Actually, many of the answers are exactly what I expected with the added bonus that it is confirmed
they'll eventually be fixing certain things (meditate times, giving a resist message on that 2nd saving
throw for lullaby/pixie's). One thing about the original letter is that while it points out many specific
little problems of the bard class, it doesn't clarify exactly what all these add up to. For example, if
we could get GZ to comment on an overall balance issues:
1) Monsters get increasingly difficult to enthrall as their levels increase (independent of singer's
level).
2) You can't charm monsters above 37th level.
3) Our melee (especially defense) skills either cap low, or weren't given to us at all.
4) There are virtually no bard specific items that aren't dropped by gods/dragons, so we have to take the
discards of other classes like warriors/etc.
5) Several of the skills we have virtually no practical use to us (stealth, pick locks).
All of these add up to a class, that when over 38th level becomes a magic resist buffing mana pump.
Almost all of our defining abilities reach a point where they simply don't work well anymore, whereas
other classes that have these abilities get upgrades on them that work better on higher level monsters
(whether in the form of better spells, or higher skill caps). There's no point in being a jack of all
trades if you're not good enough at any of the trades to be useful after a certain point. If you are to
look at the bard as a stricly "jack of all trades" character, this weakness at high level would certainly
make sense. The question I have is, does it make sense to even have a class of that type in the game if
no one wants to play them past level 38? I guess what I'm saying is, the bard is a very fun class to play
up to about level 38, but after that seems to lose its identity to the minor roles of mana recouperation
and magic resist buffing. Important roles to be sure, but can they alone define an entire class and make
them entertaining to play?
Whew.. rambling here, but that's the core of the question I've never really seen asked and certainly
haven't seen answered. I don't think it's the limits placed individually on each of our skills that can
be argued about, since they can always be easily explained away in the name of "class balance/jack of all
trades/etc." It's the combination of all the limitations that hurts the overall balance of the bard class
at high levels that needs to be addressed. For example, I'd gladly give up the ability to solo hill
giants in my low 30's to have more defense melee skills at higher levels. (I use this as an example as
I'm sure that this ability is factored in when we see Verant spokesmen that claim that many at Verant feel
the bard is too powerful as it is. That one ability certainly is powerful, and one of the most boring
things you can do in the game. Get rid of it and make the bard class more powerful in other ways that
we've been asking for!)
My inconcise two cents.
Rokenn Swiftsong wrote:
> Well Abashi finally posted GZ's answers to my post. Here it is:
>
> Author Topic: That Bard Thread: GZ's Answers...
> Abashi
> Station Member posted 01-06-2000 05:28 PM
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Hello all,
> I took the original post with all the questions about bards and delivered
> them directy to Geoffrey Zatkin, the Arch-Mage of Norrath. He was kind
> enough to reply with a very well thought-out response, which is below in
> it's entirety.
>
> -Gordon
MASSIVE SNIP
--
Steven S. Klug
sklug@...