This is a second update to proposed changes for the Barding profession, changes that are being considered toward helping balance Barding as a class, as well as toward improving the overall in-game experience of playing a bard. Please keep in mind as you read this documentation that these changes are not yet finalized, and after testing and reexamination they may enter the game with some alterations. The updates specific to this iteration are below the main section, just above the FAQ at the end of the document. The main section & FAQ are untouched at this time to provide a better frame of reference toward what has changed in this version.

(The newest points to this revision are in the center of the document, in purple text)

Possible Changes to Barding Skills (revision number 2)

For an upcoming publish, the Ultima Online Live Development team plans to make some substantial changes revolving around the game's Bard class. Our goals in making these changes are these:

1. To fix skill balance issues. This includes the relatively extreme power of the Provocation skill and the relatively weak power of Enticement. Provocation allows characters with minimal skill points to single-handedly kill some of the most powerful monsters in the game, while Enticement has very few worthwhile uses.
2. To improve the play experience of bards. As they currently stand, the bard skills generally do not require much interaction from the player. For example, once two creatures are provoked to fight each other, the bard need no longer interact with those creatures until one of them dies. As such, combat with a bard character isn't as engaging, exciting, or interesting as it could be.
3. To increase the versatility of bards. Currently, bards have a very small number of simple abilities, many of which have very limited use in Ultima Online. We wish to ultimately give bards a collection of different abilities that are individually not overbalancingly powerful. As a corollary goal, some of the new bard abilities added will be unique to bards and new to Ultima Online.

With those goals in mind, we have in mind a basic play experience planned for the new bard class. In general, it will work like this:

1. Bard songs. Bard songs will be an amalgamation of magic and music, voice and instrument. There will be no actual initiation time for a song, but bards will be limited to using bard abilities once every 10 seconds. After initiation, the duration of the song is open-ended, depending on numerous factors. For example, bards must pay a continuous but small upkeep cost in Stamina while the song continues, but bards with the Meditation skill will pay up to 75% of the upkeep cost using Mana. The Stamina/Mana upkeep costs will generally be very small, on the order of 1 per second. Maintaining a bard song won't stop the character's normal Mana or Stamina regeneration. It will to be a very slow but noticeable drain — an additional factor to take into consideration in combat. Also, bards are somewhat vulnerable to interruption by taking damage while a song continues.
   
   While continuing a song, some events will have a chance to abort the song. First, if the bard initiates a new song, hides, casts Invisibility on himself, recalls, or steps through any kind of moongate, his or her bard song running will be canceled. If a third party casts Invisibility on the bard while the bard is playing a song, the bard will become visible again within 5 seconds. Attacking, taking damage, casting spells, and actively meditating all have a small (normally 10% chance) of interrupting a bard's song. If the bard has Meditation skill, this chance scales downward to 5%. Moving; equipping/unequipping; using potions, wands, and staves; mounting/dismounting; using bandages; and any other activity will not interrupt the bard. (This list, along with this entire design, is subject to change.)
   
   
2. Song effects. The bard songs will have a mixture of effects. Some will be geared toward solo adventure, while others will be more useful with the bard assisting and supporting an ally. Some will be geared toward actively affecting combat, while others will have passive effects that modify rewards gained from many different types of activities. The Provoke, Entice, and Peacemake songs will have the ability to affect multiple targets.
   
   Once a bard has successfully started one of these effects, he can add an additional target by re-initiating the same effect (it won't cancel the existing effect) and selecting different targets. Each additional target increases the difficulty of the skill check (lower chance of success) and if successful increases the Stamina/Mana upkeep cost. The bard must still remain fairly close to all targets of these effects. Also, when interruption checks are made, each target involved is checked individually for interruption. Note that provoking two creatures to fight counts as two targets. Additionally, once a bard has stopped a song or been interrupted, the effect of the song will continue for 5 – 10 seconds.
   
   
3. Targeting and Flagging. Most bard abilities will be considered "beneficial" or "negative" acts. This means that some of them will be unusable in Trammel outside of consentual PvP (like guild wars). Others may be used in non-consenting PvP in Felucca, but will give the bard and Aggressor and/or Criminal flags. For example, performing a beneficial song (like a health regeneration buff) on a monster in Trammel will be impossible, but simply flag the bard criminal in Felucca. Passive abilities that do not require explicit targets will have their effects limited as appropriate and not result in flagging.
   
   
4. Bard skills. The existing bard skills (Musicianship, Enticement, Peacemaking, and Provocation) will continue to exist, though their roles will change. All bard abilities will still require a Musicianship check. Furthermore, each ability will require skill checks in one or more of the other three skills. Generally, the more powerful the ability, the more skills will be required. Some abilities may receive very small bonuses for having non-required barding skills; for example, the Provoke ability will require the Provocation skill, but will receive small bonuses for bards who also spent points on the Enticement and/or Peacemaking skills. Furthermore, other skills besides the bard-specific ones will grant bonuses to some bard abilities.
   
   
5. Bard templates. There will be many possible bard templates available. Bards may choose not to raise all four of the bard skills (though at least Musicianship and one of the other three will be required to be effective). Doing that will limit the repertoire of songs available, but free up skill points to be used elsewhere. Bards will also be able to be effective without achieving Grandmaster status in all the bard skills, allowing still more flexibility. Since some bard abilities will receive bonuses from additional non-bard skills, bards will have many opportunities to specialize. And finally, since some skills will have additional effects on the bard (like Meditation offsetting Stamina costs with Mana), the potential variety of bard templates becomes very large indeed.

And finally, here are our ideas for actual bard abilities. With this list below, it is particularly important to remember that this is just in concept and is very subject to change!

1. Provoke. Requiring just the Provocation skill, the core of this ability remains unchanged. The bard provokes one creature to attack another creature or a player (but cannot provoke a player to attack anything). However, in addition to the basic bard spell restrictions listed above under Bard Songs, there are a few differences. First, Provoke becomes difficulty-based, meaning that the more powerful a creature is, the harder it is to provoke. The tougher the target, the less willing the creature is to fight it, making the provoke attempt more difficult. While the exact difficulty and success rate calculations have not been finalized, here is a general idea of the dynamics of this ability: For a bard with 100.0 Provocation and 0 in Enticement and Peacemaking, the chance to provoke one dragon to attack another will be approximately 20%. With 100.0 in all 3 skills, the chance will increase to approx. 40%. Also, it may become possible to find a magical musical instrument that could further increase this chance by an additional 20%.
   
   Provoking another pair of dragons to fight would probably be impossible, but with the additional skill bonus and the magical instrument, it may be possible to provoke a third dragon onto one of the two already being provoked. Provoking even more powerful creatures (like Balron or Ancient Wyrms) will be possible only when weaker creatures are involved. Provoking a single daemon onto a Balron would be possible but unlikely. Also, once a creature is provoked, it will no longer switch targets (because the effect is continuous).
   
   After the effect ends, the creature will immediately re-target the provoking bard if possible. Bards will be able to provoke creatures onto players in PvP but will not be able to provoke players to fight creatures or other players. And, of course, a player who is the victim of a provoke can run out of range, go invisible, or do other things to break the effect and cause the monster to re-target the bard.
   
   
2. Entice. The only skill this ability takes is Enticement. This ability changes slightly. Rather than a one-time effect that draws a single target to the bard, it will become continuous, causing the target to continue to follow the bard so long as the song is being played. It, too, will become difficulty based. In general, it will be much easier to entice a creature than to provoke it. This ability cannot be used against players on either facet.
   
   
3. Peacemake. This requires only the Peacemaking skill. This ability is now targeted, difficulty-based, and continuous, with difficulty similar to Entice. The target of Peacemake will stop fighting anything it's fighting and not fight back so long as the song remains in effect. If used on a player, the player will leave War Mode and lose their target. If the player starts fighting again, after a few seconds the effect will repeat (so long as the bard is still maintaining the effect). Like provocation, once a monster is released from this effect it will try to target the bard if possible. In Trammel, it will have no effect on players.
   
   
4. Stamina Regen. Rate Buff. The bard selects a single target, and that target's Stamina recovery rate is increased based on the bard's Provocation skill. This is an actively targeted ability and is considered a beneficial act, making it impossible to use on a monster in Trammel. Using it on a murderer, criminal, or monster is a criminal act in Felucca.
   
   
5. Health Regen. Rate Buff. This ability works almost identically to the Stamina buff, except that the skill required is Enticement and the targets' natural healing rate is increased while the song is in effect. Furthermore, the bards' Healing skill will provide slight bonuses to this effect.
   
   
6. Mana Regen. Rate Buff. This ability works almost identically to the Stamina buff, except that the skill required is Peacemaking and the targets' natural Mana regeneration rate is increased while the song is in effect. Furthermore, the bards' Meditation skill will provide slight bonuses to this effect.
   
   
7. Increase Spawn. Skills used are Provocation and Enticement. This ability allows the solo bard or troupe of bards to have slight effects on the spawn rates in "Champions of Evil" (aka "Boss Monster" aka "Evil in a Can" quests, which are themselves heavily based on variable spawn regions. The cumulative effects of multiple bards will not be enough to severely impact the gameplay of others. However, due to the potential for abuse, this ability actually making it into the game is very much in question. The Increase Spawn ability is considered neither negative or beneficial.
   
   
8. Decrease Spawn. Works like Increase Spawn, but in the other direction. Skills required are Provocation and Peacemaking.
   
   
9. Karma Decrease. Requires Provocation and Enticement skills. This ability works against a single target. The actual effect of this ability is to decrease the magnitude of the target's Karma temporarily. This means a target with negative Karma has less negative Karma while under the effect of this ability, and one with positive Karma has less positive Karma. This ability cannot cause a negative Karma target's Karma to become positive, or vice-versa. This effect is considered beneficial.
   
   
10. Karma Increase. This is the reverse of Karma Decrease. The skills required are Peacemaking and Enticement. Targets with negative Karma lose Karma temporarily under this effect, and targets with positive Karma gain karma. This is considered a negative act.
    
    
11. Fame Decrease. This effect requires Peacemaking and Enticement. The target temporarily loses an amount of fame. This is considered a beneficial act, but cannot be used in a guard zone on any facet.
    
    
12. Fame Increase. Requires Provocation and Peacemaking. Target temporarily gains fame. This is a negative act.
    
    
13. Attack Ability. This ability requires Provocation, Peacemaking, and Enticement . This ability is the only direct-damage bard song. It works by delivering damage over time based on the bard's skills. This is a negative act.
    
    
14. Teaching Song. This ability requires Provocation, Peacemaking, and Enticement, plus an additional skill. The bard can use this ability to temporarily increase a target's skill level in any skill the bard possesses. For example, a bard with Mining skill can temporarily increase the Mining skill of a target. The bard can target himself with this ability. The maximum skill bonus will be 10 points of skill for crafting and resource gathering skills, and 20 points for all others, including combat skills. Lumberjacking will fall into the 10 point bonus category. The maximum bonus will be extremely difficult to achieve by requiring the bard be close to Grandmaster in the bard skills and the skill being taught.

FAQ

In a previous version of the bard changes, I read that I had to stand still and prepare my song before I "cast" it. Is that gone, now?

Actually, the initiating "casting" time was never meant to mean that you couldn’t move at all, but that “initiating” casting time has been completely removed from this version of the changes. The small-but-continuous cost in Stamina (and partial offset with Mana for those with Meditation skill) will be sufficient as a built-in "time-limitation" control.

If someone attacks me while I am playing my song, my bard song shuts off, right?

Here's how it might work, with the rules described in this concept document (and please keep in mind, as with any such design concept, it is subject to possible change): some events will stop your song immediately-starting a new song, hiding, casting Invisibility on yourself, recalling, or using any Moongate (including facet gates).

Engaging in combat, casting spells, and using Meditation all have a chance of stopping your song, about a 10% chance.

Moving, equipping or unequipping, using potions, wands, staves, and bandages, and mounting/unmounting will not interrupt your song.

So if you're the sort of bard who likes to play it safe and stick to the edge of a combat-heavy area, you might be able to play your song and still safely take the occasional hit from attackers and possibly heal yourself with bandages, all the while still being able to move around.

Will I be able to Entice a creature at the same time as I Provoke another creature?

No. If you Entice one creature, you can attempt to Entice a second, but once you begin the second song (in this case Provocation), the previous song(s) will be stopped.

How many creatures will I be able to Provoke (or Entice or Peacemake) at one time?

That will depend on several factors. You will be able to have multiple Provocation songs playing (with the difficulty increasing with each additional target), and each successful playing of a given song will have its own Stamina/Mana upkeep cost-perhaps 1 per second, per song. It may not be unlikely that you will have 3 creatures Provoked at one time, but it's probably unrealistic to imagine that you'd be able to provoke two dozen monsters for even a few seconds.

What happened to the concept of groups of bards having cooperative abilities?

Bonus abilities for troupes of bards is no longer a part of this design concept. Bards will of course still be able adventure together, but there will be no special bonuses for "bard troupes"

Will I be able to stack my healing buffs?

No. Only Provocation, Enticement, and Peacemaking will be able to be used on multiple targets. All other abilities are one target at a time only.

Considering the new upkeep costs for bard songs, how are people actually supposed to ever finish a fight with no Stamina or Mana? Combat usually lasts more than 30-45 seconds, and a bard would be drained and helpless at that point-they couldn't swing, run, sing or cast.

Bards will be able to regain Mana faster than normal by targeting themselves and playing the Mana Regeneration Rate buff, or could even use Meditation if they choose.

Bards will be able to regain Stamina faster than normal by targeting themselves and playing the Stamina Regeneration Rate buff, or they could drink a red Refresh potion.

Two bards will be also able to cast their songs on one another as well, at which point an effect perhaps not too dissimilar to two combatants cross-healing each other might occur.

Is it intended for Bards to only be effective in groups now?

We know there are many bards who enjoy their ability to play the game solo, and it is absolutely our intent to see that that remains a valid playstyle. But at the same time, a single character should never be able to take out the toughest creatures in the game single-handedly, and that has historically been well within the bard’s capabilities.

Any time we’re faced with the prospect of having to take something away, or in this case, reduce the Bard’s power, we feel that it’s important to give something back that is new. In this case, we decided to add to the Bard’s flexibility by adding in completely new abilities that benefit others. If we’d focused only on adding new abilities that benefited single play, we’d likely run into the same problem of bards simply being too effective in single PvM combat.

Also note that in this revised iteration of the design, bards can now use some of these new abilities to assist themselves as well as others, which we hope will enhance solo as well as group play.