"What does a Bard do?"

[Galaxia]

Hello Everyone

Now most of us on this forum know a little Bard can be the heart of a party. They take away alot of downtime and they keep up happy with there songs. Now in the dunes they are less effective but lets be honest they still make us happy. Now I am only a level 14 Bard but every so often I will always get one person in party that says "We don't need a Bard there useless till 25!" Now normaly this never bothers me because I know the party is hitting more and has more defence because of two little songs I play and the other 4 members of the party know it too. But that one person that we somtimes get doesn't get that yes we don't have the MP abilities yet but by been in a party with us they are getting the Melee benefits and they are brining more Bards to the game and into the Ballad stage. I will never say that a job isn't needed because if you take away all the glory and armor you will see atleast one thing that makes that job vital to a party.
Now I am not going to say the person in the party was "Lame, Noobie etc" because clearly they didn't understand what the Bard does so they can't be expected to see the benefits of it. Now this isn't just for Bards it's any job.

Sorry to bother you all just felt this had to be said

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: "What does a Bard do?"

I can't stand anyone who says "We don't need so-and-so job until whatever level!"

How do they expect the person playing such a job to get to that level where they become "useful" unless they buck up and invite them to party at earlier levels? Not everyone has the benefit of being the most useful job in Valkurm.

[Galaxia]

Re: "What does a Bard do?"

Yep exactly my point
They must thing lv 25+ Bards just pop up out of no where lol

[Icemage]

Re: "What does a Bard do?"

While bard songs aren't particularly strong until 12, bards actually do fairly decent melee damage up through level 20 or so if they have a good sword in hand. Overall, bard isn't one of the best jobs in the 10-25 range, but neither is it the worst (I'd rate THF lower than bard pre-sneak attack, and SMN isn't really anything to write home about until around 25 too).

Nonetheless, in those levels, it makes little difference what jobs you have as long as you have the basics (tank, healer, ddx2, etc) covered, It's really more of a player skill issue than a job ability issue, since most JAs and spells are of extremely limited value in that level range.


Icemage

[Galaxia]

Re: "What does a Bard do?"

Hiya Icemage
I respect your views on the matter but any job that can improve the
abilities of a party should be considerd a valueable add on to the party.
In no way am I saying that Bard is better then any other class because
that would be ignorant and a big miss judgement.
But you have to admit it would be a silly mistake not to add somone that
can make you hit more, do more damage and have more defence and even give
you a 3HP Standing Heal ove time. Also pre 25 I would consider Summoner
valuable too because of the Avatars.

[Rodin]

Re: "What does a Bard do?"

ROFL. Get a Mary's Horn, and you can sleep adds...which a BLM can't do until level 20. I even pulled with lullaby in the dunes. Yes, might sound crazy, but I did. My party was getting 240-250 xp per mob. The Japanese in the party started talking in plain English telling me how awesome the experience we were getting was. When pulling, I like to use Lullaby without Mary's horn. What I'd do was leave the fight early, go sleep the next mob, let the party rest. By the time the mob got there the party was usually ready, if not, Equip Mary's Horn, and sleep the mob until they are ready. Hope that helped, good luck.

[Icemage]

Re: "What does a Bard do?"

Actually I'm agreeing with you, but the operative point is those levels fly by so fast that it's really not a big issue. If people have misconceptions about how effective your job is, well, that just gives you all the more reason to prove them wrong, now doesn't it?


Icemage

[Balodoth]

Re: "What does a Bard do?"

Besides, there are other things you can do like Mambo the mages in case they steal hate. You can even melee from time to time and do halfway decent. I find it funny when someone insists on PLD or NIN in valkurm when those jobs have next to nothing to offer parties at that point.

I think what annoys me is when people invite bard pre-25 because there's actually one LFG as opposed to being useful to the party. I've been in a couple parties with one one or two melee. I'd Madrigal the mages in the hopes they'd figure out they need to adjust their party to take advantage of what I had to offer.

[Tipsy]

Re: "What does a Bard do?"

people are retarded, if they dont see you doning great, even though your lvl 3 or something they'll flame you...just ignore it

[felpa_de_osa]

Re: "What does a Bard do?"

Yep exactly my point
They must think lv 25+ Bards just pop up out of no where lol

More like they dreamed them up or snapped their finger and poof here's a 25 plus bard....>_>

[Jei]

Re: "What does a Bard do?"

BRD can turned a PT into killing machine as soon as level 10. If only more players would recognize this fact .

[Rones]

Re: "What does a Bard do?"

I felt like a leech to the party pre 25 and a gimped rdm from 25 to 55. At the low lvls it just doesn't feel like your buffs do enough to warrent the loss of a spot for a DD or another healer.

[Icemage]

Re: "What does a Bard do?"

I felt like a leech to the party pre 25 and a gimped rdm from 25 to 55. At the low lvls it just doesn't feel like your buffs do enough to warrent the loss of a spot for a DD or another healer.

Truth. I juiced my way from 10-55 to help make up for the lack of stellar performance of Ballad I by itself.


Icemage

[zorca]

Re: "What does a Bard do?"

Imo Mad/Minuet (or double minuet at later levels where melee use sushi) are the most powerful buff for an xp PT even at early level. Not to mention in places like dunes u usually get a melee-oriented pt and the melee songs will only help more in such situation. It's just not right that most ppl think of brds as ballad machine in an xp PT

[Cesaria]

Re: "What does a Bard do?"

I got a great NIN tank in Kazham...

"Don't ballad the mages, bard has nothing to offer mages until 55... double paeon only"

...from a NIN who couldn't hold hate if you gave them a bucket to keep it in.

But seriously we absolutely destroyed dunes when I levelled bard through there - once you get a party that knows what a bard is actually FOR because a lot of players at that level don't. I mean hell... you can make your average Dunes noob actually HIT. 41-55 kind of sucked though because it's the RDM ego levels, you don't have as much MP regen a tick as refresh gives, and the red mages at that level tend to think they're god (and that's not an anti-RDM flame because it's my main job myself).