Bard help
 

Made a bard today, but really i have no idea how to play them. Anything for tips and tricks? Like song weaving or whatever its called. Much appreciated!

Twisting? Uhh it's pretty simple.. you start one song, and then as soon as it lands you stop it and start another. Should have no problem keeping 3 or 4 up at a time. You get your first ae dot at 2 and selos at 5 so while you can technically start ae kiting then you might want to wait until 18 when you get your second ae dot and your selos is a little faster. Purchase a Drum, a Mandolin, and a Horn from the bard guild as these instrument often modify the songs that correspond with their abilities.

Dont you need instruments to play most songs though?
Yea, newb question

Instruments only increase a song's effective, there are only a few songs that actually require an instrument to play.

A bard is unlike any other class in EQ. Their "spells" are songs, all songs have the same cast time, a few songs use mana (most don't), and some songs require a certain instrument to play while many can be played "singing" but are more effective when using the appropriate instrument. The level 5 speed song is an example of this - it is much faster with a drum than without.

A bard solos just as well as any melee up into the teens. Their strategy must start changing (as with most classes) when approaching level 20. You can look into AoE kiting at this point.

In groups Bards play regen, snare (best snare in game), slow, debuff, mana regen, lull, speed, tracking, dps, mezz. The central play-style of a Bard is adapting to the situation by using appropriate songs. It is very easy to gauge the skill of a bard because to be a good bard you must be very observant and react quickly to what's going on. Tread lightly if you wish to master this class.

The function of a bard increases each level as you get a new song every level (instead of spell levels). So as you level you have more ability to adapt to situations. This not only increases your utility in a group but opens you up to more solo methods.

Most songs don't require instruments. The Levitate, Invisibility, and Group-Dispell songs (3 total) require instruments in order to work, but that's about it. There are many songs that are associated with an instrument because using an instrument to play the song doubles the song's effectiveness. So, if you use a drum while playing selo's accelerando, you go twice as fast, but if you don't use a drum, the song still works - you just don't speed up as much. However, if you're wielding a non-flute while trying to use the group-invis song, for example, you'll get a message to the effect of "this song requires a wind instrument". Hope that helps.

PS: only a few things can modify "singing"-type songs - there's no instrument associated with singing, but the Bard epic makes "singing" more effective.

edit: someone already posted it.

Make sure to add your primary and secondary slots onto your hotbar, as well as the bag you keep your instruments in. That will make swapping instruments and weapons infinitely easier!

Hmm I'm pretty sure this only works this way if you're using an instrument with a skill modifier of 20, and for each 1 point of modifier higher it equates to a 10% increase in effectiveness. I.e. Selos with a Mistemoore battle drums (modifier 21) is actually 110% faster than with no drum. Selos with naggy drum (modifier 24) is actually 140% faster than with no drum.

I was just giving a basic explanation. Obviously I know how modifiers actually work - have a little faith :p

This all helps, would you say Bard is one of the harder classes to play or no?