Bard tips needed! Thanks!

[Troxx]

Bard melee dps is trash. Take it from a 60 bard but with non-NTOV weapons you're looking at 10-16dps fully buffed with enchanter haste. It's just not worth it 99% of the time when grouping. With epic and NToV weapons + 41% haste you're looking at a cap of ~40dps (high end estimate). A 50+ warrior with reasonable (buyable) gear will still beat that by 20-30%. Point is, from level 50 onward the best benefit you can give the group is by not meleeing. That sucks, but it's the truth. 50+ the best bards never equip weapons unless in that exceptional group that didn't need all the other perks bards bring to the table. 50+ the best bards never equip weapons. If the group composition favors your melee contribution ... that's a group that never needed you and would be better without ya [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

TLDR: bard melee dps is ass. If you your dps 'helps' they didn't need you as a bard to begin with. For all others, put the weapons away and contribute.

PS: Bard melee dps sucks. It blows. If you want to maximize your personal dps it involves dropping group songs for dots. If you find yourself doing that for your group - your group was better off without you.

PPS: use your instruments.

[Legidias]

Or be pro OCD and melee while swapping weaps at cast time =D

[Terrel]

I'm not clear on what you're trying to say, Troxx ;>

Let's post a hypothetical or two:

Scenario 1:

You're a 60 bard with epic in a melee heavy group; you have a 21 lute and a 23 horn. You can melee or instrument, and in the group you're in, you're twisting Cantana, Niv's Melody of Preservation, McVaxius Rousing Rondo (MRR), and Psalm of Warmth. For the sake of argument, you have a chanter who is doing the cc, so no worries about that.

With the appropriate instruments swapped in you're, providing 44 points of regen for everyone, str buff of 44 points, about 82 attack, 31 points of damage shield, 70 CR, 6 AC, and mana regen of 12.

With epic, you're providing 37 regen, str buff of 37 points, 64 attack, 27 points of DS, while the CR, AC, and mana regen remain the same. Your dps is about 18.

Double check my math, but it looks like you're trading 7 health regen (1 hps, roughly), 7 str points, 18 attack points, and 4 points of damage shield for 18 dps. So the question becomes, which of the two is more valuable to the group?

Interested in everyone's thoughts.

Scenario 2:
Raid group, melee types. You're there for resists and buffs, so you twist the appropriate resist songs, MRR, maybe Composition of Erjav. Group's resists are maxed at 255 whether you use epic or instrument. Might as well melee in that scenario, no? Your 18 dps is going towards downing the raid mob that much quicker without much tradeoff.

Again, interested in thoughts, agree or disagree.

Thansk!

[Troxx]

Bard with epic is a completely different scenario. 1.8 mod on epic with a worthwhile proc makes it with using, but still understand that your melee dps will be garbage

[applesauce25r624]

Troxx knows what's up. Bard melee always sucks major balls. A lack of double attack makes things horrible. Just dot mobs if you have time to spare on dps'ing.

Even then it might even be better to just spam mana pulses, especially if your group has nukers

[Lhancelot]

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

get 48, join vox raid, request white scale, get epic.

I will be lucky to get past 30 lvl tbh. I also don't care about epics. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I just wanted to see if anyone could provide info I was unaware of and Fastboy gave me plenty of useful info.

[Hyperbole]

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

I will be lucky to get past 30 lvl tbh. I also don't care about epics. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I just wanted to see if anyone could provide info I was unaware of and Fastboy gave me plenty of useful info.

The main poster in raid threads, folks.

[Lhancelot]

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

The main poster in raid threads, folks.

Stalking me around the forums now I see? I realize I made you mad earlier in RnF but this section is to help others on specific classes.

I never played a bard on Live or p99 past mid 30s, my lack of deep knowledge of the bard class has nothing to do with my constructive criticism of the raid scene here.

If you want to troll, bring it to me in RnF where trashy comments are accepted, not here.

Thanks to those who provided tips here for me and anyone else that might want to bard better!

[Hyperbole]

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

I just want attention really.

Lol, we know.

[Sonderbeast]

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

get 48, join vox raid, request white scale, get epic.