A Bard's Tale

[Vianna]

Originally Posted by t0lkien [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Don't want to derail this thread, but people did the numbers years ago (many more times than once) and apart from things they bring to the table that can't be easily quantified, just pure DPS increase from having a Bard in your group is almost on a par with a Rogue. That doesn't take into account the utility they bring which has the result of speeding up XP generally, and making a group more solid, and flexible.

Mind you, this wasn't in classic which doesn't have the stacking line of Bard overhaste songs, and I think took into account the Bard epic. Even so, a well played Bard holds their own in a group - so much so SOE started nerfing them later on. It's a busy class to play well though, I'm not gonna lie.

P.S. I can't really comment on the "half-assed" statement because apart from missing the point I think because it all stacks anyway, I do fine as main CC, mana battery, and regen-er, along with haster and slow/snarer when there's no Shaman (and even when there is to cover resists), so don't know what else to say.

Bards are awesome in groups....Stacking mana songs=Less down time=More Pulls..On top of just that good bards can lock down 3 to 4 adds with mez(sometimes more) in emergencies. That isn't getting into the other songs they have at their disposal that helps groups in a big way. I imagine he had experience with quite a few bad bards.

[Trouble]

After like level 8 ae kiting was already a pain in the ass but I did it to level up fast. Dungeon crawling with a bard especially in seb where no one else wants to pull cuz of casters is tons of fun and really makes you bring every tool you have to the workbench if you want to do well and be remembered.

Haste is a solid 45% and with most people having haste items it puts you up there by cap. As far as regen is concerned to whoever posted about it, bards have the best mana regen that extends to other players and in the same song have a health regen that's maybe 2hp less than regrowth if they're playing strings and can still stack other health regen songs on top of it, though I usually don't stop to put on strings unless requested, which isn't often if you're pulling singles to keep cleric mana up. Also, personally I think you're wrong about our lull being ghetto. Maybe it's the most reliable in the game? Might not last as long but gets resisted less. Bards are gonna be able to split a room of 5 casters with generally way less problems than another pulling class.

My only gripe, which is minor, with the class is the charm takes mana, which after pulling for so long eventually wears your mana down even with the piddly mana cost, if you're like me and pull, then generally go grab a charm target to break it when the last target goes down.

Anyway, just thought I'd talk about the other aspects of this class that some seem to miss out on when they just see us running circles, which isn't easy either especially when you're soloing. Try it. The easy factor comes in when there's a duo or ae snare.

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