Want to give this server a try, deciding on what to play. Thinking of Bard because it's something I was thinking of playing on P99, and I already have a 41 Ranger there, but I'm only game to playing it if they are capable of becoming competent melee DPS later. That means Double Attack, Dual Wield and Crits. Do Bards get any of that via AA in Al'Kabor?
Competent melee dps? How do you compare? A bard in a group of melee, singing overhaste, makes a significant contribution to dps increase. But if you are looking at the bard alone melee dps? Not so great. I think individual dps, is not a valid measure for evaluating the contribution a bard brings. H
Bards and Beastlords get AAs that grant them a 15% chance to double attack in PoP. Other melee classes end up with around 67% chance if I recall. Double attacks aren't the only source of DPS though.
Yeah, I'm looking at the Bard in terms of their own DPS, not how they affect the DPS of others. I like playing support, but when a team of friends or guildies is unavailable, I want to be able to solo later without having to resort to swarmkiting. If their DoT's can pick up the slack for not having Double Attack naturally, then that works for me too. The Double Attack AA is only 15%? I thought it was something like 6-10% per rank. But still, if they get it at all, I'd be happy.
Very confusing post to me. He said “melee dps” and bard. Which is something a person who plays a melee class would think is a valid measure of viability. Melee dps is not a bard’s primary contribution. They aren’t a top melee dps class. That would be more of a ranger, monk, rogue. Its almost like saying you want to play an enchanter. If they get AAs to crit nukes, so they can be a competent nuking dps. Its not really a valid comparison.
A bard will be limited in trying to solo for exp, depending on only bard dps. That is if mobs are hitting you. I guess you could. But gonna need good gear and will have a fair amount of down time. Dont get hit. Bards can do some amazing soloing. But that takes you into swarming. Which you didnt want to do. H
I think I'll give it a try anyway. I had a Beastlord on TGC with 200 AA's and it had pretty good melee DPS with Double Attack and Crit AA's. Maybe Bard will be comparable when factoring in haste and damage songs. Besides, I like playing support classes that bring good things to a party.
Savok started here as only playing a bard. I think he has a few other classes he also plays now too, beastlord being one of them. Playing one char to 60, being a bard, totally doable.
I'm strictly against boxing, so any alts would be played separately, one at a time. Even if boxing is allowed, I refuse to do it. I'm a one toon man.
A level 65 bard with War Drums of the Rathe (and all relevant AAs) could theoretically crank out about 140 song DPS against a single target, but that number takes a hit if you lose one of the four big dots due to an immunity, which you're all but certain to in e.g. the Elemental Planes. The same bard with endgame PoP gear might do about 100 DPS from songs and 60-70 DPS from melee with high-end weapons and the best worn mods. I'm not sure how either of those options compares to forgoing dots in order to crank up the damage shield, but that's another way for a bard to do a lot of damage under the right circumstances. I don't get the sense that Al'Kabor's bardic solo artists relied on melee a whole lot, though.
I never suggested you box. I will warn you now. Many people box here. Some solo. If boxing bothers you, dont do it. If other ppl boxing bothers you, either get over it, or you may want to stick with p99. Because it will eat at you non stop til you actually do accept it, or rage quit.
I'm not bothered by others doing it, I just won't do it myself. If it's a common practice for one player to box entire parties or raids though, that I'm a bit more on the fence about.
If you see someone who looks like they are boxing more than 3 chars, please report it. I love banning those dudes.
3 is the maximum? No worries then, I'm perfectly fine with that. I'll keep an eye out. Alright, I'll give Bard a try, if I don't like it I'll just go back to Beastlord. Just need to get the game set up, and I'll balance playing it with my Ranger on P99 and see how it like it. Luclin was my favorite era because of Beastlords and AA's, so I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for the input everyone.
No mouse scroll wheel zoom. Client is older. If you play p99 and here. You likely will end up hating our client. Playing here and p99, rarely works out long term. Just saying.
I actually hate the P99 client, has brightness and clipping issues and i dont like how it handles zoning. I crash too often.
Bards are great just not a melee dps force. Chants as rw said, charming is a feasible way to dps, and of course swarming are all the main dps routes for bards
Well I'm probably going to make a Beastlord as well just because it's one of my two favorite classes from Live, Barbarian Beastlord and Froglok Paladin. And they're excellent at soloing, something I enjoy doing. They just don't bring much to a group. But one thing I need to ask, since Al'Kabor is in Luclin era, that means the Bard/Beastlord AA's for Double Attack aren't available to them yet, right? I believe they're called Bestial Frenzy and Harmonious Attack?
I suggest you get on and play. Obsessing over double attack is kind of like monk AC and ranger archery.
I'm downloading it right now, but I may change my mind at the last minute and go Paladin, since that was my favorite class of all. Then I'll be obsessing over Two-Handed Bash incase I can't ever get my epic.
Tbh probably more dps just chanting with a drum but I haven't crunched the numbers. But bards melee dps is negligible. There were like tunare fights in velious where I've done like 3000 total dmg over the entire fight with haste maxed, avatar etc and best bard weapons at the time
its slightly better now with a bane and cf3 but its still terrible. do more dps twisting dots double attack in pop wont change much
It's a stun for interrupting spells, for one. For another the only two-handers that otherwise allow Bash without this AA are the epics, so this gives you a lot more freedom in weapon choice if you want access to Bash without having to use a shield.
