Bards sometimes get no respect

[brinclhof]

I had one run where I did get a bit of acknowledgement on my bard.

it was a wierd party make up....don't remember all the details...lot of lag... party almost wiped part 4 at end of round 1 blades hit all heals lagged 5 people dropped from blade. results were 1 bard (me) 1 monk 2 casters left standing with harry at about 20%. Casters took out the gnolls in round two I healed the monk kept him up while he finished off Harry. Monk raised one person I raised a cleric going into part 5 and we completed.

I did get an good job from the party on that one.

[DeafeningWhisper]

I remember a Mired in Kobolds run where the 3 other melee agreed that the reason we wiped at momma dragon was that my Warchanter didn't have enough dps (never mind the cleric that ran out of sp mid fight casting Cometfalls or that they kitted the thing around), before the run the Barb said that if all I can bring to the party is a +6 to hit +7 to damage I'll be a dead weight considering I couldn't hit as hard as his 70/80 on a crit. I wanted to point out that I do more or less that damage on a normal hit and that when he listed his stats my drow had at lest 2 points more in all of them (including con if you can believe that), but I just ran with it. After we wiped I just left the group and told them gl and they were all happy that they could add a "real" dps to their party now.

[eduardolsf]

Some times i get blacklisted playing with my Spellsinger, but i dont care, i just black-list then back...

but some times, every wizard, sorc, cleric, FvS in the party loves me because of the Spellsong Vigor and the other two spellsinger songs.
We know our heals won't be as much as a cleric or FvS, but we can do their work pretty well. With some gold we can Raise Dead, teleport, and much more!

since update 9, i lost a nice build i had with hold person and 2 seeker+10 heavy pick, with this build i could deal 100+ damage even im not proficient with the weapon and had 8 points on base Strength, it was a skiny bard with some dexterity and maxed charisma, could solo most of the quests with a tanker hireling to take the agro while i was fascinating the monster, charming and holding, then i could kill one by one without getting hit once...

yes, i know a wizard can be a better enchanter than a bard, yes i know a FvS can heal much more than i can dream, and yes, i know a barbarian can deal much more damage with a dagger, but if you already have one of each in your party, and u dont know if you need more heal, more dps, or more cc, let me join your party, i can even improve the abilities of your friends, making your dps even better, your heals last longer and help the wizard control the monster, while he mass hold, i can use Crushing Despair. And between battles, i can heal spell points while singing.

when i play pvp, everyone hates me! no one is safe from my spells, Shout stuns the casters while hold and Hypnotism take care of meeles, the only ones that i fear are the paladins and monks, they have high saves and have high damage.

me:hey! can i join the fight?
Warrior: you must be kidding me!
wizard: sure, u can buff us while we fight
me: ok!

Shout!

wizard: what?!

Hold!

Warrior: not fair!

blacklisted in 2 minutes...

[CanuckWisdom]

Oh yea, Ive been playing a bard for a long while now and no one seems to understand the potential of fascinate (enthrall in my case).

When I played Dark Age of Camelot, there was a 'assist' function where you could make a macro which gave you the same target as 'main' assist. I.e. the main tank's target would be fed to you and everyone could attack the same target, coordinating your efforts.

This serves two main purposes that I can see. 1, things die faster with concentrated effort. Even an enemy with 1 hp can still cast the spell that kills you in video games. Take them out one at a time. 2, crowd control is NOT BROKEN!!!

Fascinate is an incredible ability and on my bard I dont even really use it unless Im soloing, because people cant stand still long enough to let you do your work. Buffing, 30 seconds of 4 songs is too long. Crowd control, you cant get ahead of the zerger to fascinate a room before folks arrive like you would solo, or people wont refrain from using AOE damage and increasing the load on the healers.

Its so simple. DDO players could 'win' at the game much more gauranteed if they took advantage of mesmerizing effects!

I dont know if it saves time, but it would definitely make much content more managable. Ill enter a room and fascinate every monster in there for 6 minutes or something rediculous, except on raids.

Come to think of it, there seems to be much rushing in DDO. Every quest is rush it seems, unless your with friends.

[QuantumFX]

sometimes bards get no respect....

The big question is: Do you get blamed for a full party wipe?

[QuantumFX]

And… just to beat Memnir:

[Dragavon]

sometimes bards get no respect....

The respect and appreciation a player has for bards in groups is directly proportional to how much that player knows about the game.

[Arasimaru]

Hey, wait. Just because bards can scroll heal doesn't make them special.. I still get no respect on my sorcerer when I blow through a stack of heal and mass cure scrolls in ToD..
..That being said, bards deserve more respect. Everyone seems to want a bard, but no one seems to realize why. Bards can heal epics, they can cc epics, or they can dps with very little difference to a ranger or paladin. But, alot of bards can't really heal, and alot of bards can't really DPS. It's very hard to tell if you've got a good bard and a bad cleric, or a good cleric. The best way to gain respect on a bard, in my opinion, is AFK for a minute or two and see how the raid's going when you get back .

(Warning: Leaving in the middle of a fight may make certain individuals less friendly.)

[MindCake]

Casters took out the gnolls in round two I healed the monk kept him up while he finished off Harry.

So you think the monk finished off Harry and the DoTs from casters are there just for show?
I guess the lack of recognition goes both ways.

[FrozenNova]

If your sole purpose as a bard is to sing and heal then, well, no. You do not get my respect.
If you can contribute meaningful damage or spell CC at the time, then yes - you're worthy of your party slot.

[Ryan220]

Its a sad fact that Bards often arent appreciated.

I believe its due to many players just not knowing the class capability.

Just the other day my (then) L16 Chanter was turned down for Delirium - why, I hear you ask? "we dont need a Bard". The LFM was open to all classes.

Fortunately, the people who recognise what a Bard can do are the ones you'll really want to run with.

I'll run my Chanter with a Spellsinger any day of the week.

Bard hug

[~sumptingwong]

bards make better healers for 4 main reasons and a lot of others

1 bards can do other cool stuff like sing songs and music is cool
2bards have more than one PRe
3. clerics are stupid and i dont like them
4 barbarians are great dps


all jokes aside, a good bard can REPLACE a healer in a party. my warchanter does just fine healing <insert any epic quest/raid here>, and contributes so much more than my cleric does. the only thing my cleric can do that my bard can't is stun (clonk, 44 dc stunning fist) and DOT.

+1 for bard appreciation day

Don't forget though rogues are better dps then barbarians...

[Zachski]

I'm actually making a melee spellsinger based off of a recent post.

Warchanters are pretty good at healing, a melee spellsinger would trade the ability to increase damage by an additional +2 (+1 if being compared to a Warchanter splash) in exchange for the ability to buff casters, heal SP, and also have more SP to heal with in the first place.

A melee healer, so to speak, with access to heal scrolls and mass cures.

[junta74]

I'm actually making a melee spellsinger based off of a recent post.

Warchanters are pretty good at healing, a melee spellsinger would trade the ability to increase damage by an additional +2 (+1 if being compared to a Warchanter splash) in exchange for the ability to buff casters, heal SP, and also have more SP to heal with in the first place.

A melee healer, so to speak, with access to heal scrolls and mass cures.

My thoughts exactly. Granted I messed it up and went AA as well

[Dragbon]

Don't worry about it many people can't understand how good a class is unless they see something that is very hard to do and/or the person/people that give bards no love have seen a badly played bard. So just stop worrying and have some fun. Its just a game.

[kublaikhanx]

[QUOTE=Llewndyn;4035978]

And beholders have ALL this intelligence and the only thing they can do is wiggle from side to side like Tyrone Biggums? When you get outdanced by a half orc, something's wrong. VERY wrong.


LOL now I have to make a build named Tyrone Biggums hehe

[Zillee]

I honestly don't know where the heals are coming from most of the time in a raid as I usually don't have the combat page up in the chat box - so I tend to say 'thanks for the heals' if I realise that there would have been a wipe except for great 'nick of time' healing, rather than pick out specific players in the group to thank. I was surprised the other day to learn that my lowbie fighter in a chrono group was healed by a rogue with a wand while I kept the end boss busy. Unless someone speaks up to say "actually that was me" I'm kinda clueless.

But yes, bards are great. Love having them as part of a party =)

[brinclhof]

I honestly don't know where the heals are coming from most of the time in a raid as I usually don't have the combat page up in the chat box - so I tend to say 'thanks for the heals' if I realise that there would have been a wipe except for great 'nick of time' healing, rather than pick out specific players in the group to thank. I was surprised the other day to learn that my lowbie fighter in a chrono group was healed by a rogue with a wand while I kept the end boss busy. Unless someone speaks up to say "actually that was me" I'm kinda clueless.

But yes, bards are great. Love having them as part of a party =)

If it had been a general, thanks for the heals or great heals that would have been one thing. But they specifically praised the Cleric as if he was the only one there that could heal....

That was the part that got under my skin.

Oh and too the person that mentioned that a bard that just brings songs and heals to a party you don't want...but can bring meaningful dps also that is the one you want....I just have to say....I can bring dps if necessary but that is not what my bard is best at. My bard is best at CC, Heals and Buffing....but if the party has plenty CC, buffing and heals with out me and is low on dps I can Hit things if necessary. Just not his prefered activity.

[redwolf51]

bards make better healers for 4 main reasons and a lot of others

1 bards can do other cool stuff like sing songs and music is cool
2bards have more than one PRe
3. clerics are stupid and i dont like them
4 barbarians are great dps


all jokes aside, a good bard can REPLACE a healer in a party. my warchanter does just fine healing <insert any epic quest/raid here>, and contributes so much more than my cleric does. the only thing my cleric can do that my bard can't is stun (clonk, 44 dc stunning fist) and DOT.

+1 for bard appreciation day

buff/heal battlecleric is sad