What would a Bard class be for you?

My ideal bard:

-Physical ranged for auto attacks
-Mail wearing
-2 DPS specs, 1 heal spec
-Instruments are spell effects, not “weapons” (these could be customized with unlockable instruments from around the world)
-Bards will use some kind of inner magic like chi, spirit, etc. to empower their instruments to do damage, heal, create illusions, buff, and debuff
-Bards historically use their voice more than instruments, so a song element should be included

DPS 1 would use illusions created by their instruments to basically bring the story in the song to life (bardic lore was usually heroic stories told in song form). These would be like quick summonable pets that do damage, taunt, buff, etc. before disappearing. Kind of like harnessing Lorewalker Cho’s little plays as a personal attack squad.

DPS 2 would use dirges to attack the spirit and morale of the enemy. Essentially a debuff/dot spec that doesn’t use any sort of sinister magic, but rather a cacophonous assault of sound. Attacks would do damage over time but also be like an opposite of a warrior’s buff shouts: reducing total HP, reducing resource recovery rates, slowing movement speed, etc.

Heals would inspire allies with triumphant songs of victory and champions of old. Not only would their songs restore HP, but also increase resource recovery rates, increase total HP, a group mastery bonus (like Time Warp for mastery instead of haste), and plenty more.

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That is essentially what a bard in WoW would be: ETC from Heroes of the Storm. ETC would be the “DPS” specialization for the class. Someone like Deckard Cain or Lorewalker Cho would be the base for the “Healer” spec.

Possible ability and talent names:

Scroll of Sealing, Inspiring Presence, Story Time, Stay Awhile And Listen, Mosh Pit, Stage Dive, Lorenado, Heavy Metal, Aggressive Shredding, Bolt of the Storm, Doubletime, Up the Tempo, Inspire Courage, Inspire Awe, Inspire Heroics, Face Melt, Powerslide, Solo Act, Rockstar, Inspiring Ballad, Scroll of Healing,

For me the bard class would be a big waste of time and energy.
Support classes won’t work in wow.
The were ridiculous in other games.
Please no

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Hello. Nice to meet you. I would like to introduce you to every healer in the game.

:wave:

Healers are support.

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I will damage you with my C-MAJOR chord! Ha-zah!

I don’t really care for a Bard Class.
I can see it in some rpg games but WoW, I’d just feel awkward with them in the game. Feel very out of place. Like… really out of place.

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Tanks, healers and dps.

A support/buff class doesn’t work.
Initially paladins spent all their time putting 5 minute buffs on everyone.
Didn’t work out in the end.
That’s why they no longer play that role.

No, a pure support class in WoW wouldn’t fit.

But a 2-spec healer/dps that focuses on utilizing buffs and debuffs? That would fit and be kind of unique, since we don’t have a class that leans heavily into that playstyle.

Most of everything about a bard is flavor/window dressing. It’s the flair that makes it attractive to play.

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I think I’d find Bards as playable characters immersion breaking, annoying and a lot of noise pollution.

The game would probably be tuned to have them mandatory to take in group content too so avoiding them would be a pain.

The biggest thing is they would sound annoying as hell.

The only thing a bard class would be good for is mocking the people that want necromancers or tinkers. So no, bards are not good for anything.

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It would be a…

Vicious Mockery.

I’ll see myself out.

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It would be like lotor for me.

Buffer/Debuffer class, relying on damage overtime spells that give positive effects to nearby allies.

There’s a Minstrel class in LotRO that heals/buffs and does moderate damage but the cast time is long and there armour is weak. Gets old pretty quick

Just imagine attempting horrific visions playing banjo riffs

You mean banging maniacally on bo ngos until people tell you to stop?

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While I enjoy Bards generally in fantasy and games, I don’t think they’re built for modern WoW.

Druids in Vanilla were built like Bards - many skills, but not that great at any one thing. They got pidgeon-holed into healing just like every other Hybrid/Support class.

Bards would need to bring something NEW to WoW. They can’t do that. They’re kind of like Rogues, but a little like Mages, but a bit like healers, but…they wouldn’t add anything that’s not already covered by the current classes.

Death Knights brought us necromantic anti-paladins who think shields are for pansies (new).
Monks brought us a completely unique class with spiritual healing, drunk master tanking, and flying kick kung fu. (new)
Demon Hunter, though I’m not impressed, brought a class that had long existed in WoW, but unplayable. Plus high movement and laser beams. It was new.

A Bard class would bring nothing new or desirable to the game.

obnoxiously spamming bo ngo Doom theme on a flying mount while following people.

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Whatever else it does, it needs to be able to do this:

If i was going to play a bard, i want the ability to play my music through the bard. So if i want to listen to Def Leppard or Bon Jovi or Metallica…maybe some Boston or Journey, then i want my Bard to be able to play them. Other then that, probably can’t be bothered as i always felt Bards were laughable in pretty much every way.