Bard play video...of hands on keyboard???

[Gustoo]

Is there any good bard players out there willing to a show a video of their hands while maybe simultaneously showing video of what their character is doing?

I really like the bard concept but am not sure if I have what it takes to hit buttons so much.

Looking for someone of moderate to high skill to show some techniques on playing this class decently.

[Ennewi]

OnlyHands (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_fetishism)

[enjchanter]

literally all you have to do is make 4 macros

/stopsong
/cast 1

/stopsong
/cast 2

/stopsong
/cast 3

/stopsong
/cast 4

then physically press the numbers 1 2 3 4 on your keyboard

[Ennewi]

https://youtu.be/BniKoHRlMi0

[Cen]

If you play any other games, youll find that your keypresses on bard are still significantly less often and confusing then even standard rotations in MMO's or Action games.

I found bard just as relaxing to play as any class with 4 stopsong buttons setup.

[kjs86zskidoo]

just bind 1-4 to a steering wheel and go ham

[Saisu]

I found bard just as relaxing to play as any class with 4 stopsong buttons setup.

I do find I chat (type) a lot more in EQ than other MMOs. Definitely a difference during downtime of a bard twisting for a group vs say just sitting and meditating.

[hannahgrams]

part of the trouble with bard is that your keypresses are consistently timed and patterned. it follows a rhythm and the rhythm never really changes. that is, at least for me, what causes wrist trouble. like a repetitive stress injury. i can spam keys all day long and mash buttons so long as they are wild and inconsistent, but the repetition fucks my wrist up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6GDPmA4lyE

this is the best video of a bard on p99 that i've seen. as you can see he does much more than press 1,2,3,4. no hand cam tho.

bard is probably the most diverse small group control class p99 offers. other than enchanters, though i'd say half of their complexity is just their high risk.

[Gustoo]

Cen what do you think about Hannahgrams issue? That is more what I am thinking about, the repetitive stress injury aspect. I guess that is a personal choice. Seems like the best class in game if you can hack it.

[Saisu]

Playing a P99 Bard (with /stopsong bindings) has been fine on my hands. You basically have a 3sec global cooldown for songs; compare that with World of Warcraft where you're spamming keypresses on 1-1.5sec abilities and often use combinations with modifier keys to bind 16+ abilities.

I don't know if it helps, but I put my song keybinds on 1,2,3,4,Q,E,R,T. Easy to reach everything with one hand while staying at WASD for movement. Most of my twists follow a nice easy pattern like 1-2-3 or Q-E-4 which utilize multiple fingers.

Full disclaimer I play at most in ~3 hour time windows. If you're playing EQ like it's your job, results may vary. I'm only in my 30's so wrist injuries could be just around the corner for me haha.

[Gustoo]

Thanks for pro tips and advice. button mashing as mentioned is easier than repeated perfectly timed and rhythmed controlled presses.

[Videri]

I don't make macros and neither do I double-tap each song (stop/start). I just stop current song by pushing "1," then start next song by pushing "2." What if I want to play Song 1? Then I stop current song by pushing "2," then start next song by pushing "1." It's kind of a rolling motion. No idea why no one else has ever talked about this.

Twisting: 1...12...23...34...21...12...23...34...21...

But for real, someone should make a video of a bard's hands playing the bard. I'm not doing it soon...maybe someday.

[Twochain]

part of the trouble with bard is that your keypresses are consistently timed and patterned. it follows a rhythm and the rhythm never really changes. that is, at least for me, what causes wrist trouble. like a repetitive stress injury. i can spam keys all day long and mash buttons so long as they are wild and inconsistent, but the repetition fucks my wrist up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6GDPmA4lyE

this is the best video of a bard on p99 that i've seen. as you can see he does much more than press 1,2,3,4. no hand cam tho.

bard is probably the most diverse small group control class p99 offers. other than enchanters, though i'd say half of their complexity is just their high risk.

I have this specific issue with swarm kiting. I can time my dots pretty well, and land them even switching instruments at the same time. But 15 minutes into the kite my hand on my mouse starts getting cramped up from right click turning for so long, and I end up dying because of it.

SO, a video of someones hands while swarm kitting would be very interesting to me :eek:

[NoCatharsis]

I don't make macros and neither do I double-tap each song (stop/start). I just stop current song by pushing "1," then start next song by pushing "2." What if I want to play Song 1? Then I stop current song by pushing "2," then start next song by pushing "1." It's kind of a rolling motion. No idea why no one else has ever talked about this.

Twisting: 1...12...23...34...21...12...23...34...21...

But for real, someone should make a video of a bard's hands playing the bard. I'm not doing it soon...maybe someday.

This is effectively how I have played my bard from level 1, been playing since December 2019 and I'm level 53 now.

To expand on this setup - set all your key binds to 1 = song 1, 2 = song 2, etc. Then I just tap 1 to start song 1, then tap 2 to stop song 1 and press 2 again to start song 2. Basically the same, but to keep my brain on track, I stop the previous song with the next song I want to play so I don't forget.

Played groups for over a year up to level 50, and now almost 100% swarm kiting in BW. Look me up in game if you need help. Name is Principion.

[rubicaant]

Hold RMB and left or right in your keyboard to initiate a strafe, pickup right hand while still holding these buttons and press enter. Let go of buttons. You don't have to hold RMB anymore, welcome to strafe cruise control

[Tunabros]

1 2 3 4

and a lot of clicking

[enjchanter]

the maximum potential for playing bard is just pressing 1 button every 3 seconds, most of the time you wont even be playing more than 2 lol

[Videri]

This is effectively how I have played my bard from level 1, been playing since December 2019 and I'm level 53 now.

To expand on this setup - set all your key binds to 1 = song 1, 2 = song 2, etc. Then I just tap 1 to start song 1, then tap 2 to stop song 1 and press 2 again to start song 2. Basically the same, but to keep my brain on track, I stop the previous song with the next song I want to play so I don't forget.

Played groups for over a year up to level 50, and now almost 100% swarm kiting in BW. Look me up in game if you need help. Name is Principion.

This is what most bards do. I've heard it referred to as "double-tapping." My only critique of this is, it is faster to type "12" than it is type "22."

We've all seen bards argue about whether to double-tap or use /stopsong macros. I'm saying there's a third and better way, which is rolling. 12, let song 2 start, 23, let song 3 start, 34, let song 4 start, 21, let song 1 start, 12...

[Tigris67]

This is what most bards do. I've heard it referred to as "double-tapping." My only critique of this is, it is faster to type "12" than it is type "22."

We've all seen bards argue about whether to double-tap or use /stopsong macros. I'm saying there's a third and better way, which is rolling. 12, let song 2 start, 23, let song 3 start, 34, let song 4 start, 21, let song 1 start, 12...

Yurp. This is what I do. Tap my number keys to get all my songs off. I've never done the macro way but my fingers have also not developed carpel yet so we good I think.

Question, when people who macro have songs fail, how do they correct? When double tapping, I can just re-tap it instantly.

[Gustoo]

/stopsong macro doesn't negatively impact the re-click of the song. So you just reclick it.

[Wickedbane]

/stopsong
/cast 1

If you miss a note hit the button again. Works the same as the other mentioned double tab. Only issue I have with using the macro is I click it as the song finishes and sometimes the cast bar doesn’t display so I think it’s a missed note but in fact the song is casting. Messes me up sometimes.

If that does happen all your spell gems will be grayed out so that’s a clue in a way to know if your casting the song without the bar showing you it is.

Most times in groups I’m playing 3-4 songs so if I miss a note unless it’s really important I’ll just cycle back around.

[Jibartik]

OnlyHands (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_fetishism)

https://i.imgur.com/lBYwEDm.gif

this is a A+ pun

[applesauce25r624]

get an MMO mouse if you suck at using keyboard and fatfinger keys often. it's amazing

[System Shock]

get an MMO mouse if you suck at using keyboard and fatfinger keys often. it's amazing

This ^

https://i.imgur.com/Yps91uq.png

This leaves my left hand open to do movement keys only (forward and L / R strafe), right hand plays songs and moves mouse to turn the circle inward.

[Satinna]

If you use 6-8 hotkeys for the /stopsong /cast x macros, how do you setup additional buttons for things like mez & charm group messages, /attack, stopsong, GG invis ring, /assist etc? It used to be easy with 2 hotbar banks as Ayonic shows in the youtube video linked above. Are those on the other hotbar bank pages?

Someone help please. I'm really struggling with this.

[ScruffMacBuff]

I set up /stopsong /cast macros for gems 5-8 on the 1-4 buttons. Gems 5-8 are my primary songs that only require 1 button press where as 1-4 are my more situational songs which I will hit alt+1-4 to use.

[System Shock]

If you use 6-8 hotkeys for the /stopsong /cast x macros, how do you setup additional buttons for things like mez & charm group messages, /attack, stopsong, GG invis ring, /assist etc? It used to be easy with 2 hotbar banks as Ayonic shows in the youtube video linked above. Are those on the other hotbar bank pages?

Someone help please. I'm really struggling with this.

You make hot keys to swap to the 10 different hot button pages. Every individual page has it's own hot key to bring it up.

[Satinna]

You make hot keys to swap to the 10 different hot button pages. Every individual page has it's own hot key to bring it up.

Sounds like a good solution. I've been experimenting with using the 12 buttons on the Socials Page. Not as good as having a larger traditional hot button where you can drag inventory slots etc to it but it might help. Jury is still out on that one for me.

Would you be willing to share screenshots of your hot button pages? I'd love to see your setup especially since you use the mmo mouse. I'm a Razer Naga user here but I find the buttons too small and hard to locate when the action gets hot. My solution so far is to have both the keyboard key and the mapped Naga button perform the same function. The result for example is either the "1" key on the keyboard or the "1" on the Naga run the /stopsong /cast 1 macro. I really want to use the macro setup but don't want to lose 6-8 hot buttons. Your page swapping suggestion sounds like the solution if I can figure out how to switch there and back quickly.

[nostalgiaquest]

The other day in a hole group I was simultaneously chain pulling with SS helm eye of zom, cc'ing my own pulls, twisting in haste, replenishment, and slow, switching out lute and flute for harder mezzes, and even charming here and there as well. Filming my hands would have been hilarious. Felt like I was playing a piano. I turned that group into an efficient meat grinder of exp though. zero downtime.

I hate having to switch around hotbars, so here's what i do. I have all my songs on my hotbar 1-8. The bottom two slots (9,10) are my primary and secondary weapon. Then I keep a bag opened next to those hotkeys with all my instruments so I can easily swap out instruments and weapons easily using my mouse.

Depending on what i'm doing, i often times have both hands on the keyboard. WASD movement with my left hand, with easy access to hotkeys 1 (mez) 2, 3, 4 (mana/haste/slow), and tab for targeting. Right hand stays nears the numpad for higher hotkeys (7 charm, 8 ae slow for example), f9 if I need to change views and using the oldschool arrows for movement if twisting takes up too much of my left hand. Being able to move back and forth between twisting and moving with each hand, and the mouse for that matter, is a pretty key skill. After playing for a while you'll also start to feel the "rhythm" of your songs, for lack of a better term, so your hands will instinctively learn the timing between songs and move accordingly.

if your idea of playing a bard is just 1, 22, 33, 44, 11, etc. then you're probably a shitty bard.

[Cecily]

On my bard my strategy was to get a bunch of backpacks and camp at the Kelethin bank. I would log her on every once in awhile to get things to put in the backpacks and then log back out. Did this for a couple years and it worked great. No repetitive stress injuries or anything like people usually complain about.