So... Is BRD Useless?

I'll cut to the chase:

I feel like playing XI again... butttt I don't really feel like playing MNK or any other job than BRD. Is it worth me coming back in the games current state? Is BRD wanted or even needed any more? Do you think it will be in the future?

Is it worth making the empyrean harp? It looks good but I'm not sure what function it'll have other than getting a third ballad on seeing as most songs are going to be gimp as hell with it.

And finally, other than AF3+2 what gear would you deem essential for a BRD with below average gear to catch up? Is it worth making an emp staff or just get HQ ele staffs?

I'm pretty sure I know what Atma I need.

Thanks

Brd is needed if you want to cover all bases for yellow triggers on aby nms

From shorthand experience, all it has had use for is old school partying and trigger slaving on rare occasions for me. I wouldn't say AF3 is essential per se, but by glancing it looks incredibly useful. The empy harp is much like Ochain, incredibly amazing, but is it really worth it for a dying job?

As for an instrument, as a minor suggestion, I've heard one of the better ones is dropped by the hippogryph in Grauburg(S), especially for sleep/ga. An incredibly useful utility tool to have at hand.

BLM/BRD!

I've not bothered looking at BRD since the cap originally went up, but: It's not "essential" now, though it's still fun to have around for the sake of making things even easier, I doubt you'll have any trouble finding any group because most people still like having BRDs.

This. Without brd you can only cover 90% of yellow max. (unless you bring a blm/brd)

I can't tell you how annoying it is to try to trigger and the monsters weakpoint is the one ws/spell you don't have.

Yea never thought about blm/brd.
I wouldn't want to have to be the blm to sub it tho =P
If you like brd tho, play it.
Like Hitetsu said, there are still plenty of people that don't mind having a brd around.

Ignoring Yellow procs (for which yes, brd is still useful)
Until Haste 2 comes out, brd is necessary to reach the haste cap. And Elegy doesn't hurt either.

this^^

cor is the job that got screw up n been use less. in 4month of event i was never asked to cor but at least 5time to brd lol. as for the gear i dont have the best gear but atm af3 is pretty good, got lucky on a augment belt from add-on fight. there sum cheap n easy instrument to get if u dont want to work on empyreal harp.

blm/brd work too but sumtime u cant land it w/o ES n with 10min recast it can b annoying

*** aby. They're still awesome outside of it.

BLM/BRD will never land without ES (outside the 5% accuracy bracket), which is why you determine your weakness beforehand and then hope your BLM is good enough to be able to time between WS/Spells (not that it's hard to do on most mobs), the only time that should be a major issue is when you have a mob where regular attacks count as TP moves (Hrosshvalur for example).

We always bring brd to stuff. Hoarde lullaby is still the fastest source of aoe sleep and the other lullabys are great for crowd control. Finale is still the fastest recastable light based dispel and several NMs absorb all buffs and need to be dispelled rapidly. 2nd tier carols are excellent on some mobs, and marches are still quite useful as well. Then you have the fact that a brd/whm doubles as another healer thanks to atma refresh.

BRD is very usefull.

2x March
For Lullaby
Foe Lullaby2
Horde Lullaby (cannot interrupt these, unless stun, sleep, knockback)
Elegy
Carols
Yellow trigger spells
Mambo
Extra cure here and there.

Whenever I go BRD, I can also pull very efficiently, sleep adds with almost no recast time on sleep spells (5/5 merit and 3 sleep songs), and most importantly, in some situations the Carols can reduce a monsters potential 1-shot-1-kill attack to a managable level.
BRD is far from dead, don't let abyssea's low man mentality get to you. If you do events in group, a BRD is a welcome addition, ALWAYS!

bard is still useful, but i'd put it on a second tier, after the always-mentioned blm/blu/war/whm/mnk/nin/thf. for abyssea obviously. i'd put brd with jobs like dnc/drg/whatever-else-gets-a-crit-ws, which is a tier higher than jobs like rdm/sch/pld/drk/sam.

gear was never really an issue for brd, and still isn't. i wouldn't really deem anything "essential." you should be fine with what you have, but new stuff is nice. empyrean harp is worth making if you like bard, third song is pretty amazing imo. if by emp staff you mean a magian staff, i'd say no, they might be technically better but a) they still don't have the utility of hq staves, and b) a lot of work for an upgrade brd doesn't need atm.

skimmed, didn't see it mentioned but i think you only need the harp on for the third song, if that wasn't clear. so you can sing two songs with a +song whatever instrument, then sing whatever third with the harp. there's probably info lying around somewhere about it if you're interested.

XD only went blm/brd like twice so far, all low NM in abyssea except latest expansion can land song w/o ES tho its hard but for other yea its impossible n with mob like hrosshvalur or giant smiter etc.. make that combo too much annoying to play which explain y brd still use a lot.


blu with dream flower make it a strong sleeper (i always have it up for O ***situation :P). team that with whirl of rage or actinic burst make it hard to interrupt. spell easily up b4 mob awake tho its a dark spell so u would need to set sheep song or yawn if u want light sleep. when we r on !! mode i side heal(sadly cant target alliance with blu spell tho im 90% of the time /whm or /rdm) till they found weakness.

BRD is a good job for a mule.

Full timing BRD in this day and age seems like the most boring, least rewarding jobs you could pick.

mmmmmmm brd :Q~

a great brd will never b bored, between buff lullaby cure/ss n !! there not a lot of time.

the only reason i could think y u said that its bcuz u aint fighting mob which i agree that can b boring. that y my brd almost retired XD tho i keep gear for emergency

I've landed songs BLM/BRD BLU/BRD WHM/BRD a decent amount to use it instead of inviting another person to have to let lot stuff so I dont see where u get only 5% of the time you will land it

I would also like to know where the -only- 5% came from. I know there's a native 5% chance for a spell to land provided the mob isn't completely immune, but I can land songs as BLM/BRD a LOT more often than 5% of the time without ES. I do have a rather high amount of MACC on my gear though, which probably helps. But I'm always confused when people tell me I only have a 5% chance of landing as BLM/BRD, because I can probably land about 75% of my songs.

Which area though scars or the other two ?

Bard is still useful but it depends on how you play. If you want to stand around and just play songs, ok go for it. Personally I find that incredibly boring.

I'm on bard most of the time in my trio group. I main heal as BRD/WHM and it works very well. The trio consists of me (always bard), a NIN or THF, and a BLM or DRK. They change jobs depending on if we are killing for red proc or for yellow proc. I use minikin/harmony/matriarch. For the most part I never run out of mp and if I'm getting low there are always ethers.

I am working on the Daurdabla because I think it is worth it. With this I can keep marchx2 on the tank and give them a carol if necessary, or an evasion song, or a minuet, etc. A third ballad is usually not necessary but always an option.

Edit: If you want to main heal get the cure potency staff. For AF3 pretty much all of it is good. The feet make you run 12% faster! The other pieces also enhance your songs or reduce casting time.

EDIT: On atmas I meant apocalypse, not matriarch. Sorry!

dont forget serpentine cuffs/sabots that give refresh/regen n cure potency +5%

brd is a great low man job in abyssea I duo most things on NIN + BRD with refesh atmas and some potancy gear your as good as a healer as a rdm and with double march / mambo depending on the NM your not taking much damage anyway. Easy way to get all your seals / KI's ^^

No, its not useful. Anyone who disagrees is either too strung on bard to come to terms with their inability to fill any crucial role(which is likely, it is the bard forum after all), or simply does things with way too many people(also likely).

Also, lol@ farming seals with NIN and BRD. What's that, two out of twelve available grellow options? And no Treasure Hunter? That sounds productive.

Also, lol@ building a case on being as good a healer as a RDM, which is also an atrocious healer right now.

Really? I'm never bored with it

Wow, are you jealous of our marches or something? Lots of hate coming out of you.

Bard works well as a healer for evasion tanks. Hell it gives a lot more to evasion tanks than WHM or RDM. But hey if you want to completely disregard that and call it useless, thats your opinion. However, your opinion is not a fact so stop acting like it is.

I should have probably been more specific..

Discounting MAcc from Atmas and Gear, you're going to have a 90~95% resist rate on practically any song /BRD.

Obviously, adding ~40 levels worth of MAcc (Atmas) is going to help you land, but your nuke potential (not all that important if you're purely there to proc) is going to be much lower than setting Atmas to nuke things and make it hurt.

Going off the 3 highest Atmas listed for MAcc and using the same values as the MAB bonuses give:

Merciless Matriarch: Superior (I'm assuming +50)
Ultimate: Superior (again, I assume +50)
Heavens: Major (I assume +30)

Total of +130 Magic Accuracy, approximately 40 levels worth of Accuracy (giving you approximately a Lv.85 BRD's resist rate). Add onto there: Accuracy from Gear, Accuracy from CHR/CHR boost, Accuracy from Temp Items and it will all help lower your chances of needing ES.

I'll admit, I neglected to think about Gear/Items when I made my original statement, but I've yet to find a BLM/BRD that gears with full blown MAcc Atma (or gear for that matter) for the sake of Threnody's.

Without Atma/Gear/Temps, you're going to be trying to land Threnody with half the skill of a Lv.45 BRD, on Lv.90+ mobs. That would give you a ~5%ish hit rate.

In addition to singing songs, I find myself always lending a helping hand with healing. I haste a lot too. Help take off debuffs. I kinda follow a playstyle similar to white mage. So..

Get full cure potency Surya's staff.
Both pieces of Serpentes Set.
Augur's Body.
Pan's Horn.
Aim for full AF3. Including the accesories.
There's a harp (I can't remember it's name) gives Ballad+1
Mesmeric Cape
There's a CHR+8 belt too. Forgot that as well.


Hunting this stuff should keep you busy for a couple of weeks.

That Pan's Horn is probably one of the most essential. It is the best horn that suits it's situation. It'll probably be the hardest to get if you don't have a LS to take down/proc blue Pantokrator.

Cheers!

Adding 2x marches (or march/mambo) isn't going to be as effective as Dia3/Slow/Para/Blind + nukes in any duo situation where you can both exploit magical damage and don't need the curing power of WHM. If you need a WHM, then obviously there's no replacement.

I like BRD, but it's a convenience.

More for farming KIs but I can solo quicker then most groups and I refuse to go in gimp pickup group that always want me on a HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE job and kill at the speed of a naked lv1 1 pup.