Bard concept

I think of Bard as playing like an agility character similar to a rogue, a mesmer, a metal musician and court jester.

A metal inspiration with Bard is an opportunity because metal and high fantasy go together. It can be implemented in a way to fit the aesthetic of high fantasy.

A problem with a buff machine is how to make them a good 1v1 player and not a buff machine. If you think of them using words as weapons then it's easy to imagine them stunning, mesmerizing, mind controlling with their voice.

A court jester would probably be good with things like poison darts and nimble. Great hearing, like eavesdropping in the roleplay sense, could give them extra range on some abilities. I think of the Bard as political agents sometimes.

I might be way off base but I just wanted to share how I think Bard could be fun. I think that it's important they have some kind of viability in a 1v1 situation whether it means superior nimble abilities, stuns through "shouts" or mind control with song. Poison darts maybe or some dot creating instrument coupled with a kiting ability.

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Songcaller

Yeah...there's confusion still. Bard used to be the secondary healer. Then Steven said Bards don't heal. Then Steven said Bards are secondary healer. So we have:

Bard is a tactical non-healing support role.

and

Bard is able to perform proc based healing.

Enigmatic Sage

Neurath wrote: »

Yeah...there's confusion still. Bard used to be the secondary healer. Then Steven said Bards don't heal. Then Steven said Bards are secondary healer. So we have:

Bard is a tactical non-healing support role.

and

Bard is able to perform proc based healing.

"dev's do say a lot of things" lol

anyways, proc based would imply they're not really a healing support but because the proc could be based off party or raid output thresholds.

IE: once party does x amount of damage with buff active, heal procs and auto or manual cast

(just a basic example I don't really know)

Songcaller

Bards can offer proximity-based or proc-based healing, but to a much lesser degree than Clerics.[4][5][13]

Thus, it is the secondary healer in all but designation lol.

edit: I think life necromancer will become the secondary healer though.

Enigmatic Sage

Neurath wrote: »

Bards can offer proximity-based or proc-based healing, but to a much lesser degree than Clerics.[4][5][13]

Thus, it is the secondary healer in all but designation lol.

edit: I think life necromancer will become the secondary healer though.

Which suggests to me they're more of a support to a support type healer lol if that makes sense. Based off current wiki, sounds like you wouldn't want to bring them as a sole healer .We unfortunately do not know the frequency of procs or proximity allowances to suggest they would currently be a viable healer choice.

It's all hypothetical theory crafting off vague information subject to change haha

Songcaller

yeah, good to heal a combat pet but bard is definitely not a solo healer. though bard/cleric would increase the proximity heals and provide self heals.

Enigmatic Sage

Neurath wrote: »

yeah, good to heal a combat pet but bard is definitely not a solo healer. though bard/cleric would increase the proximity heals and provide self heals.

true, it would suggest the secondary archetype pairing for the class would provide more cleric-like influences to the party and their abilities.

Songcaller

Enigmatic Sage wrote: »

Neurath wrote: »

yeah, good to heal a combat pet but bard is definitely not a solo healer. though bard/cleric would increase the proximity heals and provide self heals.

true, it would suggest the secondary archetype pairing for the class would provide more cleric-like influences to the party and their abilities.

Only the life augment school from Cleric. Steven said a while ago it adds self heals and small proximity heals. It would just increase the bard's process nicely though. I'm not sure what bard augment schools are available though.

Enigmatic Sage

Neurath wrote: »

Enigmatic Sage wrote: »

Neurath wrote: »

yeah, good to heal a combat pet but bard is definitely not a solo healer. though bard/cleric would increase the proximity heals and provide self heals.

true, it would suggest the secondary archetype pairing for the class would provide more cleric-like influences to the party and their abilities.

Only the life augment school from Cleric. Steven said a while ago it adds self heals and small proximity heals. It would just increase the bard's process nicely though. I'm not sure what bard augment schools are available though.

Definitely sounds like it.

https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Class_augments

Classes with Cleric as a secondary archetype are able to choose between life or death augments.[16][17]

Choosing life augments will provide self-healing benefits as well as limited life-giving benefits to other players.[18][19][16]
Some cleric augments applied to certain skills will indirectly provide the ability to heal others. These will not replace the need for a cleric archetype.[20]
Cleric augments will radically change the type of summons available from the summoner primary archetype.[21]
Skeletons, zombies and other undead summons will be possible with death-based augments.[21][22]
Any class that's going to choose Cleric as a secondary class will have the ability to pick from those augments to influence their skills to affect the life of others around you.[16] – Steven Sharif

Songcaller

I think it pairs well for a solo bard. However, Bards that are group focussed would be better with DPS addition or stronger buffs if the Bard augments add buffs. Of course, augments from other sources might also be a boon.

Enigmatic Sage

Neurath wrote: »

I think it pairs well for a solo bard. However, Bards that are group focussed would be better with DPS addition or stronger buffs if the Bard augments add buffs. Of course, augments from other sources might also be a boon.

Buffs/debuffs or boons/banes, are essentially the same thing just worded differently. Positive effects vs negative effects.

bard + cleric = soul weaver

I wonder how racial augments and religious augments will tie into the design for it.

Songcaller

Racial augments and religious augments aren't my forte right now. However, it would be awesome to have Jinn Powers augmented into my Magician (Bard/Mage). Perhaps there's a Healing Religion too. Never know.

Enigmatic Sage

Neurath wrote: »

Racial augments and religious augments aren't my forte right now. However, it would be awesome to have Jinn Powers augmented into my Magician (Bard/Mage). Perhaps there's a Healing Religion too. Never know.

Could be interesting with the magic school augments.

Religions and Racials are quite vague at the moment especially with what was discussed in another thread about Node types and Racial influence for augments especially in level 6 metro's.

Songcaller

Enigmatic Sage wrote: »

Neurath wrote: »

Racial augments and religious augments aren't my forte right now. However, it would be awesome to have Jinn Powers augmented into my Magician (Bard/Mage). Perhaps there's a Healing Religion too. Never know.

Could be interesting with the magic school augments.

Religions and Racials are quite vague at the moment especially with what was discussed in another thread about Node types and Racial influence for augments especially in level 6 metro's.

I'm not too confident of having a Vaelune Metro. Vaelune doesn't seem very popular here on the forum. I think religion augments would be far easier to obtain though. As well as other social organisational augments.

Enigmatic Sage

Neurath wrote: »

Enigmatic Sage wrote: »

Neurath wrote: »

Racial augments and religious augments aren't my forte right now. However, it would be awesome to have Jinn Powers augmented into my Magician (Bard/Mage). Perhaps there's a Healing Religion too. Never know.

Could be interesting with the magic school augments.

Religions and Racials are quite vague at the moment especially with what was discussed in another thread about Node types and Racial influence for augments especially in level 6 metro's.

I'm not too confident of having a Vaelune Metro. Vaelune doesn't seem very popular here on the forum. I think religion augments would be far easier to obtain though. As well as other social organisational augments.

I think it has more to do with the parent race (human, orc, dwarf, elf)? and then potentially location/biome

Songcaller

Enigmatic Sage wrote: »

Neurath wrote: »

Enigmatic Sage wrote: »

Neurath wrote: »

Racial augments and religious augments aren't my forte right now. However, it would be awesome to have Jinn Powers augmented into my Magician (Bard/Mage). Perhaps there's a Healing Religion too. Never know.

Could be interesting with the magic school augments.

Religions and Racials are quite vague at the moment especially with what was discussed in another thread about Node types and Racial influence for augments especially in level 6 metro's.

I'm not too confident of having a Vaelune Metro. Vaelune doesn't seem very popular here on the forum. I think religion augments would be far easier to obtain though. As well as other social organisational augments.

I think it has more to do with the parent race (human, orc, dwarf, elf)? and then potentially location/biome

Nah, each subrace has a potential for a specific metro. So, they are independent in that regard.

Enigmatic Sage

Neurath wrote: »

Enigmatic Sage wrote: »

Neurath wrote: »

Enigmatic Sage wrote: »

Neurath wrote: »

Racial augments and religious augments aren't my forte right now. However, it would be awesome to have Jinn Powers augmented into my Magician (Bard/Mage). Perhaps there's a Healing Religion too. Never know.

Could be interesting with the magic school augments.

Religions and Racials are quite vague at the moment especially with what was discussed in another thread about Node types and Racial influence for augments especially in level 6 metro's.

I'm not too confident of having a Vaelune Metro. Vaelune doesn't seem very popular here on the forum. I think religion augments would be far easier to obtain though. As well as other social organisational augments.

I think it has more to do with the parent race (human, orc, dwarf, elf)? and then potentially location/biome

Nah, each subrace has a potential for a specific metro. So, they are independent in that regard.

https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/56465/rewards-for-node-development-question-based-on-race#latest

You'll see what I mean. Check Dygz comments

Songcaller

Yeah, independent in that regard. Specific metros for each subrace. Aela are the human connectors but Kaelar and Vaelune are two different sectors. The architecture we've seen are all stationary to the main principles of the sub races but we haven't seen the architecture active in different biomes yet.

Enigmatic Sage

Neurath wrote: »

Yeah, independent in that regard. Specific metros for each subrace. Aela are the human connectors but Kaelar and Vaelune are two different sectors. The architecture we've seen are all stationary to the main principles of the sub races but we haven't seen the architecture active in different biomes yet.

I was more referring to the augments available related to bard for the development of nodes not specifically the architecture of its development. We could potentially see some unique options based on metro location, node type and even biome become available. Religious metropolis in combination with race dominance could provide something very unique for a bard+cleric as an example if going down the religious augment path.

Anyways all good lol

Songcaller

Enigmatic Sage wrote: »

Neurath wrote: »

Yeah, independent in that regard. Specific metros for each subrace. Aela are the human connectors but Kaelar and Vaelune are two different sectors. The architecture we've seen are all stationary to the main principles of the sub races but we haven't seen the architecture active in different biomes yet.

I was more referring to the augments available related to bard for the development of nodes not specifically the architecture of its development. We could potentially see some unique options based on metro location, node type and even biome become available. Religious metropolis in combination with race dominance could provide something very unique for a bard+cleric as an example if going down the religious augment path.

Anyways all good lol

Interesting facts. I guess we'll have to see. I wonder if trial and error would be the best approach. Hopefully we learn more in A2 and can apply the knowledge into the later test stages and the live game.

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