Bard Defense Question

[leFuZz]

Hey all,

I'm 37 right now on my bard, and I feel like blue-con mobs tear me apart when I let them melee me. It didn't seem so bad in my 20s, but I felt that way the past several levels. Most of my leveling is either kiting or grouping, but I didn't really neglect my defense or dodge skills, and I have banded or better in every slot.

Is this just a phase of the game where mobs hit a little harder? This happened most recently with succulents and sarnaks in OT.

[Doctor Jeff]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems as though you have just leveled into Kunark.

Kunark and Velious mobs have much higher health pools and deal more damage than Classic mobs.

This could be what you are encountering.

This is a progression game, but the mobs don't wait around for you to progress, they do so on their own.
As you level you gain higher skill caps and therefor are stronger, but if you do not also advance your gear, you will still suffer.

Banded armor provides little protection at level 37.

[Tupakk]

Yeah they hit harder. If your soloing you shouldn't be face tanking . If your grouping and want to tank you need to slow them down and drop their AC. EVEN THEN your not really a tank so you are really just a meat Shield, til the tank tags back in or you die or they die.

Best thing to do to get aggro off you is to get yourself a symphonic saber.

[Troxx]

Bards have reasonable AC but lack a lot on those secondary skills. Dodge caps low. Parry caps extra low at 75 and isn't available until 53. Riposte is achieved even later in the game and caps at 75 also. On top of that, bard hp pools are low compared to warriors and Knights.

Having said that, in good gear they actually tank decently. Aggro lock is simple, and before the mob is even in camp you can have it preslowed by22/23% to 35% depending on your level AND the real slower (if you have one) can slow very early in the fight without taking any hits.

Bards make stellar tanks on more trivial content. On moderate content they can manage without too many problems. In higher end content their defensive weaknesses start to show more obviously ... And on the hardest group able content they really don't hold up that well.

The vast majority of Everquest grouping content is a game of balanced attrition. In those scenarios you potentially save the healer mana with preslows (20-35% is a lot) and fast real slows where aggro doesn't bounce around.

[leFuZz]

I'm only taking hits to keep skills up at this point.

I also noticed I'm getting a lot more resists with tougher mobs. Should I be trying to get +cha gear at this point too?

[Borak]

Let's face it, there are tons of enchanters on p99 also, so odds are you will group with one often. When you do, remember that your defense, while not the greatest, is a HELL of a lot better than the enchanter's. With that in mind, twist in the lvl20 AE slow, Largo's Melodic Binding, with your other songs. This song will not break enchanter mez, and what it does is ensure that when the mobs wake up, they go for you rather than the cloth-wearing chanter.