As far as I can tell, all songs must have lyrics. You can't sing and play a wind instrument.

This is a feeble attempt to articulate the frustration of having fifty different alts pounce on me at once, ask "Can I be a bard? Huh? Huh? *bounce* HUH?" and not take "Not now" for an answer.

There's one of me. There are guild ranks to title, guild scrolls to scribe, guild skills to figure out. And there's 50 of you. I'm trying to be nice. If you've asked me five or more consecutive questions in a row, it's time to BE QUIET and TRY AGAIN LATER. And by the by, if you've actually gotten me to the point of exasperation when I've replied "Every time you ask delays your answer further"... you really need to stop asking.

Pretty please? You can be a bard real soon, I promise. I've done everything I could so far to get the guild open in the shortest reasonable time possible. Just take it easy.

This is a feeble attempt to articulate the frustration of having fifty different alts pounce on me at once, ask "Can I be a bard? Huh? Huh? *bounce* HUH?" and not take "Not now" for an answer.

There's one of me. There are guild ranks to title, guild scrolls to scribe, guild skills to figure out. And there's 50 of you. I'm trying to be nice. If you've asked me five or more consecutive questions in a row, it's time to BE QUIET and TRY AGAIN LATER. And by the by, if you've actually gotten me to the point of exasperation when I've replied "Every time you ask delays your answer further"... you really need to stop asking.

Pretty please? You can be a bard real soon, I promise. I've done everything I could so far to get the guild open in the shortest reasonable time possible. Just take it easy.

You are exactly right. We have decided that instruments will all be primarily stringed because of how the skills work. Sorry to all the wind instrument enthusiasts out there, but in this case we are probably going to stick with stringed instruments only. (Note we can't even have drums or percussions because the skill syntax just wouldn't look right.) While I know this narrows bards more than some people might want, I believe that trying to expand instruments would throw off our focus.

On another note, I have been very impressed with Nirrti and the Harbingers on how quickly they've brought together the core guildmembers and created the help files, guild ranks, and everything else. Well done!

Hm. Could you sing and play bagpipes at the same time?

You could, in the future maybe, add non-stringed instruments that simply don't work for songs, just give some sort of room emote if played (and a different, and higher quality one, if played by a Bard).

Also, on the topic of horrid awful lyrics, I've been partial to the idea of letting people submit songs to the guild. Look them over, maybe tweak them a bit, and then post them in GHELP HELPICANTTHINKOFADECENTSONG. That way you can at least use your skills without sounding horrid. You could, of course, still write your own.

Ah! I misunderstood. I took your saying "without sounding horrid" as, if someone thought you sounded bad, you'd be directed to the list.

My bad!

You are exactly right. We have decided that instruments will all be primarily stringed because of how the skills work. Sorry to all the wind instrument enthusiasts out there, but in this case we are probably going to stick with stringed instruments only. (Note we can't even have drums or percussions because the skill syntax just wouldn't look right.) While I know this narrows bards more than some people might want, I believe that trying to expand instruments would throw off our focus.

On another note, I have been very impressed with Nirrti and the Harbingers on how quickly they've brought together the core guildmembers and created the help files, guild ranks, and everything else. Well done!

Well, they're free to say that, and you're free to tell them to STFU, but yes, I meant if YOU thought you sounded horrid.

Although it might be nice to give some people some pointers, or nudge them towards a good example. Judging from some of the problems with just names and descriptions that people have sometimes, I just know someone is going to sing something HIDEOUS.

As far as I can tell, all songs must have lyrics. You can't sing and play a wind instrument.

The Harbingers follow the bard archetype. Their primary skill is Music,
specialising in the insidious Shadowbeat, with the secondary skill of
Acrobatics. Harbingers may study Hunting, specialising in Ecology, or
learn to craft Illusions of light and shadow.

Ecology is the specialization of Hunting which is open for druids. Those
who choose Ecology tap into the essence of animal, plant and minerals.
They are also charged with maintaining the balance of nature, protecting
its delicate balance. Most notably, these druids often have an animal
familiar that follows them around.

So much for that. I hope Shadowbeat and Wildarrane have a bunch of forestal/nature skills to reflect their ability to learn Ecology. I honestly think Bards with ecology is a little.. taboo? I can picture hunting and perhaps a more suitable specialization (like some sort of survival skill that includes healing, tattoos, and natural defenses). Gosh.. imagine the chaos in group combat when you have two or more bards there dropping smudge after smudge.. mud, broken limbs, bleeding.. and the afflictions through fetishes.