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Bard questions
Aelraz
Member UncommonPosts: 168
Heyas all, I got some bard-related questions I hope you can answer:
1: twisting. This was basically the sole reason I didnt play a bard in EQ1 since it seemed to be a big pain in the duffer. So how does it work in EQ2? Are bards able to twist songs and do they have to be able to twist 3-4 songs to get a group?
2: Speed! It was almost redicilous how fast bards could run in EQ, always made me jelous. So how about EQ2, are they still speed gods?
3: plate armor. Plate armor looks cool in EQ2, any anyone that played EQ1 knows bards could wear plate armor. so the obvious question is: can they wear plate?
4: Seems to me there are two bard classes in EQ2. Whats the major difference between them?
5: this one's open for comments if the bards role is different from EQ1...ah heck, any bard-related comments are welcomed.
Comments
1. Dunno never played EQ1.
2. Rangers are fastest with their buffs buy all get pathfinding +16% run speed at Adept I
3. Nope
4. Not much really, choice of songs s'pose
5. see A to 1.
Let me preface this by saying I have never played a Bard in EQ1, and haven't been playing EQ1 very long, but I think I can still answer your questions:
1. Not really sure what twisting is, but bard songs (and buffs in general) work like this: Each song the buffs or debuffs for a length of time use concentration points. You have 5 concentration points. The more powerful the spell the more concentration they use. You can have more than one song going but can't have them all. Hope that clears that up.
2. Bard is a subclass of scout, If you chose scout at level 1 then you would go Bard at level 10. Scouts have a version of SOW the get at like 4th level. They don't run so fast as to make other jealous, but they aren't the slowest either.
3. Bards cannot wear Plate Armor. They can only wear Medium called Brigidine (not spelled right but hope you get the idea)
4. Right you pick Scout at 1st level, Bard at 10th level then at 20th you have the choice of Troubador or Dirge. Troubadors are the happy bards, they have more buffs and direct damage mental attacks. Dirges are the sad bards, they have more debuffs and DOT disease attacks. To put it simply Dirges are more offensive, Troubadors are more defensive.
5. One of the Bards greatest abilities is Singing Shot. Bows in EQ2 do massive amounts of damage, but are really slow. They have a speed of 7 where a typical sword will have a 1.8 or 2, the lower the number the faster the weapon. Singing shot allows you to launch two arrows at the same time.
My greatest solo attack combo, truely devestating all damage is for a level 20 bard with a Bone Longbow and Iron Arrows:
1. Start with singing shot (2 arrows average 80 points each)
2. When you hit singing shot it presses your default meele attack button. As singing shot is going off I press the default Ranged attack button. When you use singing attack, it doesn't use your bows weapon speed timer. As soon as singing shot goes off, my default ranged attack goes off. So that's another arrow for 80 points of damage.
3. There is a Bard song called Piercing Scream, a direct damage attack does about 120 points of damage. That's about 360 points of damage before the critter has even touched you (at level 20 I have about 850 Hp)
4. Now the critter has closed to melee range. Hit your Heroic Opportunity special (long story gonna have to read up on that one if you want to know
), and get off your HO. Damage varies but about 150-200 depending on if you dual wield and which HO you get off. That's 510-560 points of damage, with very little damage to you.
5. At certain levels you get different choices of different spells. One of my spell choices was a Root spell. After my HO goes off, I use my root, back up and do it all again.
I love my Bard
ok, since not all EQ2 players played EQ1 (stupid assumtion from my side) I'll try to be a little clearer.
about twisting. when playing a song in EQ1 works like casting a spell, you just press the song you want to play, and it will play until you stop it by pressing the "song button" again. now, after you quit playing you song it still stays in game for like 5-10 seconds before it ends, which means that you can start singing another song while the first one is still playing, thus playing two songs at a time. With the right timing you can sing like 4 song at a time, pressing song buttons on, off (I guess there were macros for this too). But this song thing seem to work different in EQ2, with concentration points. Sounds like a better solution if you ask me.
about speed. Bards in EQ1 had different speed songs which would make your group move at least twise as fast as normal. Looks like they tuned down speed buffs in EQ2 then.
oh btw, that singing shot thing sounds like fun
I played a dirge to level 26. There is no twisting. When you quit playing a song it ends immediately, freeing up however many concentration points it filled (if any). All scout classes (the prototype for bards, rogues and predators and their associated subclasses) get a speed buff early in the game. At level 30, dirges get a very impressive extra speed buff - at least they did at the time I stopped playing a few weeks back. Bards are fun to play and very effective for soloing upto level 20 and I had very little difficulty getting into groups at any level. The most disappointing thing is the way music is handled in the game - certainly when compared to entertainers in SWG or the impromptu jam sessions I enjoyed in AC2. For a game that uses sound to such great effect in many others ways, it is very surprising that SOE didnt make music a more central part of the bard class. Occasionally you will whip out a lute or drum when casting a spell but the majority of songs and ballads dont have any musical effects at all.
If you didn't play a bard in EQ 1 cause you hated twisting (as did I) you will probably prefer them in EQ II. They did away with all that agony and made them work straightforward. Plate is reserved for the true tanks in EQ II however and that is all. And just incase your wondering, they didn't make plate textures that are chain class and leather that looks like chain etc. They textures pretty much look like what they are supposed to be.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
'Medium' armour, which is chainmail.