Well, after 3 tries, I finally got a reply to the list of questions that we
put together to send to GZ. Don't know if all the answers are exactly what
I might have hoped to hear, but its nice to at least get some info. The
questions may not be exactly what we had originally put together, I revised
this each time I sent it in as some things were corrected already with
patches (lack of bard quests) and some new things came up.

Elwyn Heartstring
Level 50 Bard
Erollisi Marr

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GZ: I have gotten really behind on my e-mail - just because of the volume
that I get. I try to answer every one I get, but for the past 2 months this
just hasn't been possible.

Elwyn: Where, oh where are our missings songs?! Several of our songs
(levels 39, 45, 47, 49) don't seem to be in the game. We would like to know
when we can expect these to be implemented. If they are indeed in the game
already(perhaps discovered via quests) please at least let us know that they
exist. We don't need to know how/where to get them, or even what they are,
but we don't want to waste our time questing for something that isn't there.
We've been without these songs (whatever they are) since day one of release,
and its become a point of serious aggrivation for us.

GZ: This missing songs are being saved for the expansion pack. We might
break down and put some of them in sooner, but I really wanted to be able to
add new abilities to Bards as the game contintued.

Elwyn: The level 22 song Alenias Disenchanting Melody currently seems to
have no effect whatsoever. This has been tested repeatedly by many, many
bards. It does not dispel effects on group members (as we thought it
should) nor does it protect in any way from harmful effects. Can you please
confirm whether this song is broken or not? When can we expect a fix?

GZ: I will check this one out. It *should* cast cancel magic on your entire
group - and did at one point of beta. It is high on my list of things to
check out/get fixed.

Elwyn: You've mentioned in the past that the messed up drum graphic (it now
looks like we strum a small twig) will be corrected in an upcoming graphics
patch. We realize a graphics patch is large, and hence cannot be done
regularily, but could we please get an estimate on roughly when we can
expect this glitch to be fixed? In addition, a recent patch made an
equipped mino horn look like we have a small burlap sack embedded in our
wrists.

GZ: Well, i just fixed the horn. We should have a drum at some time - I
just don't know when. Sorry. I think we will try to sneak it in on our
next graphics patch.

Elwyn: Spellcasters, when they right click on a spell can see what skill the
spell uses. Why doesn't the bard spell book show what instrument skill is
required when you right click on a song?

GZ: Good question. I think I can get that added.

Elwyn: Some of our skills (Hiding, Forage) cap at such low levels, that they
aren't worth using. We don't need to be master of these, but if the caps
were raised such that at least they worked more than 1 out of 20 times, we
might consider putting them back into our hot keys.

GZ: A lot of these skills are 'given' to Bards, even though they won't ever
get good at them. I'll check on the caps with one of the programmers, but I
doubt that will change much.

Elwyn: It has been the case (since release) that playing Selo's when in an
outdoor zone, would 'break' the effects of the root spell. With a recent
patch, this is no longer the case. Was it a bug that it broke root
originally, or is it a bug that now it doesn't? When could we expect a fix
for this if it is a bug?

GZ: Selo's breaking root has been back and forth since Beta 1. We had it
breaking root for a while, but this proved to be just too powerful, since it
is a free song that bards keep mem'd all the time.

Elwyn: It is currently possible to cast SoW, or use Jboots, then enter an
indoor zone and enjoy enhanced speed for the next 30 minutes or so. This
seems to us a little unfair, as our song works only outdoors. Are there any
plans to either A) make Selo's work indoors, or B) to not allow SoW and
Jboots to work indoors?

GZ: Possibly. But remember - Bards are similar to Hybrid spell casters on
their power levels - they are not pure spell casters - their songs won't be
as powerful as a pure caster.

Elwyn: Bards currently don't have the ability to meditate. This is fine, we
don't really need or want it, and we understand that giving us meditate
would reduce the recovery time from the level 43 song. It does however take
us an inordinatly long amount of time to memorize our songs. Quite
literally, memorizing all our songs after a death takes at least ten times
as long as a caster. Is there any possibility of memorization time being
reduced in the future?

GZ: That is something that we will be talking about at our next tuning
meeting - possibly.

Elwyn: The level 28 song, Crisson's Pixie Strike seems to be bugged. When
used, 1 of 3 things may happen. 1, The mob is mezmerized and stands there
for ~12 seconds which is what we'd expect. 2, The mob resists the spell, we
get a resist message and nothing happens. This is also an expected result.
3, The mob is hit with the song, no resist message, and no mezmerize effect
takes place. This happens pretty often. It will often take 5 or 6 hits
with pixie strike (with no message) before a mob is truly mezmerized, after
which its relatively simple to keep the mez in place by repeatedly pixie
striking them. What is up with this lack of resist message yet no effect
taking place. This can easily be demonstrated by striking yourself. You'll
get the message to the effect that you've been struck, yet you can still
move about fine.

GZ: I'll check on that one - not sure.

GZ: Hope that helps a bit. :)

Geoffrey C. Zatkin
Arch-Mage of Norrath
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Game Designer: Verant Interactive