Since you're around...
Some of the things I've run across recently while getting back into the Bard continue to irk. Maybe you can send some Development Love in that direction?
1) Depression/1015. If I mistakenly use the "start it" macro, when it's already running, I get a snarky little message that "But you're already singing that Song.", and castRT of 3s (why? it's not like I cast anything...), I may or may not pay mana (have not tested), but I definitely get NO magical song of anything happening to my roomful of opponents and I definitely DO get three seconds (3s) of castRT impeding my slaughter.
Since I'm clearly willing to spend the 15 mana to start the Song, if it's already running, howsabout we just go ahead and do the RENEWAL action, and charge me less mana?
The castRT is already there, and this gives someone a chance to write up a (new and different!) snarky little message about how the Bard's a nimrod for not knowing what he's running, and charging only the renewal mana cost for the privilege?
.
2) Single-line Sonic Equipment. Nowadays we've got command-line variables to hell and gone in casting. (incant fire 917 troll, or whatever)
Can we likewise get "incant sonicweap handaxe" and "incant sonicshield tower" and "incant sonicarmor 15" and suchlike?
.
3) Holding Song/1001 started its life as TWO Songs, one single (1001) and one mass (1008); then along came Banshee's Wail/1008, and we now have mass-casting based on Song knowledge. On the other hand, we now also have stacks of other spells elsewhere that have regular 'cast'ing (of either single- or mass-target spells) and also a version that you 'evoke' (mass-version of a single-target spell, or single-target version of a mass-effect spell).
Can we get Holding Song/1001 back to being an either/or? Cast for single-target, evoke for "multi-target starting where I aim"?
.
4) Since we're talking about mass-effect spells... and Holding Song/1001 would be (a return to) the second one with an either/or option (single OR mass effect)... Can we do some additional work to that effect for things that hurt other folks in the area?
Holding/1001 already targets creatures first by preference, and has a built-in skill limitation (have to know enough Songs to hit that many).
Disruption/1030, which actually CAN hurt innocent passersby, already has a single-target effect.
But Song of Depression/1015 is perfectly willing to screw up innocent folks walking through all the live-long day. Fortunately I've only managed to tag about two people in the last month, and one was on his way back to town anyhow, but adding on three seconds (+3s) of RT to some poor weapon-swinger who happened to walk into the room at the wrong instant is extremely un-player-friendly.
Since I'm already willing to pay the 6 mana (of the Renewal) to affect a single target (because there IS only a single target creature in the room at the time), can we again add the 'evoke' usage to get a single-target effect? This would TOTALLY REMOVE the possibility of screwing over some weapon-swinger who walks in at the wrong moment. (Although true, it means that if another critter gens right as I'm typing, I lose out on the whole-room effect, but frankly I'm a lot more worried about my fellow players.)
Another possibility, of course, would be to make Depression player-friendly... (Just not in the Gladiatorial Arena, kthx.)
All of these are purely "game engine" workings, to update how things work or to take advantage of new mechanical implementations.
So, totally separate from the long laundry list of actual Song improvements that I keep making reference to, from September of 2015 (when HSN was rolling strong):
http://forums.play.net/forums/GemStone%20IV/Bards/Bard%20Magic,%20Spells,%20and%20Spellsongs/view/546
.
But, you know. I'd be totally happy to see a stack of those happen, too. <nod>
