On Thu, 6 Jan 2000, Steven S. Klug wrote:
> All of these add up to a class, that when over 38th level becomes a magic resist buffing mana pump.
I'm going to disagree with you, and go through our songs to show that they
are, on the whole, just as effective before as after 38, in many
circumstances.
Buffings songs are givens: Chant of Battle, Warsong, Anthem replaced by
McVaxius, Celerity, Verses. When nothing else to sing, boost stats.
Jig of Vigor for that tired SK who can barely lift his 2h sword after
fighting 3 undead frogloks to finish the fourth.
Lyssa's Locating Lyric for when you feel like helping younger players, and
for when corpses oddly vanish.
Accelerando for travel.
Hymn of Restoration I will often mix with Clarity at a ratio of 1:3
(counting messages). A warrior who's only a bubble down on health,
sitting waiting for the next pull, or an enchanter who took a few hits, no
need to waste the cleric's (or druid/shaman's for that matter) hard-medded
mana when a few button pushes and a few seconds is all it takes (restoring
~50hp over the duration of 1 pulse).
Lament for pulling. Pool room Solusek B, I use it liberally to break up
spawns, to pull singles so I don't have to deal with needing crowd control
and instead can buff or debuff.
Rhythms and psalms for resistances, damage shield is negligible.
Charismatic Carillon to complete quests or raise/lower prices.
Bellow lasted at most 8 levels for me. Someone said long ago that there
will come a time in every bard's life they put bellow aside for a more
effective song. Having heard that before reaching level 12, I was
strongly aware of just how ineffective the bardic kick becomes when
measured against what could be sung instead.
Cataloging Libretto for the new quests. Most recent use was to identify
which Rune of Ivy a guildmate had.
Lullaby I put aside for Pixie Strike for a few reasons. Often I didn't
want the extra attention it gave, and the strike's mez lasted longer than
the lullaby's. Yes, there is the given problem with false notification
(or perhaps now better termed unnotified failure), but even with it I can
always use this song effectively with 1 or 2 extra mobs. My charisma is
base 146, and I always ask for a charisma buff from an enchanter or shaman
if present. Now if there is an enchanter, they are of course the crowd
control diva, but just last night in the pool room, our puller (who was
challenged by the group cleric to get him OOM) brought in a Solusek
shaman, 2 or 3 greaters and the Noble. By the time we had beaten down a
few, the enchanter called OOM, and I took over the job of mezzing till we
were down to 1.
Aquatic Ayre I keep mem'd as backup in Kedge. It's not practical in a
group situation under most circumstances (there was this time hunting with
a mage in OOT, we hid offshore and this song allowed him to med up some
mana underwater, but that was a fairly unique situation), but can be
useful if exploring wherever underwater, or simply practicing swimming.
Dischord, Chords of Dissonance and the Chant series have never played a
large role in my songbook. Sure, I did the chords/discord thing back when
soloing Reavers gave experience, but the AE dots were put aside when crowd
control became more important, and the targetted dots don't give enough
oomph to be worthwhile in general. That they can lower resistances makes
them good to carry in specific cases where your group has casters but
noone who can debuff (rather negative buff than simply remove buffs), but
then this has been the bard's job all along, to fill in the gaps.
[Tangent: I always say that in a perfect world, the bard is superfluous,
but since perfection is rarely attainable in ad hoc groups, the bard
becomes useful.]
Shauri's Clouding was useful to hide parties from trains in live side
lower guk, Unrest, Mistmoore, etc. However at higher level camps, trains
either aren't an issue or can see through invis. The song remains useful
on a personal level throughout.
Largo's melodic binding is the most underappreciated song in our
repertoire. Some fights are short enough not to warrant enchanter/shaman
slowdown, but weaving this in will reduce damage taken significantly.
Multiple mobs pulled? Sing a little binding, give the enchanter time to
get his thralls placed with less chance for interruption. No enchanter or
shaman in group? Binding becomes the song du jour.
In a similar vein, Chains can be used as speedown when no druid, ranger,
necro or SK are present. Also quite useful when running after mobs who
the snarer forgot to snare.
Mellifluous Motion is fun to play with people who don't know it's coming.
You should have heard the screaming when I accidentally hit this one
instead of hymn after a fight. -.-
Alenia's Disenchanting Melody I didn't have a use for before, and still
don't now, especially with Antimagic Aria (targetted cancel magic). I'll
admit I haven't had much use for the Aria either, but I did like being
able to remove the Guise after I'm done with it's ultravision effect.
Lyssa's Veracious Concord is a godsend to all human bards. You don't know
how dark Norrath can be if you've never walked it as a naked human
("Follow the path? What path?").
Screech. Enough said.
Song of the Sirens I gave up as a means of crowd control. Sure it's nice
having one of the extra mobs on your side for ten seconds, but after that
it's all over you like Laffy Taffy in your cousin Amy's hair on a hot
Sunday family picnic. Better to strike it out of commission altogether,
and save the charming for Giant excursions.
Aria of Eagles, more fun than useful, although can make traversing
water/hilly zones less tedious/painful (avg Lavastorm trip for me deals
250 non-melee, sometimes up to 400 if I'm lucky; once I overshot the wall
solB is on, and was rather grateful to spash down in the lava below as the
fall would have killed me :-).
Clarity. Staple, but don't let casters think it's better than it is.
Slowing the mob with binding or chains will have the tanks requiring less
healing, which is more effective than a pulse of mana.
Solidarity of Vision to learn new areas via the puller's eyes. It's
susceptible to the same bugs all bind sight spells are, but works well
enough in flattish areas.
Dirge is somewhat of a joke. My first test of it was on a Freeport guard,
it did a whopping 44 points of damage for 4.5 bubbles of mana. Nice
thought, but impractical overall, especially when it takes up a rather
crucial song slot.
Cassindra's Elegy for trade skills. I for one am looking forward to my
next level. -.-
My looking for a group shout varies, but often is something like:
Enchanter/druid/shaman/ranger/warrior/wizard/paladin/shadowknight (aka
Bard) seeking ensemble.
I hate reading about how weak we are, how this or that should be changed
or increased or whatever. I knew my dodge cap when I took this job, I
knew I wouldn't be the meleer my friends are, heck I just broke 1000hp
base last level. Sure a bard's job changes slightly as they level, but
it's the same as other classes. Clerics in their teens nuke, enchanters
are always seen with pets trailing.
Athren Notechaser, 43rd composition in progress
Cazic-Thule