> Problem 1: Overlapping duties. Many Bard tasks can be done better by
> Enchanters. Crowd control, buffs, and mana regen are the big three.
At some point in my career I believed that Bards were superior to
Enchanters in doing most of these things. We aren't. Don't be fooled,
learn early when to yield to enchanters.
(sidenote: I think our manasong is better mana regen at higher levels)
> Problem 2: Enchanters make Bard AoE songs more or less useless. Since so many
> of our songs are AoE, our playlist is more limited than a Los Angeles Top 40
> FM station when grouping with an enchanter. I've just learned on this list
> that Largo does NOT wake up mezzed mobs, so I'm adding that back into my
> "Enchanter Hotkey" bank. That's good news.
I don't think I ever used AE songs very much in my whole career. In a
nice, balanced group there is no need to attract the kind of attention
you are going to get with AE songs. You will keep your cleric plenty
busy with the normal attention you will receive.
> Problem 3: Bard invis song kills Enchanter pets / breaks charm. Yeah, this is
> really the Bard's fault if they do this, and it can happen with other pet and
> charm classes too. However, there is a unique problem with Enchanters. The
> other night I got into a group in Unrest by the fountains. One of the group
> members was a casting Troll. "Shaman," I thought to myself. Suddenly, a
> typical Unrest train comes roaring by bearing half the house. I kick in the
> invis song to protect the group when the message "Gebaner slashes itself for
> 32000 points of damage" pops up, followed by a severe reaming from the
> Enchanter who was in troll form.
If I was ever in a high risk area, ie Permafrost, before something bad
was about to happen I would warn people I was going to invis. When
the group formed and had pet casters, I would warn them I will invis
us to save our lives if something goes wrong. (King room group fleeing
to zone, while we camped the Flag room) The mana/reagent to cast a
pet is worth much less than the having 6 people die. Pet casters will
get over it. Enchanter pets in a dungeon is a bad idea anyway, as they
cannot control them. Tell the pet casters to deal with it.
> Problem 4: For some reason, most Enchanters I've grouped with are total
> jackasses. They are constantly barking orders (usually in all caps) and
> yelling at everybody.
This is because people are idiots. In general, you can assume that
the other 5 people you are playing with know nothing about their own
skills let alone your skills. Last night in a group with an enchanter,
two bards, a druid and me (a druid). I got to see the other side of
the fence. Enchanters have it rough, they are the groups master control
center. They and the cleric control the groups movement, battle
actions, plans, etc. The two bards would not assist each other and
insisted on fighting multiple enemies during the same encounter. I
could tell the enchanter was getting irritated. Could a few of them
be more polite? Sure. But couldn't we all?
> Don't get me wrong, Enchanters are a great class. They can enable any group
> to handle mobs that would be unattainable otherwise. And there are some good
> apples in the bunch who can play their role well without being a jerk.
Good, knowledgable enchanters are awesome. Poor enchanters get
themselves and groups killed. Not all enchanters are good. In
fact it takes a lot of research and background to play them correctly.
Anyone who says shit like 'd00d, yer fawking l33t' and isn't joking
probably smoked up before their EQ session and will get me killed, heh.
No reason for d00dspeak or ALL FREAKING CAPS; take note some people here
need to learn that ;)
> Anybody have any tips on how a Bard and Enchanter can group together
> successfully and work with each other rather against? Right now, whenever an
> enchanter is in my group, I feel like an underpowered tank, which is not a fun
> role to play.
Yield to the enchanter. I cannot stress that enough. Trust me, you
don't want the headache of managing the battle landscape. We are
not fitted with the correct tools to make it happen swiftly and
efficiently. Fumbling with broken lullaby, pixie striking something
and not getting it to work, etc.
So what good are we? Bards, that is...
Enchanters are not this unlimited crowd controlling, superbuffing,
manaregening force. They are plagued by mana, just like all other
casters. You are much, much, much more efficient at making a party
work together in short notice or when the enchanter is low mana.
You are spur of the moment response to instant environment stimulus,
where the enchanter is not prepared to handle things. You dont have
mana requirements, and you are usually first on the scene since you
don't have to med or sit down and can watch things.
Plus, enchanters cannot directly heal, nor can they run fast to flee
a bad situation. We have easily 150 more ac than an enchanter, and
200-300 hp more than them too. Plus we get this huge diverse weapon
selection to choose from which with the right ones you *can* be a
succussful dmg melee unit in a party despite common belief.
Enchanters have better buffs/debuffs/crowd control than we do, but
it all comes at a steep mana cost. Bards and Enchanters make excellent
party members when coupled together.
Harmonic.