It is now better to pull naked with mana regen gear for 9 expansions as a bard

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by Sethisto, Oct 16, 2019.

  1. code-zero Augur

    12% at the lower levels sounds like the sort of mana management I had to deal with from PoP through at least TBS.
  2. Jyve Augur

    /uphill /bothways.

    When first starting to do LDoN's, I could get 2 and a half Fades out with a full mana bar.
    It's what taught many bards how mobs were linked together on their assist calls, and ranges. How to time server ticks. What mobs to pull in a room in which order to reduce the need for fades. When in MPG later with a bigger mana bar, spending all weekend (between occasional naps) and getting an instinctual feel for spawn timers so you'd fade once to break the camp, snare a mob, off mez, pace the mobs, so when they started respawning, you'd never need to fade again, you'd be running up (racing the other group's monk/pally) and getting to the named the split second it spawned.

    12% at lower levels still sounds better than it used to be, and now with OOC regen, we've had it worse.
    It's a change, we'll adapt.

    The % should be tweaked a bit, and doesn't sound unreasonable to look at the scaling of it to gear a bit better perhaps.
    I like the idea of pulling drunk though to get a lower mana pool!
  3. svann Augur

    I remember when we first got fade. Man you kids blah blah blah...
    Jyve likes this.
  4. Machen New Member


    The thing is, if your mana pool is 800, you get that 12% back a whole lot faster than if your mana pool is 8000. Think about the bard who is naked except for the few items needed for FT15, verses the bard who is fully quarm geared. They both get 16 mana / tick regen. The bard who has 3x bigger mana pool will take 3x longer to get from oom to FM, and also 3x longer to go from oom to having 12% mana and able to fade once again. The bard with the smaller pool will literally be able to fade far more frequently than the bard with the bigger pool.

    It's a problem.
  5. code-zero Augur

    Yes and it was a problem back in the day when I had to deal with it. Of course with a flat cost of 900 per fade I didn't worry about my mana pool being too big as it was never big enough
  6. Troutfest Augur

    Pulling drunk if that works would make this change so good for low level bards with ft items. Just find that sweet spot between nausea inducing screen shifting and almost sober.
    Jyve likes this.
  7. Thundersnake Elder

    I'm in partial agreement with OP on this as someone who plays lower level toons on test server fairly often (Including numerous bards of various levels from 76-110), and who has been playing since 2002, and has been playing a bard almost as long. I also played a bard on TLP from Luclin till just after pop launched (Wasn't really my kind of thing). The original fade adjustment was warranted, much as I hate to admit it, from my memory fade was 800 mana. Here's where what he says rings true to me, the upper echelon of grind groups are used to a constant flow of mobs. The current mana costs for fade at around end game GoD till around SoF on TLP would make a bard nearly useless as pullers on the type of mobs he speaks of. Bards at that point of the game are before they get all the other tools 90+ bards are used to. And as for their ability to fade + invis on the run was always meant to be that way. Fade was their utility for pulling higher level mobs on raids, without it, they are arguably more replaceable when compared to monks in their current state at that level of the game. ALL That being said, a player truly passionate about the class should look for ways to adapt and overcome the issues they face.
  8. Tappin Augur

    It’s obvious at this point that people developing this game don’t play it. A flat percentage only encourages bad behavior. Also, who came up with the 12% anyways? It’s complete overkill by all means.
  9. Machen New Member


    It's never been a problem before, because fade has never taken a percent of your mana before. Back when you had to deal with it in 2002, having a bigger mana pool helped. Now it hurts. That's the change.
  10. HoodenShuklak Augur

    I posted in the other thread before this went live but yea I agree, the tlp esque crowd gets the brunt of this. A penalty for raid gear is just backwards to what eq is about.
  11. Bobbybick Only Banned Twice

    Put it back to 900 flat mana at Rank 1, then % on ranks 2/3. Mob level cap Rank 1 fade (if it isn't already) so that bards are forced to pick up rank 2 at level 72.
  12. WaitingforMoreEQ WaitingforTBC

    This only effects you if you're raid geared.
    Bards didn't get mana regen AA clickies back in the day. With the changes from clickies going to AAs instead of buffs bards now get 5FT in PoP and 7FT in GoD that they didn't have before. So while Fade cost more unless you're using fade multiple times per min this free FT offsets most of that cost.
    If there is any class that shouldn't be complaining about how live changes effect TLPs it's Shadow Knights, but Bards are a close second.

    Rank 1 fade is already level capped at i think 79. It's why monks should pull the big red demons in the Fennin event. So i don't think it would work.
  13. Ofearl Slayer of all things Stupid

    Y’all should just let your tanks pull, it’s much easier!
    Punchu likes this.
  14. IblisTheMage Augur

  15. Laronk Augur


    Back in the day if you a fade because of how assist agro and sserver ticks used to work you could gurantee a single out of a big pack of mobs with just a song fade bellow those were the good old days. Or start a song and tab back to an enemy and bellow you could get the song to hit them through the wall ahh
    Zunnoab likes this.
  16. Zunnoab Augur

    I still have a hotkey for that despite it not being relevant, and it still fires if I press it hilariously.