Newbie Bard Advice

[Cyph]

Hi all,
My level 3 Bard, Voce, is coming along nicely in GFay. However, she's still geared in her newbie gear; the training short sword and tunic and nothing else. I never played a bard in the original so I'm a bit at a loss to how to developer her equipment wise (even then, it was a decade ago since I last played EQ). The price of songs are high (well, for me) and I don't even have enough to buy my level 3 songs yet! That said, what should I be aiming for, weapon and armour wise? Are any players out there able to make crafted armour and perhaps bags? If so, how much gold am I looking at for these and where would be a good place to find such services?

Cheers in advance to anyone and everyone who is able to help out.

[Comfortably]

probably best to look for a wizard in gfay or a druid in bbm, and try to tag along for a port and head over to EC. People trade/craft, and all that sort of stuff in the tunnel. There's a bard trainer in freeport, and you can look for orc camp groups/turn in the belts.

[Estu]

Your biggest problem is going to be actually getting the money to buy anything from players. An example of basic crafted bard armor is banded armor, which usually sells for about 1pp/ac, which is 91pp for an entire set. Gfay, moreover, is rough for getting money, and grouping is rougher. To get the most basic armors you can kill humanoid monsters (pixies, skeletons, orcs) in the area; they'll drop cloth armor. They also drop rusty weapons, splintering clubs, and cracked staves, which sell for a few gold (except for staves, which sell for about 1pp). Orcs will often drop crushbone belts, which sell for 1pp, but you're probably better off just handing them in for the quest, as you'll get exp and about 5gp in rewards, as well as tattered/patchwork, which is basic leather armor superior to cloth. Giant wasps will sometimes drop venom sacs which sell to merchants for about 5gp.

You won't really be making much money grouping in crushbone, although higher level orcs sometimes drop bronze weapons, which sell for around 5pp. Once you're high enough level, you can run over to Butcherblock and do a little farming. Green goblins drop about 5gp each along with weapons and cloth, and the casters will also drop gems. Spiders drop spider silk, which you can sell to players for a bunch of plat a stack. If you really want to make some money and get some gear relatively early, your best bet is probably to group in crushbone until level 5 or 10 ish, and then go to East Commonlands (by boat or by port) and farm bone chips, spider silks, and high quality bear pelts to sell to players; HQ bear pelts are rare but sell for 10pp.

I wouldn't worry about getting player-made bags early on; buy some large sewing kits from merchants and you'll be all set for a long time. No weight reduction but otherwise excellent, cost about 1pp each. You should place your priorities on getting a set of banded (or better armor), a nice weapon, and some jewelry; low level enchanters often craft basic jewelry for about 5pp each piece.

[Nlaar]

Check your private messages Cyph.

[madara]

Skeletons, always go where they are. 5pp a stack is great for starter songs. Plus they drop containers, cloth, crap to sell.

[Cyph]

Thank you all for your informative posts and Nlaar for offering help, much appreciated and makes me happy to see positive players (which seems to be a rare thing on other games these days).

[Solarie-EQ]

Look out, hubby say's bard's can't solo here.

[Qaedain]

Bards can solo just fine, if you aren't bad.

[Cyph]

Death is becoming common now for me... damn orcs near the hill.

[Bubbles]

Originally Posted by Cyph [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Thank you all for your informative posts and Nlaar for offering help, much appreciated and makes me happy to see positive players (which seems to be a rare thing on other games these days).

The really amazing thing is we're 10x nicer in game than on these boards, so you're way ahead of the game. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]