I figured that maybe I should dust off my poor lvl 28 bard who I left on a shelf before leaving Vanguard several years ago. I vaguely recall that I found playing her frustrating because of lacking survivability when solo, and having given her a few tries, I still feel the same. I'm most likely doing something wrong, so maybe the esteemed forum community could give me a bunch of pointers. Having just one shout and the ranged attack makes kiting a rather boring and time consuming experience, not to mention the fact that there really isn't always room to kite for the rather prolonged time it takes until the foe is dead.
the first thing that every aspiring bard needs to learn is simple. YOU are the rockstar, the group should cater to you! you provide the music that inspires your adoring fans, your groupies (aka casters and melee dpsers) to greater heights. your agent (aka raid leader) is always looking to help surround you with security guards (aka tanks) to keep over anxious fans and the seedy underbelly of the local club (aka big bad monsters) from doing you harm. your agent is also quick to supply you with e.m.t.s (healers) to help you recover from the last bender you went on on your substance of choice (qj or frenzied). see the bard is the center of the vanguard universe, and we shine all the brighter on the stage where everyone can hear us and be entertained by our rapier wit and whimsical tongue. if you want to fly solo it is a long hard road and it is far less rewarding... much better to ride your group to fame then ditch them and milk the proceeds for an even more meteoric solo career after you've been at the top for a while. (aka soloing to level 55 as a bard sucks... sure it is doable but so many other classes solo much faster and easier, especially early on. bards are built to make groups go drastically faster and shine in that context much more so than soloing). also remember that bards are always in demand so be sure to book your gigs (groups/raids) early and get your payment to include free drinks (or in my case cookies).
I'm only level 40 but I will give you some advice 1) Keep your ranged weapon updated. I don't remember the levels you get all the spells but currently I have two melee dots, and 3 ranged casted dots plus that ranged damage shout. Between those, a good bow, fear, levitate, and a song that dots, slows them and speeds you up, you should be able to kill pretty much any non caster mob given enough space. 2) I don't like soloing, but when I do, I use a song that increases my damage, but more importantly, I use all of the shielding effects that I have. I can usually kill 3 dots my same level and end the fight around 80% health. But then again, some two dots eat my face pretty often if I don't kite them >_< 3) In dungeons, use your charm!! But only charm a mob that the group is no focusing on and make sure you break it just before the last mob died so there is no waiting around. 4) Lull, lull, lull, lull. Single pulling is fun ^_^ 5) When you are in a group, don't ever use an effect that does something directly to a Mob(like the songs that dot). One tab target can wipe a group becuase they will get pulled. This might chang in raids with the effects that drops things resistance to things but I have never had to use those songs yet 6) Lastly, like my very verbose friend Nejibana said... every single person wants you in their group. You raise damage, increase the amount of damage they can take, raise casting and melee speed, regen mana, regen HP, remove diseases and poisons, charm, lull, group invis... I don't claim to be some awesome bard but I take my class pretty seriously. I prolly have forgotten some things so I might come edit this later but if you ever wanna talk you can whisper me in game Soapbox of (Warborn)
Oh yea, I forgot, macros!! I have to leave for work but when I get back, I will post some of the macros that I use.
Does a Bard get a specialization like so many other classes in the game. I asked in channels last night and a guy said no, but I just want to make sure?
i made my bard a bit more dancer specific, i basically waltz my way through dps fights... it mostly goes 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, ect, ect, ect, ect.
Yes, of course they are. Oh, I get it... waltz = 1, 2, 3 So there's no key then? No standard pattern or layout that players can use to relate their rotation to other players without being specific?
well dpsing as a bard you want to get all your instant casting non-global shouts in and up and keep hammering away with your dps abilities. this becomes a bit easier as you level up due to energy and endurance regeneration buffs getting more and more powerful, and it comes into its own once you get your primary hand epic because it puts you at the max allowable global recovery haste. as far as a 'rotation' it is mostly just cram everything into your macros and spam press away, just make sure you keep razor parts silk and your fesants dots up. here is a basic macro that i use, granted i have multiple variations of it, granted some of the numbers and names might be a bit different as i pulled this off of my guild's website from like 4 years ago or so. /cas “Calming Lullaby” /cas “Eaon’s Booming Bellow” /cas “Eaon’s Superior Blasting Bellow” /cas "Fesant's Chant of (fire/ice/phys) x" /reactionch 1 /cas “Fox Overtakes the Hare III” /cas “Striking the Mountain VI” /cas “Kedon’s Critical Severing” what this does is fire off your deagro and shouts (all arcane based btw) and one of your dots, none of them trigger the global cooldown so as long as they refresh they will fire off every press. then it goes through your melee dps abilities, first going through your main dps crit chain (this changes as you level so you need to adjust this) then goes through the attacks from strongest to weakest (also the longest cooldown abilities get fired off first).
