An ode to the solo troub

[Frigid2000]

<div>Stretch your legs, strap on your gear.</div><div>Peel open the door to greet a new day.</div><div>Instrument playing, pleasing to the ear.</div><div>Inspiring those around  you today.</div><div> </div><div>Yet in top-o'the-line, shiny gear.</div><div>Weapons gleaming with power.</div><div>Our songs they fail to hear.</div><div>Monsters laugh at our purple/pink armor.</div><div>Quickly we're ground into piles of dust.</div><div>Weapons bouncing off hard tin.</div><div>Forced to watch the greedy lust.</div><div>Of other classes power to win.</div><div> </div><div>Apparently we can inspire the group.</div><div>But somehow not ourselves.</div><div>That our dps compares to poop.</div><div>Our songs not balancing the hell.</div><div> </div><div>So when you feel the need.</div><div>To try and take down that named.</div><div>Save the pain and swallow the greed...</div><div> </div><div>And go roll another character. =P</div><div> </div><div>No, I'm not a poet.  And as much as I like my troub, the frustrating of just being owned by mobs that most other classes take with ease, burns a lot.  There's never room to kite, our charm is a joke, and our songs do not make up for anything.</div><div> </div><div>So in short?  If you want that named, those heroic mobs, or anything else.  Try a monk, bruiser, conj, necro, etc.  Because it ain't here. =)</div><div> </div><div> </div>

[Cygnu]

<div></div><div></div><p>I have said this many times on this board but as A troubadour I have never had any major issues soloing even-con solo encounters, and I can handle most green heroic encounters. With the introduction of the KoS expansion, taking the STA AA line makes things a lot easier. The added protection of this line, plus the 3 sec stun shield bash makes soloing with a sword and board a viable option. I am now taking on yellow one-up-arrow solo encounters with ease.</p><p>So is there really a problem with the class if I can take solo encounters a few levels above me and green heroic mobs? If there are classes out there that can handle a lot more than this, then surely it is they who are overpowered and not us being underpowered.</p><p>There is definitely some class balancing issues still to resolve but no need to jump ship just yet.</p><p>p.s. Nice poem :smileyhappy:</p><p>Message Edited by CygnusX on <span class="date_text">03-27-2006</span><span class="time_text">01:46 AM</span></p>

[MmoWarlo]

great song,im gonna tack it on my wall,i love that! someone bring this to the attention of a dev,it deserves to be shown off <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

[Darkmage6]

<div></div>How?? my gear is not bad or great i cant solo blues, my def is maxed my songs are half masters and adepts and i usually end up with 10% of my health left after every fight.When i get hit i really get hit 200+ dmg per i dont last very long taking that much seems that 41-50 its just a bad place to be solo wise.I should be 50 in a day or so but i guess once i get mez it should get easier.If we have to rely on mez to solo good then sony should really look at our class because if a class cant solo good before 50 its just not balanced with other classes.<div></div><p>Message Edited by Darkmage666 on <span class="date_text">03-27-2006</span><span class="time_text">05:16 AM</span></p>

[Jal]

<blockquote><hr>Darkmage666 wrote:<div></div>How?? my gear is not bad or great i cant solo blues, my def is maxed my songs are half masters and adepts and i usually end up with 10% of my health left after every fight.When i get hit i really get hit 200+ dmg per i dont last very long taking that much seems that 41-50 its just a bad place to be solo wise.I should be 50 in a day or so but i guess once i get mez it should get easier.If we have to rely on mez to solo good then sony should really look at our class because if a class cant solo good before 50 its just not balanced with other classes.<div></div><p>Message Edited by Darkmage666 on <span class="date_text">03-27-2006</span><span class="time_text">05:16 AM</span></p><hr></blockquote>Troubadors solo fine before and after 50 but id still definitely say we are much more group oriented. I stopped playing my troub at 54 as i wanted to start a necro because i missed the caster class but now switching back to my troub i find it alot more fun getting up close and personal.I dont mind if i end an encounter in the red health, if i walk away and they dont i win and that is my version of successful. Relying on mezz to solo well isnt a necessity unless your one of the people who likes to fight heroics solo alot but its is a very useful tool to control the encounter and make sure you fight one or two mobs at a time.

[Cuz]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Jalek wrote:<blockquote><hr>Darkmage666 wrote:<div></div>How?? my gear is not bad or great i cant solo blues, my def is maxed my songs are half masters and adepts and i usually end up with 10% of my health left after every fight.When i get hit i really get hit 200+ dmg per i dont last very long taking that much seems that 41-50 its just a bad place to be solo wise.I should be 50 in a day or so but i guess once i get mez it should get easier.If we have to rely on mez to solo good then sony should really look at our class because if a class cant solo good before 50 its just not balanced with other classes.<div></div><p>Message Edited by Darkmage666 on <span class="date_text">03-27-2006</span><span class="time_text">05:16 AM</span></p><hr></blockquote>Troubadors solo fine before and after 50 but id still definitely say we are much more group oriented. I stopped playing my troub at 54 as i wanted to start a necro because i missed the caster class but now switching back to my troub i find it alot more fun getting up close and personal.I dont mind if i end an encounter in the red health, if i walk away and they dont i win and that is my version of successful. Relying on mezz to solo well isnt a necessity unless your one of the people who likes to fight heroics solo alot but its is a very useful tool to control the encounter and make sure you fight one or two mobs at a time.<hr></blockquote>I agree that my troub can solo, but I find it silly that I need to get to 50 to get my first mezz. My mystic and swash got a mezz first. Making mezz a "normal" spell (ie 14 level cycle) would probably help a ton of troubs.

[Bumblethither]

<div><span><blockquote><hr>Darkmage666 wrote:<div></div>How?? my gear is not bad or great i cant solo blues, my def is maxed my songs are half masters and adepts and i usually end up with 10% of my health left after every fight.</blockquote>Post a link to your profile.</span></div>

[britn]

We're right above templars/inquisitors for soloing ability.   Hardly exciting.  You should follow a SK or Summoner around sometime... or even a Coercer.<div></div>

[Cynnigig]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>CygnusX wrote:<div></div><div></div><p>So is there really a problem with the class if I can take solo encounters a few levels above me and green heroic mobs? If there are classes out there that can handle a lot more than this, then surely it is they who are overpowered and not us being underpowered.</p><hr></blockquote><p>As a level 59 troubadour I can also fight those mobs you describe. I can do it consistently and without needing luck to win the battle. To me that is good soloing. I personally don't really care much, what other classes can do, so maybe they are much better, consistently soloing orange mobs. Or maybe people's expectations are just too high. I don't think people will be able to achieve this consistency, if they choose the wrong setup. Looking at other troubadours setups, I can imagine some of them would have trouble soloing. Maybe other classes can kill these mobs quicker, but is it really an issue, if troubadours take a few seconds longer? At least downtime with us isn't an issue.</p><p>The above applies for what I would call normal, everyday fighting. In addition to that, troubadours are capable of taking on enemies of a much different caliber. At the moment I am practising with blue triple-up heroic nameds. Once you have the tactics figured out and have your timing worked out, then it really isn't that hard. But this is where the problems start, concerning balancing. The drawback to this capability is that it takes time. If our dps were to be raised, then we would be very overpowered. So, the only thing SOE could do to compensate, is to reduce our mezz and charm capabilities. Is that what we want?</p><p>In general, reading these forums, there sure is a discrepancy in how troubadours view themselves. I can't really put my finger on why this is so. But I think this supports my own view of our class: that there are many ways to play a troubadour, different tactical approaches and setups. And because troubadours tend to lug around a ton of equipment, we are quite flexible and capable of switching roles, depending on the situation or personal disposition.</p>

[Jooneau]

I'm curious why you don't think downtime is an issue for us, especially if we have to exhaust most of our resources (health and power) to solo challenging MoBs.

[Bumblethither]

<p>What are you calling a challenging mob?</p><p>Downtime tends to be minimal with decent food and drink, even when power gets used up. (Honestly I usually am waiting on health more than power on the harder targets.</p><div></div>

[Viv]

<div></div><div>I'm largely disappointed with the Troubador community in general.  All I've been hearing is, I can't do this, or I can't solo that, why are we so [Removed for Content]'d? </div><div> </div><div>Now before you start flaming, let me give you some background, I've been playing my Trouby for the better part of a year n a half now, and I wouldn't trade it for a thing.  I can solo green ^^ heroics, a blue ^ heroic, and 4 normal mobs at a time(go mezz go).  I think its all about tactics, the right spells at the right times, the right equipment at the right time(ie, shield/sword, dual combo's).  If you still can't see how to do it, let me run you through what I play with: </div><div> </div><div>(Solo)</div><div> </div><div>I run the following buffs:  Daelis' Jig of Blades, Bria's Glorifying Ballad, Raxxyl's Brash Descant, Quiron's Ecstatic Celebration, and Exhilirating Opus.  </div><div> </div><div>Now, I know your probably thinking, oh, he's probably got masters or adept 3's of all his spells, not true, there all adept one, with the exception of mezz, and maybe one or two others. </div><div> </div><div>As for my tactics, I prefer to open with a Guviena's, or Startling Shriek, I then hit my lucky break, cheap shot, hit my Taffo's (have to be quick, only stunned for a couple seconds), and then I trigger my HO, at which point I use my debuffs, and then proceed to pound away using [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] near every attack/stun/stifle I got.  Unless its a large encounter, I can take down several mobs back to back using this combination, before I need to take a mana, and/or possible a HP break.</div><div> </div><div>As for DPS, I find myself <>Pulling<> aggro off alot of the time(Good tanks are rare I suppose), but that's fine, because I also have the buffs to compensate for this, not to mention my shield!   At any rate, I find myself soloing better then most, and killing faster then the smaller groups(2-3 people) killing the same mobs in TT(go figure, I'm a bard). </div><div> </div><div>As for groups, run what fits the group best, I hope to god everyone can read their spell descriptions, and figure this one out for themselves.  </div><div> </div><div>I hope someone finds something useful in this post, and learns to hold their head up high.  We're not screwed by a long shot, anyone who says so needs to take a second look.    </div><div> </div><div>Quickening Kandenksi, Gnomish Troubador.  (57)</div><div>Order of the Silverflame</div><div>Antonia Bayle Server</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>(P.S.)  For duoing, find an SK, its a blast, exp flies, and they compliment our skills perfectly.</div>

[Cynnigig]

<div></div><div>The right equipment at the right time is a very helpful tip. I have two shields at the moment, one with procs (which I use for most fights), the other with int (which I use for buffing and when I expect to be mezzing a lot). Anything that procs can be dangerous, when using mezz (like imbued pants). I run the same buffs, except I will at times prefer Avoidance over Exhilirating Opus.</div><div> </div><div>Taking on difficult heroic mobs, I will open the fight with mezz. Then I debuff the mob with spells and hexdolls. I attack with Guviena's, Cheap Shot, and then do as much damage as I can in a short time. I find that remezzing early, after firing off 3-4 spells, is the better way to go. In case mezz is resisted you have enough time to cast it again. Not taking so much damage yourself will result in a shorter wait to get your health back up, while keeping the mob mezzed. If I took a lot of damage or expect the fight to last longer, I will deactivate the debuffs, which drain power. Then repeat. If you have a well-coordinated group, you can also use this method, at least for the initial pull.</div><div> </div><div>Where the troubadour really shines when soloing is taking on groups of mobs. The flexibility of the troubadour allows you to take different approaches here. A group of three mobs is in fact one mob and a friend of yours. You only have to fight one mob at a time and will have help doing so, whereas many other classes will have to take on all three at the same time. You can go straight for that one specific target, because adds are not as much of an issue. You can get yourself into hairy situations though, if the fight goes bad and too much add comes along. Then you'll be standing in a bunch of mezzed mobs, with no real chance of beating them. I always find it amusing when someone comes along and sees this <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> At least in most cases you can make a safe escape.</div><div> </div><div>The troubadour really fits my playstyle. I had played a mystic up to level 59, but wanted to start anew, trying to get a high quest count. Doing quests often means doing them solo or extended periods of grinding for updates or quest drops, so I looked long at what classes would be best suited for this kind of playstyle. I have never regretted choosing troubadour.</div>

[Sir Blig]

<div></div><p>Hmm</p><p>Well when I see other classes stand toe to toe with some things I just shudder because if I went toe to toe, even with mez I would be eaten alive,</p><p>Sure what people need to remember about Bard's is we are the GROUPIES of the world but a lot of people have no clue what or how we do things.</p><p>Bards are supposed to be Jack of all and master of none. Jack means better not worse or worst and better not best.</p><p>So if things are rated from 0-100 making 50 average,50 average60 Above average70 Good80 Very good90 Extreamly good100 Best</p><p>And hey this is just a lean mean example, but as Jacks of all our skill should be in say the the 60-90 or 70-80 or somewhere around that as compared to the BEST! Granted we can't do absolutely everything, anyhow onward</p><p>Now apply that to the skills we have and were do we stand?IE if Rangers or whoever means death with a bow call them 100, so if our Jack picks up his bow should he not be around 3/4 as good? And better any other average bow user. Can we do even half the damage, well hey I am not sure and don't have the time</p><p>Now go though all our abilities go find the classes that are BEST i.e. the masters of them and how do we stand?</p><p>Bards should be way cool because of there versatility</p><p>Anyone for a pet project?</p>

[Frigid2000]

<div></div><p>I have the same buffs on that everyone is listed, and I have tried the mez and wait for health/power to regen.</p><p>For some reason, it doesn't work - the regen is SO slow, that I might gain just a little bit back by the time mez breaks.</p><p>And how can you solo heroics?  Full fabled, master 1 spells?  I can't.  Not even greens.  I can't even do double up arrow mobs.  I just can't tear through their hit points fast enough.  Heroics hit me for 1000+ and double up arrow's for 600.  I only have 4100 hit points.  That goes through REAL fast when your avoidance is only 33%.  I watched a bruiser take on a heroic mob 4 levels lower than him, and he didn't even get put in the yellow.</p><p>I'm not in full fabled, but I have the best crafted armor in game for my level.  I wish I could perform the same miracles you guys are listing here. And all of my spells are adept 1's with the occasional master 2 mixed in.</p>

[dwarfnuna]

<div>I to would love to see some screenshot, or vids of a troubador solo a ^^^ green two ^^ blue.  I for one have never been able to do such a feat.  All my songs are adept 1 and my armor is not that great.  Do i need to spend 100 plat to get the best armor and all master 1 songs to do this?  I made it to 59 and its about time for me to hang up my lute and drums.  I did not roll a troubador to solo, but I cant find a group anymore.</div><div> </div><div>As a new monk just 23 i solo things i would never even think about attacking same level troubador.  If our main job is to buff then why do priests get 5 con spots that buff better then us??  Heck even fighters get group con buffs.  I'm starting to feel like a fat kid at a game of dodge ball.  Always picked last and the first one to go.  It just breaks my heart to think I'll have to stop singing for my groups but not much choise anymore.</div><div> </div>

[Sir Blig]

<div></div><p>round 2, at 60 i had most of my spells at adept III or master, with all my goddies being rather good and a good many fable items, what i found is if i wanted to spend more than 30 min had the smallest or chances to take it down but if just one mez missed or i got instant stuned I would be toast.</p><p> </p><p>I definetly 2nd the pls show us a vid and 2nd the hard to find groups, come raiding time i never ever get left behind but normoal old groups prob just want more dps or an extra healer so we get to continue our solo lives, supose it give use more time to work on stories or what the others could be doing.</p><p> </p><p>to toubs that can do this are they all decked out in fables and masters? (dont forget the vid)</p>

[Cynnigig]

<div></div><div></div><blockquote><hr>dwarfnuna wrote:<div>Do i need to spend 100 plat to get the best armor and all master 1 songs to do this?<hr></div></blockquote><p>No.</p><p>I don't raid very much, so my gear is what drops in the T6 group zones. I was lucky to be able to buy a very nice fabled piece of armor on the broker, Flared Royal Bracers. Otherwise, I wear mostly crafted cobalt. At level 60 I have one 50+ master spell, the power regen one. Most important spells are adept 3. Personally, I think my gear is a bit better than average, but far off compared to raiding troubs. At level 60 my health is around 4000, I don't really focus on max health. Mitigation and avoidance are around 38-40%. Highest stat is intelligence, followed by strength. Achievement points are in wisdom and stamina lines. For my traits I always picked health regen whenever possible, because I figured power and power regen wouldn't be so much of a problem.</p><p>I don't think it really boils down to a gear issue. Even with the best gear available, no troubadour is going to withstand a lot of hits by a blue or higher triple-up heroic. I don't know how important Lullaby at master or adept 3 is. My adept 3 hardly ever gets resisted and never breaks. Yesterday I kept the Keeper in Poet's Palace mezzed (he is 5 levels above me), he resisted once. So, I do think it possible to solo white, yellow, and maybe even orange, heroic nameds. The highest I've personally soloed was the level 56 Meatbeast in Shimmering Citadel at level 59. I am surely going to try harder mobs, just to see where my limits are.</p><p>What it boils down to is tactics and timing.</p><p>Really though, these capabilites are only a nice to have addition to the main strengths of the troubadour. Having a first-hand experience of a troubadour in groups, if I ever do start another twink, I would definitely make sure to regularly group with a troubadour. Makes life so much easier.</p><p> </p><p>Edit: Most helpful to me as a young troubadour were the posts by Puka~ (Warondom). I learned a lot concerning gear, setup and tactics. I don't really believe him (yet), that we're the best solo class, but I'm getting there. Thanks for the great input.</p><p>Message Edited by Cynnigig on <span class="date_text">04-03-2006</span><span class="time_text">02:43 PM</span></p>

[thorvang]

troub is hardly the best solo class. surely a troub is able to win against some really high mobs. even some triple up heroics are possible. but it takes forever. troubs dps is really low, even with int/str at its' caps.and soloing is very instable. fighting a group of 4 blue heroics can be cake and the next fight you get bashed by two single up green weaklings.

[Rezimo]

<div></div><p>Solo blues!.  Of course a troub can solo blues!  We are teh Eric Clapton of the blues.  We can also sing a bit and do some drum.  When I play my blues, my group gets all excited and hits harder, faster, and seems more resistant to mobs.  I think we solo blues pretty good....</p><p>Druman</p>

[Toogel]

<P>I have to whole-heartedly agree with Viven.  I have been soloing mobs 1 up and up to 3 levels above me with ease.  Most of my skills are adept 1, with a few rare exceptions.  My gear is pretty much cheap stuff, I use the Ravasect Scythe Arm and Ravasect Mandible, both of which can be obtained for less than a plat together.  Armor was pretty much my old Cobalt or cheap upgrades (some with better stats but less mitigation).  I even used grey stuff forever like the fishbone earring (didnt upgrade that til about 65) and flowing black silk sash (didnt upgrade til 67).</P> <P>The key to soloing is just knowing your class... keep the right buffs up and lay the debuffs down as soon as possible.  Troubador isnt a mystery class that is hard to figure out.  We are utility... so use it to our advantage when we solo.</P> <P> </P> <P>BTW:  My buffs for fighting solo mobs 1 arrow up are - Defense Song, Power regen, Health Regen, Aria, and Self Buff AGI/INT.  I went in the Agility line so I have a +16 parry skill from one of the abilitys.  And my first debuff is Demoralizing Processional. (For those of you without Demoralizing yet, just lay the smack down with Guvienna's and Zanders... you should have over max damage Shrills with every hit).</P><p>Message Edited by Toogeloo on <span class=date_text>04-12-2006</span> <span class=time_text>11:11 PM</span>

[Emerix]

<DIV>we can solo . i soloed till 45 and made a bunch of money doin that  . We dont solo as great as other classes but help our groups a lot . guess thats fair no ?</DIV>

[vinterskugge]

<DIV>Just out of curiosity, why do people choose a mainly group oriented class if they plan on primarily soloing?</DIV>

[Toogel]

Well, not every troubador in the game has a group waiting for them every time they log in.  I can go up to several hours without an invite and my flag up all the time.  Im not gonna sit around waiting for the tells for groups, so I solo in the meantime.  Guess maybe I just dont have enough friends...maybe its cuz I solo too much ^_~

[Sir Blig]

<DIV>Pretty well the same here have actually timed how long it can take to get a group and most of the time I give up after many hours as for friends again it is all about timing. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I play a healer and a troub, on average it take 3-4+ hours to find a group on our server as a troub while as a healer under an hour, maybe not the best to compare</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Likewise I carry on the solo mission when not in a group but hey I did start a troub because I wanted to group so would have to ask why is it so hard to get into a group with a class that is supposed to be group class,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have said the following before,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>When a group wants classes do we qualify?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Tank NO<BR>Healer NO<BR>Dps NO<BR>Other Yes</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Most people are so focused on need Tank/healer/DPS and know only that we don’t fit into any of those.</DIV> <DIV>So part of the problem could be most have no clue what we do, otherwise in a single group would we make enough of a difference that if they rather took another DPS would they not get a better result without us?<BR></DIV>