Fixed Internally Bard Bug: Song Gems Locking Up When Using Clickies

This bug has been around for a long time.
Apparently at random, although seems more likely when keys are being pressed fast, the spellbar will completely lock. It will appear as if you are casting, you can't do anything else because you get messages saying you can't do xyz while casting.

Using hotkeys that have items and cast spells seems to cause this issue as well.

You cant even sit, or camp, etc.

The only option you have is /quit.

I have recently found that you can, sometimes, 'reset' this by using an instant ability, e.g. SKs IVU AA.

/stopsong works to fix this on my bard, not sure if other classes can use that command. Obviously not a solution but better than having to close the game if it works for other classes too.

Reproduction (from what I've personally seen as a bard):

• Clicking a non-instant clicky with a short cast time and a recast delay when it sort of hasn't really refreshed yet (Spell recast time not yet met.)
  • ex. Blade of Vesagran, Warm Milk Dispenser, Gnomish Troutshocker
• Using a non-instant, fast-casting clicky, such as Necromantic Dragon Bone, on a target and that target dies before the spell lands
• Using a non-instant, fast-casting clicky and being temporarily knocked unconscious

Workarounds to unlock the spell bar:
Reload character into world (zoning, exit game, etc.) or activate certain AAs (bards don't have anything that I'm aware of)
Note: /camp does work for bards in this state.

Recent thread discussing this issue:
https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...lockout-bug-or-give-command-to-unlock.259768/

Example of the issue:

The one being described in this thread is a different scenario than the one bards can experience when using a clicky with a cast time while a song is casting. For the scenario discussed in this thread, /stop of any kind does nothing.

I have typically found that /stopsong actually does nothing in the bard-specific scenario and that all the bard actually needs to do is wait for some sort of timeout.

If you click a cast time item with a song running then /stop action will work, when you have already stopped songs & then click an item with a cast timer you can get the spell lockout.

Seems to be a bug related to how songs & non songs are casted in slightly different ways or are reported/synced to the server a little differently. Short casts of items seem to create a situation where the game thinks a song is being played when it isn't so my intuition is its a handling problem.

Outside of clicky items with an instant cast time, the interplay between a melody being played and a clicky (with any cast time at all) being used will invariably lock up the song gems for a time.

If this could be addressed that would be great.

Thanks so much.

Not a bard issue - can happen with spells or AAs to any class even with pure melee ability timers. What you see is whatever buttons you have are stuck in cooldown and not refreshing. You often cannot click anything and waiting does not help. It acts as though whatever clock your last cast is watching never gets done (although the casting timer bar has finished and disappeared ) and since it has not finished you are stuck "casting" forever

Randomly you can get things working by clicking on an instant cast AA that is not on lockout. This does not always work but when it does your timers begin to count down again and will refresh normally. If nothing works you have to camp or zone or crash EQ.

It happens to others too, but since bards are "continually casting", it hits us more than others.

- Any time someone says their hotkeys, etc lock up, that's very probably, if not always, why.

Yesterday I had a weird interaction.

I was in raid, and at some point I used a Circle of Power clicky (using a macro with /stopsong, /useitem). and I got gem locked. I tried to /stopsong /stopcast as usual but my spell gems and clikies kept locked. Usually /stopsong fixes it, but not this time.

As i was in raid, I did not wanted to relog, so I thought about gating to lobby and check if it that could fix it and then banner back. So I cliked Throne of Heroes, but it did not show in the cast bar but after a few seconds I gated out to lobby and Throne was on cooldown, so it worked even if it was not showing in the cast bar.

In lobby my gems were not locked anymore so I quickly ran back to guildhall and bannered back, but when i was in raid I was booted back to lobby. Baffled I ran to hall again and bannered back, and again, back into lobby 4-5 seconds after I rejoined the raid zone. At this point I am in lobby wondering why i get booted back to lobby if I am flagged and in the expedition. And then I noticed the gate animation. Turns out, I am Throning of heroes all the time every 4-5 seconds. Like if I had Throne of heroes in a melody. I see myself dissapearing and reappering at the same spot and the throne animation.

I then used /stopsong, /stopcast, and started a melody in lobby, and It stopped, and I was able to rejoin the raid with no further issues.

Sometimes you can clear it using fade, but not always.

Please make the bard's epic instant cast until this is resolved.

When this hits my bard it locks up my client so badly I have to throw my computer out and buy an entirely new one to cast a song again. I'm kidding, but seriously I have to completely close the client from task manager.

An instant cast epic would definitely make an impact on this, since it is the clicky that I use most often.

Other clickies either need to have longer duration, like the Rapier of Somber Notes, become instant cast time, or this longstanding issue be resolved.

Please.

This issue has been around for 10+ years. If it happens, type "/stop", to clear it.

The easy way to avoid it is to turn songs off before clicking an item. Of course, that becomes an issue when the raid needs constant resist songs.

I appreciate the offers to do a work around, but I am hoping to get this issue rectified, and the longevity of this bug just suggests to me that it is high time that it is fixed.

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe this issue is either related to or amplified by Quick Time.

I had never experienced this before (cleric). Even after expansion release, I did not see this until yesterday, when the bard I had been running with bought the newest rank. I saw it again on raids on an event when a bard was added (achievement purposes). After blocking Quick Time, it does not appear.

The times I've gotten this were all under Quick Time's effect when my remedy spells had become insta-cast and I was rapidly moving through them after each GCD.

The insta-cast spells are pretty cool, but not worth having to zone out and back in during raid events!

Really easy to fix, you don't need to zone. Use some AA ability that has a cast time (origin, Unity buff AA, etc), then duck out. Using something really quick like IVU AA works well too on my SK.

Make it cast with an AA that has a cast time, and thus needs to use the cast timer, and spell bar will unlock.

ive also noticed it to be more frequently a problem IF you use a instant cast clicky close to the end of a song cast. sometimes (but not too often) using them in the middle of a cast, it just stops my melody

I have noticed this myself with instant casts as well.

This used to happen all the time for me. It seems to happen if I hit an insta cast clicky when the song is about 90% complete. Has to be based on your ms latency and both the song end and clicky are trying to trigger at the exact same time.

I just learned when not to click my instas now.