Question - Bard newb questions

[andrewsmith60]

I've always been interested in the idea of playing a bard. I have zero clue on the mechanics of how they play. I've seen other play and do some pretty cool things with them. Here are a very of the questions I have about bards.

1. Bard kiting: is this easy enough to set up?
2. How hard is it to do in later zones as opposed to older one
3. Is it possible on a non subbed account
4. Can it work on all mobs not just humanoid?

Sorry for my lack of knowledge hoping I can get some guidance and finally try to take a Bard for a spin and advice whether related to the above topic or just helpful Bard things you know will be much appreciated.

 

[knave23]

To my knowledge bard kiting, at least in the heyday form I assume you mean, got nerfed out of existence a while back. The main thing I know of is they made the bard AOE songs only hit stationary targets so you can’t even kite singles anymore

 

[Redmonkey]

I've always been interested in the idea of playing a bard. I have zero clue on the mechanics of how they play. I've seen other play and do some pretty cool things with them. Here are a very of the questions I have about bards.

1. Bard kiting: is this easy enough to set up?
2. How hard is it to do in later zones as opposed to older one
3. Is it possible on a non subbed account
4. Can it work on all mobs not just humanoid?

Sorry for my lack of knowledge hoping I can get some guidance and finally try to take a Bard for a spin and advice whether related to the above topic or just helpful Bard things you know will be much appreciated.

I tried a Bard once. Don't even remember which account he is on anymore. Others say they are the best.

So all I can really answer is #3 - you can play as if you were all access on test server free

 

[durango773]

Bard kiting was nerfed like 18 years ago, its a logarithmic drop based on distance from the mob, IE if you are not in melee range, it drops VERY fast. Not sure why your asking about bard kiting, why not make a group? Way faster... Solo play all classes are slow past 70, bard is one of the slower ones.

 

[519helvis]

personally bard is the foundation for any group i make ... there utility is light years ahead of any other class. like @durango773 said if you wanna bard and use RG, make a whole group its way more fun than solo anyway !!!!

 

[Kerbz66]

I've always been interested in the idea of playing a bard. I have zero clue on the mechanics of how they play. I've seen other play and do some pretty cool things with them. Here are a very of the questions I have about bards.

1. Bard kiting: is this easy enough to set up?
2. How hard is it to do in later zones as opposed to older one
3. Is it possible on a non subbed account
4. Can it work on all mobs not just humanoid?

Sorry for my lack of knowledge hoping I can get some guidance and finally try to take a Bard for a spin and advice whether related to the above topic or just helpful Bard things you know will be much appreciated.

Bard is the Gerber utility knife of EQ, they have some utility to offer in almost any situation (except rezzing)
Overhaste, regen, insane run speed, caster and melee support, S-tier pulling, AC boost and DS for tanks, proc songs for good damage boosts, double invis instant cast AA... The list goes on and on truly

1. Bard kiting really isn't a thing anymore on current live servers, to my knowledge is was also nerfed into being useless on most TLP servers as well.
2. Your next best option to bard AOE kiting is what's called "reverse charm kiting" but it's hard to pull off and inefficient in most places. (It can't be done effectively at low levels)
3. Bard doesn't have too much dependency on gear outside of wanting the highest instrument modifiers possible, so yes most things are possible on a non-subbed bard (Highly recommend Gold for 1 month for auto-granted AA)
4. Since we've established that bard kiting is kind of dead, it seems to me like you're looking for a true solo class. I'd highly suggest looking into Necromancer or Shadowknight, save yourself a ton of stress in the long run

In summary, you should absolutely play a bard. Just know that they are a top tier support, both in melee and caster oriented groups. The good old days of seeing 40 to 50 mobs all melt down behind you as you run and laugh are long gone.
Personally I like to lean into the crowd control and melee support role that bard is known for. In population dense servers you have no trouble finding groups if you wish.
The upside is you also get a super fast, double invis'd (regular and IvU) amazingly useful character to explore and enjoy the game with.

 

[andrewsmith60]

Is the bard usable with the free ini listed in the library or would I need a paid mq2bard type program for it to be worthwhile

 

[Kerbz66]

Is the bard usable with the free ini listed in the library or would I need a paid mq2bard type program for it to be worthwhile

Yes, however I run the bard and shaman almost fully automated in my 5 box team with RGMercs, it's included with level 2 membership and the support for it has been really good, I would highly recommend giving it a try.
The bard took a bit of tweaking in the RGMercs settings to run exactly how I like it, but now it's smooth sailing. I did try her with KissAssist for a bit, but found the process of customizing things frustrating.
with RGMercs my bard will assist the SK at 97% target health and sing her full melody (which you can customize), only stopping to sleep/mezz adds if I pull extras with the tank, then she's right back to assisting.
Picked monk and beastlord dps for this team, I run both semi-automated with out of the box KissAssist (no custom ini) and custom hotkey overlays for rotation control / spam bar / burn control.

I'm sure a more advanced thing like MQ2bard would give you much more / different tuning options, just sharing what has working for me so far. Hope this is helpful

 

[andrewsmith60]

Yes that is very helpful. Once I get back to level 2 I'll try rgmerc. I've only ever used kisdassist. Is that program pretty user friendly. I'm no coder by any means lol

 

[zarroth]

As stated, the AE kiting via dots days of bards are long over. You *can* do charms though. Charm one mob, have it fight 3-4 others, break charm when it gets low then use the single target dots to finish it off after charming a new mob to keep the others occupied. Rinse and repeat. Swarm kiting still works, but they also nerfed the range on the song so you have to be in melee range of the mob to charm it. You can still do it once you get used to the rhythm of a well timed mez, then charm as your run past with the others in tow. Takes a bit to get used to, but works great once you do. However, if you're going to use MQ, might as well play a group and be done with it.

 

[Redmonkey]

Yes that is very helpful. Once I get back to level 2 I'll try rgmerc. I've only ever used kisdassist. Is that program pretty user friendly. I'm no coder by any means lol

You now have enough reds to go buy level 2.

But you will need to put forth some effort to keep level 2.

Buy it in the Red Cent shop (upper right corner of this window). .

How to keep getting these Red Cents? Contribute to the forums with tips, or helpful strategys, funny, or other posts You don't need to do coding or create stuff. When you make a post then others read it and if they like it they give you red cents. Remember it only takes 50 for a free month.

While you are level 2 then you also can hand out Red Cents - perhaps to those who have helped you here? Just click the red cent icon on their post. That will give you and them reds. You can red cent other posts 4 x a day. Another way to keep up your 50.

Hope you enjoy your Bard!

 

[RobRenfro]

I was slow to come around to Bards but once I used one for a while they became my CC of choice. I'll leave it there because others are much more knowledgeable than me on the mechanics of a Bard.

 

[Crypl]

Yes that is very helpful. Once I get back to level 2 I'll try rgmerc. I've only ever used kisdassist. Is that program pretty user friendly. I'm no coder by any means lol

Kissassist is not necessarily the most friendly, but it does have an entire library of prebuilt scripts for about every 5 levels of character advancement. So even if you aren't a coder you can grab the scripts from the library and modify them to fit your needs.

And the community here is wonderful. We can help you through a lot of it if you are struggling.