Is Bard Boring?

[pleb]

I was originally planning on playing a BRD/WHM, but the more I think about it, the more boring BRD seems.

The problem is that it seems like BRD does not have to react very much to what happens in the fight. It seems predetermined what the best moves for a BRD is. What I'm saying is you always want ballad on the mages for example. If you're fighting an enemy that always uses fire, put the fire defense up. Etc.

It seems like leveling a BRD would get repetetive. Am I wrong?

I consider WHM right now to be pretty enjoyable, because if things go wrong it's my quick thinking that makes or breaks the party in terms of the order I heal people. I also like the challenge of healing the maximum hp without getting hate.

[StarRealms]

Repetitive yes maybe, but I think eventually all jobs become like that-- whm might even be worse because they usually focus on just curing.
Boring not at all, as a bard you must be constantly moving and bards are almost always doing something.

[peptile]

yeah bard is so repetetive, im so happy im a warrior.... attack -> provoke -> wait -> provoke -> wait -> next creature! -> attack -> provoke -> wait.... etc

NOT

bard takes so much thinking, you have to be on top of it always! if you start slacking off, the group downtime will go up, and if thats the case they might as well ditch your sorry ass for another hard hitter or healer.

If you want a killer support class which requires you to DO stuff, pick bard, if you want to be repetetive and hit your provoke macro every 30 seconds, be a warrior.

[Teffie]

Yes OMG

BRD = The Macro Masters

You need SO many Macro's when playing a BRD, its unbelieveable.
And you have to switch constantly, and run around constantly, moving the camera, anticipating your next move..

Its SO much Work

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Macro Bar looks like this

Macro Set#9
ALT - Light | Dark | Earth | Fire | Wind | Water | Thunder | Ice | Magic Finale | Mambo
CTRL - Light | Dark | Earth | Fire | Wind | Water | Thunder | Ice | Foe Lullaby | Hoard Lullaby

ALT = Threnody Songs
Ctrl = Carol Songs

Macro Set#10
ALT - Paeon I | Paeon II | Minuet | Minne | Requiem | Madrigal | Ballad I | Ballad II | Soul Voice
CTRL - Sighted | CHR | MND | INT | Dagger | Signa Staff | Harp1 | Harp2 | Flute1 | Flute2

Sighted = Regular /p command for < t> Sighted!
CHR = Song that raises CHR
MND = Song that raises MND
INT = Song that Raises INT
Dagger = Switch to Dagger-Weapon
Signa = Switch to Monsters Signa Staff
Harp1/2
Flute1/2 = Switch to specific instrument

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have to constantly switch macro sets by holding Alt or Ctrl and pushing Up, Choose the Macro while still holding Ctrl/Alt when it pops up again, Push down to go back to my original Macro Set.

I don't have any room for /emote Macro's

Believe me... BRD Requires you to think.. ALOT.
WHM and BLM are basically standing still and hitting a macro button..
BRD is all that, with a whole lotta running and remembering.
You'll be like "Did I give the casters Ballad yet? How long till it wears off?"

I found myself unable to have discussions in my LS cause I'd forget to sing song's to my :sweat:

Its a tough job.. but somebody's gotta do it!

[Silkiv]

What is a Monsters Signa Staff? Sorry for the newbie question. :sweat:

[pleb]

Thanks for the replies. I've started playing Bard and I like it a lot

Teffie, here's a tip for you and remembering songs played. You could have your macros like this:

Sword Madgrigal:
/ma "Sword Madrigal" <me>
/wait 20
/wait 20
/wait 10
/echo Sword Madrigal in 10 seconds.

Granted, I am a Bard newb and there might be something seriously wrong with this approach, but I find it helpful. The mulitple waits are because FFXI didn't like waiting 50 seconds for some reason.

[pleb]

Monster Signa is a staff of +8 CHR, very low attack, -5 VIT (I think), and some other smaller effects. Basically, it is perfect for holding as your weapon when you play songs but it costs 280,000gil on my server.

[Seance]

WHM and BLM are basically standing still and hitting a macro button..

ifEZ, hehe I wouldn't say Whm is standing still hitting macro's! Whm is stressful at times. When to use benediction, when to use curaga, albeit I think BLM is about hitting macros :sweat:

[shuurajou]

I'm a BLM and I never use Macro's. With Macro's I cannot see the countdown timer untill my next spell is ready; I kind of queue up spells if you were - at least I've found it the most effective way of casting as far as possible.

Example:

I cast Thunder.

As I'm casting Thunder, I'll select Blizzard and target the enemy.

When the mana clouds disperse from casting Thunder I'll cast blizzard.

I'll then hover my selection over Thunder watching it cool down.

As soon as it hits zero I'll cast it.

Repeat...

For an example video, have a look at this post here

[Kweh]

Originally posted by Seance


ifEZ, hehe I wouldn't say Whm is standing still hitting macro's! Whm is stressful at times. When to use benediction, when to use curaga, albeit I think BLM is about hitting macros :sweat:

Stress? You cast those during near end battle / downtime

[Pullo]

Macros shortcuts

You can organize repeatable macros by simply using the timer. One Macros (ie: Control+1) can have up to 3 commands. I would think that this would work well for a multi-tasking Bard (and any other class for that matter).

Ex: I am a BLM21 and I usually know what i want to do when fighting an IT creature in a party. My role as the parties BLM is to soften the creature up for the Warriors and later to Nuke the hell out of it! So this is one of my standard Macros chains.

Macros 1: Control+1
/ma Shock <bt>
/wait 6
/ma Rasp <bt>
/wait 5
/ma Bio <bt>

Macros 2: Control+2
/ma Thunder <bt>
/wait 7
/ma Blizzard <bt> Deals ice damage to an enemy.
/wait 7
/ma Fire <bt> Deals fire damage to an enemy.

This keeps your spellcaster casting spells one right after the other. Doesn't work if you are trying to organize a Skillchain. But it does work well if you find yourself casting the same kinds of combos over and over again. (FYI the timer might be off by 1 or .5 points, can't remember the details from the top of my head).

[Talisien]

<bt> ?

[SyNapSe]

<bt> = battle target. It will only target the monster your group is attacking.

[DipNSniff]

Bard is actually the opposite of what you think It's the least repetitive and the most skill requiring job out there. If you think White Mage is fun because you have to keep on your toes and such... give Bard a try (well the low levels are kind of repetitive, but you will soon find it very challenging). A Bard is like twice as fun (read: stressful) as a White Mage

Examples...

Keep the proper cycle order of songs on the people they should be on at all times (this is probably what you're imagining, but even this isn't repetitive as the cycle can change).

If you are /Whm keep your eyes on the HP and bad status effects of party members (all that stuff you love about White Mage).

Keep an eye on the monster so as to know when to dispel it when it buffs itself.

Watch your surroundings such that you can tell the party to avoid adds (or sleep them if it's too late).

Sing your debuffing songs on the monster, and note when they wear off to recast them (Requiem and Elegy... i.e. DoT and Slow)

Sing a string of Therenedy (elemental debuff songs) to complement the next spell to be cast by a Blm, or the renkei effect.


When you played as White Mage you probably found it difficult to find the time to go to the bathroom... as a Bard you will find it difficult to find the time to blink

[Thingol]

Allong with everything said here, which I think is spot on, I can only add one thing about macros...

Indeed bards are (or must be) the macro masters. One thing I have found very helpful is to set your macros so they equip the gear you need for example for horde lullaby you would want all the chr you can get. I don't have a monster sig yet so here is my macro at the moment

/equip range "Royal Spearman's Horn"
/equip neck "Flower Necklace"
/wait 1
/so "Horde Lullaby" <t>
/p |Horde| |lullaby| --> |Area| |Sleepga| <t>

then for cure II I would have

/equip neck "Justace Badge"
/ma "Cure II" <t>
/p |Cure| II --> <t>

an so on... just saves those percious macro spots. Hey at level 34 I'm starting on my 3rd set ^^