I have played with my Enchanter friend for 41 levels (I am level 41 - ok so
maybe we got to level 6 solo but we been grouped a lot.)
First off - a regular group is much preferred to pick-up groups. You learn
about the other's abilities and don't have to teach everyone how to work
together each time.
1. Over lap - yes somewhat. This can be a good thing. Bard Clarity and
Enchanter Clarity stack. Enchanter's do crowd control better - freeing the
bard to use his other songs now the party is getting buffs (Anthem &
Elemental) they would not get if the bard were doing the crowd control.
2.Imho, bard AE damage songs are for fighting 1 mob at a time. As you gain
levels, I think you will find that the mobs get tougher and tougher. You
won't want more than one agro (fighting) at any time - you wont be able to
absorb the damage they can dish out. You will want an enchanter to mez the
extra mobs so you can fight them one at a time. If the bard in the party
needs to do crowd control, you won't be using your AE songs either.
3.Hmm... "Hi all! 41 bard here! Pls say class level so I know what songs
to play." Your invis would have killed the Shaman's pet too. Best to
brief everyone and know who is gonna do what. Maybe it happened so fast
there was not time. Unrest is the first "hard" dungeon players hit (ok,
Befallen is no slouch either) and are forced to learn how to work as a group
or die a lot and go back to somewhere "safe" like HighKeep. One time in
Unrest a guy got rooted on the front porch and was about to be killed. I
went over and got him un-rooted (pre-nerf to Selo's) and we hadda scramble
for the zone. On the other side of the zone, he said to me: "please don't
play any songs, they attract too many mobs..." I disbanded and left them
because they we clueless and I was in no mood to try to teach them. Partys
at the mid levels really need to understand how to work together and this
comes from understanding what the others in the group do. You need to know
what class they are and who will do what. Talk about it before the action
gets going.
4. Can't comment. You got all the bad ones I guess cause I got all the good
ones - sorry no trades :p
When you get to the high level places - where you need multiple groups - you
will find that both bards and enchanters are welcomed and in fact pretty
much a requirement. Even the places like Sol-B (35+ mobs and players) you
hear "Nobel/King/Bat room looking for another! Bard or enchanter
preferred!!!"
Sylly Songsynger
<The Pantheon>
Bard of the 41st song
somewhere on Innoruuk
-----Original Message-----
From:
Richardson.Paul@... [mailto:
Richardson.Paul@...]
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2000 11:33 AM
To:
eqbards@onelist.com
Subject: [eqbards] Enchanters vs Bards
From: ("Paul D Richardson") <
Richardson.Paul@...>
Hello all! I've been lurking here for a while, and thought I'd post on a
subject that's been troubling me lately: the incompatability of enchanters
and
bards. Are there any other two classes in the game that work together as
poorly as these two?
Problem 1: Overlapping duties. Many Bard tasks can be done better by
Enchanters. Crowd control, buffs, and mana regen are the big three.
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.
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.
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. It's very rare for Enchanters to give instructions
ina
polite fashion, like "Hey guys, please assist the puller so I can mez the
other mobs." They are always self-congratualtory ("Heh heh my ae mez rockz,
dOOd!") and showing off ("Look, I'm a table, d00dz!" followed 1 minute later
by "OOM"). They seem to be surly most of the time, I can't imagine them
having any fun with all their gripes. And oh, if something goes wrong in
battle, it's NEVER their fault. They point fingers all the time. It's very
rare for an enchanter to say "Sorry guys, I mezzed the wrong mob." It's
usually "My Mez wore off that mob!!! Somebody must have attacked it!
Idiots!
It was probably one of those retarded bard songs!!!"
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.
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.
Thanks,
Sarsa Parilla (Level 20 Half-Elf Bard, Nameless) <Avengers Federation>