most underpowered class in game?

[Ennewi]

Originally Posted by socialist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I've never actually agreed with the notion that the bard is a jack-of-all-trades. I mean, that particular phrase was used by the developers themselves to describe the class, and printed in the manual and shit, which is why it lives on to this day; but if we look at the actual jobs that a bard can do, they're not particularly versatile.

I get why people have this perspective, but ultimately I think the original box description fits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_o...master_of_none

The original version "a jack of all trades" is often a compliment for a person who is good at fixing and has a very good broad knowledge. They may be a master of integration, as such an individual who knows enough from many learned trades and skills to be able to bring the individual's disciplines together in a practical manner. This person is a generalist rather than a specialist.

It's an int caster that can wear chain/plate, benefits from sta 4 to 1 by comparison, isn't dependent on mana (with few exceptions), can move around while casting, has a defensive discipline, and isn't reliant on weapons but can eventually shift into melee attack role at higher levels thanks to groupwide procs. Its version of the wand/staff actually enhances its version of spells and it has multiple, one for each type of magic; granted, only two are tremendously useful. Every "spell" is a three second cast and the class gets at least one per level unlike other casters.

Borrows a little from all over the class list. Safe fall (mnk, rog) helps prevent a lot of inadvertent runspeed damage before travelsong. Forage, track (dru/rng) and pick lock, sneak, hide (rogue). Separately none of it stands out, esp at the skill cap, but together all of it equates to a general convenience/QOL feature.

Can't bind, gate, or port, but it has the fastest movement speed to compensate, turning West Karana into a leisurely jaunt.

Originally Posted by socialist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

A bard can't tank,

Not ideal, but group tanking is possible depending on the level/zone, esp since bards have slow on demand. Equip a shield and lute of the howler, deftdance if/whenever possible, and hold on for dear life.

Originally Posted by socialist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

heal

True, but the regen put out is fungi+ depending on lute/level. And shield of song complements canni, allowing shamans to put out heals more readily.

Originally Posted by socialist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

or DPS.

Bard charm can put out respectable damage, esp if there are rogue mobs in zone, and it costs no mana until higher levels (insta killing an NPC's pet via charm counts towards bard DPS imo). With a decent drum, dot damage isn't a terrible alternative either for smaller groups, esp with other dot classes present. Is it ideal? No, but ideal isn't required to fill a role because, from those who are LFG, choices are limited.

Originally Posted by socialist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It's basically a puller and CC class, with some buffing and mana sustain thrown in. If we look at it in terms of actual group roles, there's only a few classes that can fill more than one to any meaningful extent, and bard certainly isn't among them.

Bards can assist in preventative ways, spamming mez to interrupt casters, highsun/PBAE fear to buy time for evac. They can also assist with CRs using any combination of sneak, bind sight, and other songs, the most obvious being locate corpse.

Jack-of-all-trades might not be a perfect description, but how else could they be described? While technically INT casters, they aren't dependent on mana, who can move around while casting (assuming the INT caster doesn't return to the original loc to finish channeling). At higher levels they can once again do decent melee damage, having every excuse to downshift into that role thanks to groupwide procs and epic modifier.

Originally Posted by socialist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

To gauge the versatility of a class, take any given group with one of that class in it already and then add another member of the same class who has to take up a different role. How happy are you with that? In the bard's case, nobody in their right mind would ever want two of them in the same group.

It could be made to work. Excluding SS helm clicks, one bard pulls using charm/highsun liberally, the other bard covers the usual lineup of beneficial songs while remaining in camp. Or one bard could maintain charm. In lower level groups, one bard could weave in AE mez on incoming while the other chain pulled; at those levels either of the two could also stand in as tank.

Originally Posted by socialist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The versatility of bards is generally overrated. They have a lot of different types of abilities, but the vast majority of them are pointless garbage that never gets used.

Bards are versatile but their extra abilities rarely ever get used by players who mostly swarmed to max level.

Originally Posted by socialist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

When you get right down to it, there's really just a handful of bard songs that are ever called for in a typical grouping environment. Haste, mana regen, Selo if outdoors, lull if pulling, mez in exp groups, resist songs in raids, and I guess slow if there's no other slower. That's 98% of what a bard exists for, and they don't have the kind of versatility where you could have two of them in a group and feel fine about it.

Charm and AE snare/slow are two of the more important song types. Charm preoccupies two mobs instead of mez's one and it lowers their health/mana in the process. AE snare/slow is great when used in tandem with enchanter mez; if anything resists/breaks early, it won't catch the enchanter and even if it does, it won't do multiple rounds of damage...more often than not it will be slow-motion chasing the bard instead. Other class slows will prevent its application, but the aggro generated should still redirect targets from enchanter to bard. Resist songs in group, not just raids, prevent a lot of potential damage while pulling/on incoming on top of adding a damage shield. Dex from chant of battle with drum helps warrior proc more, so if haste is already covered by another class, there's a decent alternative to use and it's the very first song on the list.

Originally Posted by socialist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Having a long list of ability types doesn't mean much if most of them are either weak as piss or serve no particular purpose in ordinary gameplay.

OT hammer costing a single jade? No charming nonsense required, just illusion mask and faction song. Faction song is also good for MQing. Sneak? Access to otherwise uncooperative merchants. Jig of vigor would be in greater demand if endurance use was the same as in classic, but it's still good to have ready for warriors discing depend on raids. March of the Wee is more trouble than it's worth in groups, but it still has its uses elsewhere. Even something like cassindra's elegy has its place and time (tradeskilling). The list goes on.

Originally Posted by socialist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Many aspects of the bard class are comparable to a car with two wheels--technically it's better than a card with no wheels, but it's still not a usable car.

A motorcycle would be a good description of the bard class in this case.

Originally Posted by socialist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Having dual wield but no double attack means your melee output is irrelevant,

Yeah but through melee attacks the bard gains access to certain procs that benefit the damage output of group members who likely do have double attack. That's pretty relevant.

Originally Posted by socialist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

having plate armor with garbage hit points and defensive skillcaps means you're not really tanky, etc.

Still tankier than the traditional purecaster though.