4.0 BRD speculation/theory

part 1 - role actions and removal of old actions



ranged DPS role actions serve to homogenize the core kit of the job. root, heavy, stun, silence, swiftsong have been confirmed. going along with the general design principle of role actions (putting old, core actions into role defining actions), a ranged DPS role should feature TP/MP recovery as support; so it's very likely that Tactician and Refresh are the new, homogenized TP/MP support actions.



with that, we can assume that ballad/paeon no longer have their prior effects of MP/TP support. in the inconclusive picture showing all the job actions (https://emily.s-ul.eu/6fqe6G8c), blunt arrow and shadowbind are gone, which supports that role actions have outright replaced their older, similar counterparts, supporting that ballad/paeon would be reworked entirely.



foe requiem is also gone in the picture. as it was commented by SE that this picture is inconclusive, the lack of foe requiem on the hotbar only leads to similarly inconclusive theories regarding its removal. the strongest theory currently is that ballad/paeon/possibly minuet have adapted the party dps support effect that foe requiem once held, if they have removed it.

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part 2 - new action speculation



https://emily.s-ul.eu/PZfdE40z are the new action icons that we've seen (other than the new icons for vb/wb). from left to right



1st - likely an attack action. https://emily.s-ul.eu/ilKJdOJV shows how the icon resembles the attack. as it was altered by barrage, we can't say yet if the extra arrows are from barrage, or if they're innately part of the action. this may also be an entirely different action, possibly the blue arrow shot that utilies the minuet arrow heads.



2nd - flute buff. this is likely to be the same skill as the 1st skill shown in the BRD trailer. able to be used without any stance. the same animation was shown twice (at start of video, and during paeon); it's likely that this is a raid buff/aura that gives special effects depending on what song you're currently playing (paeon/ballad/minuet).



3rd - unknown. it likely is related to paeon; possibly an action that consumes an amount of paeon notes for a special effect. see relation here: https://emily.s-ul.eu/464EmcYC . the 8th note is shown in the action icon, as the paeon notes, and also shown as special effects on the paeon bar when a proc occurs. it may be the 2nd flute buff that we saw, cast during paeon; but unlikely, as there were no usage of the notes, or visual effects to indicate otherwise



4th - unknown. likely an attack animation, locked to minuet. https://emily.s-ul.eu/OlCwTqPs may be similar to something like lustrate; short cooldown action that utilizes stacks to be able to be used.



if not, this may be related to the flute buff, or an action that may be locked to certain songs. it's possible that this is the 2nd flute aoe buff that we saw, cast during paeon. i'd guess that this flute buff gives difference effects depending on the current song playing, but can only be cast during song, if that were the case.

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part 3 - ballad/paeon/minuet



ballad/paeon/minuet all debuff the enemy upon activation in the job trailer. the debuffs may serve to replace foe requiem as raid dps support if it was indeed removed.



it's likely that ballad/paeon/minuet are all 30s duration type buffs. a possible theory is that ballad/paeon/minuet are now targeted enemy debuffs, rather than a BRD song stance/buff; this is solely based on the lack of a distinctive buff visual effect/sound. though, as we've seen with other stormblood job actions, buff visual effects/sounds don't seem to apply to actions that are linked to the /JOB GAUGE/, so because sof this, i believe these songs are very likely to be buffs/stances.



ballad's job gauge pulsed every server tick (3s).



paeon's job gauge pulsed each time a note is gained; each time a note is gained, it has been on a server tick.



minuet's job gauge pulsed each time an arrowhead is gained. each time an arrowhead has been gained, it has been on a server tick.

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part 4 - song/mechanic theory



the current theory i have is as follows.



wb/vb/new river of blood - x% chance to proc song effects on DoT tick. not crit based anymore. likely 50% or higher per DoT.



ballad - on DoT proc, bloodletter resets.

paeon - on DoT proc, paeon song notes are gained.

minuet - on DoT proc, arrowhead is gained.



new action - minuet exclusive attack action, likely high potency, high cooldown.

new action 2 flute buff/aura that changes the effect based on what song stance you cast in

new action 3 - paeon exclusive buff action. utilizes paeon song notes to provide a strong raid buff. may require 4 notes, or may just consume all the notes and change how potent the buff is based on the amount consumed.

new action 4 - minuet exclusive attack action; utilizes arrowhead charges. moderate potency.

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part 5 - reasoning



during ballad, the song pulsed on each server tick; possibly 3 procs in a row. but also, ballad was the only stance that bloodletter was used in (and twice, at that). in the picture showing off BRD actions on the hotbar, bloodletter was not greyed out in neutral stance. ballad has no notes to use of, so it may be the song stance that features bloodletter resets, as bloodletter was only reused after the song pulsed once.



during paeon, the song pulsed on (song time) 29s, 22s, and 20s. in the video, this vaguely follows the server tick cycle (:57, 00, :03, :06). paeon's note procced at :57, :03 and :06, skipping :00. this was likely a DoT tick that did not proc. this gap also debunks the theory of auto attacks generating note/arrowhead units, as the timing doesn't match up.

during minuet, the song pulsed on (song time), 28s and 25s. in server tick this, this is :09 and :12. on each pulse, an arrowhead is gained.



so throughout all the DoT/server ticks in the video, counting ballad pulses, there were 8 song pulses (or procs). 3 pulses in ballad, 3 notes in paeon, 2 arrowheads in minuet. the only server/DoT tick, or rather, the only song time that did not have a song pulse (proc) was :00.



this means of the 9 server ticks shown, only 1 tick was missing a proc. so, with those numbers; it is VERY unlikely that a DoT proc system for song pulses would be based on crit anymore; it would likely be based on just a fixed %. 8/9 is 88.9%. if we put this imaginary proc chance at 50% for each DoT, that means each server tick has a 75% chance (i think?). with that number, it's a 13.9%~ variance or so, which is pretty reasonably lucky.



a theory is that critical hits of actions provide song pulse procs; but nothing but none of the 8 song pulses shown procced on anything other than a server tick, so i feel like that is unlikely.



my thoughts on the new actions are mostly just educated guesses, already mostly explained in part 1.

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part 6 - wrapping up songs



in short, my current theory is that all songs rely on procs of some sort, based on server tick (likely DoT procs) to work.



ballad is the song mode that gives bloodletter resets on procs.



paeon is the song mode that gives song notes on proc.



minuet is the song mode that gives arrowheads on proc. all 3 song modes apply some sort of debuff.



ballad's use is obvious; bloodletter resets etc.



paeon's use may be linked to one of the new actions shown (https://emily.s-ul.eu/qSnf2siA). i'd guess that the notes in paeon buff one of the new actions, giving it a stronger effect, or enabling it outright, and possibly consuming notes after use.



ballad may be the most neutral, focusing on bloodletter resets as usual, while paeon may be more support oriented; possibly meant for building notes up for a raid buff or so.



from the visual design behind minuet, i'd guess that it's the most dps oriented song of the three, as 2 new attack actions were shown during it. it's likely that at least one of the new actions is exclusive to minuet, as the arrowhead system most likely utilizes the new action.

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part 7 - random stuff + ending thoughts



cool new animations for wb and vb

ij still refreshes; instant cast ij is really weird

ea is instant cast, really weird to see instant cast ea

heavy shot still has a proc attached to it for straight shot

wide volley may be gone.

barrage may cause a special animation (multiple arrows firing out) for the next GCD). or it might be the exact same, boring old, triple non-crit hit.

hawk's eye may be gone.

battle voice may be gone.

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overall, 4.0 BRD looks really interesting, and possibly a lot less clunky. the 2 things i'm most curious about are specifics regarding ballad/paeon/minuet (debuffs, duration, cooldown, requirements if any, etc) and the effects of the new actions.



if i had to guess, i feel as if 4.0 BRD would be more actively support based; instead of just playing foes & forgetting, you may have to hop in & out of song stances (mostly paeon) for specific effects.



i'd speculate that ballad is the base DPS stance; likely high uptime. paeon is the support stance, where you build up notes for a paeon exclusive buff after 4 notes. and minuet is the burst dps stance, possibly on a higher cd than the other two.



P.S: i'm really sad i'm not playing BRD (or any DPS) for 4.0 ;________;



thanks for reading!



- aiuri

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