I think Bards are being painted a bit idyllically in this thread. Somehow everyone treats a good bard like a religious experience. So let me point out some of the Bard negatives that are being swept under the rug.
Problem 1: you can't chat. A mediocre Bard is clicking to sing a new song every 3 seconds. A good bard is doing that plus targeting for charm/mez, positioning for melee, running around pulling, and using the Breath of Harmony. That doesn't leave a lot of time for chatting in a theoretically social game. Unless. You. Like. Typing. One. Word. At. A. Time. And. Elevated. Cortisol.
Problem 2: Bard tanking is better in theory than practice IMO. When you are getting your face bashed in, it's hard to keep up more than 3 songs. So you are singing 30% slow, cantata, and one mez or charm or damage shield. Is this really a huge win vs the superior mitigation and DPS of a Warrior? Worse, when the tanking bard goes to pull the group totally stops (ok, I know about the SS hat, but you can't lull and such).
Problem 3: Bards really struggle vs higher level content. Pacifying in Siren's Grotto is a great way to raise your heart rate. Forget about charm - that caps at 51. And you'll have quite a few mobs that are immune to mez, and it won't be easy to tell since most things resist kind of hard. In comparison, Monk FD works on mobs of all levels.
Problem 4: Monks shine in small groups, like MNK/NEC/SHM or MNK/CLR/ENC, where they can dps, tank, and pull. Bards, despite being a hybrid class, are paradoxically somewhat weaker in smaller groups because their songs hit half as many players. Smaller groups mean more loot and fewer camp disputes (The Bard/RogueX4/Cleric group in RCY sounds like a great way to get a flamewar going in OOC) and are also just more fun.
I think it's also important to remember that this is a very mature server. KC was tuned for group of 52s where the warrior has two yaks, FBSS, and crafted armor and so on. So yeah, a Bard with a full group of Velious geared 60s can clobber the spore king camp. Who can't? Even without invis pulling, this was an easy trio in Kunark gear MNK/CLR/ENC. The only challenging dungeons at this point are SG, Kael Arena (only if you do the protectors and guardians) and to some extent DN. Put 1-4 together and I don't think Bards outshine Monks, Warriors, Clerics, Shaman, etc in those areas.
Anyway, that was the negative picture of Bards. And in general I think hybrids on P99 are underrated and pure melee are overrated. Now that sneak has been nerfed into the ground I don't think Monks are really better 1-60. The problem is that Velious raid gear allows them to replace 6AC slots with 60AC slots and suddenly a raid monk has the durability of a raid knight or a HOT/Epic Warrior, which is way too good for anything that isn't the Temple of Veeshan.
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