Class that requires the most skill

[Atmas]

I would say Bards are the hardest and most involved.

Swarm kitting is more difficult than quad kitting but it also generates a crap ton more xp.

A good bard in a group is awesome but also a lot of work.

[greatdane]

I don't see what makes bards so difficult. When I played one, it was more about work than about skill. You have a lot of options, but it's always pretty obvious which ones are the right ones for the situation. It's just a repetition class, you do the same thing over and over and over. Once you get used to the rhythm of twisting and the pattern of swarm kiting, neither of which should take more than a day, it's a class that takes little actual skill. You don't have to hold aggro, you don't have to maximize DPS, your "spells" always work exactly as expected and take no real timing... if you can tell which combination of songs to twist for the group you're in, I don't see what else can possibly take actual bard class skill.

[falkun]

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

I don't see what makes bards so difficult. When I played one, it was more about work than about skill. You have a lot of options, but it's always pretty obvious which ones are the right ones for the situation. It's just a repetition class, you do the same thing over and over and over. Once you get used to the rhythm of twisting and the pattern of swarm kiting, neither of which should take more than a day, it's a class that takes little actual skill. You don't have to hold aggro, you don't have to maximize DPS, your "spells" always work exactly as expected and take no real timing... if you can tell which combination of songs to twist for the group you're in, I don't see what else can possibly take actual bard class skill.

To address the bolded points:
Holding aggro as a warrior consists of "Is auto-attack enabled? Y/N". Holding aggro as a knight consists of balancing aggro generation with mana regeneration, neither of which is that hard and in group environments most tanks get a feel for fairly quickly, much faster than the "day" of learning.

Maximizing DPS is pretty easy in a game not built around rotations. If you are melee are you behind the mob? Are you using your skills on cooldown? Are you not drawing aggro? If you are a caster, are you using spells appropriate to the mob's resists?

Timing means everything to a class where buffs last 12-18sec. It means that you can only mez up to 4 targets reliably (assuming 0 resists), and that for every target you mez, you must sacrifice a buff. Balancing that sacrifice vs. mezzing requires skill. Getting mezzes off timely is crucial when your cast time is 3sec (0.5sec longer than for ENCs). You can't be serious when you say timing doesn't matter for bards. If you're not at that point, I suggest you learn the "advanced" skill of twisting 4 songs, up from your novice 2 song twist.

[YendorLootmonkey]

Laugh all you want, but playing a ranger to the fullest potential probably takes above average skill. When I'm not naked at my bind point, the versatility of the class means I get exposure to a lot more game mechanics than a specialist class. This has all been said before, but one moment I could be meleeing and jockeying for position behind the mob to avoid ripostes, while being mindful of my aggro level and ready to throw a jolt, lay off auto-attack, or throw a root to force aggro back on the tank. Or I could be tanking, with all of the responsibilities and actions that come with that. Or I could be chain pulling (granted, Harmony makes this easy mode outdoors). The next moment, I might need to cycle targets to throw out a root for crowd control, or snare something off a caster and park it. If there's no slower, I might need to break out Swarmcaller until it procs and then switch back to my normal weapons. Or I have to toss a 270-pt heal to the cleric or Cancel Magic to remove a damage shield. Or snare kite 4 adds around to prevent a wipe.

Not saying it takes the most skill, but it takes a lot of situational awareness. I think a well-played bard takes the most skill, followed by enchanters, and then possibly rangers.

Yeah, I know... Hahaha rangers sux.

[stormlord]

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

Laugh all you want, but playing a ranger to the fullest potential probably takes above average skill. When I'm not naked at my bind point, the versatility of the class means I get exposure to a lot more game mechanics than a specialist class. This has all been said before, but one moment I could be meleeing and jockeying for position behind the mob to avoid ripostes, while being mindful of my aggro level and ready to throw a jolt, lay off auto-attack, or throw a root to force aggro back on the tank. Or I could be tanking, with all of the responsibilities and actions that come with that. Or I could be chain pulling (granted, Harmony makes this easy mode outdoors). The next moment, I might need to cycle targets to throw out a root for crowd control, or snare something off a caster and park it. If there's no slower, I might need to break out Swarmcaller until it procs and then switch back to my normal weapons. Or I have to toss a 270-pt heal to the cleric or Cancel Magic to remove a damage shield. Or snare kite 4 adds around to prevent a wipe.

Not saying it takes the most skill, but it takes a lot of situational awareness. I think a well-played bard takes the most skill, followed by enchanters, and then possibly rangers.

Yeah, I know... Hahaha rangers sux.

Nice comments. I'm a fellow ranger. Had a level 85 ranger on live. I also played one in 1999. I liked the diversity of the class. I think it got worse with time, though. Mobs were harder and harder to tank and more and more of them summoned. Just seemed like more and more of my ranger abilities became useless as time went by. I like how rangers seem to keep more of their utility on p1999 versus what I left in 2010. I mean, when I left live, I felt like a 3rd-rate dpser. It wasn't like that in years past. I actually felt like a ranger back then.

Maybe that's just what happened at the higher levels. The game changed over the years too.

[Kevlar]

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

I don't see what makes bards so difficult. When I played one, it was more about work than about skill. You have a lot of options, but it's always pretty obvious which ones are the right ones for the situation. It's just a repetition class, you do the same thing over and over and over. Once you get used to the rhythm of twisting and the pattern of swarm kiting, neither of which should take more than a day, it's a class that takes little actual skill. You don't have to hold aggro, you don't have to maximize DPS, your "spells" always work exactly as expected and take no real timing... if you can tell which combination of songs to twist for the group you're in, I don't see what else can possibly take actual bard class skill.

Not only that but the entire essence of being a bard can be gleaned with just two hotkeys.

/stopsong
/cast 1
/pause 30
/cast 2


/stopsong
/cast 3
/pause 30
/cast 4

Wow tough class!

[Paumad]

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

Not only that but the entire essence of being a bard can be gleaned with just two hotkeys.

/stopsong
/cast 1
/pause 30
/cast 2


/stopsong
/cast 3
/pause 30
/cast 4

Wow tough class!

Not sure if serious. If you are, you're bad man, really. No good bard in his right mind would use stupid macros over manual twist when you have to deal with missed notes, changing the songs order and incoporate mezzing rotation. Did we steal your succulents in OT or something?

[Kevlar]

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

Not sure if serious. If you are, you're bad man, really. No good bard in his right mind would use stupid macros over manual twist when you have to deal with missed notes, changing the songs order and incoporate mezzing rotation. Did we steal your succulents in OT or something?

Yes you bastard!

But I have taken my revenge on many an unsuspecting bard by charming a tiger and giving it sow and haste. If you were wondering where that stun came from out of nowhere, now you know.

[Kope]

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

charming a tiger and giving it sow and haste.

THIS IS FRIGGIN WIN!!!

[Arrisard]

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

THIS IS FRIGGIN WIN!!!

It'd also be almost impossible to kill a bard with it since any difference in run speed would be ... ridiculously obvious when you're pulling to your spot. And haste doesn't matter since any decent pull is a one shot deal anyways.

Feachie was right, the only "revenge" here is all the trolling that's being done =P