Bards, the Rodney Dangerfield of DDO

[AzB]

The other night I was pugging with a pretty good group and after we jumped in the quest and did the initial buffing ritual, the whole party says ty for the deadly.

My bard gave the party spell song vigor, spell song trance, +2 to all their abilities, +4 to damage to the whole party, as well as hage, blur, and good hope/greater heroism.

But everyone gets all excited about deadly. Don't get me wrong, deadly is a fine buff.

I've tried very hard to get my melee bard to be useful in combat as well. While running with a group the other night, I ran right along next to the barb keeping him haged, and even picking him up off the floor a couple times as we were running way out in front of the cleric. At the end, everyone was virtually high fiving the barb for his kill count. It was over 100 and the rest of the folks had kill counts of half that or less. Guess what mine was? 4 less than the barb. Nobody said anything about the bard.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for recognition or admiration or whatever. I'm just pointing out my observations. It's actually pretty hilarious that people's perceptions and stereotypes seem so much stronger than reality. And I figure some of you might understand.

We get no respect...

[sirgog]

Yep, people have an irrational obsession with Deadly Weapons.

It is almost never worth standing still to hand it out to the whole party - completion is faster if you just zerg ahead without it. Bard songs do as much and don't take 30 seconds to give out groupwide, they take 6. (Unless the content is so difficult that you feel it is worth max buffing before starting; some of the harder EEs fit this category).




The thing about playing a bard is you are often the biggest contributor to a success, but your contributions are subtle.

[LeslieWest_GuitarGod]

Amen! Yes, you need to know your stuff as a bard, because you will be constantly tested. Whether its someone doubting what you can do, or much more commonly, have no idea what you do, it's your role as a commander of the battlefield to educate and boost others in your group to victory.

Its been fun to build and play my two favorite bards, Mississippee Queen and Genghis Khan, but even more fun to help others build bards that satisfy them. They remain the most fun class in the game for me to play... and I have played them all.

PS: I agree with sirgog, bards are often the biggest contributor.. its not all about solo kills. As for buffing, I buff more depending on the group/quest I'm in. We dont zerg however. Still, Turbine has never coded "Medley" like I've asked years ago which would have saved us bards those valuable minutes that few would be patient enough to wait around for.

PSS OP: 2nd in kills vs the barb? Good job! Yeah, forget about the pug clowns... they have no IDEA what you can do, it has always been the least understood and appreciated class in the game, and always will be

My recommendation to bards are the same as they were 7 years ago. If you find a good guild that appreciates your abilities... it's a whole other story!!

[Memnir]

Love me!

[Steevye]

This was a lovely post to chuckle with before going to work. It's certainly true, especially in pugs these days...

I like the guild suggestion, that's been what gets me groups more often than anything else and thankfully it's usually fun. If I'm not running guild groups, I will sometimes get invitations to other groups who like bards simply because I'm usually only one of 5-10 epic level bards online when I play. Those groups are usually great too.

Underrated? Yes...and it seems like the devs are bigoted against the class since half the tree is bugged...

[Sokól]

Love me!

That made me laugh

I really enjoy grouping with good bards but it would be a little silly to let them know that every time.

OP just ignore the BS...

[Asmodeus451]

Love me!

Mem, you've had some good ones, but this is the best yet


*note to self, no more drinking morning coffee while reading forums, in case of spontaneous Memnir*

[unbongwah]

The thing about playing a bard is you are often the biggest contributor to a success, but your contributions are subtle.

I am reminded of something an old CompSci professor told us: that when we did our jobs right and everything goes smoothly, nobody notices because our work is hidden from view; but if something goes wrong, guess who gets blamed for it?

Or it's like being a kuroko in kabuki; your job is to make everyone else shine, w/out drawing attention to yourself.

[kryscendo]

the thing about playing a bard is you are often the biggest contributor to a success, but your contributions are subtle.

so true!!!!!!