Newb Bard

[Nuncio]

So I'm a newb at playing a bard, never had before.

I've been trying to kite, and I just don't get it. My ae dot doesn't do anything, because I'm too fast with selos to hit em with it, they are always just out of range. If I turn around backwards to run to be slow enough, they then hit me.

Tips, pls.

[quido]

What level are you? The level 2 AE has an extremely short range, but the level 18 AE has like double the range - makes it a lot easier.

I like to just tag stuff with drum+selos and then to kill it I do selos without drum and instead just keep up whatever instrument applies to whatever AE song you're using. A lot of people run small circles to stay close to their pulls, but I personally like to just run around in an open/flat field and intermittently joust close to the pack and hit em with the AE.

[Nuncio]

Only level 15. Ill keep leveling the same way I have until 18, then. Appreciate the help!

[abazaba]

IIRC lvl 18 AOE dot is 35 range and lvl 2 AOE dot is 30 range. If you are just starting to learn bard AE, those 5 units make a world of difference. At 15 selo's does 30% run speed(sleo's=15+lvl .. 65% max) without a drum which is plenty fast. If you are mouse turning, being only slightly faster than mobs works best because: low speed = larger circles = less mouse movement = less mouse stutter/jump when someone enters the zone. At higher lvls you can hit walk and selo's to get the right speed.

For mouse turning:
Lets say you want to turn left for the circle. Hold Rmouse button, hold W and D, tap T(hotkey for /tell), release W and D. This locks down strafe running and lets you twist easily.

Make sure you have good connection (not wireless) with low ping. If you have >=4gig ram, make a ramdisk with the trimmed down EQ folder http://www.project1999.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7186.

Good luck and try not to hog all the mobs ;)

[Nuncio]

I don't think I'll need to make a ramdisk for it, though I could. Pretty sure my video card has enough RAM to hold an entire zones models and textures many times over.
I average about 58ms ping to p99red, is that good enough?

I will give your tips a try soon, thanks guys.

[abazaba]

58ms will be fine for it. The ramdisk is mainly eliminating any unaccounted for lag due to disk read/writes. If you are running EQ from a SSD then a ramdisk probably isn't needed. Mob reach is unforgiving, so every advantage helps.

[Trinidy]

Dont feel too bad about not being able to kite. I have been trying to kite from lvl 10, im lvl 18 now and still cannot figure it out. My circles are either to small or to big, and I end up dying. After de leveling 3 times i just figured im not cut out to aoe kite. ill just wait until i can charm.

[Lazortag]

You don't need selo's to ae kite (except maybe for gathering the mobs in the first place), you can just strafe run. It's a lot less tiring.

[Froglok]

Practice more

Try to recognize landmarks you run near to gauge the correct circle size for running

If you zoom out all the way and angle the camera to look down from above you, maybe 45 degrees off level, while circling left you should just barely see the names/bodies of the kite targets to know they are in range of the dot.

Listen to the walking sound, sometimes you can tell if they are getting too close by how loud the footsteps are, try using headphones to hear it precisely. I've died many times and just know when I hear the certain sound level, I'm about to get hit and hit the jump button to get that slight distance.

This has served me well in my attempts using the lv 2 dot while kiting around at lv 9-10, then I just said fuck it and went to crushbone and powered through lv 15 in groups. I imagine it's a hell of a lot easier with the lv18 dot and plan on going back to aoe kiting then.

[zanderklocke]

As weird as this sounds, the best way for me to tell how close I was to my mobs in my circle when I was scrolled out from first person mode via mouse was to look straight down at the ground from above so I could only see my character and the ground. This seemed to cut back on lag, and I could usually see mobs just in the corner of my computer screen. Once I saw the mobs in the corner of my computer screen, I knew I was close enough in range to hit them with the AE dot.* I just twisted selo's and dot over and over, and I only kept drum equipped when gathering mobs, otherwise always the horn.

I'm only able to AE kite in a counter clockwise circle (I'm like Zoolander and can't turn left.). Once you figure out what works best for you, just keep repeating. I think kiting with mouse works best, but your wrist will get sore. Practice with like 1 or 2 mobs, so you can take a hit and recover.

You'll get it eventually.

*Note: Using this method meant I could not see what was in front of me in the direction I was running. Therefore, I had to find a spot I knew well that did not have roaming mobs. Most zones that can be kited have spots that no mobs wander through; find these spots.

[sanforce]

Pro tip: Bind forward and one of the turn keys to a spare key on your keyboard. When you hold it down, hit enter, and you"ll start auto strafe running. Then zoom out all the way, and run circles away from the turn direction you used. If you bind forward and right, make left turns. You can both hear the relative closeness of your train and see it appear before you start your dots.

I went from level 1-45 in less than a week (real time, not played) using this strategy, solo. You"ll die a bunch learning it, but once you do - its ooh so sweet. I learned at level three in NRo, probably died 20 times before I figured everything out.

At higher levels, just find a Druid, shaman, or bard to be low HP bait.

[Droog007]

Might try the double key binding... I wonder if it will cure the odd phenomenon of not being able to use number keys above 4 for twisting songs while strafe running...

[chtulu]

anyone know wtf is up with low hp aggro with your partner and it not working sometimes? my partner is 54 and im 18 trying to kite in SK and they heal me to gain aggro and it didn't work. anyone know for a FACT that it's because my buddy was too high lvl?

[Duckforceone]

low hp aggro, is really really really tough to get through.. so if you are low, they will stick on you... now if you had a high lvl bard aoe slow.... then you couldn't peel them off of him... :D

[Brexx]

Tried low health aggro with my shaman buddy using canni to stay below 20% and it wasn't working that well. Anyone know a good way for the mobs to stick to the shaman, like what spells he should use? He's lvl 25 shaman and I'm lvl 30 bard

Thanks

[OriginalQin]

Pro tip: Bind forward and one of the turn keys to a spare key on your keyboard. When you hold it down, hit enter, and you"ll start auto strafe running. Then zoom out all the way, and run circles away from the turn direction you used. If you bind forward and right, make left turns. You can both hear the relative closeness of your train and see it appear before you start your dots.

I went from level 1-45 in less than a week (real time, not played) using this strategy, solo. You"ll die a bunch learning it, but once you do - its ooh so sweet. I learned at level three in NRo, probably died 20 times before I figured everything out.

That's an awesome tip above. As far as dying while practicing, if you're totally new at aoe kiting, I recommend practicing on greenies until you get a feel for it.

[Mooka]

Pro tip: Bind forward and one of the turn keys to a spare key on your keyboard. When you hold it down, hit enter, and you"ll start auto strafe running. Then zoom out all the way, and run circles away from the turn direction you used. If you bind forward and right, make left turns. You can both hear the relative closeness of your train and see it appear before you start your dots.

I went from level 1-45 in less than a week (real time, not played) using this strategy, solo. You"ll die a bunch learning it, but once you do - its ooh so sweet. I learned at level three in NRo, probably died 20 times before I figured everything out.

At higher levels, just find a Druid, shaman, or bard to be low HP bait.

I've been trying this double binding thing, binding the alternative for 'Move Forward' and 'Move Right' to the tilde key, holding it, pressing enter twice, then hitting 'A' (move left), and the act of hitting A seems to cancel out the auto-move forward/right. I've also tried binding 'Move Forward' and 'Strafe Right' instead of 'Move Right', and it does the same thing.

I do have 'A' bound to Hotbar 2 Button 1 (the newb pro-tip of increasing your sense heading when you move), would that have anything to do with it? I wouldn't think so (I'm at work now, but just thought of it). I also play in windowed mode, would that screw up key bindings that allow this tip to work? I understand the idea of what is supposed to happen, but can't figure out why turning after the auto-run cancels everything else out.

Thanks all!

[Goosefabba]

yea, i moved to OT at 31 and the mobs hit so much harder than old world mobs, i have the circling down. and the distance. i just run into little lag spikes as im making small circles that get me turned around and raped. ordered a SSD so hopfully that will help. or i dont know if ill be able to ae kite with all the fucking zoning and little lag spikes.

[Wankertank]

I've been trying this double binding thing, binding the alternative for 'Move Forward' and 'Move Right' to the tilde key, holding it, pressing enter twice, then hitting 'A' (move left), and the act of hitting A seems to cancel out the auto-move forward/right. I've also tried binding 'Move Forward' and 'Strafe Right' instead of 'Move Right', and it does the same thing.

I do have 'A' bound to Hotbar 2 Button 1 (the newb pro-tip of increasing your sense heading when you move), would that have anything to do with it? I wouldn't think so (I'm at work now, but just thought of it). I also play in windowed mode, would that screw up key bindings that allow this tip to work? I understand the idea of what is supposed to happen, but can't figure out why turning after the auto-run cancels everything else out.

Thanks all!

I've never actually gotten it work either...the only way to have it not 'cancel' is to use mouse look to move around. I actually prefer holding down the key the whole time (I bound it to f) and then i use the mouse to steer in small circles. Note I do this without any speed enhancements, and in zoomed out chase view. It actually lets me get the level 2 DoT off all the time and if you're careful about it you won't ever get hit.

[Coan]

Strafing at lower levels, tap turning circles when you get selos. Pretty tivial once you get the hang of it. Tap F9 twice, zoom out and change your perspective up/down to your preference.

Never really tried the other methods, but tapping circles was very easy to learn do once you get a rhythm going.

[Silent]

I have been using a combo of brusco bellow and level 2 AE with sow, it works fine i can do 3 mobs but it takes an extremely long time since I don't yet have my lvl 18 AE. I am about to get it in less then half a level and hopefully 2 dots will make a huger difference. Then i am going to read up on some areas to kite, Recently I was doing Dervish's and Kodiaks mixing in a bellow here and there for extra damage along with a hymn of resto every so often for when i got too close to take damage. Over all it isnt TOO hard it seems if your accustom to WASD and strafe/mousemoving but I guess i will wait and see what happens when I have 10+ mobs on me enough to instagib me. So far I have been running around with symbol of marzin and heroic bond/sow/regen so I have an unfair advantage of being able to turn around and just switch to whistling warsong, AE dot, regen, and twist bellow and warsong.

[Mandalore93]

Even with just the level 2 AoE it shouldn't take you more than 10-12 minutes to kill a train. At level 16 I'm in EK killing about 40 mobs. The time consuming part is pulling everything, to be honest. And I usually get about 3/4 of a level while there. Then at 18 I think I'm going to see if Gargoyle Island can be safely done so that I can build up a little bit more pp.

[falkun]

Guide on where I kited: http://wiki.project1999.org/Deajay%27s_AoE_Bard_Leveling_Location_Guide

I used the tap-turn method and made circles. Essentially, its: get L18, go to OT, ding 47.

For those using low HP aggro, 20% is too high. I think the cutoff is ~17-18%, you MUST stay below that at all times. However, don't go too low, you run into the low HP snare effect around 9% HP, so I like to stay between 11-15%.

Low HP aggro is NOT complete aggro, you CAN pull aggro off, and the aggro bonus evaporates if the low HP player goes above the low HP threshold.