Bard Melee

[Mayhem2]

Has anyone else noticed that bard melee damage seems to be way lower than it was on live?

Back in the day with personal haste song I used to do ok dps.

On project 1999 my damage is horrific. (yes all skills are all maxed) Misses seem to be extremely high.

[Sephrana]

Bard melee seems to be about as good as I Remember it being from live. at least at level 35. actually i miss less now than I did on live....

*shrug*

are you the same race? Did you put your points in the same places you did on live?

[Sharkeye]

Bitch slapping = bard melee. I learned that from a guy named Cleph

[astuce999]

bard melee has always been horrific until you spent about 750 AA's to make it better, then it just became mediocre.

This is why you had some amazaing ratio weapons available to bards only, or pally/bard only. Paladins can only wield one weapon, and bard melee sucks.

The only way to get "good dps" from a bard is to melee and twist instruments in for damage songs at the same time.

cheers!

[Mcbard]

I don't know what it was like on live, but not having double attack really makes us suck, which is expected!

[YendorLootmonkey]

You can kinda double attack if, while doing jazz hands or wtfever bards do, you twist your waist from left to right rapidly.

[Swish]

Bards want it all, the old phrase is still a good one... "jack of all trades, master of none".

Not tried a bard on P1999 but did have one pre-Kunark back in the day. Melee damage was always a struggle, you won't get near fairly well equipped rogues or monks if that's anything to go by.

[Savok]

My bard is in his 30's but if I want to kill something I'll log in my lvl 20 monk because its quicker.

[porigromus]

Is bard melee a viable option if also twisting? That is the way I would like to play a bard if it was possible. I don't enjoy being out of the fray or kiting.

[Swish]

If melee is your passion, I wouldn't roll a bard to attain it... far better to engage with a rogue or monk, or even a hybrid.

[Lazortag]

Is bard melee a viable option if also twisting? That is the way I would like to play a bard if it was possible. I don't enjoy being out of the fray or kiting.

Not sure about earlier levels, but at level 50 it's certainly more efficient to just use DOT's.

[Gorgetrapper]

Not sure about earlier levels, but at level 50 it's certainly more efficient to just use DOT's.

Yeah, twisting dots with a drum is more efficient. However, when epics are available, then of course twisting in the dots and meleeing will probably be more efficient.

[Lazortag]

Yeah, twisting dots with a drum is more efficient. However, when epics are available, then of course twisting in the dots and meleeing will probably be more efficient.

You can actually fit in all of your dots in the time it takes for them to wear off. Basically if you go: chant of flame, chant of frost, chords of cessation, curtailing chant, denon's disruptive discord, repeat, while switching instruments for all of those songs, you won't ever "drop" any.

I don't have any special lutes except the mistmoore one, but I have selo's drum and the vox horn, so here's the amount of damage I'd do:

Chant of Flame : 62 per tick
Chant of Frost : 62 per tick
Chords of Cessation : 56 per tick
Curtailing Chant : 40 per tick
DDD: 36 per tick

So once I get them going, I do 256 damage per tick (~43 DPS), assuming no resists. With just MM drums/Lute and a normal horn, I think a Bard would do 232 damage per tick (~39 DPS), also assuming no resists (it's kind of amazing how small the difference is). Obviously this isn't viable against planar mobs, or other higher leveled creatures, who have annoyingly high resist rates.

[Savok]

Bards really excel in a group. We can change to suit the groups needs and help every class there is be better. Any group who would not want a bard in it either doesn't know what a good bard is or suck at playing EQ.

Like we said above if you want to solo (with melee) then don't choose a bard.

[Gorgetrapper]

Bards really excel in a group. We can change to suit the groups needs and help every class there is be better. Any group who would not want a bard in it either doesn't know what a good bard is or suck at playing EQ.

Like we said above if you want to solo (with melee) then don't choose a bard.

Well you can always just snare/fear melee solo. But that's not very efficient.

[Mcbard]

Well you can always just snare/fear melee solo. But that's not very efficient.

Ya, even when I was fear kiting I was usually just using dots/snare/fear :)

[Wudan]

well bards suck as a class so no change there ... I have to say I hate bards. This class seem to attract idiot players - no offence to exceptions.

All I ever got from bard was crushbone train and stupid questions like: why do you care that I pull half of the zone and train everyone? I get decet exp so FO.

bards are useless ***. End of story.

[ownrage]

the only really broken thing i see with bards in p99 is their song aggro for snare/slow and mez. It shouldn't be as hard as it is now to get aggro off the bard and back on the tank as it is...

sorry to derail, but having played bard as main for as long as i did, I think bard melee is pretty dead on.