I finally decided to give this a try but ....

[Vacid]

I did some research and I really want to play a bard but I have seen Youtube videos and read that Bards are hated on Project 1999. Should I consider playing something else or is this not true?

[Egilmn]

It is not true.

[Vacid]

Thank you for the reply.

[Tenlaar]

People don't like bad bards just like they don't like bad players of other classes. But as I understand the swarming has been nerfed so that bards can't take run around taking a hundred mobs at a time from other people, I'm guessing most of that hatred is fading away.

[kgallowaypa]

Bards are not hated, just known a lot for kiting and zone disruption. Some of the best p99 players are bards and can do almost anything and are an excellent group asset. I love my bard and it think it would be a great class for you to try; nothing like zipping off with selos! the time it takes to travel in classic eq is really a burnout factor without sow.

[Videri]

Bards are fun to combo with many other classes. I remember one early group with a warrior, rogue, and monk in Mistmoore. I turned on haste, strength, AC, and regen and they tore up vampires like a garlic press. Another time, I rounded up a horde of giants and ensnared them and dragged them over AEing wizards. Boom. And one of my favorite times was pulling in Karnor's Castle, racing around luring monster after monster to their doom. Lull one, snare one, bring two more, charm one on arrival, mesmerize the snared one, hit a tick of mana song...man. Bards are limited only by the imagination!

[Vacid]

Thank you all so much for replying. Also I am not quite sure how to tell if a weapon is an upgrade or not. would a 6/42 be better than a 4/29?

[Vacid]

Bards are fun to combo with many other classes. I remember one early group with a warrior, rogue, and monk in Mistmoore. I turned on haste, strength, AC, and regen and they tore up vampires like a garlic press. Another time, I rounded up a horde of giants and ensnared them and dragged them over AEing wizards. Boom. And one of my favorite times was pulling in Karnor's Castle, racing around luring monster after monster to their doom. Lull one, snare one, bring two more, charm one on arrival, mesmerize the snared one, hit a tick of mana song...man. Bards are limited only by the imagination!

This is what really makes me want to play a Bard. They just seem like there is never a dull moment.

[Tenlaar]

Thank you all so much for replying. Also I am not quite sure how to tell if a weapon is an upgrade or not. would a 6/42 be better than a 4/29?

If you promise you'll gear for HP/resists and tank in groups with your bard I'll buy you a good starting weapon!

[Vacid]

If you promise you'll gear for HP/resists and tank in groups with your bard I'll buy you a good starting weapon!

Lol I promise, I don't need the weapon though. Thank you very much :)

[Ursus]

Thank you all so much for replying. Also I am not quite sure how to tell if a weapon is an upgrade or not. would a 6/42 be better than a 4/29?

Divide the damage by the delay. The higher number is the better weapon.

So 6/42 = .14285
And 4/29 = .13793

So the 6/42 is the higher DPS weapon, though only by a very small change. Also being a much slower weapon, when you're low and you tend to miss more often, it may actually lose more DPS than that small stat increase would account for.

[RDawg816]

Bard tanking is fun. :D

As for weapons, grab a calculator. Divide the damage by the delay. The higher the result, the better.... So a 6/42 is slightly better than a 4/29. Slower weapons are known to be spiky though. A few misses in a row can really hurt you. A few hits in a row can really hurt them. :)

I'd probably stick with a faster weapon for now though.

[derpcake]

I was nr 1 bard on magelo on live for a while, wouldn't roll a bard on p1999

soloing on p1999 is a lot worse then on live and not classic at all, the two biggest methods don't work

- swarm kite was nerfed
- the "pull 5 mobs on same faction, charm 1 and let it get beat down by the other 4, break charm at 5% and chant mob down" method doesn't work on p1999 either, as the pet generates too little aggro to draw the attention of the npc's it isn't attacking, even if you used prox agro to gather them up

bards scale badly with gear

- the gear available in this era for bards is weak. It doesn't matter how much ntov gear you stack on a bard, its never going to come close to being a decent tank or respectable melee dps. Epic contributes to this issue, since you want the focus effect but at high end velious you don't want the bad ratio.

No luclin also means no fading memories, which means no way to clear agro during a pull, which will always make monks the preferred class in high end settings.

end-game PoP I started working on soloing trakanon, think I didn't manage until after GoD launch but its been a long time .. imagine a lvl 65 bard (no mercenary or fancy potions) soloing trakanon, compare that to the solo power of a 60 bard here .. kind of depressing :)

tl;dr: bards suck on p1999 and there isn't much classic about it

[Vacid]

I was nr 1 bard on magelo on live for a while, wouldn't roll a bard on p1999

soloing on p1999 is a lot worse then on live and not classic at all, the two biggest methods don't work

- swarm kite was nerfed
- the "pull 5 mobs on same faction, charm 1 and let it get beat down by the other 4, break charm at 5% and chant mob down" method doesn't work on p1999 either, as the pet generates too little aggro to draw the attention of the npc's it isn't attacking, even if you used prox agro to gather them up

bards scale badly with gear

- the gear available in this era for bards is weak. It doesn't matter how much ntov gear you stack on a bard, its never going to come close to being a decent tank or respectable melee dps. Epic contributes to this issue, since you want the focus effect but at high end velious you don't want the bad ratio.

No luclin also means no fading memories, which means no way to clear agro during a pull, which will always make monks the preferred class in high end settings.

end-game PoP I started working on soloing trakanon, think I didn't manage until after GoD launch but its been a long time .. imagine a lvl 65 bard (no mercenary or fancy potions) soloing trakanon, compare that to the solo power of a 60 bard here .. kind of depressing :)

tl;dr: bards suck on p1999 and there isn't much classic about it

Well that's a bummer, the other class I was considering was a Ranger but I hear they aren't all that either. I really don't know what to do lol.

[RDawg816]

If you want to bard, even a little, do it. It's the most unique class in any MMO.

You can solo numerous ways. More than any other class.

You get new song(s) every level. Each level has the potential to change your playstyle and you adapt as you level.

You can fill any roll in groups. Pull, CC, dps (very respectable if you add up all that they bring - charm, dots, buffs, mana...), tank, off-tank, healer, slow, haste, etc.

I think a group bard is awesome. If you can, find people with similar play times. If not, you can easily solo while lfg.

[derpcake]

Well that's a bummer, the other class I was considering was a Ranger but I hear they aren't all that either. I really don't know what to do lol.

try some classes until you find what you like

maybe you'll play here for years, a few days to find out what char to start on isn't going to hurt :)

my top 3; in no particular order:

- shaman: strong in solo & group settings, desired on raids but buffing can get bothersome, easy epic, decent dps for a priest, scales pretty well with velious gear though dps doesn't follow accordingly
- monk: moderate solo, strong in groups, desired on raids, easy to play as a dps and challenging as key puller, scales extremely well with gear and velious
- rogue: weak solo, very strong in a good group, very desired on raids, easy to play, good and easy epic, scales well with velious gear though never manages to tank at monk level

[SDWV]

Don't let jaded folks sway your decision making. Play the class and see if you like it. The early levels of this game are easy and you will level up quickly. The real test is after level 20. That is when you will truly know if the class is right for you. If its not meant to be and you still enjoy the game, pass your gear on to a new character and try again.

[Vacid]

I really appreciate the feedback everyone, I'll just try bard and ranger.