#1 - May 23, 2013, 9:23 p.m.
Armor: cloth with intellect for minstrel and thespian and agility for terpsichorean and mesmer/new cloth agility armor token would be created for Bard specs, Witch Doctor Shadow Hunter and Juju Doc specs, Invoker Glass Wraith spec & more to come
Class traits:
Combat Orchestra: When two or more Bards play alongside their buffs can trigger and be triggered by whichever Bard, even by those who didn’t apply it.
Irresistible melody: causes all around you to dance.
New weapon morphs:
-dagger to flute
-two-handed axe to guitar
-bow and arrow to harp
-One Handed Ballista to Violin
explanation: this morph ability is intended to allow bards to use their weapons as instruments without destroying them. This solves any issues related to weapon utility.
Weapons: two handed bow, two handed axe, dagger, horn(WIP ala GW2)
Requirements: A character belonging to a guild.
FIRST LOOK:
Bards are entertainers who use their incredible skills to raise the spirits of those around them. Though many Bards are perfectly content to live out their lives entertaining people at local fairs and traveling shows, some Bards hunger for adventure, and seek to use their unique skills to bring happiness and balance to the world around them. While some seek to use their skills for lofty purposes, other Bards wish to use their ability for their own self interests, and the possibility of incredible wealth. Although not your standard class of warrior, adventurers are happy to bring Bards into their party to keep their spirits up, and to raise morale on a harsh journey.
Bards have honed their skills to such a degree that to onlookers, it appears that Bards are using some form of arcane or shadow magic. They aren't very far off. Bards use a unique form of magic to aid them in combat and to aid their companions.
INTRO:
Bards use Morale as a bar resource, and Lyrics as a sub-resource. Morale builds up during combat, but Choir moves consume Morale. Morale is to some extent, similar to mana but instead of recovering faster out of battle, it’s meant to be generated in battle. Lyrics are similar to Holy Power in that they are generated by the less powerful and timed-cast spells. Lyrics will not regenerate at all and must be generated through normal ability use. The Bard has 5 different types of Lyrics which will allow him to cast different Choir Revelations depending on what sequence of Lyrics he activated. The Lyrics generated can be Verse, Refrain, Chorus, Bridge and Coda.
Melodies will in turn spend always 4 Lyrics as well as remove Choir Revelations from targets in order to activate these and consume 4 of the least recently generated Lyrics. This means that visually and mechanically, lyrics will be advancing in the Bard’s musical scale.
There are three main types of abilities for Bards: Choirs, Melodies and Chords. Chords are instant-cast or timed-cast abilities that generate Lyrics. Melodies are channel-cast spells that use multiple Lyrics to provide a helpful buff or heal party members or even deal damage depending on what Choir effects are consumed in the process.
Melodies can also be channeled while moving.
Choirs are powerful performances similar to a Rogue's finishers that consume Morale and apply stacks of Choir Revelations which will be activated through melodies. Targets can only have a max of 5 stacks of each of these effects on them and they last 1 min per stack. However, Choirs do not consume the Lyric sequence created.
Stances:
In Concert stance the bard will perform for everyone in his range and so will have to share his buffs’ and negative effects’ power evenly. In Audience stance, the Bard focuses only on his chosen targets, may it be ally or foe, and so the power of his buffs and debuffs can be controlled. In any stance though, the skill and power of the Bard’s physical abilities will not be modified by any sort. Finally, in Serenate stance, the Bard will focus all his effectiveness to do 100% to the current target plus one ally and still benefit from 100% of the returning effects on himself.
Specs:
Terpsichorean- An athletic being capable of enormous feats of agility, steady as a clock and yet as energetic as the next rogue. A master of dancing but still with high values of concentration, the Terpsichorean is a lethal fighter which can dazzle enemies and then strikes them down while they are still trying to figure out the stunning dancing displays. This spec is the first melee cloth damage dealer that uses fluid movements to keep enemies distracted or to avoid being hit.
Thespian- Whether in the backline of a crowed street or at the center of a theatre, a Thespian can either invigorate or break the spirits of his viewers. However, the dabbling with the feelings of others gave Thespians a somewhat bad reputation of being untrustworthy. This a in fact due to the high level of guile and charm a Thespian brings and allies sometimes have to sacrifice their favorite spot on the battlefield for the Thespian to perfrom. This spec is the full on pure support spec, boosting allies and crippling foes with no discrimination.
Minstrel- A joyful spirit, akin to kindness and compassion, this spec is above all else a citizen of the world. A life made of travelling and participating in events that later on are echoed to the corners of the known world, by his fingers and voice. Since in his travels the Minstrel sometimes has the chance to perform to important rulers, this favors him a lot when it comes to getting access to powerful spells and scriptures that tell tales of might and virtue, which are put into lyrics to sooth and heal the hearts and minds of allies in battle. This is support spec dedicated to off healing and boosting healers.
Mesmer: WIP
GAMEPLAY EXPLANATION:
You have Morale as a base resource and Lyrics as a sub-resource.
Morale is similar to mana but instead of recovering faster out of battle its spirit stats become fully useable in battle. You are only going to use Morale to use your most powerful abilities, the Choirs.
Until then, it’s an artistic showdown, while you build up the desired musical scale with Lyrics of your choice. The trouble of course is in tapping the desired combination of Lyrics to achieve the desired Choir effect. Of course this is going to be hard to perfect but this why Bards are supporters so that the party doesn’t depend entirely on their skills.
ABILITIES
DPS
"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ModsT-ByWjhBs2yTOH5MD6S64ryLicESO96XP9m205U/edit"
FULL SUPPORT
URL="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OhKY_TieO4qSeglbXB98DCaA0NOJBJrOK1uQuOyGUvw/edit"
HEAL SUPPORT
"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o98wil8qxU9ZpMG8nLhNE5Fj0S2UDssraAz5gtWl954/edit"
