As I’ve stated previously, I’ve been playing bard as time allows.  Level 21 as of this post.  I plan on taking Bard to 25 before going back to Paladin full time.  At that point I have Mage’s Ballad, and finding parties will be easier if/when I decide to come back.

There’s a couple things that have happened to make me start really enjoying bard.  First, and specific to the job, getting Foe Lullaby at level 16.  Second, and completely outside of any SE could do, there seems to have been an influx of new players to FFXI.

How are those things connected?  Glad you asked (actually seasoned players will have already guessed).  First, Foe Lullaby opens up the utility of the job.  From level 10 (when you start to party) to level 15.9999, you play two songs almost exclusively. Sword Madrigal and Valor Minuet.

So the battle sequence would go something like this:

• Puller announces they’re coming back
• I start casting Madrigal in time to hit the puller as they arrive
• I cast Light Threnody
• I cast Minuet
• I cast Foe Lullaby (if I haven’t managed to take hate)
• I pull out my sword and start hacking away.
• rinse, lather, repeat

*yawn*

That trend would almost certainly continue if I had been in parties where the puller was a veteran player.  However, thanks to many new players, the parties I’ve been in have had the pullers come back with the target and one or more links.  I’m not casting aspersions on new players — pulling is a learned art.    Now suddenly I’m buffing the party, keeping the add slept, and fighting the current monster, and adding Paeon to my buffs right at the tail end of the fight so we can take the second sleeper.  In cases multiple adds, I’m sleeping one, getting enmity of the others and sleeping them on the way to the zone.

This is the kind of support I appreciate being able to provide, and what makes the job fun.