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.

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.

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

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)

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.