My bard is constantly playing a melody, and when mob is in camp, just does auto attack. However, I wipe so often because of the bard and their agro. My monk is the pull, i'll pull a mob and sometimes ya gotta flop (of course). However, even if I feel like i'm halfway across the map, when I flop, they just take off for my bard. Then, bard instantly dies, and I'm scrambling to do crowd control with my war / not wipe. But, 90% of the time it's a wipe. If I turn off my melody after each kill, then generally speaking, all good. But even then, it feels sometimes the agro still comes. Like, if the monk has any songs on him, even without a melody playing, splat (again, so it feels). Can anyone give advice on how I'm getting mobs int eh camp, what causes it, and how to combat it? Bard is my only source for haste, so I'd prefer, if possible, to be playing the melody at all times. Otherwise, it takes like 30% of the health of the mob for all songs to get on my toons, seems just like a wasted amount of time.
I have a bard box and this happens all the time. I just forget to take melody off and he gets smacked around. You'll get used to it, and you'll learn eventually. Or you'll be like me and just kill your bard every 5th pull. A few things that help me: Keep Fading Memories up on the bard in the same spot you have FD for your monk. If you find yourself with aggro, you'll be able to alt-tab to the bard screen and know exactly which button to press to save yourself. Have hotkeys set up for various melodies and various burns. Alt-tab to bard, start melody, alt-tab back. Alt-tab to bard, start burn macro, alt-tab back. Imitate Death on monk, stand, Echo the mobs barreling down on your bard. This will be a short term mez on them with a mem blur at the end. Should be enough time to turn off melody on the bard. Have a couple mezzes ready on the bard. Single target and AE. Use as necessary - comes in handy after monk AE mez.
And mobs come and splat bard, then splat everyone else while I scramble to figure out what's going on.
Thrillho, good info. I'm just not fast enough for that, or my bard is so severely undergeared and leveled that he has no chance. He's lvl 101 and I'm fighting mobs that are yellow to my 105, so everything is red as hell to him. 2 hits and he's dead. He is also very undergeared, he gets the last of everything.
if it sounds like you are boxing several accounts, perhaps you should only play melody when combat begins
Two suggestions: 1) Take your bard to Plane of time or Tacvi and get him a sword with clicky haste and attack. With no AAs the haste lasts around 15 minutes. 2) Before the monk goes out to pull, turn off all bard songs. You pull to camp, take aggro with the warrior, engage the bard and start your melody, and then attack with the monk. The clicky haste will cover you during the times the bard is not singing. You should be getting overhaste from the bard aura.
I'll look into that chest clicky. I have the 1.0 and was super excited for that until I found out that is a proc and not a click (I have 2.0 also fyi). That would solve most of my problems with my boxed bard. A lot of times I'll hit the "8" key on all toons (sits them down) and the only reason I didn' do that with bard is mainly the haste. I will miss out on other songs, but they are not as important as haste.
Phrase to remember regarding pullers who can drop aggro....Post aggro, pre fade/fd/aggro drop. If puller receives anything beneficial in that time window...after the aggro drop the aggro transfers to buffer in this case the bard....that beneficial puts caster on hate list. My suggestions...have the bard pull. Once bard is in camp stand close as you can to where your tank will engage on bard....tab over quickly to tank and engage. On bard if you want you can do a fade mid melody that does not have a stopsong line...which allows you to continue your melody. If you absolutely must pull with the monk a block song hotkey you hit with all the songs your bard plays in his melody.....have the monk hit this hotkey when he moves out to pull every single time. If you want the monk to get the benefit of bard songs once you engage simply make another hotkey that has assist and a few lines UNBLOCKING the same songs. I do something vaguely similar with my mage relating to my dps mercs burn vs balanced stances. I just need to remember to hit that hotkey every time.
Very good advice regarding the block hotkey - i'll take that into consideration. But, like you and many other say, I just gotta bite the bullet, stop being an EQ player from 2000, and pull with my bard lol.
It makes me sad to see bards used just for haste as a box. bards are the most versatile classes in the game and using them just for songs is like driving a car and only turning left! Anyhow, its probably not an option for you ATM but consider the bard for pulls. Bards can solo pull with much more speed and efficiency than a FD class. Use a Barrier Song (or MM Battle Drums if your lucky enough to have them) and if your particularly worried about a named pull consider using Shield of Notes to reduce incoming damage. You can further mitigate damage with other AAs/Songs/Bard Clickies. If solos are easy this can result in your bard never having to stop playing your preferred melody since everything used for pulling is instant and doesn't break the chain. On your MT use an assist hotkey on the bard and be ready to take Agro before mob hits camp. with Selos and leap you should beat anything back to camp and be ready. Over time (and as the bard builds his gear) you should be able to use wave of torpor to deal with any adds when you don't want to split or make a mistake on the pull. My 2/3/4 box setup always uses Bard to pull (bard is my main), MT = SK, DPS = Mage, Utility = Druid, plus Merc healer and Merc Melee DPS. I usually have a RL friend or 2 who fill out the group and often just run with Bard and SK only.
