"Serious" Bard 6.0 predicted/suggested kit

[Zantusken]

Forgive my brashness but Apex arrow is NOT 600 potency. It’s 120 potency it’s only 600 if maxed out to 100 which is highly unadvised. And this should be common sense to any BRD player. If it were supposed to be a AOE/ST hybrid skill Like Saber Dance or Dragonfire Dive then the devs would’ve buffed it ages ago and it’s been relatively untouched so it’s most likely a Aoe Skill first

Apex Arrow is 600 potency. You should almost always use it the next GCD when you hit 100 gauge, with exceptions being using it 1 GCD early or GCD late if it causes it to land during raid buffs. There are further optimization discussions, but it isn't worth getting into. Using it at 100 gauge is the opposite of "highly unadvised".

Apex Arrow needs a rework, not a ST variant.

[Rika007]

Forgive my brashness but Apex arrow is NOT 600 potency. It’s 120 potency it’s only 600 if maxed out to 100 which is highly unadvised. And this should be common sense to any BRD player. If it were supposed to be a AOE/ST hybrid skill Like Saber Dance or Dragonfire Dive then the devs would’ve buffed it ages ago and it’s been relatively untouched so it’s most likely a Aoe Skill first

Apologies, I normally don't like to call someone out but the first two sentences of your statement is absolutely false in every way. Please look at the Balance discord or speak to any upper level Bard player, you will be told instantly, by every single one of them, that it is a 100% DPS loss if you do not use Apex Arrow at full 100% gauge, and 99% of the time the moment it hits full gauge (barring if you are within a GCD or two of raging strikes or a major party burst window). The ONLY time you will use Apex Arrow at less then 100 gauge is IF you have more then 40 gauge and you are nearing the end of a multi-target phase, and only if it isn't an overkill on the attack. Please do a bit more class research before making such sweeping statements.

As for why the devs haven't buffed it more? Search me, there's several reasons Bard players are so unhappy with the job, Apex Arrow being so weak is one of them.

Apex Arrow needs a rework, not a ST variant.

Those things are not mutually exclusive. I would say the only 6.0 change I feel comfortable in guarantee'ing Bard gets is a ST version of Apex Arrow. It happened to Samurai with Guren getting Senei. It happened for Black Mage with Foul getting Xenoglossy. It's a very easy change to implement that doesn't drastically throw off a job's rotation and still brings a wow and hype factor to most players, aka it's a safe change to make. Heck I would also say while I doubt they will happen, AOE versions of Refulgent Arrow and Empyreal Arrow (along with a Bane effect for Iron Jaws), would remove a lot of the frustrating aspects of Bard's AOE rotations and turn it into a go to class for me in dungeon roulettes.

But this doesn't also mean Apex Arrow (and it's future single target variant) doesn't need a rework in how it is applied. It's the only heavy hitting ability in the game that can't be relied upon to show up during burst windows, which is a significant hampering to Bard's DPS output. RNG is fine, but the RNG of the soul gauge needing to be used at 100 is just too far stacked against the ability for it's output. I personally feel the easy change (if the devs do one) will be to give a slight nerf to it's potency but then make it useable at 50 gauge ala Saber Dance. It's not the change I'd want, I'd much rather see them be turned into oGCD's with long cool downs due to how them being on the GCD can cause conflicting timings with Iron Jaws and Barrage+Empyreal Arrow. Then the soul gauge can be used towards a reworked version of Foe's requiem or a new premier party utility ability, but that is a pipe dream I doubt we will see.

[Zantusken]

Those things are not mutually exclusive. I would say the only 6.0 change I feel comfortable in guarantee'ing Bard gets is a ST version of Apex Arrow. It happened to Samurai with Guren getting Senei. It happened for Black Mage with Foul getting Xenoglossy. It's a very easy change to implement that doesn't drastically throw off a job's rotation and still brings a wow and hype factor to most players, aka it's a safe change to make. Heck I would also say while I doubt they will happen, AOE versions of Refulgent Arrow and Empyreal Arrow (along with a Bane effect for Iron Jaws), would remove a lot of the frustrating aspects of Bard's AOE rotations and turn it into a go to class for me in dungeon roulettes.

Oh I would absolutely be fine if we got both a rework and ST Apex. I'd like the ability to be reworked completely if I'm honest but I would love for it to be given the Saber Dance treatment(Not that skill overlap is a concern anymore, but I'd even like if it were made to have its cost/potency cap at 75/100 gauge- it would give a little bit more flexibility without making it the exact same as Saber)

[Jirah]

Oh I would absolutely be fine if we got both a rework and ST Apex. I'd like the ability to be reworked completely if I'm honest but I would love for it to be given the Saber Dance treatment(Not that skill overlap is a concern anymore, but I'd even like if it were made to have its cost/potency cap at 75/100 gauge- it would give a little bit more flexibility without making it the exact same as Saber)

*shivers* Saber Dance is another skill id like to see get remade as esprit is a mechanic of DNC that doesnt feel like one due to how automatic and disconnected it is, but a maxed out potency to 50 is fine...if Apex was meant to be a ST option only. It feels more at home when Aoeing as a side option when Mage runs out and spamming it at 20 along with BRDs other options are fun. The gauge itself is under utilized not that Apex is bad per se. Id like a CD skill ie SAM kenkis where SG is required with big number but is on a CD or since its support maybe some other defensive options for it? The gauge itself is nice seeing how all songs contribute to it in the background but nothing to spend it on but apex which itself isnt common and is low on the potency side. Leaving BRD kit to ironically feel unfinished. So long as they dont remove anything (besides roles) i fine with literal any change to BRD. More support, SG options, ect

[Connor]

Also BRD has 23 skills and 2 maybe 3 useful role skills out of the 32 slots. It’s no where near as cluttered as other jobs in terms of buttons and still it has less buttons than SB Bard. Your correct we should be mindful unless your ranged as they have the least amount of skills

It’s worth mentioning that certain Bard skills could easily be pruned too (Repelling Shot being the most egregious example)

As for Apex Arrow I think the real problem there is the fact that we have an entire gauge dedicated solely to a single ability. A single target version wouldn’t make much difference to the job overall, but at the same time, it would be nice to have other things to spend the gauge on instead of it just being an ‘Apex Power Gauge’. Dancer has a similar problem with Esprit existing solely for the Sabre Dance (though at least they don’t have to wait until level 80 to unlock their gauge lol)

Some examples of abilities also using Song Gauge could be like maybe a DoT-spread that costs 20 or something. Some kind of support effect like Regen or a shield with a higher cost like 50. Idk it just feels weird having a whole UI section dedicated to the one ability. It would be more engaging to have at least one other option to use Song Gauge for, so I’d like to see something utilise it in 6.0 in some way. But at the same time, I would like to see it be something more interesting than just ‘Apex Arrow but stronger and on one target’.

Personally I think tying Song Gauge to support effect abilities could be a good way to make it more interesting and feel more like the job as described by the game/lore itself. Bards would use their arrow attacks, doing Archer things to build Song Gauge, then use Song Gauge to support the party. Inspire your comrades to ever greater feats, to paraphrase Jehantel. Then Apex can be the ‘dump’ abilities that’s used when nobody needs the support. I think it’d be fun to have to plan ahead whether to use it on something supportive or to use it on Apex for the damage.

Then again, the reality is that players would just remove anything supportive from their hotbars and use it solely for dps, so even though there’d technically be more options it wouldn’t actually change anything. Plus there’s the whole Bard is too OP for songs thing the devs mentioned. So the ‘support’ effects would either have to be functionally redundant (Healing boost in a game where you barely use healing, status cleanse in a game that very rarely features status effects), or they’d break the game balance and make Bard a guaranteed raid spot (again)

[Amras]

As for Apex Arrow I think the real problem there is the fact that we have an entire gauge dedicated solely to a single ability. A single target version wouldn’t make much difference to the job overall, but at the same time, it would be nice to have other things to spend the gauge on instead of it just being an ‘Apex Power Gauge’. Dancer has a similar problem with Esprit existing solely for the Sabre Dance (though at least they don’t have to wait until level 80 to unlock their gauge lol)

While I know Dancers don't like that the esprit dedicated to a single ability, I find it to be more engaging than the song gauge, as you can save some esprit for technical finish burst or to use it just before flourish so you don't risk overrwritting a proc.
Voice gauge on the other hand is just dump it when you hear the 100 sound (in single target situations). Maybe at 90 or hold at 100 for 3 seconds if you optimice with buffs.

You also gain esprit way faster to actually use the skill often. Saber Dance deserves its gauge to an excent, Apex arrow is almost a 60s CD.

Adding a single target spender wont fix the problem, I would rather have the gauge completely removed (or reworked) so it can be replaced with something better, changed it so is used on support abilities, or integrated with the support of the other songs.

[Jirah]

Apologies, I normally don't like to call someone out but the first two sentences of your statement is absolutely false in every way.

Noted thanks! still trying to master BRD and was giving some bad Info idk how I missed this

[Cetonis]

We miss Straight Shot, kinda, so I'm pretty down with the idea of a ST Apex so long as gauge generation also increases in some way. I said this in OP, but I think "Soul Voice" as a trait seems to imply the potential for a "Soul Voice II", which could add gauge on song usage or on weaponskills or etc.

[Brandedblade]

I would say the only thing I 100% disagree with is getting rid of song passive buffs. I do think they should be tweaked and adjusted to feel more impactful but I personally love the concept of my rotation rewarding me for cycling through it by allowing me to passively buff the groups damage.

I think the big thing I'm concerned about is making Army's Paeon feel impactful enough that we would want to stay in it the full 30 seconds because that would align bard on 90/3 min burst timers with monk and tanks. While I definitely understand the appeal of putting it on a 1/2min cycle I also don't find anything inherently wrong with it being a 90sec/3min cycle either. There's several ways this could be approached for sure but I do agree that it should be an "easy" phase where whatever mechanic is dealt with in it isn't as demanding as MB or WM.