wow Inspiration for a Potential Bard Class: Awesome 3D Tyrande Cello Model

[Starym 3,800]

 

Rogier Stam made an awesome 3D model for his Creating Stylized Game Assets course, creating an entire backstory for the item in question, and clearly putting an incredible amount of work and passion into it. It was certainly worth it though, as the result is really impressive, and it's sparked a whole lot of discussion in the community about that old favorite, the Bard class.

Source: Artstation.

While the idea of a Bard class in WoW is very old, it only became more present after the April Fools post of 2008, which "revealed" it as the second even Hero class.

Source.

There are many concepts out there for the Bard class, but we figured why not ask the man who created the perfect "weapon" for it, and so we poked Rogier to see what his thoughts are on such a class:

Quote

On the bard class, it’s a tough one. I didn’t think about the class for a long time, but after I posted my cello, a lot of people told me that it reminded them of the class and I saw such enthusiasm for it. I think it’s still something a ton of players haven’t forgotten.

I personally don’t have a lot of experience playing music themed classes from other games or rhythm games in general, but I do think there is an appeal to it. For me I associate instruments such as a cello with a certain ‘grace’ to it and its player.

If they were to add a class such as the Bard, it’d be really nice if they could find a way to translate spells into music notes. For example, then we would’ve had to "make" our own song as a gameplay element. And according to how good the song sounds it would influence gameplay too. This could perhaps influence the radius of abilities, such as AoE, or perhaps the faster you play the more DPS you could reach. It’d be really cool if they could translate it into in-game music too. I also see other people mentioning a class solely based on buffing & shielding would be really cool and I could definitely see that happening too.

Back to the cello itself, there are many additional concepts and phases of development on the one above, as well as a whole lot of inspiration images used to get the Tyrande feeling just right, with many of these elements incorporated into the finished work:

  

And here's its backstory, as well as additional details on its making:

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As is tradition, every member of the Whisperwind family receives a musical instrument at a young age. They are taught how to play it, maintain it and above all, cherish it.
Although this cello currently belongs to Tryande Whisperwind, it is often played by her wisp relatives while it is stored away.

This cello was made for my final week of Ashleigh Warner’s CGMA course: Creating Stylized Game Assets. The assignment was to recreate the assignment of an art test. We had to choose an exciting current game, analyze their style and try to incorporate it in our own prop. I choose World of Warcraft for my assignment.

I incorporated a lot of elements from Tyrande Whisperwind. From her colours, her pet owl and her night elf heritage.
During my sketching & concept phase I had a lot of help from Ashleigh & my course mates. After the course ended, I received some more feedback and eventually came to this version right here.
P.s. sorry to all cello players, it should've had 4 snares!!

You should definitely head on over to Rogier Stam's Artstation, as it has a video of the cello as well, in addition to some other cool art. And if you're looking for more fun Bard class commentary, head on over to one of two recent reddit threads about it.

What do you think the Bard should be like?

Source.

[Starseed 113]

i would love a bard class give him a nice pair of instruments to choose from and three specs each with a difrent style like rock for a  classic for a heal and i dont knwo wich music but give him a true support build not like disc were you can make dmg and heal.

i want a spec that focus around buffing your mates for a short time giving mana back to the healers, give a deff buff to the tank and safe some idiot with a shield cause he stands in the fire i think a bard would be perfect for this kind of spec.

 

and before everyone starts with: "but no one wants to boost the other dps every one wants to be top dps them self" i dont care it would be a nice addition to the game and if you only play to be top dps  instead of killing the big bad guy that wants to destroy the world this year i hope we never met ingame cause i hate you 

[Kveldssang 5]

I don't think a bard class would be that interesting, but why not a bard profession ? Like collecting instruments and songs in the old zones and being able to play it between two bosses in a raid or in a tavern. Unseathing your cello to play Lament of the highborne to your party would be so cool.

[Znifler 58]

39 minutes ago, Kveldssang said:

I don't think a bard class would be that interesting, but why not a bard profession ? Like collecting instruments and songs in the old zones and being able to play it between two bosses in a raid or in a tavern. Unseathing your cello to play Lament of the highborne to your party would be so cool.

Yeah this makes more sense. A whole class dedicated to it is too much. A side thing is more likely and proper. If they ever made a bard class, there is so many more other classes they should add before that.

[Syridian 14]

Would be best handled in a vein similar to playing music in games like FF14 imo. Much easier to implement from a pure design standpoint I would think, compared to adding an entire new class to the balance mix. Could be more in line with pet battles.

[durdyenglish 298]

Bard Profession that let's you play songs for buffs would be the easy answer. 

[Baharok 234]

I like the style of the moonguitar. Maybe there could be some heavy "moon" metal ehehehe ?

[Ragingwolf 310]

WoW really doesn't have a true support class and has made the possibility somewhat obsolete through the generation of class changes per expansion.  Each class now has their own unique ability/buff that they can bring to a group/raid composition.  If Blizzard were to make a Bard type class I can see it being only a range dps and possibly serve as a healer role.  

[Starseed 113]

6 hours ago, Syridian said:

Much easier to implement from a pure design standpoint I would think, compared to adding an entire new class to the balance mix.

yeah easier for sure but te whole balance thing is a piont you can read under every article about a new potential class if you go with this theme wow is dead cause nothing new can come out of the fear for balance

[Starseed 113]

2 hours ago, Ragingwolf said:

WoW really doesn't have a true support class and has made the possibility somewhat obsolete through the generation of class changes per expansion.  Each class now has their own unique ability/buff that they can bring to a group/raid composition.  If Blizzard were to make a Bard type class I can see it being only a range dps and possibly serve as a healer role.  

yeah you are kinda right and its sad im dreaming of pure supp classs for a long time now but i think i will see housing befor this dream comes true 

[Nathex 8]

While i do know the importance of stuff like drummers and trumpets in the history of warfare, the Idea of a Bard class has always been the most retarded thing in the world to me. We have warriors that kill with their mighty weapons or protect with their impenetrable shields. And we have mages that can destroy with their arcane powers or burn things to the ground with their fire or freeze and shatter with ice. Shaman obliterating with elemental power or healing with the soothing powers of rejuvenating water. ect ect. Then we have the Bard that plays a crappy song and dances a fairy like gig that is supposed to enliven the party like the cheerleader of the team. May as well just give him pom poms as standard equipment. Just not that impressive. There is a reason that Tom Bombadil Didn't even make it into the LOTR movies.

[Starseed 113]

30 minutes ago, Nathex said:

While i do know the importance of stuff like drummers and trumpets in the history of warfare, the Idea of a Bard class has always been the most retarded thing in the world to me. We have warriors that kill with their mighty weapons or protect with their impenetrable shields. And we have mages that can destroy with their arcane powers or burn things to the ground with their fire or freeze and shatter with ice. Shaman obliterating with elemental power or healing with the soothing powers of rejuvenating water. ect ect. Then we have the Bard that plays a crappy song and dances a fairy like gig that is supposed to enliven the party like the cheerleader of the team. May as well just give him pom poms as standard equipment. Just not that impressive. There is a reason that Tom Bombadil Didn't even make it into the LOTR movies.

i think you need to stop seeing it as just a guy with an instrument playing a song it could very well be a kind of magic or more a way to channel a kind of magic to be fair i have to say the idea of a random guy just shredding his guitar and the boss takes dmg is stupid thats true but when you are in a high fantasy setting things like magic channelt with an instrumend dont seem so stupid