BRD Changes Since...

I quit FFXI in 2009 and been wondering what has changed in my profession of choice.
BRD used to satisify all my ADD needs and I loved running around like a maniac.

So my obvious question, what has changed since way back when? Is BRD still the awesome puller for xp/merit parties? Is it still the great support job it used to be? Etc. etc.

Thank you kindly for any and all input =D

There is no xp/merit parties like there used to be.
BRD is still a very important buffer, and it's used alot for most events still :)
And with the addition of emp harp you'll have more songs to keep up and make you busy.

Enjoy. C:
But really, I don't think BRDs are really pullers anymore? Since xping is a lot different now. But pretty amazing support still obviously.

Oh Lawdy..... I think I just... *nerdaddgasms*

Your job as a Bard now will be easier than it was in 2009. All a Bard is expected to do nowadays is put and keep songs up as well as throw the occasional stagger a monster's way in Abyssea or Voidwatch.

Of course, depending on how much of a help you want to be you can provide assistance with cures, removing people's debuffs, etc. A lot of Bards nowadays just sing songs and stand stationary for five minutes so putting a little bit of effort in and raising the assistance you provide your party will make you stand out from the crowd.

But you can easily join a party, sing and be done. The choice is ultimately yours!

What the f... I wrote a BRD guide on FFXIclopedia. That is not how I promoted BRD. Even if you 'only have to sing songs' you can put in some effort.

This saddens me =O

Welcome back to Final Fantasy XI... If that saddens you you're going to be very sad when you see what the average quality of player is nowadays.

Well scissor me timbers. I haven't decided just yet XD
Players will change with the gameplay I suppose. Only one way to find out XD

Main changes are

You can reduce casting time to up 80% with -song spellcasting time/fast cap equipment. They've greatly increased the amount of song spellcasting time equipment available.

You can lower recast hugely with -song recast time equipment. You can lower debuffs from 24 seconds to 4 second recast with gear.

Songs last longer. You can get song+5 effect now and other equipment which increases song duration.

They've added Tier 2 Lullaby spells which sleep things for 60 second base. They are the same tier as tier 1 lullaby spells in sleep priority. So you can sleep something for 60 seconds with Lullaby 2 and then the lullaby can be overwrite with a sleep2.

MP recovery in now plentiful. There are two +1 Ballad equipment outside of G.horn. This means a non g.horn/daurdabla bard can ballad for 9mp/tic. Other jobs and buffs give lots of mp recovery so MP is rarely an issue. A g.horn/daurdabla bard can ballad for 21mp/tic.

Bard is still a good puller but the nature of exping has changed so we only pull situationally.

March is still awesome but with (the soon to be nerfed) embrava you can magical haste with just haste+embarava (for now).

Nightingale/Troubadour have had their effects improved so now 5/5 nightingale makes songs instant cast and 5/5 troubadour is like a 1min Elemental seal for all songs cast in that minute.

We have a new song called scherzo which lowers damage taken by high damage attacks (-45% damage for attacks that do more than 75% hp in a single hit) which makes things like EES/Mijin Gakure/Astral flow/Meteor (etc.) easily survivable. Summoner gets a similar effect and they stack with each other

There is a staff with all the HQ staves effect combined now so bards with g.horn and chatoyant staff can save a lot of inventory space. There are other new staffs which give more magic accuracy too.

There's too much to mention really.

The game has changed hugely since 2009 and I would recommend reading this:
http://wiki.bluegartr.com/bg/Returning_to_Vana%27diel

I must admit, I don't have Harp @ 99 only 90 but the extra song makes me*** everytime.
I can't imagine what I'll be like when I get both extra songs!

Yeah I tend to put effort in and debuff, throw out cures NA spells to party etc. It's a shame we don't pull anymore it was my favourite thing ever.

Thank you Reain and Reece! That's very helpful =D

And yeah, pulling for meripos is what kept things interesting for me. But MMOs are always changing I suppose.