Should low level bards be attacking mobs???

[AngelEyes]

Ok, I've been asked this a few times, so I'll pipe up with my thoughts here, I'm keeping it to Venus because this is where the questions are coming from in game. If Guardia, Flow or any other high lvl bards want to chip in with their own experiences/opinions, feel free.

I've heard people that bard getting complaints from party members that they aren't battle barding, in addition to keeping the mana up on the party at lower levels (and by that I mean lower than 60). First off, if the bard is only a sub, it's possible they don't want to invest the sp in the attack skills, that's fine, obviously they aren't going to attack, so asking them too is a waste of typing (of course once you get to wings, where bards have mana orbit, you better get some).

As for those that are pure/primary bard, should they be battle barding at the lower levels. This is my experience, I was the only bard in party all the way up to pegs, Why? well one, there wasn't a lot of bards around, and two it wasn't until around that lvl, that the % increase to damage from the dance was greater than having a 4th wiz. So simply keeping mana up for the whole pty was a full time job, you've only got 16 seconds before you have to start again. Now, if you have two bards in the low level and you have the party split for mana cycling, you should have time to attack right? yes, you have time, but do you have the protection, no you don't. With only two tanks in a party, all the fences and quota go to the wizzies and clerics, what does that leave the bards, well the reason we don't get any is because of Noise, we don't get attacked except by champs and giants as everyone knows. This is the benefit of bards, you don't need to fence us. Of course as soon as you attack you draw aggro (same if you use Mana wind/breeze), and while other ints don't care, they have fences, a bard gets one shotted because all he's got to protect him is his soft squishy robes. I truly didn't start attacking regularly until guards, and only then I kept my targets to mobs I was POSITIVE the tank had aggro on or was a non-party mob, if I screwed up and used AoE, I was usually dead soon after. By Gens, my HP, tambours and gear was sufficent enough that I could handle a couple of shots until someone else killed the mob or drew it away.

Also, it's not until 60 that a bard gets it's 2nd ranged nuke, which is around when your heading to guards or Yachas. If a bard before then has to use it's AoE attack that centres around the bard, he's probably going to be dead very soon, either from the inital mob, or the others it aggros.

Guardia made a great guide on barding, and his videos show the true power of a bard, but those videos are of a higher level bard doing the battle barding don't let this colour your thinking to all bards being able to do that. My thoughts on this, is at the low levels, a bard can probably practice targeting mobs and getting used to attacking an OCCASIONAL mob, but if you expect them to attack consistently, then expect them to die, then expect your cleric to run out of mana, and then your tanks die, then everyone dies. Ease up on giving them a hard time.

[AkillerNXC]

Well I didn't really start battle barding until 60. Booming chord simply draws to much agro, bards are generally way lower then the mobs, which means we get one shotted, especially in robes. With wierd and horror chord, you can get 3 shots off on a regular mob before it gets to you...usually.

I'd say between 40 and 60 (40 is when you start getting 2 bards), the 2 bards just split it. After 60, one bard can battle bard while the other does mp. They shouldn't both need to do mp, one good bard can easily do it alone. (I did all the time, and I consider myself decent).

On chasers, the bard will be fine when using booming chord/wave (well....once you get like 74 or so, the lvl 70 bards would get raped), by then, his/her gear will definitely be good enough to take a hit or 2.

[Argonaut]

I believe its the bards personal choice to battle bard or not. If he is experienced enough, go for it. Problem is, at lower levels, the passive that stops dances from falling down arent as advanced... making it almost worthless to battle bard.

[Spooch]

Well im an new bard now so far i like it No huge problems of dieing yet

[Corrupt]

The battle bard really only comes into play 80+ 90 for sure because with mana orbit on everyone you have all the time in the world to throw some musical notes of doom at mobs.

Also with how the party system is. Most people try for the 11 levels higher ect... ect... so most bards in parties usually don't have noise for w/e they're fighting unless it's the only pt up.

40+ most people are at mugijis to ice - noise at 40 doesn't help
50+ most are in caves - noise doesn't help
60+ takla again see where I'm going?
70 few generals here and there - so noise works but searching for chaser pts so doesn't help

Relying on speed, tambours and watching every INTs mp bar constantly while avoiding random mob spawns and hoping people are taking aggro I'd have to agree to not bitch at any bards for not helping attack. 80+ The more dmg the merrier still not required do w/e helps you enjoy the grind. Except slacking off

[weetnixmeer]

well, I'm a lvl 34 bard now, and I experienced that I don't have much time to attack.
I'm always busy healing mp:P

[Spanktastik]

Clerics dont attack.
Bards shouldnt attack.

Edit: Unless you have mana orbit. Corrupt makes a good point.

[foudre]

too dangerous to attack untill later, dying and making the party loose its tambour at the wrong time means every one can die, working and steady > then slightly faster and sparatic. A living party is more important

[M16]

Guardia made a great guide on barding, and his videos show the true power of a bard, but those videos are of a higher level bard doing the battle barding don't let this colour your thinking to all bards being able to do that. .

thats true + Guardia ez L33T
oh and i hate str bards they suck hard

[Guardia]

Definately agreed with Angel. The most important thing for ppl to know is Bard is a support character. It's not the main dmg dealer. U shouldnt expect Bards to do dmg unless they're ready for it. For me, Battle Bard start at 77+ when i got Mana Breeze (correct me if I'm wrong bout mana breeze lvl). Even at that time, bards have to play smart, nuking only when there's a chance to nuke without slacking on your real job, keeping mp+tambour's (and/or dance) up. Especially when u're the only bard in the pt. But it will get better at 80+ when u can take couple of hits without getting ur tambour's / dance down.

So, to other builds in low lvl pt.. Give them a break. Dont misunderstood my vids. I made those vids at lvl 85+ because that's the best lvl to be a full time Battle Bard.

But, in group war i expect all bards to nuke regardless of lvl. Because u're fighting against ppl. Noise wont work on them. Ppl will attack u, so it would be good to do some support dmg but dont forget ur real job.

[Zeela12]

The most important thing for ppl to know is Bard is a support character.

But, in group war i expect all bards to nuke regardless of lvl.

These two sentences basically summarizes the bard. I've been, or at least planned to be Battle Bard since level one, so I had a lot of first hand experience with low level bard attacks. Some one said earlier Booming chord/wave draws too much agro, and yeah it really is true. Because you have to be so close to the mobs when you do it, it basically is suicide to use that on a huge lure. Before level 60 you don't have the 2nd nuke, and the first nuke is just a 1 mob thing, so it's not that helpful in parties, especially when you get to lvl 4x-5x, that's when the damage difference between wiz and bard start to really gap (like a same level wiz can do about 5-6 times the damage a bard can)

PvP however is completely different, because bards are really fast. bard's first nuke can activate and kill before any wiz or Chinese nukes. Bard is basically an int slayer, especially wizzes and spear nukers. The bard nukes do about the same damage a Chinese nuke does while it's at like twice the speed. During CTF I actually took out the enemy's entire party by myself once. (first kill wiz in 1 hit with nuke, run around avoid tanks, take out some rogues, then I switched to wiz and nuked the tank)

So basically what I'm trying to say is that at low level PvE, there's basically no point for battle bard. What I do is use mana wind or discord to draw agro to save wizzes in time of need, or maybe attack mobs on wizzes, but in a party with good tanks that won't be necessary. during PvP however, bards are godly already just because of the speed, so use that to your advantage.