Newb Bard

[Nuncio]

So I'm a newb at playing a bard, never had before.

I've been trying to kite, and I just don't get it. My ae dot doesn't do anything, because I'm too fast with selos to hit em with it, they are always just out of range. If I turn around backwards to run to be slow enough, they then hit me.

Tips, pls.

[quido]

What level are you? The level 2 AE has an extremely short range, but the level 18 AE has like double the range - makes it a lot easier.

I like to just tag stuff with drum+selos and then to kill it I do selos without drum and instead just keep up whatever instrument applies to whatever AE song you're using. A lot of people run small circles to stay close to their pulls, but I personally like to just run around in an open/flat field and intermittently joust close to the pack and hit em with the AE.

[Nuncio]

Only level 15. Ill keep leveling the same way I have until 18, then. Appreciate the help!

[abazaba]

IIRC lvl 18 AOE dot is 35 range and lvl 2 AOE dot is 30 range. If you are just starting to learn bard AE, those 5 units make a world of difference. At 15 selo's does 30% run speed(sleo's=15+lvl .. 65% max) without a drum which is plenty fast. If you are mouse turning, being only slightly faster than mobs works best because: low speed = larger circles = less mouse movement = less mouse stutter/jump when someone enters the zone. At higher lvls you can hit walk and selo's to get the right speed.

For mouse turning:
Lets say you want to turn left for the circle. Hold Rmouse button, hold W and D, tap T(hotkey for /tell), release W and D. This locks down strafe running and lets you twist easily.

Make sure you have good connection (not wireless) with low ping. If you have >=4gig ram, make a ramdisk with the trimmed down EQ folder http://www.project1999.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7186.

Good luck and try not to hog all the mobs [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Nuncio]

I don't think I'll need to make a ramdisk for it, though I could. Pretty sure my video card has enough RAM to hold an entire zones models and textures many times over.
I average about 58ms ping to p99red, is that good enough?

I will give your tips a try soon, thanks guys.

[abazaba]

58ms will be fine for it. The ramdisk is mainly eliminating any unaccounted for lag due to disk read/writes. If you are running EQ from a SSD then a ramdisk probably isn't needed. Mob reach is unforgiving, so every advantage helps.

[Trinidy]

Dont feel too bad about not being able to kite. I have been trying to kite from lvl 10, im lvl 18 now and still cannot figure it out. My circles are either to small or to big, and I end up dying. After de leveling 3 times i just figured im not cut out to aoe kite. ill just wait until i can charm.

[Lazortag]

You don't need selo's to ae kite (except maybe for gathering the mobs in the first place), you can just strafe run. It's a lot less tiring.

[Froglok]

Practice more

Try to recognize landmarks you run near to gauge the correct circle size for running

If you zoom out all the way and angle the camera to look down from above you, maybe 45 degrees off level, while circling left you should just barely see the names/bodies of the kite targets to know they are in range of the dot.

Listen to the walking sound, sometimes you can tell if they are getting too close by how loud the footsteps are, try using headphones to hear it precisely. I've died many times and just know when I hear the certain sound level, I'm about to get hit and hit the jump button to get that slight distance.

This has served me well in my attempts using the lv 2 dot while kiting around at lv 9-10, then I just said fuck it and went to crushbone and powered through lv 15 in groups. I imagine it's a hell of a lot easier with the lv18 dot and plan on going back to aoe kiting then.

[zanderklocke]

As weird as this sounds, the best way for me to tell how close I was to my mobs in my circle when I was scrolled out from first person mode via mouse was to look straight down at the ground from above so I could only see my character and the ground. This seemed to cut back on lag, and I could usually see mobs just in the corner of my computer screen. Once I saw the mobs in the corner of my computer screen, I knew I was close enough in range to hit them with the AE dot.* I just twisted selo's and dot over and over, and I only kept drum equipped when gathering mobs, otherwise always the horn.

I'm only able to AE kite in a counter clockwise circle (I'm like Zoolander and can't turn left.). Once you figure out what works best for you, just keep repeating. I think kiting with mouse works best, but your wrist will get sore. Practice with like 1 or 2 mobs, so you can take a hit and recover.

You'll get it eventually.

*Note: Using this method meant I could not see what was in front of me in the direction I was running. Therefore, I had to find a spot I knew well that did not have roaming mobs. Most zones that can be kited have spots that no mobs wander through; find these spots.