Bard Song Twisting Macro's

[Sizar]

Hey guys, just installing the game right now and wanted to play a bard again like in the old days, but my question is this: Will the bard song macro /melody (number of the bard song desired) work? If there are no macros that work for twisting bard songs then I really dont want to play one again, all that twisting is hard on the hands.

If this macro doesn't work but there are others that do, I would appreciate any info you have on the subject.

Thanks,

Sizar

[Elendae]

It's back to the bare minimum with twisting.

[Sizar]

Ohh ouch. K there goes that idea.

Thanks for the heads up!

[Serith]

You can probably experiment with /cast though it could get messy if you're interrupted in the middle of it or miss a note.

[km2783]

I'm surprised no one has bitched that /melody isn't classic, yet.

I know the devs work ahrd at making this as "classic" an experience as possible, but I hope /melody gets worked in at some point/somehow. i never had it when I played a bard back in the day, but anything to help fight repetitive stress injury is a bonus in my book.

You can still play a bard, and twist it old school, just pay attention to how you hold your twisting hand in the meantime. ;)

[toddfx]

I am playing my first bard now, so I never experienced "true" twisting in live, whatever that may have been like. However somebody told me about these macros that work flawlessly. I am able to twist 3 songs consistently without fail, and there is no trick or chance involved in it. I have a macro for all 8 of my slots, each one goes like this:

/stopsong
/pause 1
/cast #

# being the song slot number, 1-8. I keep them assigned to hotkeys 1 - 8, and typically hit one button every 1.5 seconds. No double tapping is required, and it never fails unless I get stunned or something.

Like I said I never played a bard on live, but I can't really imagine it being any easier than this?

[km2783]

I would have songs all on the keyboard assigned to 1-8 (1-6 originally :eek: ) :)

tap 1, song starts, tap 1, then 2. song starts, tap 2, tap 5.

this while running around behind the mob and tapping ` to attack, then twisting in a mezz song for the add that just appeared, off-tanking the OTHER add that appears five seconds later, right after i refresh song 1, then continue where I left off, etc, etc, etc.

In a casual situation, macros are fine, but when the shit hits the fan, I think I'd prefer the flexibility of doing it manually.

[FatMagic]

I played a Bard during Kunark/Velious, and you just plain got used to twisting (muscle memory FTW). It became 2nd nature to do it while moving / fighting / positioning. But dang... talk about a fast way to get carpal tunnel! In the end... definitely classic. Sorry man.

[km2783]

If you have $37 a Nostromo is nice to have. It puts your hand in a good position to minimize injury, and you can program the keys so all 8 songs are in a 4x2 setup.

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You will be a twisting god.

[taamas]

I played a Bard during Kunark/Velious, and you just plain got used to twisting (muscle memory FTW). It became 2nd nature to do it while moving / fighting / positioning. But dang... talk about a fast way to get carpal tunnel! In the end... definitely classic. Sorry man.

^this.

It might sound like alot of work to someone new to the Bard class, especially if there was apparently a /melody command that did the all work for you (I quit before this was implemented). But like FatMagic said, it's all about practice. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Bards get plenty of that. :)

[Cscott]

Get a G15 Keyboard. You can macro to twist 4 songs, 3, 2. Whatever you like. Works like a charm, its hard to type in chat while its going but it saves some finger stress.

[FatMagic]

Yah Taamas i'm with you. I quit before they implemented /melody. So I only ever did it manually.

Get a G15 Keyboard. You can macro to twist 4 songs, 3, 2. Whatever you like. Works like a charm, its hard to type in chat while its going but it saves some finger stress.

Never thought about using the G15 to do it! I have one myself but forgot about being able to record on the keyboard... duh!

[mreynert]

Will the bard song macro /melody (number of the bard song desired) work? If there are no macros that work for twisting bard songs then I really dont want to play one again...

The darkest deepest depths of hell are reserved for /melody and all those who cling to it.

[t0lkien]

I would have songs all on the keyboard assigned to 1-8 (1-6 originally :eek: ) :)

tap 1, song starts, tap 1, then 2. song starts, tap 2, tap 5.

this while running around behind the mob and tapping ` to attack, then twisting in a mezz song for the add that just appeared, off-tanking the OTHER add that appears five seconds later, right after i refresh song 1, then continue where I left off, etc, etc, etc.

In a casual situation, macros are fine, but when the shit hits the fan, I think I'd prefer the flexibility of doing it manually.

This is my opinion too. I never used /melody. It could actually result in a wipe when manual twisting would save the day.

[SCB]

Bards in EQ make me realize that I am, in fact, getting older. My broken-ass hands can't handle all that much twisting these days.

Still gonna roll one eventually and just suck at it, though. Bards are too much fun.

[zanderklocke]

Still gonna roll one eventually and just suck at it, though. Bards are too much fun.

Right on, man!

[Taboo]

I don' t see how twisting is that hard for people. :(. 4 and a sword click to success

[Crawdad]

There are several Memory Key programs you can set to press 1,1 2,2 etc.. with X second delays in order to emulate this-- I know several bards in our guild used it during raids just so they could slack off. Never could get it to work myself, but I remember being super jealous during Rathe raid attempts. I believe as long as you don't go AFK you aren't breaking any rules either.

[webrunner5]

I just suck at Twisting. And I love playing a Bard but I can't walk and chew gum at the same time. So I get one up to like 30ish and like wow people want me to group lol. Good luck with that. Ain't happening. :eek:

[wc4482]

/melody doesn't work as others have said. My advice to cut keystrokes in half (from 11,22,33 to 1,2,3) is to create 8 macros like someone else suggested on page 1 of the thread.

[1]
/stopsong
/cast 1

[2]
/stopsong
/cast 2

[3]
/stopsong
/cast 3

etc.

Never use /pause command because that will prevent you from starting a new song if you get bashed or miss a note.

[Faerie]

Real bards don't need macros or pansy /melody commands!

[Jesseca]

Real bards don't need macros or pansy /melody commands!

Substitute the word "good" for "real".

[cs616]

A big part of being a good bard is being efficient with your time and keystrokes and I would argue that reducing your clicks using hot keys is more efficient than double clicking. If you want to be a purist and make playing more difficult for yourself go for it, but good bards play smarter, not harder.

/cast 1
/stopsong

Definitely the way to go.

[zanderklocke]

I'm such a weirdo that I have 10 pages worth of song hot keys. For example, soloing is one page of song hot keys, grouping a second, kiting a third, charming a 4th, corpse runs 5th, PLing with charm 6th, PLing with kiting 7th, pulling for raids 8th, etc.

I just label all the song hot keys as "Song 1", "Song 2", "Song 3", etc. No one but me could figure out what all the arrangements are for.

I'm super Type A in terms of organizing stuff though.

[Yibz]

A big part of being a good bard is being efficient with your time and keystrokes and I would argue that reducing your clicks using hot keys is more efficient than double clicking. If you want to be a purist and make playing more difficult for yourself go for it, but good bards play smarter, not harder.

/cast 1
/stopsong

Definitely the way to go.


I use these sometimes in groups but for important stuff (raid/risky situations) I'll always switch to plain spell gem keys. The reason is that it becomes way easier to control when your songs stop if you need them to immediately or if you need to quickly use a clicky.

[Felizcat]

See my signature

[Shine99]

You can setup a macro to twist 2 songs per hotbutton, but I would only do it when you have non-essential tasks. For example, twisting selo's with invis for traveling.

/stopsong
/cast #
/pause 25
/stopsong
/cast #

Otherwise the macro's that have been suggested work best. Using this macro I can easily twist 4 songs with 4 keystrokes:

/stopsong
/cast #

Welcome back to EQ!

[Absynthe2k5]

I don' t see how twisting is that hard for people. :(. 4 and a sword click to success

You don't have arthritis or carpel tunnel most likely. Get either of those two and then come back with that line. 2 days in on my bard and my left hand is numb and aching and I haven't really gotten into real twisting yet. I hate that my hands are gnarled hunks of uselessness these days but oh well you get old and stuff stops working right. I will have to figure something out lol. g15 sounds like the way to go I think.

[Hazek]

I actually enjoy twisting the normal way. Its not too difficult to play a song, then simply double tap the next song and repeat. Even all day, just be light on the keypresses.

The problem with melody is if you have an inturrupt, you have to start from the first song again unless you setup multiple macros. So it can be inefficient if you're on the second song, and it inturrupts because then you'll be overwriting the first song again instead of moving to the 3rd manually.

I like being able to select which song I need next based on the situation. Only time I used melody was for regenning mana / hp usually.

Then once twisting is second nature, you can switch instruments before each song ends. Selos > drums, heal > strings for instance.

[idontbuff]

I see absolutely no reason to use a macro.

[SmokyBear]

The problem with melody is if you have an inturrupt, you have to start from the first song again unless you setup multiple macros. So it can be inefficient if you're on the second song, and it inturrupts because then you'll be overwriting the first song again instead of moving to the 3rd manually.



Not that I think melody is necessary but I never understand this point? If you are twisting three songs then you need three spell gems on three numbers right? If you were using melody macros then you could still use three different melody macros on three keys that start with different songs. That way you can just use the macro that starts with the song you got interrupted on.

It literally requires no more keys. It does require you knowing which song you were on though.

At any rate we have no melody so it is all moot anyway.

[t0lkien]

Not that I think melody is necessary but I never understand this point? If you are twisting three songs then you need three spell gems on three numbers right? If you were using melody macros then you could still use three different melody macros on three keys that start with different songs. That way you can just use the macro that starts with the song you got interrupted on.

It literally requires no more keys. It does require you knowing which song you were on though.

At any rate we have no melody so it is all moot anyway.

But how would you know which song you were on? People used melody so they avoided that sort of micromanagement of songs. There's no way you'd know when you needed to know (i.e. straight away). If you've tapped the song manually, it's second nature to know what's happening.

But also, melody initiates several songs in a rigid order. There are just so many times in normal play when I have to tap out of a song and use another at a moment's notice - to say nothing about missed notes or lag spikes. I literally use 7 or 8 of the songs in continually varying orders (the eighth being Invis for panic mode. Melody just can't cope with anything but standard play with no surprises.

[Fael]

meh to this whole thread. Go buy a 12 button mouse and your'e good.

Dolic

[applesauce25r624]

meh to this whole thread. Go buy a 12 button mouse and your'e good.

Dolic

naga + stopsong/cast macros = good times