Haggle Bard - Mississippi Queen

[Halaryel]

Epic Elyd Edge (Rapier) - +6, 2d6 base, Attack Mod: CHA, Charisma +7, Superior Devotion VI, Silver, Songblade, Anthem (Regenerates Bard songs), Red Slot

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=241608

not so hard to get seems.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

Epic Elyd Edge (Rapier) - +6, 2d6 base, Attack Mod: CHA, Charisma +7, Superior Devotion VI, Silver, Songblade, Anthem (Regenerates Bard songs), Red Slot

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=241608

not so hard to get seems.

That's a nice bard weapon. Let me ask you this, how "slow" do the songs regenerate?

[Zenako]

That's a nice bard weapon. Let me ask you this, how "slow" do the songs regenerate?

The Normal unraveled non epic version is 1 per 5 minutes. Which while nice seems a bit on the slow side to be all that useful since you also need to be weilding it. If the rate was a bit faster (kinda like the Paladin Smite recovery, but perhaps not quite as fast) that would make it more useful.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

The Normal unraveled non epic version is 1 per 5 minutes. Which while nice seems a bit on the slow side to be all that useful since you also need to be weilding it. If the rate was a bit faster (kinda like the Paladin Smite recovery, but perhaps not quite as fast) that would make it more useful.

Yeah, thats exactly what I was concerned about. Now, my next question is simple. Does the epic version lessen the duration? If it doesnt (my guess is it doesnt), it sours a fairly nice looking item (at least on paper).

[hethyba]

Just wanted to chime in as another newbie helped by this thread, thank you to all who have contributed helpful information. I'm building a spellsinger more or less patterned on this build, though I'm taking Toughness and Force of Personality instead of the haggle focus feats, since as a clueless newbie anything that can help me survive the learning curve is more important than a little more spare change. I just hit level 7 last night and seeing that I could reach 28 Haggle self-buffed already was quite satisfying -- and quite useful for a small group of LOTRO ex-pats just starting out here in DDO.

And while my little bard kills more slowly than some of the other more melee-focused characters that I've started, and is leveling more slowly than my friends who went VIP instead of premium to have access to everything for the first month, she gets the job done with some patience. My trusty +1 Greatsword of Lesser Undead Bane and I soloed the entire Catacombs chain at level 3, all on normal except for the very last boss fight quest which I dropped down to casual (and now my buddies get a constant +1 +1 +2 +2 over their heads as I spam the Eternal Cure Minor Wand at them during pauses in the action). I'm starting to learn to use my CC effectively and it's great fun having a crowd barreling down a hallway at me and hit them with a Soundburst for some breathing room followed by a Fascinate, and be able to pick them off one by one at my leisure. It suits my slow, methodical, kick-every-barrel soloing style perfectly, and I'm starting to feel a bit more useful grouping as well as I get more levels under my belt.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be referring back to this thread again and again for much more than just how to get the best vendor deals. Thanks again!

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be referring back to this thread again and again for much more than just how to get the best vendor deals. Thanks again!

You're welcome. Glad you are enjoying yourself. Quick note on something you said. Instead of wielding a greatsword.... try a quarterstaff. Because its not a martial weapon, it takes no -4 to-hit penalty, and makes a great weapon type to start collecting. They dont hit for as much damage as a slasher, but they swing faster and hit more accurately. The "no penalty/prereqs" requirement is huge for a bard that has nothing invested in DPS (except a high strength, which allows us to actually connect!).

When you aren't soloing, consider a spell pen/spell potency weapon set, as well as a mace/light armor/mithral shield (No arcane spell failure in Light armor. Arcane spell failure applies in Medium or heavy armor, or from any shield other than a Light Mithral Shield.) There is a shield you can get later on that is twilight mithral, and looks like a Home Depot door. You'll come across it someday

I like the feats you chose to replace the haggle feats. I'd have gone toughness at one and quicken (much faster healing & CC when clicked) whenever ya want. But what you chose is good too. Force of personality is especially good when you "fight on the inside."

[hethyba]

That particular greatsword is an heirloom piece: it's been mailed back and forth between my characters numerous times for use in early undead-infested areas (similarly, there's a two-handed something of lesser goblinoid bane that has seen a lot of use as well). I think I got it from a collectible turn-in and it's served me well. I just use Master's Touch when using a martial two-hander. It's a great tip about quarterstaves though. Not only do they not require Master's Touch, the attack animations get massive style points! I hunted around the pawnshop and AH a bit last night and found a nice little +1 Thundering Qstaff of Shattermantle that suits my bard perfectly, and didn't cost an arm and a leg either. I mean, it goes jingle jangle when I hit stuff, how cool is that?

Now that I have Cure Serious, I'm on the lookout for a Devotion/Potency III item -- I've got a Devotion II club and I know how much difference it makes to my Cure Moderate.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

Now that I have Cure Serious, I'm on the lookout for a Devotion/Potency III item -- I've got a Devotion II club and I know how much difference it makes to my Cure Moderate.

Sounds great! Just remember to work the healing side heavy. I learned best how to play a cleric not by playing my cleric, but playing my bard. Built confidence and multitasking skill. Tought me how to conserve mana. Always look for better potency/spell pen items, every time you level. The better the potency/spell pen, the better your healing spells heal and CC spells stick.

[Zenako]

Sounds great! Just remember to work the healing side heavy. I learned best how to play a cleric not by playing my cleric, but playing my bard. Built confidence and multitasking skill. Tought me how to conserve mana. Always look for better potency/spell pen items, every time you level. The better the potency/spell pen, the better your healing spells heal and CC spells stick.

One nice little system quirk that works in the favor of Bards, is that the Minimum Level restrictions on the spell boost items are almost no impediment to bards. You can use a nice Superior Potency III item at or before you actually get 3rd level healing spells, unlike a cleric who has to be level 8 for example to use that same item (when they could already cast 4th level spells) and thus often downgrade to a Greater Potency Item in order to use it for all spells at once.

(If you can get it, hold onto a Potency over a simple Devotion item (if at the same level of boost) since it will also help the handful of damage spells you might cast, if only for small amounts.)

[pappo]

LeslieWest
I am still following your build and now I am lvl 6. I have a newb question about Human Versatility. I took the first level (I) and now I have 5 squares in my hotbar and don't really know how to use them. I used to run a fighter and had haste and attack boost and those made sense on when I would use them, but these Versatility ones I am confused. When I click on one of them the all go down by one, but I only get a boost to the skill I selected and have to wait for the cooldown. When would you use these in a quest and what do they add to the bard's abilities?

[Anderei]

LeslieWest
I am still following your build and now I am lvl 6. I have a newb question about Human Versatility. I took the first level (I) and now I have 5 squares in my hotbar and don't really know how to use them. I used to run a fighter and had haste and attack boost and those made sense on when I would use them, but these Versatility ones I am confused. When I click on one of them the all go down by one, but I only get a boost to the skill I selected and have to wait for the cooldown. When would you use these in a quest and what do they add to the bard's abilities?

i for one dont use em at all in quests, only skills boost when buying or selling stuff, which is btw very likely the main reason why leslie added em to this build.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

LeslieWest
When would you use these in a quest and what do they add to the bard's abilities?

I use Human Versatility for primarily two things, haggle and UMD. A boosted UMD helps early on in your build until you reach a high enough UMD. Soon, you wont need HV or even a umd item to use any scroll/item in the game that can be UMD'd...

So yeah, HV is all about the haggle at end game. It will allow you to gain a higher haggle then any other race, including the CHA-fortified drow, even if they build-in haggle.

Other than that, you can get a small boost to your to-hit.... I found that useful on occasion. The rest of the boxes you refer to you can just ditch off your bar. I'd keep the HV skills and attack ones up on your bar...

[pappo]

I use Human Versatility for primarily two things, haggle and UMD. A boosted UMD helps early on in your build until you reach a high enough UMD. Soon, you wont need HV or even a umd item to use any scroll/item in the game that can be UMD'd....

I do not understand how the HV can boost your UMD and how that would be used. It would only be a short term (seconds) of UMD boost. How is that short term UMD boost used ?
Do you click that just before using a wand or scrool that has a higher UMD requirement than you currently carry for your skills ?

I apologize if these questions are really basic, but that is where I am at as far as playing a bard.

[Anderei]

I do not understand how the HV can boost your UMD and how that would be used. It would only be a short term (seconds) of UMD boost. How is that short term UMD boost used ?
Do you click that just before using a wand or scrool that has a higher UMD requirement than you currently carry for your skills ?

I apologize if these questions are really basic, but that is where I am at as far as playing a bard.

one of the HV raises your skills, which raises UMD and Haggle, just activate it before using some device you otherwise just weren't yet able to reliablle use, like raise dead, teleport etc.

[pappo]

one of the HV raises your skills, which raises UMD and Haggle, just activate it before using some device you otherwise just weren't yet able to reliablle use, like raise dead, teleport etc.

I see what you mean. I clicked on it while I had a scroll window open and saw the percentage of success go from 75% to 85%. I understand now.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

I see what you mean. I clicked on it while I had a scroll window open and saw the percentage of success go from 75% to 85%. I understand now.

Yes and the more you build UMD, the more those percentage of success will soar.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

Here's all the bard spells, skills, abilities, and enhancements.

Bard - DDO Compendium

[Gunga]

I'll admit that the burning source of my interest in this exercise was generated by my enormous Epeen, and the overwhelming, exclusively male desire to crush things with it.

Listen closely, now, as the Epeen poses a question.

How could this haggle bard thread have 58,065 views and 457 posts? What causes such phenomena to occur?

Have you ever seen a platypus or manatee? Crazy things do happen...and they aren't all pretty.

What drew me to this thread in the last few days is its frequent position on the front page of recent threads...seemingly the most popular author being Leslie, the OP himself.

When I saw the thread pop up again today, courtesy of Leslie once again, I had a thought.

And then I began counting:

pg 1......8
pg 2......7
pg 3......9
pg 4....12
pg 5....12
pg 6......7
pg 7......5
pg 8......2
pg 9......6
pg 10....9
pg 11....8
pg 12....8
pg 13....5
pg 14....8
pg 15....7
pg 16....9
pg 17....6
pg 18....7
pg 19....7
pg 20....8
pg 21....9
pg 22....6
pg 23....7

On the left, you'll find a column with a number that represents the page within this haggle bard thread. 23 pages. Truly mystifying.

On the right, is another number. That number is the count of posts that the OP made on each page.

Around page 5, I began to smirk. This is good stuff indeed. Could the popularity of this thread, the magic behind this one-hit wonder superfad craze, be single-handedly perpetuated by one man's feverish fancy for forum fame?

Too good to be true. Oh, this was going to be a doozie.

Then, around page 13, I started noticing that Leslie's posts were often really freaking long and color coded. COLOR CODED! Bold, italics, all laid out neatly with charts and graphs. Sheesh. What the hell could he possibly be talking about in a HAGGLE BARD THREAD.

OMG W T F shr plz.

I finished counting, obviously.

Out of 457 posts, 172 were Leslie's own blathering.

38% - averaging 7.5 per page.

By the time I started counting page 20, I realized something new, though:

This guy really freaking cares about haggle bards. He really know's his ****, too!

I don't know about you all, but I'll post a build up, and help people out once in a while, but good luck, nice to see ya, you're on your own; learn to fly or die.

Here, in this platypus, we have a guy who cares about a build and supports the **** out of it.

So, mugs up and props, my man.

While I don't see a haggle bard in my near (or remote) future, good job and keep it up.

[Anderei]

envy much?

[BoBoDaClown]

envy much?

Wasn't it a long-winded, convoluted way of saying 'good job'?