Wow...soloing is great now!!!!! Level 22 onward has been a piece of cake...lovin it.

[Pnaxx]

Once I got my MC, I am really tearin it up. In BB im tearin into Blue^ with hardly losing any health. Oranges....cya latre, killin them. I am having no troubles at all. Just wanted to give a praise report from a new trouby. Great class. I am level 27 I think now...can't keep track as the levels are flyin by. W00t.

[Edith]

<p>So my initial response was: Hahaahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahah! ~pause for breath~ Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhha!</p><p>But that seemed so mean, so, um, I am glad you are having fun soloing your troub.</p>

[Pnaxx]

<cite>Ykiphia1 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>So my initial response was: Hahaahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahah! ~pause for breath~ Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhha!</p><p>But that seemed so mean, so, um, I am glad you are having fun soloing your troub.</p></blockquote>I ............don't.............get.............it.

[roces9]

Troubs have been designed with this little quirk (tbh, I cant remember what the min/maxers call it) that makes the upgrades to your spells not scale well and be less effective. You'll be awesome in your 30s and 40s, but you'll hit a brick wall in your 60s and you wont be nearly as effective as you were in your younger days. Soloing will get much more difficult as you level.

[RanmaBoyType]

<cite>Pnaxx wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Ykiphia1 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>So my initial response was: Hahaahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahah! ~pause for breath~ Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhha!</p><p>But that seemed so mean, so, um, I am glad you are having fun soloing your troub.</p></blockquote>I ............don't.............get.............it.</blockquote><p>i would not worry about it, probably someone who plays the easy button classes like swashy and brig, and cant seem to figure out how to solo effectively as a troub.</p>

[Pnaxx]

The one thing I have learned after being on these forums for a few years is that, rightly so, there are alot of bummed out people with their class. It is something I have insulated against...I listen to what everyone has to say, apply what I can, ignor others. Things here are usually not as bad as some think and not as good as some think. Hehe, who knows. BUt from the beginning, I was hearing here we can't solo till we hit 50, or something like that, so I was shocked to be so strong at this level. So I dunno, I know that RoK is a beast as I have an 80th Bruiser there, but really, the grouping will come easier with 50+ so I guess if soloing is harder, the grouping will take the sting off. And who knows what the devs will do by then anyway, things change...it's the only constant<img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[Denon]

<p>My Troubador was my favorite toon to play up till about KoS. But I definately think the Troubador was the most misleading class I played. Sure I can still solo him, just like any of my other T8 toons. But certianly not cake, much more strategy and patience then any of the other toons.</p><p>In T8 all my other guys can pretty much survive an encounter that gets an 'add'. However - no way with the troubador - even with the mez and the 'useless' charm ... with an add you got about 5 seconds to hit that evak before you are dead.</p>

[Scar]

Only real problem I had soloing was trying to hit Kunark at 70... until I could make 72 and wear the T8 mastercrafted armor things just hit too hard to survive. Once I hit 72 though there was no real problem all the way to 80.It is very different from some of the other classes, of course. My wizard can take on green ^^^ mobs reliably, my troubador struggled with a single ^ mob. Most quests are quite doable though and that's where the lion's share of the XP and AA are. You won't be solo killing named for chest drops though, and that's some people's criterion for effective soloing.

[Pnaxx]

<cite>Scarry wrote:</cite><blockquote>Only real problem I had soloing was trying to hit Kunark at 70... until I could make 72 and wear the T8 mastercrafted armor things just hit too hard to survive. Once I hit 72 though there was no real problem all the way to 80.It is very different from some of the other classes, of course. My wizard can take on green ^^^ mobs reliably, my troubador struggled with a single ^ mob. Most quests are quite doable though and that's where the lion's share of the XP and AA are. <b><u>You won't be solo killing named for chest drops though, and that's some people's criterion for effective soloing.</u></b></blockquote>Ahhh...I think thats a great point.

[Edith]

<cite>RanmaBoyType wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Pnaxx wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Ykiphia1 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>So my initial response was: Hahaahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahah! ~pause for breath~ Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhha!</p><p>But that seemed so mean, so, um, I am glad you are having fun soloing your troub.</p></blockquote>I ............don't.............get.............it.</blockquote><p>i would not worry about it, probably someone who plays the easy button classes like swashy and brig, and cant seem to figure out how to solo effectively as a troub.</p></blockquote><p>Nah, I was laughing at anyone calling soloing a troubie "cake."    Of course it is <i>possible</i> to solo <i>any</i> class in the game but troubadours are one of the slowest.  It really doesn't matter how super, uber your solo technique is, you will not be a god of the solo game.  As was pointed out in an earlier post, troub skills just don't scale like those of other classes and things get much more difficult as you level up.  That being said, having a tough row to hoe is fine by me but I believe it's best to recognize it for what it is.</p><p>ps: I've never managed to get a rogue past lvl 40. My only level 80 adventure toons are a troubadour and an inquisitor.</p>

[VanillaGorilla17]

well all i got to say is keep with it because once u get 80, guilds will almost fight over u for their raids.  At least on permafrost they will <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Faydor80 TroubadourElement on Permafrost

[Pnaxx]

<cite>VanillaGorilla17 wrote:</cite><blockquote>well all i got to say is keep with it because once u get 80, guilds will almost fight over u for their raids.  At least on permafrost they will <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" />Faydor80 TroubadourElement on Permafrost</blockquote>Thats why I rolled it mate, we hardly have any on our server....I will be quite popular.

[MallickX]

you know man, im gonna be brutally honest here... i felt the exact same way in those levels... i felt like it would be like this the whole way through, it was too good to be true... im 67 now and i can barely manage without a group.. i cringe at the thought of soloing in kunark. all in all, troubadors SUCK balls after lvl50, you can do the whole kite thing but it gets old, FAST... and its slow as hell, and either way we shouldn't HAVE to kite mobs for 30secs-1min to take down a yellow^, its just kind of ridiculous if you ask me..

[RanmaBoyType]

<cite>MallickX wrote:</cite><blockquote>you know man, im gonna be brutally honest here... i felt the exact same way in those levels... i felt like it would be like this the whole way through, it was too good to be true... im 67 now and i can barely manage without a group.. i cringe at the thought of soloing in kunark. all in all, troubadors SUCK balls after lvl50, you can do the whole kite thing but it gets old, FAST... and its slow as hell, and either way <span style="font-size: medium;">we shouldn't HAVE to kite mobs for 30secs</span>-1min to take down a yellow^, its just kind of ridiculous if you ask me.. </blockquote><p>You don't</p><p>And there is not a single non heroic named in RoK that i can't solo on my troub.  And i do not know many players that can effectively and efficiently solo heroic named in RoK regardless of class, so im not sure what the argument is on the inability to kill named mobs.</p>

[Jeger_Wulf]

<p>> You don't > And there is not a single non heroic named in RoK that i can't solo on my troub.</p><p>IMO, at equal skill and equipment, most classes will solo faster. That's why the troub feels slow. You can find classes that will solo slower, but they feel slow, too.</p><p>It could be that troubs profit more strongly by good equipment, so that you aren't seeing it, but I certainly see it with my troub.</p>

[Pnaxx]

<p>A level yelloe^ will be tough for anyone. I have a nicely decked out 80th Bruiser who doesn't just roll through those in RoK. That is a tough mob. I wouldn't be concerned with that really.</p>

[Sedenten]

<p>I'm able to solo yellow ^^^ at level 80, provided they can be mezzed.  I've been able to do this effectively since level 50.  The only piece of fabled I am wearing is my Thuuga quest reward, and I have a mix of some legendary and mastercrafted gear.  We can't solo heroics quickly, but we can definately solo named that can drop chests if given time.  Too many troubadors (and bards in general) are stuck on the concept that we need DPS to do anything.  That simply is not true.  I enjoy my troubador immensely and can pull off an amazing amount solo, but I'm finding more and more troubadors that claim we are weak and cannot pull off anything of notice.  </p>

[Pnaxx]

<cite>Sedenten wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I'm able to solo yellow ^^^ at level 80, provided they can be mezzed.  I've been able to do this effectively since level 50.  The only piece of fabled I am wearing is my Thuuga quest reward, and I have a mix of some legendary and mastercrafted gear.  We can't solo heroics quickly, but we can definately solo named that can drop chests if given time.  Too many troubadors (and bards in general) are stuck on the concept that we need DPS to do anything.  That simply is not true.  I enjoy my troubador immensely and can pull off an amazing amount solo, but I'm finding more and more troubadors that claim we are weak and cannot pull off anything of notice.  </p></blockquote>Yellow heroics??? I have got to see it to believe it. Like Reagan siad, trust and verify. So not saying your a liar, you appear to be genuin, but still...my little bitty mind can't wrap around that concept. I didn't know anyone can do a yellow ^^^.....thats insane. Even when Bruiser's were way over powered, back in the day when we have a long mez, great dps, etc......there 3was no way I was taking down yellow^^^. So I would love to see this proved, it would make me all giddy.

[Dwergux]

<cite>Pnaxx wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Sedenten wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I'm able to solo yellow ^^^ at level 80, provided they can be mezzed.  I've been able to do this effectively since level 50.  The only piece of fabled I am wearing is my Thuuga quest reward, and I have a mix of some legendary and mastercrafted gear.  We can't solo heroics quickly, but we can definately solo named that can drop chests if given time.  Too many troubadors (and bards in general) are stuck on the concept that we need DPS to do anything.  That simply is not true.  I enjoy my troubador immensely and can pull off an amazing amount solo, but I'm finding more and more troubadors that claim we are weak and cannot pull off anything of notice.  </p></blockquote>Yellow heroics??? I have got to see it to believe it. Like Reagan siad, trust and verify. So not saying your a liar, you appear to be genuin, but still...my little bitty mind can't wrap around that concept. I didn't know anyone can do a yellow ^^^.....thats insane. Even when Bruiser's were way over powered, back in the day when we have a long mez, great dps, etc......there 3was no way I was taking down yellow^^^. So I would love to see this proved, it would make me all giddy.</blockquote>It can be done by "mez kiting". It takes some (a whole lot of) time, but it's quite simple:1. Mez mob.2. Cast PoM3. Cast JC4. Mez Mob5. Mez Mob6. Wait for JC immunity to expire7. Keep mob mezzed8. Rinse and repeat.Best way to maximize your damage is to have lots of items proccing of spells (no dots) and spell crit gear.

[RanmaBoyType]

<p>don't use aria's (to avoid the unwanted breaking of mez during debuffing period), utilize snare if you have room, and run song of magic to reduce the resist rate.  Don't just mez and hope procs kill it, mez, debuff, then snare.  then cast thunderous and shrill, and anything else you can till snare breaks then re-mez, reposition, redebuff, etc.  will go MUCH quicker that way.</p><p>With debuffs in, song of magic and 5 points into mez aa, i rarely, if ever get a resist anymore</p><p>ill see if i can fraps some tonight, but im too cheap to pay the $40 or whatever it is for full version, so i can only record 30 sec at a time.</p>

[Gargamel]

<p>Troub is without a doubt the hardest class to solo compared to other classes.</p><p>I have a bunch of toons, but the 3 high ones are a lvl 80 Necro, lvl 80 Defiler, and now my troub making his way through RoK but not capped yet.</p><p>Necro is easy and fast, upgrade your pet to ad3 and stuff dies fast, you stay in the green, have fd, etc</p><p>Defiler was easy and slow, fights last a heck of a lot longer so it takes longer to lvl doing solo stuff, but at least I had plenty of wards, and wards, and emergency wards, and heals and all so it wasn't so hard.</p><p>Troub is hard and slow.  Sure if you get MC stuff is easy for the X2-X5 or so but it just is more moderate and slow instead of hard.  Only tiny heals on dmg, no fd, a short duration mez, even shorter charm, and a snare to get us out of trouble.  Doesn't help that chain gear is rarer in RoK and we need the mit soloing.</p><p>Another poster was right, hitting RoK at lvl 70 with pre-rok gear, you are guaranteed to have to kite even solo blue con mobs for a bit until you gear up or get your lvl 72 MC.  With my necro or defiler I'd be able to run in on those and wail on the mob, with my troub I had to be sure to snare, debuff, and spend the fight running out of melee range and casting the few spells I can cast on the move, while hoping I don't run out of range and break the fight, or run into another mob getting an add.  Of course it took alot longer to do in the latter case (plus coming from mostly casters I figure this probably isn't an issue for most full time scouts)</p><p>It still can be fun, its just a whole lot of hassle that other characters don't have to bother with, and we do rock the house in groups and espically in raids (super rock with mythical).  All in all I like it, not nearly enough for me to quit on the char, but I certainly agree with those who say troub is probably the toughest class to solo (meaning both harder technically, and slower time-wise)</p>

[Pogopuschel]

<cite>Gargamel wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Troub is without a doubt the hardest class to solo compared to other classes.</p></blockquote>Try Dirge... <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />As a Troubadour, you can at least take a timeout if the mob is mezzable...

[roces9]

No one said that you we couldn't Mez Kite. That's not the issue here. We all know that given some time, patience and space, that a troub can solo almost anything. The issue here is just plain-old leveling and how, without a doubt, it <i>is </i>difficult on a troub, especially in the higher levels. <cite> Pnaxx wrote:</cite><blockquote>BUt from the beginning, I was hearing here we can't <b>solo till we hit 50,</b> or something like that, so I was shocked to be so strong at this level. </blockquote>Yeah, you're a little mistaken with this info. The statement that you're referring to is "Troubs can't solo <b>Nameds/Heroics </b>untill 50" when we get our first mez. Once you get mez, there are a variety of tactics to slowly and painfully take down a heroic mob using Mez and Snare. But that's one of those things you only do for bragging rights or if you just can' get a group for one update.<cite>RanmaBoyType wrote:</cite><blockquote><p><b>don't use aria's</b> (to avoid the unwanted breaking of mez during debuffing period), </p></blockquote>And I know what you're trying to say here Ranma but I don't think you phrased it well. You can run Aria's when Mez Kiting, you just have to be careful. Once your mez lands on the mob, turn off arias, load up all of your green debuffs (no dot), then hit your Snare, then click Arias back on and break your mez, ready to rock. If you don't turn off Arias while you're doing this, your debuffs will break your own Mez- which sucks. I love grouping with my Troub, especially in my 80s and it is a fun class with a lot of potential (that got a lot of love in RoK). But you cannot deny that Troubs level slowly.

[Pnaxx]

<p>Yea, nop matter what class you are, RoK is a wake up call. It's a whole different ballgame over there.</p><p>But I guess what I was misunderstanding soloing wise was that, for solo quests we are gimped. That is not the case. For that I am very thankful. That is basically what I do most nights, and right now, the class at level 30 is very fun to play. It does kill slower than my Bruiser main, but since most of the mobs are easy anyway, it's no big deal.</p><p>The last few nights I have been power leveling in Varsoons with 2 buddies and ripping through levels.....2 a night it seems, or close to it...in just a short period of time. So, I am not stopping at GO here to collect 200 bucks...im moving onward and upward. My goal is to get to 80 very very fast, then go from there. With that in mind I am doing just fine...no complaints.</p><p>Heck, last night my group broke and I was soloing in Varsoons for a while and was having fun Charming one of 2 mobs and having a joint beat down for a few seconds....hehe. It was fun.</p><p>So anyways, I am very happy with this class....</p>

[Sedenten]

<cite>Pnaxx wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Sedenten wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I'm able to solo yellow ^^^ at level 80, provided they can be mezzed.  I've been able to do this effectively since level 50.  The only piece of fabled I am wearing is my Thuuga quest reward, and I have a mix of some legendary and mastercrafted gear.  We can't solo heroics quickly, but we can definately solo named that can drop chests if given time.  Too many troubadors (and bards in general) are stuck on the concept that we need DPS to do anything.  That simply is not true.  I enjoy my troubador immensely and can pull off an amazing amount solo, but I'm finding more and more troubadors that claim we are weak and cannot pull off anything of notice.  </p></blockquote>Yellow heroics??? I have got to see it to believe it. Like Reagan siad, trust and verify. So not saying your a liar, you appear to be genuin, but still...my little bitty mind can't wrap around that concept. I didn't know anyone can do a yellow ^^^.....thats insane. Even when Bruiser's were way over powered, back in the day when we have a long mez, great dps, etc......there 3was no way I was taking down yellow^^^. So I would love to see this proved, it would make me all giddy. </blockquote><p>It doesn't really have anything to do with DPS or anything.  I played a bard back in EQ1, and fully mastered every technique one can think of to solo difficult content with them.  I never was into DPS, and thrived on finding a use for every single song in my spellbook (there's a few that still have no use to this day, though).  I will never claim to be a master of EQ1 bards or EQ2 troubadors, but I talk to a lot of other players and try to incorporate a little of every idea into how I play.  I latched on to the Troubador class due solely to what we have in common with original EQ1 bards.  If you have a mob that is <i>mezzable by you</i>, you can solo it regardless of it's level versus you.  I went nuts on any AA's or gear that extend the duration of my mez/charm abilities, so they are as maxed as I can get as a casual troubador right now.  I even went with maxing out the bellow AA simply because it helps me survive a rough situation if my other stuns are down and the knockback component lands.  </p><p>I can do a simple run down of how I personally solo herioc names, but it will not differ much from what Dwergux or others may post.  The following is my usual strategy for taking down strong heroics in open area zones:</p><p>1.  I hit myself with JC and PotM2.  Pull with snare, followed by every debuff and ranged attack possible so that I get the most procs out of PotM3.  If snare breaks, mez mob and regen up.I basically do as much ranged damage until snare breaks or wears off, then mez (keep cheapshot, bellow, and any other stuns available in case of a resist; resnare on a resist if it's up, as the mental debuff will almost always allow mez to land).  If the named in question is charmable (they rarely are), keep that available as well.  I have the AGI line fully trained (it does proc on ranged attacks), so usually need to turn off ranged attack and then click off the AGI poison if it is ticking plus any other dots while mez is casting.</p><p>Once I have the thing mezzed, I disable all power-draining debuffs to keep my power positive.  If I've lost health, I allow myself to regen to 100%.  Sometimes I'll charm immediately following a mez just to get a couple of ticks of out of combat regen (though most named these days are not going to be charmable).  From what I can tell, when charm wears off the NPC reverts back to it's previous hit points before charm landed.  I make sure to tell my charmed pet to stand still and then get as far back as possible before toggling off charm and remezzing.  If what I'm fighting is yellow or higher level (or just resistant), I'll click off Aria so I can use snare to help on each remez.  When my hit points and power are up, and mez has refreshed I'll go back to step #1 and repeat until snare breaks again.</p><p>For closed area zones, I switch my strategy up a bit since I do not have room to really move around.  There's a few rules I follow for these situations:</p><p>*  Always keep stuns ready for help when an emergency mez is needed.  While the extra damage from flank attacks help, I usually will not use them on a hard hitter as I need the stuns to keep the thing off of me long enough to mez.*  Make sure you are adept at clicking your DoT's off quickly.  I try not to use weapons that proc dots when I solo.*  Toss a line in your mez macro that stops your autoattack.  I cannot log in right now, but I believe that is /autoattack 0 or something along those lines.  *  Patience.  Patience is the #1 requirement when you're using mez to solo heroics.  Back at 70 I soloed the Scrollbearer in Barren Sky in very crappy gear, but it took me over half an hour to accomplish.  I was only able to take him down 2-3% per "round" and had a few cases where I died from a lucky round.  I did the same with Sneuchi in Fens while I was level 71 (his nukes suck btw).  </p><p>Like I said, DPS isn't everything.  While it may take me forever and a day to solo something using my methods, it gets the job done if I have no other choice.  If nothing else, using this strategy to solo heroics does wonders for your crowd control skills--you learn to be very quick on locking the correct target down and making sure you don't break mez in the process.  </p><p>But try it out some time.  Just remember patience is a virtue for this sort of thing, and be willing to take a few  unlucky deaths in the process!</p>

[Pnaxx]

<p>Thanks for this great insight. So, I need to wait to 50 til I get mez, then I can do a bit more things then now....</p><p>Woot......sounds like such a cool class to me, I am loving it so much so far.</p>

[Jeger_Wulf]

<p>In my mind, the 50 mez won't save the day for you. I'd get some AAs into Enhance: Lullaby. That helps a lot.</p><p>Even then, it might take until you get the 70 mez before you feel it's useful.</p>