Best solo melee class?

[Zuranthium]

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

Are bards melee characters? Yes but...
Are the other classes melee characters? No but...

Bards should be in the "No but..." category, really. If you just stand around auto attacking as a Bard, you're not contributing much. Any actual melee class, they can do that can contribute a significant amount. Just make sure people understand root proximity aggro and that's all there is to it, to reach a workable level of effectiveness as a melee for a casual group.

Bards can solo while fighting in melee the whole time if they want, but it's only effective because of their magic (songs), not because of their melee capability. Similar to Shaman fighting in melee all the time when slow tanking. Like yeah you're in melee, but it's mainly to exploit the non-melee abilities you have.

[Ennewi]

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

Bards should be in the "No but..." category, really. If you just stand around auto attacking as a Bard, you're not contributing much.

Bards can solo while fighting in melee the whole time if they want, but it's only effective because of their magic (songs), not because of their melee capability. Similar to Shaman fighting in melee all the time when slow tanking. Like yeah you're in melee, but it's mainly to exploit the non-melee abilities you have.

I went with "yes but..." mainly because their groupwide weapon procs are unique to the class and require that they engage in melee, consistently, due to the short duration of those procs. Along with the benefits gained from those procs (atk, str, haste), this indicates that the developers wanted them to be in the fray auto-attacking with other melee classes so the effect(s) would land. Even ignoring the better/bis weapons though, the devs still provided them with Melodious Truncheon which, again, encouraged the class to auto-attack. Guardians Mace can be added to the list as well, to a lesser extent. And the same idea applies to the PoS spear, but with it needing a different proc altogether to be worth a damn.

Of course, all classes have access to procs but it's the presence of groupwide procs that emphasizes the many hats role that bards were granted. They can opt into meleeing and, in some cases, would be questioned for not doing so. DPS is addicted to ATK and haste wasn't so readily available back in classic I imagine, so procs from any of the Velious weapons and/or the epic were probably desired all the more.

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

Bards can solo while fighting in melee the whole time if they want, but it's only effective because of their magic (songs), not because of their melee capability. Similar to Shaman fighting in melee all the time when slow tanking. Like yeah you're in melee, but it's mainly to exploit the non-melee abilities you have.

Hmm I would say that bard magic compensates for their physical damage, whereas the magic of other hybrids complements it. To me, bards are melee-lite. The devs gave them dual wield, parry, and riposte. Nothing to write cshome about, but good enough, especially when compared to other classes.