[Ananka]

"Thott from Afterlife stating Bards were at the MINIMUM equal to Enchanters in charm and in most situations better"

This was mentioned earlier and while I didn't know Thott to speak to him casually I did see his Aftathott running around a ton as I played a high level bard early on and I only saw him in raid situations and grouped going after epic mobs. (I would hang around and watch AL, I was also trying to figure out the epic quest which hadn't been published yet). He gets hype for leading AL and winning best of the best tournaments but his bard had the highest HP's of any bard anywhere early on as he had bis gear and there really wasn't a close second to his bard gear wise anywhere for a long time. He also has said that solo he would fear/snare on the bard. I don't think he represents the average bard at the time or even the average high end bard.

I can tell you that the level 27 charm was great but it only lasted the typical 3 ticks and mobs were going to turn on you a lot each fight unless you timed it just right which wasn't that often. It was risky as heck solo in a dungeon that easily got you killed and was safer in group situations with a healer but that ended at level 37. If an enchanter was in my group I had zero reason to charm ever as their charm lasted way longer and mine felt like a gimmick or trick.

The next charm at 39 was considered a nerf by the Concert Hall community as it needed mana and long charming sessions couldn't be maintained. I would often be OOM in places like Karnor's Castle. Whatever we had with the previous charm was more powerful in classic at the mid levels then it was from Kunark and on.

Long story short, there was zero comfort while charming as a bard, it felt very temporary and dicey, a powerful tool but gimicky. It just had a different feel when enchanters joined the group.