Bard AoE kiting How-to & Screenshots

[Harmonium]

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98 mobs that kite, personal best; looking forward to getting the elusive three digit pull..

[Wonka11]

I'm still having a crap load of problems kiting right now. I'm level 13 and I'm using the level 2 song. I'm using mouse to steer from a 3rd person view that is directly behind my bard and I am scrolled all the way out.

I lock auto run and hold down the left key to get me into a running strafe and then alternate selos and the aoe while I do this. (I prefer holding down the left key, gives me a false sense of control).

Now people say that the aoe will hit at the very edge of my screen on mobs that are chasing me, but this has been very inconsistent from me. Sometimes it hits further on my screen, sometimes it hits shorter. Most of the time it hits beyond my screen where I can't see the pack I am kiting.

Actually in truth, 90% of the time I land my aoe, the pack is out of view completely and I'm doing a lot of guess work which is bogus. I simply don't understand why it is so inconsistent and it is causing me a lot of deaths.

My deaths so far have all been mobs hitting me off screen where I have no idea where their position is.

Is there something I should be doing, or is there another way to zoom out my camera more?

I've tried the third person view and tap running, but I despise it personally. I can't judge their position to my aoe or bard at all in this view.


Edit: Also I'm having a big problem stacking all the mobs exactly. I'll run large circles or squares to try and get all the mobs stacked completely on top of each other but I can't seem to get it perfect. I can tell because on some of my rotations only 1-2 monsters in the pack will get hit with the aoe and the rest will miss. I know this is a big problem because this basically means that those two are closer to me than the pack is and if I go in further there is a large chance I'll hit their hit box and they'll bash me.

Could really use some in depth help on this.

[Raavak]

If you can't get mobs to stack despite circling them alot it means they aren't really compatible for kiting. Figure out which ones are fit into the group you are making and avoid the others.

[Wonka11]

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

If you can't get mobs to stack despite circling them alot it means they aren't really compatible for kiting. Figure out which ones are fit into the group you are making and avoid the others.

I apologize, and I'm really not trying to be confrontational or rude so please don't take it that way; your response is just very oversimplified and doesn't address the situation well.

I'm currently kiting gorge hounds in EK, and even when the pull only consists of gorge hounds, I'm noticing changes in spacing between wolves that occurs throughout the pull.

I have to back off most of the time and try to regroup them because 3-4 in the pack are running .5-1% faster than the normal ones it seems. I'm not sure if this is due to server or client lag, or may be just be the distance I'm circling in an attempt to hit things in the level 2 song's aoe, but there is something certainly happening here.

Also I keep noticing the range on the aoe is inconsistent. Sometimes it hits mobs off the screen; sometimes mobs will be on the screen and it wont hit them, I can't get it to be accurate 100% of the time.

And the same thing goes for the mobs, sometimes I can hit them off, sometimes I cant hit them even if they're on. I'm not sure if this is lag or what the case is, but it makes my swarms 2-3x longer than they should be because I'm terrified of being hit by something I have no idea how to control.

[falkun]

All mobs of the same type should move at the same speed (assuming no extra buffs/debuffs are in effect like sarnaks in BW using SoW or bard using an AoE snare song). However, the mob and character locations between the client and server will only update so frequently, and not always at the exact same instant. This is why, even with "perfect" kiting, you may not hit every member of your packed kite all the time. Just try to get your kite as perfect as possible and you'll hit as many mobs in your pack as possible.

Basically, the server-client interaction could be screwing up your kite, and factors like (but not limited to) firewall, connection speed, and hardware (even GFX because runspeed is tied to framerate) all effect your kite. You can only optimize so much before its simply out of your control. Accept it, kite your best, and level faster than every other class in the game.

[Wonka11]

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

All mobs of the same type should move at the same speed (assuming no extra buffs/debuffs are in effect like sarnaks in BW using SoW or bard using an AoE snare song). However, the mob and character locations between the client and server will only update so frequently, and not always at the exact same instant. This is why, even with "perfect" kiting, you may not hit every member of your packed kite all the time. Just try to get your kite as perfect as possible and you'll hit as many mobs in your pack as possible.

Basically, the server-client interaction could be screwing up your kite, and factors like (but not limited to) firewall, connection speed, and hardware (even GFX because runspeed is tied to framerate) all effect your kite. You can only optimize so much before its simply out of your control. Accept it, kite your best, and level faster than every other class in the game.

Thanks Falkun, I appreciate the response. Looks like I'll just have to deal with it.

[sero]

Just keep practicing dude. It's all trial and error until you get the hang of it. Accept as a given that you're going to die a crapload of times during the learning process, and even occasionally when you're actually good.

[Urbanzkopf]

anyone know a better spot then Sro to swarm kite at level 15? Been trying all day to kite here but so much shit gets in the way it's annoying. Orc priests pop over the hills when you are gathering so have to zone the kite, ghouls also, desert madmen dont root but sure as hell hurt and not to mention the sand giants, damn I've been on the bottom of these guys shoes all day it's so frustrating. For every successful kite I've done here so far there are about 8 failed ones to my name.

[Twilight-Sparkle]

Do any bards melee at the higher levels? I know they don't get double attack or kick, but with all the haste they can get without a chanter, you'd think they could do some pretty decent melee damage, being able to swing so often.

[Kender]

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

Do any bards melee at the higher levels? I know they don't get double attack or kick, but with all the haste they can get without a chanter, you'd think they could do some pretty decent melee damage, being able to swing so often.

solo you can fear kite singles if you desire, or if the mob has a large hit box (bigger than your AE dots so you can't kite them)

in a group they do more dps by boosting everyone elses dps (both melee with buffs and caster with mana regen). noone ever invites a bard for how much melee dps they do. however having said that, they dont do too bad at melee dps, it's just not what they're hired for.