Bard tips needed! Thanks!

[Lhancelot]

Going to make a bard alt. I am looking for tips, such as macros to use, tips on how to use instruments, etc.

Anything you guys can think of that would be good to learn or know how to do on a bard is what I seek.

I do not want to swarm kite, so no instructions on that please.

I will group and solo for XP using melee then later charm once I get that.

Thanks you!

[fastboy21]

Bard is not really super gear dependent.

Get the best drum you can (mistmoore drum is what most bard's get first).

Get a goblin gazughi ring if you plan to solo with charming (or even use charm in grps --- I hate bards that make a grp sit around for 12 seconds waiting for their charm to break).

Standard kit is breath of harmony for the clicky and anything else. It stinks, but for most bard their melee dps is not their utility --- at higher lvls you'll be much more useful with instruments singing the right songs than adding your melee dps.

Bard clickies from kunark armor are good. You'll want the helm (eye for pulling), bracer (targetable DS), boots (lev --- I love these), gloves (EB). The helm can be a pain to find for sale, so keep an eye for it early on.

Resist gear helps with pulling in caster areas.

As for macros I really only have a few set up for my bard (these are for GINA or GAMPARSE):

I have one that makes a click noise on spell fizzles. You'll fizzle a lot and when you are trying to twist or solo it is easier with a macro for this.

Max charm timer. You can begin to recast charm before it breaks, so knowing when you are in the 3-6 seconds left on your charm is helpful. If you are charm killing in a tight spot it is very essential to regain charm before both mobs are on you after a break.

Max selos timer. If you are kiting in a tight spot and twisting I find it helpful to see how much time I have left on selos. In some camps selos dropping can mean serious problems.

I also keep a timer on my lev boots (it is only like 5 min) so that I can reclick them at camps before they drop mid kite.

I have track bound to a movement key. Keep it up, keep it refreshed. If something pops in zone and you're the puller its your job to see it on track and beat anyone else to it (you're a bard---selos and go).

You'll want to make a macro for the /stopsong command. You can add stopsong to the first line of the items you click (if you are singing you need to stop singing to click them). So jboots, kunark clickies, etc. Also, sometimes songs get stuck (bugged) and the gems won't refresh until you hit stopsong.

Swapping instruments is painful...and I'd only recommend it if your grp is desperately in need of something, or you feel like showing off.

For the most part, my biggest advice for a group bard is to surrender to what the class is best at and abandon its weak spots. You don't want to melee after lvl 30. Your best song twist line up is frequently pulse mana, pulse mana, pulse mana, mana song. You'll get accused by ignorant folks that you are being lazy because they grped with some idiot the night before that kept 4 songs up in their buff box all night (pulse mana has no icon---teach folks this) but they were the wrong songs.

Learn to pull if you don't already. Bard puller in exp grp is best in game imo.
Learn your songs. Bard songs are complicated compared to other class spells. Depending on your grp setup you need to figure out your best line up....know which hastes have stats or are just pure haste. learn which spells have runes that work on canni for shamans, etc.

It is fairly common that I group on my bard that someone wrongly criticizes the spell lineup that I am using or that I am not meleeing in favor of instruments. They are usually just dumb wrong. Teach them.

[Lhancelot]

Bard is not really super gear dependent.

Get the best drum you can (mistmoore drum is what most bard's get first).

Get a goblin gazughi ring if you plan to solo with charming (or even use charm in grps --- I hate bards that make a grp sit around for 12 seconds waiting for their charm to break).

Standard kit is breath of harmony for the clicky and anything else. It stinks, but for most bard their melee dps is not their utility --- at higher lvls you'll be much more useful with instruments singing the right songs than adding your melee dps.

Bard clickies from kunark armor are good. You'll want the helm (eye for pulling), bracer (targetable DS), boots (lev --- I love these), gloves (EB). The helm can be a pain to find for sale, so keep an eye for it early on.

Resist gear helps with pulling in caster areas.

As for macros I really only have a few set up for my bard (these are for GINA or GAMPARSE):

I have one that makes a click noise on spell fizzles. You'll fizzle a lot and when you are trying to twist or solo it is easier with a macro for this.

Max charm timer. You can begin to recast charm before it breaks, so knowing when you are in the 3-6 seconds left on your charm is helpful. If you are charm killing in a tight spot it is very essential to regain charm before both mobs are on you after a break.

Max selos timer. If you are kiting in a tight spot and twisting I find it helpful to see how much time I have left on selos. In some camps selos dropping can mean serious problems.

I also keep a timer on my lev boots (it is only like 5 min) so that I can reclick them at camps before they drop mid kite.

I have track bound to a movement key. Keep it up, keep it refreshed. If something pops in zone and you're the puller its your job to see it on track and beat anyone else to it (you're a bard---selos and go).

You'll want to make a macro for the /stopsong command. You can add stopsong to the first line of the items you click (if you are singing you need to stop singing to click them). So jboots, kunark clickies, etc. Also, sometimes songs get stuck (bugged) and the gems won't refresh until you hit stopsong.

Swapping instruments is painful...and I'd only recommend it if your grp is desperately in need of something, or you feel like showing off.

For the most part, my biggest advice for a group bard is to surrender to what the class is best at and abandon its weak spots. You don't want to melee after lvl 30. Your best song twist line up is frequently pulse mana, pulse mana, pulse mana, mana song. You'll get accused by ignorant folks that you are being lazy because they grped with some idiot the night before that kept 4 songs up in their buff box all night (pulse mana has no icon---teach folks this) but they were the wrong songs.

Learn to pull if you don't already. Bard puller in exp grp is best in game imo.
Learn your songs. Bard songs are complicated compared to other class spells. Depending on your grp setup you need to figure out your best line up....know which hastes have stats or are just pure haste. learn which spells have runes that work on canni for shamans, etc.

It is fairly common that I group on my bard that someone wrongly criticizes the spell lineup that I am using or that I am not meleeing in favor of instruments. They are usually just dumb wrong. Teach them.

Thank you for all of this. I never thought about gazughi ring for bards heh. I really appreciate the tips.

[citizen1080]

Wiki write up is good. But if you just want to kite to 60 you can do that with a drum a lute and a horn. no gear needed. I would recommend Jboots tho.

[Lhancelot]

get 48, join vox raid, request white scale, get epic.

I will be lucky to get past 30 lvl tbh. I also don't care about epics. :)

I just wanted to see if anyone could provide info I was unaware of and Fastboy gave me plenty of useful info.

[branamil]

Breath of Harmony is very meh. You have to stop singing to right click it, and it doesn't get an instrument modifier. Extremely tedious for marginal benefit. Actually meleeing in general is really only for vanity, level 30 rogues will do more damage than you.

[Sonderbeast]

get 48, join vox raid, request white scale, get epic.

[MiRo2]

To save your wrists just make 8 macros like this instead of double-tapping songs:

/stopsong
/cast X

Get familiar with tab targeting if you're not already, whatever your target is when start a song, is what it will land on.

Never just do one thing at a time.

Play the songs you know are best for the group/situation, not what a particular member of the group thinks you should be doing. You will get better at this over time, and it will be more and more pertinent in your 40s and 50s.

Get used to your casting bar disappearing while twisting songs, learn to recognize the difference between this and a missed note.

[fastboy21]

Get used to your casting bar disappearing while twisting songs, learn to recognize the difference between this and a missed note.

yah. the bar disappearing is one of the most annoying bugs about barding on p99.

Just ignore every EQ reflex you have. If the bar disappears mid cast it isn't because you fizzled, just let it go. Its still casting and if you don't stop it it will finish.

This is one of the reasons why I have the "missed note" gamparse filter set up. When I miss a note I will hear the fizzle (mine is a clicking sound), no click no fizzle.

[Legidias]

Or just recast whenever bar disappears and you have 0 problems, besides losing like 0.2 seconds.

[MiRo2]

Or just recast whenever bar disappears and you have 0 problems, besides losing like 0.2 seconds.

That's the difference between twisting 3 songs and 4, and it happens often enough for that to matter.

*frequency may be latency dependent, I noticed it happened a lot more while I was in alaska*

[Legidias]

Then dont use stopsong macro and you get those 0.2 seconds back.

[fastboy21]

Or just recast whenever bar disappears and you have 0 problems, besides losing like 0.2 seconds.

When you have a mob running towards you with a friend that will tear you apart if your charm doesn't land (and you don't have room to move) before it gets to you time matters a lot. accidentally hitting a recast when your first spell hasn't actually fizzled can easily mean a wipe in tight spots.

Then again, if you are just going to be a useless twist in group semi-afk mana pump you are right. It will never matter.

[Legidias]

No, missing time since youre looking to make sure its not a missed note can cost lives.
Accidentally NOT hitting a recast when your first spell has actually fizzled can easily mean a wipe in tight spots.
Recasting whenever theres a possibility gurantees a song is actually being cast, ensuring it actually goes off.

Also, dont have room to move? What kind of bard are you?

If anything, when youre afk mana pump it wont matter at all if you miss a whole tick because you thought you were singing but wasnt....

[MiRo2]

Once I knew what I was looking for it was easy to spot right away. Just offering tips, not mandatory bard instruction.

The best thing about being a bard is that you can play it pretty much however you want and still be effective in some way.

[Crede]

Going to make a bard alt. I am looking for tips, such as macros to use, tips on how to use instruments, etc.

Anything you guys can think of that would be good to learn or know how to do on a bard is what I seek.

I do not want to swarm kite, so no instructions on that please.

I will group and solo for XP using melee then later charm once I get that.

Thanks you!

Stopsong macro is key as it cuts your keystrokes in half, I wouldn’t be playing a bard without it. Get yourself a nice drum, and a gypsy lute. Walrus skin drum is great and almost as good as selos for 1/4 the price or even cheaper.

1-26 just twist normal songs and melee dps. At 27 charm just owns, use that as long as you can. Even better when you add fungi/jboots to the mix. You charm one then attack another, and when it breaks charm your former target and attack old pet. Rinse repeat break them both before dying and just keep going. Add in dots to help them die faster, especially when you start getting chant dots. I second getting a goblin gazughi ring I was lazy and relied on hide or tried to time it out but looking back I’d get the ring for sure for insta charm breaks.

This will take you to 50 with ease, 50+ is a different ball game and you gotta get more creative for leveling spots solo but grouping is an option I just don’t play long enough in one sitting to deal with groups.

[Legidias]

Alternatively to invis break, when they get low you charm the ones thats lower (under 20%) and bard slow the higher HP one, and balancing slow with dots on only the high hp one usually ends up with both breaking at like 10% hp, which is easy to finish off since they're now running. This takes a bit of practice to get a feel for when you should slow / dot (and stop doing it at low hp) but its just as effective to get the mobs to break charm at very low HP %.

[Issar]

When I was playing, the first thing I did with my bard was make my /stopcasting /cast 1-8 macros. I also set them up on action bar 4(?) and bound those keys to my mmo mouse. I would typically use keys 1-5 on my keyboard and anything beyond that generally is pressed on the side keys of the mouse. Comes in handy to have them all bound though, when you're trying to poor a cocktail and kite/play at the same time.

[Hyperbole]

I will be lucky to get past 30 lvl tbh. I also don't care about epics. :)

I just wanted to see if anyone could provide info I was unaware of and Fastboy gave me plenty of useful info. The main poster in raid threads, folks.

[Lhancelot]

The main poster in raid threads, folks.

Stalking me around the forums now I see? I realize I made you mad earlier in RnF but this section is to help others on specific classes.

I never played a bard on Live or p99 past mid 30s, my lack of deep knowledge of the bard class has nothing to do with my constructive criticism of the raid scene here.

If you want to troll, bring it to me in RnF where trashy comments are accepted, not here.

Thanks to those who provided tips here for me and anyone else that might want to bard better!

[Hyperbole]

I just want attention really.

Lol, we know.

[Jimjam]

When I was playing, the first thing I did with my bard was make my /stopcasting /cast 1-8 macros. I also set them up on action bar 4(?) and bound those keys to my mmo mouse. I would typically use keys 1-5 on my keyboard and anything beyond that generally is pressed on the side keys of the mouse. Comes in handy to have them all bound though, when you're trying to poor a cocktail and kite/play at the same time.

For AoE damage spells, you may also consider

/stop
/pause x, /cast n
/stop

The advantage is it ensures you don't run around singing damage and get killed by non aggro high level NPCs, the disadvantage is the /pause/stop combo can break your rhythm if you get a skipped note.

[Lhancelot]

For AoE damage spells, you may also consider

/stop
/pause x, /cast n
/stop

The advantage is it ensures you don't run around singing damage and get killed by non aggro high level NPCs, the disadvantage is the /pause/stop combo can break your rhythm if you get a skipped note.

I created macros like this.

/stopcast
/cast 1

This seemed to run songs really smooth making it so then I only had to tap each song once. I didn't add a pause in, is it really needed?

I decided I can't play bard the class is too busy on the fingers/wrist and I rather not contract carpal tunnel's syndrome. Even when simplifying the twisting, macros are a huge help - it's just too much for me.

I only add to this thread in case someone makes or has a bard and can use the tips given here.

[Jimjam]

/stop
/cast 1

stops any song you are singing

starts a new song

It's a great way to have a bunch of hotkeys to conveniently weave together. What I suggested was different, and really specific for AoE aggro so you don't upset otherwise neutral NPCs (the classic lvl 2 AoE DoT on city guards example).

/stop
/pause n cast 1
/stop

stops any song you might be singing
starts casting a (damage) song
stops the song again after the stated time

What this does is let you do one pulse of the AoE then automatically stop it, ergo ensuring you don't leave it on while running to the vendors/guards.

Does that make more sense?

[Lhancelot]

/stop
/cast 1

stops any song you are singing

starts a new song

It's a great way to have a bunch of hotkeys to conveniently weave together. What I suggested was different, and really specific for AoE aggro so you don't upset otherwise neutral NPCs (the classic lvl 2 AoE DoT on city guards example).

/stop
/pause n cast 1
/stop

stops any song you might be singing
starts casting a (damage) song
stops the song again after the stated time

What this does is let you do one pulse of the AoE then automatically stop it, ergo ensuring you don't leave it on while running to the vendors/guards.

Does that make more sense?

Yes. Makes sense good tip thank you Jimjam.

[Jimjam]

Great, if that makes sense to you, hopefully it makes sense to any young, up and coming bards of the future too!

[Arkanjil]

I’m a subscriber to the melee bard in group, depending on the situation. Switch in your instrument in for the particular song. With decent weapons/haste, you might not do good damage, but it adds up. If your in a caster heavy group, strict mana songs makes sense. If you play your class well, you’ll be too busy pulling/charming/CCing/buffing to be too concerned with instrument vs melee. I switch my style depending on the group.

I’ve also had my epic for so long, I barely recall my adventures before it. But, I’ve always enjoyed meleeing when it made sense, which was usually in more melee heavy groups. The breath of Harmony clicks for 5 songs was always fun for vanity purposes too.

Love the bard play style, it’s always been my favorite. Enjoy the ride!

[Troxx]

Bard melee dps is trash. Take it from a 60 bard but with non-NTOV weapons you're looking at 10-16dps fully buffed with enchanter haste. It's just not worth it 99% of the time when grouping. With epic and NToV weapons + 41% haste you're looking at a cap of ~40dps (high end estimate). A 50+ warrior with reasonable (buyable) gear will still beat that by 20-30%. Point is, from level 50 onward the best benefit you can give the group is by not meleeing. That sucks, but it's the truth. 50+ the best bards never equip weapons unless in that exceptional group that didn't need all the other perks bards bring to the table. 50+ the best bards never equip weapons. If the group composition favors your melee contribution ... that's a group that never needed you and would be better without ya ;)

TLDR: bard melee dps is ass. If you your dps 'helps' they didn't need you as a bard to begin with. For all others, put the weapons away and contribute.

PS: Bard melee dps sucks. It blows. If you want to maximize your personal dps it involves dropping group songs for dots. If you find yourself doing that for your group - your group was better off without you.

PPS: use your instruments.

[Legidias]

Or be pro OCD and melee while swapping weaps at cast time =D

[Terrel]

I'm not clear on what you're trying to say, Troxx ;>

Let's post a hypothetical or two:

Scenario 1:

You're a 60 bard with epic in a melee heavy group; you have a 21 lute and a 23 horn. You can melee or instrument, and in the group you're in, you're twisting Cantana, Niv's Melody of Preservation, McVaxius Rousing Rondo (MRR), and Psalm of Warmth. For the sake of argument, you have a chanter who is doing the cc, so no worries about that.

With the appropriate instruments swapped in you're, providing 44 points of regen for everyone, str buff of 44 points, about 82 attack, 31 points of damage shield, 70 CR, 6 AC, and mana regen of 12.

With epic, you're providing 37 regen, str buff of 37 points, 64 attack, 27 points of DS, while the CR, AC, and mana regen remain the same. Your dps is about 18.

Double check my math, but it looks like you're trading 7 health regen (1 hps, roughly), 7 str points, 18 attack points, and 4 points of damage shield for 18 dps. So the question becomes, which of the two is more valuable to the group?

Interested in everyone's thoughts.

Scenario 2:
Raid group, melee types. You're there for resists and buffs, so you twist the appropriate resist songs, MRR, maybe Composition of Erjav. Group's resists are maxed at 255 whether you use epic or instrument. Might as well melee in that scenario, no? Your 18 dps is going towards downing the raid mob that much quicker without much tradeoff.

Again, interested in thoughts, agree or disagree.

Thansk!

[Troxx]

Bard with epic is a completely different scenario. 1.8 mod on epic with a worthwhile proc makes it with using, but still understand that your melee dps will be garbage

[applesauce25r624]

Troxx knows what's up. Bard melee always sucks major balls. A lack of double attack makes things horrible. Just dot mobs if you have time to spare on dps'ing.

Even then it might even be better to just spam mana pulses, especially if your group has nukers

[Saludeen]

Sit quietly and get into a deep trance and try to summon Suif