>From: "Roop Dirump" <roop@...>
>
>Ack! I find this very disturbing. What is it exactly, about bards at the
>30+ level, that makes them so godawful? With dual wield and the ability to
>wear plate, I would think a bard could actually hold his or her own at
least
>as a fighter.
Several points... bards are mob magnets... usually at the worst possible
time. =) Fighters, even with same type of armor, seem to be able to handle
dmg better than bards. And I don't know about others, but my ability to
deal out damage really sucks. I hit about 60% of the time, and maximum
damage with my current weapons (barbed whip and combine LS) is 42 per round,
plus bellow for an additional 17 for a total dmg of 59. Compare this to a
caster who can do 300+ with a single spell, or a rogue who can do 80+ with
backstab, or a fighter with a good 2h weapon who can do 70+ with weapon
alone, plus kick, bash, riposte, etc. And don't forget rogues and monks
disarming their opponents.
Basically, bards are, strictly speaking, a luxury item, not a necessity in a
group. Every group needs tanks and healers. After that they need nukers.
What we do is make everyone else more effective. We minimize downtime by
topping off the hurt with our heal song, bringing casters back into action
faster with mana song, make the tanks deal out more damage with anthem,
protect with the guardian series, etc.
But strictly speaking, we are not truly "needed", not the way a healer is.
You want to show a group how important a bard can be? Go join a group that's
camping Drez or any charm-using mob, and do nothing but stack Guardian and
Elemental. That ups everyone's magic resist to 80 or better. No one gets
charmed anymore. =)
Or a Tae room group with 2 pallys, cleric, druid, wiz, and a mana bard. I
did a group like that the other night and we did a 20 minute non-stop melee.
No one died, no one was ever totally OOM. I'd step back and hit mana song
to recharge the caster and healers, then back into melee and do anthem some
more. We piled the bodies high around us that night. =)
>I suspect it's just powergamers not wanting a jack-of-all-trades, but the
>characters who can do the most damage standing behind those who can take
the
>most beating. Ah well, one day I'll be level 50 too. And know what? So
>will those guys.
What I'm finding is that it's people who were in early beta phases, and they
want to be with their old friends more than being with new friends. Their
old friends know the mobs, know how to stay on top of the spawn. Newer
friends take time to learn this, and in bad situations, that time might
spell someones death. They'll take a 33 shaman instead of a 33 bard because
that shaman goes back to P0.5, etc.
But once you become known as someone who is *GOOD*, you can break down those
walls. It just takes so awfully long to do that most give up. I'm too
damned obstinate to quit. =)
Linako