How are bard dps after 65? Ive heard stories of "some" bards being able to out perform dps classes. I can believe this if the bard is very geared, and they are competing against a non geared dps with low AA's or something. Im looking to box a bard, but i dont want them to just be afk either. I will be actively playing, attacking, and looking for the best songs to do the most overall dmg (whether that entails buffing or actual dmg songs) -- thanks for any input!
If all geared out with near/max AA's and a lot of knowledge, bards can get up there in the raid DPS parses. We'll never out-perform a monk or rogue with about the same gear/stats/exp, since bards are not known as "a DPS class", but the potential is there if you put in a lot of work. Don't expect to just level to 110, slap on some gear, and do the same thing. Bards are far better known and desired for their ADPS, in other words, we make everyone else in our group look good.
I just started playing again after leaving in VoA. The one spell that keeps your DPS up there is Boastful Bellow. You have to let it proc it's DD at the end of 20 seconds. So if the fight is a minute long and you get three procs off, your DPS will be on par with the DPS in your group. If you don't get a proc off, you most likely will be behind. Also at higher levels you can Melody 6 songs. So make sure you are singing some dots. So if you are keeping up with them, you are actually doing more DPS then they are, because when they are solo they are not getting your song buffs.
Forget Bard DPS. Nobody invites a bard to a group for their personal dps, it's more what the bard can do for everyone else's dps. As previously mentioned the main bard dps is boastful bellow. At rank 15 it takes a huge jump in DPS to 15k, which can crit for 45k. This is what makes Bards appear on the parse charts. Of course bellow saps endurance, so you'll find it's not sustainable on every mob without some downtime so save it for named and raid bosses. At 80 you can usually have around 6 to 7 effects going. 1. 2 minute selos 2. Bard Aura which is up all the time. 3. your 4 melody 4. Spirited Crescendo line. e.g Aura up. Selos 1234 1234 1234 1234 SC of course this is just massaging the figures a bit, your real melody only allows you 4 songs, until you get the AA's that increase the duration a fraction, but that's much much later.
