Is this a thing? Do bards channel songs even? Wondering if it is worth it or if the channeling AA even works for bards? I dont think Ive ever seen my bard "channel" a song after being hit and it being interrupted as interrupts on songs seem to work entirely different than spells, but again I dont think Ive ever paid that much attention to it. Thanks
As far as I can tell bards don't channel. This wasn't a thing for bards until later eras. Also I think the channeling AAs were removed after our era, maybe they never did anything. I don't know what the detailed reasoning was, but maybe someone knows the whole history.
channeling is because you moved while casting. Bards can move while casting anyway so it wouldn't do anything. Or as far as I Always understood it.
Channeling is something that should roll when being hit with regular melee. I'm guessing one roll for interrupt and then another for channeling. Or maybe roll > X = successful channel. But either way, best I can tell, the higher level the mob is that's hitting you and the higher the scribespell level is, the less chance you have of channeling. I'm pretty sure that channeling will activate when backed into a corner, so it shouldn't be associated with movement. I'd be interested to hear a Torven level explanation for how that works. And yeah Solar, channeling focus was later removed and the points were refunded because they weren't doing anything.
Hmm. There's a post from the devs saying that the channeling AA seemed so powerful they almost couldn't believe it, based on ?decompiles?
https://www.takproject.net/forums/index.php?threads/lull-changes.12968/#post-72810 "PC channeling is now using code found in a client decompile, so the accuracy on that is rather high. In fact it indicates that the channeling focus AA is so good that it leaves me wondering, but it's such strong evidence that I can't ignore it." seems quite the opposite if "AA was refunded because it didn't do anything"
Patch notes from 19, September 2006 Refunded all AAs that increased your chance to channel through damage. Channeling is currently set to 100% for all classes due to a long standing issue in how it is calculated, so the abilities weren't doing anything. This includes Channeling Focus, Channeling Mastery, and Internal Metronome. Item Channeling abilities, such as Concentration, are not affected.
I was trying to come up with a way to parse channeling between characters who have AA/Focii/Skill mod. I started to taste copper and my vision got blurry.
The song level increases from Jam Fest only work on the bard, not on other recipients of the songs. Not worth the 18 AAs, IMO. Spell Casting Subtlety is pretty nearly useless for bards, since almost all of their songs generate near-zero hate anyway. (Not as useless as SCS is for SKs, though, who want more aggro, not less!)
One could argue those are "working as intended." But this channeling aa situation is straight up broken. And for devs to insist no refunds on aa's spent while doing nothing to let players know it is broken, is frustrating to say the least.
I can't believe how many people thought bards needed channeling. They can cast while moving. If the AA was % based it would increase your channeling by a fraction of 1 point. Tough scene.
The in-game descriptor for the AA says it reduces the chances to be interrupted. Taking damage is the most likely scenario to cause a bard to be interrupted while casting, therefore making the in-game descriptor for this aa sound useful to one.
