My first night as level 20 and I went to HighHold Keep. Got into a group
with others ranging to 27 with me the lowest most of the time. There was an
enchanter with us for a while and most of the time we had 3 and 4 who could
tank and cast (Pallidins, Cleric, Warrior mid 20's all)

At any rate, the mobs (Pickclaws) were all red or deep red to me with an
occasional yellow. I noticed that I could only do like 2 and 3 dmg to the
deep reds (with dragoon dirk and barbed leather whip) and so I decided to
step back from the melee and equip the drum. I played Anthem, Guardian and
tossed in Bellow when able. I was getting pretty good at keeping the 2 buff
icons on the screen most of the time. I really wish Verant would give us
bards an automatic "have a good exciting fight but kill the monster and win"
key. That way I could get pizza and soda during long fights. <g>

Ok, sorry - was just kidding. My questions are:

Should I have been using Chant instead of Anthem? I tried to compare stats
one time and they looked real close. Chant with the drum and Guardian with
the drum both are enhanced.

Looks like Anthem is not enhanced by an instrument - true or false? (Ok, I
just checked myself and the chart says 'singing' so that means no help from
any instruments.) I guess it's Anthem if you are in the melee - otherwise
is Chant any better if you are drumming for other songs as well?

Is it a bad idea to use AE songs in High Keep? For example - could I have
used Largo's to slow their attack speeds? Or would I have met all kinds of
new monsters from Area Effects?

If a red mob resists the bellow - is it worth it to try again or does one
resist mean that they will always resist? Does how badly damaged the mob
matter? Say you see a resist in the top half of his health - so wait til
he's under 50% hp before trying another?

It was the first (maybe second) time I was in a full party with higher
levels doing the tanking and we were fighting mobs that were virtually all
red to me. Half the reds resisted my bellows consistently. It didn't seem
like I was contributing much with pierce for 2 points of damage and taking
the occasional hit for 32 points of damage. So, I stepped back from the
melee and played some songs with instruments.

Most of my experience has been with a partner and we both gotta melle. Or
me as tank and 2 casters doing the nuking. Or full party's but more
co-level and all but the casters are in the melee because we don't have
'real' tanks. So have some fighters with big swords was a new and
interesting experience. I spent the whole night in a room full of reds when
I can't survive a camp of greens <g>

Sylly Songsynger
Bard of the 20th level
a.k.a. Robo-Bard
exploring the high country
somewhere on Innoruuk