A question for all you bards out there

[cercela]

Ok my finally spec atm is:

43 nurt
4 blades
25 regrowth
43 music

that way i got the final AE casted mess.

I heard from a friend that the last insta mess isnt used all that much. But he wasnt a bard and i'm begining to think differently now that im getting a taste of RvR.

So here's my question:

Is the final AE insta mess worth it? Should I repec in 1.62 to

4 blades
43 nurt
16 regrwoth
47 music

or stay as I am?

 

[Spamb0t]

i think most "rvr"-bards r something like ur second spec

 

[boni_ofdavoid]

On paper the last insta aoe mezz is worth it. The radius is double, which in mathematical terms is 4 times the coverage and ofc duration is better. Duration is everything with a mezz. No point slamming a poor insta ae mezz on a mid tank with determination III+, will just give him mezz imunity.

I dont claim to be an expert bard, but imho your respec for the last insta option is stronger than the extra healing you have atm.

 

[SingerOfSoul]

if you are non cookie cutter you have to think of 5 things, healer, battler,grouper, split-spec with best insta or split spec with best ae mezz.

healer - 43nurt 33reg and 37 music
battler - 33nurt 34weapon 44music
grouper - cookie spec or 43nurt 44music 15weapon 16reg
split spec w/ best insta - 43nurt 47music 15weapon 7reg
split spec w/best ae - 43nurt 44music 21weapon 10reg

 

[anno_dk]

43 nurt
16 regrowth
5 blades
47 music
there's no other spec for rvr battle imo

 

[spankya]

47 music definately. Someone said about mez immunity which is true, the mez is short and with determination its pretty crap, but if u r the only bard then often its handy. Its nothing u should use all the time, but is very handy in sticky situations. And tbh, with pbaoe groups your mez only lasts about 5 seconds before the mages start nuking, so the immunity timer doesnt matter then

 

[old.Tzeentch]

go the 'cookie cutter' spec imo

tho im sure we're gonna get the healer bards in here pretty soon..

 

[Cloak_]

Where u want me to start Tzzzz

 

[old.Nol]

Insta's are useless against high determination tanks, they're basically a free mezz resist. Nothing worse then a trigger happy insta bard IMO.

My insta's get used on Stealther pops, or when the fight has started I use them on the healers/mages that are standing back behind the tanks.

On the otherhand, I tend to find that if I have time to heal, we are winning the fight anyway. There are lots of good bards with your first spec, they have become less reliant on insta's, and more on castable AOE.

My spec is the second one.

 

[Chameleon]

Hey Cerc
Ananova will be 47,43,16 (currently a few points short on music). Personally I think having some regrowth is good for pve and occasionally in rvr, like after a fight or near the end ...... but other than that it's the job of the bard in rvr to crowd control and keep the group running smoothly with end/power/speed. 16 is more than enough regrowth imo and the mezzes need to be as reliable in success rate, radius and duration as possible, so I'd go 47 music. In rvr I always have to be on the move anyway, either sprinting from purged tanks or just making life difficult for stealthers that might (and probably are) about, so not much chance to heal.

 

[Crashtje]

weapons useless for RvR imo , cos if ure gunna be in a grp 99% of the time ul`l have an instrument in ure hand, i might respec to 47,43, and 15in wepaons just so i can solo etc , but 47music )best aoe insta) 43nurt (Speed5) 16reg (Decent rez) 5weapons(2 Styles) is the best spec imo

 

[sharon_corr]

Hello Cercela and of all you out there...

The bard is one of the (few?) classes out there which in my oppinion cant gimp themselves any direction they go. I've seen battlebards just shining in the battlefield, i've seen (and played) a high regrowth bard who took a great burden out from the druid's shoulders and of course the standard music bard who can mez pretty much everything there's out there.

So in my oppinion, spec as YOU like it the most for your character. There is no "uber" spec and there is no "gimp" spec. Spec however it suits your gameplay.

About the mezzing thing, keep in mind that the resisting of a mez is based on spell level vs character level. The lower insta (or casted, just the same) has a bigger chance of being resisted than the higher one, and i'm ignoring the mez reduction stuff and determination stuff and all the other inconvenients here which have to be accepted as they are and taken into account when on the battlefield.

A very good use of the insta mez is in "escaping" scenarios or in "ganked from behind" cases, when it does serve its purpose and gives you (and your group) a bigger chance of surviving.

To one of the posters above i have to say the "extra healing" is anything BUT useless. What happens after a bard mezzes? He switches songs... ok... i still have to work on that part... right Talwraith? And after that? You heal! Because there's not much can do otherwise... And it _does_ help.

I'm playing both as tank and as healer and i know that from the tanks perspective, they dont give a damn from who they are healed, as long as they are healed. From the healers perspective, if the druid is down, the only healing your group gets is from the bard.

My two coppers,
Love,
//Shaz.

 

[Amadon]

Originally posted by sharon_corr
To one of the posters above i have to say the "extra healing" is anything BUT useless. What happens after a bard mezzes? He switches songs... ok... i still have to work on that part... right Talwraith? And after that? You heal! Because there's not much can do otherwise... And it _does_ help.

personally I focus on interrupting their healers/casters with combinations of mez/dd/lull, and demezzing any mez'd realmmates, and getting that ffffffffing end song going (and trying to ignore the GIFV END spam in /g - hi nov )
also attracting tanks like moths to a light bulb to drag them over pb.. the only time I have a chance to heal is when the fight is won.

Wardens are much better at fulfilling a secondary healer role than bards imo

 

[old.Nol]

Well, I am busy leveling up a second bard right now who is 1.2 bubs away from 45 - it will be a regrow spec bard, and I will give you my impressions of the differences then.

 

[Begach]

battler - 33nurt 34weapon 44music[/B]

Been playing BB solo for a while now and have some comments about this spec. Yup thats the cookie cutter BB spec straight from the US servers. I don't an didn't like it.

Hardest part about BB is starting out. Your weak as hell with no RA's to assist so low weapon spec just makes it impossible in this patch (if like i did you solo to lvl 50 you may never even get there).

Spec i went for was my own template (if i'm gonna suck i decided i was gonna do it my own way )

RR1

33 nurture
40 blades
39 music
rest regro (primarily for cures)

RR5

33 nurture
36 blades
44 music
screw the cures

Some reasoning now cause i can tell your interested (not ).

Firstly the cures. You'll MAYBE use em grp but solo pretty much never. Inf pops you, insta mezz (or else you'll get the full PA chain) an you haven't got time to cure, better to just go with a few base heals an open with a charge then positional than try to cure an miss out on a decent opening (i won't go into it as i prefer to not tell every inf exactly how to best kill me but the DoT IS NOT your primary concern in this situation).

Blunt or blades. The class to watch out for solo are other speed classes who because of the way thier spec lines run will ALWAYS have speed 5 against your speed 4. These you can never get away from should you need to and have no choise but to fight (unless you have a VERY large head start from a lone mincer or skald without end regen, twist etc). I went blades because a) i prefer the styles, b) meeting a solo skald is a rare occurance (soloing without stealth is not easy), on the other hand you can't come out of DL without fallin over 3 camping minstrels. Blades is stronger against minstrels than skalds an vice versa.

High weapon spec. Melee soloing with 34 blades and RF either xp or RvR is not fun at all. I was there for a long time and at one point gave up on the whole venture. A few more blades an i was loving the class again. An we're here to have fun after all. Your melee damage variance has a dramatic fall off if spec is more than 2/3 lvl (roughly 34 at lvl 50) which the cookie cutter spec meets but the damage simply sucks. Imo you want this closing on 50 plus in your final SC/spec template (maybe few RR's) or don't spec it at all past the taunt style. In this patch the first 70 dmg is pretty much negated v's some minstrels. They'll just laugh thier asses off v's 34 spec (the 34 spec template was dreamed up in the US before mythic added the ablative to mincers and SC ensured capped melee resists, 1.60+ imo it's not as strong an totaly useless at low RR).

Music spec tbh was a mistake and a waste of spec points to 39. At the time i believed all kinds of wierd shit an to cut a long story short was wrong N00b mistake that i will fix at my intended RR5 respec. Better imo would have been 37 with rest elsewhere.

Future - RR5+ ding. The blades spec drop (by 4 points) will balance out with the adds from RR5+ plus better utility of lvl 51 kit maintaining ok melee dmg output with an upgrade to last DD, better body chant (learn to use it solo ) and last castable AoE mezz. In short RR5 isn't just another RR for the template but a considerable increase in this templates strength and a definate incentive to keep going.

Stats. Bard has some pretty shitty caps and a developing stat thats feckin useless (emp) so you should be looking at around the following stats fully buffed (with druids, sucks but is the way of the solo world ) and SC'd with a few introductory passive RA's:-

285 str
295 con
270 dex
180 char

1950 ish Hp's (1650 unbuffed)

Currently RR4L7 (90% of that solo, you may have seen me getting owned in a zone near you ) and not an easy spec to work with but I love it.

All just my opinion ofc and very much suited to the way i play. Not suggesting it to be the definitive BB spec

PS Theres nothing funnier in the world than a minstrel (no doubt grinning the whole time) chasing you down (he thinks), mezz you, act like a prick and attempt to humiliate you (laugh at you, sit down, stand, laugh some more) get seriously owned, panic, try to control only to find out you a) had purge but enjoyed his little laugh dance b) where saving it for when he tried to run c) where definatly not the easy support char kill he was expecting. The very reason i play the game.....Priceless.

B.

 

[old.Nol]

after regrow bard...I'll prolly make a battlebard

I mean, I got 8 char slots to fill ffs!

 

[spankya]

Lets hope u lvl your battlebard faster than your current bard... cba to wait around for another year and a half to see u ding again

 

[old.Nol]

Originally posted by spankya
Lets hope u lvl your battlebard faster than your current bard... cba to wait around for another year and a half to see u ding again

Nah, it'll be so much easier this time...I have an Amadon that's like a leveling macro only I never have to start it

 

[Amadon]

ufff

i just got pwned

 

[lofff]

hehe, sum replies are amazing;p

47insta aint _that_ important, but too many times u gotta use it against mids, even if its a det3+ tank grp.. simply cos if u are spotted (ie: face2face encounter) u will eath instastun/ichor 9 outa 10 times unless u insta first, sumtimes they might doubt but if they see a bard swinging hands they will mash that insta.. so in the end u got the choice to use insta and giv ur grp couple secs to take positions get end running and normal mezz the ones outa instarange/resisting, or the choice to eat instastun/ichor followed by castable mezz and gp or single purge and mezz then cure or or.. u need RAs and sum luck on 2nd choice, u risk a lot on first one.. bard life is tough, decissions shall b made and too many times theres no chance to land a castable mezz on first instance.

 

[Begach]

Originally posted by sharon_corr
To one of the posters above i have to say the "extra healing" is anything BUT useless. What happens after a bard mezzes? He switches songs... ok... i still have to work on that part... right Talwraith? And after that? You heal! Because there's not much can do otherwise... And it _does_ help.

In my experiance of grping (little bit) i do the mezz part (an screw it up on occation - shoosh ya'll ) get the drum out an IF i stand still for 1 second i got 5 zerkers, 2 SB, 3 hunters, 2 warriors, 12 infs, 5 mincers an a pally beating my ass into the ground (i'm used to be ganged up on. Dey hates me cause i'm pretty ).

One setup my guild plays is a strong regrowth warden without effecting nurture ofc (/shout_out_to Crystalwraith...uber imo) and found it to be alot stronger as a secondary healer. They just don't expect big heals comming from a player with that shield. Another option as it where so bard can concentrate on end, stayin alive (o_@) and making sure anything, after the initial mezz, causing problems gets mezzed.

Over utilisation of a char in a group means you take a huge group hit should he/she fall or be taken out of the fight for any duration. A bard stopping to heal risks the group losing CC, end and heals.

B.

 

[old.Niljindil]

The thing ive noticed is that, with 33 regr, you will heal for something a bit below 500 with a 3 second cast. With 16 regrowth and +11 items and like rr4+ the baseline heal will be like 280-350 on a 2,7 second cast.

This leads me to believe that the sacrifice in mez power for that spec heal(and group heal, but its so low i dont consider it a perk of the spec) just aint worth it.

 

[wyleia]

Originally posted by old.Niljindil
The thing ive noticed is that, with 33 regr, you will heal for something a bit below 500 with a 3 second cast. With 16 regrowth and +11 items and like rr4+ the baseline heal will be like 280-350 on a 2,7 second cast.

This leads me to believe that the sacrifice in mez power for that spec heal(and group heal, but its so low i dont consider it a perk of the spec) just aint worth it.

Yes totally agree.. 16 regrowth, +11 regrowth on your armour and rr5 you will heal JUST as good as those who specced the 33 regrowth. You will not have a better group heal nor 50% rez though.. So if you like to group heal or 50% rez, spec for the regrowth.. Your heals that you will use in rvr (ie the baseline ones) will be just as good with 16+11+rr5

 

[old.Tzeentch]

didnt know bards could get 50% rez?

anyway, after you mezz, you start end song, and then what are you doing? you run around and stay alive.. i mean really if i am healing i've won the fight already

 

[sharon_corr]

Well, there you go... bards have a lot of utility as can be seen if one would read all the above. And i must stress something here:

The group as as important to the bard as the bard is important to the group. Sounds melodramatic but it aint

And no, bards dont get the 50% rez... they only get the 30% rez, like wardens do if i'm reading the Herald right, which i surely hope that i do

Snugs!

 

[angrysquirrel]

instas are for a) when things go tits up and b) for when you see mids and the dwarf has his fingers over his instas

dont forget that most bards got rr5 b4 the insta mez came into the game....but if you find that you cant get the castable off in time and keep getting pwned maybe go insta mez and stuff the extra healing power - its an easy choice really !!

as for insta mez radius, going to 47 music for an increased radius seems like a bit of a waste to me, with all the RA's people have and high resists id rather let them purge the castable and have the insta standing by incase we start losing.

let us know how you get on etc

 

[old.Nol]

Originally posted by angrysquirrel
instas are for a) when things go tits up and b) for when you see mids and the dwarf has his fingers over his instas

dont forget that most bards got rr5 b4 the insta mez came into the game....but if you find that you cant get the castable off in time and keep getting pwned maybe go insta mez and stuff the extra healing power - its an easy choice really !!

as for insta mez radius, going to 47 music for an increased radius seems like a bit of a waste to me, with all the RA's people have and high resists id rather let them purge the castable and have the insta standing by incase we start losing.

let us know how you get on etc

Unless those mids happen to be wearing blue and yellow, in which case your insta is a 7 second determination hurdle that makes them immune for the rest of the fight

if the do comply with the aformentioned description...

<purge after mezz> <lull> <castable aoe on inc tanks> <insta on dwarf healer> <insta on norse healer> ... then chase that shammy down ...

 

[gotcha-pointing]

my bard is 50 nurture, 37 regrowth and 21 music.. i know it sounds gimped to the lot of ya but MR5, pwns during combat if mages/healers get oop.. you regen lots faster.. the heals are increadible uber. and the mezz barely got resisted so far from my bard so i guess that aint to bad.. its still 42sec AE mezz long enough to survive an battle.

oh and btw.. 50 nurture rocks for farming/hunts

pointing 50 enchantress
gotcha 50 shade
galeli 50 bard

 

[Lethania.]

ok I read loads of your coments about "gimp" specc etc.. I Was specced

47music
43nuture
16reg
5blades

like every bard was (exept Syrah ) I screwed that spec..
I'm

37 music
43 nuture
35 reg
5 blades

and I like it
I heal for about 500 and its jsut great Tho I havn't tried the specc in rvr yet. and I probably wont because I hate rvr ;p but in pvp I rox

 

[wyleia]

If you have no desire to rvr, then by all means go the regrowth spec
even the spec with mr5, cuz its uber in groups.. If you wanna rvr the longer duration casted mezz and the bigger radius instamezz for emergencys are nice to have imo... And after you get high enough realm rank and + from items you will heal very well as the pve bards do with specced regrowth that matches your regrowth from bonuses

oopsie about the 50% rez, was looking at wrong regrowth line there i didnt spec high enuf for it anyways ;/