I like to think I'm pretty good at Bard. I played one on live for almost 10 years and got him to level 85. I played pre /melody and post. /melody was nice, but as was stated earlier, made bards easymode. There was a large influx of PL'ed bard alts that weren't very skilled and it got to be difficult to get a group because nobody wanted a dumpster bard.
I feel like it is very similar at times here. Self PL'ed bards that don't take the time to properly learn the class coupled with the EXP penalty hurts, but I will say that most groups beg me to stay when the time comes for me to hang up my lute for the evening.
A good P99 bard should be able to mez 4 mobs. If there are more adds than that, it is probably time to run, enchanter or not.
As for pulling, I have yet to play with a group that can handle my pulling without stopping. With lull, snare, mez and Selo's, I can keep a mob with the party and mez park one in queue. On live with the advent of AA's such as Fading Memories and Bellow, bards became the hands down best pullers in game. A good monk can keep up with a bard.
We do have a few advantages over live though. This is pre-nerf. Bards mitigate a bit better and their agro hasn't been nerfed yet. I was tanking in CoM in my 40's with mediocre gear with a Shammy main healer. I have pulled, tanked, CC, snared, slowed, hasted and even main healed (Lots of downtime lol). Try mezzing 2 mobs while keeping agro on a third some time, it's fun in a twisted, massochistic kind of way lol.
I like to give my best to a group to show that there are some skilled players out there still. Plus, it's nice to get compliments from people that weren't sure about adding a bard to a group in the first place.
If you need just about any role filled in a group, find a good bard
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