Bard Concept

[Alkizon]

Oh ok.

...wait, what?

I'm still confused!

Then I have nothing better than quote everything from that link

Bard Class Details

Humming as she traces her fingers over an ancient monument in a long-forgotten ruin, a half-elf in rugged leathers finds knowledge springing into her mind, conjured forth by the magic of her song—knowledge of the people who constructed the monument and the mythic saga it depicts. A stern human warrior bangs his sword rhythmically against his scale mail, setting the tempo for his war chant and exhorting his companions to bravery and heroism. The magic of his song fortifies and emboldens them. Laughing as she tunes her cittern, a gnome weaves her subtle magic over the assembled nobles, ensuring that her companions’ words will be well received. Whether scholar, skald, or scoundrel, a bard weaves magic through words and music to inspire allies, demoralize foes, manipulate minds, create illusions, and even heal wounds.

Music and Magic
In the worlds of D&D, words and music are not just vibrations of air, but vocalizations with power all their own. The bard is a master of song, speech, and the magic they contain. Bards say that the multiverse was spoken into existence, that the words of the gods gave it shape, and that echoes of these primordial Words of Creation still resound throughout the cosmos. The music of bards is an attempt to snatch and harness those echoes, subtly woven into their spells and powers. The greatest strength of bards is their sheer versatility. Many bards prefer to stick to the sidelines in combat, using their magic to inspire their allies and hinder their foes from a distance. But bards are capable of defending themselves in melee if necessary, using their magic to bolster their swords and armor. Their spells lean toward charms and illusions rather than blatantly destructive spells. They have a wide-ranging knowledge of many subjects and a natural aptitude that lets them do almost anything well. Bards become masters of the talents they set their minds to perfecting, from musical performance to esoteric knowledge.

Learning from Experience
True bards are not common in the world. Not every minstrel singing in a tavern or jester cavorting in a royal court is a bard. Discovering the magic hidden in music requires hard study and some measure of natural talent that most troubadours and jongleurs lack. It can be hard to spot the difference between these performers and true bards, though. A bard’s life is spent wandering across the land gathering lore, telling stories, and living on the gratitude of audiences, much like any other entertainer. But a depth of knowledge, a level of musical skill, and a touch of magic set bards apart from their fellows.

Only rarely do bards settle in one place for long, and their natural desire to travel—to find new tales to tell, new skills to learn, and new discoveries beyond the horizon—makes an adventuring career a natural calling. Every adventure is an opportunity to learn, practice a variety of skills, enter long-forgotten tombs, discover lost works of magic, decipher old tomes, travel to strange places, or encounter exotic creatures. Bards love to accompany heroes to witness their deeds firsthand. A bard who can tell an awe-inspiring story from personal experience earns renown among other bards. Indeed, after telling so many stories about heroes accomplishing mighty deeds, many bards take these themes to heart and assume heroic roles themselves.

Creating a Bard
Bards thrive on stories, whether those stories are true or not. Your character’s background and motivations are not as important as the stories that he or she tells about them. Perhaps you had a secure and mundane childhood. There’s no good story to be told about that, so you might paint yourself as an orphan raised by a hag in a dismal swamp. Or your childhood might be worthy of a story. Some bards acquire their magical music through extraordinary means, including the inspiration of fey or other supernatural creatures.

Did you serve an apprenticeship, studying under a master, following the more experienced bard until you were ready to strike out on your own? Or did you attend a college where you studied bardic lore and practiced your musical magic? Perhaps you were a young runaway or orphan, befriended by a wandering bard who became your mentor. Or you might have been a spoiled noble child tutored by a master. Perhaps you stumbled into the clutches of a hag, making a bargain for a musical gift in addition to your life and freedom, but at what cost?

As I said: "performance" and speech. Nothing about instruments' crafting.

[DotEleven]

Oh ok.

...wait, what?

I'm still confused!

I think the point he's trying to make is that Bard's don't necessarily make their instruments, so professionwise I think you're looking at it the wrong way. Don't have them craft instruments, have them craft songs or music or the like.

[Kyphael]

I think the point he's trying to make is that Bard's don't necessarily make their instruments, so professionwise I think you're looking at it the wrong way. Don't have them craft instruments, have them craft songs or music or the like.

I got it now, I couldn't click the link because some links don't open on the work computer. It's a good point. I'd prefer the class over profession too, but if Blizz won't give us the class, I'd prefer the profession over nothing. At least with the profession, I could RP a bard with my rogue or monk.

- - - Updated - - -

Then I have nothing better than quote everything from that link
As I said: "performance" and speech. Nothing about instruments' crafting.

I got it now, thanks for the patience. lol

[Ielenia]

Source?

Actually, you're the one that needs to prove that 'bard' is a crafting profession.

Huh, whuh? Saying a bard can't craft instruments is like saying a warrior or swordsman can't be a blacksmith.

My point is that a bard is not about crafting stuff, just like a warrior is not about crafting weapons and armor. Crafting musical instruments is a different job.

[Sansnom]

Cellist makes no sense. You do realize a cello is a large stringed instrument that you have to sit down to play?

Apocalyptica.

How would you dual wield a sword and a cello? Face it. Bard does not fit in WoW at all. It has no basis in lore and it just won't happen no matter how much people want it. It also does not fit with any theme so far in the game. At least tinker fits with the azerite theme and necromancer/dark ranger fits with the Death theme.

Seriously though, bard would be a hard fit more due to the trinity rather in my opinion. I see them as a support class. Applying temporary buff or debuff. GW has some classes that performs this so it could fit there but in WoW, would be hard to balance.

[Yadryonych]

It won't be superfluous here to remind also about support classes problem for WoW (and it's not only in devs' minds, but also players').

You should really hit that WoW classic and its forums for a while to see how many players are willing to play support classes of Shaman and Paladin (spoiler: the numbers are in .001%-s) and how welcomed is support role in raids (spoiler: ret pal/enh sham wont see raiding in their life).

You all people here should quit being delusional and accept that support role died in WoW long ago, if it wasn't born dead.

[Alkizon]

You should really hit that WoW classic and its forums for a while to see how many players are willing to play support classes of Shaman and Paladin (spoiler: the numbers are in .001%-s) and how welcomed is support role in raids (spoiler: ret pal/enh sham wont see raiding in their life).

You all people here should quit being delusional and accept that support role died in WoW long ago, if it wasn't born dead.

And answer was done long ago already:

I didn't talk about vanilla (but about final version of that mechanics development), in which system was in its infancy. It was good, but not sufficiently tested/sanded, and after some corrections it just turned into what was required, but now it's gone.

Follow quote link if you interested in more, but I don't think that you really came here for this, rather just bark a little. I'm sure you didn't even read links in part that you quoted

Nice one but my point is the role doesn't suit modern society well and very few gentlemen and scholars like you who witnessed and lived the old school RPG's are actually able appreciate the role's uniqueness.

The funniest part of this is that it means nothing in discussion frame. And I didn’t say that it exists in retail design, and part quoted by you emphasizes exactly that this exactly is a problem. Fact that you don't see its place is, well, apparently lack of such experience (/such systems), or simply your "head turned at incorrect direction". Take a look around, take closer look and realize that current design is only problem for this role (devs didn't provid any place for it)... as I already not once said. Everything rests on implementation, which is constrained by narrow design and the same narrow fantasy of performer. People continue successfully and with great enthusiasm and pleasure to play as support with classes/design that allow them to do this... but not in this game.

They deleted uncountable number of unique useful mechanics, useful characteristics that are universal measure of such setup and therefore it will be very difficult for "support", as a role, to break through this gloom, since devs didn't foresee its existence... but it doesn’t really bother hypothetical bards, especially if they'll get something extra.

It follows that I don't consider “support” to be pure buffers (in fact, it's clear even from my "bard with benefits" stuff)

You see, text isn't even aimed at proving something, because, I'm not going to change your opinion, which this statement is.

[Yadryonych]

And answer was done long ago already. Follow quote link if you interested in more

Nice one but my point is the role doesn't suit modern society well and very few gentlemen and scholars like you who witnessed and lived the old school RPG's are actually able appreciate the role's uniqueness.

[tyrlaan]

Dammit, look what you all made me do lol

Bard Class Concept

Base Mechanics
Races allowed: all (I've yet to see a race in wow that doesn't have some sort of performer, tale teller, historian, entertainer, etc)
Armor: Mail
Weapons: all 1-hand weapons, bows/crossbows/guns, shields
Additional Notes:

• Bard abilities that are magical in nature are Arcane
• Bard is often considered a jack of all trades. As such they should either have several talent options that allow them to dip into their other specs or baseline abilities that get set to specific off spec abilities when you learn them (based on current active spec), but with a cooldown or some other small limitation

Specializations
Skald/Battle Chanter
Role: Melee or Ranged DPS
Concept: Improve combat prowess of self and others through war chants, rallying cries, etc.
Abilities can include:

• Bonuses to specific weapon groups (allowing to specialize in ranged or melee)
• Offensive buffs to any secondary stat (but only one can be active at a time)
• Apply passive physical damage buff (raw damage or maybe crit boost) to targets
• Utility buffs that can improve resistance to certain effects (stuns, fears, etc.) or break snares/roots
• Curse removal
• Grant short burst of speed

Harrier
Role: Melee DPS
Concept: Improve combat prowess of self and others by wearing down opponents with a series of frustrating attacks, mockery, etc.
Abilities can include:

• Improved ability with melee weapons at the expense of losing bows/crossbows/guns
• Improved ability with shield and defenses, enough to serve as a secondary tank for a very short period of time
• Taunts" which are ranged abilities that could do things like impose a miss chance on enemy's attacks, interrupt casting, increase cast time, literally perform a Taunt in game mechanic terms, etc
• Foils; melee attacks that carry debuffs, such as slow, armor penalty, root, disarm, stun, maybe a fear

Inspiration
Role: Healer
Concept: Restore and boost allies with song, stirring orations, etc
Abilities can include:

• Healing, of course, which carries with it a minor short term buff
• Fear immunity
• Ability to remove spell effects
• Defensive buffs such as stamina, armor, spell resistance
• Restore resource (mana, energy, focus)
• Reduce cooldowns

[Chain Chungus]

Dammit, look what you all made me do lol

Bard Class Concept

Base Mechanics
Races allowed: all (I've yet to see a race in wow that doesn't have some sort of performer, tale teller, historian, entertainer, etc)
Armor: Mail
Weapons: all 1-hand weapons, bows/crossbows/guns, shields
Additional Notes:

• Bard abilities that are magical in nature are Arcane
• Bard is often considered a jack of all trades. As such they should either have several talent options that allow them to dip into their other specs or baseline abilities that get set to specific off spec abilities when you learn them (based on current active spec), but with a cooldown or some other small limitation

Specializations
Skald/Battle Chanter
Role: Melee or Ranged DPS
Concept: Improve combat prowess of self and others through war chants, rallying cries, etc.
Abilities can include:

• Bonuses to specific weapon groups (allowing to specialize in ranged or melee)
• Offensive buffs to any secondary stat (but only one can be active at a time)
• Apply passive physical damage buff (raw damage or maybe crit boost) to targets
• Utility buffs that can improve resistance to certain effects (stuns, fears, etc.) or break snares/roots
• Curse removal
• Grant short burst of speed

Harrier
Role: Melee DPS
Concept: Improve combat prowess of self and others by wearing down opponents with a series of frustrating attacks, mockery, etc.
Abilities can include:

• Improved ability with melee weapons at the expense of losing bows/crossbows/guns
• Improved ability with shield and defenses, enough to serve as a secondary tank for a very short period of time
• Taunts" which are ranged abilities that could do things like impose a miss chance on enemy's attacks, interrupt casting, increase cast time, literally perform a Taunt in game mechanic terms, etc
• Foils; melee attacks that carry debuffs, such as slow, armor penalty, root, disarm, stun, maybe a fear

Inspiration
Role: Healer
Concept: Restore and boost allies with song, stirring orations, etc
Abilities can include:

• Healing, of course, which carries with it a minor short term buff
• Fear immunity
• Ability to remove spell effects
• Defensive buffs such as stamina, armor, spell resistance
• Restore resource (mana, energy, focus)
• Reduce cooldowns

Good ideas! I especially like making them part melee and part ranged by spec, kind of like hunters with survival.

[Ielenia]

Dammit, look what you all made me do lol

Bard Class Concept

Base Mechanics
Races allowed: all (I've yet to see a race in wow that doesn't have some sort of performer, tale teller, historian, entertainer, etc)
Armor: Mail
Weapons: all 1-hand weapons, bows/crossbows/guns, shields
Additional Notes:

• Bard abilities that are magical in nature are Arcane
• Bard is often considered a jack of all trades. As such they should either have several talent options that allow them to dip into their other specs or baseline abilities that get set to specific off spec abilities when you learn them (based on current active spec), but with a cooldown or some other small limitation

Specializations
Skald/Battle Chanter
Role: Melee or Ranged DPS
Concept: Improve combat prowess of self and others through war chants, rallying cries, etc.
Abilities can include:

• Bonuses to specific weapon groups (allowing to specialize in ranged or melee)
• Offensive buffs to any secondary stat (but only one can be active at a time)
• Apply passive physical damage buff (raw damage or maybe crit boost) to targets
• Utility buffs that can improve resistance to certain effects (stuns, fears, etc.) or break snares/roots
• Curse removal
• Grant short burst of speed

Harrier
Role: Melee DPS
Concept: Improve combat prowess of self and others by wearing down opponents with a series of frustrating attacks, mockery, etc.
Abilities can include:

• Improved ability with melee weapons at the expense of losing bows/crossbows/guns
• Improved ability with shield and defenses, enough to serve as a secondary tank for a very short period of time
• Taunts" which are ranged abilities that could do things like impose a miss chance on enemy's attacks, interrupt casting, increase cast time, literally perform a Taunt in game mechanic terms, etc
• Foils; melee attacks that carry debuffs, such as slow, armor penalty, root, disarm, stun, maybe a fear

Inspiration
Role: Healer
Concept: Restore and boost allies with song, stirring orations, etc
Abilities can include:

• Healing, of course, which carries with it a minor short term buff
• Fear immunity
• Ability to remove spell effects
• Defensive buffs such as stamina, armor, spell resistance
• Restore resource (mana, energy, focus)
• Reduce cooldowns

I like the names. I'd prefer if the "Skald" spec was restricted to a specific weapon type (ranged or melee) instead of both, but I like it.

It bothers me a little, though, as it seems you constructed the concept preview as a support-type role, and not as one of four roles in the game? (tank/melee dps/ranged dps/healer)

[Big Thanks]

To be honest, this is the one and only new class i would love to see implemented. The rest is kinda...meh.

It would be amazing seeing Blizzard's imagination, skill and mastery in developing this class.
Blizzard is usually pretty good at this kind of stuff.

I 100% would love to see this happen.

[tyrlaan]

I like the names. I'd prefer if the "Skald" spec was restricted to a specific weapon type (ranged or melee) instead of both, but I like it.

It bothers me a little, though, as it seems you constructed the concept preview as a support-type role, and not as one of four roles in the game? (tank/melee dps/ranged dps/healer)

Yeah, it probably makes more sense, the skald, as melee only, but ranged weapons in general make sense to me as bard options. I struggled a bit with wanting to really build on the flexibility concept that's common to bards and how to fit it into a 3 spec class build. Honestly, I was tempted to suggest something crazy like no specs at all but instead extra talents.

As far as its support type feel, I definitely was trying to go for that while still filling into the role triad. The best way I felt to pull that off is buffs and debuffs that help the bard but also help allies. One way to make that not suck when your rolling solo as a bard is that the buffs could be stronger when you're solo, like the priest discipline talent that boosts your spell damage based on how many people you're partied with.

The other thought however is that if you're playing a bard you are probably assuming you're in a support role in the first place

[LionSinMaikeru]

Bards would be ridiculous in WoW. They don’t fit anywhere and have never been a thing.

Sorry.

That is a silly argument.

If you use this argument, then nothing new would ever get added ever.

There are Mages in WoW, yes? They use magic, yes? So it's not too out of the realm of possibility for a Mage to enjoy music enough to combine their magic with their music playing.

[Muajin76]

I've seen a lot of Necromancer, Dragonsworn, Tinker and Dark Ranger concept threads, but not many in the way of Bard, so I decided to create my own!

BARD CONCEPT FOR WORLD OF WARCRAFT





Armor Type: Mail
Roles: Axe Jammer (Tank), Flutist (Healer) & Cellist (Damage)
Races: (A) Humans, Dwarves, Void Elves, Worgen & Gnomes. (H) Orcs, Blood Elves, Undead, Tauren & Goblins.
Lore: Bards are Azeroth's best kept secret. Previously simple music makers dwelling in Silverpine and Elwynn Forests, they've entertained Eastern Kingdom's highest social circles for centuries with beautiful melodies, and especially rocked out every hour on the hour in the Darkmoon Faire. With the looming threat of Helya and Yrel's Holy Crusade sweeping across the kingdoms, and falls of Stormwind and Thunder Bluff, the music makers of Azeroth have decided to take up arms with their untapped, deadly music to battle the forces that look to eradicate all music, art and culture from Azeroth. They are the music makers, and they are the dreamers of dreams. They are The Bards.

SPECIALIZATIONS

AXE JAMMER (TANK)



A savage guitarist, Bards who choose to walk the line of Axe-Jammer will pick up their axe, equipped like guitars from hell to unleash deafening riffs that will shatter enemy's hearing eardrums to mitigate incoming damage to themselves as well as their party. The Axe-Jammer axes will be an axe/guitar hybrid that serves as both a weapon for parrying as well as one for unleashing sound waves that target the enemies in a frontal cone. The Axe Jammer will also rely on a Musical Note System where abilities grant "Notes" for full battle optimization, represented as a musical note bar under HP bar.

ABILITIES:

Axe & Smash: Swing your axe, dealing melee damage. Grants 1 Note, up to 5 Notes.
Dance Challenge: Bust a move, /dancing for 5 seconds while swinging axe erratically, reducing damage by 30% and dealing damage to confused targets within radius. Grants 2 Notes. 20 second cooldown.
Axe Block: Raise your axe, using the handle to block incoming melee damage, up to 20%. Requires 1 Note.
I AM MURLOC Unleash a guitar riff, summoning a swarm of Murlocs that will taunt all targets and deal damage for 6 seconds. 3 minute cooldown. Requires 4 Notes.
Guitar Solo: Blast your enemy's ear drums, up to 5 targets, stunning them for 3 seconds and decreasing damage they deal. 40 second cooldown. Requires 3 Notes.
Mosh Pit: Removes all movement-impairing effects and increases movement speed by 50% for the bard's entire party. Lasts 10 seconds. Does not stack with other movement-speed-increasing effects.
Acid Trip: Drink from a secret vial, becoming berserk and immune to all damage for 6 seconds. 3 minute cooldown. Requires 5 Notes.
Crowd Surf: Play a rocking song to enthrall the minds of your enemy targets, forcing a mob of 3 or more enemies to pick you up and surf you to safety. Effect only lasts 6 seconds.
Nonconformity: Dispels fear, mind control, and similar effects.
KISS: Interrupts spell casting. 1 minute cooldown.
Rock'N Roll: The Bard sticks his tongue out, plays his axe and rolls forward 10 yards, increasing his run speed by 50% for 3 seconds. 2 minute cooldown.

FLUTIST (HEALER)



A serene but often aggressive flute player, Flutist Healers do not physically rejuvenate others and themselves, but instead rely on soothing melodies to heal the soul and spirit, helping party members and friendly targets ignore the pain and damage with lifting music that transcends corporal existence. They carry with them wand flute/wand hybrids, allowing them to channel arcane magic to intercept enemy attacks to spare party members damage.

Soothing Melody Play a soothing melody with your flute (wand), healing the target. 3 second cast. Grants 1 Note.
Soloist: Play a beautiful melody, healing yourself for 40% health. Requires 4 notes. 3 minute cooldown. Instant cast.
Sure Shot: Fire a sound wave at the target. If friendly, heal the target and if an enemy, deal damage.
Got A Copper?: Distract the target with a beautiful melody, allowing you to pick pocket while they are entranced.
Circular Barrier: The Bard uses his flute to draw an imaginary circle, which becomes a physical shield able to protect him from attacks for up to 5 seconds. 1 minute cooldown. Requires 1 Note.
Sound Waves: The Bard moves his arm in a sword-like fashion and releases powerful sound waves that are able to knock down his opponents and stun them for 3 seconds. Requires 2 Notes.
Dead End Symphony: The Bard plays a song on his flute, which stuns the target for 4 seconds. The music directly resonates within the opponent's brain, applying damage over time for up to 5 seconds. Talent point ability. Requires 5 Notes.
Dead End Climax: Once The Bard reaches the climax of his song, the music he plays will damage the target for 5% of their health, unleashing a melody that heals the party. Requires Dead End Sympthony. Requires 4 Notes.

CELLIST (DAMAGE)



A slash and play melee/ranged damage combo spec; Cellists keep to themselves and deal damage from afar with soothing melodies that disable the opponent's combat expectations, and then kick it up a notch with some deeper Earth-shaking rhythms. They also dual wield a sword and Cello.

Shred: Stab the enemy target. Grants 1 Note.
Soloist: The Bard plays a tune, dealing ranged damage. Grants 2 Notes. 30 second cooldown.
Stick And Move: The Bard hurls his Cello stick at the enemy target, dealing ranged damage. Grants 1 note. 10 second cooldown.
Blue Blade: /Cry, causing the Bard to weep before smashing his Cello over the enemy target's head and stabbing them. Must be within melee range. Grants 3 Notes. 1 minute cooldown.
Death Trip Serenade: Without his Cello, the Bard pulls out a Harp and plays a beautiful theme that does damage over time on the enemy, until the song intensifies, dealing 5% damage to the target.
Stringer Fine: The Bard unleashes magical strings from his harp, ensnaring the enemy target and squeezing with razor sharp strings, dealing 5% damage. Requires 4 Notes. Requires Death Trip Serenade.
String Quartet: Increases damage done of up to 3 party members by 20% for 20 seconds. 6 minute cooldown. Requires 5 Notes.
Apocalyptico: The Bard plays the deepest notes on his Cello, dealing % ranged damage. Requires 5 Notes.

(Notes: I would have used icons, but I typed this at work in between work, and it was hard linking images. Plus, the only icon I regret not linking is the Murloc icon for I Am Murloc. Most WoW icons wouldn't do the abilities justice anyway as WoW doesn't have many musical instrument icons other than the flute off the top of my head. I got some inspiration from https://wowwiki.fandom.com/wiki/Bard and other fictional mediums that have portrayed music as a weapon like the Saint Seiya anime, particularly the Flutist spec.)

Wasn't this an old april fools joke?:P

BRD->Minstrel or Minstrel->BRD?

[Kyphael]

Wasn't this an old april fools joke?:P

BRD->Minstrel or Minstrel->BRD?

Yes but if they joked about it, it means the idea has crossed their mind before. =P

Minstrel's Ballad.

[Muajin76]

Yes but if they joked about it, it means the idea has crossed their mind before. =P

Minstrel's Ballad.

This is true.
Hence the idea shouldn't be entirely ruled out.

[Chain Chungus]

Absolutely not, can we please stop with the ridiculous meme ideas? As if the game wasn't in dire straits already.

It's funny that you made an account just to reply to this thread.

[gladrobots]

Add it to retail keep classic pure

[Ielenia]

Add it to retail keep classic pure

Are you... t--

Actually, not going to say it. Not worth it.

But who said anything about Classic WoW? You're in the wrong thread, dude.