low end bard itemization help please

[Roguedown]

So thanks to this wonderful community my bard is well on his way to become even greater then fansy the famous bard (http://www.notaddicted.com/fansythefamous.php). This being said, i am looking for some help on low end itemization. I dont remember any low end items anymore and i tend to get different expansions items mixed up since i payed up to luclin. Any help on what items i should keep an eye out for would be of great help :D

[Verityn]

This good news is that you can do without any gear until 50. My bard back in 1999 got to about 40 before he had anything but banded and two combine long swords. And even then my first loot was a Withering Staff for solb (how do I even remember that?).

Hopefully some other people will point out some specific items but it's my opinion that if you're grouping try to get some dex and AC gear with some charisma items. Or for flavor those kinda fun clicky/proc items that only casters and bards can use.

[Kraftwerk]

I would pick up this first:

http://wiki.project1999.org/Hand_Drum

Then go out and grab:

http://wiki.project1999.org/Lute

After that you should def snag:

http://wiki.project1999.org/Horn

And you're done. Congrats on rolling Bard, now go gather up all of SK or OT and enjoy the tears.

[Calibix]

Sinochae's partisan will cost you like 500pp tops. You can get a Crystalline short sword pretty cheap as well. If your looking to spend like 10k on weapons, get a Breath of Harmony and Guardian Mace.

Mistmoore drum and Gypsy loot will run you like 300pp for the pair, maybe.

If your going to AOE, get a McVaxius horn (like 6k?). Armor not all that important, you could probably snag a full lambent for about 2.5k.

Beyond that, things you find along the way more than enough. Bard not a very gear dependent class at all.

[Roguedown]

Sinochae's partisan will cost you like 500pp tops. You can get a Crystalline short sword pretty cheap as well. If your looking to spend like 10k on weapons, get a Breath of Harmony and Guardian Mace.

Mistmoore drum and Gypsy loot will run you like 300pp for the pair, maybe.

If your going to AOE, get a McVaxius horn (like 6k?). Armor not all that important, you could probably snag a full lambent for about 2.5k.

Beyond that, things you find along the way more than enough. Bard not a very gear dependent class at all.

is there a good horn for under 700p?

[Skope]

Unicorn horn.

Or did you mean brass? :P

[Robdukes]

I just wore whatever I could get my hands on until I was able to do the Lambent quests. It's fun and you'll have pride in your gear since you worked for it. Collect the items needed for the quests even after you've gotten that piece, once you get a bit higher in level you can go to EC and sell some of your pieces. Just run over to the bank, grab the quest items and get that piece again.

If you have fun doing this then I suggest also questing for Nostrolos Tambourine. I did the quest somewhere in my 20's and still use the the tambourine now at 54. Has a better modifier than mistmoore drums and actually looks like a tambourine in your hand.

As far as weapons there are some cheap bard only weapons. I used sainys claw, blade of fiery lamentations and sainys singing dagger for a bit then gave them away to lowbie bards since they're only around 100pp each. Until you can find something like this just grab a quick piercer and a slasher. I find its best to have really fast weapons because your swapping your instrument in and out and want to land as many hits as you can in between. Right now I mostly use Sionaches Partisan and Breath of Harmony but there are quite a few choices once you get higher in level.
Get some 55hp rings as soon as you can afford it. Even all decked out in armor we're squishy.

P.S. Don't only swarm kite. Do some grouping and some soloing other than swarming(fear-kiting, charm-killing etc.) so that you know how to play your class in different situations. Good luck young grasshopper :D

[Roguedown]

I just wore whatever I could get my hands on until I was able to do the Lambent quests. It's fun and you'll have pride in your gear since you worked for it. Collect the items needed for the quests even after you've gotten that piece, once you get a bit higher in level you can go to EC and sell some of your pieces. Just run over to the bank, grab the quest items and get that piece again.

If you have fun doing this then I suggest also questing for Nostrolos Tambourine. I did the quest somewhere in my 20's and still use the the tambourine now at 54. Has a better modifier than mistmoore drums and actually looks like a tambourine in your hand.

As far as weapons there are some cheap bard only weapons. I used sainys claw, blade of fiery lamentations and sainys singing dagger for a bit then gave them away to lowbie bards since they're only around 100pp each. Until you can find something like this just grab a quick piercer and a slasher. I find its best to have really fast weapons because your swapping your instrument in and out and want to land as many hits as you can in between. Right now I mostly use Sionaches Partisan and Breath of Harmony but there are quite a few choices once you get higher in level.
Get some 55hp rings as soon as you can afford it. Even all decked out in armor we're squishy.

P.S. Don't only swarm kite. Do some grouping and some soloing other than swarming(fear-kiting, charm-killing etc.) so that you know how to play your class in different situations. Good luck young grasshopper :D

thanks for the info i had planned on doing the lambet quest but i didnt know about the other one, ill have to look into it!

[astuce999]

Weapons have been covered, here's the rest of a list of being a bard on the cheap!

Ears - Opalline Earring
Fingers - Electrum Star Ruby Ring, Platinum Fire Wedding Ring
Neck - Cape of Midnight Mist, Gypsy Medallion, Aviak Charm
Head - Crested Helm, Executioners Hood
Face - Mask of Deception
Chest - Lambent Breastplate, Mithril Breastplate, Bronze BP
Arms - Mithril Vambraces, Lambent Vambraces
Back - Lizardscale Cloak
Waist - Troll-Hide Belt
Shoulders - Gilded Cloth, Crested Spaulders
Wrists - Hero Bracers, Serpentine Bracers
Legs - Drake-Hide Leggings, Silver-Plated Leggings
Hands - Elf-Hide Gloves
Feet - Kobold-Hide Boots, Dwarven Work Boots

[gprater]

I wonder who the first person playing a bard was that got the idea to AoE kite?

[Nalir]

P.S. Don't only swarm kite. Do some grouping and some soloing other than swarming(fear-kiting, charm-killing etc.) so that you know how to play your class in different situations. Good luck young grasshopper

Bards have always been a wibbly-wobbly class, completely broken, useless, overpowered, unnoticed, amazing and just a mana battery. However, we can be all of that at the same time, while running and looking good doing so!

Grouping is more fun for a bard from my experience than amazing soloing. To be honest, when I played I really sucked at AOE kiting (and didn't learn about it till halfway through career, and abhorred it even when it worked) and swarm-kiting was utilizing charm to force a group of social enemies to attack your pet, break charm just before it died, and finishing it off at a few % health with chants. This worked well in Velious and later PoP because of the large health pools of enemies, don't think this works well in Kunark.

But in groups bards can do so much more, but you need to get familiar with some other techniques, like tab-buffering your pet, using the toggle last two targets option all the time, timing charm as good as possible so you land your recharm on your pet right after charm breaks. This just takes practice. From My PVE experience a good understanding and execution of these techniques saved many hectic situations, preventing wipes, leading to group members saying things like, "wtf, stop dropping mana song, you suck", "why do you talk so weird, no need to hit enter after each 3 words, idiot", sometimes even "Nice healing, thought we were dead there".

Nowadays it should be even easier since you can have multiple hotbars instead of 1, or rather less stressful.

I just speak from past experience though, last time I played a bard since this week was 2001 or 2002...

[LiQuid]

Decided I wanted to try barding and AE kiting so I dusted off my EC mule and put him to work. He's got a full suit of Paineel steel (that he only had for the sake of looking like a badass in the tunnel lol) and a pair of 5/55 rings. Garbage weapons. Gypsy lute and just did Nostrolo Tambourine quest today for him. Couldn't possibly care about any other gear for him after going up 6 levels AE kiting in EK.

Forgot to even train Dual Wield until 3 levels after the fact. :D

Pity the group that recruits me after the AE xp dries up...

[webrunner5]

Pity the group that recruits me after the AE xp dries up...

Lol, thanks for the warning. :eek: