, I'd tell you this isn't even bard aside from the the river of blood glory(that first moment i had repeat bloodletter procs and subsequent audio que brought back some delicious memories)

I'm actually not terribly upset about the movement change now- I have learned to stagger-step with MCH casting and how not to clip gcd's terribly. BUT.


tl;dr ->

BUT. the worst thing I have to say now is- WHY DOES EMPYREAL ARROW HAVE A CAST TIME? Did anyone ask this question to SE since HW release in any interviews, or did the devs discuss it at all? Gauss round and Ricochet, sidewinder and empyreal arrows' closest matches, have no cast times. No other job ability that is off-gcd has a cast time. Why does this have a cast time by default? It feels like the only thing that doesn't add-up here. It should be insta-cast...possibly with a recast timer increase of 2-4 seconds. It would go a long way to help with clipping/weaving abilities.

[magnanimousCynic]

It has a cast time so you can use Barrage for it.

[Cetonis]

It needed to be a weaponskill so that new Barrage wouldn't be hot garbage, and because it's a weaponskill it has a cast time. I don't think anyone is under any delusions - whatever the process of designing HW Bard looked like, there must have been a rush of last minute updates and finalizations given all the awkwardness in the kit on release. The "good" news is that Yoshi seems intent on giving Bard special attention this time around, though I fear this is just going to leave some other job in oops-land.

[Taban]

The "good" news is that Yoshi seems intent on giving Bard special attention this time around, though I fear this is just going to leave some other job in oops-land.

Where did Yoshi say this? I was a long time bard who barely played in HW due to the bard changes. I've been holding off on pre ordering until I can see what we're getting in next expac, but that gives me hope.

[Cetonis]

Where did Yoshi say this? I was a long time bard who barely played in HW due to the bard changes. I've been holding off on pre ordering until I can see what we're getting in next expac, but that gives me hope.

I don't recall if it was one of the fanfests or a random interview in-between, but it was back in late fall. He said that Bard would be getting a bit more of an overhaul than the other jobs would be seeing.

[Shurrikhan]

It needed to be a weaponskill so that new Barrage wouldn't be hot garbage, and because it's a weaponskill it has a cast time. I don't think anyone is under any delusions - whatever the process of designing HW Bard looked like, there must have been a rush of last minute updates and finalizations given all the awkwardness in the kit on release. The "good" news is that Yoshi seems intent on giving Bard special attention this time around, though I fear this is just going to leave some other job in oops-land.

Or deepen Bard's descent. Attention, depending on the attendant, isn't always auspicious.

[Id_Slayer]

Lame. Makes sense but like you said, oops-land for sure. lol I'm just surprised it was never brought up specifically. Could have easily made a trait to make Empy insta-shoot when barrage is active. It's clearly what they intended or assumed people would pair with it. Thanks for the replies.

Yoshi please save us

[Cetonis]

More likely, especially with Feint going away*, I could see Bard getting a new skill like:

Priming Shot
Weaponskill / 2.5s Global Cooldown
Delivers an attack with a potency of 140.
Can only be executed while under the effect of the Wanderer's Minuet.
Additional effect: Your next weaponskill has no cast time. Duration: 10s.

It'd be a neat way to give on-demand mobility without literally replicating Feint.

*Even if Feint remains in the game, it certainly won't be on the list of ranged dps shared abilities.