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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Bard: nice to have or necessary?
zapper
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
I'd really like to think that the bard will be pretty necessary, rather than just nice to have, in a party.
Bard, being a sort of jack of all trades support, at this point seems more nice to have though...
One thing that, IMO, would change that, is if the bard had stronger Mana regen abilities. For example
if there was a Mana oriented Cathartic Melody.
I'm seeing a lot of OOM going on in the previews (especially Steven ), so I'm thinking It sure would
be great if a party member could really boost Mana rather that just a small mana tick...
Bard, being a sort of jack of all trades support, at this point seems more nice to have though...
One thing that, IMO, would change that, is if the bard had stronger Mana regen abilities. For example
if there was a Mana oriented Cathartic Melody.
I'm seeing a lot of OOM going on in the previews (especially Steven ), so I'm thinking It sure would
be great if a party member could really boost Mana rather that just a small mana tick...
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Comments
I'm hoping they can make bard more compelling so I feel that I need a bard.
Man why do all the DPS keep dying watch out!
To be fair it's no different to just stacking the highest dps class and then saying we don't " need ". the other dps their just nice to have, noone is really necessary other than the tank/healer
Beyond that, the variety of promotable effects the Bard can put on enemies makes it a very high enabler for groups.
Lastly, the ability to promote / exploit the promotable effects of others seem to me like they will be a group favorite to have with you.
I think you need to reflect on why you think the others are mandatory and you'll see the Bard can be just as important.
The Tank can mitigate damage.
The Healer can heal damage.
The DPS can cause damage.
The bard can do all of the above at a lesser degree - with other caveats (like regen mana/increase party damage/reduce enemy damage).
You said that Steven went OOM in combat - but they would have been oom faster without him. You could argue that another dps might have resulted in less mana required - but that's going to be the fun of group compositions. Each class also brings different debuffs which can usually be combined for stronger debuffs.
But I think what's most important is:
- We are before balancing. So it might be buffed, it might even be nerfed.
- I think that it was level 15 gameplay with level 10 characters, isolated to having a selection of abilities (you probably wouldn't have all of them anyway at level 10, but it was a showcase) - and the enemies/pulls were fairly big/constant.
- As you incorporate higher levels, secondary archetypes, augments, weapon skills - character toolkits will become more fleshed out.
Every class is currently a very early iteration since it's missing secondary archetypes and augments - and skills to spec into it at higher levels.
This class seems the most suited for group play given nearly all the skills are aoe - so I think it will feel very useful in most cases.
A Bard with strong mana regeneration abilities, such as a Mana-oriented Cathartic Melody, could indeed be a game-changer. This would allow the Bard to fill a critical role in managing the party's resources, especially during long encounters or intense battles where mana management becomes crucial. By centralizing these support capabilities in a single class, the game can encourage more diverse party compositions and strategies, leading to a richer and more varied gameplay experience.
Making the Bard necessary rather than optional could lead to more thoughtful party setups and decision-making, ensuring that each role is valued and contributes uniquely to the team's success. This distinction can help *Ashes of Creation* stand out by allowing for deeper and more specialized roles, something that can be lacking in games without a dedicated support class.
And encounters are designed expecting the Active Skills of all 8 Primary Archetypes will be in use.
Balanced for a group of 8 with one of each Primary Archetype.
While this is true, we still have the situation where the augments could meaningfully change the skills in ways that would at least be able to change Bard from 'nice to have' to 'necessary for some things' and back again.
There's a specific Wand Augment in TL that a Staff/Wand user might take which outright converts their AoE heal into Damage, after all. Is this a great idea? Depends on what you're doing, but it is basically a different purpose for the skill, just as Intrepid hinted might be the case for their own Augments.
For this to work, you need two things. Like you said, Bards need to be able to really add some depth to the team. The buffs need to be worth having in every team. Second, Bards need to be able to survive in PvP as well as in PvE while giving the team/raid the buffs they need. I cant wait to see if thats what IS has built.
But there may be more advantages to those other archetypes that we don't know of yet.
I think that is especially common when cool downs are set to zero.
There is more than one way to skin a cat.
Negative. The encounters are not designed at all to require anyone specific right now. Seen small dev teams Nuke every stream. Only time there are more than half a group is against world boss and pvp.
Furthermore, we can build narrow or wide so to state 'expecting the active skills of all 8 primary archetypes will be in use' is a gross fallacy. One can run 10 skills or 30.
I believe AOC used to have an 8 man grp composition and is now 6. With 6 their is definitely room for a bard. I would imagine they really shine in raids and large scale pvp. That is assuming the bard buffs are not confined to their group only.
I think overall group composition will be a big deciding factor. I am sure any caster heavy group would love a bard running mana regen and such for example. Bards may even be essential for speed runs if that becomes a thing(bard grp speed buff is a thing).
As it stands I personally would prefer a group makeup of Tank, 3 dps, Healer, and Bard/CC for dungeon running and other pve group content. Holy Quadity over Trinity seems to be the direction AoC is moving and I'm sure they will do their best to fine tune it.
As the size of the group increases and the complexity of the encounters grows a bard should synergize quite nicely. Wanted? Yes. Needed? Not by all groups, but by many, I'd bet.
And you replying, "Negative. Ashes does not have 8 Primary Archetypes right now."
It's Alpha. We don't even have all 8 Primary Archetypes in the game right now.
So, of course, right now, the encounters in the game are not balanced to have one of each Primary Archetype.
I dunno what you thought meant, "by design" means.
My response comes from my experience with bards in other mmos, obviously they could have a different approach here and I could be totally wrong.
i never really felt like we "needed" to have one specific Class in under any Circumstance. Because several Classes can sufficiently tank, heal - and do damage.
Personally i have the Impression that the Bard in Ashes of Creation may be right and nicely on the very Balance between Fun to have and needed.
You - WILL - need, a Bard - when you want to do maximum Damage, Healing, etc. - in certain Scenarios. But it also feels like a Person from another Class might be nicely able to fill his spot. Maybe one more Healer or Tank ? Could be more tricky for Damage Dealers, though.
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Guild is " Balderag's Garde " for now. (German)
Unless Bard is just piss weak in all contexts, or the game does a 180 and becomes suddenly solo-player-friendly, you can count on Bards being omnipresent in serious guilds. They'll be the most sought-after archetype (aside from Tanks) in every single 8-man party at end game.
Imagine what a Bard could do if they turn into a Minstrel to only amplify the support they already provide, or maybe turn into a Siren to potentially be able to help the front line more than they could before.
Interesting times are coming where we can have awesome composition discussions.