The Atrocious Changes to Bard in Endwalker and the future

[Jirah]

Please make this a megathread as I really want most or all these changes reverted at some point not doubled down in 2 years to be less of what it is , please and thank you


Job Guide update! Ill be going into every good and bad and questionable change and unchange that effects Bard comming into the new expansion. First the good:

Straight shot ready is 30s which allows much needed leniency and flexibility, Shadowbite is now procable like Refulgent arrow and no longer a dot enhanced skill like fester or sidewinder so its used more and doesnt need tons of perp to use effectively. all Songs now effect the BRD (hot take that I disagree with BV but majority rule I suppose) BL/RoD has 3 stacks with 80+ getting its third which allows much more comfortable stack execution in end game and mid game with mages ballad, and Shadowbite can be barraged making barrage useful in aoe situations ..but only a potency increase not the triple effect that refulgent has...and now thats a great transition to the questionable changes

firstly; Sidewinder is no longer a Dot enhanced skill making it yet another souless GCD like say Fleche that doesnt contribute or interplay what so ever and are as boring and toothless as a 1-2-3 rotation, and dots no longer proc repertoire which transitions us into the atrocious changes

lets get the elephant in the room and say Mage ballad suffered a massive nerf, with songs having zero interplay with dots now, they themselves have the 80% chance. Which means dotting mobs to get tons of soul and repertoire is no longer possible making the most fun element of mages ballad slow to a crawl. that 3 stack BL RoD buff i was talking about is completely undermined by the simple fact they went all MCH and made the recast 7.5s per rep rather than a full stack like it did since the beginning of the mages ballad rework. The entire point of BRD's wanting stacks is moot now that the balllad does it in half the capacity. On the flip side this may make syncing down as BRD give more rep..or backfire and have it be slow for the entire lifespan

This leaves us with: Dots that dont do anything and contribute as much as double Combust (thats a wicked thought), some notable fodder like Sidewinder and Raging strikes another one to forcibly press, that rather it be reactionary or have interplay are just sorta there..Stacks that completley miss the point of their existence and can be next to enhanced unmend of pointless crap. Songs with zero aoe capability or compromises, and apex arrow is now a significantly less fun tool to use as a aoe and is mostly unmodified and unchanged for these very drastic almost rework worthy changes which would be fine ONLY if they covered all their ground but this feels like a very halfassed attempt to rework a job very late in prelaunch period so we have no inkling to how it
due to the media tour showing a completely different job.

[Jirah]

imo its far to early and far too late to attempt at a rework when launch is days away, they should let the current bard build in the LL settle to see what fits and what doesnt before doing somthing this drastic and frankly this impulsive. and with no compromable skills to fill the voids it just seems like a BRD reduction far worse than SHB had

[Rolder50]

Seems obvious to me they are trying to transition to a future without dots at all, which I think is a stupid idea but hey.

7.0 Prediction: "We felt that Bard's DOT effects didn't really contribute to their kit so we decided to remove them entirely"

[Grimoire-M]

Seems obvious to me they are trying to transition to a future without dots at all, which I think is a stupid idea but hey.

7.0 Prediction: "We felt that Bard's DOT effects didn't really contribute to their kit so we decided to remove them entirely"

The way they'd probably do that is upgrade Burst Shot into a double-shot filler attack where each hit is our proc chance.

That said Bard's literally the only job that actually uses DoTs for something interesting so i'd like them to keep it and get a new song phase that alters their GCDs and consolidates their rDPS already.


EDIT: After reading the whole kit carefully, I see the complaints. 80% rate but so much got nerfed to compensate for it. I'm unsure how to interpret that other than the songs themselves granting it per tick based on the details in the gauge. We'll have to actually test it in game to be sure but my guess is that's what they're describing, which means the variance has tightened up quite a bit but our average rate's the same overall given two 40% chances vs one 80%. And yes, that does kill the DoT interactions. Which I agree doesn't bode well at all. The way I'd want them to change it is to add more ways to proc Repertoire consistently. The DoTs were a smoother option even if they sucked.

[Easayia]

To be honest looking at all the changes I think they lowered the skill gap on Bard for sure. However I do think it may still play very similarly just instead of Dots ticking your proccs its now just tied as a set chance to the song ticking wich is an odd change to say the least.

Battle voice I think buffing us is an odd change and might be to strong when combined with the Coda buff.

The main changes I see are the following:

1. Bard will no longer need to dot all the mobs during dungeon pulls in order to procc them rain of death spam > quicknot ( new skill now)

2. Songs now have a set proc rate for our song effects ( its no longer the dots) - we will have to wait and see how this plays

3. Barrage now grants 2 effects so AOE Refulgent option for mobbing and refulgent (straight shot ready) - I dont hate this change vs dotting up mobs to use shadowbite so just simplified mobbing

4. Battle Voice now Also Buffs Bard - This may be to strong given we also just got the Coda stuff

5. 3 Bloodletter charges - Im not gonna hate on this but 3 charges???? it might be needed due to the dots no longer being the proccing but I thought 2 with the dots doing it wouldve been plenty.

6. Dots are now mainly damage you keep up along with the 35% chance to proc refulgent arrow - they still do something just not as much as before ( before you were highly rewarded for keeping up the dots as they tied together the whole kit).

7. Sidewinder and Shadowbite no longer boost the dots for a time and instead are just damage.

Im gonna see how it all plays before judging it may not be as big of changes as we think when it comes to the dots proccing the damage vs the song being active just doing it. If anything I have a feeling these changes might just make bard feel more consistent throughout but again need to feel it first to truley know.

[Kahnom]

I hope Endwalker is the last expansion that they nerfed the job down.
I mean our levels are close to 100 now.
It's time for more advanced gameplays.

[Reimmi]

Do we even know for sure if dots dont proc repertoire? maybe they increased the chance to 80% and we'll be getting that on both dot ticks still, which would explain the massive nerf for bloodletter procs in ballad
I dunno i'm willing to wait and see before throwing my hands up in the air- but if i'm wrong, yeah the changes to dots are really bad.

[Beddict]

It's based off the Songs. Popped off Wanderer's Minuet on a Striking Dummy, still got procs with zero DoTs up. Using DoTs doesn't increase the proc rate, saw zero double or triple procs over the course of five minutes. DoTs are basically completely disconnected from the kit. Here's hoping 6.01 reverts that.

[Reimmi]

It's based off the Songs. Popped off Wanderer's Minuet on a Striking Dummy, still got procs with zero DoTs up. Using DoTs doesn't increase the proc rate, saw zero double or triple procs over the course of five minutes. DoTs are basically completely disconnected from the kit. Here's hoping 6.01 reverts that.

Ugh, yeah, it did flow nicely i will admit, but the changes to mages ballad and dots being meaningless to the kit sucks.
I don't think the job is ruined, but i hope they undo a couple of those changes for sure

[Shurrikhan]

I hope Endwalker is the last expansion that they nerfed the job down.
I mean our levels are close to 100 now.
It's time for more advanced gameplays.

Wait, jobs were supposed to get more complex as levels increase?!

*Looks at the Heavensward kit.*
*Looks at Endwalker's.*

...Make this make sense, please.