Oh yuck!
Bard != Tank
No wonder you're having such a hard time there. Mind you, it CAN be done.
But we're not nearly as good a tank as a Ranger/Pally/Warrior etc. They
just have more hp, better defenses, especially once we get out of our teens.
It's amazing what parry, dodge and higher defense caps do for the melee
classes. Bards are more of a caster than Melee :(
My best advice in your situation is get someone, ANYONE to run a ranger ;)
It's the best of the Melee classes in terms of downtime. And at 39th they
get SoW so they're not consigned to the "long walk home" forever. Without a
real tank in your group you're pretty much hurting :( And a Ranger isn't
even a REAL tank. Pally, SK, Warrior (and maybe Rogue) are tanks. Ranger
is a good alternative though. I'd put a bard as primary tank before I would
a monk but that's about it. Monks are good quisinarts, bad at tanking ;)
As a tank I've found my best song combo is HoR *yes it still helps a lot*,
Anthem, Psalm of Warmth/Cooling *(you could use one of the rhythm lines or
Bellow).
the HoR will act as a mild taunt. Psalm gives you a decent dmg shield which
will stack with whatever your caster dumps on you. If you use Rhythms that
will drastically reduce the dmg you take from casters.
Good luck :( Being a tank-bard isn't fun at all.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kimes, Dean W." <dean_kimes@...>
To: <eqbards@onelist.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2000 3:14 PM
Subject: RE: [eqbards] Attack speedups
> I wish I could follow this advice, but I'd have to find another group to
do
> so. chains seems to interfere with the much more effective darkness line
of
> necro spells so they don't want me to do that. We actually have to tell
> this cleric how to play. If we don't continually remind him he goes back
to
> his old ways. Smite till OOM.
>
> On a good note I have been able to get Lament to work on the gobs. Its
more
> difficult but it does work. No pulling thru Lamented mobs here though.
>
> I'll have to try the all instrument option again if I decide to come out
of
> retirement. I tried it once and promptly died in the first fight because
I
> had 2 inferno gobs beating on just me. If we had a real tank there might
be
> some hope, but generally I'm it. When I get there I have even been the
> first tank to arrive. The main reason they like having me in the group is
> they all know that means they move one further down on the 'get killed'
> list.
>
> Kit
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kevin L. Crawford [mailto:Lyrnia@...]
> Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2000 11:25 AM
> To: eqbards@onelist.com
> Subject: Re: [eqbards] Attack speedups
>
>
> I'll agree but SolA is a bard killing ground. I love that zone as a
Ranger.
> As a Bard it's suicide.
>
> Several reasons:
>
> For some reason the Goblins in SolA are completely impervious to Lament
> (Annoying!!!!) even if it says they're sad they'll still come after you.
>
> Goblins in general have a seriously low tolerance for music. I've found
> that almost ANYTHING you sing there will get them aggro on you (even
> whistling warsong, our self-only buff).
>
> It's indoor (no running away).
>
> Pathing is a nightmare: VERY easy to pull a monster train if you don't
know
> how to pull there.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> That being said, if the cleric is that much of an ass I'd just find
another
> group to hunt with. You don't tell him how to be a cleric, he shouldn't
> tell you how to be a bard. If it gets you attacked more than him who
cares,
> you aren't a half bad tank (esp since they fixed the bash-bug on MOBS) :)
>
> I use the following strategy in SolA: Bind, HoR, DDD, CoD. It gets me a
> LOT of attention but I am gonna get it anyway, I might as well hurt
EVERYONE
> that attacks me. (I use pure instruments). Thus I slow down our
opponents
> by 30%, hurt them all at around hmm 60hp/tic and heal us all at about
> 12-13hp/tic. Generally the primary tank has no problem keeping the
"Current
> target" locked on himself, I get the rest, we kill them one at a time. By
> the time we kill the 2nd goblin the rest are starting to either drop dead
> from the DOT's I'm singing or are at 1/3 life and are nearly dead when we
> get to them.
>
> It works out very well, our group has miniscule downtime. The
> cleric/druid/whatever concentrates only on healing me, I keep the tank
> healed during combat with HoR. Since our opponents are slowed and I'm
> healing I can actually heal him faster than he takes dmg.
>
> It takes a while to prove yourself in SolA because you ARE such a huge
> target. But I submit that you will be a huge target in that zone
REGARDLESS
> of what you sing. So enjoy yourself ;) If you're going to die, you may
as
> well have fun doing it ;)
>
> ~ Lyrnia
> aka: Kev
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kimes, Dean W." <dean_kimes@...>
> To: <eqbards@onelist.com>
> Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2000 1:03 PM
> Subject: RE: [eqbards] Attack speedups
>
>
> > I would try that, but the cleric would probably just let me die to prove
> his
> > point. In Sol A it is a big taunt. If I play Hymn and my two other
songs
> I
> > definitely get the bulk of the attention. The last 6 times we have had
> > deaths in our Sol A groups, on 5 of them the deaths have gone like this.
> > 1st death: me, 2nd death: other bard (lower level), 3rd death: other
melee
> > person. The two bards have died a combined 15 times in our Sol A guild
> > groups. The other guildmembers have died a grand total of 6 times
> combined.
> > Every time there is a bad pull or we get trained its the bards that pay
> the
> > price. On one occasion the enchanter got waxed first by a wizard, but
we
> > were not far behind even then.
> >
> > Kitasi
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Kevin L. Crawford [mailto:Lyrnia@...]
> > Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2000 10:45 AM
> > To: eqbards@onelist.com
> > Subject: Re: [eqbards] Attack speedups
> >
> >
> > Hmm sounds like you're letting your group dictate how to play your
class.
> > DONT buy into it. You know how to be a bard better than they do. Hymn
is
> > NOT that big a taunt. Especially in today's dungeons. They're _hardly_
> > dangerous. I can walk the entire length of lower guk, live to dead
side,
> > and I might actually pull a train of 3 critters.
> >
> > Play your class the way you think it should be played. Generally I find
> out
> > who's doing what and then I go, OK, I'm going to be doing X. If they
> argue
> > I simply state "You be a (insert class here), I'll be a Bard. If you
> don't
> > like it, lets trade accounts".
> >
> > That usually shuts them up.
> >
> > Bottom line: You play your character, don't let others tell you how :)
> >
> > Lyrnia
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Kimes, Dean W." <dean_kimes@...>
> > To: <eqbards@onelist.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2000 4:41 PM
> > Subject: RE: [eqbards] Attack speedups
> >
> >
> > > From: "Kimes, Dean W." <dean_kimes@...>
> > >
> > > Our enchanter seems to have no trouble keeping both tanks Alacrity'd
> thru
> > > the night and still does crowd control. Yes I could give us all a
> > speedup,
> > > but since the only other person even meleeing is a cleric it wouldn't
> help
> > > much. My finger-twiddling is much better spent on Chant of Battle if
> the
> > > enchanter is there to Alacrity. If he's not then Anthem gets back in
> the
> > > mix. If bards excel at anything its that we can fill in as a
substitute
> > > just-about-anything. Problem I'm starting to find is that I'm only
able
> > to
> > > get into groups that are lacking something if there isn't a person
> looking
> > > to group who's better at that thing as a primary role. When I do get
in
> > > lately its always as a tank.
> > >
> > > Last 3 nites: Don't chain, we're darknessing. Don't anthem we're
> > > alacritying. Don't Chant we're skin like something or othering.
Don't
> > Hymn
> > > or you'll get too much attention and die. Didn't leave much of
anything
> > for
> > > me to do but swing, bellow and go owie. Occasionally we'd pull a
wizard
> > or
> > > shaman gobie and I'd throw the resistances in.
> > >
> > > Towards the end of the night I get asked in group tell, "Can't you do
> > > anything but Bellow? I thought bards had all kinds of cool songs."
My
> > > reply? Didn't have one, told them "I am retiring to the OOT to
> > contemplate
> > > life while beating head on gargoyles for a while."
> > >
> > > Kit
> > > one very wet minstrel with a headache
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Perhaps a Princess... [mailto:sarah@...]
> > > Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2000 2:32 PM
> > > To: eqbards@onelist.com
> > > Subject: RE: [eqbards] Attack speedups
> > >
> > >
> > > From: "Perhaps a Princess..." <sarah@...>
> > >
> > > Swift Like the Wind costs a LOT of mana, and doesn't last as long as
> > > the lower level speed up buff. Add onto this that there is a speed
> > > beyond which a weapon can't get any faster. And Swift Like the Wind,
> > > in higher levels, isn't even used on people with haste sashes. Not
> > > worth it.
> > >
> > > So. Sometimes a minor speedup is good enough.
> > >
> > > Quicken is very definitely a combat buff. And fairly high mana.
Grouped,
> > > I'd put it on my main tank and let a bard handle the speedup for the
> > > rest, preferring to use mana for crowd control, or other circumstances
> > > rather than keeping everyone Quickened.
> > >
> > > Just because it is better does not mean that it is always the best
> > > use of the enchanter's mana. Bards ARE Still needed.
> > >
> > >
> > > >-----Original Message-----
> > > >From: Sylly Songsynger [mailto:jgs@...]
> > > >Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2000 11:56 AM
> > >
> > > >>From Eq Casters Realm:
> > >
> > > >Swift Like The Wind
> > > >---------------------
> > > >Target: Increase Attack Speed +160.
> > > >Description:Great for tanks when grouped. Increases the amount of
times
> > you
> > > >will hit in a round against an enemy. In large/long battles it can
make
> a
> > > >huge difference. Quite deadly when used in conjunction with Languid
> > > >Pace/Tepid Deeds. Combine these 2 spells when possible.. talk
> > > >about breaking
> > > >the odds. Slows down your opponent, increases your attack rate
> > > >This spell doesn't stack with Augmentation, but as such it provides
> over
> > > >double the attack speed for the target and is usually preferred
anyway.
> > The
> > > >other important thing is that this spell helps increase combat skill
> gain
> > > >since you are making more skill rolls with your attack.
> > > >----------------------
> > >
> > > >So, when SLTW " provides over double the attack speed " - it hardly
> > matters
> > > >if VoV does a 35.271% increase or a 36.983% increase. Enchanter
> > > >speed buffs
> > > >are where it's at. I use Warsong because my enchanter wont give me
> SLTW.
> > > >She says she does not want me to die that quickly. But then again
> > Innoruuk
> > > >killed her and not me ;p
> > > >
> > > >Sylly Songsynger
> > > ><The Pantheon>
> > > >Bardette of 49 songs (yes, finally)
> > > >... somewhere on Innoruuk
> > > >http://www.sba.uwm.edu/jgs/sylly
> > >
> > >
> >
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