After 800 plus spells, Geoffrey admits to being *temporarily* short on
creativity.
The initial song idea and framework, along with three working titles, was
mine, Geoffrey poked holes in it, had to the insight to make bards immune to
mana regen, picked one of the three titles, and took it to the next stage
for approval. Ryan freaked out, calmed down, and then the coders went to
work.
Due to an error with the export Monday, the song wasn't placed at the proper
vendors (Freeport and Qeynos guild halls, don't cry foul, wood elves, by
43rd, you should be all over the world with ease, and it just didn't fit in
with the song 'themes' in Kelethin), and isn't active on the spell tables
yet. Next chance for an export, it should be up and running just fine.
And yes, it's level 43, and you will like it, a lot. Just don't waste it
blasting poor rats and bats! It takes a long while to regen that much mana.
Oh, and to alleviate fears, bard mana is based on...CHA and DEX.
Any bard 43rd level, no matter what race, and what his or her choice of
stats turned out to be, should be able (barring missed notes) to cast it.
Mana requirements were very closely tuned, based on the minimum natural
stats in CHA and DEX any player would have, at 43rd.
CHA or DEX inhibiting items and effects should be avoided if you have
baseline stats in either, as they can potentially reduce your mana to the
point where you don't have enough to cast. So, don't pick on the skunks,
and don't get fatigued! Other than that, you should be just fine.
The natural increase in mana per level still only allows a 50th level bard
one shot, same as those with exceptionally high DEX and CHA, or using a lot
of mana boosting items, so they are not going to be able to sing it much
more often, maybe shaving a minute or so off the recast time, thanks to
having a slightly larger mana reserve to draw from. Rather than being OOM
after singing it once, they may have a sliver of mana left.
One note, the 49th level Shaman forty point Dexterity buff, and the 49th
level Enchanter forty point Charisma buff, when stacked, boosts your mana
less than a bar at 43rd, to give you some indication of the minor impact
higher stat scores have on this song.
Get in the habit of sitting down more often. Easy to do, just mimic the
rest of your party, poor slobs who HAVE to sit between every fight, for one
reason or another. Just like hitpoints, mana regens faster when you are on
your butt.
----- Original Message -----
From: Garramone, Michael (CCI-Las Vegas) <Michael.Garramone@...>
To: <eqbards@onelist.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 1999 1:02 PM
Subject: Re: [eqbards] New Patch.
>From: "Garramone, Michael (CCI-Las Vegas)" <Michael.Garramone@...>
>
>when you say "We'd kicked around the idea around", does that mean you are
>part of the development team? i know you are level 45+ bard right?
anyway,
>any info on where the song is found? i think the 5 bard vendors have been
>checked. plus i heard it is level 43, so i want it =)
>
>Shada Silverleaf, Level 43 Bard, Mithaniel Marr
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: J.M. Capozzi [mailto:croak63@...]
>Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 1999 6:01 PM
>To: eqbards@onelist.com
>Subject: Re: [eqbards] New Patch.
>
>
>It has no effect at all on Clarity and the rate at which your party members
>regen mana.
>
>The Desperate Dirge is VERY powerful for a bard song. Most bard songs are
>classified as cantrips, quick little spells that have minor duration and
>impact when song once, but add up over time. This song breaks out of that
>mold completely. The mana use, and the lack of regen, was needed to keep
it
>from being overused. As the name implies, it's a last ditch effort on the
>bard's part to end a combat.
>
>We'd kicked around the idea of the song stunning the bard for 10 to 30
>seconds as another balance factor, or using a horn or lute as a consumable
>reagent, but neither proved practical, or easy to code. The change making
>bards immune to mana regen was relatively easy to implement.
>
>It's going to take at least 30 minutes of just sitting to regen all that
>mana once you cast the song, twice that if you remain standing. And thats
>as it should be. The song rivals harm touch at that level in damage done
(A
>43rd level SK can do 430 to a SINGLE target), and this song will hit FOUR
>targets. That's 1600 damage, fast. It's use should be limited.
>
>And it might encourage bards to wear more mana and mana stat boosting
items,
>so they can have a larger mana reserve to draw from, speeding downtime
>between songs a bit. This is fine, as it means in most cases that they'll
>have to give up better armor to wear the low or no AC caster tuned garb.
>----- Original Message -----
>
>From: Douglas <mailto:Bierbower@...> Bierbower
>To: eqbards@onelist.com <mailto:eqbards@onelist.com>
>Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 1999 5:10 PM
>Subject: Re: [eqbards] New Patch.
>
>I read it the same way.
>
>Actually, the patch message seemed to indicate their would be no method
>possible to speed up a bard's mana regen rate, it gave no indication of any
>change that would alter how current bard songs *may* speed mana regen for
>other party members (or maybe I just read it wrong).
>
>Ariell, Karana Server
>-the resident "dumb" bard *smiles*
>
>
>George Holt wrote:
>
>
> in addition there is no way for bards to speed up mana regen... (sorry,
>those buffs won't work...)
>
>
>
>
>
>
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