Bard Gloves

[Lyrik]

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

Come to East Commons and I'll give you gem money.

Will be sure to look you up [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Thanks!

[Pescador]

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

question. is lambent really worth all that and a bag of chips? seems like a lot of money and little return over other things for it imho

Well worth it IMO. Everything but the helm is loaded with useful stats, and all pieces have higher AC than fine plate with far less weight. You get a few resists, cha, and generally some str or dex or something on top of it. Bards are tough to gear because they get hit a lot (try doing CC duty without gaining aggro...) meaning they need AC / hp / sta, yet they also need CHA for charm / mez and dex to reduce fizzles. Str of course is always useful for weight issues and melee dmg / atk, so really, bards need every melee stat as well as CHA and resists, and lambent provides all of that. Just snag a crested helm or SSB instead of lambent helm and you're good to go.

[Lyrik]

I opted for Exe Hood over SSB/Crested for now because it was cheaper :P

Though next time I am in the market to upgrade that slot, will probably be Crested.

In other news... face slot? (Small Bronze right now - I assume just Mask of Deception when I can get in a group there?) and weapons? (Jambiya/BBK). I think the Kilij is fine to stay where it is, but Runed Falchion maybe Sharkjaw Cutlass? Not that I have any money right now.. hah

[korpse]

I too could use some info on budget weapons for bards. I'm a 12 bard and this dwarven hatchet is bad bad 6/26 1hs. Any infoz appreciated.

[nalkin]

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

I too could use some info on budget weapons for bards. I'm a 12 bard and this dwarven hatchet is bad bad 6/26 1hs. Any infoz appreciated.

start kiting.

Also, should add that doing melee damage with a bard pretty much pointless. I am by no means a bard expert, but at some point I think its accepted that bards just stop meleeing and only use instruments? At 30 my bard does at most 15 damage per hit, so by the time the DPS kills the mob I have done maybe 100 damage? So I think itd be better to just keep the lute out and strum mana song + 3 others (swapping instruments) than add those huge 15 damage hits.

So, I think slashing weapons are the last thing you should worry about.

[Lyrik]

Mana song is not impacted by instruments. But yes, Bard DPS is bad.

[Pescador]

Once you get all three chants, it's pretty silly to melee anything that can hurt you. You can do about 150 dmg per tick while taking zero dmg, plus you can easily adapt to adds. If you try to melee, you *might* be able to squeeze out some extra dmg, but it's VERY unreliable since bash can interrupt your songs, weapons miss a lot more than dots get resisted, and if you get an add you have to switch to kiting anyways. Plus, you use up a song slot or two on melee buffs, and bards have a hard enough time figuring out how to utilize their song slots as it is.

[nalkin]

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

Mana song is not impacted by instruments. But yes, Bard DPS is bad.

So at some point do bards just stop meleeing and focus on instrument swapping in groups? Or do no of the group songs really need instruments other than mez?

[Extunarian]

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

So at some point do bards just stop meleeing and focus on instrument swapping in groups? Or do no of the group songs really need instruments other than mez?

I read quite a bit about this on some other classic boards and I think that as far as normal grouping goes the answer is never. Obviously specific situations might necessitate using an instrument - maybe when resists need to get boosted for a particularly tough caster.

I think the debate really turns against instrument swapping when the epic enters the picture since it works as all instruments.

[Sinder]

Back in the day i was always told to max out hand to hand for grouping so that you can melee a little and focus more on the buffs. in raids some of the songs are massively valuable for resists and the DS effect thats on songs greatly benefits from the focus.