What next for midlevel bard?

[WarpathEQ]

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

Thanks for all the suggestions. I finally hit 56 and here's what I ended up doing:

level  50
total	grouped	solo	zone name
62	0	62	all zones
62	0	62	The City of Mist   # Charming around Arena was solid
level  51
total	grouped	solo	zone name
181	0	181	all zones
86	0	86	Dreadlands         # Trying for RS, already higher level than optimal
39	0	39	Cobalt Scar        # Wyvern charm, great camp
23	0	23	The Emerald Jungle # Misc Charming, Too high already
13	0	13	Kaesora            # HS Key piece solo
5	0	5	Karnor's Castle
3	0	3	The City of Mist
3	0	3	Trakanon's Teeth   # Seb key piece solo
3	0	3	Western Wastes
2	0	2	Frontier Mountains
1	0	1	Swamp Of No Hope
1	0	1	The Wakening Lands
1	0	1	Eastern Wastelands
1	0	1	Skyshrine
level  52
total	grouped	solo	zone name
146	0	146	all zones
71	0	71	The Wakening Lands    # Geo charm, we're going to be seeing more of these
46	0	46	Cobalt Scar 
29	0	29	Timorous Deep
level  53
total	grouped	solo	zone name
239	0	239	all zones
103	0	103	Greater Faydark         # Guard Charm
46	0	46	Butcherblock Mountains  # Guard Charm
43	0	43	Northern Felwithe       # Guard Charm
16	0	16	Timorous Deep
14	0	14	Southern Felwithe
12	0	12	Nagafen's Lair
5	0	5	Ruins of Old Guk
level  54
total	grouped	solo	zone name
303	140	163	all zones
79	79	0	Old Sebilis
73	61	12	The Burning Wood       # Giants, not terrible
68	0	68	Howling Stones         # Pbaoe; slow without denon's bereavement because aoe snare blocks the 48 dot
36	0	36	Butcherblock Mountains
23	0	23	The Wakening Lands
13	0	13	Nagafen's Lair
8	0	8	Trakanon's Teeth
3	0	3	The Overthere
level  55
total	grouped	solo	zone name
261	3	258	all zones
231	0	231	The Wakening Lands    # Geoooooos
23	2	21	Nagafen's Lair
2	0	2	Velketor's Labyrinth
2	0	2	Eastern Wastelands
2	0	2	Ruins of Old Guk
1	1	0	Lavastorm Mountains

Howling stones pbaoe sounds.....interesting....Never really spent any time in there but now I'm curious.

[Vivitron]

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

Howling stones pbaoe sounds.....interesting....Never really spent any time in there but now I'm curious.

Sugz4 streamed himself doing it on twitch a few times, I think someone may have posted a link earlier in the thread but I didn't see it on a quick skim.

The main things are to use bind sight / lull to help movement and avoid casters (can mez park a caster in a pinch too, but try to avoid). Then use charmed mobs to pull a room and bleed the harm touches. There's enough space to kite on the entrance pad, in the south side of the basement, in the west tunnels, etc.

I'm a little more risk averse than Sugz and usually end up with a smaller kite, like 8-12 maybe. And still die a fair bit.

[Vivitron]

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

Thanks for all the suggestions. I finally hit 56 and here's what I ended up doing:

level  50
total	grouped	solo	zone name
62	0	62	all zones
62	0	62	The City of Mist   # Charming around Arena was solid
level  51
total	grouped	solo	zone name
181	0	181	all zones
86	0	86	Dreadlands         # Trying for RS, already higher level than optimal
39	0	39	Cobalt Scar        # Wyvern charm, great camp
23	0	23	The Emerald Jungle # Misc Charming, Too high already
13	0	13	Kaesora            # HS Key piece solo
5	0	5	Karnor's Castle
3	0	3	The City of Mist
3	0	3	Trakanon's Teeth   # Seb key piece solo
3	0	3	Western Wastes
2	0	2	Frontier Mountains
1	0	1	Swamp Of No Hope
1	0	1	The Wakening Lands
1	0	1	Eastern Wastelands
1	0	1	Skyshrine
level  52
total	grouped	solo	zone name
146	0	146	all zones
71	0	71	The Wakening Lands    # Geo charm, we're going to be seeing more of these
46	0	46	Cobalt Scar 
29	0	29	Timorous Deep
level  53
total	grouped	solo	zone name
239	0	239	all zones
103	0	103	Greater Faydark         # Guard Charm
46	0	46	Butcherblock Mountains  # Guard Charm
43	0	43	Northern Felwithe       # Guard Charm
16	0	16	Timorous Deep
14	0	14	Southern Felwithe
12	0	12	Nagafen's Lair
5	0	5	Ruins of Old Guk
level  54
total	grouped	solo	zone name
303	140	163	all zones
79	79	0	Old Sebilis
73	61	12	The Burning Wood       # Giants, not terrible
68	0	68	Howling Stones         # Pbaoe; slow without denon's bereavement because aoe snare blocks the 48 dot
36	0	36	Butcherblock Mountains
23	0	23	The Wakening Lands
13	0	13	Nagafen's Lair
8	0	8	Trakanon's Teeth
3	0	3	The Overthere
level  55
total	grouped	solo	zone name
261	3	258	all zones
231	0	231	The Wakening Lands    # Geoooooos
23	2	21	Nagafen's Lair
2	0	2	Velketor's Labyrinth
2	0	2	Eastern Wastelands
2	0	2	Ruins of Old Guk
1	1	0	Lavastorm Mountains

I'm not sure if it will be of interest to the thread but I hit 60 and here's where I did the rest. I'm sure there's much faster ways to do this. Some of the kills were done with xp bonus, at least in 59.

level  56
total	grouped	solo	zone name
446	331	115	all zones
270	270	0	Howling Stones         # Duo with a necro (west iirc)
69	61	8	Nagafen's Lair         # Efreeti duo with a cleric
41	0	41	The Wakening Lands
37	0	37	Ruins of Old Guk
15	0	15	Timorous Deep          # One raptor kite and died; I'm so-so at pbaoe
10	0	10	Western Wastes
2	0	2	Permafrost Caverns
2	0	2	Velketor's Labyrinth
level  57
total	grouped	solo	zone name
392	154	238	all zones
279	133	146	Old Sebilis            # Soloing entrance, and a pick up crypt group found by soloing entrance
87	19	68	Howling Stones         # Including some charm solo in north
21	0	21	Velketor's Labyrinth   # Some soloing around frenzy/crystal eyes. There's some room to work back behind crystal eyes
3	0	3	Trakanon's Teeth
2	2	0	The Feerrott
level  58
total	grouped	solo	zone name
512	301	211	all zones
175	125	50	Karnor's Castle        # Pulling for LCY iirc
142	57	85	Howling Stones         # Charming basement, and a pick up group with a necro
65	65	0	The Wakening Lands     # Geos; fine place for groups or solo
57	40	17	The Hole               # Tried to solo ratman warriors in the stairwell but didn't get it running smoothly. Duoed with the cleric some after rezzes
50	14	36	Old Sebilis
16	0	16	Frontier Mountains     # Eldak/Mentrax. Fine but boring and iirc essentially lootless
6	0	6	Skyshrine
1	0	1	Dragon Necropolis
level  59
total	grouped	solo	zone name
675	471	204	all zones
257	202	55	Old Sebilis            # Got some fun groups bulk of which was a pick up disco group, and spent some time soloing NG
122	104	18	Velketor's Labyrinth   # The group was a fun upper dogs clear
116	85	31	Howling Stones         # Duo west with a cleric. Some basement charming iirc
96	78	18	The Wakening Lands
57	0	57	Nagafen's Lair         # Mostly Efreeti
25	2	23	Chardok                # Mostly goblin skin turnins not real xp
2	0	2	Karnor's Castle

For seb solo, the entrance is setup nicely with pairs of mobs to charm and some decent room to run around and fear especially as you clear deeper. Might be dangerous with less than ~100 mr to resist blinds? But if you charm a shaman after it roots/dots/binds you it should remove the effect, and you could play a resist song if necessary. I did some long afks for mana on top of the facade of the tunnel to the exit and never caught aggro, but moving back to the entrance is a minor pain from there. Seb entrance on its own is probably a worse camp than geos solo, except that the best seb pick up groups are arguably more fun than the best geos pick up groups.

I did the NG solo by face tanking, mostly. The beetles are all mezzable. If you Strain them with a lute they'll stand stationary as if rooted, but many of them summon. The second beetle will social the first, so I split with lull. The third does not social the second. I'm not sure if it's possible to get a non-summoning frog for the roamer; if you did it would probably change it into a fine charm camp. I just pull around the roamer and leave him up; if you you fight the beetles near the edge of the cliff he wont aggro. If the roamer is a caster though it will buff the beetles, and if it's a shaman it will heal them, so it's a nicer camp if you can have a knight up. Worse xp than entrance charming but passable plat. I'm not sure how viable it is untwinked; could be interesting.

[PatChapp]

You can spawn a non summoning krup as the roamer at ng,but being its only the lowest level its pretty rare.

[Troxx]

For the record, I consider Tox to have the best avatar on these boards. I’m a little jealous every time I see it.

[Toxigen]

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

For the record, I consider Tox to have the best avatar on these boards. I’m a little jealous every time I see it.

lmao

i just noticed your location and almost spit my water out

[Troxx]

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Vexenu]

What stats are you guys prioritizing on a grouping/non-kiting Bard these days? Are the returns from CHA/DEX worthwhile? Or are you better off going for more survivability with AC/HP/STA?

[Toxigen]

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

What stats are you guys prioritizing on a grouping/non-kiting Bard these days? Are the returns from CHA/DEX worthwhile? Or are you better off going for more survivability with AC/HP/STA?

id go survival...you're probably gonna be pulling with singing steel helm

[Tann]

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

What stats are you guys prioritizing on a grouping/non-kiting Bard these days? Are the returns from CHA/DEX worthwhile? Or are you better off going for more survivability with AC/HP/STA?

My bard is only mid 40's here so can't speak for "these days" kinda experience but back in the day on live I always focused on CHA for pulling, charming (those 3 ticks are precious), and a misguided belief that it helped reduce mez resists.