I Dream of Bard Buffs
Passive - General Tuning >Chimes no longer despawn > Start Chimes 3 > 5 > Small AoE 25 > 30 > Large AoE 65 > 60 > Passive damage growth flat 30 (From 25/35)
Q - Range Buff 500/450 > 600/500 > Changed to place the ability in line with other Support Q's at 1000 range on average cast. Currently when you cast Cosmic Binding you hit the first half at about 80% range (400 units) then the other half continues from that point (+450) giving the average cast a low range of 850 and a perfect cast a range of 950. Slightly buffing the Range causes the same 80% range hit to now reach (480 units + 500 units) for a average cast range of 980 units and a perfect cast to reach 1100. This means carries need to either dodge with an ability or sit at Caitlyn level auto range to avoid being stunned by the second half.
W - More Shrines with Rank / Bugfixes > Additional maximum shrines at rank 3 (4 total) and rank 5 (5 total) > Rank 3 max heal (600 + 2.4AP) From (450 + 1.8AP) >Rank 5 max heal (1150 + 3.0AP) From (690 +1.8AP) > Cleanup/Bugfixes on selfcast and direct cast on allies to heal for the proper amount; currently instead of a direct cast Bard places a pad directly underneath them that is pseudo instantly consumed. As a result it heals for slightly more then the base amount (about 10 hp more currently) and bard stops moving to cast, although the cease of movement may be intentional. A true solution would allow Bard to cast W without stopping but only when his movespeed is buffed by collecting chimes.
E - Bugfixes > Several parts of terrian can clip creating portals that don't go anywhere. Other times a portal will show an exit on one part of a wall but will randomly place you farther; IE the exit should place you on top of Gromp but you actually end up on the other side of the wall entirely. Additionally if Bard is knocked up upon immediately entering the portal he flies into the skybox and floats down much later randomly ending up on either side of the doorway.
R - Travel Time flattened, Impact Zone visible to allies upon cast > Currently Bard R has a cast time of 0.7 seconds and travel time of 0.3 to 1.3 seconds depending on how close/far he is in regard to where he is ulting. Cleaning up the cast time to 0.5 seconds and the travel time to a flat 1 second regardless of range makes the ability much more predictable. Additionally showing allies where it will land the moment you cast it lets them react to it, rather than just being surprised by it suddenly landing near or on top of them.
The goal of these changes is to generally make Bard feel more fluid to play. He has the possibility of starting laning phase with his slow, but gets his small AoE slightly later as a result. With chimes no longer despawning and the large AoE available at 60 chimes Bard is much more likely to have his passive properly scaled for the late game instead of having to choose between gathering the last 4 chimes to hit 65 or joining his team for a big group fight around baron. The buffs to Q and W make for a slightly stronger lane but leave the same weakness for champions like Zyra or Karma to exploit. Finally the changes to R make it less random and allow for Bards team to react to his ability on cast instead of being surprised when it suddenly lands.