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Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
I love Bard... but... Cathartic Melody sucks! I have an idea though...
Sitol
Member, Alpha Two
Hi, currently I have two big hobbies: playing Bard in Ashes and being Game (Dungeon) Master in Dungeons and Dragons.
I hate DND Bard design and love Ashes Bard design so I decided to put ashes bard inside DND. It obviously required me to change a lot of mechanics as there is no mana in DND and you cannot make it too complicated because people calculate all numbers not PC.
While working on transfering melodies I noticed we have basically 2 healing melodies. Whichever is better is based on numbers: high dmg - cathartic is better.
I moved on with it to work on songs.
With Song Mastery: Dissonance mechanic you have this idea of opposing songs and melodies.
I noticed it's actually a mess now in ashes with that.
We have only one "debuffing" melody (menacing) and 4 buffing melodies. We have 1 that increases magic (pensive), 1 that increases mobility (epic).
For the task I had before me "the vibe" and immersion was as important as logic for opposing songs/melodies.
I'll cut to the chase to not bore you too much...
I decided to put Lamentic (letargic) song instead of Cathartic. I rearranged songs/melodies and I think the result is better then what is in ashes currently.
List of melodies:
1. Cheerful (buffing, health)
2. Epic (buffing, fighting)
3. Mistical/Enigmatic/Meditative (buffing, magic)
4. Lamentic (debuffing, fighting)
5. Menacing (debuffing, health)
It conveys the emotion it wants to induce in listeners. Changing from pensive to mistical will be explained with combinations for Song Mastery.
List of songs:
1. Lovely Serenade
2. Anthem of Alacrity
3. Meditative song (Hymn of the mind)
4. Lament
5. Dread March
In my DND Bard names of those songs are fitting the world - they are telling about specific events in history. Dread March is a new song I designed.
Song Mastery: Harmony:
1. Cheerful - Serenade
2. Epic - Anthem
3. Mysterious (Pensive) - Meditative song
4. Lamentic - Lament
5. Menacing - March
Few words of explanation.
1 - 3 - nothing to explain, there is no change.
4 - there is type of song in real life which is Lament and it is slow, sad and melancholic. Perfect fit for debuffing enemies.
5 - menacing should induce fear in your enemies, making them susceptible to your attacks. I don't think Dark Lullaby really conveys that. I thought of music that strikes fear and I thought of Imperial March. Think of a music played when big bad comes in and shows his power!
Song Mastery: Dissonance:
1. Cheerful - Lament
2. Epic - Meditative song
3. Mysterious (Pensive) - March
4. Lamentic - Serenade
5. Menacing - Anthem
This my strike you as fitting less then what we currently have but you need to think about the emotion each melody song conveys.
Cheerful melody brings happiness -> Lament is sadness. Complete opposites.
Epic melody motivates to action -> meditative song makes you want to stop and think
Mysterious melody brings reflection, wonder, introspection -> march brings tension, inevitability and terror, you freeze, no time to think
Menacing melody brings fear, you want to run away or give up in the face of terror -> anthem pushes you to fight among odds
While not so obvious all of them are in opposition to each other.
To sum up: after the changes we have 3 buffing songs (cheerful, epic, mysterious), two debuffing (Lamentic, Menacing).
Side note: in my DND Bard mysterious melody is separate category because it enhances magic for both enemies and allies. So 2 - 1 - 2.
Instead of Cathartic we have Lamentic Melody which slows and hinders enemies, while the other debuffing - menacing makes them more susceptible to attacks. Lamentic is the opposite of Epic - it demotivates, discourages enemies from attacking.
I know team responsible for this is busy. They have more pressing issues to face currently and Bard is in great spot! I give feedback anyway so they may use it in few years to enhance it even further.
What do you Bards think about it?? Let me know! I'm ready for bucket of cold water and harsh constructive criticism. Thanks!
I hate DND Bard design and love Ashes Bard design so I decided to put ashes bard inside DND. It obviously required me to change a lot of mechanics as there is no mana in DND and you cannot make it too complicated because people calculate all numbers not PC.
While working on transfering melodies I noticed we have basically 2 healing melodies. Whichever is better is based on numbers: high dmg - cathartic is better.
I moved on with it to work on songs.
With Song Mastery: Dissonance mechanic you have this idea of opposing songs and melodies.
I noticed it's actually a mess now in ashes with that.
We have only one "debuffing" melody (menacing) and 4 buffing melodies. We have 1 that increases magic (pensive), 1 that increases mobility (epic).
For the task I had before me "the vibe" and immersion was as important as logic for opposing songs/melodies.
I'll cut to the chase to not bore you too much...
I decided to put Lamentic (letargic) song instead of Cathartic. I rearranged songs/melodies and I think the result is better then what is in ashes currently.
List of melodies:
1. Cheerful (buffing, health)
2. Epic (buffing, fighting)
3. Mistical/Enigmatic/Meditative (buffing, magic)
4. Lamentic (debuffing, fighting)
5. Menacing (debuffing, health)
It conveys the emotion it wants to induce in listeners. Changing from pensive to mistical will be explained with combinations for Song Mastery.
List of songs:
1. Lovely Serenade
2. Anthem of Alacrity
3. Meditative song (Hymn of the mind)
4. Lament
5. Dread March
In my DND Bard names of those songs are fitting the world - they are telling about specific events in history. Dread March is a new song I designed.
Song Mastery: Harmony:
1. Cheerful - Serenade
2. Epic - Anthem
3. Mysterious (Pensive) - Meditative song
4. Lamentic - Lament
5. Menacing - March
Few words of explanation.
1 - 3 - nothing to explain, there is no change.
4 - there is type of song in real life which is Lament and it is slow, sad and melancholic. Perfect fit for debuffing enemies.
5 - menacing should induce fear in your enemies, making them susceptible to your attacks. I don't think Dark Lullaby really conveys that. I thought of music that strikes fear and I thought of Imperial March. Think of a music played when big bad comes in and shows his power!
Song Mastery: Dissonance:
1. Cheerful - Lament
2. Epic - Meditative song
3. Mysterious (Pensive) - March
4. Lamentic - Serenade
5. Menacing - Anthem
This my strike you as fitting less then what we currently have but you need to think about the emotion each melody song conveys.
Cheerful melody brings happiness -> Lament is sadness. Complete opposites.
Epic melody motivates to action -> meditative song makes you want to stop and think
Mysterious melody brings reflection, wonder, introspection -> march brings tension, inevitability and terror, you freeze, no time to think
Menacing melody brings fear, you want to run away or give up in the face of terror -> anthem pushes you to fight among odds
While not so obvious all of them are in opposition to each other.
To sum up: after the changes we have 3 buffing songs (cheerful, epic, mysterious), two debuffing (Lamentic, Menacing).
Side note: in my DND Bard mysterious melody is separate category because it enhances magic for both enemies and allies. So 2 - 1 - 2.
Instead of Cathartic we have Lamentic Melody which slows and hinders enemies, while the other debuffing - menacing makes them more susceptible to attacks. Lamentic is the opposite of Epic - it demotivates, discourages enemies from attacking.
I know team responsible for this is busy. They have more pressing issues to face currently and Bard is in great spot! I give feedback anyway so they may use it in few years to enhance it even further.
What do you Bards think about it?? Let me know! I'm ready for bucket of cold water and harsh constructive criticism. Thanks!
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