It is extremely repetitive, although I have to say that it gets exciting when there's a crappy whm or a RDM healer, because then you get to cure more. It's not bad really, and pretty much not frustrating at all once you get into parties who know what they're doing. It's frustrating to play as a melee and keep missing. With bard you don't have time to care if your song gets resisted, you move on and try again later. It's busy, it's not hard, and it's constant activity. The good thing is you don't have to pay that much attention so you can chat with friends and the like. Anyway, that's why I like it, but as for why people don't like it, I think Rones hit the nail on the head.
Where are all the Bards?
- Thread starter Foofighter
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While I spend most of my time as BST, I play BRD to keep me in the party scene. There are times that I need a break from BST, and BRD was my natural choice since some of the lower level gear is the same. I wanted a job that got fast invites, wasn't too expensive, and had good use in end game events. I got to 50, and I get more invites than I can shake a stick at. I got a tell asking to party a couple of weeks ago before my /lsmes came up. Holy crap. :surprised: I usually set my search comment to say no party or go anon. So I would not rely on the /sea all bard to give you an accurate number of bards, only a good count of ones that are getting asked to party. :wink:
Bard is alot of repetitive work, but it's a job that I can play while having a beer. Something that only get's me in trouble when I drink and charm. :lol:
Bard is alot of repetitive work, but it's a job that I can play while having a beer. Something that only get's me in trouble when I drink and charm. :lol:
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I think brd is really boring to play.
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Ok I am in the process of getting my bard to 75 (73 atm). Honestly the reason that you can never find bards is a series of reasons:
1. The job is not necessarily boring but it is tideous. Whomever said the hours on a treadmill thing got it right.
2. The job never changes. From 10-75 this is your job debuff mob buff party buff mages. cure as needed (with 180 mp at 75). Ony major change is etudes to Ballad 2
3. Required almost to be anon 24/7 and you'll still get tells. If im in jueno and i dont want to get 50 tells i will switch jobs to thf just so i can sit in piece.
4. Although all the equiptment is cheap, inorder to be a good bard that can adapt to your party you have to carry around a ton of gear to parties. When i go to a party i usually carry around 47 pieces of gear including food, medecines, instruments, elemental staves, MP gear, Chr gear and +skill gear.
5. A good bard also lives by macros. Every piece of equiptment that i carry around gets macroed in so that each one of my songs has the greatest effectiveness.
6. Made it from 1-70 in 3 months playing like 4-5 hrs a day on average. :twisted:
1. The job is not necessarily boring but it is tideous. Whomever said the hours on a treadmill thing got it right.
2. The job never changes. From 10-75 this is your job debuff mob buff party buff mages. cure as needed (with 180 mp at 75). Ony major change is etudes to Ballad 2
3. Required almost to be anon 24/7 and you'll still get tells. If im in jueno and i dont want to get 50 tells i will switch jobs to thf just so i can sit in piece.
4. Although all the equiptment is cheap, inorder to be a good bard that can adapt to your party you have to carry around a ton of gear to parties. When i go to a party i usually carry around 47 pieces of gear including food, medecines, instruments, elemental staves, MP gear, Chr gear and +skill gear.
5. A good bard also lives by macros. Every piece of equiptment that i carry around gets macroed in so that each one of my songs has the greatest effectiveness.
6. Made it from 1-70 in 3 months playing like 4-5 hrs a day on average. :twisted:
BRD is like the FFXI highschool marching band....Everybody loves them, but nobody wants to be them :roll: :lol:
Playing Bard at lower levels is fun. Every party is pretty much different, so in other words when you switch parties you get to do differnt things.
The problem happens when you are either in a static, or play for hours upon hours in the same party, like in high level play. It gets really boring doing the same thing over and over. :?
The problem happens when you are either in a static, or play for hours upon hours in the same party, like in high level play. It gets really boring doing the same thing over and over. :?
Major lol at Elenmire's screenshot.
Also, here's a thought:
Bard is hardly ever used as a subjob. Thus, you don't get the same proliferation up to 37 that you do with nin, blm, whm, war and thief, for example (not that those jobs are always common; they're just useful subs to a lot of people).
Also, here's a thought:
Bard is hardly ever used as a subjob. Thus, you don't get the same proliferation up to 37 that you do with nin, blm, whm, war and thief, for example (not that those jobs are always common; they're just useful subs to a lot of people).
Well I played Bard to 75 and here are the pros and cons:
1. it's the worse soloer of this game (yes, even whm is better. Hexastrike 4tw). Well sure I can solo a T just because I can sleep it endlessly with 100 percent success but it will take me 1hr to kill it.
2. somehow, I never realized why Bards were so great before I levelled a melee job high enough and saw my damage and/or accuracy go up like crazy. It's funny how when u're Bard, you think you sing endlessly without a point, but having a Bard in a PT is just amazing (unless you end up with ballad and spirited etude as WAR, which btw is what half the bard out there end up doing, which reduces the good bard count even further). So people all other the world, be sure to tell the bard exactly how they help you and congratulate and stuff so they have the courage to go to 75...
3. it's the busiest job ever, especially at high level roaming PTs (pulling/buffing/debuffing/sleeping/staying alive), or with gods (Minuetx2/ MND etudes on 4 MNKs, rotating people in PTs...). And frankly, it gets exhausting.
4. whatever other job you level after you get Bard to 75, your LS will always want you on Bard for events and that really really sucks.
5. somehow, besides 1 or 2 BCNM/KS, the rest is better done with BLM using sleepga (for bigger AOE/sleep time). BRD are bad at farming, they don't kill fast enough. That means money-wise, you'll suck. Better get started on a craft.
6. the only "excitements" you'll get levelling up are:
lvl25 ballad
lvl55 ballad 2
lvl59(?) Carnage Elegy (really makes a BIG difference in mob attack speed)
lvl73 Mazurka
6.5 you'll have to melee Maat which is a fuckin joke since you're the worst soloer ever.
7. you get Mazurka at 73 and that my friends is amazing, I'd level bard all over again just for Mazurka lol
On the bright side:
0. after 55, you'll get an invite (or two, three) about 1min tops after getting online, even if you're not seeking. That means if you really want it, you can do 1-75 in a couple months at a reasonable rate.
Note: That happened to me: a JP having "JP ONLY" in his search comment (for some reason I had looked at his search comment before) started putting a PT together. Seeing I was the only bard, he took that off his search comment and invited me LOL (humility, do you need it?).
1. you're always wanted, except maybe between 41 and 54 where RDM is much better as refresher but then again, with minuet, fights go faster and the need for +2mp/tick is not so crucial I guess.
2. Bard is cheap. You don't need to spend millions to do your job well, scrolls are cheap too compared to other jobs.
3. you can equip full god gear and look pimp.
Conclusion:
Would I level bard again if I started from scratch? YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Would I level other jobs? Hell yes, Bard gets boring and you need a solo-job
1. it's the worse soloer of this game (yes, even whm is better. Hexastrike 4tw). Well sure I can solo a T just because I can sleep it endlessly with 100 percent success but it will take me 1hr to kill it.
2. somehow, I never realized why Bards were so great before I levelled a melee job high enough and saw my damage and/or accuracy go up like crazy. It's funny how when u're Bard, you think you sing endlessly without a point, but having a Bard in a PT is just amazing (unless you end up with ballad and spirited etude as WAR, which btw is what half the bard out there end up doing, which reduces the good bard count even further). So people all other the world, be sure to tell the bard exactly how they help you and congratulate and stuff so they have the courage to go to 75...
3. it's the busiest job ever, especially at high level roaming PTs (pulling/buffing/debuffing/sleeping/staying alive), or with gods (Minuetx2/ MND etudes on 4 MNKs, rotating people in PTs...). And frankly, it gets exhausting.
4. whatever other job you level after you get Bard to 75, your LS will always want you on Bard for events and that really really sucks.
5. somehow, besides 1 or 2 BCNM/KS, the rest is better done with BLM using sleepga (for bigger AOE/sleep time). BRD are bad at farming, they don't kill fast enough. That means money-wise, you'll suck. Better get started on a craft.
6. the only "excitements" you'll get levelling up are:
lvl25 ballad
lvl55 ballad 2
lvl59(?) Carnage Elegy (really makes a BIG difference in mob attack speed)
lvl73 Mazurka
6.5 you'll have to melee Maat which is a fuckin joke since you're the worst soloer ever.
7. you get Mazurka at 73 and that my friends is amazing, I'd level bard all over again just for Mazurka lol
On the bright side:
0. after 55, you'll get an invite (or two, three) about 1min tops after getting online, even if you're not seeking. That means if you really want it, you can do 1-75 in a couple months at a reasonable rate.
Note: That happened to me: a JP having "JP ONLY" in his search comment (for some reason I had looked at his search comment before) started putting a PT together. Seeing I was the only bard, he took that off his search comment and invited me LOL (humility, do you need it?).
1. you're always wanted, except maybe between 41 and 54 where RDM is much better as refresher but then again, with minuet, fights go faster and the need for +2mp/tick is not so crucial I guess.
2. Bard is cheap. You don't need to spend millions to do your job well, scrolls are cheap too compared to other jobs.
3. you can equip full god gear and look pimp.
Conclusion:
Would I level bard again if I started from scratch? YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Would I level other jobs? Hell yes, Bard gets boring and you need a solo-job
It's not so much boring really as it is busy, and to the people who claimed that they can talk to friends and such while playing it, I'd like to say you're a far better multitasker then I am. x.x; I guess it depends on the party and what jobs prefer. When I get a party, the first thing I do is ask the melee which songs they would like - if there is a Thief, I ask them if they would like Minuet + DEX Etude (most of the time, the answer being yes).
It depends greatly on how many extra songs your party wants (Etudes, Preludes, etc) and weather or not you have a Black Mage to burst. If I'm in a party with a Ranger and Thief for DDs, a Paladin tank, and mages being Black Mage and White Mage, I'm not going to have even a split second to type things to anyone unless someone goes AFK. In this scenerio, the Ranger will want Preludes, the Thief will more then likely want DEX Etude, and the Paladin will want Ballad during battle (I know it helped me when I played Paladin).
That doesn't factor in Finale, Threnody for the burst, and Elegy..... The regular buffs (Minuet and Madrigal) take a few seconds to cast, then preludes and etudes make it even longer. By the time I get all that off, the Ballads are waring off so I have to rush back there and reapply them, meanwhile watching for the mob to buff itself or for TP to be ready. By the time I get that off, the melee buffs are waring off. x.x;
If you have a Paladin tanking, then you have two choices: Either try to stick Ballad on them during fights or ask them to come to mages between fights....however if pulls are fast and the Paladin doesn't have much time to rest, then it might be best to at least try to stick it on him/her. I can most of the time, and ask the melees to stay near the back when they're building TP, but in the time it takes to possition myself for it, Ballad is already waring off the mages. It can get kind of tedious if people don't listen to you.
It's another story if the DDs are Dragoon and Monk with a Ninja tank and mages being Summoner + White Mage.....In that case, I may even get the spare few seconds to put up Stoneskin or rest MP, but it can still get very busy if there are links.
Also, there are moments when people may overestimate us. I was in a party at Onzozo once, but the whm was slow to cast Silena or Paralyna on the Ninja tank so I made macros and would do it myself with minimal MP and only having refresh when I casted it on mages =/ Once you cast the melee buffs, your Ballad is gone and if you have no time to rest, then this role will be hard. Then, the White Mage leaves and gets replaced with a Red Mage that is subbing Black Mage (so they couldn't cast Silena or Paralyna at all).....and not using staves. So I'm now pretty much the main healer as well and don't get refresh from the Red Mage. Not only then would I have that role, but also keeping the buffs up on the party and debuffs on the mob.
Range isn't that hard to get used to for you, but your party (and I know it's been mentioned once or twice in this thread) is going to want to move around a lot. Normally, if the melee don't listen to me and keep edging towards the mages, then I stop canceling it and just let them catch Ballad - they learn pretty fast. :wink:
Something that annoys me though sometimes is when I buff the melee as the mob dies and run to mages, but then the DDs have the urge to go sit by the mages waiting for the pull. I'll ask them not to unless they want Ballad and they move away, but after the next fight, they're right there again x.x; Also, if the camp is often crowded (thinks of Bibiki Bay) and pulls are long, then the melee buffs will more then likely ware before the puller gets back anyway, which throws everything off since songs only last 2 minutes (given they aren't overrided or zoned).
It was also mentioned before in this thread, but although the gear for the most part might not be expensive, a lot of it is prefered. x.x; At 73, I have 4-5 different instruments as well as all NQ elemental staves (macroed into all Threnodies and buffs) and food with me at all times. It's really easy to run out of space x.x; Escpecially if you're like me and have multiple jobs leveled high enough that your inventory is packed anyway.
~~~~~~
Some perks however:
I find it to be a fun job "^^" and very useful endgame. Out of all the jobs I have leveled, Bard is the most useful to the linkshell I am a part of and there are very few cases where I'll be asked to go to events as anything else.
Mazurka is very fun - if chocobos are too expensive, just Mazurka (depending on the location). 8) Just something fun you earn at 73. "^^"/
My guess as to why there are so few Bards on our server is that not everyone finds its qualities fun (you're always busy running around with little time to converse with others while doing so). When I played Dragoon and Warrior, I had the spare time while building TP to read LS chat at the very least.
Bard is a very busy job.
It depends greatly on how many extra songs your party wants (Etudes, Preludes, etc) and weather or not you have a Black Mage to burst. If I'm in a party with a Ranger and Thief for DDs, a Paladin tank, and mages being Black Mage and White Mage, I'm not going to have even a split second to type things to anyone unless someone goes AFK. In this scenerio, the Ranger will want Preludes, the Thief will more then likely want DEX Etude, and the Paladin will want Ballad during battle (I know it helped me when I played Paladin).
That doesn't factor in Finale, Threnody for the burst, and Elegy..... The regular buffs (Minuet and Madrigal) take a few seconds to cast, then preludes and etudes make it even longer. By the time I get all that off, the Ballads are waring off so I have to rush back there and reapply them, meanwhile watching for the mob to buff itself or for TP to be ready. By the time I get that off, the melee buffs are waring off. x.x;
If you have a Paladin tanking, then you have two choices: Either try to stick Ballad on them during fights or ask them to come to mages between fights....however if pulls are fast and the Paladin doesn't have much time to rest, then it might be best to at least try to stick it on him/her. I can most of the time, and ask the melees to stay near the back when they're building TP, but in the time it takes to possition myself for it, Ballad is already waring off the mages. It can get kind of tedious if people don't listen to you.
It's another story if the DDs are Dragoon and Monk with a Ninja tank and mages being Summoner + White Mage.....In that case, I may even get the spare few seconds to put up Stoneskin or rest MP, but it can still get very busy if there are links.
Also, there are moments when people may overestimate us. I was in a party at Onzozo once, but the whm was slow to cast Silena or Paralyna on the Ninja tank so I made macros and would do it myself with minimal MP and only having refresh when I casted it on mages =/ Once you cast the melee buffs, your Ballad is gone and if you have no time to rest, then this role will be hard. Then, the White Mage leaves and gets replaced with a Red Mage that is subbing Black Mage (so they couldn't cast Silena or Paralyna at all).....and not using staves. So I'm now pretty much the main healer as well and don't get refresh from the Red Mage. Not only then would I have that role, but also keeping the buffs up on the party and debuffs on the mob.
Range isn't that hard to get used to for you, but your party (and I know it's been mentioned once or twice in this thread) is going to want to move around a lot. Normally, if the melee don't listen to me and keep edging towards the mages, then I stop canceling it and just let them catch Ballad - they learn pretty fast. :wink:
Something that annoys me though sometimes is when I buff the melee as the mob dies and run to mages, but then the DDs have the urge to go sit by the mages waiting for the pull. I'll ask them not to unless they want Ballad and they move away, but after the next fight, they're right there again x.x; Also, if the camp is often crowded (thinks of Bibiki Bay) and pulls are long, then the melee buffs will more then likely ware before the puller gets back anyway, which throws everything off since songs only last 2 minutes (given they aren't overrided or zoned).
It was also mentioned before in this thread, but although the gear for the most part might not be expensive, a lot of it is prefered. x.x; At 73, I have 4-5 different instruments as well as all NQ elemental staves (macroed into all Threnodies and buffs) and food with me at all times. It's really easy to run out of space x.x; Escpecially if you're like me and have multiple jobs leveled high enough that your inventory is packed anyway.
~~~~~~
Some perks however:
I find it to be a fun job "^^" and very useful endgame. Out of all the jobs I have leveled, Bard is the most useful to the linkshell I am a part of and there are very few cases where I'll be asked to go to events as anything else.
Mazurka is very fun - if chocobos are too expensive, just Mazurka (depending on the location). 8) Just something fun you earn at 73. "^^"/
My guess as to why there are so few Bards on our server is that not everyone finds its qualities fun (you're always busy running around with little time to converse with others while doing so). When I played Dragoon and Warrior, I had the spare time while building TP to read LS chat at the very least.
Bard is a very busy job.
wow Ceres, you're lucky, I got 10 instruments (there are some I actually refused myself to buy for inventory space reasons and the fact I use them once in a blue moon) with me at all times and hardly more than 5 slots left with GB6... Not to mention 3 staves, 2 Torques (never noticed a huge improvement in using torques btw either a mob resists 19/20 times or resists 1/20 but I never had a mob resist 50/50 where torque makes a big difference).
but yeah, exp-ing as bard is committed and you only do that, you can't eat or call your friends at the same time, it won't work.
Btw, I gave up on threnody past 65 except for HNM, exp mobs don't resist on MB anymore (if BLM has proper equip), so that's one less song, but then again, it's true that for some jobs, WS modifiers are better than attack bonus so that's 1+ more song(s)... /sigh
but yeah, exp-ing as bard is committed and you only do that, you can't eat or call your friends at the same time, it won't work.
Btw, I gave up on threnody past 65 except for HNM, exp mobs don't resist on MB anymore (if BLM has proper equip), so that's one less song, but then again, it's true that for some jobs, WS modifiers are better than attack bonus so that's 1+ more song(s)... /sigh
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I have my BRD sitting at 32 right now, but oh my is it a busy job. I would play it more, but as has already been said by more than a few people:
1. I fall into a trance and forget how long I have been doing the same thing over and over again. (I do this with my RDM too)
2. It gets tiresome dealing with really bad parties all the time.
3. Anyone who's played THF to 30 knows the pain of teaching people who to set up for TA, imagine doing that in every party and the instructions being 5 times as long.
In short, I love my BRD. It is deffinately up to par in the busywork I need to enjoy playing, but sometimes it is even a little too busy. I am sure I would enjoy it more if the songs didn't all sound the same to me. :?
1. I fall into a trance and forget how long I have been doing the same thing over and over again. (I do this with my RDM too)
2. It gets tiresome dealing with really bad parties all the time.
3. Anyone who's played THF to 30 knows the pain of teaching people who to set up for TA, imagine doing that in every party and the instructions being 5 times as long.
In short, I love my BRD. It is deffinately up to par in the busywork I need to enjoy playing, but sometimes it is even a little too busy. I am sure I would enjoy it more if the songs didn't all sound the same to me. :?
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I agree that bard is easy, but why do so many bards suck at their job?Ryuoho said:
I wind up with bards that decide to play ballad with a harp to skill up their string instrument, hitting the melee with ballad.
Or a bard that finally plays elegy about 5 seconds before the mob dies.
Or a bard that plays madrigal when all melee are using sushi and we're fighting low evasion VT's.
Or a bard that plays 4 songs, then starts crafting mid battle.
Or a bard that wants to play etudes on everyone.
Or a bard that never refreshes songs on IT++ mobs that last more than 2 minutes.
I have NEVER had a bard in an exp party with me:
-cast barwatera against crabs or crawlers (crawlers use poison breath, water based attack)
-cast barfira against lizards, or any other mob with a fire damage attack
-cast barblizzara against tigers (aoe paralyze is ice based)
-hit my ranger with both prelude and minuet more than 50% of the time
-cast status cures regularly
-hit the pld and mages with ballad, while missing the melee, and hit the melee with buffs while missing the pld
The best bard I partied with pre-merit played elegy, double minuet for all melee including ninja tank, double ballad for all mages, and did almost nothing else. The best I've seen was mediocre, but I guarantee any of those crappy ones will get a party the second they put their flags up, assuming there's enough jobs to build a party available.
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Sure bard kinda sucks solo, but it's very powerful in a duo, speeding up the killing and reducing the downtime of any of those other great solo'ers, except for bst.Kalendor said:
I never took stouter to sky once after I hit 70 rng, although I went to many fafnir's as brd, which is no fun when you have taru sized hp and your ls is throwing TP at him like crazy with 5 rangers.
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Stouter said:
If I could answer that question, then the noob epdimec could be solved but sadly not even Bard is immune to it. At the lower lvl's I would check every Bard I saw to see what equipment they were wearing. But as I began reaching the higher lvl's I began to realize... "I have better equipment than all these other guys." People'll just pop on their RSE, a harp, and start seeking... as a Bard it disgusts me ><.
I have the oppostie effect when it comes to how much time I have. Sure there are a lot of spells to cast but those spells take a good 5 seconds to cast. Enough time for me to get a word in to my ls, especailly during double ballad.