Opinion - bard or shaman for solo play
 

Hi P99 Family,

I'm suffering from a bad case of alt-itis. I'm a filthy casual (I'm old with a family / kids now) and typically play in 30 to 60 minute sessions.

I got psyched about a bard and got to 13 or 14. Swarm kiting is fun, but I find myself doubting the ability of the bard to farm named camps etc. I also kind of miss my (now naked) lvl 17 shaman that I gave up to start down the alt-path-of-doom.

I enjoy being able to buff other plays easily and have never given alchemy a try. I'm assuming there's good cash in it for SOW pots etc.

Any opinions on bard vs shaman for limited solo play?

Thanks,

Panda

Sounds like you just want to play a shaman. A bard is super limited in farming high end stuff solo where as a shaman is the second, or in some cases the first, best class for it.

The main difference is a bard with 10k worth of gear can do 99% of the same things as a bard with the best gear available. On the other hand a shaman with 10k in gear will be substantially weaker than a shaman with epic/torpor which require ~200k or some luck.

High level Bard can sell PL's naked besides instruments and make a ton of money, shaman is a "spend money to make money" class.

Thanks for the input / info, especially on later levels. I never played either class during live so I'm not overly familiar with them.

Judging from what you want, play shaman. Just be aware that to solo endgame stuff requires a large plat investment at later levels.

I think that's where I'm leaning. I honestly am not even sure if I'll get to the endgame with work / kid as factors. But I would like to enjoy the journey.

Thanks for weighing in.

In the same boat as these are the only 2 classes I've never really played. I think what it comes down to is, do you really want to have to constantly weave songs? I started a bard and my fingers are already hurting at lvl 4 only weaving 2 songs.

shaman

If you are going to go back to your shaman do it soon before your selo's starts getting fast and you start getting used to it...

SoW will feel like crawling on your hands and knees.

You assume wrong. Due to there being more sellers than demand, returns tend to be marginal at best. Most folks sell blood of the wolf potions for not much above cost. As with most any tradeskill you'll probably spend more leveling it than you'll ever make from sales. If you do alchemy, do it for personal use.

In general I regard the Shaman as a platinum destination class rather than as a moneymaker.

It's P99 and we're in Velious forever. There's no rush. No reason you can't play both. Play the Shaman when you want to do Shaman things, play the Bard when you feel like running in circles. Over time your preference should manifest itself.

Danth

Not true, after Chardok comes out the server will be a ghost town in anticipation of green.

In accordance with the prophecy forum villain Jimjam has finally been imprisoned for his crimes, and so the Chardok patch is ready to be implemented, heralding the coming of green.