Intro & Some Noob Questions
 

Hey all, just started up playing on green after playing on blue several years back. Really looking to being part of the community 😌 I had a few questions hopefully someone can help out w/:

1. what are the most active zones for grouping/leveling from lvl ~5-20ish? Kinda tough soloing out there

2. what's the best way to make some $$ at low levels for basic gear?

3. what's a good custom UI skin?

4. is there a way to have a second hotbar?

<3 thank you, if anyone wants to group up my char's name is Sluntee, lvl 6 bard currently

I would say the most active zones are Crushbone/Unrest and East commons/Oasis for those levels.

I did Crushbone for the entirety of 5-20 (can do some Orc Hill outside CB from 5-8 or so). You can save up the crushbone belts and shoulderpads which turn in for EXP in Kaladim and usually sell them for ~2pp per belt and ~3-5pp per shoulderpad. I was able to sell enough backpacks full to make like 700 plat by lvl 20 and buy some gear in EC. The EC/Oasis route has similar item drops for EXP quests that people will buy off you.

Also this server is several years old and a lot of people have all sorts of gear. Not uncommon that someone will through you a couple newb items for free to help you on your way (more common in EC since the tunnel is there with people buying/selling).

My favorite part in a bard's life is at lvl 15 when you get the AoE mez song. Literally everything in Curshbone is under the level cap. Get a few peeps go into the Throne room, play AoE mez on repeat and slay the orcs one at a time for easy exp all the way to 20.

I don't use custom UIs or additional hotbars so hopefully someone else can provide some tips on those Qs.

thank you for all that info! I'll give those things a shot, much appreciated

Crushbone for sure. After that just keep an eye on /who all (+/- like 3 levels from your own) and see where the peeps be at.

I think the most important thing for bard UI/config wise is just having those /stopsong macros so you don't drive yourself insane.

Don't forget to use the wiki! I played for years with it constantly open.

ahh did not know there was a P1999 specific wiki, thank you <3

and sorry, what do you mean by the stopsong macros? pretty new to bard

Just create macros for each spell gem.

/stopsong
/cast 1

/stopsong
/cast 2

etc

If you do a bit of searching I'm sure there's more info but thats basically it. Its super easy to twist 4, and if you want to tryhard it can be 5 but honestly no XP groups ever need a 5 twist ever.

Even doing 3 is usually enough, even more so if you're busy pulling / charming / CC.

You picked the absolute highest APM class. If this scares you now its time to rethink a different character.

Also while I'm on this rant: never let people tell you to melee as a bard. Until Epic, the only bards doing melee are bad bards. A good lute and drum are your best friends.

doesn't scare me! I have been really enjoying it so far, having played a lot simpler classes back in the day. should I not be focusing on melee even in lowish level groups (below 20)?

I spent the last few months in KC getting a few 50+ alts some exp, and in groups, the quality of a bard shines thru like crazy - almost every weaponized bard is lazy or incompetent. An instrumented bard, even staying in one spot and playing 3 or 4 songs is better

melee early is fine

soon as you get a good lute its time to be a real bard

Really poor advice IMO. Melee is a great tool for a bard and extremely important to skill up when you're at low level. I've leveled up multiple bards on classic live and again on P99. Really the only point I've found where the math actually leads you to higher dps/faster kills without melee is at the very high end when you just simply can't take any hits. 50+ is when I put away the weapons and pull out the drums to solo 50-60 via charm/ drum dot kiting. In the mid range the DPS boost from instruments is lower than the DPS boost from swinging your arms (melee doesn't reduce your ability to twist songs, just slightly modifies the effects of applicable songs). Ultimately you are likely mixing both swapping instruments and weapons in and out constantly through battles if you're a truly great bard.

Additionally some fights just require melee like if you're going to solo some of the mobs for your epic. I also often times bust out the melee on raid targets as well. Atleast when you're raiding in a guild where you actually matter and you're not just some mana pump bot that stands there mostly useless.