Hail and well met,
My group has the tankless problem that Kit has been describing. The warriors
we used to group with all parked it seems and started up casters. Our
typical crew now is a monk, a cleric, a druid, a mage, and me. Open slots we
fill with a wiz, shaman, or druid depending on who's paying what and when.
So many time we are stuck for a real tank. So I do the tank bard thing
mostly, except no pulling casters won't give up clarity usually <g>. But the
higher level you get the more a group needs the damage sink that only a real
tank can provide, not to mention taunting. A group that doesn't have to
foresight to foster melee classes will find later that they are sunk. We
routinely foster a friend of ours who plays a tank even though his play time
is less than ours and he is over 10 levels lower. Managing involuntary
taunting is one of the biggest challenges we have without a real tank, since
we need to be able to pass mobs between me and the monk and keep them off
the casters. I still die, the monk FD's, and the casters gate (if they do
what they are told that is.) It's oddly fun to screech a train off your
dying group and "ok get out guys before they come back and finish me, Ill
try to make it as far as I can when you are all safe." We don't take
anyone's death as a given because we all are very close friends, some even
in RL. Besides, clarity addiction is an awful thing, if I'm dead I am one of
the first to get rez'ed in. Clarity is a boring song but it really makes you
the darling of the caster set. Kit, your casters ought to be looking far
enough ahead to see that leveling you is a real benefit for them. My crew
has a good bard education and asks 'When will we get this or that song?' or
'what do we get this level?'.
When you start out, most classes are pretty equal. As you level up the game
changes, and the classes themselves diverge more and more. My cleric will
fire up my account and run both our characters rather than tank things
himself unless they are way green. Before 30 he could tank some, now his
tanking ability is pretty limited and it's not due to letting any skills go.
I can't recall what we did before L25 now, I do recall at 25 we started a
camping campaign to get the 6 paladins in the guild at the time GBs. This
was rockin exp for a full group into the 30s. If we weren't actively camping
the lord, we sat next door and killed frogs anyway. You do need to learn UG
very well before becoming KOS but other than the named frogs, UG is pretty
underhunted and is very big.
I love barding, and I tried about every class in beta. I have always had the
most fun being a bard. Gediprime described it best the other day, talking
about invising into the castle in MM to loot a gypsy lute and a WW talon,
then making a full speed run to the zone when invis flashed off while
looting, "What a rush!"
Hang in there Kit.
Lady Brilinnia Ban'Sidhe (one bubble to 44)
Knight Marshall, Order of the Rose
Excalibur, Xegony the crowded
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