Is a bard wrong for me?

[RPGrandPa]

Played the game on launch, never raided much at all and played a Cleric back then. Was thinking of trying a Bard since I am returning brand new on Green. Never played one, but they seem like a lot of fun. I played on live at launch but only made it to 25-30'ish I forget.

My biggest fear is being main puller. I don't know enough about the game to effectively be a puller lol I would not even know how if I had to do dungeons and lord raids would be murder since I've never raided.

So my questions are:
1) I figure I'll be soloing for most of my leveling life but at 40+ if I find groups, what will be my roll in the group?

2) For raiding what would be my role? I've heard Bards are mostly song bots on raids, is this true?

I basically want to see if playing a Bard (for me) is a mistake or not. Sure, over a long time of playing I'm sure I would learn but that's way down the road.

[Toxigen]

a well played bard is a thing of beauty

highest actions per minute class in the game when played at a high level

if you're not a tryhard, id play something else

[RPGrandPa]

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

a well played bard is a thing of beauty

highest actions per minute class in the game when played at a high level

if you're not a tryhard, id play something else

explain further please.

As far as me being an elitist, nah I ain't bout that. Its a game, I wanna have fun but at same time I'd like to play halfway decent. And respectfully you did not answer any of my questions.

[Surpent]

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

explain further please.

As far as me being an elitist, nah I ain't bout that. Its a game, I wanna have fun but at same time I'd like to play halfway decent. And respectfully you did not answer any of my questions.

Bard is jack of all trades and can do everything. That is cc, heal, dps, charm, ect. If you plan on sitting there playing mana song, try another class.

Watch a couple youtube videos, play the class a few levels and see if you like.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

explain further please.

As far as me being an elitist, nah I ain't bout that. Its a game, I wanna have fun but at same time I'd like to play halfway decent. And respectfully you did not answer any of my questions.

Bards take more effort than most other classes because you need to play multiple songs at the same time if you want to be at your best. You aren't simply playing one song and autoattacking. The way bards play multiple songs requires a lot of key pressing to maintain, more-so than other classes.

To answer your specific questions:

1. Depends on the group. You could be asked to pull if you are the best candidate, as bards have tools like lull. You could just be a mana/hp bot too if the group has the critical roles covered already.

2. Bards do things in raids besides playing mana song. If there is a fear raid going on, the bards are going to be kiting trash mobs around the zone, as a simple example.

Since you don't want to be a puller, you should pick a class that isn't a normal candidate for pulling. Cleric and Rogue are probably the least likely to be pullers in any given scenario. Wizards and Mages are not usually pullers either, but Mages can be asked to do DA trains in raids. Wizards can pull too with tools like Flux Staff.

Mage or Wizard would be my suggestions, since you already tried a Cleric, and it seems like you want to do some soloing. Rogues are generally the worst solo class.

[RPGrandPa]

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

Bard is jack of all trades and can do everything. That is cc, heal, dps, charm, ect. If you plan on sitting there playing mana song, try another class.

Watch a couple youtube videos, play the class a few levels and see if you like.

I was not trying to find a LAZY class lol I was just curious how complex or easy they were and what was expected from a Bard in groups/raids.

[bcbrown]

Bards are neither simple nor easy. You have to juggle whether you’re using melee or instruments, and since each song only lasts 3 or 4 ticks, you frequently have to decide which of two good options is better for the moment.

You can group all the way through while leveling if you wish, and I recommend doing that at least one level out of ten so you know how to group effectively. I personally think the sweet spot with bards is in duos or trios. Sometimes you can stay back and just twist mana/health regen. You can take over cc if there’s no enchanter, keeping up to three mobs mezzed. Charming is a great way to contribute dps and cc at the same time. Pulling is one of the strengths of bards, but up now till 48 I’ve only had four or five sessions where I was primarily pulling.

At higher levels in grouping it seems like the two best roles a hard can fill is either just pumping mana or pulling. That’s part of why I like duos and trios, where you have more roles you can fill. Raiding sounds like it’s mostly afk manasong, but I’ve never raided.

If you roll a bard, definitely spend levels 15-17 in crushbone throne room, where you can aoe mez and keep everything locked down. You can check out my bard thread to see more of my experiences leveling my bard.

[Keebz]

Raiding on bards is mostly a lot of running in circles kiting trash for hours and pumping mana. Group DA comes in handy sometimes as well. Lastly, there's racing for FTEs, which is not for everyone, but bards are excellent at.

Depending on the player and raid zone, a bard can basically be a bot or a play maker.

[Ripqozko]

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

Raiding on bards is mostly a lot of running in circles kiting trash for hours and pumping mana. Group DA comes in handy sometimes as well. Lastly, there's racing for FTEs, which is not for everyone, but bards are excellent at.

Depending on the player and raid zone, a bard can basically be a bot or a play maker.

Except most racing for fte is sow speed only so ranger wins

[Keebz]

Eh, most races SoW speed? Kael and Sleeper's I guess. Sev too (but who cares).

When limited to sow speed, Ranger is good if you have LoS to max range shoot something (MOTG comes to mind), but there's not a lot of those. They also get Bind Sight and can WS their train to buy 18s, which is solid.

On the other hand, bards get better run speed in VP, planes, non-sev/tal kunark targets, get bind sight, get DA, get Deftdance (like WS), get illusion spells to change size (hfl/gnome, barb is huge) and moreover can cast said illusions while mid-race to fit through/over obstacles (kael races come to mind).

Bards are solidly S tier racers. Rangers B+. A Windstriker FTE is pure hype, though.