Bard Melee and Instrument Swapping?

[sacman08]

Originally Posted by Logansrun [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Looking for some advice as a newbie bard.

When grouping, should I be melee-ing or just twisting songs with instruments?

A follow-up question being, what is the most effective way to swap your weapons/instruments on the fly?

In a six man group, you’ll always end up meleeing: either as a tank or as support melee to the main tank. Why? We get a lot of tank abilities so we should melee because we are built that way. At the same time you’ll be asked to twist songs as needed too. To be honest Bard is the most busy class I have ever played. I rarely talk to the group with my bard because I use one hand to twist songs, the other to move around or click with the mouse. You’ll need to hot button your songs or get use to alt -# them. Hot key assists and targeting next NPC too.
As for swapping, get a Bard UI from eqinterface, it needs to be OOW compatible. It will have open slots for you primary/secondary so you can swap with mouse clicks without needing to open your inventory.

[Keebz]

Originally Posted by Troxx [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Well I can honestly tell you my 60 bard doesn’t put out half the dps of my 60 warrior in comparable gear. He doesn’t even put out half the dps of my comparably geared 60 paladin.

Be that as it may, OP is talking about leveling a bard, so I'm trying to frame the discussion around the general case while leveling. Thus I don't think the anecdata about your lvl 60's comparative DPS is particularly relevant. Moreover, wrt the skillcaps, until 51+ there is no difference, and it is clear the OP is not 51+.

[Razaz]

Bards offense caps at 200 pre 50 compared to 210 or more on other melee. No double attack, parry, riposte, kicks or bashes either.

So there is a clear difference in skills and skillcaps before 50 that hinder bards melee effectiveness.

[Snaggles]

Maybe my own expectations of bards aren’t high because I don’t play one. In general it’s the same as any other class:

Fulfil the role you were called to fulfil.

1. Don’t be lazy: Meet the basic requirements for having a pulse. Don’t go AFK for 20 mins with clarity playing. If replacing a chanter you should do C, haste and spot mez. The rest is bonus (imho). Melee or don’t, it won’t change how I do my job. Again, maybe I’m in the minority but I don’t care what you are doing in-excess of that stuff.

2. Don’t be ambitiously dangerous: Same goes with any other class. Don’t try and be too clever and wipe the Group is the obvious golden rule. If you are trying to weave 4-5 songs while meleeing but haste and C is constantly dropping or you miss some mezzes time to slow it down. If the healer is falling asleep at the wheel don’t try to impress people and die in the process because it could kill everyone as a result.

3. Don’t tell other people what they are doing wrong unless you are perfect. Generally don’t be annoying unless it’s dire to everyone surviving.

4. Don’t brag about what you are doing. Weaving songs, what your backstabs are hitting for, etc. Just stfu and play. It’s an expansion of #3. Just don’t make a 8 hr grind group feel like it’s 16 hrs.

If meleeing helps you don’t go crazy in a grind group and doesn’t impact your primary role, imho, have fun. It’s a game. Just don’t think it’s making much of a difference. Not like forgetting to mez stuff.

[AlgebraTheBard]

I mained a bard in live server before LoDN, I would say a bard benefiting the group with our songs than our crappy melee output, since we can keep at most 5 songs running (assuming a melee/caster balanced group) - haste, slow, snare DoT/CC, regen, mana song. However, I seldom swap instruments cause of the comparably short fight time.

and I always stand between melees and casters, so mana song hits most members.