Bard advice

[t0lkien]

So, my Bard is kind of stuck at level 19 due to groups being pretty hard to get during off-peak (I'm in Australia). Naturally I'd like to be able to start kiting, but I don't have charm yet (nor a pair of mosquito boots), and my two DOTs are AoE so <strike>swarm</strike> DoT kiting is also pretty much out (very risky with a 30 range and Oz lag). I'm at that awkward point where meleeing even light blue mobs is tricky and risky solo, and blues are downright dangerous. I can't get plat for needed upgrades or even slight twinking because I'm having trouble finding stuff I can take down without dying repeatedly. Unless I'm missing something - which is entirely possible - I'm at a bit of a loss as how to proceed and get the levels I need to get in order to be eligible to apply for a guild and increased fun.

I missed Kunark back in the day (I started just after Velious), so my knowledge of the old world is limited. Can anyone suggest a strategy, or know of a guide that applies to Kunark on p99 at my level?

[Faerie]

Swarm kiting isn't possible until 27, when you get charm. People here seem to frequently make the mistake of calling AE kiting "swarm kiting", and I hope they're all ashamed of themselves for it.

You can AE kite though, since you're 18+ and have your brass AE dot. There is a ton of info on the topic, just search for "swarm kiting" and remember that every instance of the term that doesn't involve charm was said in error. Even without using the proper terms, they give good advice on how to AE kite.

But there are lots of ways to solo as a bard, and I wouldn't limit myself to AE kiting unless I was in a hurry for some reason. 15+, you can mez. The melee method works, with lute hp regen + mez working to keep you from dying. I always thought this was fun. So try that!

But since I assume you're playing on blue, why not find a group? Even on Aussie time there's tons of people playing on that server, and it's best to level in groups so you get that practice in where it really counts. imo

Good luck! Please don't call kiting with your AE dots swarming; it's wrong.

[Splorf22]

AOE kite NE corner of OT

[Faerie]

http://www.project1999.org/forums/showthread.php?t=62581

Here is a good place to start. 18+ bard is the fastest solo class.

[t0lkien]

Ah yes, the old mez trick. Thanks, I may try it. AE kiting + lag is a great way to delevel I've found. I only found DoT kiting in later levels to be successful with any sort of latency. Oh and charm kiting of course, which I loved.

Having said that, I most prefer grouping, but at 19 on Oz time there's honestly not much happening. Thanks for all the advice though!

[Kekephee]

Swarm kiting isn't possible until 27, when you get charm. People here seem to frequently make the mistake of calling AE kiting "swarm kiting", and I hope they're all ashamed of themselves for it.

You can AE kite though, since you're 18+ and have your brass AE dot. There is a ton of info on the topic, just search for "swarm kiting" and remember that every instance of the term that doesn't involve charm was said in error. Even without using the proper terms, they give good advice on how to AE kite.

But there are lots of ways to solo as a bard, and I wouldn't limit myself to AE kiting unless I was in a hurry for some reason. 15+, you can mez. The melee method works, with lute hp regen + mez working to keep you from dying. I always thought this was fun. So try that!

But since I assume you're playing on blue, why not find a group? Even on Aussie time there's tons of people playing on that server, and it's best to level in groups so you get that practice in where it really counts. imo

Good luck! Please don't call kiting with your AE dots swarming; it's wrong.


I think we as a society should agree that the justification for calling charm kiting "swarm" kiting (the mobs "swarm" each other) is totally inferior to the justification for using it to describe a method in which you are in actuality kiting a swarm of 40-50 mobs.

Off-topic but come on, it's time someone says it, we need to take a vote on this.

[Faerie]

Call me a purist, but if a vote is held I feel we should disclude anyone who did not play a bard in classic EQ on live. And swarm kiting is named as such because it's NPCs that are social with one another swarming on another NPC, not on you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm_behaviour

A key word being "social". AE kiting can be done with practically anything at once, but proper swarm kiting requires like-minded NPCs that assist one another.

[Kagatobs]

I advise you to delete your bard and make a rogue. The trick to being a good rogue is never grouping and always I repeat always use 2hs weapons that are rogue friendly. Rogues can use 2hs for a reason.

[Kagatobs]

In regards to the "swarm" debate...Faerie loses. Get over it.

From now on, all kiting with more than 1 mob will be referred to as SWARM KITING.

Deal with it.

[t0lkien]

I advise you to delete your bard and make a rogue. The trick to being a good rogue is never grouping and always I repeat always use 2hs weapons that are rogue friendly. Rogues can use 2hs for a reason.

Now why on earth would I do that. It's the only class I've ever played seriously, and one of the reasons EQ was great.

[quido]

AE kiting is really the way to go once you're 18. Even if you die five times for every successful kite, at least at the beginning, you will still profit experience. Start in EK and do all the dogs and gnolls. It's really easy with that 18 dot (greater range than level 2 dot) and a horn - I'm talking like a level a kite that takes at a maximum 20 minutes between pull and kill (once you are adept anyways - I've leveled 3 bards here). When you get a few levels upgrade to SK. The pace will feel slower in SK than it did in EK, but you will still level plenty quickly if the entire zone isn't camped. Once you're 28 or 29 goto OT and kite everything. OT is awesome until the late 40s. It's really the best way to level a bard, if you're confident. I wasn't confident at first, but I became so very quickly and I think anyone with a smooth computer easily could do the same after a few kites.

[zanderklocke]

By the way, swarm charm kiting doesn't exactly work on this server. Aggro seems to behave differently from live, so mobs will pretty quickly flip to you instead of going to the new mob you charm each time.

Edit: I just red Jeremy's post, and he's very correct. I used to get lag, but then I started running the game through WinEQ2, which for whatever reason, makes the game run smoother.

Also, if you're prone to lag, once you hit 30+, you can low hp aggro kite with another bard or someone who can run ahead of the mobs without getting hit. You can send me a message for details if you're wondering what this is.

[Masakizt]

Australian bard here. Word of advice, yes it's sucks due to our location our ping is a lot higher, but just pull smaller kites of merbs. It's still doable

The real fun starts 55+ when just to get an increase it has to be the whole zone

Contact me if you have any questions, but for now just turn yo shit down boy! Filters included

[Masakizt]

And get swarm kiting ASAP..

@zanderr- swarm kiting works, you just need to circle around again and run the mobs over the 2 engaging. And of course make sure you have only prox aggro on the pack (no healing yourself etc etc)

[Barkingturtle]

@zanderr- swarm kiting works, you just need to circle around again and run the mobs over the 2 engaging. And of course make sure you have only prox aggro on the pack (no healing yourself etc etc)

Not true in my experience. After first charm break the swarm will never reestablish aggro on your pet. This is the entire reason I don't play a bard on this server--swarm kiting was my favorite pastime in EQ back in the day. If this has been fixed, it means it's time for me to bard again.

[killa0885pve]

Whats your in game name Tolk, I'm a 25 pally, "Theknight"
always good to see another Aussie, From Perth myself!

[Masakizt]

Worked for me just fine, I did a lot of it, just need to watch what aggro you draw

It does bug out sometimes where they might engage for a little while then come for you again but for the most part is works fine

[t0lkien]

Whats your in game name Tolk, I'm a 25 pally, "Theknight"
always good to see another Aussie, From Perth myself!

Awen in game. Currently in EK learning to AoE kite :)

[zanderklocke]

Worked for me just fine, I did a lot of it, just need to watch what aggro you draw

It does bug out sometimes where they might engage for a little while then come for you again but for the most part is works fine

Weird. From my experience I've never gotten it to work. When I charm a seafury to kill another seafury and a third aggros, the third aggroed seafury will attack the charmed pet. However, upon recharm, the third seafury chases me instead of beatlng on the pet.

Maybe I'll test this some more though.

[t0lkien]

As an update, with the 200-300 ping to Australia, serious AoE kiting is not possible. The best I can do - which is pretty useful XP anyway - is four or five blues. I've bound keys specially and use one of the F9 zoomed out views so I can see what's going on. Server hiccups and lag bumps guarantee I get hit often, but I've only died once so far to this.

It does take a lot of getting used to. It's not too bad once you know how it all works, but it's difficult at first. I can even get the Level 2 DoT to land most of the time, though it will usually cost me a smack.

[t0lkien]

As a further update, I'm in LOIO and the blues and odd white/yellow are pretty easy XP. Skele's seem the friendliest, and I've had up to 20 at a time. Only done one yellow, and it took more than twice as long as the others due to HP/resists/me healing up, so not really worth the effort as the XP was not proportionately more. Dark blue non-casting mobs seem to be the best bang for buck, especially considering they won't slaughter you during a lag spike/movement error.

I was feeling pretty good about this until I saw a high level bard pull half the zone in a the mother of all trains, circle them all into a huge blob and Slow/Snare them to a crawl so that a low level bard could AoE them all down and reap the XP. I never even thought of doing this on live (though to be fair, zones were rarely empty enough of other players to even consider it).

It was impressive to say the least.