For anyone who missed my introduction to this series, it can be found here
Class Quests: 6/10 Fun to Play: 8/10 Complexity: 3/10 Depth: 5/10 Levelling: 10/10
TLDR: Bard has the smoothest levelling of any of the base game classes, with early, powerful AOE, easy to understand mechanics, and the best transition from class to job of any class. It’s not the most complex job in the world, but still feels satisfying and fun to play, and access to some support tools gives it a little more depth than some DPS.
Introduction: Bard is a class centered around applying DOTs which then empower the songs they play, while empowering their party with said songs. They have a variety of support spells and a fairly strong raid buff in Battle Voice. It's a very simple and easy to pick up class, with little in the way of rotation and more about using their many oGCDs.
Class quests: Archer 1-30: These quests left next to no impression on me at all, and honestly I found myself skipping dialogue after the first few. Also, a strange side note, these quests make you kill a ridiculously high amount of mobs compared to other classes for no discernible reason, making them feel even more like a slog.
Bard 30-50: Again, these left next to no impression on me. So much so that I genuinely struggle to remember a single detail about them. They weren’t bad, just not engaging enough to hold my interest in any meaningful way
Bard 50-60: I started these quests in the same mood I left the ARR quests in, but these two oddballs really found a way into my heart. The quests got sillier, but endearing, and the two of them coming to mutually respect each other was touching and enjoyable. Honestly, took me from complete disinterest to excited for what little I’ve seen of the Stormblood quests, and these singlehandedly bring the score up to what it is.
Fun to play: Right out of the gate bard is an enjoyable class to play. Access to quick nook early gives you a useful AOE ability that makes early dungeons go by so much faster than the many, many classes that lack early AOE. The transition from archer to bard is the best in the game, where it takes the core mechanics it’s been teaching you, and adds a new layer of depth to them without requiring you to completely rework your play style around it.
Bard runs into some awkwardness however. Their over reliance on RNG procs makes the class feel inconsistent, especially against bosses. Mages ballad feels great in AOE and fine against bosses. With no AOE option and heavy reliance on the aforementioned RNG procs, Wanderer's Minuet feels very sharp, either feeling very powerful or completely useless. Army’s peon is a cute idea, and is okay in AOE situations, but again is let down by unreliability on single targets. An AOE option to spread you DOTs, and an AOE payoff for Wanderer’s would really cement the class as a powerful AOE option, which seems to have been its early design. Overall though, the gameplay is smooth and enjoyable, with very little downtime due to range plus instant casts, and fun but inconsistent rapid fire gameplay. No class has more enjoyable AOE to me than spamming rain of death with Mage’s Ballad, which only threatens to get more hilariously spammy with enhanced quick nock later on.
Complexity: Bard is very, very simple as far as classes go. You push your buttons when they’re available. The only sort of diversion they have is the use of single target DOTs during pulls to empower their songs. Bard is my go to class when I just want to chill mentality, and watch pretty arrow rains. The rotation, if you can even really call it that, is mostly just spamming heavy shot and reapplying your DOTs, using your various oGCDs as you go.
Depth: Bard is generally fairly low depth as well, but one thing they have access to boosts this score a fair amount. The preemptive Esuna shield they have access to makes it so playing optimally becomes quite a bit harder, as you’re able to provide some useful time off from certain boss mechanics for the healers. As well, minor optimizations, like firing Pitch Perfect at two stacks to avoid losing a double proc, and using your defensive buff during key boss mechanics keeps the class easy to play, still having a deeper purpose in higher content, though their damage in that higher content is lacking.
Levelling: Bard was hands down my favourite class to level from level 1. The ability to AOE early is a godsend, one that many of the base game classes simply don’t have access to. Access to Peloton also speeds up the levelling experience as well, and generally it just feels great. As I’ve stated already, I think that the jump from Archer to Bard is incredible, accessing a new and interesting ability that puts a cool spin on your existing mechanics, without forcing you to relearn everything you’ve done up to that point. I honestly wish every class did this, as many classes get next to nothing at level 30, making the switch between class and job feel ceremonious at best, or completely pointless at worst. Overall, archer is far and away the job I recommend for anyone starting out, or anyone starting on DPS, although it may sour your experience levelling others.
Conclusion: Bard is, in my opinion, the best starter class for levelling, and a personal favourite of mine in both style and play style. I like to think of ways it could be improved, mostly because it’s not in the best spot right now in terms of dps output, but is overall worth your time. It has the most fun AOE besides maybe holy or gravity spam, and the levelling is an absolute breeze.
submitted by /u/SealMeetsClub
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Class Quests: 6/10 Fun to Play: 8/10 Complexity: 3/10 Depth: 5/10 Levelling: 10/10
TLDR: Bard has the smoothest levelling of any of the base game classes, with early, powerful AOE, easy to understand mechanics, and the best transition from class to job of any class. It’s not the most complex job in the world, but still feels satisfying and fun to play, and access to some support tools gives it a little more depth than some DPS.
Introduction: Bard is a class centered around applying DOTs which then empower the songs they play, while empowering their party with said songs. They have a variety of support spells and a fairly strong raid buff in Battle Voice. It's a very simple and easy to pick up class, with little in the way of rotation and more about using their many oGCDs.
Class quests: Archer 1-30: These quests left next to no impression on me at all, and honestly I found myself skipping dialogue after the first few. Also, a strange side note, these quests make you kill a ridiculously high amount of mobs compared to other classes for no discernible reason, making them feel even more like a slog.
Bard 30-50: Again, these left next to no impression on me. So much so that I genuinely struggle to remember a single detail about them. They weren’t bad, just not engaging enough to hold my interest in any meaningful way
Bard 50-60: I started these quests in the same mood I left the ARR quests in, but these two oddballs really found a way into my heart. The quests got sillier, but endearing, and the two of them coming to mutually respect each other was touching and enjoyable. Honestly, took me from complete disinterest to excited for what little I’ve seen of the Stormblood quests, and these singlehandedly bring the score up to what it is.
Fun to play: Right out of the gate bard is an enjoyable class to play. Access to quick nook early gives you a useful AOE ability that makes early dungeons go by so much faster than the many, many classes that lack early AOE. The transition from archer to bard is the best in the game, where it takes the core mechanics it’s been teaching you, and adds a new layer of depth to them without requiring you to completely rework your play style around it.
Bard runs into some awkwardness however. Their over reliance on RNG procs makes the class feel inconsistent, especially against bosses. Mages ballad feels great in AOE and fine against bosses. With no AOE option and heavy reliance on the aforementioned RNG procs, Wanderer's Minuet feels very sharp, either feeling very powerful or completely useless. Army’s peon is a cute idea, and is okay in AOE situations, but again is let down by unreliability on single targets. An AOE option to spread you DOTs, and an AOE payoff for Wanderer’s would really cement the class as a powerful AOE option, which seems to have been its early design. Overall though, the gameplay is smooth and enjoyable, with very little downtime due to range plus instant casts, and fun but inconsistent rapid fire gameplay. No class has more enjoyable AOE to me than spamming rain of death with Mage’s Ballad, which only threatens to get more hilariously spammy with enhanced quick nock later on.
Complexity: Bard is very, very simple as far as classes go. You push your buttons when they’re available. The only sort of diversion they have is the use of single target DOTs during pulls to empower their songs. Bard is my go to class when I just want to chill mentality, and watch pretty arrow rains. The rotation, if you can even really call it that, is mostly just spamming heavy shot and reapplying your DOTs, using your various oGCDs as you go.
Depth: Bard is generally fairly low depth as well, but one thing they have access to boosts this score a fair amount. The preemptive Esuna shield they have access to makes it so playing optimally becomes quite a bit harder, as you’re able to provide some useful time off from certain boss mechanics for the healers. As well, minor optimizations, like firing Pitch Perfect at two stacks to avoid losing a double proc, and using your defensive buff during key boss mechanics keeps the class easy to play, still having a deeper purpose in higher content, though their damage in that higher content is lacking.
Levelling: Bard was hands down my favourite class to level from level 1. The ability to AOE early is a godsend, one that many of the base game classes simply don’t have access to. Access to Peloton also speeds up the levelling experience as well, and generally it just feels great. As I’ve stated already, I think that the jump from Archer to Bard is incredible, accessing a new and interesting ability that puts a cool spin on your existing mechanics, without forcing you to relearn everything you’ve done up to that point. I honestly wish every class did this, as many classes get next to nothing at level 30, making the switch between class and job feel ceremonious at best, or completely pointless at worst. Overall, archer is far and away the job I recommend for anyone starting out, or anyone starting on DPS, although it may sour your experience levelling others.
Conclusion: Bard is, in my opinion, the best starter class for levelling, and a personal favourite of mine in both style and play style. I like to think of ways it could be improved, mostly because it’s not in the best spot right now in terms of dps output, but is overall worth your time. It has the most fun AOE besides maybe holy or gravity spam, and the levelling is an absolute breeze.
submitted by /u/SealMeetsClub
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...