Hi, So, I'm inexperienced playing a bard, but have had a blast so far. I'm level 45. Most bards that I see keep their instruments out 100% of the time. I dual wield, and swap out for the needed instrument before my songs land, and then dual wield some more. That seems to be better for the group and a little more fun. Is that what I should be doing, or am I missing something? Does the instrument need to be out for the entire song, or just for every refresh? Thanks
Yes in a perfect world this is the optimal gameplay. Most reason you wont see bards doing it is because until about lvl 65 your melee damage is very low so instrument swaping is a lot of effort for little payout. Now if its fun then you should do it because that's what playing EQ is all about. Personally in groups i never really swaped unless it was a tough pull where I thought i would need every advantage i could get to win or in raids where all I have to focus on is my swaps. Most of the time in groups I just set up a melody that used 1 type of song and just used my instrument the whole time.
Thanks. I wanted to get used to doing this, because sometimes it is difficult to find a group, and this would help me soloing if I needed to. But it makes grouping more fun, because I'm not just hitting my melody and auto attack hotbuttons and just being a mindless jukebox. Does melee dps pick up because of AAs or something?
You're playing it right. Song focus is applied when the song lands, so swapping (old school manually or new school bandolier) to the best instrument right before casting completes is optimum. Keep up the fun and use dual wield to maximize your dps and weapon (and hand to hand) skills as you level. I even switch which weapons are in my bandolier based on skill-up needs. Later, when armors start having song focus the need to bandolier is reduced, but generally your real instrument will still be better. Raid instrument and armor focus tends be over the song focus caps (320, 340), so then you are dual wielding all the time.
Guess I will piggyback onto this thread Had the itch again to play EQ this weekend. My account is from the beginning of EQ 1998 I started this toon on Torvonnilous I have a 65 Bard which I leveled to 66 I have and have some questions: - Do people twist anymore or just use /melody ? - Is epic 2 worth getting. I have epic 1 can I solo parts to get to epic 2 - Do Bards pull anymore, When I left, the trend was starting to get from monks pulling to Bards - I read in a thread somewhere melee get better for Bards past level 68 is this the consensus? - Is there songs that in my level range that I should use all the time when soloing. I use a merch Cleric. Thanks
Bandoliering can be good for doing this swap type of playing. As to whether everyone does this, no, but there are those who do. Playing a bard is wild fun (IMO), and no 2 bards play exactly the same way. So play, learn what you like to do, do it, have fun. Shoutout to Torv! we were an awesome server! at 65, 66, you still have minimal AA to deal with, so if you LIKE manually twisting, feel free, but as someone who has barded for nearly 20 years, /melody is so much better. EPIC 2 is necessary, even at level 115. Bards are AWESOME at pulling, learn all of your tricks and tips. Bards KILL it for Single pulls. IF the bard in question actually enjoys pulling. I am a bard, I group with a monk often. I am thankful he lets me pull and he concentrates on DPS. Melee for bards only gets better the higher you go. Songs in your range, yes, but someone else will have to field that one, I haven't played a bard in that range in well over a decade, and I just don't remember what they are. That said, unless you changed servers, you are now a part of Cazic Thule, I play on Cazic, so add Elyssanda and Katarite to your friends list, hit me up if you have questions while playing if I am ingame, or shoot me an ingame email. also, add serverwide.bards:bards to your joined chat channels, good people there, someone is always there to ask questions of.
Hi I transferred from Cazic to Bristlbane since I read that it is easier to get groups at higher levels on this server. Twisting was like riding a bicycle you never really forget, but yea /melody seems better. Splitting mobs came back easy after a couple of tries also. Just not sure yet what songs I need and If I ever can find a group what do I use for group songs. I know at the time rizona was for the casters when I was in a caster group, however most of the time I was in the MT group. My bards name is Palladia. I did all of Plane of Time and quit shortly there after. Thanks
For my 2cp outside of raids and travel, where you will mostly want a good drum equipped, there is little point bothering with instruments unless you are dotting outside melee range. I levelled a bard on Aradune this year to 60 primarily melee tanking with a box cleric. The offhand dps is real once max hasted even tho still weak. Moreover you have your epic. If you don't already, get vots for singing. A lot of the benefits from instruments are very marginal in grp content. In other situations, eg PLing, healing for downtime, sure but you will know. Put your best weap in primary, epic in offhand and melo away. The fun is in setting up a few diff song and melo lineups. That said, I do not recommend melee tanking to get xp. Group xp>charm swarming>anything else>melee tanking. Nonetheless it is perfectly doable. At later levels instruments become outdated due to armor mods and aa. On epic 2, must have, one of best epics in the game.
On song lineups for 60s and 70s check out ion blaze gaming on youtube. His guides are hands on and current for players up to 70s.
hiya. yeah if your on bb, I assume 1.5/2.0 should possible with friend in level range or maybe friend that higher level that helps. On twisting vs melody, I use a hydrid system of melodies that very similar, and when need break a core melody, for alliance or epic, i will twist right back into core melody where left off, so for example if core melody was 1 2 3 4 5 6, and hit epic at end of 3, for me i hit key 4, and runs 4 5 6 1 2 3. Its not really twisting but kinda is in spirit. Also as you learn rules of melody you force feed songs, if they no up with gobal recast, melody skips that song and jumps next one that ready. This used most often in 2 ways, 1 AE mez situation, say 1 is AE mez, you run something like 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6, in game play melody really doing 1 2 3 4 5 6 2 3 4 5 maybe pitch 1 in when AE is back up, is this a AE lock, no duration of AE mez and recast are off 1 tick, used be able to use a item to extend it and lock, but i believe that nerf down. Second use is with insult nuking, later on leveling on live, you bards will nuke often to proc a damage add mod to basically every benefit target in group. Bard synergy lines, but down the road and starts in EoK, 105. Once in that mix, its balance of min max that, balancing your mana level, and this compounds into bard alliance bigtime swings. Back to OP, as a 115 raid bard, i dont pull too often, when I do its due no one else can do it, largely SK have stolen the job, monks do fine, and on live, sometimes there core of bards that really box bot/melody never adjust to anything tools. Hey once you in 115 range, and have tons of AA, you begin to love your dots again. As you level, you need what mods pre crit and only add on, simply reading the songs info is not enough, ie some caster support songs sounds really kewl and interesting, but when data comes in they suck monkey balls. Yes epic 2.0 is must, while gameplay suggest in game content is not a huge deal, all the pisky dps will turn away from a bard without. Similar to gal with stache at 2am, reguardless of her smile no one likes her without a shave. Welcome back, play around, use Elyssa as mentor, passion is fuel that binds us bards, adventure well.
Hi Thanks for the great info !! I joined a nice guild The Dark Reign after my transfer from Cazic, I am just started farming the Dragorn Blood in Wall of Slaughter while leveling.
It a combination of a lot of things. At 65 you will gain double attack through AAs and at 70 the actual skill. 75 you get a song that almost doubles your melee damage and at 76 you will finally acquire the triple atk skill. Bard melee starts off as the worst in class (besides casters) and while never being top tier definitely gets much more competitive later on.
Re: bard pulling : https://everquest.fandom.com/wiki/Pulling_Guide It's great fun to pull a desired mob past a bunch of groups. Sometimes it's more efficient and rewarding to just grind everything up on the way to a fancy named tho. No loot and exp gained from all the mobs you don't kill.
DPG would NEVER nerf an essential and fun part of the bard class after letting bards utilize those mechanics for many, many years!
