I’ve always been a fan of bard classes, in any MMO I’ve played. I don’t know why exactly, but I just find them neat, and in most games they are an interesting mix of abilities. Dark Age of Camelot had a really interesting system – each of the three realms had a bardic class, but each of them were completely different in playstyle and abilities – one was a melee heavy bard with lots of instant shout damage, another was a light rogue with charms and control abilities, and the third was a healer with nice buffs, etc. The EQ1 bard will always be one of my favorites, simply because they have so many abilities – basically they are a “kitchen sink” class who can do a little bit of everything. The song twisting element in EQ1 was sometimes fun and sometimes painful (literally!)
I like my troubador (and my dirge) in EQ2, and they are fun and interesting classes – the division between caster support bard and melee support is an interesting one, and they get to choose between a lot of buffs and other abilities, to make their groups stronger. I’ve now been trying out the Vanguard bard, which is an excellent class – a bit more focused on melee than the EQ2 version, but they have musical instruments that make their songs a lot more powerful (similar to EQ1) and they can compose their own songs from song elements you learn as you go. It’s an interesting system that makes them unique, and I really like it. It’s fun to be able to make heavy DPS songs, buff songs, healing songs for emergencies, and so forth.
It will be interesting to see if future game have a bard type of class, World of Warcraft doesn’t have one, which is too bad, and I’m not sure about the upcoming games like Age of Conan and Warhammer Online. But if they do, you’ll see me out there giving the bard classes a try!
March 5, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I was both an Albion minstrel and Hib bard in DAoC
And back in EQ1 on the Fennin Ro server, my main was a bard. And of course, a bard now on EQ2, so I guess I share your love for the class!
March 5, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Yeah I played a Minstrel and a Skald extensively in DAOC, and a Bard a bit less. Can’t beat the bards!
March 5, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to play DAoC. I purchased the game at release, but I hadn’t been playing EQ1 for long at that time and the addiction to that game was in full bloom. I didn’t last long there. For that small part, however, I played an Albion bard.
My main in EQ1 was a bard for most of the time that I played. I loved the class. There is just something, from a roleplay aspect, of a traveling troubadour that I love. I was incredibly frustrated when Luclin came out and my bard got server-side bugged. It was more than 4 years before I could play him again.
So much did I love the bard though that when I finally got word that he was fixed, I dropped my 70 wizard wearing the quested PoP armor and went back to my 59 bard who was still wearing PoG gear. When I finally left EQ1 last October, the bard was still my class.
I’ve had mixed feelings concerning the dirge in EQ2. I do enjoy him tremendously, but I find myself frustrated at this point in the game. I am slowly working to revamp the way that I play him because the method that I used to work my way to 71 doesn’t seem to work any longer.
If/when I pick up Vanguard again, I will be going back to the bard I created at launch I am sure. I tried several classes there, but the bard was the one that stuck.
March 5, 2008 at 5:38 pm
I’ve found problems with my troub in Kunark, he doesn’t solo well at all which makes it tough to slog through all the solo quests, but I’m slowly doing them, often a few levels behind. He’s great in a group though and I am having a lot of fun with him.
March 5, 2008 at 6:39 pm
It’s tough to take more than a few hits as a bard in RoK. I did a lot of kiting, mez/healing. then another flurry of damage followed by kiting as timers came up. But it was slow. I ended up two boxing.
May 17, 2008 at 8:03 am
There’s no bard type of class in AoC unfortunately. It could fit the lore and style of the game without a stretch, perhaps its planned for a future update IDK.
Anotherone you didnt mention was the Shadowbane Bard. They were very much a rogue based class similar to eq2 dirges and had by far the most flamboyant look of very nearly any of its other iterations. Personally though, my favorite bard is the eq1 variety, i remember as a enchanter running with a bard, several giants in tow across the entire zone, and we slowly killed them that way on through the night.
Love the blog
needs more ogre