On Fri, 17 Nov 2000, Kenneth E. Bachman wrote:
> 1. The Bard's offense sucks.
I used to think that bardic melee was less than SK/Paladin level due to
the lack of double attack, but now I'm reconsidering. Our offense caps
are significantly higher than theirs, and I'm looking forward to testing
to determine who's output is higher.
> The problem is "the situation". There are 7 things that high-level Kunark parties need: 1) crowd
> control, 2) primary healer, 3) a tank, 4) a puller, 5) a group gater (sometimes), 6) a lockpicker
> (sometimes), 7) secondary healer (sometimes). The bard can't do any of these things other than limited
> crowd control, or pulling (which doesn't allow him to play the downtime reducing role), which means that
> he doesn't satisfy any of the core requirements.
This is a common mistake that many run into. People see that deep in
dungeons an enchanter, evaccer, and cleric are all required and think
they're always required. There's tons of stuff you can do that doesn't
take any of these.
I'm often the group's puller due to a combination of knowledge of the area
and Lament. When I am, I sing Cantata through battles to help with mana
levels, because in these situations there usually isn't an enchanter
either.
Shamans are the best group makers. There is next to no need for a cleric
with turgur's. A shaman friend and I often do the zone-in area to
Charasis, we can hold down 8 spawns before they start returning.
And get ready for the best change since Kunark was released: Song of
Twilight works! I played crowd control/puller for a group of five in the
north wing (bard, war, war, dru, cler), and was able to lock down three
mobs at once during a particularly bad period of respawning of wanderers
that lasted a good six minutes to get under control. Further testing on a
clearing to Trak's lair revealed Song of Twilight works on anything an
enchanter can dazzle (ilis, krup, shrooms <56, not jugs). Charm has hit
the back burner now (I hate having to get hit every 10 seconds to maintain
control), the power is back on.
Athren Notechaser, 57th composition in progress
<The Relentless> Cazic-Thule