Bard Curiosity

[Traderseven]

So i have a level 11 bard who currently twists 4 songs without a problem. My only problems are doing damage and staying alive. These both connect with my third and final problem, where to level. I'm currently in Blackburrow fending off the evil gnolls only to get their precious fangs. Turning in these fangs is becoming rather slow, and the gnolls themselves are not worth the xp just for killing them.

Where should i go to solo or group level? (List both possibilities?)

Where can i get a solid weapon? (I use a Scimitar, so 1HS is my main skill, but I'm willing to train 1HB as well.)

What is the cheapest way to get banded mail? (or something to that effect)

[Humwawa]

It's not uncommon for a guy to be a little bard curious during development. The issue usually resolves itself.

[Bubbles]

^^ lol.

But if you want real advice, do a quick /wave to the Qeynos area, Turn south, run as far and fast as you can, and never look back. You'll find plenty more to do toward Freeport & Fayder, and a much greater % of the player population to group/duo with.

Also, be glad your a class with the Selos and invis.. it's gonna make trekking through highpass much easier. Or at least hitting the Karanas and finding a druid to port you to civilization. :)

[Wenai]

^^ lol.

But if you want real advice, do a quick /wave to the Qeynos area, Turn south, run as far and fast as you can, and never look back. You'll find plenty more to do toward Freeport & Fayder, and a much greater % of the player population to group/duo with.

Also, be glad your a class with the Selos and invis.. it's gonna make trekking through highpass much easier. Or at least hitting the Karanas and finding a druid to port you to civilization. :)
I disagree :p For soloing (may not be relevant in this case)

1-10 Blackburrow
10-16 West Karana Bandits
16-24 East Karana random trash
24-34 South Karana random trash
34-XX Hill Giants in Rathe Mtns.

I say XX because it is basically whenever you get bored. When you get bored.. go do grouping in solb/guk etc.

This is much better than the Freeport area imo. Doing EC>NRO>Oasis .. will literally leave you so poor you cant even afford spells :p

[Noleafclover]

CB for "best exp"
befallen for theoretically better exp but even higher wipe percentage
nro/wc for easy/boring.

^^ that's for groupin. Soloin not too sure. Wenai's got a good point 'bout money though, I hear the karanas are better.

[Traderseven]

will literally leave you so poor you cant even afford spells :p

I have a similar problem. Still no weapon improvement answer =(

[Nightblade]

To quote some of the other, more well known bards of the era :

It depends on what you want to do. If you're playing beat-down with mobs instead of kiting them around, it works for a while, but tapers off as mobs begin to hit a lot harder than gear is able to keep up with. Generally once you at Selos, BBB, and Chords, you can practice kiting non-caster greenies until you get the hang of it, then move on to ones that really matter.

Fact is, bard DPS is crap, so weapons don't really matter (I frequently fight with a lute in hand anyways, and swap out for drums when necessary). Key point is to learn how to swap out your instruments for maximum efficiency with your songs, at the right time. Horn for BBB, guitar for chords, drums for selos, etc.

Twisting is easy. Twisting and kiting around a bunch of gnolls is when it becomes interesting. If you don't enjoy that, at some point you'll get charm, and then you'll have a whole new slew of opportunities to explore.

[Jete]

I disagree :p For soloing (may not be relevant in this case)

1-10 Blackburrow
10-16 West Karana Bandits
16-24 East Karana random trash
24-34 South Karana random trash
34-XX Hill Giants in Rathe Mtns.

I say XX because it is basically whenever you get bored. When you get bored.. go do grouping in solb/guk etc.

This is much better than the Freeport area imo. Doing EC>NRO>Oasis .. will literally leave you so poor you cant even afford spells :p

I approve this message.

[Tseng]

This one time, at bard camp...

[RKromwell]

I did all of 15, 16 and 17 on the island in Erud's Crossing solo. Made a nice wad of cash turning the GLS's into the Gypsy camp in North K.

[Traderseven]

This one time, at bard camp...

=D

[Jeice]

You can easily get a set of banded just by saving up a little money and buying it. Sometimes you will get lucky and people will just give you bronze instead of selling it, I would suggest finding a guild and they can probably help you out with things like this and would be easy to find a group and so forth. Soloing as a Bard does not come all to easy unless your well geared until the 30's when you start getting the helpful songs that allow you to swarm kite. If i were you I would suggest coming to Ecom area and binding in North Freeport. It tends to be easy to find a group when Wcom, Befallen, Nro and Oasis is so close, and you can also find a regen / dmg shield somewhat easy with everyone in the Ecom Tunnel system. As for a weapon, anything will do. If your still using a noobie sword there is a good chance you can just get one of those cheap bondage whips off someone for free or even buy a Jambiya which is good for you at low levels and tends to sell for under 50p.

[erasser]

I've got a bard question too.

At one time do you want to equip your instrument to play a song. Can you start the song, then equip the instrument and it will proc with the instrument potency boost? Or do you need to have it equipped before you cast the song? If you have to have it equipped, can you swap it out mid song to your melee weapon and still have the instrument potency boost?

[Extunarian]

I went from 10-14 quite quickly and made a grip of plat by killing the rabid grizzlies in Qeynos Hills. Not bad XP for the level, but the real XP and money comes from turning in rabid grizzly pelts to the cleric in the spaceship in north qeynos. The reward is a nice amount of xp, ~2pp, and a spell that can be sold to the nearby vendors for 2pp. The pelts are not lore so I would often fill up backpacks until I was too encumbered to fight, then go turn in for my 50pp and level.

[Swiftsong_Lorekeeper]

I've got a bard question too.

At one time do you want to equip your instrument to play a song. Can you start the song, then equip the instrument and it will proc with the instrument potency boost? Or do you need to have it equipped before you cast the song? If you have to have it equipped, can you swap it out mid song to your melee weapon and still have the instrument potency boost?

The appropriate intrument for the song being played has to be equipped when the song completes playing. So for instance, with selos you can equip the drum at any point during the "cast" but you absolutely have to have the drum equipped when the song completes playing in order to receive the percussion mod.

[Fryhole]

With the lower level DoT song, I noticed if you equip an instrument after you've cast (sung) it - it'll boost the next tick. If you remove it, the bonus won't last even if the song duration isn't over. However, if you have the instrument equipped right before the song casts, the bonus will last the duration of the ticks. *shrug*

[MeldrathRN]

My grandpa was a bard so that makes me a quarter bard.