Thread: Hopeful Bard changes for 6.x

For a first post, i wanted to chat about my personal hopes for my favourite archetype job in FFXIV for the next expansion: the Bard

so i'll start by talking about how Bard now is compared to the iteration of the previous expansion by talking about the good, the neutral and the bad changes

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+ The positives

+the proc chance for Bards DoT's were changed to a flat 40% instead of being based off the character's critical hit rate, which is quite a nice change

+Barrage Automatically procs Refulgent Arrow was one of those QoL features that Bard was surprisingly lacking in during Stormblood and as such this is definitely a positive change that makes proc-ing not RNG dependant (for Barrage)

+ Burst Shot is a nessecary and good upgrade that causes Heavy Shot to scale well along with Straight Shot, these upgrades aren't uncommon and it's definitely a welcome addition

+ Quick Nock enhancement is fun to use and grants Bard more AOE damage output with the potential to reset it's RoD, couple that with Mage's Ballad and it becomes a weirdly enjoyable and satisfying thing to pull off

(will continue the rest in the comments)

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- the negative

- Let's start with the obvious: actions were removed, this in of itself isn't a bad thing, but this is an important piece to keep in mind since the removal of Foe Requiem meant that Bard no longer had any usage of it's MP bar and no longer having any casting which has been a major piece in it's identity ever since 2.0, thus pushing the Bard theme and identity away further and making it feel once again: more like a ranger.

- Shadowbite: it is extremely situational and even then it doesn't feel good to use. this is a major example of trying to make Bard something it has never been, a AOE monster that spreads it's DoT's everywhere. this ability would have been much more doable if the job itself had a way to spread it's DoT's in any way aside from doing it slowly and manually (Summoner has Bane which is a DoT spread OGCD that you just press and spread your DoT's everywhere)

- No weaponskill or abilities that have stacks: this is an issue since this could have really helped Bard out a lot, having multiple stacks of Bloodletter and Rain of Death could have made it a lot less stressful during the Mage's Ballad phase since you wouldn't have to worry so much about losing procs, Empyreal Arrow could have also really used this so you can guarantee Repertoire procs more often. Both Machinist and Dancer got stackable actions (Machinist got two) so it was weird when Bard didn't get this new shiny thing that could have really benefitted them

- (this is very subjective) Changing Empyreal Arrow from a Weaponskill to an Ability causes it to no longer be usable with Barrage, i understand that Barrage is supposed to work best with Straight Shot and Refulgent Arrow, though the option would be nice, especially seeing as Straight Shot is barely stronger than Heavy Shot, this could have made it much more bearable to play Bard in earlier levels.

- Troubador no longer does different things depending on the song you are playing, this is understandable since all three of the physical ranged are supposed to have a damage reduction, though i think the old effect is a ton more interesting and that there could have just been a new skill that utilized that concept in a different way while Troubador got this treatment.

- And last but not least: The Soul Voice and Apex arrow. Soul Voice gauge is another 0-100 gauge that this time is based off of your Repertoire procs, while i understand the intent behind this mechanic, the execution of it wasn't exactly well done. Along with Shadowbite, this would have worked well for AOE pulls in the same way as Shadowbite: if only Bard had a good way to quickly spread it's DoT's around, but it doesn't and along with how this works in single-target encounters like the Eden Raids this Expansion, it has fallen flat on it's face since it takes roughly a minute to charge it to full and Apex Arrow doesn't feel or sound rewarding and it rarely hits harder than Pitch Perfect. Thus it just feels kind of tacked on without much thought and care put into it. I didn't really see the soul voice gauge as nessecary or needed when there's a perfectly good MP gauge that's just begging to be used since Foe Requiem was removed

the biggest Issue Bard has had this Expansion is that it lost a lot of it's utility to make room for Dancer, which would have been fine if the job got conpensated fairly for the things it lost, but it didn't and still doesn't feel like it was duly conpensated as most of the major new tools in Bard's kit (excluding Burst Shot) feel underwhelming and uninteresting and don't really help the job itself and can be argued it hurt the job more as it pales in comparison to the big and fancy rework Machinist got and the big new DPS job Dancer.

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So Finally we can get to the main event: the theorycrafted Bard that will probably not happen.
And this is just my version and i fully understand others want different things: but my goal here was to do one thing. Make Bard more standout-ish (and fit the theme of actual bards more) compared to the other two physical ranged, if it has to be the middle man, then it's gotta stand out a bit

First and foremost: let's change the existing kit before we add new things

Troubador: will be changed to work similar to how it did in Stormblood, but it won't be Bard's damage mitigation. If you play it during Mage's Ballad, you get a heal similar to Paladin's Clemency and Red Mage's Vercure. if you use Troubador during Wanderer's Minuet: you get a shield, and then Army's Paeon could be something like a regen or a buff to movement speed (in combat, unlike Peloton) And if you cast it without any song, you get the heal

Bloodletter, Rain of Death and Empyreal Arrow will get stacks. Bloodletter/Rain of Death will get two/three and Empyreal Arrow will get two, this will solve the issue of potentially losing out on procs for Bloodletter and will make it easier to get procs by the use of more than one Empyreal Arrow and Empyreal will once again be a weaponskill

Soul Voice Gauge will be removed and Apex Arrow will be repurposed and Shadowbite will not be tied to Sidewinder in any way as it will simply spread DoT's or just straight up be Removed

Battle Voice will be enhanced to carry over an old effect: it will double the passive song buffs from Mage's Ballad, Wanderer's Minuet and Army's Paeon along with the buff it already gives

Army's Muse will be changed to work during the entire duration of the next song played (30 seconds). i was initially thinking of it upgrading the next song you played, but that sounded a bit too complicated, so make Army's muse just last though your entire next song instead.

Iron Jaws will now inheritly come with the chance of Refulgent procs and the DoT skills will lose their ability to proc Refulgent

Repertoire will now Regenerate a flat % of your max MP, i will get into this later

so now onto the new stuff!

Army's carriage (placeholder name) will be the Bard's new tool for damage mitigation, it will basically work like tactician and Shield Samba

Hail of Arrows (placeholder name) will be Bard's new AOE skill/ability

I'd like to see the return of Flaming Arrow, but i don't think it's likely in this eternity

and then onto the new main mechanic: Magic is back

Foe Requiem will return and will work similarly to how it worked before (no Damage buff this time) except with a twist.

The main idea is that you will play Foe Requiem and keep your MP up by Repertoire procs, then once you keep Foe Requiem up for long enough (20 seconds or so), you get a resource (which i will just call Siren Harp for now) which you can spend on Apex Arrow and a new ability (which will just be placehold-named as Siren Scream) which is a heavy-hitting single-target attack. It will work similarly to Black Mage's Enochian mechanic

you can have up to three Siren Harps at once and the potencies will increase on Apex Arrow and Siren Scream for how many Siren Harps you have. Apex arrow: (200-420-700) Siren Scream: (300-650-1,100) or something along those lines.

Now to be clear, i don't think this is realistic and will likely not happen at all: but i really wanted to share this as the thoughts of how Bard could be improved upon have been in my head a lot recently.

To be honest: the most i want of Bard at this point is for it to be more true to it's name, have more song-based abilities so it more fits the Bardic identity and fantasy that people get from the name.
But most of all i want Bard to be able to do the one thing it always did: cast or use Magic, utilizing it's MP gauge, hell care if it becomes a half-caster like in A Realm Reborn since that fits the Bard archetype much more than it does presently. It needs something to help it stand out from Dancer and Machinist, and i personally think that is by using the MP gauge in a new way or returning to being a half-caster like in A Realm Reborn

Thanks for reading all of this and have a great day