Hello!
I'm mostly just a lurker on this list because I usually get it while at
work and don't have time to post. Normally, on the weekend, I'd rather play
EQ than read about it. ;) But today, I had to do something. I've just made
a post to our Bard Thread on the Everquest message boards. We're up to nine
pages of mostly well written posts. And still Verant doesn't understand.

I love playing my bard. And I hate to see all the effort that has been
put into this class by skilled and intelligent people like Kaeria, Rokenn,
Talies, Shada, and many other less accomplished but equally experienced
people go to waste. I have 7 other characters that I can play but my
favorite character of all is my weak, underappreciated, struggling bard that
can occasionally tip the scales in the favor of life rather than death for
my groups. I want all the problems that have been created by Verant to be
fixed. I want someone working at Verant to understand the core ability of
our class - our songs - the way so many players do. And I don't know how to
make that happen.

If anyone on this list has any ideas how we can get Verant to
acknowledge and address the problems with our great class, *please* tell me
what I can do and how I can help. The only avenue available seems to me to
be the message boards. Please post something. Even if it has been repeated
again (and again and again) in many different ways by many different people,
maybe someone's wording or turn of phrase will make the difference and turn
on a lightbulb in someone's head at Verant and they will look again.
Probably not. But please post anyway. I don't want to see my role models of
bardhood disappear. Maybe it's time for the bards to start making some noise
rather than continuing to die quietly...?

Thank you for your time, dedication, advice and support.

Sincerely,

Aanluil Lumiaria
Erollisi Marr

P.S. Please, if you reply to this message to eqbards, cut out any
unnecessary stuff in your reply so our friends on the list don't have to
read this very lengthy post again and again and again. :)

P. P.S. Here is my post from the message boards. Please post what you
think, write about the stuff I have forgotten and add your voice to the
boards:

----------message board post follows----------

Last night at peak time on the Erollisi Marr server there were over 1800
people online and a '/who all bard 30 60' came up with 16 bards who weren't
/anon. Is there a problem with the bard class? No. Well, not really. Well,
actually there are many little problems with the bard class.

But why are so many players upset and quitting their bards over such
seemingly minor problems? After all, every class has some problems with
it... and it's necessary for classes to be different to promote class
interdependence. This must be yet another typical class envy post, right?

W R O N G !

I started my bard one month after Erollisi Marr was created. In the past
year, I've seen *so many* little problems with our songs. And, like many
fine players I've met, I tolerate them. I work around them. I laugh
ruefully and shrug that something so obviously broken yet so simple to fix
wasn't tested, or was somehow overlooked and I keep playing. I love my bard.

It has never been an easy class to play. You don't have power like a
wizard. Or soloability like a druid or necro. You don't have heals like a
cleric and can't tank like a warrior, paladin, shadowknight or ranger. I've
played all those classes. I know. Yet still I love my bard, despite all it's
problems.

As a bard, you get nerfed with the hybrids, your songs get broken when
caster songs get adjusted, your melee capability is FAR behind any other
hybrid's ability and unlike other hybrids, you don't get a full set of
spells. Instead, you get one *song* per level.

Songs are NOT spells. They can't be cast then forgotten. Beneficial songs
only affect group members. Direct damage songs are much weaker than even a
warrior's BASH skill. Area effect spells get you killed because your tanking
ability is nearly as weak as a caster. In fact, my druid can tank better.
Everything about the class is weak to begin with. Yet I love my bard.

Why play such an obviously weak class? What do bard's *have* then, if we
don't get anything to compensate for the hybrid XP penalties, the weak
defensive ability, weak melee ability and limited spell selection? etc. We
have our songs. The benefit and bane of our existence. Our songs, the core
raison d'etre of a bard, is why so many bards are quitting.

Many great players of bards have put a lot of effort into exploring,
understanding and testing our songs and they have generously shared their
knowledge and experience; what type of instrument each song can use, which
songs require an instrument, which songs stack with which other songs, which
songs overwrite other classes' spells. The main focus of being a bard, is to
use your songs to enhance a group. It's vital to know how your songs can
combine, affect, and enhance other classes. Therein lies the reason *so
many* bards (and other skilled players who really understand a bard's role)
are upset. Verant shows a complete lack of *understanding* about the bard
class that they miraculously created.

This latest debacle with Kelin's Lucid Lullaby is an issue that has been
ongoing for *nearly a year* and during that time, more and more problems
with the class have been inadvertently introduced by patches to other class
capabilities. These problems *added* to the existing problems with the class
which remained unaddressed. And each time a new inadvertent problem occurs
because of a patch, many fine bards have put their heads together and tested
the songs thoroughly and discovered the problem and have even hazarded
guesses about the code causing the problem.

Every time a new problem is introduced and old problems remain unadressed,
FACTS about the way the songs work have been presented politely, clearly and
precisely to Verant so that they can fix the problems they keep creating.
And every time, Verant *ignores* the hard work and dedication bards have put
in trying to keep this class working properly throughout the changes that
inevitably break things in subtle and complex ways.

Instead, after many polite reminders, they quickly 'test' the songs using
modified eqclient programs that DONT SHOW WHAT THE PLAYERS SEE (eg secondary
resist messages), they 'test' certain functions of a song and not the other
functions of the very same song (eg see invis), they 'test' the changes in
conditions under which the problem doesn't occur (eg lullaby by level 15
bard vs level 15), and then they CLAIM THAT THEY HAVE TESTED IT and that the
song is 'working as intended'.

All these problems are ON TOP of the myriad of little problems with the
class that bards have been patiently waiting to see fixed; missing songs
(the CORE of the class remains incomplete), the bard drum animation, BUGS
(such as the song that causes a dark elf to lose his natural infravision),
and other such problems that have existed SINCE THE GAME STARTED and have
yet to be repaired, addressed, or even acknowledged.

I feel sad that so many wonderful, intelligent, thorough, polite and
dedicated players have been treated so poorly. I understand why so many
people have quit playing the bards they love and why some people feel that
it has gone too far and they must quit this great game. And like most bards,
I secretly keep hoping that someday, maybe someone at Verant with a little
bit of patience and intelligence will pay attention to the many posts we've
made. That someone at Verant will *read* and try to *understand* what has
been written by bards rather than glancing briefly at a post and thinking
they understand what was written then proving by their responses that they
don't.

Paradoxically, bard players have never been a vocal group of people. We
generally play bards because we believe in the rightness of dialog and
communication rather than making the bigest bang, the loudest squeak, the
greatest noise. If anyone at Verant reads this post, REALLY reads this post,
I hope they stop and think and try to understand what has been written by so
many good people before me.