[Seenon]

Hey everyone,

So this last weekend I went from 29 to 31. Looking forward to getting into the 30's with the addition of some higher dps and songs that would add to my DPS.

Well to my dismay as I went grinding through these levels I find out that Fox overtakes the Hair.. is no longer on vendors. I also find that we are missing quite a few of our song components that use to be available during beta. Again the songs that are missing were never said to have been removed.

At the moment im not at home but I am going to try and list what I can remember.

Fox overtakes the Hair -- already mentioned this one

Chorus of Stamina

Now for other items I see at level 31

Asilam's Disenchanting Strain
Component: Lyric
Instrument: Voice
Energy Consumed:
Removes enchantment effects over time from a friendly target.

This skill although I was hoping was going to be a ton of help turns out that it has changed with no notification.. It says in the description now in game that it will remove 1 buff. Although I have tried using this sooooooo many times.. pvp.. pve.. It does not work. I would have loved this to work as the original description would have suggested as it would actually make it usefull. It also says in this discription that its friendly target.. although it offensive target. Which i believe it was ment to be that way.

Haste song components - This here is more of a opinion from my standpoint but I hope it gains some ears just as much as the others. Our haste songs truly dont seem to have much of a benifit while in a group setting with the current haste cap. 25% haste can be reached way prior to us even deciding to throw up a song at this level. It then becomes a song which is only usefull when not buffed and not in a group.

Ariezel's Dirge of Doom
Component: Verse
Instrument: Brass
Energy Consumed:
Deals arcane damage over time to all opponents nearby. (~48 damage / 6 sec)

This and all the other AOE song components we had were changed to be only offensive target. The damage output of them now on same level mobs seems more to be what it should have been when it was aoe.. but now.. its pointless.

The above then also brings out another issue with another song component. With that change the song

Fasant's Chant of Corruption
Component: Verse
Instrument: Percussion
Energy Consumed:
Deals physical damage over time to your opponent.

which fills the same spot as the Dirge of Doom becomes useless.. for one the damage on this is 6-9 damage while wearing a 2.0 mod instrument.. working as intended?? I doubt it.

I didnt notice the change from the AOE song components for quite a long time untill I decided to give the old school aoe bard run run run aoe a try. After trying over and over and wounder why I was doing no damage to the mobs around me except the one I had targeted.. then read the new description in game.. and boy.. this went overlooked by me and probally the whole bard community because no one use it to begin with.

I would bring up the healing and engergy regen songs again.. although I think these are currently being looked into.

On a positive note I see that the latest patch has truly helped out our DPS at higher levels and with the change to str and dex will have incresing benifits over higher levels... Which I am happy for since it had seemed I had been doing the same damage from lvl 15 - 29.

Again to the bad side of things.. Our defensive songs/Rune songs.. Even while solo I have not found a use for these. Solo im eaither Marching the Mire.. or trying to just outdp the mob till it drops.

I get hit way to much and for way to much damage to see a usefullness of this song. In a group the amount the rune applys to the group is a joke.. Even with a 2.0 mod instrument the amount is laughable. With all components stacked as a rune / defense song the tank gains somewhere around 100 ac. and 150-200 defense. The rune is somewhere around 10-20. I dont have the exact stats on this because I am not at home atm. 100-120 AC although may not be horrid is not good enough to see the difference. Take off the instrument and you get barly over 80. Now although it may not be horrible the difference is in the amount of dps you loose while the song is on.

BLa bla bla .. Ive tried to get this point out over and over again.. Elrar responds with the .. either the songs are being composed wrong or the look forward to epic 3.0 isntruments at level 50 and see the benifit.

I cant see why we should have to suffer through a ton of song components that have no use at the lower levels to wait and see if they become not quite as useless in the latter levels.

On a side note as well.. why do we get yet another invis song at higher levels. Our current invis song is already very good and I dont see the purpose of a higher level one. I guess maby things start seeing through our current one? At this point I have only found 1 mob that can see through our invis.. (CLAWBEAST --- Argh I hate them).

I am having a good time playing my bard I just wish that I could see some use out of all those other components that are now littering my songbook. I would love to see the missing songs/skills get put back onto the vendor as well. My bread and butter level 30 skill is MIA...

Seenon Songblade
31 Bard - Shadow Consortium
Tharridon


(This is a repost from the VGBard forums -- this board tends to get more traffic)

[uberowo]

Closing on lvl 20 on my bard and I would really really like an official word on this before I commit to much time to my bard..

Did you or did you not remove these skills?

[Nizar]

Originally Posted by uberowo

Closing on lvl 20 on my bard and I would really really like an official word on this before I commit to much time to my bard..

Did you or did you not remove these skills?

Ditto.

Funkin Gruven
Florendyl

[Korupt]

Originally Posted by Seenon

Hey everyone,

Where you been bro? These issues have already been mentioned numerous times with no response. /playsong kite /cast ranged /cast bellows FTW!

[Strike Anywhere]

I asked Feos if she knew anything about our missing abilities, she said she had messaged Talisker about them but he is currently tied up with rogue work and hadn't replied yet.

I'm sure she'll post something the second she has an official word, but until then watch for a rogue update and then hope that we're next - but in a good way this time!!

[Seenon]

Originally Posted by Strike Anywhere

I asked Feos if she knew anything about our missing abilities, she said she had messaged Talisker about them but he is currently tied up with rogue work and hadn't replied yet.

I'm sure she'll post something the second she has an official word, but until then watch for a rogue update and then hope that we're next - but in a good way this time!!

Iev been around, I know that the abilities are missing.. but that shouldnt mean I shouldnt do a writeup.. Heck squeky wheel gets the greese right?

Also Its very very possible that these missing abililitys and songs got moved to learned abilities from mobs. Unfortunatly I have yet to see a lvl 30 bard mob.

[RoodyPooUS]

In reference to your question about invis, higher level dungeons have tons of mobs that see through our invis and i think it makes us harder to detect but who knows, it could be broken (what else is new).

[Traekor]

I'm a level 32 bard. I love the class, it's versatility and ability to do damage - but, I too find it lacking in certain areas. Namely, most of our song components either do not work as intended, or provide such a minuscule benefit that you have to completely dedicate the song to a specific end with an instrument to still get a sub-par result in some cases. This is just not worth sacrificing even AUTO ATTACK dps - excluding specials. The ideas are fine, but the current strength of individual components such as damage shields are MUCH too small.

Our defensive songs are terrible, we're pretty limited to just a handful of 'truly useful' components. Also since we're missing some abilities it feels like we're 'hurting' pve wise sometimes.

As of now my biggest gripe about the bard is some 'bugs' that seem to go with the territory of our mez and charms. First, our mez does not seem to properly stop the mob. Even when it properly lands, the mob can cast or finish casting. Is this intended? Our disenchanting cry shout also does not seem to function at all. I've tried numerous times and never seen a result. What do these add up two? Healers living forever against us. Even if we have the capacity to survive a healer npc - I've tried fighting some with heal over times and a 15 secondish cooldown where they gain upwards of 30% of their health. Hewing the mountain is our *only* stun at the moment, and totally unreliable for a spell interrupt. Oh it's still possible to kill healer mobs, but it can be fairly frustrating as well.

I don't think bards should have a bash reliable interrupt - thats not the point. But, since we have a song component that supposedly drain's NPC energy - this tells there has been some thought of giving us an ability to shutdown npc casting. Why does it seem NPC's have infinite energy then? I did some tests on various healer type mobs. I kited one for approximately 50 minutes, just to see if it would every run out of mana. It casts it heals/hot's non stop - never a pause, no sign of stopping. Do NPC's even have an energy statistic yet?

So basically we are left with the following issues:
-Next to useless song components (explained in other threads)
-Missing abilities (Cleaving mountain, fox overtakes the hare, components)
-Abilities not functioning or not giving real results (disenchant/mana drain? - haven't tested this, but I don't have hopes of it working at the moment)
-Bard songs do not work in certain regions (ie, Rindol Storehouse entrance, Ashendreg Settlement, certain places around the Ruins of Vol Tuniel (temple part))
-Charmed mob abilities seem flaky at best - some don't seem to activate, others hit you/party members, and sometimes charmed mobs go on a rampage and attack party members
-Mez - doesn't seem to interrupt casting or actions an npc is doing - intended or bug?
-Levitation/jumping - NPC's ignore the x/y axises to hit pc's if the PC is more than 2 meters (approximately) off the ground - the NPC could be far behind not even in sight, yet if you lev off a tiny hill he'll be able to smack you - intended?

[RaekwonThaChef]

level 27 bard and i notice this alot. I put the * Does dmg to a opp* Some component in a song and no matter how much i stack it it does nothing and why would you want to kite with some components and our DD spell? That would take way to long and be pointless i can timigine myself running around for 4min kiting a 4dot when i can kill 5 2 dots in 2min and get the same amount of xp

[Traekor]

Originally Posted by RaekwonThaChef

level 27 bard and i notice this alot. I put the * Does dmg to a opp* Some component in a song and no matter how much i stack it it does nothing and why would you want to kite with some components and our DD spell? That would take way to long and be pointless i can timigine myself running around for 4min kiting a 4dot when i can kill 5 2 dots in 2min and get the same amount of xp

It's nice to be able to kill 4 dots or 5 dots not for the XP, but for the items and or quest credit. If out damage components worked properly and were able to bolster our archery/bellows, it could allow us to kill 4 dots at a quicker rate. Heck, if these worked very well with an instrument modifier, they could allow you to even kill 2-3 dots in an entirely different, yet effective rate. But you are correct, as of now they are pretty useless.

[Seenon]

Originally Posted by Traekor

It's nice to be able to kill 4 dots or 5 dots not for the XP, but for the items and or quest credit. If out damage components worked properly and were able to bolster our archery/bellows, it could allow us to kill 4 dots at a quicker rate. Heck, if these worked very well with an instrument modifier, they could allow you to even kill 2-3 dots in an entirely different, yet effective rate. But you are correct, as of now they are pretty useless.

As far as killing 4 dot and 5 dot mobs.. possible it may be.. probable that it is not.

Most and I say most because there are always exceptions.. 4 dot and 5 dot mobs are typically surrounded by tons of other mobs.. making kiting impossible.

Personally i think they should just take out the con system since it really takes out the experience of the gameplay of learning your enemy. Plus it give reason for classes to bitch when they can click a mob and instantly see the difficulty. Heck I know of a 6 dot named mob that could .. could if you wanted to spend hours kiting to be done solo.

It just so happens said mob is in a spot where you could get it to an open area.. then proceed to kite it around in a 50m range without too much fear of adds.

[Muggi]

Just for fun I tried kiting a 6-dot in Kharrus Hakkrel a couple days back, Groh 34th (I think?) 6-dot named cyclops. With the "attack or let the dmg song hit" bug, I was able to get him down about 15% in 35mins. Couldn't stand the boredom after that.

Did a 4-dot the same way (snarekite, arrow or dmg song, since you can't do both in the same tick) mostly to work on my Bow skill, took about 25mins to kill him.

Stating the obvious but, a completely useless way to solo atm. I think my xp bar went backward.