FFXIV Endwalker - Level 90 Bard Job Thoughts

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[@pestopartyy]

You forgot the most important addition to BRD: the fact that Radiant Finale gives an additional buff that does absolutely nothing other than tell you that you are indeed playing a most radiant finale

[@zzero2502]

oh yeah 6% dmg buff for 15sec is bad. Yikes u

[@PanicRolling]

@@zzero2502 the ability gives you two separate buffs. One of them says damage dealt increased. The second one says that you're playing a Radiant Finale. Pretty sure this is what the OP meant. A whole buff icon just to tell you that you're playing a sick ass solo.

[@Joshua-xh6bm]

I can understand not wanting the DoTs to feel trivial, BUT, if they're going to tie dots back into procs they need to give a DoT spreader for AOE and/or just rework Mage's Ballad entirely.

[@amediocremenace]

I think that's something they are trying to prevent. In it's current state Bards DoTs proc straight shot. Which I feel is the devs trying to push Bard into a, you don't have to DoT targets in AoE scenarios, type of design.

[@donteo508]

DoT jobs seem to be the way of the past in XIV. Most classes just don't utilize them beyond just existing as something to manage.

[@woops]

Man am I glad you like Bard :)

[@Krysta1Rose]

Ive mained bard since I started last year, and i completed my EW journey with my bowharp and arrow. I love my job so much, even more with the tweaks!

[@Levofski]

I main'd Bard and Paladin all the way from 1 to 80 (I started playing about 8 months ago), and I am so glad they did great changes to both for Endwalker, so they are both my first 90s too. Having a blast (arrow)

[@HookerQueen]

I definitely feel like they're going to be removing most dots across the board; I think they said there were too many before and it was actively said it was becoming a problem for their coding. I would love for them to make a new class or two that specialized in dots, like an Alchemist or a Warlock, but I wouldn't be surprised if they just removed them for simplicity and never added new ones.

[@tmacfan2132]

Hahaha this game is being so dumbed down for bad players it's sick. Yes bad players can't manage dots that's what it comes down to.

[@darrenbalagot4643]

@@tmacfan2132 comment says “they said there were too many before and it was actively becoming a problem for their coding” and u took it left field to focus it on “bad players” lol what

[@narius_jaden215]

@@tmacfan2132 Ya know you're probably one of those people you hate, deep down?

[@jotunn30]

@@darrenbalagot4643 also in my opinion DOTs in this game are just kinda clunky...and this might be me coming from bein a main Afff lock and SP in WoW but in that game as much as it sucks DOTs work really well cause of the more responsive nature of the game...in FF since i joined in Stormblood i didn't really find a DOT implementation that felt like it needed to exist

[@Cavthena]

@@tmacfan2132 I agree that the game is being dumbed down. I wouldn't say it's from "Bad Players" though. The design team have settled into using what's easiest across the board and the 1,2,3 DPS combo is exactly that. Status effects minimized. Damage type/"elements" minimized. Threat management minimized. Healing Streamlined. DoT goodbye. Etc. Not that it's bad. FF has always been built with accessibility and memorization at it's core. It's just that complexity tends not to tie well with those ideals. If you want complexity FF isn't the game you should be looking at.

[@lyconxero457]

As someone who's not been able to do any of the new raids due to work and server queues I appreciate the warning at the beginning and will simply minimize the video.

[@cashnelson2306]

lol

[@Malendor]

They are so bad. And I here I thought New World was bad on launch

[@Malendor]

@Chad Meckstroth which server? Is it possible to transfer characters currently? I literally can't login if I don't queue 3 - 4 hours ahead of time

[@bloopuronthetubes6642]

I love the idea of having procs tied to the songs AND dots. Best of both

[@theorycrafted86]

Brd feels absolutely amazing.

[@christopherross8976]

Been looking into leveling Bard. This video helped make me confirm my decision

[@copomo]

It's a no

[@christopherross8976]

@@copomo Uh no its not buddy

[@collinwagner1362]

Just started leveling bard, much needed, thnx!

[@Yajirushi89]

The one thing I'll miss with ShB bard is absolutely destroying large packs of dotted mobs with Ballad. But overall I love the Endwalker changes.

[@lordastrea2765]

yooo same. constant rains of death. but i guess with charges its nice

[@zerofate624]

I've been maining Bard ever since I started the game and honestly always loved it. It was actually the only class I had leveled for a long time xD. I share your feelings and changes you would like to see and glad to see you on the job! :)

[@MelvaCross]

I love the new Bard. Having 80% for one proc makes the job performance overall more consistent. The difference between unlucky and lucky bards is much smaller. And the RNG is still there, so it's still a fun, reactive job. I hope that they'll readjust the damage of Bloodletter because Mage's Ballad is the most fun song (even with the nerfed proc) and I want to spend more time in Ballad than in Paeon. The DoTs are in a bad place. Refreshing DoTs feels like busiwork and is not that fun. I either hope they introduce mechanics that make refreshing fun (like a guaranteed Straight Shot ready for refreshing DoTs that are about to run out) or they design a wholly new job around interacting with DoTs.

[@OSAlula]

I personally think the consistency is nice, but in exchange for the consistency its literally impossible for bard to feel fast now since at most we can get a proc every 3 seconds. Honestly speaking too, I although not quite 80%, previously the procs weren't too bad either, since each DoT had a 40% proc I think

[@himikyo3213]

everything about bard was soooo good. you pointed out the two issues that every bard (including me) has. dots just kinda feel like theyre there without much purpose, and mb was handed way too big of a nerf. besides that, bard feels really smooth and just had a lot of really nice qol for it.

[@OSAlula]

imo aoe is worse than before since I can't get lots of procs like in shb, and since procs arent tied to dots, why not give us bane, and why does barrage not give shadowbite ready, etc. I do agree though dots existing on bard with how it is now sucks and mb nerf is awful, but overall the job feels slower to me due to the lack of double procs, which would have made the MB nerf not as bad, and can makes you get a ton of WM procs

[@himikyo3213]

@@OSAlula honestly i just watched stal's video on bard, and it helped me realize all the little problems that it has. i kinda figured out what felt wrong about songs, and how punishing it deaths really are.

[@NuclearRaven13]

@@OSAlula In my personal opinion they should make straight shot and shadowbite the same proc like flourishing symmetry/flow

[@eihples]

Songs proccing on their own makes trash aoe much smoother which was the thing that was annoying me the most previously (from the pov how it feels to play). Dotting up a mob just to get procs to aoe them better felt clunky when everything dies by the time you proc.

[@qamarqammar7629]

Yes that really sucked. And the farther you go into an expac the faster packs die, and those Dots just felt annoying. Yes, I could tab dot while the tank was running, but often it paid better to just quick nock them on the run, they were dead before they procc'd anything useful.

[@javelinmaster2]

plus you can now proc steady shot ready with the AoE weaponskill which then enables Shadowbite which makes sense. Casting single damage spells just to be able to do good AoE damage doesn't make any sense.

[@Yajirushi89]

It depended on the pacing of your group and how many packs your tank picks up before they stop. I would typically be able to dot enough mobs up before we stopped to be able to spam RoD on cooldown so I never felt I was wasting time dotting.

[@AdellRedwinters]

Honestly, I think this is the best Bard has ever been.

[@kylebivens3681]

Agreed. I havent enjoyed Bard this much since....ever! My only wishes would be to make barrage also grant shadowbite ready (or make it and RA share the "straight shot ready" requirement like EW did for Dancer), a slight buff on bloodletter, and just a bit more to do with dots. I saw someone suggest making Iron Jaws spread the dots and giving burst arrow/ladonsbite increased chance to grant straight shot ready for every dot on the target

[@10001vader]

@@kylebivens3681 disagree, personally. Stormblood is where bard was the best. Really smooth rotation, powerful party utility with Foe's, the mp/tp regen abilities, etc, fun dot synergy, and very good teamwork with dragoons. EW bard could be great, but the removal of the dot interactions and complete neutering of Mage's really kills it for me. Also, Shadowbite is really weird to me. I think the idea is that you pop barrage and get increased potency on shadowbite during its duration, but that's so weird when you might not even get a single proc during the window.

[@kylebivens3681]

@@10001vader I get where you're coming from. I also miss TP management, resistance down debuffs and such, or rather the job synergies that they promoted. Support as an identity just, with rare exception, doesnt exist beyond group damage buffs (which imo cause more harm than good). Ive accepted that that isnt the game they're designing anymore. However in exchange we have a lot more classes that just feel great to play, even if they're siloed off from each other. And to your concerns about MB and Shadowbite, they're such easy and obvious fixes I would be surprised if they dont get some love on the savage patch

[@phurygaming3347]

After watching this (and now that I am done MSQ) I might pick up bard. Thanks for the awesome insight.

[@DoctorTog]

One thing I don't think you explicitly mentioned was the change of songs from being spells to abilities. When they were spells their recast was reduced by Army's which meant the rotation was actually a lot less rigid (one of your complaints) so it was possible to adjust song alignment during fights, and that dying was much easier to recover from (one of the previous big pros to being a bard versus dancer or machinist).

[@GayLPer]

I honestly never realized it did that. Which also meant it had no impact on playstyle. And honestly seemed more like an oversight.

[@vibritannia5119]

Ahhh brd was the first vid of yours I’ve ever seen all those years ago! I feel so old!

[@braigybraig]

Bard has been my main since I started playing a year ago and while I enjoyed it before, it's definitely become a lot more fun in Endwalker so far. You really do feel powerful when you have all your buffs up.

[@GayLPer]

I'm actually gonna say the "nerf" to Mage's Ballad is good, too, because not only is it nice to be able to stack Bloodletter up to three times, but it just *feels* better not having an entire charge given to you, it feels like you're earning it more.

[@amaruwilliams5455]

@@GayLPer I completely agree with you. The dots not affecting the songs anymore honestly is so much better for it just goes smoother. And even tho it’s %80 now I still have times when I don’t get nothing😭

[@ZXApocrypha]

Totally agree about the ballad/DoT change - kinda miss the insane blood letter procs =O

[@mr.violationps5968]

Pure gold 👌🏾. All I wanted as extra was 60 sec barrage or rain having a chance to proc shadow bite as well.

[@1000BabyRage]

Big throwback to 2013/2014 Binding Coil of Bahamut. Yea, I was around and I remember.

[@ARCWolf7]

I think the Blast Arrow proc duration was probably a job balance choice. They did the same for Warrior by cutting IR duration from 30s to 15s

[@wulfyaeger2327]

My friend and I did a countdown to change to the job we were least looking forward to leveling up and we both picked bard lol. While she was away I got it to 90 and I can't tell you how strange it is to really enjoy bard again. I don't think it'll be replacing machinist in my heart but god the changes feel extremely good

[@mrbastos]

I've been having fun with it. Bard was my first 80, but I maxxed it so early I started Dancer (to re-used equipment and not waste MSQ experience). In EW I got Dancer and then Machinist to 90 and now have started working Bard again (currently 85). I hadn't played Bard in ages so it feels nice.

[@TheAgedOldTruth]

I think with Bloodletter I could also see them just buffing the potency. It is a bit strange at first glance that Bloodletter is 110 vs Rain of Death at 100. Maybe something like 250 would be a good balance and keep in line with the concept of Single Target at 1-2 targets and Aoe at 3. I'm not entirely sure I dislike the speed at which the cooldown gets lowered it's more of the damage output of the song.

[@Appoduece]

I feel ya on the lack of dot synergy in the game. Im the same way and really enjoy playing dot based caster types. Hopefully they introduce a new job that revolves around them but with rpr and sge having just been released we know that's years away.

[@Sparda51]

Dot classes are my favorite archetype as well and it really saddens me they seem to be going away from the dot centric DPS. Summoner lost ALL dots and bards dots are just there now. I used to play Shadow priest in WoW and it was a big part of its idenity so I just naturally gravitate to dot DPS and it kinda sucks they seemingly are going away.

[@proxy6330]

dot snapshotting in raid buffs is a big part of keeping consistent DPS throughout, but there is less of a focus on dots overall.

[@waterscape8198]

and honestly that is good

[@Daimonic80]

Bard main since 1.0 and still love it with all its up and downs..yeah even the heavensward cast times ^^

[@LyonsRoarGolf]

Caster Bard was awesome and really made people understand fights to do well.

[@TheRealLink]

I'm loving the new Bard personally. Nice to sing and be affected again ;). Ladon's and Burst feel good to me. I do agree on the bit with DoTs affecting our ticks though, I do miss that.

[@Skyace13]

Looking back on this they must’ve had a couple ideas for where Bard could be, but giving us everything we wanted made the job too strong. It’s currently VERY strong so I imagine getting a full bloodletter proc would push it even further. Lining up Blast Arrow with buffs also makes it stronger. And I think Mage’s Ballad breaking and causing a long Paeon is one of the biggest issues. 45 seconds (okay 43 seconds) of your “downtime” song feels bad. But it has to be there to buff Wanderer’s Minuet in the burst window. Pain. That is all. Bard has been made strong, but at what cost

[@tcaz]

I think I would be okay with dots staying as they are for this expansion and then them getting a new or reworked ability that interacts with them next expansion. I absolutely do not want them to remove the dots from Bard though. I really am not a fan of them removing as many dots as they have been.

[@MBunn-uf1we]

they're removing dots because instances like eureka and bozja where people keep hitting the 40/50 debuff limit constantly, for classes like reaper and blackmage not having your debuff hit will dent your dps tremendously. to honest it's not a serious reason for removing dots for everyone else but this is the likely excuse.

[@iamed.]

It's super awkward conceptually to have the "DoT job" have no mechanics/actions related to DoTs (Iron Jaws being a refresh aside). DoTs not proccing songs is one thing, that while I don't fully like, I can at least understand the reasoning why. But then you have things like making sidewinder a flat potency instead of variable based on 1 or 2 DoTs up, that just leave me scratching my head when it doesn't make a huge impact either way given SW's CD length, yet it adds to the job identity being more muddled. They really need to pick a direction and fully commit to it when it comes to BRDs DoTs. It's the only really awkward part left on the job design.

[@Blaze1337]

I wish they would have chnaged the dots ever so slightly so at Lvl 6 you get Venomous Bite and then at lvl 30 you get a trait that adds on Windbite to Venomous Bite.

[@vinsoni10]

Green mage would be a great supporty buff/debuff dot spreading monster and it would make sense. That's the one I'd want to see

[@cassandramaccarthy3337]

what you could do with the DoTs is make the base proc chance 40 or 50%, and the song will have a higher chance of giving a proc for each DoT that's currently ticking (by 10, 15, or 20%, I'm not a math wizard so I don't know what would work out the best) up to a maximum of 100%. Just a thought I had while listening to your ideas.

[@economicnerd]

Im glad for bards, they seem to really be enjoying themselves right now. Now if only they can give DRG an ability that deals more than 500 potency.

[@GayLPer]

There's a world first raider who's a bard who's been whinging on Twitter about new bard. Their complaints were basically... Mage's Ballad is the new filler song (and Army's Paeon "shouldn't be") DoTs don't trigger repertoire Songs are no longer spells and therefore don't benefit from Army's Paeon cooldown reduction Mage's Ballad "only" gives 7.5 reduction on cooldown now, meaning you "don't use Bloodletter as often" (meanwhile I find myself getting a usable proc frequently enough that sometimes it feels *more* frequent) You can only hold Blast Arrow for 10 seconds. ... Yeah, no, fuck that, Bard's awesome now :D

[@jayr5mitty351]

@@GayLPer dude I swear, ppl are crying for the sake of it 🙄 I had chosen brd when knocking out all of the role quests and immediately fell in love with it. Haven't been this entranced, much like Hapz, since ARR.

[@OSAlula]

@@GayLPer Mage's Ballad being the filler song is a bit dumb, it's weaker than Army's Paeon now. DoTs not trigging repertoire means you no longer can get double procs, and the DoTs are *completely* disconnected from the entirety of Bard's kit New MB likely is only "faster" to you because it has 3 charges. If we had 3 charges in Shadowbringers, it couldn't compare at all, with us having double procs + getting a full charge each proc

[@PandaArchaedas]

I had my friend and I both bard for dungeons, I lost my mind when I saw the songs can stack now! I had mages up and he had armys up.

[@PrincessFarron]

I love Bard - and even during the "caster days" I remained faithful :)

[@djibber]

As a person who experienced all the same frustrations with shadowbringers bard, I respectfully disagree. I don’t think that tying the song procs to dots made the job more enjoyable - it made it a headache. Additionally, I’m okay with the half-bloodletter procs. A few less buttons to click means I can focus on the fight more and stare at my hotbars less - if they wanted to make mage’s ballad stronger again, just increase potency of bloodletter. That said, I do agree that they should revert the apex arrow/blast arrow window to 30 seconds. Thanks for the video!

[@djibber]

I also think they could eliminate DOTs in the way that they currently exist an incorporate them into something else… like maybe bloodletter a during ballad have a 50% chance to add a stacking DOT or something. New idea and it would make it feel less trivial to apply DOTs.

[@djibber]

That way you could get like, up to 45/90 seconds of dot time to carry you through to the next mages ballad of you consistently fire of bloodletters or something. It would feel very rewarding to go crazy with procs in mages ballad and give DOTs a new sense of purpose.

[@OSAlula]

Considering you keep up DoTs 24/7 anyway, I really don't think it's a headache at all. Being able to DoT 2 enemies in trash and getting insane RoD procs is super nice too, and now Bard feels so slow even at its best because of the removal of double procs

[@xyz69asaurus]

The issue with the very strict rotation to get the most out of the two minute burst window is a problem I'm having as a Dragoon player as well. It feels like mistakes in the rotation are harder to come back from, and it has me liking the combat in Endwalker less than I did in Shadowbringers.

[@CherryVanityRawr]

Meh, i feel like bard has a lot more leeway for not following a rotation than people give it. Plus remember, as long as you clear how you do it doesn't matter!

[@HolySenpaiii]

That's why I play reaper, and war. So much room for flexibility.

[@cetonis2767]

Sound takes. I think most people are in the general "there's a lot to like, but a lot of problems" boat. I'd be stunned if any sort of DoT proc came back though, just because it seems very unlike SE. The best we can hope for is probably we get cut down to Caustic as a lone DoT, and Iron Jaws and/or Stormbite are redesigned in a way that interacts with it somehow. As much as anything, I don't understand what stopped SE from making the call on removing DoT procs much, much earlier - it's not like there was any surprising new feedback after the media tour that could have prompted it. Most of the issues with the kit feel like SE simply not having time to complete the rework as properly as they normally would.

[@t_seeker5616]

For me is ok that dots don't trigger repertoire but I don't like that they aren't connected to something else. I suggest to link dots to the soul voice gauge. Dots can have a 20% to increase of 10 units the soul voice gauge. In this way they remain important for the job

[@HotaruHikai]

Endwalker the quality of live expansion. when I started playing 14 back in ARR I looked at the jobs and said "BRD looks like fun" and I never looked back. its my baby, and over the years we've experienced some drastic changes, I learned how to dodge while casting my arrows in HW and oh boy do I miss my wide volley and flaming arrow. the changes they made in Shadwobringers, especially at the start when BRD's songs no longer buffed the party felt like they where taking its identity away from it in favor of DNC. Endwalker on the other hand has taken all of the jobs and is breathing new life into them, refining and defining the lines that make each job unique.

[@felipecatano3818]

Since i need the squadrons to finish leveling my grand company Bard will probably be the job that I’ll take to 60 to level them up

[@skroozscrungus6738]

If you want dot procs back, they need to REQUIRE that they are synchronized with rep windows. There is the potential to massively screw things up if they operate on their own timers.

[@0NBalfa0]

Something, Something... two charges on EA would have completely fixed EA drifting on just media tour bard but I digress.

[@ThatHomestar]

On one hand, I see the benefits of not having repertoire reliant on dots, but it feels like bard's losing its identity a little bit

[@Razenkawolf]

Ha i like that i am not the only one who returned to finish the ark with the class they started on in ARR but for me it was monk. Looking forward to that video

[@Kappaskas]

I am glad I like BRD again, my "og" SB main. Stuck on melee for the first tier but I know I will main BRD at some point this expansion... if they do not manage to rework and break it for some reason.

[@EternalBladeX]

Bard overall feels more comfy than it did in the past. Not having to be reliant on DoTs are nice but it of course comes with drawbacks of double procs, but at least you can get procs up during downtimes so you're not just left there without anything or you have to DoT every single add to get as much procs as possible to pad out your damage. I do admit that the changes to BL/Ballad really wasn't the best and it gimped that song pretty hard in general, but I didn't even expect much to begin with when I saw the Bard reveal so I'll take what I can get for now. Just curious to see what they plan to do with bard and their balancing in the coming patches.

[@sneakyderpster]

Bard is probably at its most consistent right now. Being reliant on DOTS can be a thing but would need a measure of consistency. Ad phases with dots procing song effects is just a nightmare as you need to apply them and then wait for them to work and you more often than not will kill the ads before you get your worth out of them. Also i dont need more buttons to press if im trying to manage dots, songs, cooldowns,procs, buffs while looking at boss mechanics.

[@sergel02]

I’m surprised how much I’m enjoying Bard lately. I always kind of liked it but never loved it. Changing the DoT timers to 45 seconds was a huge quality of life improvement for me.

[@one909]

I love Bard and Main Bard but the job very busy after EW. I still played for fun or dugeons. For Extreme and above I play SMN, SCH, DNC and WHM

[@twistedoni451]

i agree with happy's point of wanting DoT focused classes but i feel that the job fantasy of "bard" and "summoner" aren't really connected to DoTs so id like to see a new job focused on DoTs and with the dev teams thoughts when making reaper a maiming job its likely in my opinion that one of the jobs in the next expansion will be a scouting and there lies the chance for a DoT based job maybe saboteur (i know speculating on 7.0 jobs this early into 6.0 is basically useless)

[@GayLPer]

A curse mage of sort would make for a fun DoT class.

[@ZaphBot]

So glad there is no DOT reliance for AOE anymore, I just spam my AOE skills and ignore the DOTs after a certain amount of enemies.

[@SUScorporation]

I don't remember anyone talking about half of these changes in the media tour, the dot proc change is huge

[@BirdyistYT]

Bard just needs Potency buff for Bloodletter maybe?

[@oscara8454]

Can't say i mind the dot changes. Mostly because i don't have to dot mobs in big pulls now. Also we get procs during downtime.

[@SteveEsp3]

Just spitballing "what-ifs" but Bloodletters damage changed to function like sidewinder used to where it scales with how many dots are applied but also if you have both CB and SB applied then BL also applies it's own Bleed DoT which also contributes to scaling it's damage. Maybe have the bleed dot have a cool down where it can only apply every x amount of time

[@moto3112]

The new bard really makes me question switching from dancer. I still love DNC but bard is really fun

[@Residenteviladicted]

I had very similar thoughts to be honest. I was a bard/dancer main in ShB (bard being my prog job for raids and dancer for log runs) yet this time around, I’ve decided to stick to dancer exclusively. I really like these bard changes but, personally, I feel like bard will be the kind of job you really need to plan out your song rotation on a fight by fight basis (emphasis on “I feel like” as I still believe it’s a little too early right now to be 100% sure). I decided to go as a dancer (for both prog and re-kills etc) because it’s a lot easier to align technical step with other buffs vs making a mistake, messing up your song timers, and indirectly messing up your radiant finale windows (I.e. not getting the full 6% buff due to song misalignment). I feel like bard, this time around, will be trickier to maximize as you really need to pay attention much more to your song cycles.

[@Nman222223]

I’m calling it now, the DOTs will be eventually replaced by other skills, they are slowly being phased out, I would like to see more support abilities or if we keep the DOTs buff the damage to make them more valuable

[@Mina-Diamandis]

I’m glad they got rid of the dot mechanic, it felt like chores and it was one of the reasons i played dancer instead

[@stephbenson7340]

In any case this is my favorite iteration of bard

[@GreaterLiarbird]

You missed that Empryal Arrow causes a repertoire proc on cast i think. It’s something that happens now.

[@andybanan1992]

honestly i wish they would remove the dots for bard, and just generally make a complete dot based class. in most mmos i play i always play either tank ro DOT casters

[@amaruwilliams5455]

No…I love how the dots don’t fuck up the songs anymore. Like we cleaned our ears and now can hear our own songs and just benefit off procs normally now. So you’re kind of on your own with that bud

[@chrism6880]

I'd like to see a DoT spread ability, like SMN had before. I'm leveling bard right now and it doesn't even feel worth it to dot mob packs in dungeons

[@CTN404]

Bard…. I was afraid to lvl it up to 90 this expansion. It’s a job I always had high hopes for and it always felt awkward. This gives me hope

[@siri7005]

I think you pretty much nailed it here. Bard was the true dot job, always has been. For summoner it was never more than potency, and while they've had a lot of damage from it I don't think it makes it a dot job if it's nothing but damage. Bard has been the one with kit interaction, so it's really sad to see it go. Overall though it's one bad change and a whole lot of good ones, and the job is really nice now. The rigidness with songs is something I'd fix by making all songs 1 min duration 2 min cooldown (or maybe 115s). That way you can change the order of them during the course of a fight if needed instead of being wholly committed to one order from the moment the fight starts. It would also make dungeons more fun because it lets you cycle two songs for aoe and still have the best single target one ready for bosses, regardless of the speed your group goes at.

[@amediocremenace]

I like Bard in endwalker so far. The only thing I didn't understand was the fact that they fixed the issue of lost dps in Mages Ballad in 3 different ways when it only needed one. MrHappy mentioned two of them but they also fixed the issue with the fact that they removed dot synergy for Bard. Doing this made it so you couldn't get 2 procs at the same time. The other 2 changes: the 3rd bloodletter charge, cd reduced by half per proc; are just overkill. Edit: Just as a side note I would like for them to make Iron Jaw an ability and get it off the GCD. I doubt they will though. Thus my accidental Barrage>Iron Jaw will still be the dumbest goof you can make.

[@Castersvarog]

A part of me wishes, that there was a second proc chance that would reactivate repertoire. A second reroll if you will, with the standard 80% chance just by activating the songs normally and a second 40% chance that’s done separately. Tie it together with the Dots like it used to an it would make Bard a whole lot funner

[@amediocremenace]

@@Castersvarog I hope they do something like that. Because right now with Bard losing its synergy to it's dots completely I can't help but feel like they are going to get rid of them both in 7.0

[@Castersvarog]

@@amediocremenace I’m worried they’ll do that as well. Especially because of how often dots have been removed these past few expansions.

[@LeftButtCheek]

I'd love if songs applied DoTs in the same way they buff allies

[@Cassapphic]

As long as they refuse to give bard a bane equivalent, I’m glad the songs dont proc off of dots because it makes aoe actually tolerable. But if they do want to give bane I’d be happy to have that mechanic back.

[@mismismism]

Personally, I hope they just chop the DoTs and focus in on songs, psychic-ish kind of mind affecting abilities like a traditional Bard and really focus in on songs, support and loads of arrows and procs. I think the issue they keep running into with DoTs is just that the jobs they put the most focus on them with, don't match so they are forced to split focus with something else and it makes both seem forced together and weaker than they should be, why Dancer completely overshadowed Bard in ShB and SMN was always either way too strong or way too weak and clunky. I'd rather just see them introduce a true DoT job in the next expansion and go ham with the DoTs and debuffs there.

[@sergel02]

We haven’t had a caster or ranged job this expansion so I can see one or both of those being added, and definitely could see them being DoT jobs, especially since they took DoTs away from SMN. It would be nice if they added a ranged job built around DoTs and let Bard just play its music.

[@yabiyabi]

Hearing the irrelevance of DOTS???? DEEP DUNGEON!!! YASSS HERE I COME

[@RoxUnlimited]

The fact that bard still doesn’t have a bane equivalent and that they removed all the synergy leads me to believe next expansion we’ll see the dots removed from bard and probably get a true dot class

[@TheCooderix]

We've never had a true dot class, so not sure why they'd start now. But it is by far my favorite gameplay style, so only can only hope!

[@RoxUnlimited]

@@TheCooderix it would make sense because over the expansions they have slowly removed most classes dots and those that had interactions with dots (smn and brd) no longer have/synergies with them anymore

[@TheCooderix]

@@RoxUnlimited Alls i'm saying is that if we haven't had a dot class before and they're now removing dots, doesn't that signal that they're just outright removing dots altogether, not adding a single class that is dot focused? Depends if you're a half glass full, half glass empty kind of person I suppose.

[@polymniaskate]

As someone who is now progressing through the game (doing HW atm) as a Bard main, this is very reassuring. I remember when the job changes were announced BRD were the other meme job after SCH for feeling left out of the fun, but it turns out we were overly pessimistic - in particular I am so glad the songs buffs work on ourselves too because the lack of self buff was something that never made any sense to me tbh 😅

[@Mathew2190]

I like Bard, but i wish more MMOs gave us an actual bard like Rift did. I like support classes, add some buffs and do a bit of DPS as well, i know Rift is dead but i still love the way the Bard class was set up in that game

[@amaruwilliams5455]

MR HAPPY!!! NOW WHAT IF INSTEAD OF 40% chance on songs and 40% on dots (20% each) it’s just 60% chance on songs and 20% on dots (10% each) so it’s not a massive fall off if you can’t keep dots up or forget to reapply them but still can get a decent chance to gain stacks and build gauge. So it’s like doesn’t feel like such a reliant on dots anymore to be useful (as the bard) in combat which is probably why the changed it in the first place 🤷🏾‍♀️

[@Lin117]

How difficult would you say current BRD is to play (and learn) for a novice raider? I have a friend who is a first time raider this expansion and is having a very hard time with BLM (understandable) and wants to make a change to BRD, I don't really have much experience playing ranged myself as I've always been a melee or tank player so I'm not sure what kind of advice or tips to give him or how to gauge whether he's doing well or not.

[@uriel9777]

I really love bard and i'm looking forward to play it. But the job needs a revamp when it comes to it's effects...i'll die on this hill, but it looks like 3 different jobs.

[@jonesy9744]

In complete agreement about the BL/Ballad changes being not the greatest. The two nitpicks I still want are the two things they'll never in a million years add. First I want a DoT spreader. Like, its just going to be used for mobs. Lemme have it Yoshi P. The other thing is I still want Wide Volley back. I thought Ladensbite would be the fix. But god it feels so sluggish and boring to use if you aren't in Ballad getting RoD procs on top of it. And nothing feels worse than using Ladens 20 times and not getting a single shadowbite proc. Since bard lacks the kind of standard AoE combo that say gunbreaker would have, I would like to see perhaps Ladensbite combo into Wide Volley, maybe even have that slightly boost the chance for Shadowbite to proc.

[@Spartacus626]

I rather have a 3 button rotation, like melee classes that reapply your dots. So dot management is completely gone and the player can focus on procs, songs, and buffs

[@VisceralDementia]

As someone who hates dots, I wouldn't be heartbroken to see them go completely from the job.

[@qamarqammar7629]

Enjoying my BRD quite a bit. But I agree that the loss of DoT synergy feels odd. (Ex-wow longtime Afflock here, so I like my Dots). But I'll take it in exchange for not having to decide how much to DoT short-lived packs (and even shorter-lived as the expac wears on and people get gear) just to get Rain of Death procs in dungeons. I don't think game devs in general know where to go with DoT classes/jobs. MMOs move towards burst windows and away from complex but slower Dot snap shotting and swapping and spreading as in the old days. It's a trade-off. What concerns me more is the rigidity MrH mentions, where if things go south in any way, your 2 minute cycle becomes irrecoverable or diminished, and that this is now a feature of many jobs. I'd prefer a few jobs to chose from that were a little less rigid for those of us who prefer it. As for Mages ballad being nerfed, I can accept it. They always want us to cut something short, so it might as well be MB as anything else. Although the points MrH raises regarding this are quite fair.

[@RichieRK7]

I wish they gave bards a dot spreader like smn old ability, really annoying in trash mobs or fates when you can't use your dots even though you want to but it doesn't make sense to since you'd have to do them for each and every individual mob.

[@avyay9818]

The dots having become meaningless is sad, but otherwise, it seems like it will be very fun.

[@ZectorV1]

Little off topic but after experiencing the smn de-dotting i REALLY want sonic break gone. Feels so counterintuitive to waste a gcd on now with everything going on. Bard seems to be the last one left that doesn't have clunky bad dots

[@Kirianda]

This is very ignorant, because getting rid of sonic break removes a whole gcd during burst to pop 2 defensive cds, because of burst strike having continuation now, u lose an ogcd slot, so sonic break is actually a good thing now

[@markup6394]

Having the songs extended is truely a godsend. I, too, started this game as a bard but I'm more in favor of magic jobs. Still, Bard is special, but it has always been super busy and not very satisfying... Not done with leveling yet, but sofar the changes make the job fun :)

[@amaruwilliams5455]

@Mrhappy1227 so! For next expansion they should upgrade the songs in some way. As well as the dots! Maybe even add a effect to em or even an ability to be attached to it like a AOE spread! Maybe can be attached to the usage of the song gauge! We finally can hear our songs so why not that next since we’re the dot class now! And I’m LOVING the hardlight arrows they are going with and they should continue with it! With refulgent arrow to ladons bite to blast arrow! Feel they should upgrade rain of death as well as empyreal arrow damage wise and change the animations to match the new hardlight arrows they’re doing with! Oh! And Bloodletter too! Upgrade Bloodletter to 130-150 potency with new animation. Rain of Death to 120 potency with new animation. Empyreal Arrow to 230-250 with new animation. Refulgent Arrow is fine maybe a potency boost idk. Songs should get a percentage buff by like 1-3% pretty much within the 3-5% window. Raging Strikes to 20%. Natures Minne should be an AOE! And Sidewinder a buff to least 320-330. Maybe even a new animation. And that’s all!!! Since they seem to listen to your opinions if you agree or even have tweaks to what I just said then voice it! It’s my main and just ideas I got is all 🙌🏾

[@Sindal55]

What might have been a nice additon, without changing too much. Using "Ironjaws" superpowers your dots when they refresh. Maybe through a trait. "Using Iron jaws in the last 9 seconds of a dot transforms it the dot. Caustic bite turns into "Caustic Jaw" and Storm bite becomes "Storm Jaw". Increased potency or some additonal perk" Might even make iron jaws light up on your bar, to incentivce you. Thats a nice way to make dot upkeep 'rewarding' without changing them. I added the clause just to stop it from being 'apply dots, then iron jaws' instead of using it for it's intended refresh purpose. Or give it as sidewinder's effect, if you prefer.

[@mconfuddle4028]

Sounds like a cool mechanic for a Alchimist Job, when you use different "Potions" at the end of a general Dot it supercharged and refresh the dot and gives it different properties :0 that's a really cool concept Oo

[@knifewieldingwomen]

7.0, Bards will have dots deleted from its kit

[@minmoreal]

bard feels so goddamn good

[@Kalecism]

Maybe someone can answer me a Bard question as i'm currently leveling it to 80 and later to 90. With Enhanced Army's Peon do you go for Army's Muse or Ethos?

[@GayLPer]

You're over thinking it. One is just the stored version of the other, and activates as soon as you sing the next song

[@Kalecism]

@@GayLPer So the active effect of it is always the 10 second version and the 30 second is just the stored effect for later use? Ok feel like the wording could be better on the tooltip but maybe it's just me

[@aoistrawberry]

sb bard is still the best one, but i gotta say: ew bard feels a LOT less awkward than shb bard, as mentioned in the video. not as disjointed. finally it all comes together... but dying at the wrong time really ruins your entire rotation. and im not a fan of that, it was easier to bounce back in shb. it makes going into new fights a bit less fun, when you are always so super focused on lining everything up for the next 120s window. :/

[@themagicalcat6828]

Does anyone know mathematically whats the average percent a bard boosts their party’s dps by? Over a full rotation?

[@apharys8921]

Idk about that but looking at fflogs for the current raid tier their personal dps is about 7130 and total with buffs (at max percentile) is a little over 8360 so they gain about 1.1-1.2k dps from their buffs on the party. If you say dps avg about 8k dps, tanks 5.5k and healers 4k (also numbers from fflogs) that's 43k for everyone but the Bard and if 1.15k is gained from that then that's a total increase of about 2.6% rounded down.

[@54fedase90]

I thought I was the only person having troubles with 2 minute buff window on second ex add faze starts at 2 min and it feels really bad on monk to not being able to do phantom rush in that window

[@EternalBladeX]

Second ex really forced me to prolong my song to full duration to avoid it ending early or wasting buffs before the boss went untargetable and add phase starts. It's really awkward but I got used to it after awhile of doing the fight.

[@Crystan]

My personal issue with Bard is it's a one-button job for so much of its rotation. Aside from the initial firing of your DoT's and topping them up with Iron Jaws, most of your skills are on at least a 60 second timer. You'll be throwing throwing in the odd Empyreal Arrow, and Straight Shot proc, but Burst Shot is your main form of attack. You've got barrage, which feels great to land, you've got songs Wanderers which lets you fire stacks of Repertoire at your opponent's face (though only worth it with 3 stacks imo), but for the most part it's just Burst Shot. Both Machinist and Dancer have combos they can fire off, which makes them feel far more fluid for your ranged combat than Bard does currently. It's a shame, because Bard was one the first physical DPS job I ever levelled (simply for its mobility at the time) and I want to like it far more than I currently do.

[@Crystan]

Addendum: Yes, I realise there's bloodletter, but it's not a particularly exciting skill. Not only is it rather low in strength, it's just a simple weave skill. Both of which are present on Machinist and Dancer WITHOUT sacrificing their combo skills as well. I guess it just feels like a job with little to do once the bursts are gone and the DoT's are up.