Where are all the Bards?

Foofighter

Foofighter

Limit Breaker
Adventurer
Joined
Dec 22, 2004
Messages
435
Server
Quetzalcoatl
FFXI
Foofighter
I am quite confused as to the lack of bards in this game. In my experience a bard is the difference between a good party and a great party. Also, if I am forming a party a bard is the first person I look for to see if they are available. I am pretty sure that this is the most wanted job in an experience party.

My question is then why are there so few bards? I have been doing a lot of solo stuff lately and keep myself occupied by searching jobs and areas and seeing what is most common job and what not. Other than Dragoons, the bard is the least common job. It just baffles me. Is it boring? expensive? too difficult? Please someone give a dumb melee like a me a clue as to this.
 
It's not that there is a lack of BRDs, more than anything is, that they level so fast, you can never find one on the level range you're leveling. Do a /sea on all the BRDs on the server, and notice how most of them are already 75, it's the same with NINs and RDMs. Tho indeed, not many BRDs overall, and the ones that are there are usually too high for you.
 
That just reinforces my question. It is one of the easier jobs to level because they are in demand, yet, there are so few around. You would think there would be more. /sea all bard and there is 1/8 that of rdm. Still a large gap even if you consider pre30 rdm and mules.
 
/sea all BRD
Search result: 37 people found in all known areas.
 
Foofighter said:
I am quite confused as to the lack of bards in this game. In my experience a bard is the difference between a good party and a great party. Also, if I am forming a party a bard is the first person I look for to see if they are available. I am pretty sure that this is the most wanted job in an experience party.

My question is then why are there so few bards? I have been doing a lot of solo stuff lately and keep myself occupied by searching jobs and areas and seeing what is most common job and what not. Other than Dragoons, the bard is the least common job. It just baffles me. Is it boring? expensive? too difficult? Please someone give a dumb melee like a me a clue as to this.
Click to expand...

Bingo,
Most poeple would rather be in a more active role in a pt. Bard is restricted to soley buffing and enfeebling the mob, although there are a few who'll break out a sword and start smacking the mob.

The equipment is dirt cheap in all but a few cases.

If anyone tells your Bard is a difficutl job to play, they're lieing. There is nothing hard about gageing(sp) wich spells get priority, and the range of a song on flute or harp.
 
Foofighter the bard - What do ya think? Only problem is I will have to take my level 11 whm to 37. That would be scary for those I would be healing. :shock:
 
The only thing that kept me from trying Bard is that I would have had to level Whm to 37. Although I always wanted to get Bst to 75 and I had solo'd White Mage to ~20 with a Bst sub. The few times that I've been in a party with a bard everything went really well.
 
I played Bard to 41 before I quit. It just wasn't for me, it left me mentally wrung out. It's not a difficult job really, it's just that after a good xp party I left with the feeling like I'd been running on a treadmill for 3 hours straight. Because that's really all you do. Run to mages, sing ballad and etudes. Run to melees, sing madrigal and minuet. Run back a bit, sing elegy and requiem. Wait to see if you need to dispel or cure. Threnody before MB. Repeat for 3 hours.

I'm sure that things may be slightly better when you have a wider array of songs to sing, and a party willing to position themselves (and STAY there) to utilize BRD skills fully. The fact that you don't get a short break between pulls like the mages do was also a downside for me. Our static is pretty fun and chatty, but I never got to join in the banter when I was playing BRD cause I always had some song that needed to be reapplied. So I went back to RDM, heh.
 
Quick to level?????

Ha! I have mine stuck at lvl 28 right now. When I first took it up I got to lvl 26 with it and got a little frustrated and gave it a break. Went back to it a month ago and it took forever just to get to lvl 28. Very weak parties in the jungles at the time. No BLM's anywhere. It's all DDs.

I do like the job, but seem to be stuck in a rut with it.
 
I may be mistaken, but I'd bet most bards use /anon to stop all the /tells, so there may be more than you think.
 
I think Fellina hit it with the "Stay Put!" part. BT, Hunnies and I have been leveling WHM BRD BLM and it never fails even rank 10 people with multiple level 75 jobs do not understand to stand still with a bard. Every pull they re-arrange themselves, and inch closer and closer to the mage line. So we explain why they should stay there and how itis harder for everyone if they keep fidgeting arround. 5 minutes later they are standing on top of me and BT again.
 
kodi said:
Quick to level?????

Ha! I have mine stuck at lvl 28 right now. When I first took it up I got to lvl 26 with it and got a little frustrated and gave it a break. Went back to it a month ago and it took forever just to get to lvl 28. Very weak parties in the jungles at the time. No BLM's anywhere. It's all DDs.

I do like the job, but seem to be stuck in a rut with it.
Click to expand...
It took me a while to get mine to 40, but after 55, you practically just have to log on and you'll get an invite.
 
Bard doesn't really pick up 'till Ballad II. 40-50 are the slowest lvls because Refresh has an advantage over ballad, so if a pt would want a Bard, they would have either 2-3 mages, or a lot of melee.
 
Aerandir said:
I know that I'd rather be slapping a mob around, rather than playing a flute.
Click to expand...

BRD to the woman at the bar: Hey babe, wanna blow my flute?

<.<; couldn't resist.
 
my brd is 55... i log on get a pt... but the fact lots of pts suck now adays im scared to play brd ~.~
 
I went through a bard phase. Bought all the gear and got to level 17 before losing interest for some reason. It wasn't boring per se. Half the time I didn't even know what chain# we were on though. It's like you go into a trance and come out a few hours later with xp, and you can't remember having done anything in particular to get it besides throw some stray cures.

General consensus from the people who aren't imbalance hunters is that bard is a little too boring even with the god-treatment to supplement it. So it's rather like whm...generally thought to be boring, so it takes a special kind of person who likes its attributes. That, or it takes someone who only plays "in" jobs regardless of how much they like it.

I thought bard was interesting, but then again I haven't dished out MP etudes with mine yet. I'm sure that **** gets old fast.
 
The problem with good and decent bards is that they level too quickly. A good bard who is level 50 today, with 1-3 hours of playtime a day, will be 56 by next week. At the same time you, let's say a level 50 samurai, playing that same 1-3 hours a day, will be lucky if you even get a party during that time. So it becomes nigh impossible to find a good bard at any level shy of about 70 for more then a day or 2 at best before they are gone, and you again are bardless.

And on a related note: has anyone else noticed the stark decline in quality of today’s middling level bards? I have encountered 2 in past week who I would call a waste of a party slot. I credit this to my above point, but if anyone else has any thoughts on this...?
 
I've thought about leveling BRD to get back into the party scene after such a long time as a BST, but I've got all sorts of equipment for NIN, RDM, and THF sitting in my (and my mule's) MH's. I don't have any more room for new equipment. XD
 
Bard is one of the busiest jobs (competes with rdm), but it is also one of the most non-reactive. Your routine changes the least out of all jobs with the exception of links. I personally found playing melee to be dull just doing auto attack with a sc every other fight or so, and that's why I love brd. Brd with a flute just doesn't get the glory that comes from playing the knight in shining armor or the warrior shredding up monsters. It also fails to garner the glory held by mages, masters of magic. It sits in the middle, and is so supportive like whm, that it just isn't too popular among many rpg players.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top