Bard One-on-One solo?

[Troxx]

Charm vs dots are your options.

Dots with instruments will do a lot more damage than trying to melee. Dots + snare + fear up to high 50s if you can't charm. At 60 you have enough dots (plus a 1 minute dot + slow) that I generally would just face tank while twisting dots. At 60 you can load up around 70dps in dots.

[Lhancelot]

The problem with leveling via swarmkiting as a bard is you miss learning how to group properly and use your songs depending on the situation.

Sure, you kill 25 mobs at once, and level extremely fast, but you also skip out on learning your class.

Unless you are an experienced bard player, and don't need to become familiar with your vast array of songs, you shouldn't focus only on swarmkiting for XP.

[Troxx]

I actually regret spending so much time swarming. I took breaks along the way to stop and smell the roses but even back when there was a 40% bard penalty the leveling was so fast that I missed out on a lot.

Now that the bard is xp capped 60? I barely ever play him.

The fun with p99 for most people is in the experiences up until level 60. Being level 60 is not inherently fun.

[Troxx]

Originally Posted by Spyder73 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Being level 60 is super not fun once you have got that weapon you always dreamed of and complete the Velious armor quests. My monk hardly sees any play time unless I am farming something fro an alt

I have my velious armor (8 pieces). The only weapon I've dreamed of is my epic which requires a 200k (now a very low estimate) scale or selling my soul to a raid guild (unlikely but not impossible) which will probably never happen. I farm really well. Trivial content I can pull 12+ mobs and simultaneously do 30-40dps to them all (>300 dps easily). Solo I can manage most anything given enough time -- including Seb minor named. As a bard, I do my best work in a group or raid. I've done all the realistic content possible on p99 without selling my soul to the fucked up raid scene we have here.

My solution? Play alts.

For most people the road to 60 IS the fun. Level 60 forces you to either join one of the big guilds, throttle back your efforts, or downgrade your playtime to chasing small upgrades here/there while saving cash for the gear or epic pieces you'll never see because of p99's raiding community.

Don't rush to 60.

[Lhancelot]

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

I have my velious armor (8 pieces). The only weapon I've dreamed of is my epic which requires a 200k (now a very low estimate) scale or selling my soul to a raid guild (unlikely but not impossible) which will probably never happen. I farm really well. Trivial content I can pull 12+ mobs and simultaneously do 30-40dps to them all (>300 dps easily). Solo I can manage most anything given enough time -- including Seb minor named. As a bard, I do my best work in a group or raid. I've done all the realistic content possible on p99 without selling my soul to the fucked up raid scene we have here.

My solution? Play alts.

For most people the road to 60 IS the fun. Level 60 forces you to either join one of the big guilds, throttle back your efforts, or downgrade your playtime to chasing small upgrades here/there while saving cash for the gear or epic pieces you'll never see because of p99's raiding community.

Don't rush to 60.

This paints a somber picture.

[jolanar]

In theory bards make amazing melee soloers. They wear plate, have some pretty good ratio weapons, can cast haste and regen on themselves, slow and snare mobs. However in practice your dps just isn't there and your defensive skill aren't going to keep up either.

If you don't want to swarm, just group up. You can still melee that way most of the time anyways.