Of all the complaints I ever had about MapleStory, "too many support classes" was NEVER one of them! In RO, bards are of course secondary support - some healing but not most healing, and the main focus of their support is to increase the battle effectiveness of others.. although as OP has clarified, this MS version do have their own attacks too.
I find this a most enchanting niche. I personally dislike attack classes but a secondary support class would allow a player to be involved in improving the main attack, without necessarily competing in terms of numbers.
One thing I'd suggest is that the songs be more powerful and harder to use. In Ragnarok Online, songs and ensembles could be the key to a party's success. However the bard had to finish the song once started and moved at a very slow pace - during ensembles the bard could not move at all. Also MP was drained continuously while they were playing (up to half a minute of this slow, MP-draining, singing state). Clearly very powerful, and yet very limiting. Not sure how you'd integrate all that into MS... However I do believe that such limitations define the role better, while still keeping up demand for the class by making them a critical factor to the success of a party.
Of course we're all being hypothetical here... MS is a game of its own - I'm not suggesting that RO be made 2D and called Maple!
I find this a most enchanting niche. I personally dislike attack classes but a secondary support class would allow a player to be involved in improving the main attack, without necessarily competing in terms of numbers.
One thing I'd suggest is that the songs be more powerful and harder to use. In Ragnarok Online, songs and ensembles could be the key to a party's success. However the bard had to finish the song once started and moved at a very slow pace - during ensembles the bard could not move at all. Also MP was drained continuously while they were playing (up to half a minute of this slow, MP-draining, singing state). Clearly very powerful, and yet very limiting. Not sure how you'd integrate all that into MS... However I do believe that such limitations define the role better, while still keeping up demand for the class by making them a critical factor to the success of a party.
Of course we're all being hypothetical here... MS is a game of its own - I'm not suggesting that RO be made 2D and called Maple!