Phys Ranged Skill Feedback

[Roarmiaka]

Hi there, i just wanted to leave a small list of my suggested changes for each of the Phys ranged, i play all three and have varying thoughts but other than big reworks I think some of these could be (relatively) simple changes for each.

Bard

Empyreal Arrow:
This needs an extra charge to give more wiggle room for where it may land in a phase—primarily Wanderers Minuet. If we had two charges, this would also help alleviate drift on the skill.

The Wanderer's Minuet:
I'd like to see this work similar to Monks Chakra gauge where it can store the over-capped Chakra, In this case, store the over-capped Repertoire Stacks so none of the stacks go wasted. (Especially if you have Empyreal Arrow coming off cooldown right as a potential tick happens)

Barrage/Resonant Arrow:
I think the cooldown should be reduced to 60 Seconds so that there is more for Bard to do during the one minute. So during our one minute, we would have our Apex Arrow combo and Barrage Combo during Mages Ballad.

Repelling Shot:
I'd personally like to see this replaced with a gap closer instead of a gap opener (maybe a Grappling hook like how a certain boss moves around the fight in Endwalker Alliance raids.

Machinist

Flamethrower:
This skill would benefit from a few small tweaks:

• Show in Limited Effects display so Tanks can see that Machinist is using flamethrower. (I know that maybe there would be a visibility issue with everyone else so maybe just the next one ->)
• Let us slow-move while using this so we can reorient ourselves to enemy mob packs.
• A stacking dot for how long we keep the flamethrower on enemies would help amp up the damage.

Autocrossbow:
Have this regen our uses of Double Check and Checkmate (Gauss Round and Ricochet) just like how Blazing Shot(Heat Blast) does for a single target.

Automaton Queen:
Ideally, I'd like a separate Robot that would work for AOE (Automaton King?) but realistically I'd like to see Autmaton Queens final two moves (Pile bunker and Crowned Collider be AOE so there is use for battery gauge in AOE

[Roarmiaka]

Dancer

Tillana
The +50 gauge buff in Dawntrail made this a guaranteed overcap on Espirit Gauge during two minute and openers. I'd like to see Dance of the Dawn removed from Technical Step and add to Tillana "Dance of the Dawn Ready" and remove the +50 Gauge buff.

Improvisation
There is unfortunately rarely a good use for this in almost any fight, I'd Like this to either be an instant Heal and Shields or combine the effects with the PVP skill Honing Dance, and have it do damage and Heal over time.

Curing Waltz
A small but helpful change would be to increase this from 3y to 5y.

Closed Position
I'd like to see this be a one button click on and off ability, Right now it is a bit of a hassle to switch partners mid-combat, and would like to see it be streamlined so I can click on another party member and set partner without having to end the Closed Position first on my original partner. The use-case for this is if my original partner died and so i can buff an alive and or unweakened party member without having to stop my rotation mid flow.

Fan Dance IV
Make this consistent with the other Fan dances and have its range increased from 15y to 25 (I noticed that this ability in the job guide is listed as a conal, i have never noticed this in my time playing but if it could be changed to a line to increase the distance i think this would be good trade off)

[Supersnow845]

I strongly oppose charges to emperyal arrow. BRD’s proc organisation system is explicitly designed around emperyal arrow being the soft controller for your proc order because you either spend it or drift it

Soft control over other skills is something we don’t see much of in this game and I don’t want to lose it on BRD

[Roarmiaka]

I strongly oppose charges to emperyal arrow. BRD’s proc organisation system is explicitly designed around emperyal arrow being the soft controller for your proc order because you either spend it or drift it

Soft control over other skills is something we don’t see much of in this game and I don’t want to lose it on BRD

I guess I'm not sure I understand because drifting Empyeral Arrow is always a dps loss, and the only times you'd ever realistically think about its procs is during Wanderers. If anything the extra charge adds more decisions for the Bard to be able to wait for that extra Repertoire stack in Wanderers to get the full Pitch Perfect

[Supersnow845]

I guess I'm not sure I understand because drifting Empyeral Arrow is always a dps loss, and the only times you'd ever realistically think about its procs is during Wanderers. If anything the extra charge adds more decisions for the Bard to be able to wait for that extra Repertoire stack in Wanderers to get the full Pitch Perfect

Yes so you never want to drift emperyal arrow, which means all other procs have to be built around it because there is no flexibility, so it’s the top of your proc order, if it’s free use it, nothing is more important than not drifting it, all other procs and CD’s BRD has then flow from there

Without that core system of always having emperyal arrow as the number 1 most important proc then BRD goes from a defined proc order job to basically just press whatever oGCD lights up whenever you want

[mallleable]

I strongly oppose charges to emperyal arrow. BRD’s proc organisation system is explicitly designed around emperyal arrow being the soft controller for your proc order because you either spend it or drift it

Soft control over other skills is something we don’t see much of in this game and I don’t want to lose it on BRD

With how BRD is now, it's not a matter of player 'skill' to not drift Empyreal Arrow -- at certain speeds, and how Army's Paeon works, your GCD likely run into it forcing you to either clip your GCD or drift Empyreal Arrow. It's just toxic, and janky at this point. It needs charges.

[Valence]

Regarding the OP:

- I do agree with Empyreal Arrow and it's also been suggested multiple times by the most knowledgeable people on the job's theorycrafting as well.
- Minuet: I do not agree with this change because it would remove proc management when it comes to Pitch Perfect. Currently the whole optimization you can do is to spend them at 2 charges before an Empyreal Arrow in order to prevent overcap. If you do this, you should not overcap in the current state of the job, which means the only reason to get a Chakra-like system would be to remove this optimization caused by EA. Personally I think it would be a shame to lose it in exchange for nothing in terms of gameplay. It's what makes Minuet currently a step above Ballad in terms of engagement for me.
- Resonant: agreed, and BRD already has other 2 minutes nukes, notably Radiant Encore.
- Repelling: in essence I do agree that this ability is absolutely useless and it's a meme that I sometimes use just to feel alive. It could need replacement or just removal. I had a wild idea and wanted to make it proc Resonant actually so you'd actually have to use it and be considerate of when and where, but they'll never do that ofc.

- Flamethrower definitely needs help. Of the many solutions offered: generating heat, or consuming heat for way higher potency, or adding stacks like in its old pvp form where the longer you keep it active the higher the damage, or interacting with bioblaster by consuming all bio charges for a big effect. There is many things they could do to make this skill more interesting, and actually useful.
- ACB: a common suggestion yeah.
- Battery: I actually expected Collider to be an AoE finisher move when I first saw MCH in the Endwalker job trailer, but alas... It would definitely help if they gave it an AoE effect. A king would be neat but I assume it would require a lot of resources to implement, so a good bandaid imo would just be to give us the ability to summon Bishop, and much like in pvp, it would do AoE damage and provide a pulsing shield on everybody inside. Much like Queen, Bishop would consume battery as well.

I strongly oppose charges to emperyal arrow. BRD’s proc organisation system is explicitly designed around emperyal arrow being the soft controller for your proc order because you either spend it or drift it

Soft control over other skills is something we don’t see much of in this game and I don’t want to lose it on BRD

The current problem with EA is that it directly conflicts with the rigid, chaotic mess that is BRD's GCD segmentation structure. See here for more details. Of course they could fix the mess to begin with, but that's much heavier work than just giving a second charge to the ability.

I don't necessarily agree that the change would be detrimental to proc management since instead of consuming PP early you'd delay EA in order to accommodate the procs. In both cases you'd have to manage them.

[Ramiee]

Huge qol improvement for dancer would to be removing finishing move. Yep really wanted to have the dance mini game removed every other dance such fun.

[Connor]

- Empyreal Arrow has been requested to have charges added quite frequently so adding charges would be appreciated but a lot of Bards. Especially (as mentioned above) with the rigidity of Bard’s song rotation and cool-down alignment
- I don’t play Monk so I’m unsure how the Chakra system even works tbh lol. That said, Minuet is already Bard’s strongest and most valuable song, so I can’t help but think ‘do we really need to fix it if it ain’t broken?’
- Honestly I’d prefer if they just replaced Repelling Shot with a new skills. I don’t really see any benefit to Bards having a gap closer (doesn’t make much sense either for a Poet to start flying around with grappling hooks lol). As much as I’d like to say to turn into a new support skill, Repelling Shots is more for Archer not Bard, so it’d be weird if they started pulling out instruments at level 15 lol.
- Lastly I’d definitely support using Resonant Shot more frequently. Maybe it could be tied to Paeon since there’s still essentially nothing whatsoever going on during that phase lol. Like, during Paeon your Refulgent procs can activate Resonant, or maybe once you max Repetoire it becomes available or something

[Xieldras]

I'm mixed about Repelling Shot, as I do use it frequently for repositioning. It does need something else (they had removed its damage back in Stormblood), but the distance is perfect for jumping out of AOEs.
I don't agree on a gap closer because rDPS is, well, super mobile. Just run in. Plus I believe there are already a sizeable amount of classes that do have this skill/spell, and there is no need to water down its uniqueness by adding more copies of it.

I don't see the use in Empyreal getting charges since they already proc often in my opinion, but I don't have an opinion on it other than that.