New player seeking advice.

I prefer 2wf on my bards (and evasion... I love evasion on a bard). Fascinate is very good, but you will have to show the group that it can work in their favor. Once you know a quest, don't be afraid to run ahead so when the group gets there, everything is standing still with notes over their heads. One or two may get the clue. Don't even try to convince barbarians though; it makes their head hurt when you try to reason with them.

Some people may tell you that Virtuoso is bleh... it is not... trust me. I usually take skill focus perform at level 6, then have Fred swap it out in house J later. This will give you virtuoso I, Song of the Dead, and a very reliable Enthrall (a better version of fascinate) at level 6. Later you can swap to one of the lesser prestiges if you want. Just make sure you do it before level 12 when you get Song of Capering and Sustaining Song. Those are hard to give up once you get used to using them.

Yeah, and don't get too attached to your first character. I think I played every class before I ever got close to capping one. My first capped character was a bard btw.

Bards Rock!

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Originally Posted by JasonJi72

I prefer 2wf on my bards (and evasion... I love evasion on a bard). Fascinate is very good, but you will have to show the group that it can work in their favor. Once you know a quest, don't be afraid to run ahead so when the group gets there, everything is standing still with notes over their heads. One or two may get the clue. Don't even try to convince barbarians though; it makes their head hurt when you try to reason with them.

Some people may tell you that Virtuoso is bleh... it is not... trust me. I usually take skill focus perform at level 6, then have Fred swap it out in house J later. This will give you virtuoso I, Song of the Dead, and a very reliable Enthrall (a better version of fascinate) at level 6. Later you can swap to one of the lesser prestiges if you want. Just make sure you do it before level 12 when you get Song of Capering and Sustaining Song. Those are hard to give up once you get used to using them.

Yeah, and don't get too attached to your first character. I think I played every class before I ever got close to capping one. My first capped character was a bard btw.

Bards Rock!

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I only recomended 2hf because he is new on his first charactor, its cheaper not having to make multiple greensteel and craft multiple weapons. And hes not going to be getting all the hp gear as soon as he levels up for it so wont have as much freedom to lower con for dex and most likely wont be getting a +2 dex tome so he can start with 15 dex and get his 2wf feats as soon as he qualifies for them. I think sometimes us more established players have to have a think about what we recommend to newer players as we while leveling up a charactor take it for granted soon as they hit 7 boom they are getting +2 tomes, level 11 gfl somewhere, +6 con and other stats.

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Originally Posted by FrozenNova

First off, ignore 95% of all official class guides.. =P

A two-handed fighting spellsinger bard is going to get you the most out of your class without any expensive build options or tricky gear acquisition. Dwarf gives you bonuses to greataxe damage and to-hit (the latter being important for bards) while also helping to shore up a bard's naturally lower hitpoints.

High strength, high con, bump charisma to twelve or so. Levelups into strength.
Max perform, UMD, concentration - others are up to you.

A two-fighter splash is worth doing to make feats convenient.
Toughness
Power attack
Two handed fighting
Mental Toughness (qualifies you for spellsinger - swap it out for maximize if need be in higher levels)
Extend
Improved Two handed Fighting
Improved Critical
Empower Healing
Greater Two handed Fighting

This lets you take the whole THF line and the useful metamagics, alongside haste boost.
You want to take your fighter levels at one and after you recieve Haste at bard spell level 3.
Fighter bonus feats only include feats on the martial feat list, so plan accordingly.

Welcome to DDO - a bard is the most versatile class here, and due to their buffs, beloved by all - especially the glorious sp-regen song available only to spellsingers.

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I like this build a lot, i was going to recomend a 2hf spellsinger for a first charactor, the maximize and empower healing are definately not wasted at all. I laugh when I get other bards screaming out for heals in the middle of quests raids.

Some other tips do not skimp on the enhancements to improve your songs to hit and damage and song duration. Don't give up on CC you still have fascinate,
And umd then maybe concentration are most important skills, followed by balance and maybe jump, bards dont get the spell but you can get the buff from others and clickies later on for that.

Hi natural hazard, that was me yesterday that was asking about bard, i saw this thread and decided to to see where it went before i tried asking myself, i'm a little confused, in the custom builds there is a sticky for new player builds (which i am lol) and they say spellsinger is hard for solo but you guys are suggesting it for a new player.

I could be wrong and quite often i am lol

I'm thinking that your average new player comes to the game, we dont have know of people to level with so we mainly solo till we get to know people, just my thought anyway

oh well back to browsing to find my build, btw love the help everyone gives, good to know there are people out hter that take the time to help

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Originally Posted by kachin1

Hi natural hazard, that was me yesterday that was asking about bard, i saw this thread and decided to to see where it went before i tried asking myself, i'm a little confused, in the custom builds there is a sticky for new player builds (which i am lol) and they say spellsinger is hard for solo but you guys are suggesting it for a new player.

I could be wrong and quite often i am lol

I'm thinking that your average new player comes to the game, we dont have know of people to level with so we mainly solo till we get to know people, just my thought anyway

oh well back to browsing to find my build, btw love the help everyone gives, good to know there are people out hter that take the time to help

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A bard's prestige enhancement defines very little about them.
Whoever you were talking to meant that DC-based bards are difficult to solo with. This is not the same thing.

Moreover I'm frankly surprised if I see the same name more than a couple of times while levelling. The lfm pannel is equal and fair to all.

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Originally Posted by kachin1

Hi natural hazard, that was me yesterday that was asking about bard, i saw this thread and decided to to see where it went before i tried asking myself, i'm a little confused, in the custom builds there is a sticky for new player builds (which i am lol) and they say spellsinger is hard for solo but you guys are suggesting it for a new player.

I could be wrong and quite often i am lol

I'm thinking that your average new player comes to the game, we dont have know of people to level with so we mainly solo till we get to know people, just my thought anyway

oh well back to browsing to find my build, btw love the help everyone gives, good to know there are people out hter that take the time to help

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I capped my first toon, a pure lvl 20 spellsinger bard, by pugging.

Like I mentioned previously, explore the game and play what characters you want (reasonably built of course). Some classes might be eaiser to level or group, but to me it will be a drag if you don't like the character and just running quest quickly behind other players just to "level" or group.

You don't have to know anyone to play or level. I came into this game by myself, and I only started browsing the forums much later. I found a few interesting folks on the forums, but never connected to them as I play in off peak hours. Don't be afraid to join groups, just mention that you're new. There's no reason why anyone has to solo just because they're new unless they choose to. Playing a squishy bard on a my first life, I couldn't solo and got my b**t kicked in a lot of quests - so I usually join groups. I never liked playing solo anyway - this is after all an MMO and I like playing with other people. And 70% of the time it was alright, only bout 10% of the time it wasn't pleasant.

The custom build is correct that it's harder to solo on a spellsinger, but it wasn't a downside to me. :)

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Originally Posted by FrozenNova

Moreover I'm frankly surprised if I see the same name more than a couple of times while levelling. The lfm pannel is equal and fair to all.

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This is my observation as well. From time to time I might recognise a name or two, but it's rare. Only at higher levels you'll see a few more names more often when grouping.

Welcome to the game, I hope that you have a pleasant playing experience; this is a wonderful game, filled with incredible dungeons and breath-taking monsters. The players here are also very friendly towards new players, so you should not have a problem getting advice.

Now for my advice, I recommend trying class and race combinations until you find one that you like. Experiment with things, do not become obsessed with maximizing your character... at least not yet. Have fun!

Just my two cents.

thanks for all the advice everyone, i was wondering if i should keep all my action points for later, or use them as they come available

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Originally Posted by kachin1

thanks for all the advice everyone, i was wondering if i should keep all my action points for later, or use them as they come available

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It's not a big deal either way. You can always reset and respend your action points (once every 3 days at a fairly minor cost in plat).

As you get to the higher tiers of the enhancements they will cost 2 or 3 or even 4 action points so you will be saving up some out of necessity.

I've always saved them each level and spent 4 when I level up.

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Originally Posted by Satinavian

And fascinate... works only if your puggers pay attention. And don't freely use thf/aoe spells. Which will probably only happen in some rare quests where fascinating somehow managed to slip in as standart tactic. Especcially i am no fan of advertising fascinate as primary source of cc on thf-build-bards. You can't even freely kill them one by one, if they are close together using your main weapon.

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I disagree with this section... if your a virt. Which I like to recommend for all newbie bards.
THF is easier on the stat points for a 28 point newbie which is why I like it so much for newbies - though I still like to play it to this day myself with 32 points and a willingness to buy tomes.
I'd max strength and go with 12-16 con depending on race. whatever is left over I would put into charisma.
feats are tight on a bard - especially one who is trying to melee.
but since they were already mentioned, I won't touch on them again.

First step - http://www.rjcyberware.com/DDO/DDOCharGen.html and download by clicking the HERE button.

Second step - Plan on a pure build BEFORE trying a mutli-class. Just my opinion. I'm not a fan of multi's in any way.

Thirst step - Have fun playing, and rebuilding, and playing again. I had more fun with this game playing, learning, rerolling and playing and learning more, than anything else.

Happy Hunting!

Welcome :)

Bard tip: use Invisibility, especially when solo/ahead of the group/Fascinating. Scrolls are cheap, though I find the spell useful enough to keep slotted quite often.

thanks again for all the help everyone

Got my bard to 3 so far and loving it, so much to remember but lol, not sure when i can craft and trying to not stuff my build up is frying my brain lol

As i put in more time it should be fine thou

And Jollyswagman, i'm guessing your a aussie like me, nice to see another of us out there lol

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Originally Posted by Shaadjd

One thing has me nervous and thats the whole character customization with stat points. I find it exciting that you can build your character anyway you want but I don't want to screw myself over building a character and have to start over.

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You're going to. It's going to happen at some point. Maybe even multiple times. But you'll figure out what you like, what works, what doesn't. And it's all fun :)

And welcome to the game! What server are you playing on?

i'm on kyber i think its spelt, i will have to find somewhere to hide, i cant walk 10 feet without someone inviting me to a guild lol, i probably should thou

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Originally Posted by kachin1

i'm on kyber i think its spelt, i will have to find somewhere to hide, i cant walk 10 feet without someone inviting me to a guild lol, i probably should thou

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There's an option to turn off guild invite requests I think. Check under game options or settings. Not in game right now so I can't look it up for you.

Remember though to turn this setting on again when you've decided to join a guild for real!

Wow, thanks for all the replies! Okay, so I just got in the game and made my character and found out that I can use a controller to map keys! Already <3 the game for this, but looks like i'll be spending the first hour or two getting a feel for the game. Anyone use controller and have a recommendation? But to answer some of the earlier post, I want to play a cc/healer bard and picked virtuoso of the sword to start out with. I just might try the customization option and really get my hands dirty. But a a big thanks to all who replied, I really appreciate it!

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Originally Posted by kachin1

i'm on kyber i think its spelt, i will have to find somewhere to hide, i cant walk 10 feet without someone inviting me to a guild lol, i probably should thou

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I would advise against joining those blind invites for guilds..... I suggest pugging more and getting to know people from the various guilds that way if possible, then if you like their playstiye and what their guild is about then join.

Quoting myself on purpose :

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Originally Posted by Alrik_Fassbauer

- The DDO store gives away 1 thing for free, usually, per week. Often 1 per account only, but they are worth it.

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Now this is a good time : http://www.ddo.com/ddostoresale

Because this week's free item is a so-called "Lesser Experience Elixir".
The Coupon Code is there, as well, and I have linked towards the "Coupon Code Guide" in an earlier post.

Edit : Sorry, I saw this too late, but this forum member writes about it, too : http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=367576