Idea - Bard's Guild

Eirikir · August 2016

The Guild of Bards was part of the Guilds Act, so its a thing.

A lot of the added guilds are behind a pay wall as dlc features so ZoS did the right thing and made them passive only situational skills. To give new skills behind a dlc would be wrong...

But I want new skills. So II suggest the Bard's Guild be added to the base game. That way we could maybe get some nice skills. Maybe a mix of stamina and magica skills. Use it to fill in the blanks for skill diversity. Give it fun passives like seeing lorebooks at further distances or improved interactions with npcs. Maybe the Bard's version of persuasion/intimidation could be called something like Debate and could be used to get better prices or something.

I'm just spitballing. I just remember the Bard's College in Skyrim fondly.

Abeille · August 2016

As long as we get functioning instruments, I'm in.

leothedino · August 2016

This would be excellent, who knows perhaps they could include a music system like in LOTRO. In that MMO you could load in all your favourite songs as a base notation format (plenty of website allowed you to download these without hassle) and then play them for your friends.

I don't actually have a problem with skills behind pay walls, as most abilities per class have access to the majority of the major buffs like Sorcery, Brutality etc. More passives are agony, our current skills are getting stale and samey so new abilities are needed, mechanically they are nothing more than numbers and different ways to apply debuffs and buffs everyone already has access to, all with a different visual effect to make it feel 'different' (but needed).

Louis · August 2016

me and my friend has the same exact idea as you man! hahaha

Eirikir · August 2016

I think really lore heavy lovers like me would enjoy missions like some we have now that teleports you to the past hidden so you can watch ES history rendered in game graphics.

Maybe the overall quests could deal with Saint Alessia, maybe traveling from town to town gathering info as we preform and then dungeon dive for relics and artifacts.

Esquire1980g_ESO · August 2016

It looks to me that ZOS certainly tried to copy SWG in design but here's another one they missed completely.

Bard Profession. Buffs players in Taverns by players listening to them for periods of time. Existing buffs, just longer terms. As a mag/plar, I would certainly pay a Bard to buff me with Major Sorcery instead of slotting the mage guild ability. One example. ZOS could do this without a major upset to balance by using the above example (things we can already have).

A Tavern in just about every town. So far, I've seen VERY few of them used outside of a bit of RP. And the RPers really liked the amount of community the entertainers drew back in SWG. Cantina's were the "social hub" of that game and could be here also.

A good idea for a game-wide DLC also. With most of the code pre-existing.

TheShadowScout · August 2016

I had some ideas for a Bards Guild a while ago... I imagined, they could have a musical instrument as "special weapon" (another thing for woodworkers to craft!) and play toggle-able magical AoE spellsongs to support and buff your group, and maybe debuff (or perhaps even put to sleep) enemies that come in range?

Each song would be a different melody/lyrics, to be played with different sounds depending on equipped instrument – there could be choice of stringed instruments like lute, fiddle or harp, blown instruments like flutes, horns or bagpipes, and concussive instruments like drums… each available in racial styles for different type and visual goodieness… (So, the altmer stringed instrument might be a lyre, while the breton stringed instrument might be a lute, the khajiit stringed instrument might be a fiddle and the argonian stringed instrument might be a banjo… the bosmer blown instrument might be pan-pipes while the nord blown instrument might be bagpipes, the imperial blown instrument might be a trumpet while the dunmer might have a flute… etc.)

Some locations could even have large fixed-place instruments a bard could play to extend their buff beyond their usual AoE and throughout the whole area (big organs or magical crystal harmonium)

Said songs to be played on a toggle, continuously for an large AoE effect (as in, listening distance) for a very low magicka (or ultimate) cost – balanced by the fact that the bard is holding a dainty instrument in their hands instead of a weapon, and thus have no attacks with it – it would be entirely buff-debuff based effect from a bard practicing their craft. Naturally they could always swap weapons, ending their song to fight for their lives… And also, having an active song would make stealth impossible (duh), so no sneaking while singing, hear!

Also possible would be some "speechcraft" style passives…

And there could be daily missions usually available at the local master bard, like… playing in several different inns, one per homeland map… for guild advancement. Perhaps even a "hit that note" minigame…