Bard is support right?

[SweetPete]

I was memory farming and was in Dravanian Hinterlands all by myself and grinded alone on my bard. We all know bard sucks but I still love the job. Why don’t my songs work on myself? Really SE? Dancers dances work on themselves but my songs don’t work on me? Why am I even called a bard then.... this is ridiculous. You stripped bard of all support when shadowbringers came out to give dancer the leg up then after the outcry from fans of the job you gave us back pathetic excuse for support... like none of my songs work on me. The support isn’t worth it anyway but I take what I can get. Bard needs help bad. Especially in the support department. Job shouldn’t be called bard if we can’t support ourselves well or even others.

[Seraphor]

Your songs still play, and you can use any of the skills they proc, but the buff they grant only goes to party members.

I'm not sure how that means they're not support based...

[SweetPete]

Your songs still play, and you can use any of the skills they proc, but the buff they grant only goes to party members.

I'm not sure how that means they're not support based...

I’m talking about the buff with the songs. The buffs aren’t good anyway. They need to be buffed to even be worth it. In my eyes anyway.

[LeonKeyh]

Bard is physical ranged DPS with support skills. Also "support" is typically what you do to other people, not yourself. Claiming that something isn't support because it doesn't support itself is silly...

[VictorTheed]

Bard and Astro need to go back to they way they were in SB and then add stuff to them from there.

[Rika007]

Bard is support in it's lore only. Plenty of other jobs that don't even have a support centric lore are actually far more supportive of the party then Bard is at this point in the game, too much of it's kit was gutted from Stormblood and not enough given back to make up for it. But in reality it's song's not buffing the caster itself is not really a part of the problem. Neither Battle Voice or the Songs buffed the user in Stormblood either and Bard was very strong back then. But Bard also had crit Synergy, piercing debuff and foe's Requiem back then to boost its power. None of those things exist now so hence the drop in power and the more ridiculous it feels to not get buffed by its own songs. It's also even crazier when you consider that the Songs and Battle Voice are the ONLY two offensive buffs in the game that can in no way be used to affect the one that casts them.

[SweetPete]

Bard is physical ranged DPS with support skills. Also "support" is typically what you do to other people, not yourself. Claiming that something isn't support because it doesn't support itself is silly...

Hmm well let’s see. Astro can give itself cards and dancer can increase its own dps with standard and technical step. Bard however can’t receive its own buffs at all. So next time you try to come for me make sure you have your facts straight. Have a nice day.

[SweetPete]

Bard and Astro need to go back to they way they were in SB and then add stuff to them from there.

I agree with you.

[SweetPete]

Bard is support in it's lore only. Plenty of other jobs that don't even have a support centric lore are actually far more supportive of the party then Bard is at this point in the game, too much of it's kit was gutted from Stormblood and not enough given back to make up for it. But in reality it's song's not buffing the caster itself is not really a part of the problem. Neither Battle Voice or the Songs buffed the user in Stormblood either and Bard was very strong back then. But Bard also had crit Synergy, piercing debuff and foe's Requiem back then to boost its power. None of those things exist now so hence the drop in power and the more ridiculous it feels to not get buffed by its own songs. It's also even crazier when you consider that the Songs and Battle Voice are the ONLY two offensive buffs in the game that can in no way be used to affect the one that casts them.

Exactly. Totally agree with you. Bard and Dancer are practically neck and neck in dps but dancer is killing bard in the support department. That’s not good at all. Square needs to buff our support. Point blank. However I don’t think they will do anything groundbreaking for bard until 6.0, so I won’t hold my breath for patch 5.4. If they do buff bards support in 5.4 I will be very shocked.

[Eloah]

I wont deny that Bard could use a buff, but you do realize that the party buff is supposed to be a byproduct of the songs main effect on the Bard. Bard gameplay is "fine" if you know what I mean, it's just it's potencies need a bit of an adjustment. I think the biggest potency buff they need now if a more streamlined Apex arrow, and the song potencies increased. Bard is well balanced within the ranged role, but not alongside other DPS, when support skill are considered.