This Bard stacking thing needs to be dealt with

[SKDLaeys]

No I understand what this thread is about and I understand your point. My post was just my initial thought regarding the Bard mechanic and a bandaid solution to the problem. But clearly that's not a good enough means to fix it. What would you suggest?

[Eckoh]

No I understand what this thread is about and I understand your point. My post was just my initial thought regarding the Bard mechanic and a bandaid solution to the problem. But clearly that's not a good enough means to fix it. What would you suggest?

there is nothing to fix honestly. The top guilds are not taking melee because they are a liability with that content. Bards are better DPS and like with all ranged they are not position dependent. Coil fist boss for example, has a 1 shot tail swipe that is triggers when someone gets behind him, both goons and monks have attacks that MUST be done from behind, he also has a frontal cleave which will kill a non tank and the boss has to be moved as to not spawn unwanted slimes.

ADS has PBAOE attacks that melee must move out of which lowers their DPS due to no fault of their own. On top of that tor is simply easier to deal with when it is as far away from the tanks as possible.

Turn 4 melee simply cannot match ranged in terms of AoE damage aswell as many of the mobs do 360 AoEs that cause melee o either reduce damage or need more heals wasting healer GCDs.

There is simply no upside to taking that. That is not to say you cannot kill the content with them, because my guild has done it. However for new progression we drop the melee just because its easier without them which is unfortunate.

[Caraway]

there is nothing to fix honestly. The top guilds are not taking melee because they are a liability with that content. Bards are better DPS and like with all ranged they are not position dependent. Coil fist boss for example, has a 1 shot tail swipe that is triggers when someone gets behind him, both goons and monks have attacks that MUST be done from behind, he also has a frontal cleave which will kill a non tank and the boss has to be moved as to not spawn unwanted slimes.
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This ultimately sounds like design fail and one I've been seeing over and over again when a game tries to have a more action oriented style (read: dodge the red death).

RIFT suffered from this design decision for it's hard mode end-game dungeons as well where attempts to make the fight difficult by imposing positioning restrictions made a sizeable portion of the available classes useless due to having to constantly move the boss or heavily penalizing close ranged attacks.

It especially doesn't help if the other comments are true that melee DPS is inferior to ranged.

As people have said, ranged is a safer bet because it's easier to avoid the mechanics that cause you pain when you're not hugging the mob. To my eyes, this should be weighed against the amount of damage/utility these classes can provide.

Perhaps the melees need a boost in spike damage to compensate for long disconnects and punishing positional requirements.

[Thotor]

This is a design flaw in almost every MMOs.
There is limited mechanics to make content harder and unfortunately those impacts melee the most.

[Eckoh]

the issue with upping melee damage is on fights where there is no "disconnect" they become OP. Melee can and do work. The issue is it takes a superior player to be that aware. I played melee for nearly 10 years and i went to ranged simply because i did not want that level of stress anymore. I will have monk alt at some point just for S&Gs but i will not progression raid on melee in this game.However i wil likely go back to it in Wildstar.

One thing they can do is cut down on the positional requirements for melee. The melee "dance" is a it over the top for monks especially. Its a fun idea but not really much fun in an active raid setting.

[Teeko]

From my experience, any MMO that has a ranged dps that is fully mobile leads to a balancing nightmare, as once it is introduced and then the mobility is nerfed, it directly impacts fun factor. I wouldn't wish that on anyone who really enjoys the bard's playstyle.

One boss I did had this 360 degree whirl attack that only hits melee for absolutely no reason whatsoever. There was zero benefit to having me in that fight as a monk over my bard because I just flat out required more healing. It makes me question if any of these MMO designers play melee dps at all

Now I am extremely stubborn about which classes I like to play in a game, as I naturally find myself avoiding the FOTM classes in favor of trying to play the maximum out of the "underdog". If monks are being sat, it would be a difficult thing for me to reroll as I am enjoying myself.

[Moesugi]

From my experience, any MMO that has a ranged dps that is fully mobile leads to a balancing nightmare, as once it is introduced and then the mobility is nerfed, it directly impacts fun factor. I wouldn't wish that on anyone who really enjoys the bard's playstyle.

Balance shouldn't be that hard if people enjoy the class.

In most case, the nerf are coming because those that stay at 3rd or 4th place in DPS ranking are jealous of the 1st DPS.

[Monkeytarget]

sounds terrible to me, low DPS if constantly singing, and who's Foe's for, the one remaining DPS who actually uses elemental attacks?

Bard have 3 spells that use elements... vem sting, wind bite ,and flame arrow

[Sygmaelle]

However for new progression we drop the melee just because its easier without them which is unfortunate.

I come from a game where pretty much maybe like 10%, well NOT even 10% of the playerbase play melee dps, simply because "it's too hard". Melee pretty much depend on one single factor, and its called tanks more than anything else. Sure AoEs and cleaves can be a danger, and they are even some questionnable mechanics that make boss hinder & one shot the WHOLE party if someone get touched simply by the hitbox of.

You re sayin that Caduceus for example got a one shot tail swipe, then my question is, is it actually possible to rotate a crowd control rotation in order to be able to hit him from behind when your melee need to buff up ?

You don't have to be close to the boss or the mob to use combos and you also can SPRINT while comboin, which make stuff trivial when they are these slow and large aoes and you gotta hit stuff to buff up / debuff.

[Sygmaelle]

(About that boss hinderin people in the game im comin from, you can still perfectly do it as a melee without a single problem if you know how to move.)

Its not because people are bad, that its not doable. This game is not even 1 month old, not a single person know how to play it perfectly, timing wise, in each encounter. Nobody, and it'll come. I'm one of these melee exclusive player and I'm havin a blast in this game because its based on accuracy, timing & movement.

The only thing that make me /nods sometimes is that my Heavy Trust doesnt work when a mob is movin toward a tank if I attack him from the flank, it work if I attack from the front and then turn the camera ... otherwise, as a melee, I freakin love the experience. That whole sprint thingy that let you begin a combo in an AoE at a point you want, then you sprint out while still beein doin the movement even if you re not close to the boss anymore, will count. Don't understand why people are just not movin at all and then blamin the game design.