As we know, other then by using Provocation whereas one MoB gets to kill another, Bards are pretty much a "support" character where, using Bard songs and Masteries, they "help out" their Party buddies with buffs and all that.
Now, they can get looting rights with their "supporting" songs (let's not count Provocation at all, for the sake of this discussion), right ?
What about getting actual "credit" towards Yukio's Quest kills requirements then ?
If they help their Party buddies, and their buddies get the kills, do the Bards also get the kills for their songs' support as one would think (as I said, let's leave Provocation entirely out of this... just using "support" songs...) ?
To clarify this better, the Bard is not hitting the Monsters with spells or Weapons, they are strictly role playing a Bard, that is, stick to singing support songs (let's leave Provocation out of this for the sake of this discussion) to help their Party Members who are the ones actually doing the kills.
Do you have a bard? Why not test it out and let us know?
if your bard has magery, you can cast EVs and get credit.
thats how a guild member used his bard
In my personal experience:
Bards running either of the Provocation or Discord Masteries get credit for kills and are included in artifact drop tables.
Bards running either Peacemaking Mastery do not get credit for kills nor are they included in artifact drop tables.
Looting rights for bards are the same as anything else... damage dealt, damage taken or damage healed. If you use a disco mastery song to damage or a provoke song to heal you get credit. Peace songs don’t deal or heal damage so they won’t get you credit.
The mechanics for getting loot rights are very forgiving. As others have mentioned, support-only bards -- you might be the only one in the entire game -- are no more "discriminated" against than, say, a mage who casts only buffs (and who would do that?).
One of the interesting things about UO is its classless system, and we needn't think of a player's combat role solely in terms of damage, support, healing, etc. Generally speaking, any combat-oriented template can do a bit everything, and what better way to further support your party as a bard than by doing a minimal amount of damage to enemies while you maintain buffs?
I did the quest with my 4x mystic bard. It took longer than my necromage, sure, but on the whole this event is more friendly to bard's than, say, the Ice event which had paragons you couldn't provoke.
These events come but once a month or so, and they're designed to encourage as much participation as possible. Would it be good to have less combat-oriented content? Sure, but designing that content is a little more nuanced, and even then we can't expect that content to accommodate every niche roleplay style like, for instance, a hippie bard who wants to make love not war.
I actually like having the ability to use bard songs without screwing up drops/rights. I use the peacemaking songs all the time as a protector at spawns. He can discord and run the songs without impacting scrolls.
I decided to drag the Bard around on my warrior tonight. Bard got credit for the yamatsu guys very well since my warrior took damage, also the Bard would auto shoot sometimes. Was lucky at the spawn, it was 2nd and 3rd level mobs the whole time. So my warrior finished it in a decent time but the bard got few credits for the Kappas or beetles. Wolves were decent, I let them hit my warrior and the bard got credit. Yamandon was surprisingly easy for my warrior. I had not fought it on my warrior since I was wearing an ancient samurai helm. The bard song was enough to keep him at full HP and he killed it quick.
But, It took the warrior a lot longer to kill almost everything except for the yamandon than it takes on my tamer. Warrior took over an hour. Pet eats through everything except the yamandon in a couple of bites. Warrior took multiple swings on everything.