Best noob bard weapon

[Rpeter88]

Just started a Bard as my first guy on p99. I've got about 100 platinum to my name. What kind of weapon should I go for?

[ScaringChildren]

Sionachie's Partisan is decent for the price - 100p (http://wiki.project1999.com/Sionachie%27s_Partisan)

Sainy's Claw is also half the price of that. (http://wiki.project1999.com/Sainy%27s_Claw)

I'd imagine some people will recommend that you invest in instruments over weapons.

[Rpeter88]

Awesome, thanks!

[Rodeojones1979]

Store bought instruments , kite to 60 naked, join AM, gear up.

I could not disagree with this more. If you do this you be stunted in a number of ways: skill points, actually playing skill, and experience playing the game. A Bard is not supposed to be rushed. A Bard is supposed to experience as many aspects of the game as possible; various zones, strategies, activities, and song combinations. To be a good bard you have to fulfill the “jack of all trades, master of most” trope. Otherwise you will fill the “plays mana and AFK’s” trope and you’ll be reviled.

A bard is supposed to experience all these things and live to tell the tale. You will be tasked with leading groups, taking charge, making split-second decisions, providing comic relief, and entertaining your group in down time.

Don’t rush this game! In many ways level 60 is the most boring part. Enjoy your time as a lowliest, make lots of friends, and most importantly, make memories to sing about.

As for you initial question, I used a Polished Granite Tomahawk from level 5 - 35! (That was pe Kunark though).

Enjoy!

[fastboy21]

Just started a Bard as my first guy on p99. I've got about 100 platinum to my name. What kind of weapon should I go for?

If you are planning on melee'ing then the PGT mentioned above is a very good low price twinky proc weapon.

If you had some plat to burn there are some good lvl 1 proc weps that you could buy that make the low lvls much easier, but they are all much more than 100pp.

It honestly won't matter much though...by the time you could find the weapon you're looking for you could have level'd up and bought more useful stuff. Bard melee dps is horrid, 90% or more of your utility is through your songs which means you need a good drum and lute.

Bard is one of my favorite classes because (aside from some twinking and fashion quest) your effectiveness is really about playing the right way, and not about your gear. Right song line ups, twisting beneficial and detrimental songs, kiting, etc. The difference between good bards and bad bards is all about how they play.

[Rpeter88]

Thank you all for your feedback! I was able to pick up a Sionachie's Partisan as well as Sainy's Claw, both for 120pp.

I just hit level 18, and am going to attempt swarm kiting... maybe! It's a little intimidating! I'm sure there will be a lot of deaths involved, but once I figure it out it should be awesome!

[Legidias]

Start with 1 mob to get spacing right, then move up to like 3-6 so even if you get hit you can live, then go up to 20+

[kruptcy]

If this is your first character, don't swarm. Learn to play so you don't subject the server to another 50+ bard with no idea how to perform his duties. <3

[beargryllz]

Use a drum. Run fast. Play songs.

[Tethler]

Make sure you get a bit of buffer into 18 first. You may die a few times getting into your groove and you don't want to lose access to the 18 dot. It's gonna feel real fun at first once you get it down, then it's gonna feel real boring. My bard has been sitting at level 30 and stripped for 2 years now. =p

[XeroKill]

Swarm or no swarm, it doesn't matter. A good player will take the time to learn their class regardless of how quickly they level up. One of the best bards I have ever known swarmed to 60 in less than a month and never grouped once. Granted, he is already an EQ veteran both from Live and P99, but that would have made little difference because he is a skilled player and learns whatever class / game he plays.

Scrubs are scrubs, no matter how long they take to get to 60. Bard is just the only class that makes it easier for scrubs to actually get to 60 and being 60 is not an indication of competence... only patience.

[Muggens]

Rasmus, the best bard back in the day on live would tell u that swarm kiting is ur best weapon.

[fastboy21]

Swarm or no swarm, it doesn't matter. A good player will take the time to learn their class regardless of how quickly they level up. One of the best bards I have ever known swarmed to 60 in less than a month and never grouped once. Granted, he is already an EQ veteran both from Live and P99, but that would have made little difference because he is a skilled player and learns whatever class / game he plays.

Scrubs are scrubs, no matter how long they take to get to 60. Bard is just the only class that makes it easier for scrubs to actually get to 60 and being 60 is not an indication of competence... only patience.

Swarm kiting isn't easy to learn and certainly isn't easy to do well.

Bard is the only class that makes it easier for scrubs? Not my experience. Most of the solo classes have an easy mode solo path...my necro, shaman, and chanter were all WAY easier to lvl to 60 solo than my bard. Not even close to be honest.

[Legidias]

I think he's confused with fast vs easy

[XeroKill]

Not confused at all... swarming is stupid simple. I think you guys are confusing a small margin for error with difficult.

Collect mobs (easily the hardest part)
Round em up into a ball
Run in circle
Dot
????
XP

Once you have juked your way through the pull, picking out the mobs you want to kite, it is as easy as running in a circle and if you are half way competent the only things that will get you killed are boredom, cpu hiccups, and/or terrain glitches. Hell, I even mapped it to an XBox controller once just for gits and shiggles... actually made the whole thing a lot more comfortable, but a lot more sketchy in tight areas. Even with a switch to an entirely new control scheme and a loss of fine character control I was able to flawlessly kite 10 or so packs between FV and DL.

TL;DR Tedious =/= Difficult

[Legidias]

A small margin for error basically defines difficult...

[XeroKill]

Yea... that was the joke.

[fastboy21]

So...it is tedious, but not difficult? it has a small margin of error, but isn't difficult?

I don't think you know what difficult means...by any objective measure of play Bard swarm kiting is equal or more difficult than any other exp solo tactic in EQ for any other of the "solo" classes.

If you are saying that EQ is easy, well okay I guess...that is somewhat true compared to other games, but it really has nothing to do with Bard.

PS. Programming your XBox controller to run in a circle? Really. That's evidence of cheating, not evidence of easy.

[Zipity]

Once you hit lvl 54 swarming does become very easy tbh

[Ravager]

Invest in a bottle of scotch. Pushing all those buttons requires it.

[XeroKill]

So...it is tedious, but not difficult? it has a small margin of error, but isn't difficult?

I don't think you know what difficult means...by any objective measure of play Bard swarm kiting is equal or more difficult than any other exp solo tactic in EQ for any other of the "solo" classes.

If you are saying that EQ is easy, well okay I guess...that is somewhat true compared to other games, but it really has nothing to do with Bard.

PS. Programming your XBox controller to run in a circle? Really. That's evidence of cheating, not evidence of easy.

You really are quite daft. Especially if you think swarm kiting is actually difficult. The line about a small margin of error was sarcasm. I know it can be hard to detect in text, but the line was so contradictory as to be self evident. At least to a 3rd grader.

But to be more specific, a small margin for error is not, in and of itself, commensurate with difficulty. If what you are required to do in order to stay within said margin is exceedingly simple like... let's say, running in a circle, then the small margin for error is not analogous to difficulty.

Mapping an XBox controller is not cheating either... where did you ever get this idea? Is mapping a gamepad cheating? Is mapping a multi-button mouse cheating? Is mapping a joystick cheating? An XBox controller is just an input device, like any other.

But you guys keep stroking your egos about holding 3 buttons for a period of time... I am sure it looks great on your resume.

[fastboy21]

Mapping an XBox controller is not cheating either... where did you ever get this idea? Is mapping a gamepad cheating? Is mapping a multi-button mouse cheating? Is mapping a joystick cheating? An XBox controller is just an input device, like any other.


Using a programmable keyboard/mouse/gamepad to automate game play is most certainly against the rules. How they could catch you or what they would do is a different story, but it most certainly not allowed.

But, I'm daft...what would I know about the rules on p99...

[this user was banned]

A jade mace served me well for quite a while, but it's a bit pricey if you are new.

[LethClaypool]

Sionachie's Parisan is nice. There's also a shard dagger that drops from Velks that's usually cheap. It procs a mini nuke at level 1.