Which bard AOEs are not totems?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Barugon, Dec 24, 2020.

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  1. Barugon

    Barugon Avatar

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    I discovered today that Melody of Mending and Rhapsody of Recovery are not fixed positionally but stick to the caster instead. This makes them incredibly useful for solo play. Do any other bard skills stick to the caster?
     
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  2. FBohler

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    I think @Chris mentioned 2 or 3 streams ago that totem bard skills weren't intended to work this way and they were going to fix it by sticking them to the player.
    Imagine how powerful would a sticky Savage Sonata be.
     
  3. Anpu

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    How they currently work in game: Bard Skill Basics

    Melody of Mending
    Rhapsody of Recovery
    Refrain of Resistance

    These are the only current Bard Skills that are not totem based in the game currently.
     
  4. Barugon

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    If that's the case then I'll definitely be using it.
     
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  5. Violet Ronso

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    I'm mostly thinking about Atonial Aria, which if if works how everyone thought it would (aka. AoE around the player), I will finally be able to do my Tank build I've always wanted to attempt (And with Earth Spec and Combos all getting some love, its gonna be even better than I envisioned it!)

    Very happy about a potential fix on this!
     
  6. A'chelata

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    Wait . . . . I thought we wanted Bard skills to only work while holding an instrument equipped because of barding archers . . . . . did I miss the latest group think memo?
     
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  7. FBohler

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    If they require an instrument out for bard skills to work, it will become the least used skill tree by a mile.
    Sure it makes sense inside the world and lore, but it would limit bards to ERG and some crazy high level parties.
    With an ever decreasing number of players to play with, solo play is the main drive for the game. So I think bard skills need to work just fine for a solo player.
     
  8. Barugon

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    OT, I think that solo play is the best feature of SotA (it's also what makes SotA unique among MMORPGs). It's something that the devs seem to disregard a bit as they only seem to add content for groups.
     
    Last edited: Dec 24, 2020
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  9. Violet Ronso

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    Hey, I'm just using things as they are, and I won't be upset one bit if it does change.

    And my build Idea would still work great with instruments out. Taunt + Provoking shout, earth spells to boost my defenses, Torpor for health regen, Shield+Wand for a more 1v(1-3) approach, instrument + Atonal Aria, Concussive Canticle + mending and resistance songs when holding a CP or fighting hordes. Instrument or not, the only thing that doesn't work right now is Atonal Aria, everything else is as it goes.
     
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  10. Barugon

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    I believe that the idea was to have the your avatar play the instrument during casting. that doesn't mean that the instrument would be out continuously, only for the 2 seconds or 10 seconds that it takes to to activate the skill. I think it was a lot of work to make that happen so it was put on the back burner. In short, it wouldn't change anything other than you would be required to have an instrument equipped.
     
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  11. Violet Ronso

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    From what I recall, the Bard was supposed to be 100% support style, and his effects would only be as strong as they are if the instrument was out. I remember Chris saying the buffs needed to be strong enough to compensate for having a player not fighting, which explains the super buffs the Bard tree gives.

    Like you said, the implementation was a bit rough and put on the back burner, but a Bard was not supposed to keep on fighting in the original plans, it maybe changed along the way, but I am 100% sure the original idea was no fight Bards.
     
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  12. Barugon

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    To be fair, the buffs are only super strong if you charge them and if you charge them then you won't be doing much else. I haven't tried with an unlocked deck but that might be a way around it.
     
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  13. Violet Ronso

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    Yes, stacking with an unlocked deck is (relatively) super easy and fast. A Bard with Chaotic feedback / spellbinders stance / light armor spec flurry can get his glyphs really fast and 5/6 stack it. I could usually keep 1 or 2 songs up depending on the ones I wanted to use, while maintaining my dps, but yes, it was dynamically stacking. Charging Bard songs is pointless due to how long it takes.
     
  14. Barugon

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    Essentially punishes casual players.
     
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  15. A'chelata

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    Bingo! That's what we have always done here.
     
  16. Cora Cuz'avich

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    Casual players don't buy COTOs.
     
  17. FBohler

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    But if you turn them off the game soon enough, they'll never become COTO buyers anyway.
     
  18. Cora Cuz'avich

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    That was the underlying basis of my snark, yes.
     
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  19. FBohler

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    Oh sorry I didn't catch the sarcasm lol
     
  20. Chiasma

    Chiasma Bug Hunter

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    It would be great if all bard skills require musical instrument to be equipped on main hands, just like other weapon. And let us equip music sheet on off-hand as well. I also hope we may upgrade musical instrument artifacts in the future.

    As for the bard play style, those skills should be some kind of "channeling" skills and only one song may be active.

    Each bard skills should have a long cool down time. Stacking glyphs / passive skill level / spec level may increase the channeling time (e.g. 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, etc...). When the song is active, the nearby player gains the benefit. This allow switching different bard skills while one is on cool down. The casting time should be reduced as other magical skills.

    Player keep playing the music sheet equipped on off-hand while channeling the bard skill.
     
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