melody

Trying out the bard and was wondering what is the normal song types to put into the melody?
I use a haste, heal, damage shield so far. what other suggested songs would go in the melody for moloing and grouping?

What level are you?

Im 59 working to 60.

For soloing, I would melody:

1 - Jonthan's Inspiration (if meleeing) or Tuyen's Chant of Flame (if kiting)
2 - Tuyen's Chant of Poison
3 - Tuyen's Chant of Frost
4 - Tuyen's Chant of Disease
+ Aura of Insight
Selo's Accelerating Chorus (every 2 min)

If you frequently solo, Chants will be your best source of DPS, and upgrade them as you get higher level ones (61+). The same is probably true if you're moloing, but I don't know for sure - you might want to try DoTs and some of the group style melodies, and see how they compare.

Other stuff you might like to use:
- Solon's Bewitching Bravura (for charming)
- Selo's Assonant Strain (AE slow + snare) may also come in handy

At 59, in a group, I would play:
1 - Vilia's Chorus of Celerity
2 - Cantata of Replenishment
3 - Psalm of Cooling/Warmth/Purity/Virality (mainly for the DS, but use whichever resist might come in handy)
4 - Katta's Song of Sword Dancing
+ Aura of Insight
- Selo's Accelerating Chorus (every 2 min)

At level 60:
1 - Warsong of the Vah Shir
2 - Vilia's Chorus of Celerity
3 - Cantata of Replenishment
4 - Psalm of Cooling/Warmth/Purity/Virality (mainly for the DS, but use whichever resist might come in handy)

61:
1 - Warsong of the Vah Shir
2 - Vilia's Chorus of Celerity
3 - Song of the Storm
4 - Cantata of Replenishment

62:
1 - Warsong of Zek
2 - Warsong of the Vah Shir
3 - Song of the Storm
4 - Wind of Marr

63:
1 - Warsong of Zek
2 - Warsong of the Vah Shir
3 - Song of the Storm
4 - Psalm of Veeshan (unless your group needs mana regen, use Wind of Marr)

64:
1 - Rizlona's Call of Flame
2 - Warsong of Zek
3 - Song of the Storm
4 - Psalm of Veeshan
- Requiem of Time comes in handy for debuffing

65:
1 - Echo of the Trusik
2 - War March of the Mastruq
3 - Song of the Storm
4 - Psalm of Veeshan

At 65, you can get rank 1 of the Extended Ingenuity AA. At some point, this AA extends bard songs by 1 tick. I'm not sure if it's at 65 or not, you'll have to experiment and see (non-extended songs last 12-17s, extended last 18-23s)

From 66 and up, you simply replace the upgrades to each song when you get them. Depending on how useful the regen is, you'll want to swap back to regen in slot 4 of your melody, as Psalm of Veeshan doesn't get an upgrade until level 98.

At 70, we get a proc on spell cast song (Arcane Aria), which is useful if you are in a group with a bunch of casters.

At 71+, we get a line of songs that add a damage bonus to spells by type. In general, these are not very much extra damage, and not worth using (Weshlu's Chillsong Aria at 72, Performer's Psalm of Pyrotechnics at 73).

At 75, we get the first Crescendo (Veshma's Lively Crescendo). It's a long duration self buff that, upon fading, heals your group HP/M/End. It's definitely worth using. I would start to use a melody that looks like so:

/melody 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 7 (7 is Crescendo)

If you can play 5-6 songs in a melody by now, I would use a slightly different melody, detailed in this thread.

At 77, we get a spell/melee damage absorb song called Dirge of the Darkvine which you might find useful if your group's defensives aren't up to snuff. We also get a healing focus song, Rhythm of Restoration, which I wouldn't use until the much later version that also has regen.

At 78, we get an AC + spell resist % song (Coldcrow's Spry Sonata). Very powerful when you want extra protection.

At 85, our "Arcane" proc song additionally has a melee proc, making it a lot more useful.

For 85 and up, see this thread.

Wow that's a lot of good info!

Thanks for the help!!

i was gona chime in but damn go Sirene, couldnt have said it better myself

I'm 74 now..moloing takes forever to level.

The dots aren't doing enough damage to kill off the mobs before the merc runs out of mana.

I switched to group songs:

I'm running:
Aura - Aura of the muse - 25% haste/spell damage
Song of the dryads - damage mitigation
Ancient Call of Power - 25% to haste/ 30% spell damage
War March of Muram - 60% to haste/stat buffs
Storm Blade - weapon proc
Zuriks Song of Shenanigans - aoe slow/weak damage

for both group and solo. I had Palm of Veeshan in the melody but was told by groups to take it out as the ds is meaningless?

I also have on my song bar:
Dirge of metala - snare
Erollisis chorus - regen health/mana
Whispersong of Veshma - lull for pulling with aa bellow
Song of Travel - movement boost

Any suggestions to replace songs?

Thanks!

Reverse charm swarming is the only way to go if levelling a bard without a group. There should be plenty of good spots up to 100 (nowhere decent in CoTF or TDS though).

Around 80 I was doing Loping Plains crocs.. think you might need 79 charm for there. Been a few years.

Here's a video on YouTube demonstrating the concepts:


I didn't bother watching it through but it should be sufficient to get you the general idea - it'll take a bit of practice before you're able to do it without splatting regularly though. You can use Cloudy Potions or the invis AA when you get it instead of Boots of the Mosquito.


edit: I did watch the video and it was a bit sucky so I guess I'll try and summarize it myself too:

Find an area with a lot of social mobs, preferably with a lot of open space to kite and even terrain to prevent LOS issues.

Round up a bunch of mobs.

Charm one. At first you might need to mez it before charming due to the low range on charm, but eventually you should aim to do this on the go.

Send it in to the swarm, they should start beating on it. Fade if you are outaggroing your pet.

Use invis to break charm as low HP as you can get away with. Practice makes perfect.

Finish with DoTs.

The better you are at your invis timing, the larger swarm you can manage. After practice mobs should die in a couple of seconds, with the far bigger delay being round them up and charming.

Thanks for the tip... will try my best to charm fight. I think Icefall Glacier is a good spot to try that at my level. Are there any other instant cast invis items? The boots of mosquito are popular and seems to be a difficult item to get?

Not instant cast but we all used to lug around ;
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=7748
As it was a fairly fast invis. Now there's the AA that does the same thing.
Work on the Tiny Cloak first, shouldn't take long to get.
If I recall, buy the grog nearby, load up all of the callers, when they move into position, you'll see them flicker as they swap to a stationary mob. Flick them once so they have aggro on you and the other mobs won't kill them, then sit in the middle of the cave singing invis song (not fade, don't want to lose aggro) until the mob that drops the cloak spawns, then kill away.

Im 82 now and starting to get groups, but I cant seem to get a song line up that fits the groups I get.

Aura: Aura of Rodcet : group members hate the heal spam but I use it in place of Cantata of Rodcet
Current melody:
Aria of the poet: group members ask me to take this one out of the line up since the next haste is better
Warmarch of Meldrath: this one is accepted
Storm Blade: was told to take it out since it didn't stack with the shaman damage proc?
Dirge of the fallen rathe: was told this was not effective past 80 and should be replaced
Coldcrow spry Sonata: was told to take this out since the gear at level 80 maxed out resistances?

I get a lot of critics but no suggestions on what should be played so I am at a bit of a loss on what's best? Any suggestions?

It sounds like your groupmates thinks they know about bards, but actually do not. They are nitpicking each song you have and explaining why it's not good enough or not useful. Bards never have 5-6 super awesome amazing game changing songs to play.

Aria of the Poet

Classes: BRD/81

1: Increase Spell Damage by 29%

2: Increase Melee Haste v3 by 25%

War March of Meldrath

Classes: BRD/79

1: Increase Melee Haste by 60%

2: Increase STR by 100

3: Increase ATK by 54

4: Increase Damage Shield by 34

The v3 haste on Aria of the Poet is considered overhaste - it stacks with regular haste. It's always a good idea to have this running. The 29% spell focus helps if you have any hybrids or casters (unless your groupmates are 90+). If you don't have any hybrids/casters who would benefit from the spell damage %, the aura is a decent alternative that frees you up for playing a different song.

Storm Blade stacks with other proc buffs, like Talisman of the Lynx. Although Lynx is a lot more damage, you won't lose DPS by playing Storm Blade.

Talisman of the Lynx
Classes: SHM/81
5: Add Proc: Lynx Maw with 400% Rate Mod

The 400% Rate Mod parses out to about 25% of melee rounds - if you add Storm Blade, 50% of your melee rounds will have a spell proc. Let's say you add Arcane Arietta at 85 - this will stack as well, and ~75% of your melee rounds will have a spell proc. Noira's Song of Suffering (89) will add another proc (~11% proc rate); now 86% of your rounds will have a spell proc. Given the low damage on Storm Blade compared to the higher level procs (especially when you add Song of Suffering), eventually it may be a better idea to play something else. (Personally I would trade it for Song of Suffering at 89).

Dirge of the Fallen Rathe
Classes: BRD/82
2: Absorb Melee Damage: 7%, Total: 805
3: Absorb Spell Damage: 7%, Total: 805
4: Increase Base Stats by 14

As for Dirge - the song is level 82 so I hope it's effective past 80.

Coldcrow's Spry Sonata
Classes: BRD/78
1: Absorb Spell Damage: 100%, Total: 10
2: Increase AC by 32
3: Decrease Damage Shield Taken by 39
4: Increase Chance to Resist Spell by 7%

This song doesn't add to your spell resist stats, but adds to your chance to resist spells, which is totally different, and can be useful depending on what you're doing. It's valuable for adding AC as well.

Here's a list of songs you can choose from at 82:
* = ones I would consider personally

Auras: Aura of the Artist or Aura of Rodcet*

Aria of the Poet*
War March of Meldrath*
Storm Blade* (best in melee/pets group)
Arcane Anthem* (good for caster/hybrid group only)
Cantata of Rodcet*
Kaerra's Spirited Crescendo*
Dirge of the Fallen Rathe*
Coldcrow's Spry Sonata*
Fatesong of the Gelidran (if you have WIZ, BST maybe)
Jonthan's Mightful Caretaker (self only, if you have a small group maybe)
Psalm of Veeshan (only good if you're swarming)
Chants
Requiem for the Lost
Pulse of Rodcet (bad until level 86 version)
Erradien's Psalm of Potency (too low level)
Performer's Explosive Aria (too low level)

In a melee group, I would play (with regen aura):

Aria of the Poet

War March of Meldrath

Storm Blade

Dirge of the Fallen Rathe

Coldcrow's Spry Sonata

In a group with some casters (BST, RNG, SHD benefit also):

Aria of the Poet

War March of Meldrath

Arcane Anthem

Storm Blade

Cantata of Rodcet

If your group is having survival issues, I'd take out the bottom two songs and put Dirge/Spry Sonata in there for improved defense.

Thanks for the reply and suggestions

I cant seem to get soloing down so groups is how I get xp. It seems a lot of players I group with has a bard bot or alt, not many have bard as their main.

I think players are trying to get max dps out of the group and since my melee dps is comparatively low they are looking for more of an offensive "punch" from me.

They're not trying anything worth respecting if they tell you not to play Aria.

Bard personal dps is low. We're an adps class, so all the extra they are doing is actually due to us.

I wouldn't worry too much about your personal output right now and keep focusing on the advice in this thread, they're spot on and also correct that those group mates you've had are not knowledgeable about the class.

Rank 1 of extended ingenuity is pretty great and affects all your primary songs except the 25% over-haste aria. Personally I stack the aura regen with a 5 song twist that includes the catana (pulse over level 96) regen. This alone can turn a spotty OOC regen group into a no downtime grind machine (of course, the other songs in the twist help). This is also extremely useful to keep a cleric merc topped off if your tank is a bit under-geared or damage is being spread a bit too wide into the group. I will pretty much always stack the regens if I end up in a caster group where they insist on blasting with their biggest mana nuke because they don't understand what sustained means .

Also the actual caster dps boosting songs get super shady super quick, so that's all there is TO play

I know right. Who else misses the days when your song lineup had actual variance.

when i hit 85 i was unable to get any groups and struggled to solo to 90. Everyone including guildies just box 3 toons instead of grouping. Now i find myself needing to box to stay alive in higher level content so i can continue leveling. I plan on using a free account for it and was wondering what class would box well with the bard?

Find a new guild, if they would rather 3box toons (unless just sitting camping a named) with 3 mercs they aren't worth being around. a Bard within 5 levels of them will amp their damage by a lot.

That's very strange Haquiem, I think your guildies are real stupid. The only reason I'd ever not group a lfg bard is if I expect to disappoint THEM, like with afking and such