Point taken. Though I dont know the difference hence I use xylophone
I just wish I could change the position of my war-marimba. It’s sooo in my face
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I think in this whole thread there’s actually two very, very different approaches to the class.
a) those who want to play ‘music’, treat it as a minigame which could be extended, some (not all) of these suggestions are from people likely not playing the endgame yet
b) those who wonder about the bard being part of a group of 5 or 10, as a support class for endgame content; here the tendency is rather the simpler the better, overview of fights is a mentioned issue etc.
Perhaps there is a way to please both groups. Really, I don’t play alot of music with the current bard fighting, I play ding-ding-ding dong-dong-dong dang-dang-dang the same 5 notes, 3 times, over and over. I can imagine to have more variety in fights (also to not go on the nerves of players for 15-20 minutes! That is how long some fights can be!), but also way shorter patterns, like only 2 or 3 notes to trigger something.
On the other hand, why not hand out an “extended” optional instrument (marimba) to the bard with more notes which has no actual usage in fighting, but where you can develop a skill, play music or even have a minigame with very different and complex patterns of notes.
I know extending the class in this direction means a hell lot of additional programming, but it is perhaps worth it. It allows to concentrate development of the “weapon-instrument” around its main purpose, too, and simplify it a bit, so the bard is able to focus and move with it.
I kind of like the hitting the dots approach… easy enough. But I kind of want to be able to customise the drops so I can play melodies at the same time. Not that I expect this to be the finished product 
Maybe just giving different orbus different patterns of beeds that fall down? Would make better melodies.
Adding two more notes and making it a full octave would make it more playable. Clearly a good idea even if it’s only usefull out of combat.
I kind of want there to be a option to get a continued boost as long as you don’t miss a beat just to keep on playing the melodies
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The Idea of a full octave is being stated for play-ability out of combat is of course a good reason to make it so anyway, but at least my intention of suggesting that was so it could be incorporated in combat as well. I don’t feel that it would make this too confusing either, as the current 5 notes many are saying is too easy (especially because the notes don’t go to different notes yet). It is simply just adding two more areas on either side for dots to fall, which shouldn’t be very hard for most. This would also help a ton with the idea of a fourth orb being activatable later on into the game, as it would allow more room for notes to fall. I also feel that the fourth orb idea should not change the timing of the dots either, but rather bring to the table a double hit of one of the three falling notes.
I going to try my best to explain what I mean:
Let’s say the Bard, in combat, sees 3 notes fall on the middle (3 numbering them 5 to 1 left to right). This means, with timing, the Bard will hit: 3…3…3 to get all the notes successfully. I am saying with a fourth orb active this would institute a double hit and instead of 3…3…3, the Bard would instead play something like: 3…3,5…3. Playing 3 and 5 on the instrument at the same time rather than having to change the way all of the orbs play when that level is reached (going from 3 notes at a time to 4, making crescendo take longer, because more orbs to build it up on).
So i have an issue with this way of thinking. It is easy to time the notes, yes… But it isnt easy to do what you want when you need to. It is also damned near impossible to play the notes and still pay attention to the content around you. Bosses in this game tend to be mobile… And you wouldn’t survive as a bard in its current form. It needs to be simplified to something that can be done without constantly watching so that the depth and therefore difficulty can be increased in a way that is fun and that will survive bosses.
My thoughts:
The 6 song choices should be on the sides of the instrument rather than below and out of view. Having for example 3 on the left 3 on the right of the instrument would let them be visible so you can know when they’re charged.
Having to activate the crescendos is also a bit clunky. I think since you’re dealing with beats, the crescendos should fire automatically when they are charged. That way, if you don’t want to use your heal right away, you can skip the green orbs during the beat etc, or if you don’t want to shoot your attack, you can skip the blue ones etc and then hit them when you’re ready.
Notes should be random, rather than all on the same line when you have multiple activated.
Right now the movement makes me a bit nauseated so hard to say about the fun factor, though the playing was OK, but not very exciting. I couldn’t tell what my skills were actually doing.
As a musician I was looking forward to this. It seemed a bit laggy but the concept is fantastic. It took too much time load balls, balls were not firing, the mallets did not seem to phase through power all the time that i they hit the xylophone
I also feel like it’s a poorly chosen instrument for this game. Why don’t you give us players a conductor rod?
Personally I struggle with the class. I’m not sure if I am just uncoordinated or what but having the orbs below the instrument kept turning them off. It didn’t appear that I was hitting thru the instrument or touching the orbs to turn them off, they would just shut off after using one orb or another. I think moving them to the right and left side so we can strike the instrument without interfering with the orbs would be great.
Also, a how to page in the manual/journal was expected but not there. So I was never sure how the instrument worked. I charged the orbs before battle but it seemed that sometimes they didn’t need to be charged to be effective? Can you aim with it?
The orbs had passive effects that were separate from the charged effect, we’re still thinking on what we’re going to do exactly for that based on feedback and it being unclear for people. You had to aim with the way you were facing before pretty much. You might have been confused particularly by the Justice orb that would send projectiles every few seconds before.
I also kept hitting the orbs with the baton and turning them off inetvervtinly, very annoying.
Heya. I’m huge into Bards of all kinds so, first and foremost, thanks for including them in Reborn.
Second, I will say that I don’t find the xylophone that exciting; as an instrument or as a concept. I think the idea of a large, unwieldy percussion instrument a bit too far off from my Bard fantasy (which, I get, may not be your fantasy or someone else’s fantasy). However, I understand why it was chosen. My bard fantasy most certainly revolves around small, mobile string instruments; Lutes, Mandolins, or even guitars.
But I’ll also provide my own concept for how this would work. I’m sure the team has also agonized over this, but I’ll give it a shot. I’m imagining an air guitar of sorts. Depend on handedness, one controller would be used to strum the air, while the other would be used to monitor inputs; trigger, touch, or grip. Alternatively, the position of the left controller relative to the body may indicate which “note” is being played. Think Guitar Hero or Rock Band, but floating in front of you.
Alternatively, this could be used to implement a fiddle or a violin type instrument, wherein the positioning is a bit different, but largely features the same style of play; one hand works the bow, and the other moves up and down a series of notes. Maintaining a consistent strumming rhythm could yield bonuses.
Anyway, very excited for a Bard, regardless. Worst case, I’m hoping the xylophone approach is just the beginning of their design.