BRD Kit Complaints and Suggestions

[LeonidasR]

I have been an Archer/Bard main since I started this game, and I've put up with all the weirdness and playerbase bitching about it having the lowest DPS of the DPS (Despite that not even mattering unless you're playing savage/extreme content) and whatever else. I've always had the stance that BRD needs a buff, but is overall fine.
Some of the changes EW made, though, really, really annoyed me, namely the fact that your DoTs don't connect to the rest of your kit at all anymore. The BRD kit feels utterly disconnected in a lot of ways. Sure, other classes have some of these same issues, but I don't think any of them have ALL of these or them quite to the same level as BRD. So mostly, I wanna rant, to lay out all of the issues I personally have with BRD's skills and suggestions on how I think both individual skills and the entire kit could be improved?
First and foremost, the DoT issue. I don't watch liveletters or the like, so if they explained exactly why they made this change, I missed it, but it isn't hard to guess that it's most likely because of people complaining about having to maintain their DoTs. To which I would reply, for p much one of the only times in my life, AND as someone who still frequently forgets to refresh them (even more now that they're not relevant to the rest of your kit): Git Gud. There's an /entire/ skill dedicated solely to refreshing your DoTs. Yes, the way they interact with your songs could've been made a bit clearer and more consistent, but changing it to just plain random procs hasn't exactly been consistent either. What does 80% to proc Repertoire even mean? 80% every second, every tick? I'm leaning towards Tick but the point is that it's unclear.
Basically, the big issue with BRD DoTs right now is that they are completely and utterly disconnected from the rest of BRD's entire kit. Nothing relies on them and they effect nothing, they're pure damage, which isn't an issue in and of itself- Healer DoTs are pure damage, but SAM's is at least interwoven into their kit and DRG's is just plain part of their rotation last I knew. Right now, you can totally ignore setting your DoTs as a BRD if you don't care. It's not a great idea with BRD being the lowest damage to begin with, but overall it won't harm your gameplay, just make the fight a little longer, since BRD DoTs aren't relevant to most DPS checks from what I can tell. Either connect them to your songs again with a clearer explanation of how they interact and make the interaction more consistent, or remove the DoTs entirely. Personally, I think BRD should keep their DoTs, as I find them an interesting part of their kit when they actually matter to the rest of it, but if people are really gonna complain that much about maintaining them, then just remove them, because disconnecting them from the rest of BRD's kit has just made them easier to forget to maintain IMO.
(The rest coming in replies because I ramble)

[LeonidasR]

Next up, Sidewinder, Ephemeral Arrow, and Iron Jaws. Sidewinder used to rely on DoTs, but now is just an oGCD raw damage skill, and Ephemeral Arrow has always been that IIRC. It was for ShB at the very least. Iron Jaws, on the other hand, isn't a big issue in and of itself- BRD having a way to refresh their two DoTs is important, I think, as it creates a nice reward for paying attention, not having to take two skill uses to refresh both when they get close to expiring. The reason I bring it up here is because while I like it, I think it could still be improved.
Firstly, give Sidewinder back its interaction with BRD's DoTs. Since Shadowbite is now your AoE straight shot proc equivalent, make it a partial AoE instead of single-target, one of those skills where the damage depends on the target having the DoTs, and a % of that damage is also applied to the enemies around them, keeping it relevant in trash pulls in dungeons. I think? this is similar to how Shadowbite used to work, but the skill description was somewhat unclear to me in terms of how the DoTs had to be applied to get the damage buff.
(Plus, I play literally everything, I can't remember exactly what every single skill has done in every expansion lol)
As for the other two, combine Ephemeral Arrow and Iron Jaws into a single oGCD DoT refresher. While I like Iron Jaws as it is, I've certainly pushed my luck more times than I can count with using it, and there's definitely been times where I've used it too late to actually refresh my DoTs. Obviously that's on me, but my point is more that if they want to make the refresh slightly easier, turning it into a, say, 35sec oGCD could be a good alternative to simply removing how DoTs interact with BRD's kit, and would help narrow down BRD's skills slightly.
If DoTs are removed, however, I'm not quite sure what should be done with Ephemeral Arrow and Sidewinder. BRD already has a good oGCD with Bloodletter/Rain of Death, and Empheral Arrow especially feels dumb to me since it's almost double the potency of Bloodletter with the same cooldown, it just can't stack charges (which is only really relevant for Bloodletter/Rain of Death because they're connected to Mage's Ballad). Speaking of which...

[LeonidasR]

Obviously the names of the songs are mainly relics of the effects they used to have, but I honestly think they should bring back a slight casting element for BRD. RDM is a mage with a melee phase, PLD has their own spells (that aren't basically just weaponskills again, looking at you DRK's Unmend), DRK has abilities that draw on their MP, why can't BRD be a ranged phys with spells woven into their kit? Start with Mage's Ballad and Bloodletter/Rain of Death- Keep them mostly the same, but up their potency in exchange for a short cast time, like the basic spells of the SUM/RDM rotation. Or, perhaps instead of charges, have those spells actually cost MP and Mage's Ballad gives you extra MP regen or Repertoire procs give boosts of MP, for example, when Repetoire Procs, restore [MP = 1/2 a Bloodletter Cast]. Bards typically have some association with magic usage when used in fantasy settings, so why not add that element directly back into their kit? Could certainly help give them a bit of the DPS buff they need, having a high burst damage phase of their rotation. Perhaps with an adjustment of how long the songs last, but that'd be for the balancing and fine tuning of which I am certainly no expert.
Hell, make the Iron Jaws/Ephemeral Arrow suggestion I made a relatively high-cost spell instead of an oGCD, to force players to be a bit more careful in how and where they use it.
This isn't so much an issue as it is just "These skills always get used together, just make them the same thing ffs": Raging Strikes and Barrage. Either make the Barrage effect an upgrade to Raging Strikes, or give them different CDs, because as it is there's literally just plain no point to using one without the other unless you're under lvl38 and don't have Barrage yet. You can if you really want to, but you're just not getting the best use out of either if you do that. Not that important, but could probably be improved.
Troubador: Just change this, Shield Samba, and Tactician into a role skill or something ffs. They all do the same thing and can't stack, the only reason this hasn't been made a role skill is because it's lvl60, and I think it could be reasonably lowered to 50 if they really wanted to keep the role skills low. Not like all of the other ranged phys role skills are all that useful anyway. Peloton is great, but the others can be situational at best. Either that or just let them stack, would it really be that busted if it did? (Maybe it would be, I honestly don't know)

[LeonidasR]

I want Bard to have more of a basic rotation, especially since MCH is the ranged phys with a full-melee-like rotation and DNC has a two-step (hah) with chance procs (that are higher than BRDs...), but I'm not sure how you'd go about that. BRD's main rotation, IMO, is the songs (in a very, very unorthodox sense), but it could do with a bit more going on than hitting one button, keeping an eye on that 35% proc while switching songs every 45s and waiting for oGCDs. Perhaps connect a secondary rotation to the soul voice gauge instead of basically making Apex Arrow a less consistent oGCD that's still a GCD, similar to RDM's melee rotation. Maybe make it so Straight Shot/Apex Arrow is cast off that instead of a luck-based trigger, though you'd DEFINITELY need another step in BRD's normal rotation if you did that. Hell, could make it nearly the exact opposite of RDM and have it be spell-like, but instead of MP it takes that Soul Voice charge. Probably wouldn't be the best, but it's the best I've got myself.
Another thing I thought of for DoTs that doesn't have much to do with improving a skill, I just thought it's a neat idea, is changing Nature's Minne from a straight heal buff to a Kardia-like ability, but instead of healing its target from most of the BRD's kit, purely make it a passive regen reliant on DoT maintenance.
BRD could also just use a DoT-spreading ability similar to how SCH/SUM used to have Bane, especially if you decide to keep two DoTs instead of cutting it down to one. Would help with their Damage in trash pulls. Maybe add it as a sidewinder upgrade, in addition to damage it applies your DoTs for the amount of time they had left on the target enemy similar, again, to Bane.
I think that's all I've got for now? I've touched upon just about every aspect of BRD's kit. Battle Voice is fine, it's not connected to the songs but that's not a big deal either way considering BRDs should always have a song up regardless, and there's only a space of 2 levels between you getting battle voice and getting your third song. Matters for lvl50 dungeons at least but still, smart use of songs and how long they now are means you'll rarely not have a song up. Radiant Finale is fine as it is, rewards you for doing the thing you're supposed to and helps encouraging using all of your songs, not just the ones you like best (So... Encourages actually playing BRD right). I've always loved The Warden's Paean, it's just a cool skill for BRD to have, a free oGCD Esuna that you can pre-place to have it proc as soon as there's an Esuna-ble debuff on the target, helps cut down on the Esuna-ing Healers have to do for basically no cost.
In any case, BRD's kit needs some improvements, and while I'm not a game designer, I think these could be some solid ideas on how to make their kit actually interconnected again. Right now, BRD's just so much less fun to play than it used to be imo.

[Jeeqbit]

The dots were connected to the rest of the kit more by being affected by crits, but they wanted to move away from allowing your stats to influence job mechanics.

Casuals weren't very good at using dots to trigger rain of death procs, so this was disconnected from dots.

It's every tick, as far as I remember.

Sidewinder changed because a similar mechanic was changed on Summoner after complaints it was too hard, so it was changed with bards in an expansion too.

I don't know why they got rid of the casting element, but they felt passionate enough about doing it that they overhauled it, so I doubt they will go back on that.

It feels like most bards I've ever met do no aoe damage, while I destroy enemies on a bard. This is how poorly I feel that other people play it. It's no wonder they have tried to make it easier to proc aoe.

[DixieBellOCE]

Paragraphs. Please.

I cant read this giant wall of text.

I can answer one thing though, and any quick check of Balance guides would answer this too.
Rep 80% happens every 3 seconds of a song, that's why you refresh your dots with iron jaws at 3 or less seconds.

My only 2 pet hates with bard is the fact that Burst shot does not transform into Refulgent Arrow when it procs, and Now that dots have no impact in your procs they need a way to spread them.

[Nav_Fae]

I don't like the new Shadowbite. It feels clunky to me. It should have just either been an enhanced Side Winder or a 1 - 2 AoE combo without the proc. I hate that there is an RNG proc with a global cooldown. Sometimes I lose procs because I'm spamming the AoE and wasn't ready for a proc.

[vetch]

Iron Jaws is an extremely boring skill. For the price of extra button bloat, you can replace Caustic Bite with a Burst Shot for a whopping 70 more potency per 45 seconds. That's 1.555 potency per second! That's like an extra auto-attack! Whoop de doo.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

I don't like the new Shadowbite. It feels clunky to me. It should have just either been an enhanced Side Winder or a 1 - 2 AoE combo without the proc. I hate that there is an RNG proc with a global cooldown. Sometimes I lose procs because I'm spamming the AoE and wasn't ready for a proc.

How is Ladonsbite -> Shadowbite proc any different than Burst Shot -> Refulgent Arrow proc? Arguably that's just streamlining.

[Eien713]

As a BRD main since I first started and for years now, I also dislike the EW changes. I mourned the loss of the old Straight Shot buff we used to have, but God, the current state of the procs is sad. Why do they even still exist? Don't get me wrong, I like having DoTs, so rather than insinuating they should remove them altogether, I prefer the way they used to be--RELEVANT. Also, I find Nature's Minne so useless and would have preferred Palisade instead of it.