So are Bard, Wizard, and Soldier worth it?

[King of Sorrow]

Beyond the new requirements making the UI kind of ugly for existing content (read: already unlocked some of the characters the 'old way' and the game doesn't acknowledge them as unlocked...yet they're still playable), I don't feel I'll get anything but the Bard through a battle of attrition. Other requirements are kind of bad for "basic characters".

5 playthroughs, and all I can get is 9/10 mana stars, and 3/4 infusions. I'm not lucky enough to even find a fourth. I get fire/ice/lightning and the run's over. I've either won or died. Is it worth the struggle? (Bonus: if Bard's supposed to make use of those instrument weapons, they're kind of bad...does he make them good?)

Thanks if answered!

[Myno]

Originally posted by Vegapunk-Σ:

and 3/4 infusions. I'm not lucky enough to even find a fourth. I get fire/ice/lightning and the run's over

Pick the poison jar in the Gifts menu.

[Rezyn]

As Myno said, the trick for an RNG-less Mystic unlock is the Poison Jar gift. The only other way is praying for a (VERY RARE) Holy Water in some random shop, which is expensive and super unlikely. I've probably only seen around 5-8 of them over 200 hours.

Mana stars is probably left for Sorcerer as you start with 3 mana due to the charm, and a petrified mana star is all but guaranteed at least once during the run. [i.imgur.com]

The Bard is like what, 5 runs of tavern going?

And finally Soldier I think is just an interesting challenge to make people try out weapons that normally get replaced very fast. I'd bet on just playing your favourite class, otherwise just use Wizard that you unlocked before and you'll most likely be fine power wise.

[Dlanor]

Since nobody else mentioned it Bard has nothing to do with Instruments really, he starts with one but his gimmicks around around money and gaining random buffs in the form of songs. He starts with some INT+DEX which several instruments want, but he has no extra buff for using instruments.
The unlocks are kinda puzzley, they're going to take getting very lucky if you don't understanding the mechanics and realize things like "oh I need 4 infusions but there's only 3 commons, guess I should take the poison starting gift". Because yeah there's only 5 infusion types, but poison and holy are super rare outside of poison being a gift option.
As for if it's worth it, that's on if you enjoy playing the game, but I would call especially Bard and Mystic fun characters that feel different than most others. If you kept playing even without going out of the way to unlock them, eventually it would happen by chance. It seems especially RNG heavy because you already have the earlier content done and are only looking at these new goals, for newer players in the future these are characters that they might unlock just randomly because if someone does 3 or 4 sorcerer runs when they first unlock that character, there's a good chance they happen to get 10 mana stars on one of those runs even without realizing it was a goal to achieve.

[Ame-kun]

there are some very strong uncommon weapons that can carry you through at least a Death run. just gotta find the good ones!

[FakeKraid]

The Wizard is the only really awful one, extremely unlikely RNG hell stuff. For the 4 infusions, start with the Poison Jar gift, that gives you a fourth guaranteed, just gotta get the three basic ones. Otherwise you're stuck trying for the ultra-rare Holy Water