A novel idea for Bards

LordPax

I appreciate the classic view of Bards, and think something like 'bardic inspiration' is still valuable. However, the BEST "shout"/"vocal" mechanic I've every seen implemented in a game(and what I hope Bards take inspiration from) are Guild Wars 1 Paragons.

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/List_of_paragon_skills

This can allow bards to be more than a "buff bot", but more of a 'commander' on the battlefield (this can be adjusted to fit the bard theme more, but you get the idea). GW1's paragon had an immense array of buffs, targeted attacks, defensive skills and a lot higher skill ceiling because their shouts were 'reactionary', as opposed to just mindlessly hitting the same 60sec buff. As well, the mechanic for maintaining certain buffs, or receiving passive benefits like healing, were based on if a shout was used within a certain time frame.


What are you all's thoughts?

HumblePuffin

Went through the skill descriptions and it looks interesting.

I’ve never played a legit bard in an mmo, so it makes it difficult for me to really imagine their gameplay in a tangible way.

The general descriptions from the page you linked do seem like fun game play though, and could really be applied to any method the bard uses to bard (instruments, dance, theater, etc).

I think that the ground templates to indicate group positions that they’ve spoken about before can run the risk of making it unfun to play/play with if it’s too ingrained into how the bard does its thing.

The bard has been one of the classes I’ve been most hoping to get a peak at.

NiKr

LordPax wrote: »

What are you all's thoughts?

I love those skill designs, but those are still pro-active buffs, just as a normal bard would use. It's just that they're more immediate in their usefulness, which usually would work in a slower-paced game.

You can't really catch "your ally's next attack" when your ally does 10 attacks in just a few seconds. The impact of your buff becomes kinda negligible or it requires way higher strength to be noticeable, which brings its own issues.

Intrepid's designers will have to decide whether they want long buffs with weaker effects or short ones but stronger. Maybe they'll have both (which I'd prefer). But I definitely hope we get the interactions that those skills from GW had.

daveywavey

LordPax wrote: »

I appreciate the classic view of Bards, and think something like 'bardic inspiration' is still valuable. However, the BEST "shout"/"vocal" mechanic I've every seen implemented in a game(and what I hope Bards take inspiration from) are Guild Wars 1 Paragons.

https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/List_of_paragon_skills

This can allow bards to be more than a "buff bot", but more of a 'commander' on the battlefield (this can be adjusted to fit the bard theme more, but you get the idea). GW1's paragon had an immense array of buffs, targeted attacks, defensive skills and a lot higher skill ceiling because their shouts were 'reactionary', as opposed to just mindlessly hitting the same 60sec buff. As well, the mechanic for maintaining certain buffs, or receiving passive benefits like healing, were based on if a shout was used within a certain time frame.


What are you all's thoughts?

I had great fun with my Paragon. That's the kind of vibe that I'm hoping for, too.

We had a Bard Skill thread a while back, and my suggestions were largely inspired by the Paragon.

Depraved

well, steven mentioned that a fully buffed character will have something like 30 buffs on. at first, i thought the bards will be more like ragnarok bards since he said proximity based buffs, but hey l2 bards are also proximity based buffs xD and because of the number of buffs, i think the bard will be more like the bards in l2.

i just want to know if buffs in aoc will be as necessary as buffs in l2 T_T