Bards as New Class: Yay or Nay?

[Amonra]

I've seen bard as a class pop up on several threads the last week, and frankly, I just don't like it. Do bards have a place in a world like Warcraft as an adventuring class?

Personally I loathe the idea. Not necessarily for the class itself (but kinda) but because magic seems to work much more straightforwardly on Warcraft, drawing power of recognizable sources.

Truth be told, I don't know much about bards, so If someone would like to explain how they could work in wow in a way that doesn't violates or disregards the magic rules set, please do!

[Maxweii]

I dont have much in the way of how it would work in WoW, but that's because I don't believe it would be a viable playable class. I mean, really to me it just sounds like someone who played Aion took their idea and pitched it here :c

[Flaks]

If the class archetypes had remained from vanilla then Bards would fit in perfectly as a support class right next to pallies and shammies.

[Splatter]

Bards made sense and worked well in LotRO and Rift. not sure how it would work in WoW tho. No doubt blizzard could build some lore to make it fit but there really is no basis for it currently.

[Rockwood]

So you could sing enemies to death?
....so I killed the Lich King last night with my poetic song.
Yeah doesn't fit into WoW at all. You can sing while you play WoW
but that is about it.

[Roulette Kneebasha]

I'd rather see music as a profession than a class. Build instruments, play for buffs, pets, something fun and optional. For flavor.

But as a class, not so much.

[Vellerix]

I'd rather see music as a profession than a class.

This, if it were to be added into the game at all. Could never see myself playing a bard in WoW, never liked them in other games either. I dunno, they don't seem like something we need. Does it sound right to you?

[GeordieMagpie]

AS a class? Nah, maybe a profession

"Flute of Strength" use this flute to increase attack power by 500! or some bs

[Wildmoon]

How will a bard kill a dragon? hit them with their instruments or sing them to death with their horrific voice?

[Nagassh]

If the class archetypes had remained from vanilla then Bards would fit in perfectly as a support class right next to pallies and shammies.

This.

I like bards, not because I think they're a particularly good concept, but because when done right they're so ridiculously hammy it's impossible for me to not love them. But they really don't fit into warcraft, they might have worked as a support class - but classic showed that support classes just weren't well received by the community. They just wouldn't be proper bards if they were mashed into the tank-dps-healer paradigm.

I'd rather have no bards than badly done bards, and I don't think they can be done right in WoW as it stands now.

How will a bard kill a dragon? hit them with their instruments or sing them to death with their horrific voice?

If Nekki Basara can save the universe, all life, from eldritch abominations that feast on the essence of life itself by singing songs at them, dragons are smalltime.

[-Ethos-]

They have no real lore making Bards viable, they could always make more/retcon - but eh. Bards would be like adding high elves as a playable race, i dont see the point.

[huth]

Depends on how Blizz would do them. So can't really answer it right now.

[Seranthor]

I've seen bard as a class pop up on several threads the last week, and frankly, I just don't like it. Do bards have a place in a world like Warcraft as an adventuring class?

Personally I loathe the idea. Not necessarily for the class itself (but kinda) but because magic seems to work much more straightforwardly on Warcraft, drawing power of recognizable sources.

Truth be told, I don't know much about bards, so If someone would like to explain how they could work in wow in a way that doesn't violates or disregards the magic rules set, please do!

I predict that if Bards ever come to Wow then you will see at least 100 different interations of Bieber's name, as well as countless other pop idol's names.

[Mokoshne]

i'd like to sing bosses to death

[Wildmoon]

This.

I like bards, not because I think they're a particularly good concept, but because when done right they're so ridiculously hammy it's impossible for me to not love them. But they really don't fit into warcraft, they might have worked as a support class - but classic showed that support classes just weren't well received by the community. They just wouldn't be proper bards if they were mashed into the tank-dps-healer paradigm.

I'd rather have no bards than badly done bards, and I don't think they can be done right in WoW as it stands now.



If Nekki Basara can save the universe, all life, from eldritch abominations that feast on the essence of life itself by singing songs at them, dragons are smalltime.

What are Nekki Basara and Eldritch abominations?

[glowpipe]

Bard is a typical support class. Not a pure class of anything. Support classes in wow died way back. Now everyone need to do the exact same or ppl cry til the forums go 404

[Amonra]

This.

I like bards, not because I think they're a particularly good concept, but because when done right they're so ridiculously hammy it's impossible for me to not love them. But they really don't fit into warcraft, they might have worked as a support class - but classic showed that support classes just weren't well received by the community. They just wouldn't be proper bards if they were mashed into the tank-dps-healer paradigm.

I'd rather have no bards than badly done bards, and I don't think they can be done right in WoW as it stands now.

But I mean exclusively from a lore standpoint; gameplay wise I'm sure they could be made attractive and cool, that's a non-issue. But lorewise, given how magic works on WoW, I just don't see it. Magic in wow just seems more... I dunno, solid. Cause and effect with a clear source. The bard magic just seems far too "out there" and vague to fit. I'm doing a piss poor job at explaining it, but its basically Magic A is Magic A, thet just don't seem the same type of magic, thus it violates internal consistency.

And without that, bards are nothing but a guy with a flute, and that's just superflous.

Though I have also entertained the idea of bard as a profession, it could be fun.

It boils down that in WoW, bards should be much more similar to cooks than to any adventuring class.

[Nagassh]

But I mean exclusively from a lore standpoint

So do I, but gameplay factors come into the equation too.

Bards have no right being a tank or dps class, they might work as a healer- though even then they'd ideally be a buff class, but those don't exist anymore.

But ingame a class can't function on one healing tree, and lore-wise you can't justify them being a tank or dps.

You could either "fit" it into the lore, and make it solely a healer - but that is at odds with the gameplay essentials, the class needs multiple specs - at least one of them a dps.
You could meet the gameplay requirements and give it multiple talent trees - but then from a lore standpoint it's ridiculous, music just doesn't work in the form of damage dealing in WoW and bards are iconically lightly armored, you can twist them into some plate wearing tank, but then have you really got a bard anymore?

As I say - the only way they could get a bard to work in WoW is by making it a bad one. It either wouldn't be true to WoW lore or it wouldn't be true to the iconic Bard archetype, at which point it's better not to have it at all.

[maldias]

If Nekki Basara can save the universe, all life, from eldritch abominations that feast on the essence of life itself by singing songs at them, dragons are smalltime.

or Superman, where he sang a song to destroy Darkseid's soul.

[Amonra]

So do I, but gameplay factors come into the equation too.

Bards have no right being a tank or dps class, they might work as a healer- though even then they'd ideally be a buff class, but those don't exist anymore.

But ingame a class can't function on one healing tree, and lore-wise you can't justify them being a tank or dps.

You could either "fit" it into the lore, and make it solely a healer - but that is at odds with the gameplay essentials, the class needs multiple specs - at least one of them a dps.
You could meet the gameplay requirements and give it multiple talent trees - but then from a lore standpoint it's ridiculous, music just doesn't work in the form of damage dealing in WoW and bards are iconically lightly armored, you can twist them into some plate wearing tank, but then have you really got a bard anymore?

As I say - the only way they could get a bard to work in WoW is by making it a bad one. It either wouldn't be true to WoW lore or it wouldn't be true to the iconic Bard archetype, at which point it's better not to have it at all.

See, still, you are going one step too far. We first should answer, where would bard magic come from in wow? The technicalities only surface after this.