Just wanted to add a quick note on Dirge. I use the song as a sort of big
kick.. When I have the mana I sit mem it wait for a multiple pull back away
and use it. Then I give the enchanter a big thumbs up to mez away.
Also at 43rd I hit area damage for 311 damage consistently.
Tuldar
43rd bard Tarew Marr.
-----Original Message-----
From: Benjamin Jerrad Segal <
birdman@...>
To:
eqbards@onelist.com <
eqbards@onelist.com>
Date: Thursday, January 06, 2000 6:22 PM
Subject: Re: [eqbards] GZ answers
>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
>
>
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