Are there any game changer AAs for Bards past 85 (past House of Thule)? I leveled a Heroic Bard alt to 105 and I am trying to come up with a reason to upgrade Bard to All-access -> autogranted AAs through VoA -> and earning AAs from RoF and up Going through the AA lists I see a lot of AAs for melee DPS upgrades which do not really strike me as important. Swarm pets look nice but again not a game changer. So for now I am just using bard with /melody 11(Dichotomic),1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4 Seems sad as I have fond memories of using Bard to pull some 10 years ago.
I am asking whether there are any AAs that radically change the bard from the Heroic 85 level. Ie something that would make one not just /autofollow and /melody or perhaps make /melody even better.(as in let me twist more songs perhaps?) Doesn't have to be Fading Memories level of awesomeness but something that would be worth spending a month on All-Access. I remember doing all kind of neat pulling stuff with calm,mez, highsun and fading memories at 70, but it doesn't have to be that crazy. Could be even: get all the following Bard DPS AAs and you will out DPS barbarian warriors...
There is no AA at any level that makes play your character. What you remember is playing your character. The only thing keeping you from continuing to do so is the grip of some bizarre, laziness oriented-dementia.
All that crazy stuff you remember doing at level 70... Can be done at 105, Infact with the way Fade works, Splitting named off as a bard has never been easier/faster. But like Brohg alluded to: Its pretty hard to outdps even a barbarian warrior with /follow on
Thank you Raven! I appreciate a constructive response My main question is what AAs should I get first after auto-grant excluding personal DPS lines? So priority would be pulling, mezzing, song duration, anything else that is bard specific. Reading older posts I heard mention of http://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki/EQ:Sonic_Displacement which I assume works similar to Enchanter's http://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki/EQ:Beguiler's_Directed_Banishment
Sonic Displacement and Silent Displacement are of course a must. As i recall, Silent will also memblur the mob which can be useful in case you get an add. This combined with bard AA invis song, Boastful Bellow and Fading Memories can be used to pull a named mob from the other side of the map shedding any adds along the way, though many shouldnt be gathered due to invis. I mained a Bard for raiding last expansion but they still have so many utilities in the group setting. The Dirge of the Sleepwalker AA has proved to be valuable 1000's of times. I hope you decide to take up the Bard life as EQ needs more main bards. =) I would log in to give you more detailed response on the AA's but currently the servers are down. Have fun!
So much depends upon how you intend to use your Bard. Is he a puller? Is he an aDPS machine? Is the part of a box team? Do you enjoy soloing with him? How is your gear? Are you Latent Etheric, TDS, TBM or Raid? Generally speaking, there are no "game changers." That being said, the progression from 1K in AAs to 10K in AAs becomes more than noticeable in many settings. It is a gradual change that begins to be evident as you max out certain AAs. Sirene's famous post on the Care and Feeding of Heroic Bards is a great first look at important AAs. Additional ranks are the key. Her recent update "Melodies" I found very helpful. Others have mentioned the Displacement AA. Very helpful in pulling a TBM HA. I also like the invis/lev and run speed AAs. So, please give us an idea of how you want to use your bard and we can offer some suggestions.
