Post:Bards 3.141592653589793238462643383279 - 5/16/2011 - 19:10:24

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Re: Bards 3.141592653589793238462643383279 · on 5/16/2011 7:10:24 PM 117
Bards in DR are survival tert. That comes with some implications, that may not gel with Bards in other games.

The simple fact is when you sit down and start trying to define what the guild is good at and, in many ways more importantly, what the guild is bad at you end up going "Ah... but... ah..." when you realize there isn't much the guild is bad at if you try and layer on "Part time rogue".

Good:
Magic
Lore
AoE effects
Boosting
Debilitating
Weapons

Bad:
Armor (but so is everyone in DR)
...?

Stealth, and survival skills in general essentially have to go in the bad column to try and balance things out. Another theme that we ended up putting in the "bad" column, though it doesn't show much in the current incarnation of the Bard, is that they aren't nearly as good enhancing themselves as they are enhancing others. This is rather tricky since we all know the status of group combat in DR is... well, what it is, but that's the spirit behind the Lionize abilities as an example.

Finally we did some thematic groundwork for what Bard abilities and magic actually do and the conclusion was that while a Bard can do direct damage attacks, it's not really what they're good at. They rather weaken, discourage, disable and so forth -- much more subtle effects -- and finish the job with other tools.

Clearly this is not to say you aren't going to get direct damage attacks, there are TM spells on your spell list, and screams are being expanded, but it's a weak point in the guild. This ties in with the, accurate, statement someone made the other day about Bards being more suited towards working with the elements of aether, air, and water as opposed to fire, earth, and electricity.

-Raesh

This message was originally posted in The Bards (21) \ Suggestions and Discussion - Special Abilities (19), by DR-RAESH on the play.net forums.