Ok, maybe you just haven't read prior posts by Abashi on some of these
things.
>>>* Drums look like flutes when equipped. Strumming a flute looks quite
silly
[Wrinn, Gordon] - We may at some point look into creating another drum
model, but it's not a high priority at the moment as it's not a functional
issue.<<<
>Although not the answer I would have liked, it's a HELL of a lot more of an
answer ?
>than we have EVER gotten on that issue. At least now we can put that on
the back >burner.
This is the same answer they gave last November, said maybe after Kunark.
>>>* Brahm's Horn has no graphics when equipped.
[Wrinn, Gordon] - Fixed in the database. Next item patch.<<<
>Fixed. No arguemnets there.
Not a big deal, believe it when I see it though since this is the second
time they said next item patch.
>>>* Raw bamboo (wind instrument) has no wind animation - should be same as
a
flute.
[Wrinn, Gordon] - I don't believe that raw bamboo qualifies as a wind
instrument. We'll see for certain in the next patch. The original
implementation was meant to be a component for instrument construction.<<<
>Considering VI's track record, it'll probably just stay as a Wind
instrument ;)
I'd say more likely it will NOT function as a wind instrument as of next
patch.
>>>* Female bards cannot dance.
[Wrinn, Gordon] - Shared animations don't translate from the parent
character due to side of the model. We'll see about addressing this at some
point in the future, but as with the drum issue, it's not a high
priority.<<<
>As I personally have seen many female bards post how they DON'T want to
dance, I think >this is more of a taste issue. Personally I would like to
see a toggle switch for
>animations.
Don't really care on this one either, a toggle would be nice.
>>>* [Non bug, but annoying] Bard 'waddles' when running. Why this animation
was changed from the glide effect is odd since the bard was strumming a
flute.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- Working as intended. This is the animation that is used,
and though I understand that there are some that do not like the animation,
it wouldn't be prudent to revisit it when time can be spent on more fruitful
pursuits. There were people complaining about the "glide" at one point which
is why a "running while playing" animation was put in.<<<
>As pointed out here and on the Concert Hall boards, it seems that with the
last patch
>the "waddle" has been even'd out. But really... how much of a playability
issue is
>this? (I miss the glide myself, but I can live with the current waddle)
Haven't noticed much change myself.
>>>* Mask of Songbird - Plane of Sky item weighs 5.0. Obvious typo. ALL
other
POS masks for all other classes weigh 0.5 or less. Not sure if this has been
fixed yet.
[Wrinn, Gordon] - Just had this fixed in the database.<<<
>Fixed.
Cool, doesn't affect many people, but cool nonetheless.
>>>* Small Brass Trumpet/Practice Lute - item listed in patch message over
a year ago. No one
has ever found item -ever.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- It's not in game. There are no specific plans for it in
game. Our apologies for listing it previously.<<<
>Yeah, those are a complete screw-job. At least we now know they aren't in,
but why
>the hell they said they were in the first place are beyond me. /rude
Verant.
What else can I say, throws 90% of their credibility right out the window.
>>>* Both Lizardman Scout Fife or Froglok Escort Fife are unusable as
instruments.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- They aren't meant to be usable as instruments.<<<
>For me, that's not really a problem (although I do think it's a bit silly
for them not
>to be Wind instruments)
Agreed.
>>>* Lyssa's Veracious Concord (24)/Psalm of Warmth (25)/Psalms of Cooling
(33)/Psalms of Purity (37)
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- Fixed in next client. <<<
>More fixed things :o)
They said they fixed this 4 patches ago. And again 3 patches ago. Again
I'll believe it when I see it.
>>>Solon's Song of the Sirens (27)/Solon's Bewitching Bravura (39)
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- Can't reproduce any differences between the servers. In
any case, the charm spell is not designed to be refreshable, in any form. It
is currently working as intended.<<<
>If it works differently than it's supposed to on the PvP servers:
SHHHHHHHH!!! ;o)
>I think any answer to that one should be "Oh yeah... you're right Gordon,
it DOESN'T
>work that way on PvP" (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)
Don't play a bard PvP so cannot tell if that's true.
>>>* Psalms of Vitality (29) - Song was updated to do cure on pulse, but
does
not seem to do so reliably. Many bards have seen message "Your affliction
has been cured by a magical enchantment" but the disease/poison icon still
present OR continue to lose hit points.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- Todd tested this. The song works fine, but the success
message is being sent no matter what. The message is what's broken, not the
song.<<<
>It'll get fixed... eventually. At least we now know the song itself works
(although I
>have yet to try it)
So why do they still see the disease/poison icon and still take damage? Far
as I can tell this akin to "It's working" when we know it's not.
>>>*Syvelian's Anti-Magic Aura (40) - Song appears to dispel magic, but the
bard receives no feedback message when used on mobs (e.g. "MobX looks
dispelled").
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- Javier has fixed this in the database. Next spell update.
<<<
>Fixed.
Yeah, this was just a message thing I think
>>>* Jonthan's Provocation (45) (et al) - Song is a mix of Str+AC+ damage
absorption
shield. If shield is used up, all other effects fail.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- All spells work this way. If one component of a spell is
used up, overwritten, resisted, or dispelled, all other components suffer
the same fate.<<<
>To me, this is just piss-poor coding. This will be an issue that will come
back time
>and again.
Another stupid choice of putting spell effects together.
>>>* Kellin's Lucid Lullaby (15) - Song is essentially unusable due to 80%
resist rates. Song also overrides higher-level enchanter mez spells. Bards
have done extensive testing of this song at all levels, charisma, and mob
levels and have found that: higher charisma increases resists and higher
level increases resists. GZ has stated song should have 35% resist rate, but
actual numbers are twice this (from what bards believe, bad coding in
secondary resist). VI has stated that song was tested and is working as
intended, but offers no proof of testing or what was actually tested.
Without this song, the only form of bard "crowd control" is charming or
single target mezzing (not that it works either). The amount of evidence of
this song not working is enormous and can all be found at Concert Hall site.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- The resist rates cited are not correct for most
encounters. Though anecdotes on the next report resist rates in excess of
80% even with a level 60 bard versus a level 1 snake, we've found that to be
incorrect. The spell has use at the lower levels, but as designed, it
becomes far less useful for higher level encounters. Works as intended.<<<
>One day...
Yeah, if we live that long.
>>>* Selo's Constant Chain (23) One of two songs unintentionally nerfed when
54
song was changed. Song used to stop mobs in their tracks at 50% health,
since patch does not stop mob until down to 20%. Song also overrides higher
level snares of other classes. UPDATE: VI has decided that song was too
powerful after 18 months as-is with no documented complaints. Consensus on
bard bulletin boards is that VI does not want to spend time to fix song and
has instead opted for a cop-out nerf. Song has random 0-9 second duration, 3
second casting time, and higher resists than snare/root. If song is left
as-is, bards want a full 9 second chain to make up for reduced strength &
high resists, now it is just weak AND unpredictable.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- Works as intended. The previous operation of the spell
yielded creatures that would stop cold when fleeing at aroudn 50% health.
Rather than fight like a rooted NPC (which would have been fine), the NPCs
would do nothing while getting beaten for half of their life.<<<
>See above.
Answer is untrue anyhow, it stopped mobs at 33%, not 50%. What they don't
mention is they also changed the health point at which mobs slow down when
running without a spell on them to be lower.
>>>* Denon's Dissension (35) - Intended to be a mana draining song. Drains
mana
at an incredibly slow pace. In PvP, a player with breeze or clarity can
easily outpace mana drain done by this song. Use against mobs of same level
an exercise in futility unless bard has about an hour to drain the mob's
mana.
[Wrinn, Gordon] - This spell is working as intended. If we need to
reevaluate it at some point we can.<<<
>That's an open door we have NEVER had before. As a matter of fact, any
time this has
>been brought up, we've gotten the aformentioned Lullaby/Chains answer.
If I ever see a reevaluation on bards that ends up different from "working
as intended" maybe I'd believe that. That has never occurred. Clerics get
one spell changed and we see multiple posts promising to reevaluate it
immediately and it happens. Bards see "If we need to reevaluate it at some
point we can." and get nothing back ever other than "working as intended".
Let's face it, if a core class like Clerics or Warriors or Enchanters
complain about a change, it gets looked into immediately and with some
degree of openess. Auxilliary (their word actually) classes like the bard
do the same we get "If we need to reevaluate it at some point we can."
>>>* Selo's Assonaint Strane (54)/Rondo - An AE slow song intended to be
upgrade to
level 20 AE slow song. The problem: Instrument has no effect on 54 song,
resulting in a 20% slow versus 35% from level 20 song.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- I'll ask testing to check instrument effectiveness.<<<
>No reason to complain about that *yet*. Wait until the testing is done.
Same as above. Testing has thus far always resulted in "working as
intended" even when obviously ridiculous.
>>>BAD QUEST ISSUES<<<
My question here is "Didn't you post a while back that there is now someone
that does nothing but work on quests?" This too will come back to haunt
them.
>>>* No one has seen a Burnyai Bunt Cake (Firiona Vie quest from Scout
Treekill
for a bard helm). Can someone confirm that item can be found on a live
server?
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- This isn't a quest. It's a story. The item isn't in game
purposely.<<<
>Okay, at least we can stop looking. Perhaps they can take the text out
about a bard's >helm being offered for the Cake?
It's not much of a story. Just don't want to admit it's a snipe hunt joke
aimed at bards me thinks. It very specifically says "I'd trade you this
helm a bard left me if you could get me one"
>>>* Singing Short Sword. Haste effect a proc that is marginally better than
existing bard haste songs and worse than enchanter haste buffs. Proc effect
cancels the better enchanter haste spells.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- We're reevaluating several of the epic-quest items
tomorrow.<<<
>Again, no reason to complain until we hear from them on it. Any
complaining now would >just be a waste of energy.
They're hearing this one from everyone nearly, except clerics as far as I
know.
>>>Helm(Eye of Zomm)/helm/gloves- I dont really see any use for this, even
as a novelty.I
agree there needs to be more fun items in the game, but please dont make
this an item that comes off a level 55 mob.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- It's not something that they are required to wear. It's a
choice. If they feel that it has no value, they should seek out something
more to their liking.<<<
>Definite weak answer. Another thing to bring up to "other folks at VI"
*eg*
No we are not required to wear it? Agreed, wth? No one would ever wear
this except for pure ac and even that is questionable.
>>>Brestplate(Invigorate)- A 100 point heal, with a very long cast time.I
dont
know one bard who would use this..You must stop singing to use effects.A
bard at the level it would take to aquire this would get MUCH greater effect
for the whole group by just twisting 1 or 2 songs.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- Maybe we should reevaluate this one. This is supposed to
be a good effect. A bard can get nearly this value of healing in the casting
time of the breastplate just by playing their song with the appropriate
instrument.<<<
>See the "wait" comment above.
Sigh, there is a point at which wait is no longer an acceptable answer.
>>>Gloves-( Enduring breathe) again, this would be useful to someone who
isnt a
bard.There is currently one dungeon in the game that requires water
breathing.Kedge Keep...I dont know any bards who can solo there, if any
exists...Therefore, if a bard is down there, he is with a group..if he is
with a group, he will be singing his enduring breathe song most
likely...kinda redundant..
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- It's not something that they are required to wear. It's a
choice. If they feel that it has no value, they should seek out something
more to their liking. In regards to the complaint that the bard will already
be singing the water-breathing song, by having this item the bard no longer
has the need to do that, allowing them to twist other, more preferable
songs. It is very useful in limited circumstances.<<<
>Along with the Summon Food/Water, I've always liked this effect (although
there should
>be more than 1 water or food item summoned). *shrugs* Personal taste
issue I guess.
I guess this could be useful, Summon 1 water or Food though???
>>>Legs-(Summon Food) The casting time on this is way too long, specially
for
something that comes off such a mob.It is more time effectiant for a bard to
beg a local magician to summon him 20 food 20 drink in the time it takes a
bard to produce 1 food 1 drink.I think it should be replaced with
cornicopia.This will not be unbalancing if you keep it's current casting
time.And this wont take away the newbie mage mainstay for making money,
summoning, because at the level it takes to get/use this item, who would sit
around summoning food to sell to newbies?
[Wrinn, Gordon] - The spell may very well be inappropriate. We'll put it on
the list for discussion.
>Boots(Summon drink) pretty much same argument as legs..
Again, what a joke.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -This one too.<<<
There ya go :o) (Personally, I think this is mainly becasue of the fear of
bad publicity from a bad taste standpoint, ala Mystere).
>>>My suggestions..
Helm-Some sort of Charisma buff
Brestplate-Something like illusion werewolf..it makes roleplay sense, as the
bards in Mistmoore do it.
Arms-A Dexerity Buff
Bracers-Keep the same
Gloves-An agi buff
Pants-Cornicopia
Boots-Everfont
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- Nearly all of the spells on all of the activatable armor
(across all classes) has limited usefulness. The spells suggested here would
all be very useful, leading to balance problems with the activatable items
of other classes. In the end, though I do want to revisit a couple of the
items, it is still the choice of the bard to wear or not wear this armor.
The armor itself is not meant to be an upgrade to planar armor, but an
alternative. <<<
>Personally I want Illusion Vox for the helm ;o) Some of the items will be
re-visited, >let's just wait and see.
I'd be happy with Aura of the snake or whatever the low level shaman buff
is, hardly unbalancing.
>>>* Stuck songs/Start/stop songs - bards occasionally get stuck on a song
and are unable to
stop it. Difficult to replicate, but appears to be associated with lag. Once
stuck, the /stopsong command has no effect. The only know cure is to spam
the hotkey/gem repeatedly (a few dozen times) or log.
[Wrinn, Gordon] - We've never been able to pin this one down. If they have a
way to do it, the testing department would be very happy to talk about it on
the QA board.<<<
>If they can pin it down, it will get fixed. Granted, all they would have
to do is hit >a live server and watch a real bard for a few minutes to see
it.
I doubt they can find this without coming over a connection thru a distance
farther than San Diego to San Diego, but we'll see.
>>>* Songs breaking rogue sneaking. Two issues: bards able to break rogues
sneaking even if rogue not in same group and bards singing mana song break
rouges sneaking even if rogue a moderate distance away.
[Wrinn, Gordon] - I've asked Roger to bump this up on his plate. It's been
around for a while and we should get it fixed.<<<
>Although that's more of a Rogue issue than bard... I think. Working on
being fixed.
Let's not start on the whole Hide/Sneak issue.
>>>* Chords of Dissonance (2)/Disruptive Discord (10) - no animation when
playing song and no mobs in
range. Very dangerous with AE damage song.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- This is how these spells work.<<<
>My question to that wouold be "Why is that intended?"
Who knows and obviously no one at VI cares.
>>>* Selo's no longer breaks root on PvP servers. Since release, if a bard
had
selo's song up and was rooted by a player/mob, the next pulse of speed song
would break the root (if song was not up prior to root, song would not break
it). A recent unannounced patch eliminated this ability resulting in many
PvP bard's deaths. Bard's are mostly upset because there are so many
legitimate, long-standing problems with the class and these are types of
things being worked on.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- The fact that it ever broke root was a bug. While I
understand the desire for us to fix "long standing problems" before working
on issues of this nature, this turned out to be a quick fix that was very
easily addressed. We could leave stuff like this in while doing all of the
other fixes, however we'd then have to deal with complaints that "It's
always been like this" and "why didn't we fix it sooner". It's a bit of a
double-edged sword.<<<
>I can remember brad himself saying it WAS supposed to at one point, and
also saying it
>WASN'T at another point. Personally, I don't think anyone at VI really
knows for >
>sure.
Obviously they don't cause it still breaks root on the Live non-PvP servers.
If you get rooted while Selo's is up it breaks it, you still have the icon
and can move. You just cannot start the song while Rooted.
>>>* Lock picking. Bards get skill at level 40. Skill is capped so low that
bards can only open doors in Befallen and gate to the Hole. Raising skill
would be nice to open Kunark doors - why is a level 40 bard opening doors in
newbie dungeon? (check bard count at primetime hours, and you'll be lucky to
see more than 12 45+ bards on any server).
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- Bard lock-picking is supposed to have limited usefulness.
At the moment there are very few locked doors in mid-level dungeons that
would be appropriate targets for Bard lock-picking. Perhaps at some point it
might be appropriate for a newer zone.<<<
>Newer zone? Like SoV or The Warrens? Hmmmmm...
Since those are going to be more high level zones, why would they cap the
skil lower on those locks???
>>>* Disarm Traps. Ok, no traps to disarm. Rogues got new skills (backstab &
evade) to make up for this, bards were promised it would be looked into as
well, but never got anything.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- Creation of bard songs and other enhancements that have
been made took into account that this skill is not useful in its current
form.<<<
>Again, "What songs/enhacnements?"
>(btw, Evade came from the high taunt factor of Backstab, and Backstab has
always been
>a Rogue skill)
You know all those new songs we were promised at release but did not get
until later. In other words, more total BS.
>>>* Skill caps on singing, percussion, string, brass, and wind still at 200
for bards over level 50. Other casting classes have casting skills up to
250.
[Wrinn, Gordon] - Other casting classes don't go up to 250, but I'm not
opposed to increasing the instrument caps to reduce failures. We'll put it
in the next patch.<<<
>Anyone else here remember hearing that song/instrument skills would *NEVER*
be >
>increased? *wide grin*
Yeah, but at the same time they said magical skills would never increase and
ranger defensive skills would never increase.
>>>* Dodge/Parry. Bards get skills at 53 and 58 respectively. Way too high
for
most players to ever see them and excessively high compared to other classes
that get these skills in 20s and 30s. Both parry & riposte capped at 70.
Below is summary of all melee/hybrid combat skills to put this into
perspective:
[Wrinn, Gordon] - I understand the point, but the skills were not meant to
be a large balance component to the class, but rather a reward for making it
that high in level. Decreasing the level of acquisition or increasing the
caps wouldn't be appropriate.<<<
>Ahh, but any skill that isn't high enough to be useful isn't really a skill
is it?
>Another item to bring up later (I think in time that will go the same way
as the >instrument skill caps)
Point well made and was mine as well. At the level and cap we get them they
are useless.
>>>* Still missing 49 song- thanks for asking for our input Abashi. Lots of
good suggestions out there.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- No 49th level song is planned at this time.<<<
>No excuse for that. Just plain laziness. Get your nose out of Lucas's
back-side and
>finsish this game FIRST ;p
It brings no revenue and isn't Yak's area so it won't get done.
>>>* Could musical instruments (when viewed) contain information on which
skill
they are for? Percussion/String/Wind/Brass. Not always obvious on wind/brass
instruments. Also, would be fantastic to see something like "+10% to some
brass" or "+5% to combat wind". Often, only very high level bards can
baseline instrument improvements today (hard to see 5% improvement if song
only adds 5 strength).
[Wrinn, Gordon] - I suppose we can compromise here. We'll have the skill
used displayed on the item tag following the next client-patch, but won't
list the direct modifiers.<<<
>As with the skill caps on instruments, I remember him saying that that
would *NEVER*
>be implemented.
Nah, they just said they would never display the bonus info.
>>>* Denon's Desperate Dirge (43) - 800 mana for AE 275 damage.
Breeze/Clarity/Mana song have no effect on bards mana regen (takes 30+
minutes to recharge when OOM), making this song the absolute worst in terms
of damage/downtime. With 39 charm song now using mana, bards never use this
song. Abashi started a thread asking for input and consensus was: allow song
to be memmed, sung immediately (at no mana cost), and then have a 15-minute
effect on player where song could not be sung again. Let's face it, 800 mana
is 80-90% of a bards mana and doesn't leave much for charming. 275 damage on
a level 43 mob is less than one half of one bub of hp.
* Mana on 39 charm song. Biggest problem is that after a rez, a bard has no
mana, and often takes almost an hour to get back to FM. The ability for a
bard to charm should be dependent on this.
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- This is as designed. Bards are not supposed to get any
benefit from +mana songs. Using one of their two mana-using songs is
supposed to have a large cost. It is the drawback for having powerful
songs.<<<
>At the higher levels, this song isn't really "powerful". I feel that this
too will be
>re-addressed in time.
sadly, I'd say dream on. this will likely never change.
>>>* Instrument pieces. Lots of bardic instrument pieces at vendors
(including
one in Kunark), but no way to put them together. Perhaps add to tinkering or
put in bard only instrument skill (like research).
[Wrinn, Gordon] -- Odds and ends are possible avenues for future content
additions.<<<
>*shrugs* What I've always figured.
Odds and ends left over from a planned implementation in Beta that got
scrapped actually. If this ever happens in a meaningful way I will eat the
paper this is printed on.
>As you can see, we got a couple of VERY BIG concessions. I think with
time, others
>will come 9and this time last week I sure as heck wouldn't have thought
that at all).
>-=B=-
>The Rathe
Wow, we couldn't disagree more. Oh well, if you are happy with the progress
I guess that is something. Personally I was insulted. I'd say the only
concessions made were trivial at best. Far as I can see this whole post
could have been covered by just saying some things are "If we need to
reevaluate it at some point we can." and a few are "working as intended",
the minor ones we'll fix just like we said we would 3 or 4 patches ago.
Kit
Please send submissions for the eqbards newsletter to
lol@...
with the subject submissions.