Ahh, I only unlocked Sidewinder last night and haven't used it in any serious situation, so I didn't really think any of it through.
Out of curiosity, what are the BRDs in this thread parsing on dummies without food/dex pots/pt buffs?
Been a while since I parsed but about 950 for me completely solo/unbuffed. Although my BRD is still i180 gear rather than i190. That's also not putting down Flaming Circle or using Repelling as I find it hard to reliably do so in WM mode so omit it when dummy parsing (Flaming Circle I can do, just not on constant CD)
EDIT: Just tested, wasn't the cleanest of parses but came out at 957 by the time I was TP dead.
i190 weapon as that isn't time gated.
From my lodestone it looks like I have more 190 than I thought (Feet, Waist, 2 Accs), I honestly thought it was less than that as I've been prioing PLD for gear. I guess using melded accessories on PLD freed up more Alex drops than I realized.
Took about 5 mins to run TP dead although I was lazy and didn't invigorate as I was relying on the parse steadying out (which it did). In real fights I've never run TP dead on BRD since they gave us WM though.
I think someone who plays BRD regularly would do better than what I did though. The only thing I use BRD for is PVP and I don't use WM in there.
A while back I saw a guy who was trying to show via math that it was always smartest to immediately refresh DoTs right after you pop Raging (and maybe B4B), even if you just put them up, because then you'd get two full cycles of DoTs from each buff period.
I've been trying to Google this for the last half hour and I'm striking out. Does anyone else remember seeing that or have any idea where I might find this info?
It'd be hard to show, since a proper comparison would need to compare the control, vs that, vs holding the buffs a few seconds to line up with the normal dot rotation. And of course, you'd need to factor in TP starvation which means each fight could potentially be different. (TP starvation being the reason why holding buffs is even a consideration in the first place.)
If refreshing your DoTs with the buff offers more than a 50 potency gain then it's worth it, really not that complicated.
50 potency is the difference between Iron Jaws and Heavy Shot, that's the only thing you'd need to overcome.
Venom+Wind is 80 potency/tic, if you want to using Raging and as an example that's an extra 16 potency/tic.
3 tics you've gained 48 potency, 4 tics make 64, so yes it's worth it to immediately refresh DoTs when using it then use it again before it wears, as Raging lasts long enough that you can re-apply DoTs after the 5th tic.
It was this thread. Super interesting read.
As someone who played a summoner since beta I was tired of cast bars. Switched over and leveled a bard to 60 and then bam; we get a casting stance. Wasn't a fan of WM at first but I am used to it; but still not a fan of my bard being a caster. I keep hoping Square will do away with it but I am not holding my breath.
At this point, the vast majority of bards are used to WM cast bars, and it fits quite well in with the balance of the other DPS Jobs, so I doubt we'll see it get removed. I find that I'm pretty frequently out dpsing Melees and Casters in PUG Groups for Thordan EX, but that may just be because my server has less-than-good Melee DPS and Casters.
random question from a new bard:
When do I start using my songs more? Right now I'm level 46 and I almost never have a reason to use Paeon. Ballad very rarely; only when the healer and/or tank is getting low in MP during a boss fight. Should I be using Requiem, maybe if we have a BLM on the team? And is there a point where proper use of songs becomes a lot more important? Because right now BRD feels like a DD with songs tacked on (which I gather is normal for now) and I wonder if that changes down the road. It's definitely not like it was in FFXI where BRD was the king of buffs...
As a BLM, use Foe's + BV when your BLM uses his cooldown rotation. If you have mana to do some in between, do it when he has Ley Lines up.
Just don't sing in Palace of the dead if you aren't keeping an eye on surrounding targets. First pull lvl 46 brd runs in, sings foes, we have 10 mobs, quick and fast pt wipe.
As a SMN (and former bard)
if you have a DPSing healer, or a SMN or BLM (or all of them for that matter), Foe is your, and their friend most of the time outside of the palace (as Shaano pointed out, in the palace you're more likely to cause a wipe than a win on the normal floors)
good to know guys, thanks. sounds like Foe's if elemental magic damage, Ballad as required, and Paeon only if for some reason TP really becomes an issue (which seems rare to me).
why does everybody hate us
I feel like BRD is the lolDRG of FFXIV, the irony of which - given BRD's reputation in XI - is not lost on me :/