Especially that lady from Rimmen near the provisioning station.

Oh yes indeed as a practice dummy, I for sure definitely need a bard punching bag for sure.

i want a large variety of guests to choose from, and the ability to give them armor and change their clothing and all kinds of options and even allow zombies and things of that nature.
variety is the spice and what attracts the Gold.

@Veinblood1965 wrote: »

Why cant they play when walking? They do it in real life, people walk around all the time playing instruments and such.

See the above response.

Yes.

Other than that all the restrictions you listed are just your opinion.

starlizard70ub17_ESO wrote: »

Any new house npc is welcome, that way you don't have the same 8 people hanging around all your houses . But please have the bard play any normal ren faire type music loop instead of ,(heaven forbid), "Red Diamond" or "Sway When We Kiss".

But those are my favourite songs! I want them to play the bard songs. Not generic music™

Zer0_CooL wrote: »

I'll play any instrument in your house wearing a costume of choice for a price of 50k/h.

Ah, but thanks to ZOS not releasing them as emotes for players that loop, you cannot play the vossa-satl as it's stuck as a memento and doesn't actually play any of the bard songs, nor the Qanun from elsweyr, or even the pan flute. Let alone the fact player character's toons can't sing the songs they're playing. BigSad.

Danikat wrote: »

xclassgaming wrote: »

While the music boxes do nullify the need, i still think some actual music from a bard would be damn cool to have as well, i would like it if it would work like the one in hearthfire did, can make him/her play different instruments or songs.

E.G stareyed bride of alinor, or the amusing cliff racer song from Vvardenfell.

I see music boxes and bards as kind of like different versions of the same thing, appropriate for different settings.

I've got a music box in Mournoth Keep which I wouldn't replace with a bard because that house is set up as a private home for two of my characters and having a bard there would look very out of place. But if I had one of the big mansions or castles, or a house done up like a tavern then a bard performing live would be much more in keeping with the setting than just a music box.

Raltin wrote: »

Danikat wrote: »

Instead of disabling pathing for them why not leave it up to the player? Make it so they can be set on a path but don't play while they're walking.

That way if you want your bard to stay in one spot and play continuously you can do that - just don't create a path for them, but if someone else wants their bard to wander around their custom tavern stopping to play for different groups, or simply take breaks from playing to do other things, they can set that up too.

This would also be a great time to add emotes (or animations for pets and mounts) to the pathing options. So for example your bard could be set to stop in one place and play, but then when they go over to the bar they're set to stand there and have a drink then go back to the fire and carry on playing.

There's a problem with that though. The length of songs vary, and so just for bards, the housing system would been to be edited for the length of songs performed, rather than 30s, 1m, 3m, etc. This ties into another problem... songs played by bards vary depending on the client. One player might here one song that is 1m 5s while the other might hear a song that's 3m 10s... so the difficulty just ramps up exponentially when trying to path a bard. Using the normal pathing time intervals would cut many songs short of their mark, and using song-length oriented intervals wouldn't work because of the client-side registration and the differing lengths of the songs themselves. Bards would need their very own, highly specialized sub-type in the pathing system, which might be asking a bit much. Aside from that... some instruments just aren't meant to be carried around; like the vossa-satls.

I'm reasonably sure house guests are unique 'objects' in the game rather than an exact copy of existing NPCs. Which means ZOS are already going through a process of re-creating or editing them and so there's scope to make changes to allow for this.

One simple solution would be to make each bard only play one song. Even better IMO would be to give each a selection of songs and then let the player choose which one/s they play. (Either way this has the added advantage that if there's songs you don't like or which are inappropriate for your house theme you don't get them.)

We probably would need more pathing intervals, but that's also something I'd like for the existing pets, mounts and guests. Likewise adding the ability to choose songs could lead to adding the option to choose emotes for pathable characters to perform.

I'm not saying it would be quick and easy for ZOS and they could release bards that work this way today. But I think it's entirely possible to get them working well and it's better to do that - it will lead to happier players and more sales - than releasing some severely limited version which is just about ok for some uses and worthless in others, which is likely to lead to people who might have bought a better version skipping it entirely.

Indeed, but my point is that bards in-game function differently from other npcs. The 'objects' or house guests function somewhat similarly to the systems that the devs use to create their npcs pathings and interactions with the world. Bards in the overland of the game function very differently from the other npcs because, in order to do their job, AND because of the aforementioned client-side registration: they HAVE to remain stationary. This presents limitations within the system with what they're allowed to do... in order to make anything that you're suggesting to even remotely work... they'd have to create an entirely different pathing system SPECIFICALLY for the bards in housing, and it would be much more complicated than the pathing system we already have... that means they'd have to develop an entirely new system for bards, one that they haven't even developed for the bard npcs overland, which they can't bootleg off their original pathing systems like they did to give us our own housing pathing system for the normal house guests, animals, and mounts, JUST for these bards... Idk about you, but I don't think the devs are going to do that.

Secondly, I think making bard npcs that are spec'd into different genres already help with song choice... you get a high elf lutist, and the only songs she'll play are the bard songs in summerset.

Get a base game lutist, and the only songs he or she will play will be the original vanilla bard songs.

Get an argonian vossa-satl player, and they'll sing the murkmire bard songs, etc.

Already, by having that system, you KNOW what songs you're already getting, you just have to decide whether or not you like that set of bard songs. Talking with the bard and selecting which songs you want them to cycle through, and to play either the instrumental or vocal versions would merely be a luxury addition at that point, but it would welcomed nonetheless. It's possible, but i'm not sure if the devs will go that extra yard to make it possible.

Versispellis wrote: »

Only if it has the voice of Malukah and the model of an Alfiq. 😝

I wouldn't buy that version, but i admit, it would be kinda funny.

I tend to like the idea that allows for pathing, as long as the bard is able to start playing quickly enough, perhaps also to strum a few notes when they are walking... it would then be up to us to set up their paths to allow them enough time to sing a song or two before moving on... I would even redo some of my houses to allow the bard to move between tables to "Play" for each...

Maybe you could even pay them off (money sink) for special requests - songs that you have unlocked while playing the game, earning achievements etc.

Or even a small lump of gold for songs that wouldn't necessarily be political correct

I would love to have birds in my house!