I was going to end up writing a performer essay like my ancient aquamancer essay in my own thread as a performer main but since this is here, here we go:
Mechanically (and thematically) Performer is all over the place.
> I think singing is an AWFUL mechanic that needs to be reworked since the only way you're going to be reliably singing constantly enough to proc buffs like Performer's Heart (also why is this skill even main class in Performer's current state?)/Second Verse/Dodging Tomatoes, etc are if you go Performer/Dark Bard with an Electric Axe so you at least get some SWA out of your luck required to consistently proc Second Verse (pretty much the only good Performer class combo other than the niche Aquamancer/Performer since it can maintain perma-uptime on all 4 mediocre bard buffs between Second Verse, Encore and maintaining singing status with Dark Bard songs counting for singing.) For something that's touted as the core of Performer's interactions, it's nigh unusable. Hell, singing would be massively better even if it was just changed to be a two turn status after using a song so you can actually use Second Verse/Performer's Heart/Dodging tomatoes if you dare use a non-song skill.
> Its stat scalings lack complete coherence. You want high skill/will for the status inflict because pied piper is extremely important. You want guile because of Bewitching Melody and/or Snake Dancer melody. You want luck for Second Verse. You want sanctity for Encore and Warmonger's Drums and most instruments. You want strength because aside from the guile scaling weapons, every single other weapon scales off it. You're spreading your stats incredibly thin for very little reward in terms of utility and damage.
> This has been mentioned but base bard songs are just bad. Their range is super small unless you use Volume Up (which has a 3 turn duration with a 5 turn cooldown so it has very low uptime) or Active Performance, which means you're often putting yourself in an unfavorable position to cast them. The stats they give are negligible and only last 3 turns unless you utilize Second Verse (which once again requires you to be in singing status at the start of a turn to even proc!), so they're not even worth the momentum to cast. The performer passives that improve them aside from Defending Dawr and Curing Cantus (which is for a 6 turn cd skill and even then for some reason has a luck percent chance of clearing multiple buffs. Hello weird stat spreading my old friend.) are also super mediocre and barely have any impact due to only being usable for a few hits (and because you'd have to cast aforementioned terrible bard buff songs.)
Also why do base bard songs get their auras cancelled when you play something without an aura?? Hitting Cantus or literally any Performer skill and having your already pitiful stat aura removed (which helps a little bit with Music Heals!!) just feels awful.
> Many Performer actions require high setup for mediocre/little reward. Pied Piper into Bloody Ball is heavily enemy position reliant while also requiring you to put yourself in the middle of the enemy team to proc. La Finita takes a whopping 12 momentum of setup with Song of Susceptibility/Pied Piper/Bewitching Melody/La Finita to reliably utilize and even then, it doesn't work on level 70+ monsters. This is not to mention that many of the newer mobs have ridiculously high status resist to top it off. Bewitching Melody on players also requires 9 momentum for one turn of pacify that gets removed if they take a single damage tick. Rain Caller Rondo is very good when used in tandem with Aquamancer's rain skill but once again requires 2 turns to set up. Bard buff songs in general, if your team is even slightly spread out, requires you to have Volume Up + Active Performance (6 momentum) to hit your teammates with.
Good luck doing all of this while trying to juggle your other class' skills while ALSO trying to maintain singing status by being forced to use a song skill at the end of the turn for your CHANCE at activating Second Verse if you managed to fit luck into your weird ass performer build as you get socked in the face by every other thing with more useful skills.
>Tune Up existing as a skill at all. Need I say more?
As for the topic of thematics:
Performer feels like a mash-up of skills that barely have any synergy with each other that doesn't deliver the fantasy of being a charming performer. Quote the in game description of the class: "With a lute in your hand, you can make even the most stuck-up wallflower hit the dance floor like it owes them money."
Possible suggestions include:
TL;DR:
Mechanically (and thematically) Performer is all over the place.
> I think singing is an AWFUL mechanic that needs to be reworked since the only way you're going to be reliably singing constantly enough to proc buffs like Performer's Heart (also why is this skill even main class in Performer's current state?)/Second Verse/Dodging Tomatoes, etc are if you go Performer/Dark Bard with an Electric Axe so you at least get some SWA out of your luck required to consistently proc Second Verse (pretty much the only good Performer class combo other than the niche Aquamancer/Performer since it can maintain perma-uptime on all 4 mediocre bard buffs between Second Verse, Encore and maintaining singing status with Dark Bard songs counting for singing.) For something that's touted as the core of Performer's interactions, it's nigh unusable. Hell, singing would be massively better even if it was just changed to be a two turn status after using a song so you can actually use Second Verse/Performer's Heart/Dodging tomatoes if you dare use a non-song skill.
> Its stat scalings lack complete coherence. You want high skill/will for the status inflict because pied piper is extremely important. You want guile because of Bewitching Melody and/or Snake Dancer melody. You want luck for Second Verse. You want sanctity for Encore and Warmonger's Drums and most instruments. You want strength because aside from the guile scaling weapons, every single other weapon scales off it. You're spreading your stats incredibly thin for very little reward in terms of utility and damage.
> This has been mentioned but base bard songs are just bad. Their range is super small unless you use Volume Up (which has a 3 turn duration with a 5 turn cooldown so it has very low uptime) or Active Performance, which means you're often putting yourself in an unfavorable position to cast them. The stats they give are negligible and only last 3 turns unless you utilize Second Verse (which once again requires you to be in singing status at the start of a turn to even proc!), so they're not even worth the momentum to cast. The performer passives that improve them aside from Defending Dawr and Curing Cantus (which is for a 6 turn cd skill and even then for some reason has a luck percent chance of clearing multiple buffs. Hello weird stat spreading my old friend.) are also super mediocre and barely have any impact due to only being usable for a few hits (and because you'd have to cast aforementioned terrible bard buff songs.)
Also why do base bard songs get their auras cancelled when you play something without an aura?? Hitting Cantus or literally any Performer skill and having your already pitiful stat aura removed (which helps a little bit with Music Heals!!) just feels awful.
> Many Performer actions require high setup for mediocre/little reward. Pied Piper into Bloody Ball is heavily enemy position reliant while also requiring you to put yourself in the middle of the enemy team to proc. La Finita takes a whopping 12 momentum of setup with Song of Susceptibility/Pied Piper/Bewitching Melody/La Finita to reliably utilize and even then, it doesn't work on level 70+ monsters. This is not to mention that many of the newer mobs have ridiculously high status resist to top it off. Bewitching Melody on players also requires 9 momentum for one turn of pacify that gets removed if they take a single damage tick. Rain Caller Rondo is very good when used in tandem with Aquamancer's rain skill but once again requires 2 turns to set up. Bard buff songs in general, if your team is even slightly spread out, requires you to have Volume Up + Active Performance (6 momentum) to hit your teammates with.
Good luck doing all of this while trying to juggle your other class' skills while ALSO trying to maintain singing status by being forced to use a song skill at the end of the turn for your CHANCE at activating Second Verse if you managed to fit luck into your weird ass performer build as you get socked in the face by every other thing with more useful skills.
>Tune Up existing as a skill at all. Need I say more?
As for the topic of thematics:
Performer feels like a mash-up of skills that barely have any synergy with each other that doesn't deliver the fantasy of being a charming performer. Quote the in game description of the class: "With a lute in your hand, you can make even the most stuck-up wallflower hit the dance floor like it owes them money."
Possible suggestions include:
- Lean in more to the charm aspect and interactions with it for both teammates and allies. Skills like Dancer's Double Dance, Dancer's Invitation and Rose Toss honestly feel like they'd be more in line with Performer than in Dancer. Idol Step already charms your own teammates, so I don't see why charmed teammate interactions wouldn't fit right in with Performer.
- Make Performer emulate actual music. Similar to Kensei Combos, have 'chord progressions' where certain song skill orders activate different effects. This also gives more strategic and creative options for Performer utility skills while also allowing for stronger possible buffs to be added due to requiring more momentum.
- In line with making it more music-like, make singing status more rewarding the longer you maintain it consecutively. Dark Bard's mechanic is actually a good example of this with the finale being Second Set. For Performer it could be a fluctuating buff where it ramps up for three rounds, hits its 'peak' on the fourth (banger chorus!!) with a big buff and then scales back down as the 'song' dies. A sort of tempo sorts to maintain.
TL;DR:
- Singing status is nigh impossible to maintain without Dark Bard while offering next to nothing in terms of interactions and effects
- Bard base song skills suck in both effect and uptime and Performer doesn't make them much better
- Performer requires too much setup for too little reward
- Performer's stat requirements are all over the place
- Skills have little to no synergy/cohesion as a whole
- Has no real thematic that fits the fantasy of playing a lutey-tooty bard that makes people want to boogie
- The whole class needs a rework in general, it's been terrible and has suffered from all the above problems since release
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