Newbie questions on Bard stuff

[Tetsulunathaya]

Hello everyone!

Played several years ago for a while, and rejoined when I for some reason checked the site and noticed addition of new classes. Just have a few questions.

1) So far from my experience, I can't see ANY usefulness in Bard songs. The lower level ones i've had a chance to use dont seem to work (or are completely trumped by other classes abilities), and while some of the higher ones seem cool, are they worth not taking another class over bard?

2) The bard prime song (Dance of the Seven Luck Gods) seems awesome at first glance, but there isn't much explaination on the use of it. Do I understand correctly that the bard has to be singing in the room when a mob respawns for it to work? Seems like thats a lot of trouble for it to work (especially with agressive mobs), and just wouldn't work in any sort of group situation. Also since some areas dont respawn until the area is empty (well, at least they didn't when i used to play), theres another downside, if you cant use it in any of those areas.

3) Is there any way to see what your Charisma rating is? And what effects does charisma and such actually have on songs? Are the +charisma items really worth using?

4) Is most of the equipment on the EQ list correct now, regarding requirements? Just wondering about some of the W M T C [AND] items, do they still require levels in all the original classes, or has this changed at all?

Well, thanks in advance for any responses! If theres any need for a newbie bard in any group, dont hesitate to get ahold of me in game!

Laters.

[blackmore]

[quote]1) So far from my experience, I can't see ANY usefulness in Bard songs. The lower level ones i've had a chance to use dont seem to work (or are completely trumped by other classes abilities), and while some of the higher ones seem cool, are they worth not taking another class over bard?[/quote]

It's all a matter of opinion. There are quite a few bard songs I never use, but then again there's quite a few mage and cleric spells I never use either. There's about 5 - 7 songs I use all the time, otherwise I don't even remember their names. Whether the songs, plus the various skills and the spells that bards get are worth taking over another class is up to you.

[quote]
2) The bard prime song (Dance of the Seven Luck Gods) seems awesome at first glance, but there isn't much explaination on the use of it. Do I understand correctly that the bard has to be singing in the room when a mob respawns for it to work? Seems like thats a lot of trouble for it to work (especially with agressive mobs), and just wouldn't work in any sort of group situation. Also since some areas dont respawn until the area is empty (well, at least they didn't when i used to play), theres another downside, if you cant use it in any of those areas.
[/quote]
All your thoughts are true. It depends on your style of play and what you're trying to do. Since I solo a lot, and do a lot of autoquests, it works well for me. If you don't like to sit around and do other stuff, you'd rather run hard all the time, then you'll have problems.

[quote]
3) Is there any way to see what your Charisma rating is? And what effects does charisma and such actually have on songs? Are the +charisma items really worth using?
[/quote]
It's in score stats with the other bonus affects you get. What it's for is it makes it more difficult for mobs to make their save. It doesn't have any affect on most of the songs (7 luck gods, march of the heroes, gods of war, dreams of the castle), but it does have an affect on some. For instance, if cry does 200hps of damage, and wind does 300hps - but you have a high enough charisma that mobs never make their save against cry - then you do more damage with cry than with wind.

[quote]
4) Is most of the equipment on the EQ list correct now, regarding requirements? Just wondering about some of the W M T C [AND] items, do they still require levels in all the original classes, or has this changed at all?
[/quote]
The items with a * were verified to be correct at some point - but I've heard that more changes to restricts have taken place. I update the restricts as I get them, but there haven't been any major updates to that in a long time.

[Ender]

[quote="Tetsulunathaya":151eor1o]1) So far from my experience, I can't see ANY usefulness in Bard songs. The lower level ones i've had a chance to use dont seem to work (or are completely trumped by other classes abilities), and while some of the higher ones seem cool, are they worth not taking another class over bard?[/quote:151eor1o]
Bards are insanely cool in groups at higher levels. Gods of War is about +10 damage for as many people as your charisma allows you to affect. Considering most of them have multiple attacks, in large groups this can be better than firewind.

[quote="Tetsulunathaya":151eor1o]2) The bard prime song (Dance of the Seven Luck Gods) seems awesome at first glance, but there isn't much explaination on the use of it. Do I understand correctly that the bard has to be singing in the room when a mob respawns for it to work? Seems like thats a lot of trouble for it to work (especially with agressive mobs), and just wouldn't work in any sort of group situation. Also since some areas dont respawn until the area is empty (well, at least they didn't when i used to play), theres another downside, if you cant use it in any of those areas.[/quote:151eor1o]
Can be useful when cycling if used in conjuntion with Spirit Watcher and Lloyds Beacon. If you're an equipment hound, may be useful.

[quote="Tetsulunathaya":151eor1o]3) Is there any way to see what your Charisma rating is? And what effects does charisma and such actually have on songs? Are the +charisma items really worth using?[/quote:151eor1o]
Higher charisma allows you to affect more people with your songs. Very worth it if you're in a group. Not sure if score stat shows this or not...

[quote="Tetsulunathaya":151eor1o]4) Is most of the equipment on the EQ list correct now, regarding requirements? Just wondering about some of the W M T C [AND] items, do they still require levels in all the original classes, or has this changed at all?[/quote:151eor1o]
The equipment list is fairly up to date. Unfortunately there's a lot of equipment that's still restricted to the original classes.

Can tell you that many serious bards have rocketed up the who list, while those that have it as a forth class have trouble with it in groups since they have fairly weak songs and can't affect as many people. Instruments can also help some in this regard though.

[Avatar]

"Can tell you that many serious bards have rocketed up the who list, while those that have it as a forth class have trouble with it in groups since they have fairly weak songs and can't affect as many people. Instruments can also help some in this regard though."

This has more to do with time spent playing and the groups joined than the abilities of the class.

Anyway, I think Bard is very useful because it has a nice mix and match of spells and skills. If you're considering a classo with no mage or cleric class, Bard can give you a lot of the generally useful spells. If you're considering a classo with no warrior or thief, then bard can give you some useful skills.

[blackmore]

Bards are not solo characters, so it has everything to do with the groups they've (we've) joined. Also, I don't think you can count Taliesin's progress as "rocketing", unless if it's in reference to a Nerf rocket, or maybe a bottle rocket shot through a vat of jello.

[Ender]

I guess I can clarify that...

Bards seem to be group focused, though looking at their skill list a few times, I can see why I might want to have them as a 4th class if I'm playing an unusual classo. Their skillset includes some of the most utilitarian skills of the war/thi/mag/cle classes.

In groups, they are quickly becoming as important as the tank and healo. If you have a group of 4 people, you can figure that they have ~8 attacks. Adding a bard in the group increases the damage/round by up to 80 in this instance (which is ~ 4 massacre attacks), and that's before you consider any damage the bard himself is doing.

Outside of battle, the group needs to regen. Bard is again very handy with the Dreams song. This helps get the group up and going again. In the worst instance, if a character dies, the bard can't raise them, but he can make it really hard for them to shock when they are raised.

As an equipment hound, bards have a very impressive arsenal. Luck gods has limitations, but if you plant a spirit watcher, it will tell you when the mob is about to repop. You can then walk/gate/beacon back and be singing when the mob repops. For rare pops, this could cut your time cycling considerably.

Having bard as a fourth class has the same limitations as anything in your 4th class. Generally, it's several levels behind in terms of skills, effectiveness, etc. This isn't to say it's weak, but in a large group Brothers in Arms (Lvl is simply not as powerful as Gods of War (Lvl 29).

As far as rocketing up... of course not everyone does. However, since a bard's primarily focus is groups, they tend to be welcome in them, especially those of the XP variety.

[Tetsulunathaya]

Thanks so much for the advice and insight.

slowly figuring out how to work the stuff and what it will actually do, though still lost on some. Only time will tell I suppose.

Thanks again!!