there's bards all over the game, in most (if not all) taverns and other places.
And of course there's the Bards College in Solitude.

these are not Dungeons and Dragons Bards.
They're just musicians.

A class with Tonal magic would be awesome sure, but it likely wouldn't be a Bard class.

peacenote wrote: »

I also, however, love playing a healer/support class, and I worry that the introduction of a bard class would dilute the traditional healer role, which has already happened for various reasons. Therefore I am not sure that's the class I would like to see.

I mean... the basis behind Classes in ESO is the "play as you want" system - not the forum's distorted view of that, but the idea that any Class should be able to do any role and use any weapon. That does mean that a hypothetical Bard class would need to be able to exist as a DPS-bard, or a tank-bard, or a heal-bard. Granted, 'exist' doesn't necessarily mean 'be optimal for,] but the Class does need to be able to do those roles at minimum.
(That's also the reason why I don't think people understand what they're asking for with a 'monk' class, since they go on about martial arts when the idea of a Class is that they can use any weapon... and I don't think people are really imagining a dude swinging a giant greatsword when they say "I want a monk class!" as much as they probably mean "I want to play any Class but with an unarmed weapon line!")

But since 'Bard' (at least as we know from D&D) does fit a more healer-ish role in buffing allies, it makes the most sense for a Bard to be one of the three Class lines of something else, and then it can pick up the DPS- and Tank-useful skills from those areas.

This is why I'm hardcore on the Dwemer Artificer train. You've got very obvious lines for summoning armor and pets and another to deal with traps and gadgets, so that could cover most of the DPS and tank roles between them. The Dwemer are also well known for Tonal Architecture (aka music-as-magic, in a way), so that'd be a natural fit for your standard D&D Bard stuff as the healing line for an Artificer.

I'm praying that we have a new Class coming sooner rather than later. The release of Arcanist was probably one of the most fun times I had in this game, and I want to have a good excuse to explore these refurbished tutorial and starter zones now.