FFXIV Dawntrail Bard, Machinist, Dancer Job Changes Detailed

After showcasing the upcoming Viper job, the Final Fantasy XIV Letter from the Producer Live LXXXI Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida and Global Community Producer Toshio “Foxclon” Murouchi went over the changes to the Bard, Machinist, and Dancer Physical Ranged DPS jobs in the upcoming FFXIV Dawntrail expansion.

The developers said that the general changes to all Ranged DPS jobs involve streamlining and making things easier for players, as well as adding new actions with the raise to the level cap in Dawntrail. First, the general FFXIV Dawntrail changes to Physical Ranged DPS jobs include increasing the healing potency of Second Wind in the 90s level range, as well as increasing the damage reduction of job-exclusive defensive abilities actions by 15% in the 90s level range.

As for the changes made to Bard, Mage’s Ballad, Army’s Paeon, and the Wanderer’s Minuet will become buffing actions that do not attack enemies. Meanwhile, Pitch Perfect will be turned into an AoE attack for encounters with multiple enemies. Other changes include the Straight Shot Read and Shadow Bite Ready procs will become merged, or streamlined, to be able to select the proc to between single-target or AoE.

Similar to the Bard, the Machinist will receive changes for ease of use. To prevent resource waste, Barrel Stabilizer no longer increases Heat Gauge by 50, and allows the execution of Hypercharge. In addition, a new trait that accumulates charges for the Drill will be added. Upper tier actions added for Heat Blast, Gauss Round, and Ricochet with the level cap raise.

Dancer receives very straightforward changes, expanding on actions with the raised level cap and follow-up attacks. For example, a new action that can be executed after Flourish will be added. Another new action which consumes Esprit and can be executed after Technical Finish will also be added. There will also be an action that grants the effects of Standard Step without having to go through the step actions, as well.

Here are the four slides going over the general Physical Ranged DPS changes as well as changes to the Bard, Machinist, and Dancer jobs in FFXIV Dawntrail:

Final Fantasy XIV is readily available for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC, and the Dawntrail expansion debuts on July 2, 2024.