Virtuoso bard suggestions

[Drakesblood]

Hey there DDO Developers/Glin,

I know you will probably not see this or if you do, not post/comment. Anyway, in an effort to communicate to you about some short falls I see in the bard prestige enhancement line that I feel need a second look over. Here are some of the abilities that I feel need to be changed or tweaked:

1. Suggestion, Mass Song: This is a great song, and I use it for every thing that can be fascinated and need a quick army of minions. But there are some MAJOR set backs that ruin the advantage it gives at it's level(Rank 21 preform, I.E. level 18 pure bard), this includes will saves that are sub-par, length of duration is short, and in-compatibility with enthrall. The song when used gives about 1:30 seconds of duration, but after the first 20 seconds breaks 90-100% of the time on CR 18-25 monsters. I would like to see the saves on these consistent to fascinate/enthrall DC as well as effected by the virtuoso enhancement/lingering song. Also could this work with enthrall as well since it's a beefed up version of fascinated. I know this might also be over powered but could you have it also work with song of the maker/dead?

2. Enthrall: This song is perfect for large amount of charm-able monsters and allows a few hits in before breaking. Now I am convinced it's based on number of hits as to a will save each hit only due to some tests in blown to bits. In blown to bits a 1k bomb hit will not break the enthrall(even on elite) in the first blast but after two-four hits it breaks. I hit the same monster after 2-4 hits at 20-60 damage per hit and it breaks. This can be a problem if I have 5 other people hit the same monster and it breaks every second. What i would suggest is to have the monster make a will save every hit at the enthrall DC and +1 to there save vs. enthrall per hit. This will help higher end groups get there shots in with superior crowd control and not have to re-enthrall every time it comes off cool down. This mostly nit-picky stuff for this song and would be able to live with the way it is.

3. Sustaining song: I really wish this song would scale in usefulness as you level. The only thing that effects the regeneration is healing amp, not items that boost healing or maximum HP. It would be nice if Bard song magic, Bard Lyric of Song, and Bard Lyric of Incredible Song affected the amount of healing the song can give. Also PLEASE fix this song to affect warforge PCs.

4. prestige enhancement line requirements: This might be the cheapest of the prestige enhancements but one of the tier 2 pre-reqs is a bit much for the prestige enhancement, the extra song AP. I believe the extra song II AP is ok, but needing extra song III and I hope not extra song IV for Virtuoso III is a bit over lapping. One of the selling points of Virtuoso I is that you can music of the dead/maker for 1 AP each as to spending 12 AP(Extra Music IV) to get it without the prestige enhancement. Having to get extra music 3 or 4 feels like it's defeating the purpose of the perk of the virtuoso I perk of getting the music of the maker/dead cheap. I would rather have the requirement be lingering song III(or improve preform III) in the place of extra music III which would make more prevent this from ruining one of the virtuoso perks.

I hope this did not come out as a rant and is easily understood, and maybe Virtuoso III will be useful for level 18 to epic content when it comes out.

Thanks,

Drakesblood (Punny Bones)

[Yokido]

The only thing I agree to here is that the Sustaining Song needs a tweak or two,
it should be as effective or MORE effective than a cleric's healing aura.

[Gorbadoc]

4. prestige enhancement line requirements: This might be the cheapest of the prestige enhancements but one of the tier 2 pre-reqs is a bit much for the prestige enhancement, the extra song AP. I believe the extra song II AP is ok, but needing extra song III and I hope not extra song IV for Virtuoso III is a bit over lapping. One of the selling points of Virtuoso I is that you can music of the dead/maker for 1 AP each as to spending 12 AP(Extra Music IV) to get it without the prestige enhancement. Having to get extra music 3 or 4 feels like it's defeating the purpose of the perk of the virtuoso I perk of getting the music of the maker/dead cheap. I would rather have the requirement be lingering song III(or improve preform III) in the place of extra music III which would make more prevent this from ruining one of the virtuoso perks.

Adding to this argument:
With the Virtuoso II requirements, the player must choose to spend 4 extra AP (Extra Song IV) or a feat (SF: Perform or Negotiator). It doesn't matter which a player chooses in terms of the benefits of the the enhancement or feat; all three options are lousy. The choice is over what ELSE a player wanted to do with the build: How badly are 4 AP or 1 feat needed for other purposes.

The trouble is, 4 AP are almost never worth 1 feat. As soon as you hit level 12 (or so), you swap out SF: Perform for a feat that's actually good, you fork out the extra AP, and you never look back.

The choice used to be between 7 AP or 1 feat. This was fine! Seven action points for a feat was a fair choice, and it would still be fair even with the tier II PrEs the way they are. And given the relationship between Virtuoso and the other bard PrEs, it's only fair that Virtuoso should have added flexibility in its prerequisites.

The Virtuoso specializes in things that every bard already has. All bards get:

• Healing
• CC songs (including MoM and MotD for 14 AP total)
• No shortage of songs per rest at high levels.

I'm not complaining: I'm glad that there's a PrE whose function is to take the above list, and just be subtly better at it. Given the flashiness of the other PrEs' perks, though, I feel like it should be easy to fit Virtuoso into whatever build you might be considering. The 7 AP versus 1 feat was a great feature in that respect. Slashing it to 4 AP versus 1 feat was a step in the wrong direction.