Healer path:
Inspiration = 15% more dmg and 15% less dmg taken.
Storyteller = Up to 15% more dmg from dps, 15% less dmg taken to tanks and 15% more healing from healers.
So that alone it's 30% more dmg dealt from dps and more tankines for tanks.
Let's add artifacts and combat powers that can buff/debuff. That number can go to 50% buff for some classes, and that is not counting on CA or DEF/DEFLECT. Even if for 10 seconds.
How can the rest of the supports compete against it?
All the healadins i knew leaved it to tank or changed to DC.
The DC it's basically Healing Word, doesn't have a buff path (as far as i know, if there is please tell me).
Warlock has "buff/debuff" but are only 5%, which one requires the party to stay STILL for as long the power it's active, the other needs you to be aiming to the target almost as close as possible cuz it might (for some mystic reason) throw it to another one (same as all our target heals). Then you have the 5% debuffs, that has CD longer than the debuff and takes an encounter. Daily? Ha! it's 10% for 10 seconds and lose hp. And yes, i know the radius it's bigger, but for the cost of HP i would expect for something better.
Bard? Nah, you can do all that cuz it's on features or feats.
Almost like it was pre mod 16... hmmmmmmmm.
Dps path:
Same reasoning as before, bard will be a main pick instead of other dps.
Even as dps, it can heal and give the healer extra resources every 30 seconds or help the tank get more aggro depending on feat. Can also give the Inspiration buffs + blaze flamenco + 5% extra from ballad colla voce (basically a storyteller but with less stacks). And the best part it's, they just need to be close for a moment.
Feels like wizzards will become extinct at this rate.
Even if two or more bards can't stack their buff, just a little communication can make a team that has 2 or more bards have buffs active pretty often while taking turns, which as you guessed it.. ITS THE BUFF META FROM PRE MOD 16.
Just imagine it, daily + feats + artifact + combat power, wait for it to end, the next bard goes in. Repeat every single time it's possible. Need to fill time? Make the non bards use artifacts and combat powers that can buff/debuff instead of one that can work with it's play style / build.
Great class, indeed. But not for the "i will pester my team spaming one key while we rush to the next fight", no.. It's cuz most of us that lived the pre mod 16 buff meta feel nostalgic (or at least me).
Changes that push away other classes as "viable" it's not a matter of "adapt or leave", it's just a kick in the face for the other classes (but we are kinda used to this tbh).
Think im wrong? Please elaborate, you might have a point that will change my mind.
The meta it's just a guideline. And guidelines are boring.
Soulweaver: The Lovely Red
Minstrel: The Rose Troubadour
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however we all know cryptic they will wait till everyone spend thousands of ad and zen getting them maxed then cryptic will nerf them to oblivion
New class means lots of players returning, spending money to max out, then they will be nerfed. Neverwinter is just like any other business, it needs New money coming in via:
1 - new Customers
or
2 - returning customers
Returning customers are more easy to target and easier to manage and easier to please.
Everyone wants to play best class, a while back it was GWF [barbarian now] and now Bard just looks so much fun
Not to mention Inspiration is a daily attack and is only going to be available once every 45 seconds, if not slower due to how fast Bard attack times are.
You also shouldn't consider artifacts and mounts when discussing Bard's potential, since every class can choose to equip a swarm or debuff artifact. From what I recall testing very loosely, Blazing Flamenco's buffs did not stack.
Ballad Colla Voce is going to be up 15/~34 seconds due to non existent Performance regen. I would like to point out that, compared to the pre Mod 16 classes, the buffs/debuffs exclusive to Bard are very small potatoes.
As of Mod 15, Devoted Clerics had the following buffs:
-Divinity Divine Glow (12.5%)
-Empowered Break the Spirit (7% per Empowered Stack, 21% as long as your Cleric wasn't terrible)
-Hallowed Ground (35%)
-Divine Oracle got a 10% exclusive damage buff in Terrifying Insight, but in prior modules, it was 20% for being alive.
-Anointed Champions had their famous powershare, which multiplied damage upwards of 15-40x (remember that a good AC would raise your Power from something like 70,000 to 300,000) and an exclusive damage buff in Exaltation (1 player, 12% damage buff at base and added 5% damage buff per exaltation stack).
Devoted Clerics also had a myriad of class exclusive debuffs, such as:
-Bear your Sins (10%)
-Regular Divine Glow (17.5%, you could also Empower it but why would you if you have BtS and Exaltation?)
-Condemning Gaze (15%)
-Divine Oracle got Prophecy of Doom (12.5%) as an exclusive debuff, but it wasn't that great...
The infamous AFKadin setup could also apply +30% outgoing damage and -30% incoming damage on DPS teammates with Bless. Paladins in general could also place a +30% incoming damage debuff on enemies with Bane, grant powershare of 25% in Aura Gifts, and gave every class procs worth 15%+ of their total damage in Aura of Courage.
Most other non TR/GWF DPS classes also had a damage buff in the 20%+ range and some debuffs here and there.
Keep in mind that all of this was when buffs were multiplicative and not additive, so it wasn't too hard for players to have buff steroids in the range of dealing 50x their expected damage in parties.
But, otherwise, I'm not going to say you're wrong about 2x DC returning as 2x (or maybe even 3x) Bards.
Soulweaver: The Lovely Red
Minstrel: The Rose Troubadour