>From: Jennifer McComb <mccomb@...>
>Let me introduce myself. I'm a new player to Everquest (received it for
>Christmas). I've played an Erudite paladin up to level 7, a Barbarian
>shamon up to level 9, and now I'm a half elf bard at level 7.
>My questions:
>At level 7, what should I be concentrating on now? What items should I
>be pursuing in the near future?
At lvl 7 you are probably still struggling a little bit. There is a
huge difference between lvl 7 and lvl 8 and that is your lvl 8 song, Kelin's
Lament. This spell lets you split up groups of mobs and is probably the
best spell you get before 15th level at least other than Selo's Accelerando.
You will find with this spell you will be able to tackle spawn spots that
others cannot begin to at your level. Nothing is more satisfying than
running over to the bandit camp in Lesser Faydark, finding 2-3 9-10th levels
siting there pondering whether or not they have any chance to take out the
camp. You join the group, split up the camp so you can fight it once at a
time and you've made an impossible task very doable. Other than pursuing
8th lvl I'd concentrate on getting your 3 weapon types all maxed.
>If you had it to over again, would you even pursue the bard route? What
>makes the bard fun?
Would I... Well, probably not but that is due to my playing restrictions as
much as anything. Let's face it, Everquest is a caster's world plain and
simple. If I log on with my bard and the gang I play with is 4-5 zones away
or on another continent, at 21st level I sigh and usually just hang out a
little while and log off. If I am playing my druid, its no problem I just
teleport over and am there very quickly, knowing I can get back for tomorrow
night's group equally quickly. Gate and the ability to Bind anywhere make
it so much easier to play the game when you can usually only play for about
2 hrs a night immeasureably better. Unfortunately the way the game is now I
just don't think any of the hybrid or melee classes get anything that even
begins to recompense them for the lack of those two abilities. Not as far
as play enjoyment goes anyhow.
What makes my bard fun is the roleplaying aspect. I roleplay a bard. I
have considered playing my Shaman again, going and getting a Mandolin (so I
can look the part) and just role-playing him as a bard. There are bard
abilities I find immensely fun. Hymn and Lament were two songs that made
being a bard tons of fun. Unfortunately the further I got from Lament, the
more I felt like my new songs weren't providing me much enjoyment and
weren't enough to keep up with the growing difficulties I faced. Still
playing my bard is fun, though I doubt I could bear to do it all over again
now that I've seen how much easier it is for casters. My bard has died more
times than my 5 other characters have put together. My 8th level shaman
never died after 4th level.
Kitasi 21st (again) bard of E'ci