Bard tips needed! Thanks!

[Lhancelot]

Going to make a bard alt. I am looking for tips, such as macros to use, tips on how to use instruments, etc.

Anything you guys can think of that would be good to learn or know how to do on a bard is what I seek.

I do not want to swarm kite, so no instructions on that please.

I will group and solo for XP using melee then later charm once I get that.

Thanks you!

[fastboy21]

Bard is not really super gear dependent.

Get the best drum you can (mistmoore drum is what most bard's get first).

Get a goblin gazughi ring if you plan to solo with charming (or even use charm in grps --- I hate bards that make a grp sit around for 12 seconds waiting for their charm to break).

Standard kit is breath of harmony for the clicky and anything else. It stinks, but for most bard their melee dps is not their utility --- at higher lvls you'll be much more useful with instruments singing the right songs than adding your melee dps.

Bard clickies from kunark armor are good. You'll want the helm (eye for pulling), bracer (targetable DS), boots (lev --- I love these), gloves (EB). The helm can be a pain to find for sale, so keep an eye for it early on.

Resist gear helps with pulling in caster areas.

As for macros I really only have a few set up for my bard (these are for GINA or GAMPARSE):

I have one that makes a click noise on spell fizzles. You'll fizzle a lot and when you are trying to twist or solo it is easier with a macro for this.

Max charm timer. You can begin to recast charm before it breaks, so knowing when you are in the 3-6 seconds left on your charm is helpful. If you are charm killing in a tight spot it is very essential to regain charm before both mobs are on you after a break.

Max selos timer. If you are kiting in a tight spot and twisting I find it helpful to see how much time I have left on selos. In some camps selos dropping can mean serious problems.

I also keep a timer on my lev boots (it is only like 5 min) so that I can reclick them at camps before they drop mid kite.

I have track bound to a movement key. Keep it up, keep it refreshed. If something pops in zone and you're the puller its your job to see it on track and beat anyone else to it (you're a bard---selos and go).

You'll want to make a macro for the /stopsong command. You can add stopsong to the first line of the items you click (if you are singing you need to stop singing to click them). So jboots, kunark clickies, etc. Also, sometimes songs get stuck (bugged) and the gems won't refresh until you hit stopsong.

Swapping instruments is painful...and I'd only recommend it if your grp is desperately in need of something, or you feel like showing off.

For the most part, my biggest advice for a group bard is to surrender to what the class is best at and abandon its weak spots. You don't want to melee after lvl 30. Your best song twist line up is frequently pulse mana, pulse mana, pulse mana, mana song. You'll get accused by ignorant folks that you are being lazy because they grped with some idiot the night before that kept 4 songs up in their buff box all night (pulse mana has no icon---teach folks this) but they were the wrong songs.

Learn to pull if you don't already. Bard puller in exp grp is best in game imo.
Learn your songs. Bard songs are complicated compared to other class spells. Depending on your grp setup you need to figure out your best line up....know which hastes have stats or are just pure haste. learn which spells have runes that work on canni for shamans, etc.

It is fairly common that I group on my bard that someone wrongly criticizes the spell lineup that I am using or that I am not meleeing in favor of instruments. They are usually just dumb wrong. Teach them.

[Lhancelot]

Originally Posted by fastboy21 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Bard is not really super gear dependent.

Get the best drum you can (mistmoore drum is what most bard's get first).

Get a goblin gazughi ring if you plan to solo with charming (or even use charm in grps --- I hate bards that make a grp sit around for 12 seconds waiting for their charm to break).

Standard kit is breath of harmony for the clicky and anything else. It stinks, but for most bard their melee dps is not their utility --- at higher lvls you'll be much more useful with instruments singing the right songs than adding your melee dps.

Bard clickies from kunark armor are good. You'll want the helm (eye for pulling), bracer (targetable DS), boots (lev --- I love these), gloves (EB). The helm can be a pain to find for sale, so keep an eye for it early on.

Resist gear helps with pulling in caster areas.

As for macros I really only have a few set up for my bard (these are for GINA or GAMPARSE):

I have one that makes a click noise on spell fizzles. You'll fizzle a lot and when you are trying to twist or solo it is easier with a macro for this.

Max charm timer. You can begin to recast charm before it breaks, so knowing when you are in the 3-6 seconds left on your charm is helpful. If you are charm killing in a tight spot it is very essential to regain charm before both mobs are on you after a break.

Max selos timer. If you are kiting in a tight spot and twisting I find it helpful to see how much time I have left on selos. In some camps selos dropping can mean serious problems.

I also keep a timer on my lev boots (it is only like 5 min) so that I can reclick them at camps before they drop mid kite.

I have track bound to a movement key. Keep it up, keep it refreshed. If something pops in zone and you're the puller its your job to see it on track and beat anyone else to it (you're a bard---selos and go).

You'll want to make a macro for the /stopsong command. You can add stopsong to the first line of the items you click (if you are singing you need to stop singing to click them). So jboots, kunark clickies, etc. Also, sometimes songs get stuck (bugged) and the gems won't refresh until you hit stopsong.

Swapping instruments is painful...and I'd only recommend it if your grp is desperately in need of something, or you feel like showing off.

For the most part, my biggest advice for a group bard is to surrender to what the class is best at and abandon its weak spots. You don't want to melee after lvl 30. Your best song twist line up is frequently pulse mana, pulse mana, pulse mana, mana song. You'll get accused by ignorant folks that you are being lazy because they grped with some idiot the night before that kept 4 songs up in their buff box all night (pulse mana has no icon---teach folks this) but they were the wrong songs.

Learn to pull if you don't already. Bard puller in exp grp is best in game imo.
Learn your songs. Bard songs are complicated compared to other class spells. Depending on your grp setup you need to figure out your best line up....know which hastes have stats or are just pure haste. learn which spells have runes that work on canni for shamans, etc.

It is fairly common that I group on my bard that someone wrongly criticizes the spell lineup that I am using or that I am not meleeing in favor of instruments. They are usually just dumb wrong. Teach them.

Thank you for all of this. I never thought about gazughi ring for bards heh. I really appreciate the tips.

[citizen1080]

Wiki write up is good. But if you just want to kite to 60 you can do that with a drum a lute and a horn. no gear needed. I would recommend Jboots tho.

[branamil]

Breath of Harmony is very meh. You have to stop singing to right click it, and it doesn't get an instrument modifier. Extremely tedious for marginal benefit. Actually meleeing in general is really only for vanity, level 30 rogues will do more damage than you.

[Legidias]

Or just recast whenever bar disappears and you have 0 problems, besides losing like 0.2 seconds.

[MiRo2]

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

Or just recast whenever bar disappears and you have 0 problems, besides losing like 0.2 seconds.

That's the difference between twisting 3 songs and 4, and it happens often enough for that to matter.

*frequency may be latency dependent, I noticed it happened a lot more while I was in alaska*

[fastboy21]

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

Or just recast whenever bar disappears and you have 0 problems, besides losing like 0.2 seconds.

When you have a mob running towards you with a friend that will tear you apart if your charm doesn't land (and you don't have room to move) before it gets to you time matters a lot. accidentally hitting a recast when your first spell hasn't actually fizzled can easily mean a wipe in tight spots.

Then again, if you are just going to be a useless twist in group semi-afk mana pump you are right. It will never matter.

[Legidias]

Then dont use stopsong macro and you get those 0.2 seconds back.

[Legidias]

No, missing time since youre looking to make sure its not a missed note can cost lives.
Accidentally NOT hitting a recast when your first spell has actually fizzled can easily mean a wipe in tight spots.
Recasting whenever theres a possibility gurantees a song is actually being cast, ensuring it actually goes off.

Also, dont have room to move? What kind of bard are you?

If anything, when youre afk mana pump it wont matter at all if you miss a whole tick because you thought you were singing but wasnt....