Monk or bard?

[PatChapp]

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

i wouldnt say enchanters solo better than a mage. i play one, you need a ton of charisma gear, and first 45+ levels your charms break too often anyway so it's not very good solo. mage is much easier solo class all the way to 60 and can be naked. Enchanter can solo much harder things at higher level though.

Mage is definitely easier,at least until 55+. 1-55 on a mage is trivially easy, but mage solo power really drops off once the good guard camps, seafuries, ice giants etc drop off. They can do it just fine just more limited.
Enchanter solo is higher risk but also usually higher reward.
I have both at 60.

[Barlu]

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

i wouldnt say enchanters solo better than a mage. i play one, you need a ton of charisma gear, and first 45+ levels your charms break too often anyway so it's not very good solo. mage is much easier solo class all the way to 60 and can be naked. Enchanter can solo much harder things at higher level though.

Enchanter is going to solo better than a mage the entire ride to 60 regardless of gear. You need less than 20k of gear on an enchanter to solo any level appropriate camp. Even at 60 I have horrible gear and can solo all the cash camps that’s any other enchanter can. Less margin for error but doesn’t prohibit you from doing it. Magician is great for farming trivial stuff that your pet can kill but an enchanter is an infinitely better starting character than magician.

I agree with the earlier recommendations to use enchanter to twink your melee characters. It is what I did and it works great.

[chevy79bu]

Personally, having both a level 55+ bard and monk both I would say I have a lot more fun with my bard. My monk was a blast to level up but at above level 50 bards have a ton more options for what they can do as far as hunting for Plat or soloing xp, or grouping for xp. The bard can play so many different roles in a group depending on the groups class make up that it tends to keep things very interesting. Soloing you can charm, fear kite, face tank (mostly below lvl 50), and swarm. That brings me to my only real suggestion if you play a bard. Do learn to swarm kite as it is fun to get the hang of. But be sure to do the majority of your leveling by grouping. A well played bard will change the tempo of a group by a massive amount if twist the CORRECT songs. Then learn to charm solo in place of swarming. Learning to reverse charm solo will help you understand how to properly Cc in a group playing a bard. Good luck!

[nilzark]

Bard is beast mode when played correctly

[Jimjam]

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

Bard is beast mode when played correctly

You need to be geared with the appropriate lute equipped for beast mode.

[oldschoolguy]

if you gonna play monk, just play sk instead. they can do way more, kill much harder things and more hp as large races.

bard is most unique eq class.

[Toxigen]

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

if you gonna play monk, just play sk instead.

lol no

[sideshow]

Both classes are fun to play. Have a 48 bard and 41 monk atm. I remember the first 15 or 20 levels on my bard seemed a bit tedious. When I got past that it was great. One of my favorite classes to play. One important thing to know about bards though is you really can't make macros to twist songs. I gave it an honest try and found it to be cumbersome and unreliable. Once you start a macro you can't do much until it's done executing. If you miss a note, your stuck waiting until it's done before you can play another song. Also if there are resists you sometimes need to replay the song if the spell is crucial enough, macros won't let you. I use to use a macro that had speed, levitate for traveling but no longer use since I got my ss boots.

[Rerfu]

Mage with Fire pet and focus will see you through to 51 easily, then you can just group with friends from there. Plus you get 10 slot 100% wr bags on a budget.

[Worry]

Bard is harder to play but has more of a variety of things to do. They can pretty much do everything fairly well. When played perfect they are devastating solo or in a group. They also don't require a lot of gear.. some instruments, breath of harmony and some hp gear and you're set.

Monk can be very powerful but you would need some solid gear, just like any melee. For all intents and purposes, they are the strongest melee class in this era.

I have played both through the 50s several times.