Rolling a bard

[zeferis40]

I just rolled a bard and so far I love playing it. But I was wondering if there were any veteran bards out there could give some tips and tricks to playing the class. Especially about twisting songs. Is their a macro I can set up or do I have to twist them manually. Any help would be appreciated cause I really want to play this class. Thanks.

[falkun]

no melody, so you can make a macro, but the good ones twist them manually.

Some bards double tap to sing songs (1 1, 2 2, 3 3, etc), but I made a macro for each song line 1: /stopsong line 2: /cast #. Also make a macro for just /stopsong in case you need to use a clicky or something.

[Kope]

You can setup a macro to sing 2 songs max if you want something like this:

/stopsong /cast 1
/pause (number) [I think it's something like 32 or 34 depending on your latency]
/stopsong /cast 2

However, using a macro like that you cannot maximize your utility as a bard. Attempting to weave 4 songs you will always get 1 falling off before you can land it again, and you can't change your songs mid weave depending on the situation.

Basically when it comes down to it, you can use macros and be a viable bard, but you're beter off just waving using the simple 1 song macros, you can get more of what you want that way:

Macro 1:
/stopsong
/cast 1

Macro 2:
/stopsong
/cast 2

Etc...

*edit* on the 2 song macro, you can put 2 commands on 1 line, but it might not be /stopsong and /cast, it might have to be /cast # /pause #

Just a disclaimer :D

[sbvera13]

I've always twisted manually, but I suppose the stop macro could be handy. Get the timing down and bind your hotkeys close. Basic twisting isn't that hard. Twisting in different CC's etc is tricky with changing targets. And instrument twisting is quite complex and kind of a lost art.

I have a weight-reducing bag I keep all my instruments and weapons in bound on my hotbar, and also my two hand slots. The windows are spaced so that the bag is right next to the bar. It takes some quick mouse work, but intrument twisting will often be more effective then melee thanks to the massive buffs you're giving to your group. The DoT damage you can get from this, once you get more then one and can stack, is also respectable. Once you hit lvl 18, CoD+DDD+Hymn, with instruments swapped in, is pretty epic for keeping your downtime to practically nothing and debuffing and dotting at same time. Swap in anthem (sadly it's singing), chant of battle, as appropriate for group. It gets even more epic as you get more songs; at low level you'll melee a lot but at higher lvl instruments become more useful imo.

[zeferis40]

Thanks for the info guys...Really helped me out a lot so far. This is my first time playing a bard and I am loving it.

[fischsemmel]

Be sure to check out the best thread in the forums: http://www.project1999.org/forums/showthread.php?t=62581