Underpowered Bards

Greetings, fellow Everquest players! I am typing up this petition to enlighten Sony Online Entertainment of the Plight of all the Bards of Norrath.

Part 1, overview

Sadly, Bards have been neglected as a class and exist in a perpetual limbo. We're not casters, not fighters, and not specialists. we just sit on the sidelines playing the mana song. (Well, all GOOD Bards do this. Mana song is the best song in our lineup, it gives mana to other players.)

You see, every class in our game finds there own niche in the game. Bards, however, do not. Every class has areas they excel in. Bards have *nothing*. (Except the mana song, what every GOOD Bard plays).

You might be asking, "But don't Bards have alot of abilities?". Yes, we do! But we can't use them, because our songs only last 3 ticks. (About 18 seconds.)

SOE teases us with great abilities that we'll never use (because, the GOOD bards will be playing mana song) Haste that exceeds the cap! Damage shields! Heals! Resists! And much more! But we can't even use them because our songs hardly even last long enough to sing a new one.

Bards can't even solo blue cons, while their caster and melee cousins are happily soloing away AA after AA in the high end game. This is because bard DD's (The caster part) are too weak, and their melee ability is that of a caster as well, despite wearing plate armor (What should be the melee half).

Part 2: Proposed Changes

*Let Bard songs last for a minute each.

*Increase our mana song to 90mana a tick

*Put Bards on the Paladin HP table.

*Put Bards on the Ranger damage level and give them all ranger combat skill levels and skills.

*Give Bards dd's that wizards got 10 levels ago, mana free and 3.0 second cast time, with a 10 second recast.

*Let Bard's mana song work on themselves.

*/defensive discipline. (Warrior's parent class ability)

*Dire charm. (Enchanters are a parent class)

*Feign dead song. its in the game, but we can't sing it.

*Corpse summoning, to go with our corpse locating.

* A type of Resurrection spell, to make us useful in groups. 94\% would be fair, and not step on any cleric's toes. It would require a component, like a spit valve and a reusable saxophone.

*Let Bards play real licensed music, like Metallica and Rob Zombie. With the right deals and contracts, EQ could make alot of money off of this!


I ask you all to sign this and show Sony the error of their ways in the way they have developed the bard class. With these changes, the Bard will be a useful and productive member of society, instead of the one song wonders they are today.

Some of the requests may be *slightly* overpowered if made with others, so the above list is just a outline. We will take 8 out of 12.

I'm almost certain if no changes are made soon, all the remaining Bards will quit the game and move on to better ones, like World of Warcraft, since Furor told us to. All Hail Furor, He knows everything about everquest, ever, and inspired me to write this petition. Sony, you have 14 DAYS TO COMPLY BEFORE ALMOST ALL THE BARDS QUIT EVERQUEST!