OT and You

[garyogburn]

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

Chanters are better in practically fictional situations where you have more than 5 mobs in camp and you might need (a) a mez that lasts longer than 18 seconds or (b) an ae mez. In my groups I usually pull so I can ensure that no such mishaps occur (usually!), so I'm mostly speaking from my own experience, and not addressing situations where the group gets trained by thirty mobs (even in such situations, the chanter is only marginally better and the group will usually wipe). The first reason Bards are better is that they do in fact take less damage - they have more hit points and better mitigation which makes up for rune (assuming the chanter is consistently casting it on themselves). The second reason Bards are better is because their mez is lower aggro, making it far easier to aggro previously mezzed mobs off of a Bard, as well as aggroing currently mezzed mobs off of a Bard when tanks/pets/dot's break mez. This is especially relevant now when taunt won't work for 51+ mobs. The third reason Bards are better is because they can move around while mezzing (this is also another reason why they take less damage). This helps for positioning of mobs, and it means that less mezzes will get interrupted mid-cast. The fourth reason Bards are better is that their mez costs no mana, while a chanter's mez does cost mana. The fifth reason Bards are better is that their charm also costs very little mana (20) and can be used as a memblur for when something has been mezzed for a very long time and would likely aggro the Bard for a while after mez breaks. The sixth reason Bards are better is because they can use charm to simultaneously CC and DPS on pulls with exactly 2 mobs (this is unique to Bards because their charm is lower mana and can be casted while moving, and since it has a shorter duration you don't need to mem invis or get lucky on Hide being successful to break charm - for me it usually breaks just as the mob is at 1-5% hp). The seventh reason Bards are better is because they don't need to stay at the camp and med, so they can both pull and CC, and often they can CC mobs mid-pull which saves the cleric mana. I could probably think of more reasons but I don't want to sound contrived - I think these are the most important ones though.

I play both an enchanter and a Bard (see my sig!). My Bard was already level 50 when our first mez was changed to be PBAE, so I have no idea if Bards are any better at CCing at level 15. But I do know that when Bards get their targeted Mez (level 28), they are better CC in experience groups if they're played well.

That was very helpful, thanks. My bard is only 24, but im having fun AEing in loio. I typically dont take more than 5-10 mobs though, as I dont have it perfected yet.

my favorite part about my bard is grouping though. At 23 I pulled/CC for a castle MM group and it was more fun than ive had in a long time in a group.