Dual wield is ok, but it's not earth shattering, esp now, as Draelon said,
that the 2hb weapons have started to get decent stats.
The big difference, melee wise, is that we get 5 skill points per level in
our weapon skills (I misspoke myself earlier, you are correct it's melee
weapon skills that are different, not offense/defense) whereas they get
only 4. Which means that, in the long run, we will hit more often than
them.
As to why your cleric isn't hitting very hard that is due to the fact that
he is only level 24 and his weapon skill is probably still below 100 (24*4
is only 96) and you do not get dmg bonuses until after 100 weapon skill (or
so I've observed, that's not a hard fast 100% for sure thing but I'm about
80-90% sure of that).
Anyhow, bottom line: Our melee skills are, and always have been, only
marginally better than that of a pure caster. Our songs always have been,
and always will be (barring any major changes), far superior in dmg output,
and prevention, if used properly with instruments after level 18 or so.
I totally agree with those that have posted that until the kunark release we
had more Melee POWER than pure casters due to the fact that 1hs weapons were
so out of balance with 2h weapons for various reasons but our melee SKILL
was always only slightly better.
Dual Wield nowadays really isn't all that huge an advantage over 2h weapons
(if you're luggin kunark stuff around anyway). Dual Wield plus Double
Attack is superior to 2h weapons but since we don't get double attack that's
a moot point.
I still chuckle when I remember a post by someone a while back who thinks he
can out dmg a shadowknight in straight melee with no spells. That's
something I'd LOVE to see, especially since they fixed the disparity between
1h and 2h weapons.
At any rate, you're absolutely right, our weapon skills are better than
theirs (slightly) otherwise we're pretty much the same. And our dodge is
only slightly higher. At much higher levels the gap widens when we hit 53
(lol like many of us are gonna see 53 ;) and again at 56. (Parry and
Riposte). I personally doubt I will ever see 53 or 56... my time in EQ is
dwindling. I dunno if I'll even reach 50 for Lyrnia (currently 45 and 2
bubbles). And Lyrnali (my 51 bard on Test) has already been deleted in
disgust over the whole Test fiasco.
Uhh jeez where'd I go with this? LOL
Lyrnia
----- Original Message -----
From: "Big Daddy Legba" <legba@...>
To: <eqbards@egroups.com>
Sent: Friday, July 07, 2000 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: [eqbards] Bards forgotten again....
> Clerics get 5 per level to offense and defense (I'm pretty sure, my cleric
> never melees). However they get 4 per level to their weapon skills, where
> as we get 5. We also get dual weild.
>
> After level 20 where you start raising your max damage this seems to make
a
> biggere difference. My 24 cleric has NEVER hit for more than 13 with his
> Bullsmasher (dam 6). Keep in mind he has a str of 108 vs Elfson's 97. I
> tried meleeing same very green BB gnolls, and still never went over 13.
I'm
> not sure how the extra damage is calculated, but clearly the wis casters
are
> behidn bards in this regard too.
>
>
>
>
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