Illusions aren't good in combat? You're sorely mistaken, my friend. Illusions can kick ass if you're imaginative. However, Estarra said she's gonna neuter Bard illusions, sadly... which I don't think should happen. Why make a class "purely entertainment"?

Someone post the whole Acrobatics set, I'm incredibly curious to see the rest.

Its on the Scrying Pool.

Bards need help, end of story.

Huh?

You see, if someone stances legs and parries head, they won't die to a bonecrusher unless the bonecrusher is able to knock them down, so that thier parry doesn't work. There is no delay on curing a broken arm to prevent them from parrying, unlike the pureblades which can amputate. *shrug*

Sheesh, talking about putting words in my mouth. I never said we were going to neuter bard illusions nor did I say to make the class "purely entertainment". I had hinted that we may split illusions into specializations where bards get more visual illusions (which are indeed more entertaining to spectators) and mages get more mental illusions (ala phantasms).

Dag, the willpower drain on balancing is crazy. If you're willing to fight for a few minutes, there's no way for the person to keep it up.

... and can be nullified before the bard gets balance by sipping a poison instead of using faeleaf to make you deaf


So it's not, "Oooh, look at the pretty lights!" It's more of a, "Ahhh, look at the pretty lights, they BURN!"

I -really- hope this doesn't fall into that lame stereotype where everyone says "Bards shouldn't be good at fighting because they're for RPing and stuff." Every class should be as close as possible to being balanced regardless of what you think their RP should be.

Is the drain nearly as daunting as dreamweaving? :s

And bards in Imp were awsome fighters as well as bashers... mm, killing people with your voice... and my songbird, how I miss him Ahem, enough reminiscing about other IRE games *inno*

As a formal shadowdancer, I can say with honesty to be at all decent in bardic combat you need to be very creative and imaginative. For the most part other classes don't require any sort of innovation to be decent. To be kickass, maybe, not not decent.

I don't think I can say the same for bards. We will be great for support, like mentioned here numerous times. But as of right now 1vs PVP, nope. Not to say I'm not having fun trying out new strategies, because I am.

Just don't switch over if you're looking for 1337 skillz.

The drain on balancing's way worse than being in dreamform. I put it up, forgot I had it, and it took most of my willpower in a few minutes. (Fabled Discipline).

The drain from dreamweaving is negligible. I lose about 4 willpower a tick. It's the abilities in dreamform that consume all your willpower, not the drain itself.

Two things: Bard damage should be Charisma-based (FLAVOUR, DAMMIT, FLAVOUR) rather than Intelligence-based, and it should be at least in part Sonic or Psychic - All magic damage hurts.


As long as you promise BOTH specializations will still carry Improved and Programmed. And Fireworks and Manse, dammit. Statue would be nice too, but not essential. Everything else can go.

That is not that bad idea.
I like it actually.
Charisma based attack is something that no other IRE game have.

Nature curse uses 100 mana. 90 if you factor in the -10% helping from a nature torc.
That's kinda neat, low cost, and perfection+beauty would easily cover it. Moonburst uses 250 mana in comparison(225 if I remember to resummon my torc every hour or so),and lvl 1 mana regen + perfection easily covers that.

Well, as long as you remember that charisma is the most easily boosted stat in the game.

So a 12 charisma hit would have to be about as useful as a 10 int/str hit.

The other problem with using charisma is that it already determines influence battle strength. If it determined bashing strength at the same time, you've got balance issues.

Is beserkfetish balance or equilibrium?

Pretty sure it's equilibrium, but I could be wrong.

Gah, and here I was trying to be diliberately vague... Gah, fine, specifics specifics....

It is going to be hard to pin down a bard, end of story. Almost all the of the utility movement skills are in Acrobatics, they can dodge blows at a decent rate, and their afflictions are unique and interesting on average.

_However_, those said afflictions also rely on the target willingly using either mana or power, which means if they decide to just bludgeon you to death, well... Your kinda screwed. Combine that with fragile races for the most part, and your dead quicker than most magi with with their other defenses. Butterflying the blows is all well and good, but those that connect make you wince.. Hard.

Not to mention nearly a third of your music/Shadowbeat skills require either you fighting another bard or having your allies there. This means you suffer in 1v1 quite a bit, especially considering your main attack is straight up magic damage. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeking the primary stat Cha, letting Tae'Dae really shine as the tanky as hell bard.

Octave is just brutal... Two bards and some guardian warriors can really lay it out even in novicehood, and I see some problems down the road with Perfectfifth (you can't move away from the bard who plays it at you) and Chasm/Decapitate. However, they can be kinda costly in power as 6 of their Music skills (read it, Music) consume power.

Finally... The Hunting skill? Seriously? For Bards? Don't get me wrong, it is better than illusions in it's current form, however the synenergy doesn't really mesh... Ambush/Stalk/Snakecharm? Don't get me wrong, a campfire performance is just too good, and a personal tent kinda fits the vagabond style, and we all love fetishes.... But I can see Tarot bards doing really, really well. Perfectfifth plus seven Soulless rubs equals dead... Anyone... Throw in the other cards and you have a really, really powerful combination... One that will make Forest Bards just down right subpar. I'll write on it a bit more once I have some more combat under my belt.