Bards - what do ya think?

[Snurgt]

Just curious what people think about the new bards, with regard to zoning groups.

Found any usefulness, are they a necessity, do they contribute, would you rather have one than not, etc. Ever look for a bard before you zone, to make things smoother, etc. Do they have a niche?

You get the idea

Snurgt take no prisoner

[kiryan]

rather useful not a necessity. defensive song is awesome, sorcery is awesome, heal is awesome. the proble is not enough bards (meaning folks that are already in the zoning cliques dont have bards) and the 15 man per group limit can make it difficult to bring one. Not to mention the problem of finding one who isnt an afk robot or plays longer than 60 minutes at a time.

3 warriors 2 clerics 2 shaman 1 enchanter 1 illusionist 1 invokers 1 lich 1 squid

that only leaves three spots open for rogue, elementalist, bard, and we often will take a 3rd cleric or shaman or a second enchanter/lich and as many invokers as we can get... sneak/hide/disarm is often tremendously useful so not many will turn away a single rogue either. SO bards end up competing with the elementalist for group spot. I doubt ill ever see accompany cept in a scrubs group.

[Allycis]

i get asked to do zones...sometimes i have the time to go. I have fun playing a bard but i think it will be more fun as things progress. sometimes its hard to tell just how helpful some of these songs are and i wish the sorcery effect on the power of specialized spells it supposedly has was a little more visible

[Treladian]

Bards seem to be PC toolboxes from what I've seen so far. They come with a variety of songs that can fill in gaps when needed (ie, defensive for big fights, healing after a run against fleeable mob groups, haste for minor mobs you fight a lot of) and can be used to just whack things over the head when you don't need the versatility. The damage they do is certainly better than a warrior due to the rogue skills. Their niche seems to be making things a lot more convienent and filling in whatever the group could use more of.

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