Advice for a bard

[dasdraco]

Hi,

I am a 45 bard and am looking for a few pointers on upgrades. I am currently wearing:

http://wiki.project1999.com/Magelo_Blue:Prester

I mostly group and frequently act as CC. No raids yet, but hoping that changes soon.

I only have about 5-6k to spend, and would appreciate advice on how to prioritize the following upgrades:

1. Resistance gear to be ready for raiding
2. Orb of Tishan
3. Breath of harmony
4. Mystic koada gear
5. Melodious Truncheon (for interrupts)
6. Fbss
7. Guardian mace
8. Save cash for later
9. Clickies
10. Other upgrades (ss bracer?)

I only need one more Ancient Coin (OT) for the nostrolo Tambourine, so I think I'll do that for now rather than saving all the money for a selos drum. If anyone has a spare OT coin, I'd love to hear from you!

I also wonder whether Mcvaxius horn is worth it since I mostly group.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Happy New Year.

Prester

Ps - please excuse any typos, as this was written on my phone

[zanderklocke]

My biased pick:

1. Finish your tambourine. It makes your selos faster and your resists better.
2. Breath of Harmony (once you hit 50)
3. Orb of tishan
4. Resistance gear (Bard resist songs already go a long way, but picking up some jewelry resist gear or getting stuff sooner rather than later if you plan to raid hardcore would be a good idea)
5. Mystic Koada gear (Nice dex and cha stats. I like a lot of it better than planar armor.)
6. FBSS (eh...bard DPS pretty negligible anyway, unless you plan on solo fear kiting with melee weapons this isn't super important.)
7. Guardians Mace
8. Melodious Truncheon (In theory, this is an awesome weapon because the proc is unresistable but there's also the chance of memblur which is not so good. This is more of a toy to keep around.)

If you are only grouping and not kiting, McVaxius horn not worth the investment. I bought it in low 50s after I stopped kiting just for the sake of having it, and I never used it once.

Saving cash is more of a personal opinion, so I'll give no comment on that.

[dasdraco]

Thanks for the advice! Following up, when twisting chants, did you switch to drum chants at 46, or do melee chants?

Thanks.

Prester

[falkun]

At 60 with nostrolo tambourine you'll need 105 unbuffed MR to cap. Pick up a BoH for the clicky for groups, or simply camp it once high enough level to do crypt. Stop spending money on bards, with the resist caps at 255 bards are even less gear dependent than they were before. If there was a class to play naked at 60, it'd be bard.

[zanderklocke]

At 60 with nostrolo tambourine you'll need 105 unbuffed MR to cap. Pick up a BoH for the clicky for groups, or simply camp it once high enough level to do crypt. Stop spending money on bards, with the resist caps at 255 bards are even less gear dependent than they were before. If there was a class to play naked at 60, it'd be bard.

I just realized that almost all your gear is no-drop. You do abide by that testament!

I, on the other hand, am a min-maxer and am a terrible person to ask about spending money on items.

[stakha]

Quick question regarding the Melodious Truncheon: do you just swap it in for every caster? By the way, I hope your surgery goes (went?) well, Zanderr.

[zanderklocke]

Quick question regarding the Melodious Truncheon: do you just swap it in for every caster? By the way, I hope your surgery goes (went?) well, Zanderr.

To be honest, the meldious truncheon tends to sit in my bag most of the time. I mean theoretically, I could just cast mez if I wanted to interrupt the caster. The interruption of casters with the proc would probably matter a lot more with higher level mobs that I couldn't land a mez on or raid targets.

[dasdraco]

That would be my plan, if I decide to go for one later on. I might look into whether the harmonic blade stun has a similar benefit for interrupta.

I am putting BoH and orb of tishan ahead of either on the wish list. As far as spending plat, I have no alts, and like playing my bard. Naked bard can AE great, but I like grouping.

[zanderklocke]

That would be my plan, if I decide to go for one later on. I might look into whether the harmonic blade stun has a similar benefit for interrupta.

I am putting BoH and orb of tishan ahead of either on the wish list. As far as spending plat, I have no alts, and like playing my bard. Naked bard can AE great, but I like grouping.

I think harmonic blade is resistable unlike the truncheon. While you can't mez a dragon, the truncheon will still interrupt their spell.

[dasdraco]

Excellent, thanks! These seem to be toys, so I'll probably hold off.

[Zombiehasslehoff]

Id still recommend getting resist gear, I know songs go a long way but you may not always be in a situation where you can get your drums out and get songs up right away.

Don't forget to pick up clickies, I recommend at least 2x ring of shadows and 2x leatherfoot caps so you can do recharges yourself or help others out. Also get some pots, hitting a sow pot before entering a dungeon is always nice, IvU pot is handy and a null pot is also good to have(greater null won't stack with songs). SS bracer is a toy mainly although the 15fr is nice, but I recommend getting some gaunts if you don't have them already.

I got to say I use my truncheons all the time, the memblur does happen but very rarely. Watch ec for a bit and you can get them for dirt cheap sometimes.

[Bristlebard]

This is only kind of on topic, but the actual bard mezzes can't mem blur, right? Only some procs?

[Zombiehasslehoff]

No they just give you a lot of aggro so be careful. Charm however will wipe aggro.

[falkun]

Charm however will wipe aggro.
The caster retains a very low amount of aggro, so a bard cannot mem blur completely like an enchanter. The mob will have aggro on the bard after charm breaks.

[dasdraco]

So if a charm a previously mezzed mob it won't hate me as much as a mob that is just mezzed? I may need to do some experimenting tonight.

[falkun]

Correct. That's why its preferable for the bard to break mez by charming and having the mob beat down on his buddy before the group's MA start's killing the mez/charm target.