Rubikant wrote:Why do not many people play one? I know in EQ1 they were awesome but rare because of the difficulty of learning song twisting. Since that isn't in EQ2, is there a reason they aren't popular? Is it just the low DPS? Do they suck at soloing? Is it hard to find groups?
We do have the lowest DPS of all scout types (in the eptember combat changes there were 5 rough DPS tiers outlined and bards fall in the middle one, above tanks and priests) and soloing is more involved than other classes have. Bards are the only melee class that do not have offensive or defensive stance, which and self only buffs that buff offensive capability at the cost of defensive capability, and vice-versa. Applying our buffs to only ourselves, they are about halfish as effective as other classes. Comparing against a ranger in my guild, going fully defensive I can get my avoidance to about 45%, whereas the ranger can get hers to 61%, with virtually identical mitigation.It is quite easy compared to other classes to get groups, however, as we have very nice buffs, in the scheme of things - especially our mana regen. It's the old adage that everyone wants to be with a bard, but no one wants to be one.Also, I dont recall if it was mentioned earlier or not, but the dirge is more melee slanted, where the troubador is more caster slanted. This manifests in the +skill songs (dirges buffs slashing/piercing/crushing/ranged; troubadors buff subjugation/disruption/ordination/focus, etc), proc songs (the dirges is a proc off melee attacks and combat arts where the troubadors procs off sucessful casts).Message Edited by ZeroRavesOn on 02-16-200608:48 PM