I don't think people know how that Bard perk works

It's fine if you're doing it close to a gen but otherwise it's just a meme perk,not worth lingering around for the whole performance.

If anything more people are using it at the killer after stuns and such.

you know what's better than waiting for a 15 sec song to play out? survivors getting immediately on gens...

that 1% to 2% skill check boost isn't gonna do anything. The perk not trash but it not good either. I can see you getting value in a 3 gen or a double heal scenario. Most of the time it just not wroth standing around for.

Some of you guys are crazy. The effect is definitely worth it if you use it intelligently. It's not unga bunga good, you cant use it whenever you like and get value, but it's definitely not weak.

All you have to do with it is follow someone to a Generator, then play it while stood at the generator and take a few perks/items that support it. Take some combination of:

• Prove Thyself to give your teammate(s) 10% extra repair speed while you perform and then repair the gen together.
• Hyperfocus (and Stake Out if you're bad a hitting great skillchecks) to increase the number of skillchecks you get.
• Toolbox with normal repair speed and max charges. You don't want repair speed or BNP addons, you want the 40% skillcheck chance while using Toolboxes as long as possible.
• Streetwise to give you longer on your toolbox.

The dice roll plays at the start of the performance. You can literally start playing and if you dont like the result of 2-10, you can just cancel it.

This perk is easy to get solid value out of. The only time it actually is weak is if you get a Nat 1 and scream… which can screw you over, but otherwise the perk is fine.

One thing that might be a good buff if it needs it though is have the cooldown reduced by 33% (60s) if the performance is cancelled, but buffing the repair numbers makes this perk rather overbearing.

I don't have the new characters so I have no idea what it even does 😅

It's a joke perk, you are lucky you are not getting sandbagged for using it.

You'd be better off spending this time just doing a gen and picking something more sensible for a perk. All gen perks for survivors in this game are complete garbage by design, because the devs need to meet that 60% kill quota.

Can you back this claim up with numbers rather than anecdotal evidence?

Let's check out the numbers:

Solo:

• Takes 15 seconds to cast, which is 16.7% worth of gen repair time (15 / 90); therefore
• You require 17/9/6 skill checks on a 1/2/3 performance roll to break even with casting the perk
• The average # of skill checks on a solo generator without modifiers is 6
  • The % chance of hitting more than 17 skill checks is at most 0.025%
  • The % chance of hitting more than 9 skill checks is at most 18%
  • The % chance of hitting more than 6 skill checks is at most 59%
• The highest # of skill checks you can realistically get with Hyperfocus + Stakeout is 12
  • Generators will generally be completed if you reach this point, which is why it's a maximum
  • I am not using the average here because it's too variable and hard for me to actually calculate personally. If I had to guess, you'd average around 8-10 skill checks per solo gen if you hit every Great skill check.
• The average # of skill checks on a solo generator using the absolute best Toolbox, Commodius + 20 charges + Streetwise, is 16
  • The % chance of hitting more than 17 skill checks is at most 46%
  • The % chance of hitting more than 9 skill checks is at most 99.3%
  • The % chance of hitting more than 6 skill checks is at most 99.98%

So in every scenario here, aside from using the best Toolbox in the game with Streetwise, you're not likely to even reach the break even thresholds for casting this perk, never mind getting any value from the perk. Even then, you need to roll an 11 or higher for that to be likely, which is only going to occur in half of your performances.

You may think 'Oh cool, I should obtain and run the best toolbox every game I use this then!' Well, aside from hoping you have an infinite number of them, keep in mind you also need Built to Last or Scavenger to use it more than once. Those perks will increase the preparation or 'cast' time before doing a generator from 15 to 30 seconds. That means the break even threshold of 17/9/6 just doubled to 34/18/12. Yeah, it's not likely to break even on time there even with the best toolbox in the game helping you.

But hey, one might argue the perk is not for solo - it's for duo and up, right? Let's see.

Duo:

• Takes 10.5 effective gen seconds to cast, which is 11.7% worth of gen repair time; therefore
  • This is lower because your partner is doing a gen without the penalty as you cast for 15s, whereas you'd get a -15% repair penalty if you just did the gen with them in that 15s. Because of that penalty, you take less effective gen repair time to cast the perk.
• You now require 12/6/4 skill checks on a 1/2/3 performance roll to break even with casting the perk
• The average # of total skill checks on a duo generator without modifiers is 7 (or about 3.5 skill checks each)
  • The % chance of hitting more than 12 skill checks is at most 5%
  • The % chance of hitting more than 6 skill checks is at most 72%
  • The % chance of hitting more than 3 skill checks is at most 97%
• The highest # of skill checks you alone can realistically get with Hyperfocus + Stakeout while duoing is ~6
  • Again, too tough for me to calculate due to how many variables are at play so this is just a guess. I based the guess on the fact that you have nearly have the time to a generator as a duo, and most of the skill checks would come later as Hyperfocus is stacked.
  • If we assume the other guy does not have this combo and they get 3.5 skill checks on average, the average # of skill checks for both of you combined is probably around 9.5
• The average # of skill checks one person using the absolute best Toolbox, Commodius + 20 charges + Streetwise, while duoing is… no clue!
  • I'll just say this is positive value across the board based on how well solo performed. Chances are you won't use the full toolbox on one generator, but that generator should go so fast you have enough time to run to another anyway and extend perk value that way.

Now you might think 'Hey, that's pretty good! As long as I roll an 11 or higher, I'm starting to churn out value!' (cough 50% chance cough)

Sure, and you know what? I'm sure you'll even get an even higher chance of value with 3 people. The caveats here are there are way more variables than just the raw numbers at play. Unless you're breaking a 3 gen, solo generators are basically always the ideal way to play, and we already established that the solo numbers suck. Why are solo generators preferable?

1. No repair penalty
2. Killer cannot pressure everyone to stop repairing if split up; whereas they can if grouped up
   1. This means less idle time waiting for the killer to leave or running around them to another generator for all involved
3. Gen regression perks only affect one generator at a time (aside from Surge and Ruin realistically)
   1. This means less people affected by the repair cooldown after a generator gets destroyed by a perk; and
   2. Can more efficiently repair the damage by gen regression since no one is inflicted with the repair penalty
4. The misguided 'feeling' that generators are going slowly (i.e. 90s instead of 53) also tends to aggravate killers less
   1. This is actually beneficial for survivors as it can decrease the likelihood of early tunneling and camping

So unless you specifically need to rush a generator with someone for whatever reason, it is typically best to always solo. But then, if you solo, Bardic is absolutely horrendous. Even if you duo a generator, there's still only really a 50% chance you get value from the perk based on your roll.

So this perk is basically only good if you roll over 10 (50% chance), have at least one other person hugging you at all times while the buff is active (not likely in a dynamic game), get the skill checks (which is RNG), and have a reason to duo the gen in the first place (breaking a 3-gen). That's all on top of not getting interrupted during your performance for whatever reason.

I'm honestly reminded of a Looney Tunes skit with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig talking about insurance, and how it's only valid if Porky gets specifically a black eye from a wild stampede of animals running through the house on a full moon on the 4th of July, followed by a little baby elephant running past afterwards.

And do you know what's worse? Even if the stars align, and you qualify for Daffy's Insurance policy (i.e. get max value with 3 people on 2 gens per cast with no killer around and you rolled a 20 on each cast), you still only get to really use it 2, maybe 3 times in a match to that efficiency. Not only that, but in this pretend world where the stars align and I'm being impossibly generous on its value, the perk is probably saving you ~45 seconds throughout the game. In contrast, Hyperfocus + Stakeout will save you that on a single solo generator and does not require Daffy's insurance.

—

The TLDR is that the perk is so highly conditional and niche that it's typically not worth running. Even if you can get value as a duo or even trio doing a gen, that's not likely nor even arguably efficient due to external variables. It's more consistent and typically even more beneficial to just solo gens, which this perk sucks at.

The only real exception is if you need to rush a generator, and do not mind wasting time preparing for that rush (in which case the perk is pretty decent). Even then though, that's only really likely in a 3-gen and that scenario isn't present every game.

I do not blame, and even encourage, people wanting to survive to just ignore the buff and do their own thing until a 3-gen arises.

the perk just revert an old nerf where skill-checks used to be 2% from 1%. these numbers only matter with extreme gen-stack perks builds which most of your teammates aren't running.

Yeah, there's a lot of nuance when it comes to both targeting specific generators, such as:

1. Do I know which generators are high-value?
   1. Maybe it's middle, maybe it's a 3 gen on a corner of swamp (2 being on dock), maybe it's around basement
   2. At this point, you might need another perk slot just to distinguish this since they're not always obvious
2. Does my team know which generators are high-value as well, so I can actually use Bardic?
3. Is it possible to do these high value generators or will the killer interfere?
   1. Are they camping their 3-gen, have discordance, etc?
4. When is it valuable to get these generators?
   1. Maybe you can't early because of the killer, and have to do it a bit later
5. Does my team know when we should do these high value generators?

In solo queue, just the idea of picking out the right gens and convincing others to join you is like a Daffy Duck insurance policy in itself. Especially true when people know the general rule is, typically, that soloing is more efficient, as it can be harder to convince them to join you. That's why I was very general in saying 3 gen scenario, as I feel it's only really obvious and easy to get people together near the end when it's already a problem. The perk then helps solve the problem, rather than prevent it.

Not that there isn't value in per-emptively targeting specific generators, I just can't see that happening in solo queue very often.

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You're right in being able to cancel the perk if you roll lower than 11, that can mitigate how useless it is on a low roll. I actually did this in my games when I was testing Bardic after awhile, since it's just too bad to keep otherwise, and it was absolutely the most efficient way to play it.

My major complaint with this is that it just does not feel good to know that you have to cancel your perk because it is bad and not have access to it for a long while. That feeling is compounded when you roll low on multiple casts. I just don't view it as good design to make a person actively regret taking and using something that, by nature, is supposed to be beneficial to the user.

Funny enough, I also grew to dislike high rolls because, after using it so often, it started feeling tedious and I actually became too impatient to wait out the entire 15 seconds lol. But that's a personal strife of mine.

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The SWF section is absolutely true. SWF makes everything better, and the effect itself is actually pretty good if you ignore the cast time offsetting it. Buffing its raw numbers would only make it overbearing in SWF if they actually plan it out and use the perk.

—

That said, I do think there is a way to buff the perk that makes it more meaningful in solo, improves the QoL of using the perk, and does not significantly buff duo, trio, nor SWF repairs.

I've been advocating for this awhile, but I really, really want to see the developers make the cast time dynamic and add a larger penalty for getting a 1 roll to offset the lower cast time. Basically, the following would are the changes I would like to see done to this perk (numbers pending):

1. Rolling a 1 now makes the lute play on its own for 30 seconds, revealing your location via audio within a 12m range
2. Mandatory cast time to keep buff when you roll between 2-10 is 5 seconds
3. Mandatory cast time to keep buff when you roll between 11-19 is 10 seconds
4. Mandatory cast time to keep buff when you roll 20 is 15 seconds

All of a sudden the skill check threshold to break even with casting on a solo generator is standardized at 6/6/6 for 1/2/3 performance rolls, but your gen rush speed still depends on how high you roll.

If you're curious about the break even thresholds for duo gens under the new cast time, it becomes 4/4/4 for 1/2/3 performance rolls, but your gen rush speed still depends on how high you roll.

So now the perk is more consistent over time, retains its usefulness in burst based on high rolls, is less tedious to use repeatedly thanks to lower mandatory cast times on lower rolls, can still be performed for 15s regardless of roll for memes, and has a bigger penalty on 1 rolls which is thematically relevant to the chapter. The numbers perk effect values don't change and so won't significantly impact SWF either.

You might think 'but the toolbox for solos gave ~16 skill checks, that's a lot of value!' True, but also recall to use it more than once requires Built to Last or Scavenger, which doubled the skill check thresholds. It would actually more than double the thresholds now since the cast time is lower relative to B2L/Scavenger's recharge time. The new break even thresholds with B2L/Scavenger and Bardic for uses after the first would be 19/14/10 for performance rolls of 1/2/3 respectively.

I honestly do not see a single downside to this change, and wish it was implemented so bad.

Trade em for Killer aura reading?

You dont know how it works either it seems like.

Btw guys, even if you use the perk alone, your mates will acutally benefit from it once you are within i think 16m range again.
Once you used the perk, you actually have a aura with the effect kinda like you were a boon yourself.
Go into custom game and try it yourself.

In fairness, it'd be thematically much better if the effect was just a buff that gets applied when the performance completes to anyone who was in range when the performance was completed.

I know this was how I thought it worked when I read it... and I think this is how most people initially assume it works.