Pulling/Grouping as a Bard

[Caelan]

Hey guys,

I just recently started playing with some friends. I originally started playing live around Luclin time, starting out as a Monk, and moved to bard a couple years on. I did a lot of pulling and raiding as a bard and had some good times, and so playing that char again was a natural choice.

Since I didn't play as a bard in the old days, though, I was mostly doing so with a wider set of tools- Fading Memories, etc. So I'm wondering what advice there is to be had on the mechanics of playing a bard in a group with the current set of game rules that might be unexpectedly different? Perhaps some general advice on pet peeves people have on how bards usually play in groups, so I know to do things in a better manner?

Anything that comes to mind on such would be much appreciated.

[cs616]

Don't be lazy. Lazy bards are the #1 complaint I've heard from people who don't like grouping with them. Song selection is going to depend on the group and what they want you to do, but always trying to find ways to do more is what is going to set you apart as a bard. Doing little things like making sure to twist beneficial songs even when you're CCing or charming an add as opposed to mezzing it for the extra DPS is going to improve your group and get noticed by other good players.

As bards we already know we're limited to 3 songs with no drops, 4 songs with 1 partial drop or 5 songs with 2 partial drops, so you just have to look for ways to maximize your utility to the group within those constraints. Due to how versatile the bard class is there are a vast number of ways to do this that you'll figure out the more you group.

Feel free to send me a tell in game if you want to chat about playing a bard in groups. I get tells almost daily asking for tips on kiting and almost never get asked about playing a bard in groups, which is kind of discouraging imo since EQ is a social game and bards are one of the best grouping classes. I grouped almost exclusively from low 50s to 60 because once I got good at playing a bard in groups I found myself in high demand and routinely getting tells from people I had grouped with in the past even when I wasn't LFG. Plus, grouping is just more fun and challenging than running in circles for 30 minutes.

I'm Gileren in game. I haven't been on a lot lately with RL being busy but I normally try to sneak on for an hour or two during the evening. Like I said, feel free to send me a tell if you wanna chat about grouping as a bard.