Curse

Helcaraxe · Nov 24, 2006, 07:01 AM // 07:01

It has been done many times over in other games (so has warrior, and monk, and necro, bleh) and Anet has tried to produce a bard-like class twice (mesmer and paragon) both of which have been severely disaapointing in their bard-ishness to me. So, I figured I would guildwarsify the class that I love the most in every game. My first shot at making a class, so please I need criticism.

Basic Description - The bard is the jack of all trades, he can't go toe to toe with the warriors, he can't cast fireballs with the best of the elementalists, his illusions do not match those of a mesmer, and he does not have the same attunement with nature as a ranger. However, he can make everyone else better at what they do. And often time fill in for another class that is missing in action.

Armor - 65 AL + 15 AL vs. elemental
30 base energy
4 pips of regen

Head: Leather hat, 15k would include a big feather ^_^
Chest: Tight fitting worn leather, lots of straps with various things hidden and stuffed inside pockets and straps
Legs: Same as chest
Hands: Fingerless bum gloves
Boots: Big man boots

Hairstyles - Should always be dirty and unkempt, representing the bards wandering lifestyle

Weapons: Musical Instruments
Example Weapon:
Panpipes
8-20 Sonic Damage (inherent 20% armor pen)
Increases duration of musical abilites (20%)
Health +30

Attributes:

Lore [Primary]- For every point in Lore the bard gleans random and often useless facts about the enemies and places he encounters. (example: at 5 lore a bard may be able to get a quest from an NPC w/o having the pre-requisite. At 10 lore he may learn an enemies secrets, knowing where their attributes are placed. and at 16 lore he knows even the most obscure facts and can see and enemies skillbar)

Charisma - For every point in Charisma the bard is able to affect one additional ally with his musical abilities. Many skills that are related to musical attacks become more effective with higher Charisma.

Inspiration (for lack of a better name) - No inherent effect. Many skills related to boosting the effectiveness of the party become more effective when points are added to this attribute.

Distraction - No inherent effect. Many skills related to causing confusion and chaos among the enemy become more effective with higher Distraction.

Example Skills for Charisma:

Sonic Blast: 5 energy, 1 cast, 5 recharge
The bard cranks the volume dealing an additional (1...20) damage.

Sonic Boom: 15 energy, 1 cast, 15 recharge
The bard wrenches the most horrific note from the depths of his soul, his target takes an additional (1...20) sonic damage and suffers from dazed for (1...5) seconds.

Confusing Melody: 10 energy, 2 cast, 15 recharge
The bard strings together the oddest combination of notes, to create a song that is pathetically melodic. His target uses their skills at random for (1...8) seconds.

Song of Sorrow: 10 energy, 2 cast, 15 recharge
The bard plays a song so sad, that even his enemies are moved to tears. For (5...20) seconds his target attacks 50% slower.

Example skills for Inspiration:

Inspire Courage: 5 energy, 1 cast, 10 recharge
The mere act of performing an uplifting song on the battlefield casues teh bard's allies to take heart. Target ally attacks 20% faster and gains a base (1...3) damage reduction for (5...30) seconds.

Inspire Competence: 15 energy, 2 cast, 20 recharge
A bard has the ability to give his allies the ability to perform above and beyond the call of duty. Target ally has their primary attribute boosted by (1...3) for the next (3...18) seconds.

Inspire Greatness {E}: 10 energy, 1 cast, 15 recharge
The bard brings forth music of the greatest kind and inspires acts of bravery (or sometimes stupidity) in his allies. All allies within earshot attack 33% fast and gain a base damage reduction of (1...5) for (5...30) seconds.

Song of Fearlessness: 10 energy, 2 cast, 15 recharge
For (5...30) seconds target ally becomes immune to slower attack speeds, and Hex durations are lessened by (1...30) percent.

Example Skills for Distraction:

Phantom Lights: 5 energy, 1 cast, 10 recharge
Conjure small balls of light to distract target foe, that foe's next (1...8) attacks fail.

Ethereal Warrior: 20 energy, 2 cast, 15 recharge
Conjure the illusion of a great warrior, target foe is then affected by fear(new condition for future campaigns, will explain later in post) (5...20) seconds.

Arcane Mirror: 20 energy, 1 cast, 30 recharge
The bard copies target foes appearance exactly and becomes untargetable by that foe. Target foe also suffers from dazed for (1...8) seconds.

So, it would playt somewhat like a cross between paragon and mesmer, with some fairly neat 'utility' skills thrown in. I know I ripped off some of the skill name from the D&D version of the bard which is what I was trying to model it after. If anyone has better skill names, please post them.

and about the aforementioned 'fear' condition. It woulc simply cause a foe to either run away in a random direction, or attack slower. or maybe both.

lyra_song · Nov 24, 2006, 07:48 AM // 07:48

I really dislike that primary....it doesnt seem to be useful at all in any pvp setting.

and really the Paragon is basically a bard class already.

What is the function of this class in battle?

Group buffing already exists via the Paragon and Ritualist.

Distraction type skills belong in the mesmer line.

Prepare to be flamed by BahamutKaiser, he's rather adamant about not having a bard in a battle.

Me, i would like if it i had a more original and well defined function.

Helcaraxe · Nov 24, 2006, 02:13 PM // 14:13

like I said in my post, I am aware that there are many bard-ish skills already in the game. However, they were implemented in a very disappointing way.

lyra_song · Nov 24, 2006, 02:47 PM // 14:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helcaraxe

like I said in my post, I am aware that there are many bard-ish skills already in the game. However, they were implemented in a very disappointing way.

Disappointing to you, yes.

I love the paragon class. I love the mesmer class.

You really cant "Guildwarsify" something thats already been "guildwarsified" that it has 2 classes already representing it.

Made In Ascalon · Nov 26, 2006, 01:51 AM // 01:51

How the hell are mesmers disappointing? Because they're not "bardish" enough for you? That's laughable.

And Lore = no. That's just stupid. You can see the enemies skill bar by watching the skills they use during a battle. Hell, you can even see the attacks untargeted enemies are using against you when you get hit. Knowing the enemies attributes is pretty useless too. It seems like a terrible attempt at translating Bardic Knowledge into GW. There is no need to directly copy crap from DnD, show some originality please.

Confusing Melody is horrifically overpowered.

Mercury Angel · Nov 26, 2006, 09:46 AM // 09:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by lyra_song

Disappointing to you, yes.

I love the paragon class. I love the mesmer class.

You really cant "Guildwarsify" something thats already been "guildwarsified" that it has 2 classes already representing it.

Well, I think there's still room for a 'bardic' style profession. It's not that paragon wasn't done right; It's fine. Heck, it's exceptional.
It's that it's what people said about concept classes such as Assassin, which we ultimately DID end up with. If people could pull off a Bard as different from a Paragon as Assassin is to warrior, then I'd definitely support them.

In any case, as to this suggestion in particular;
I second the point on the primary being too narrow. People won't like it much in PvP, and you're at an impasse in PvE - Either you make it important, and then primary Bards become a necessity, which people aren't going to like (the aspect of being herded into using it), or you make it only slightly impacting, in which case, it's probably useless.
I recommend tying down the information gathering to skills within the attribute itself, and reworking the attribute's effect.

I'd also suggest separating RP-ish descriptions from the skills themselves, perhaps describing them in a short sentence or two after the skill description. It's a move that Guild Wars has taken officially, and it should probably be adhered to.

Quote:

Confusing Melody: 10 energy, 2 cast, 15 recharge
The bard strings together the oddest combination of notes, to create a song that is pathetically melodic. His target uses their skills at random for (1...8) seconds.

This is something I'd been meaning to comment on whenever it comes up; I really don't think people would like the "take over target player's actions" abilities much, whether you're in direct control or not.
It'd probably be fun to inflict on someone, but people would absolutely loathe being on the receiving end of 'confusion'/'mind control' style skills. Beyond the degree of being hexed with Diversion, Backfire and such.

Even if all they can do temporarily is run around like a headless chicken because they've been shut down, people want to play the game, and they despise being shunted into a situation where all they can do is observe. (Not to be confused with never wanting to sit back and observe, which is the foundation of Observer Mode; More like being thrown into the penalty box in the middle of a hockey game)

Effects that cause that should be approached with the utmost caution, in my opinion, though they don't have to be completely avoided. One such effect is one of the most important things in the game; Death.

Beyond that, no other comments, since I'm sure the numbers are only tentative/in-progress. There's not quite enough developement to really get the 'big picture' of what's going on with the profession.