I am a returning player debating whether to play the enchanted or bard on Mangler. I'll probably play an enchanter like I did in the past but I've always liked the idea of bard. The problem is I'm a little lazy and hate pulling. Besides, I'm prone to get lost. Is not pulling a deal breaker for being a bard?
You will be expected to pull, but I wouldnt say a bard not pulling is just a bot. I love to pull, but occasionally I join a group where the monk is already setup as puller or the tank just likes to do it himself. Thats just fine, and I dont find that Im just botting at all.
Not pulling as a bard is pretty close to a deal breaker. Usually if a bard is invited to a group it is simply expected they will pull unless they have some specific reason they need to stay in camp like pumping mana song or keeping things mezzed. But pulling is definitely the norm. One tip if you're prone to getting turned around while pulling in dungeons is to make a hotkey for: /findpc playername where the playername is someone in your group that is stationary at camp. Then if you get bash spun or just lost in general with a mob chasing you, you can hit the hotkey for a path back to camp.
I hate to be "that guy" but I remember, during Velious era, my group bard getting shout by the melee because he was pulling so instead we used the enchanter or necromancer for pulls. The melee are so selfish about their dps and want their haste in camp with the mobs. It's some balance between pulling speed vs buffs on camp.
Don't pull, crawl. It's a much more interactive and immersive play style. I never understood why people want to sit around on the same spot all the time, it just slows things down unnecessarily. Bards are ideal for a dungeon crawling play style.
Yeah, I prefer crawling too but on that new TLP where there is too much camp competition, you move 5 yards away from the named you have been camping for 5 hours and then a group pops in and argue that they were there before you, for like 15 hours straight, they just took a 10 second break. You need to keep really territorial and best way to do that is stay at camp.
What an exceptionally good tip. And yes, pulling is integral to being a bard. You don't have to do it in every group, but you pretty much should expect that will be part of your role in any group you join.
I hope people aren't turned off barding by the specious "requirement" to pull. Observe : any group without a bard still - somehow, mysteriously - still manages to get mobs from where they are to the group for killing. Bards have some fancy tools, so when they're called upon they can do things other classes are challenged by, but that's not the same as saying you gotta pull all the time.
