Bards, Checking In!

[Connor]

I think it needs to be a 50/50 as well or it needs to be 70% support and 30% damage. Bard in nature have been support orientated across final fantasy games.

As for the change to Bard changes in FFXIV here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gOooN8BmhY

Go to the discussion about bards near the end to see the changes.

I agree with you, I think Bard has sort of lost some of it's iconic support capabilities. I've checked a lot of what people are saying as well as had my own experiences with it in phase 3 & 4, and it seems the general consensus is that the support capabilities have been watered down a bit. Whether or not people agree or disagree with the idea is a different story. Of course, the whole point of the thread is to open up a dialogue with people both about whether they'll play Bard and what they hope from it / think of it.

[LordMaitreya]

A question to all Bards. Since its been confirmed that you are a dps class and you queue through the duty finder as a dps.

Do you plan to play songs much if at all? Or focus on "being #1" in some parse?

[cenie]

A question to all Bards. Since its been confirmed that you are a dps class and you queue through the duty finder as a dps.

Do you plan to play songs much if at all? Or focus on "being #1" in some parse?

What drew me to Bard was that it was support and dps. That is how I intend to play it.

Also, I'm rather upset if they did drop the Conjurer secondary for Pug/Lancer >_>

[Gyli]

A question to all Bards. Since its been confirmed that you are a dps class and you queue through the duty finder as a dps.

Do you plan to play songs much if at all? Or focus on "being #1" in some parse?

I'll focus being #1 with song usage.

Once a better support comes out I'll be switching over to that.

[Mint_tea]

A question to all Bards. Since its been confirmed that you are a dps class and you queue through the duty finder as a dps.

Do you plan to play songs much if at all? Or focus on "being #1" in some parse?

I strongly doubt there will even be a need for Bard songs until we're doing level 50 8-man dungeons, Primal FATES, or raiding. Requiring a Bard before that would have a negative impact on all other DD's trying to do the 4-man dungeons as they level. Personally I love the support utility Bards had back in FF11 and even though we're nothing like that now, I'm still eager to sing my groups to victory.

[omniwaink]

The Bard songs look incredibly boring and unimaginative. I'd much rather they had cds and limited durations but be more powerful and varied.

For example, how about a song that lowers the GCD for burst phases? Or a song that slowly restores health? What about one that lowers allies' cds by 1 sec while active? Or Protect/Shell songs that you swap between for different phases or encounters? Unless running out of Mana/TP is a huge problem at the level cap, I don't see Bard songs being in high demand.

There's also a glaring design error in their range being 20y while bow skills are 25y. So not only will I have to move in closer just to debuff bosses, but it also necessitates raids to clump up together to maximize a song's benefits. Which will be awesome fun on bosses that do massive AOE attacks, like the video they just showed off of Titan.

Unless a fight is like 20 minutes long, who is even going to notice they are grouped with a Bard?

Oh well, just give us harps.

[RockyRacune]

Not pleased about this supposed change. My only intent was to be a Bard, but as support with damage, not damage with limited support. Is this indicative of fewer job roles? Can we ignore Bard and cross class Archer, or would that be even less effective?

[Talyn]

Was planning on playing Bard. I was attracted to the Support/DPS role. I'm on the fence with the possible changes.

If I do stick with Bard, to answer Lord Maitreya's question: I care not for any parse report. I'll focus on playing my class well and doing everything I can to support my party. If I'm in a party that cannot appreciate that and relies on a parser to tell them who is "pulling their weight" then we are not a good fit and I'll find others to party with.

[Roly_]

/wave bard here checking in ^^ I love the class/job it awesome

[Ragz]

Archer with cross class ability would only give you Swiftsong as only song, which is not that useful.