Evolved BRD ?

[Calysto]

Saw no thread for that one, so discuss ?

Not fav to start with, but from what we saw, it kinda feel like a copy of 'new' SMN ?

Seems you get your "boost combo" for each song and that's it ? does not tied to the song duration either.

P.Ranged identities will be eroded to make place for the new one, so there's that too

[Valence]

I feel that unlike DRG that seems to be based on positional gimmicks, evolved BRD struggles to achieve anything because unlike pvp, pve has no variable beyond damage so that even if you can use your songs "in however order you want", which is good, they all seem to be different sequences of damage abilities, totally interchangeable. Only one has a cast time. They mentioned that this should give agency to players with what song to use, what for, and when, and I truly want this, but I do believe in that current state it's fake agency at best. There is no real mistake or failure state, or at least anything major from what I can see. Just use your lego in the order you prefer?

And that's the problem, I do love evolve because I'm pvp biased, but unlike pvp, the current pve model has erased most of the battle systems that could have made this relevant. If your only metric is damage, and damage is nails, then every ability you can design around it is gonna look like an interchangeable hammer.

[Karuya]

Well, you can chose to use your shield if damages are coming, or your heal if damage has already been done, or move speed if you have to resolve mechanics, and you have to decide when to use your cast time, and maybe by destroying the 2 minutes meta devs will be able to make more randoms/messy fights like they have already done with M10S for example, so you actually have interesting decisions to make. Like if you decide to use your heal from the start of the fight, or if you use your shield after damage, well you are free to do so, but that's not gonna be very useful. The only metric is not damage for this new evolved bard for me, now its utility is going to be better than ever.

[Carighan]

It sounds really cool. I loved that huge crit (was fun to hear the audience go wild).

And yeah the base concept is definitely current SMN, but as their gameplay actually seems to vary based in which song you are, coupled with wanting different songs at different times for their secondary effects (and the shared 20s CD), that's a neat idea. Lots of flexibility, but once you committed you gotta work around your choice.

[Voidmage]

BRD imo looked good but I'll be honest and say that I also think that current BRD is kinda whatever.
The jump depending on your movement direction is a good addition for a phys ranged and (I think?) the songs actually have some effects again?

I liked how their big attack has an actual windup.

[Valence]

Well, you can chose to use your shield if damages are coming, or your heal if damage has already been done, or move speed if you have to resolve mechanics, and you have to decide when to use your cast time, and maybe by destroying the 2 minutes meta devs will be able to make more randoms/messy fights like they have already done with M10S for example, so you actually have interesting decisions to make. Like if you decide to use your heal from the start of the fight, or if you use your shield after damage, well you are free to do so, but that's not gonna be very useful. The only metric is not damage for this new evolved bard for me, now its utility is going to be better than ever.

I do need to review the footage in details and check out what kind of support each song gives, otherwise they're just damage sequences like glorified combos.

And I'm saying this as someone that is 110% behind evolved. I just want it to shine how it shines in pvp, and so far i'm not fully convinced especially for rphys that lacks a clear identity as a role, both in Reborn and Evolved.

[Carighan]

They mentioned this, the song effects are:

* Regen
* Runspeed
* Barrier (probably on-tick like Panhaima?)

[Carighan]

Considering they seem to not have a CD (instead there's a shared CD using essentially a Lily-system). I suspect they intentionally won't be balanced. Or at least not in actual play. Like the strongest stance might be those with the super-slow cast, which means that while in theory it's best, you might often not get to use it. But you can swap around if you didn't have to swap a lot recently.

At least that's what I suspect, because that worked for other MMOs in the past and they'd be smart to just copy from others who did the work already. Can't really know before they show more, plus there's like a 90% chance that ~nothing from what they've shown so far makes it to live.

[Mikey_R]

I think we need a more detailed breakdown of Bard, so, here is the panel:

Bard Panel

First to note, the 'Performance' gauge, fills every 20 seconds and sacks up to 3. there are then markers for Mage, Army, Wanderer and Light, all with a single stack. Last is the 'Bardic Inspiration' gauge which looks to have 4 stacks. Performance gauge seems to start with 1 stack.

Basic combo is 'Starlight Sight' > 'Meteoric Arrow' > Empyreal Arrow. Using Empyreal arrow gives a stacks of Bardic Inspiration.

Using a song uses up one of the 'Performance' stacks and you have to rotate through all 3 before you can use them all again.

Starting with Mage's Ballard, you get a regen effect and 2 stacks of 'barbed Quiver. These 2 stacks are spent on Caustic Bite and Storm Bite, which, as of this build, have a very short DoT duration. By the look of it, once the DoT duration has ended, you get a stack of Heartbreaker's Bard, which you spend on Heartbreaker's Sting, which is an oGCD.

Army's Paeon is then the quick fire mode which increases run speed. It gives 5 stacks of Melodic Quiver to use for the combo. Harmonious Hail > Reverberant Barrage > Harmonious Hail > Reverberant Barrage > Resonant Arrow, with Rain of Death being able to be used as an oGCD after each Reverberant Arrow. It is worth noting that they do have an increased GCD speed, with a time of 1.5 seconds.

Wanderer's Minuet, Shield, 3 stacks of Transendant Quiver to use Apex Arrow > Blast Arrow > Thrum of the Godsbow. Thrum of the Godsbow also has a cast time of 2.5 seconds and the recast time is longer as well. Wanderer's also gives a 'Hawk's Eye Sight' buff, which can be used on an action to grant Haw's Eye buff, which seems to enhance the next weaponskill used (both times after, Thrum of the Godsbow was a critical direct hit).

Once all the songs have been played through, they all light back up and the 'Light' stack lights up with Radiant Finale lighting up.

They next look at Wanderer's Volley, it is a gap closer, on the GCD with 3 stacks at a 30 second recharge time and the direction you gap close is dependant on the direction you are moving. Each Wanderer's Volley used also grants a stack of 'Bardic Inspiration'.

Going through just using everything quickly, the first thing to note is that using Pitch Perfect only uses up 2 stacks of Bardic Inspiration.

Using Radiant Finale provided 2 buffs, Radiant Finale (10 seconds) and Radiant Encore Ready (30 seconds). Radiant Encore Ready allowed the use of Radiant Encore, big damage and it also healed the Bard and I suspect the rest of the party as well (you can just about see a Radiant Encore green text pop out from behind the exploded job gauge view). They then used Troubadour which gave a buff called 'Minnesanger' for 15 seconds, likely the same as what we have now.

That is everything shown in the panel for Bard. With the fact you have to go through all 3 songs, and the long cast time on Thrum of the Godsbow, knowing where to place that is likely going to be key, but with flexibility in movement with Wanderer's Volley, that will help. I think this is a case where we need to see it in an encounter to fully understand the design decision for it and I suspect that will be the case for all evolved jobs we see.

[Calysto]

The dash's range seems a bit on the short side ; considering 'animation lock' and the fact you get movement speed, I'm not sure of it's use as a movement tool ; and it's use in a rotation may cause some chaos (until you get used to it at least)