What next for midlevel bard?

[Vivitron]

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

Not especially. I've put the bard on the back burner for the time being. I'm halfway through 54 and almost all my xp in that range has been in KC. I had a good time duoing with a pally just outside the entrance, and now that I have aoe snare I've been learning how to cc a big pull by kiting them around camp until they're all rooted/mezzed. I've been meaning to check out Burning Woods, either charming giants or swarming hornets. My gear still isn't great (no fungi), so that limits my options a bit.

BW could be fun, I haven't tried those giants on a bard.

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

53+ Western wastes can be kind of fun if you are charming rhinos / mammoths and suiciding them into ice burrowers. You gotta get positioning right to avoid the 500dd frontal AOE cone blast but you get the hang of it. I level here in between scout rolls. A side bonus of killing these is you can spawn stronghorn and tantor. You gotta be non kos to dragons or you gonna get smashed by something

I tried this a little, I don't think it's going to be a big xp source for me but was fun to play with. I also tried pulling the pirates to klandi's spawn to pbaoe down; unfortunately I got caught and they insta killed me because of the backstabs. There aren't a ton of pirates and I don't know their respawn time but I might give them another try.

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

Bard solo falls off hard 50+. Your new charm costs mana and only lasts for 3 ticks instead of 4. Also your melee dps can no longer really keep up with mob hp. I’d probably just try to swarm, maybe td raptors?

Originally Posted by busted

Velks is also fun if there are no swarms going on. Charm killing + melee solo is great fun 54+. You need fungi to make it viable. Snare + fear at lower than 25% to save on downtime.

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

Cobalt Scar charming would be fun if you can avoid the high levels (Azuredrake and Yolcarn?). Wakening Lands or giants in GD, south of the fort there are a ton of high levels to charm. I charmed Expedition Dwarves 57/8-60 and had a lot of fun. XP was pretty solid.

For swarmers I don’t know. Likely DL and BW to 60, or TD raptors.

I do like TD raptors, if I get stalled before 55 I may go grind it out there to get OOS and Cantana. I might try those dwarves when I'm higher too; could be a good alternate if velks is taken or vice versa.

Originally Posted by bcbrown

I did a little Cobalt Scar 49-51, either dot-kiting or charming. The problem with charming is making sure you avoid getting an add, especially any of the cobalt drakes with their aoe dd/dispel. But if you can pull two wyverns down to the othmir it'd be pretty good. I root rotted on my druid up until 53, when it finally completely greened out. Getting non-KOS with dragons is definitely recommended.

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

Crazy exp 45-50 then at 52 a bunch of them are greens. I left after 51. Also a very good idea to be at least dubious with COV for general safety.

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

There's a big rock on the main ridge close to skyshrine which is safe from pathers, they wander like 50-75yards from the rock and turn away. I always pulled to that area but they come in pairs so you might have to lull one first.

If you charm from the tower and pull to land, you have to go down the staircase waiting for your charmed mob or it will fall on the rocks below and aggro a bunch of bulthars, which is bad news.

Good tips; I didn't have any issues killing them between the rock and the skyshrine ramp. I found if you dot instead of charm from the tower the bulthars will not social the wyverns. I only had this camp for a few cycles but finished out 51 here and really liked it. I may try to get the camp again for some of 52.

I tried wl some when this camp was taken; the giants were already largely greening out. There might be some promise in killing the faerie dragons though. I also found out you can charm lieutenant krofer to do the https://wiki.project1999.com/Velium_Studded_Cloak quest without faction.

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

Bonus:
...
- Sky shoulders fury clicky for an extra 10hp regen

Can you confirm whether the sky shoulders are rechargeable? The wiki and forums are unclear. If they are I will prioritize them.

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

Go dex build. Str items are easy to come by and getting 100% WR bags are pretty easy.

Dex is the most underrated stat in the game IMO. Proc city with high dex and supposedly fewer missed notes.

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

Just proc avatar then? If we're talking about essence mace and vulak items then you have a primal.

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

Seems like a waste to me, by the time you have that type of gear you should be able to max out dex pretty easily without using starting stats on it. If you're looking at ultimate meta game min/max seems like STA would have been the choice at that level of gearing.

Originally Posted by busted

You need several Vulak items to max un-avatared DEX. This is very hard to do

Stats

I think STA is a good default. Especially if the end goal is a bard geared in practical gear for typical raid roles. I agree STR could be a nice quality of life bump early game for a first character. CHA is mostly for crit lull rate (how often the mobs attack you when you try to lull) -- it has a huge effect here, but it's completely feasible to get CHA to a satisfactory level when/if you need it without using starting stats.

I went CHA on my main bard which was maybe a silly choice. Gearing, I've been focused on hp/resists/sta, although I'm starting to think I have been under valuing ac.

My weapons include the ones busted mentioned and my goals include trophy solo kills.

Of my 18 non-held slots I have 9 tunnel-tier, 7 bis-ish, and 2 solid but lower tier raid drops. With drum/epic, vindi bp on instead of fungi, and not in resist swaps, my stats are:
207 STR
200 STA
162 DEX

My STR already feels like a dead stat: with weapon procs and/or werewolf illusion I think I'm usually capped even without FoS.

My STA is around the 205 that would let a single buff cap it; but I want to max it unbuffed and pumping it up warps my gearing decisions.

Busted has a decent point that max DEX would be nice for high end face tank solo. I do have a primal, but if I proc haste then primal that's two procs relying on unprimaled DEX. And getting a primal on a bard is admittedly weird. Some of the high dex vulak items are debatable (no hp on the boots/arms and belt of dwarf slaying is an interesting dexless belt option). That said I still find myself chasing STA not DEX in my gear decisions, and probably would go STA if I could re-allocate.

[busted]

Can you confirm whether the sky shoulders are rechargeable? The wiki and forums are unclear. If they are I will prioritize them.

I couldn't get them to recharge. This seems like a bug though. Every other sky item is rechargable via mana batteries and box of the void. Surely this one should be too

[Vivitron]

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

I couldn't get them to recharge. This seems like a bug though. Every other sky item is rechargable via mana batteries and box of the void. Surely this one should be too

Dang, thanks for checking. There are some other unrechargeable sky items. I believe the key p99 research on sky recharges was here: https://www.project1999.com/forums/s...478#post769478, which suggests the item lore strings were used to determine the mana batteries / rechargeability. Assuming there's no lore string, it might be worth looking through some bard archives to see if there's any era evidence of someone either claiming to recharge the shoulders or complaining that they can't.

[Vivitron]

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

I couldn't get them to recharge. This seems like a bug though. Every other sky item is rechargable via mana batteries and box of the void. Surely this one should be too

I found this post which suggests maybe it was rechargeable; https://www.project1999.com/forums/s...52#post2838652.

[Jimjam]

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

Every other sky item is rechargable via mana batteries and box of the void.

Not true, wizard snare cap doesn't recharge either. Perhaps there are more examples?

[Vivitron]

I'll add I'm about 85% through 53 and I did this level so far on Faydwer guards.

Felwithe: already a few greens at 53. I see necros sticking around longer, presumably because they all drop a 21p sword. I suspect corruption in the city leading to guard enrichment. They're paladins so some care towards getting them fleeing without casting too many heals helps to keep it efficient. My top choice at 53, but often camped.

Kelethin: seemed to be the same level as the Felwithe guards, but with a captain and lieutenant just slightly higher. They're all warriors, mostly dual weilding so charm kills are efficient. About half as much plat per mob as Felwithe though. You can run off the side when you aggro them and kill them on the ground. I still don't know my way to all the spawns.

Butcherblock: easy mode charming. Seemed slightly higher level; I expect it to still be fine xp at 54. Mostly spawn in isolated pairs, just a green con citizen add at one of the huts. NPCs in the huts don't seem to social through the hut walls. I didn't fully explore all the possible spawns, but following the path from gfay up past kaladim and towards the dock killing as you go (skip the entrance to Kaladim guards; they're buffed in this era) seemed solid. The dock guards are tougher than the hut guards but doable. Butcherblock is the worst plat of the Faydwer guards though, they mostly drop ~4p axes.

Of course bards can sneak to sell to hostile vendors, so you get to loot everything and sell it immediately.

[busted]

There is evidence of it costing 10pp per charge here https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/thec...94.html#p25769 on May 09, 2001

Also some "out of era" proof here https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/...05722245193788

[Duik]

I watched that twitch stream, but only because bcbrown suggested it.
I wished I didnt now, it just proves how much I SUUUUCK at eq.
I blame everyone but me.
Also that dude has real trouble looking (or not looking) at the webcam.
I would have fallen through the VS "picture" right at the very beginning.

[Goregasmic]

As a chanter I liked charming a dar, then torch/haste him and trash the roamer + all 3 bugs then reset him until next round. Much safer. Not sure how realistic it is on a bard.

For what is it worth, solo, I found HS north better/safer exp until 59 or so and even then... I'd also wager velks is on par with HS. Seb just has too big of a level discrepancy between frogs and the casters can be annoying. I love the zone but it is basically extra risk for little reward. Worst CRs too, makes learning extra painful. Oh and there's also roamers on a different timer, little safe spots and if you find a small nook you like, the 27 mins respawn feels way too long