Bard (player) skill-cap?

[Erica]

The number of blinking icons in your buff bar has nothing to do with the skill of a bard. Anyone can play 4 songs.

If you are pulling, you are most likely doing well if there is always a mob in the camp. Throw out a mana song in between pulls. You want to run away from your group the moment you are able to and find something else.

If you have a chanter in your group, try to never mez anything (unless you are going to be the main CC... in certain situations I like to be the CC even with a chanter). You will just screw them up otherwise. Only thing you might want to throw a mez at are pet breaks. Rather than mezzing non-pet mobs, best thing to do to help them is snare, since that usually gives you aggro and you can kite the mob for a moment while they mez and then it is hitting no one, to save your healer mana.

You can play mez and a few other songs to interrupt casting. There are some situations where doing just catana plus interrupting spells is the most efficient way to help your group. You can snare if it is needed where you are. There will also be certain situations (like in crypt) when you really don't need to do anything other than mana song and dps. If you want you can do around 250 a tick in dots, in addition to having catana going. But honestly a group shouldn't need your extra dps. It is ok to rest your poor little fingers sometimes, while at the ready to step it up if people need extra mana or to CC.

[Troxx]

Honestly twisting and playing a bard is not hard (or shouldn't be) on either the fingers or the wrists compared to normal daily typing/clicking most people do when playing EQ. Fingers shouldn't be getting tired really.

Trick I learned a long time ago from live prior to melody ... just keep your hand and wrist relaxed. Clicking a button every 3 seconds really isn't that hard on your body unless you've got yourself all tensed up in weird positions. I've heard of guys/gals younger than me getting wicked carpal tunnel syndr playing bards ... I've honestly never had a problem. Keep your hand/wrist/fingers relaxed.

[applesauce25r624]

razer naga and /stopsong macros for songs 1-8 makes twisting super easy

you can even mix in pressing 1-8 on your keyboard if you get bored

[gummab]

No class is hard to play it's an EQ myth.Which class is the busiest should be the real question.

A demented sheep on shroom's could play this game.

[Loke]

Playing a bard well in a group is all about your total game knowledge. Since you are limited in what you can do, you need to be able to assess what actions most benefit the group. As a simple example, playing a group haste or atk song in a group of casters doesnt make much sense. Does it make more sense for you to pull, or another member? With no enchanter and a caster heavy group, it might make more sense for you to sit in camp pushing mana even if youre also the best puller in the group. Those are pretty simple examples, but since bards are kind of a jack of all trades, you constantly need to be aware of what other members are doing so you can either not conflict with their actions or pick up their slack. Unless you know how to play the other classes, it is hard to know how to best compliment their strengths and where you need to make up for their weaknesses.

Beyond knowledge, all you really need is a good system for how you handle situations. Mezzing two mobs, plus still providing beneficial songs and trying to sneak in some melee require to you have a efficient process for targeting and casting. A lot of people wont spend the time it takes to develop an efficient process which really limits how much theyre able to contribute.

imo grouping on a bard is really fun and actually does take a bit of "skill" (for lack of a better word), I could never stay interested in circle kiting or being a resist bot while raiding though. Kiting planes or no-csr VP was fun, but the novelty of raiding on a bard wore off pretty quick.

[Blaiseblah]

Thanks for the responses guys! They definitely seem pretty cool.

[webrunner5]

I can tell you from playing EQ pretty much non stop for 16 years that having a GREAT Bard in a group is a Game changer. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

But a Great Bard is only in a group because they are probably bored shitless from kiting, etc. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] Just want to have some human contact lol. They Really do not Need to group!

A Great Bard can really be a one man band in a group. Everyone else can pretty much go AFK and they can get the job done. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

So, just like every class on here, there is just a handful of people that you can count on both hands that are total stand outs. And I would bet you run out of fingers quicker on Bards than any other class on here. It is that hard to play one that well.

But even half good, or 3/4 good they are good to great to have in a group. They will make your time on here better not worse.

So go for it. You may be able to be great and not even know it, or just be a bit above average and still enjoy being one and have a good rep community wise. Win win for you, and the rest of us that suck at playing one, me included. I am just too old to do it any more, and yeah it applies to more than twisting lol. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Destron]

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

imo grouping on a bard is really fun and actually does take a bit of "skill" (for lack of a better word), I could never stay interested in circle kiting or being a resist bot while raiding though. Kiting planes or no-csr VP was fun, but the novelty of raiding on a bard wore off pretty quick.

This is the gist of my bard exp. I absolutely loved grouping on my bard and pulling, charming, mezzing. Kiting was a bore, raiding for resists is just the worst. Playing a bard in a group is by far the most fun.

One big thing that you can do as a bard to really pump up dps is charming. I have never seen a bard charm the way I would. Using charm as a CC is how I would do it. Pull with Charm, head to camp. Throw mob on the MA target and re-charm or mez depending on break. You'll get into the swing of timing. You will run out of mana though.

Also pulling, Lull pulling on a bard is a ton of fun and I believe it to be the best pulling method in the game for most camps. Camps where Lull isn't useful(King) then we drop off considerably. But HS and Seb can be pulled very well by a smart bard.

TL;DR - Bards rock in a group, raiding as a bard is a bore.

[sacman08]

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

Hey guys, newer player here and still kind of kicking around who my main should be and was considering picking up bard. I generally stick with classes that force you to play well, classes that allow good players to stand out(not due to some epeen thing, I just get bored playing simpler classes). I've read in a few places that bard is one of the tougher classes to play and I was wondering if somebody could elaborate on why. Is it just because they have to press a button every 4 seconds or so? If so that just seems tedious more than anything. Or is it because it's actually challenging on a tactical, intellectual level on top of pressing those buttons every 4 seconds?

Some other classes I've been considering are Ench and Shaman, thanks for any input.

Make friends, join a guild because there is a lot of bard hate on the server from kiting. If you are going to kite do it in some lonely far away zone or else you have to deal with the server chat hate.

[Morlaeth]

Make macros for your songs.

/stopsong
/cast 1

/stopsong
/cast 2

etc etc