Bard spec?

[VodkaFairy]

Hey, decided to play my bard Mercuria a little more (level 37) and I'm having some doubts about speccing. Here are some templates I have in mind:

#1
50 nurture (all songs)
42 regrowth (best single target heal, second best healing song, second best group heal)

#2
50 nurture (all songs)
37 regrowth (second best single target heal, second best healing song, second best group heal)
21 music (42 seconds AE mezz)


#3
43 nurture (all songs except MR 5)
47 regrowth (best single target heal, best healing song, best group heal)
16 music (35 seconds AE mezz)

#4
43 nurture (all songs except MR 5)
45 regrowth (best single target heal, best healing song, second best group heal)
21 music (42 seconds AE mezz)

#5
43 nurture (all songs except MR 5)
33 regrowth (second best single target heal, third best healing song, third best group heal)
37 music (61 seconds AE mezz, 22 seconds single target mezz shout, 26 sec AE mezz shout)

#6
50 nurture (all songs)
37 regrowth (second best single target heal, second best healing song, second best group heal)
21 music (42 secs AE mezz)

Any suggestions? Personally I like #3 best because you're simply a very very usefull class in groups: songs and superb healing. But 16 music might be too low

-edit-

The bard group heal (289) is better than the druid group heal (271). The single target heal is the same for druids and bards. Druids are still better healers because of their 100 hp rezz (when regrowth specced of course) and insta's. But then again druids lack songs

 

[Arnor]

well, from my hands-on, or rather axe-on experience:
Spec ANYTHING that can give you more survivability, bards go down like...something that goes down incredibly fast in rvr (was gonna do some naughty metaphor thingy there, but the better part of me struck again )

 

[Cloak_]

Well,, id been toying with the idea of respeccing my bard for ages,,


was :

43 nurt
47 music
9 reg
14 blades


was fun but only in a grp with other good healers.

Just respecced to :

43 nurt
37music
33reg
spare in blades..

with a 421 single and 230(ish) grp i feel more usefull to my grp

 

[Amadon]

healing song is next to useless imo (slightly above mages in general )

mez is being nerfed more and more each patch, and losing it's importance so you could get away with lower music, however you might end up tearing your beautiful hair out in frustration at the number of times it's resisted because of spell-lvl vs class-lvl resists.

what you will miss out on is AE lull with low music, and that's pretty useful (insta interrupt at a nice range)

I wouldn't bother taking music to 50 just for MR5, what would mana ments do then? besides.. you'll have everyone whining for end most of the time so not much chance to play mana song (my experience anyway)

of the one's you listed I'd go for #3 or #5

#3 because you can never get enough healing imo (k so i'm a mage..)

or #5 because the 61 sec mez will be useful on those who don't resist it

the thing is, if you don't do the cookie cutter template thing, you need to be prepared for people bitching at why you didn't mez those 10fg charging you (well they'll do that anyway, but moreso with lower music), and you might miss out on bitching at all the casters who break your beautifully landed mez (hi shazz )

just my opinion anyway i'm sure there are many more experienced bards out there with much better advice

 

[Novamir]

Originally posted by N07ABL3

43 nurt
37music
33reg
spare in blades..

with a 421 single and 230(ish) grp i feel more usefull to my grp

this spec rocks !! Pemp was the first bard to have it i think. He heals insanely.

Btw does +Reg affect heals now?

 

[VodkaFairy]

Hmm.. thanks

I don't think the healing song is too useless though, it's 38 which sounds pretty good. And it's very easy to twist with speed song (same instrment)

Oh arnor, unfortunately there is no defence for bards. When holding an instrument the only defence we have is Evade 2, no parry/shield spec or anything. The only thing to defend ourselves is an insta-mezz, but people can purge it, can be immune to it (when purge was used after AE mezz) and the chance it's resisted is huge aswell.

 

[old.Tzeentch]

depends on what you want to do.. rvr? pve? or a combination of both?

for a pure rvr bard, you'll be looking at 43 nurt, 47 music, 16 reg

for a mix of pve and rvr, then your #5 spec is fine

for pure pve, you wont really need mezz at all, so go crazy.

just dont spec nurture to 50 for mana 5 at all.. waste of points.

 

[Novamir]

Originally posted by old.Tzeentch

for a pure rvr bard, you'll be looking at 43 nurt, 47 music, 16 reg

well, i disagree. with the amount of Purge/demezz/Determ/etcetc around, a bard with a great group heal is more important than one with the best instant.

 

[Cloak_]

Originally posted by Novamir
well, i disagree. with the amount of Purge/demezz/Determ/etcetc around, a bard with a great group heal is more important than one with the best instant.

Agreed..

TZ if some1 has to rely on a insta they really aint playing well imo

Much rather have better heals to keep every1 alive

 

[elerand]

Originally posted by Novamir
this spec rocks !! Pemp was the first bard to have it i think. He heals insanely.

Btw does +Reg affect heals now?

Affects baseline by quite a lot, spec line to a lesser degree.

I regrowth is good for a warden otherwise you have evuuuul variance on our grp heal, which is pretty pants anyway but with a good druid you top up nicely, I find I help extend a druids mana for more sudden requirements

Must test spec heals with and without + reg, for a healing bard I'm sure it's invaluable.

 

[Cloak_]

Maybe +reg affects mana use on a heal?

I know it stables variance on base heals though

 

[elerand]

Originally posted by N07ABL3
Maybe +reg affects mana use on a heal?

I know it stables variance on base heals though

Doesn't affect mana costs as far as I can see (just tested) doesn't even touch my spec heals, my base are piss poor without it tho

My grp heal with a total of +12 is around 123-131 per person, without it was 103-128, not huge numbers but enough to make getting the most bang for the buck you can.
I don't always use my best heal, costs more mana and draws more aggro in general (less of an issue for those crazy invaders we know and love) and if I don't need to heal for 421 a shot I don't, highest base for me does 314 or so, variance was 240-310 without any + reg at all.

 

[StormriderX]

Im planning to go for 47/43/16 - cause of those spell level based resist thingymajigs it seems like a good idea but I could be wrong o_0

 

[old.Tzeentch]

no, if you're finding time to be healing in rvr as a bard, you're fighting either shit newbs, or you're totally in control of the battle - either way you wont really be _needing_ the heals, since you've won.

im not suggesting to open with an instant, but it is a useful tool to have if you managed to miss the first cast, or if you have 4 or so tanks chasing you.

the instant mezz is mainly, imo, for defensive purposes, but sometimes it can help to save your group - this makes it very worth it.

 

[saltymcpepper]

Originally posted by N07ABL3
TZ if some1 has to rely on a insta they really aint playing well imo

or they are fighting mids

 

[<Harle>]

Originally posted by VodkaFairy
Hmm.. thanks

I don't think the healing song is too useless though, it's 38 which sounds pretty good. And it's very easy to twist with speed song (same instrment)

That 38-value for the last health-song is from next patch only. Atm I don't even have health-song on my quickbars as it is a complete waste. Playing mana-song and casting heals is faster atm, but that might change with the next patch ( current value for last health-song is 9 at 45 regrowth).

Imo the only viable templates if you want to do any RvR at all are the 43/47/16 and 43/37/33 ones, and i tend to agree with teh elf here: if you are healing in a fight then it's allready won anyway - though i have to admit: i regret not having higher regrowth whenever i do PvE or whenever I'm the only healer.

As mentioned before: don't even consider taking nurture to 50, it's just not worth it spending those spec-points for a silly mana-song.

As for +regrowth-items: they affect the variance of baseline-heals ( single and group), but only have a noticeable effect untill you reach 2/3-spec, so not needed if you go 33 in regrowth...

 

[Cloak_]

Originally posted by old.Tzeentch
no, if you're finding time to be healing in rvr as a bard, you're fighting either shit newbs, or you're totally in control of the battle - either way you wont really be _needing_ the heals, since you've won.

im not suggesting to open with an instant, but it is a useful tool to have if you managed to miss the first cast, or if you have 4 or so tanks chasing you.

the instant mezz is mainly, imo, for defensive purposes, but sometimes it can help to save your group - this makes it very worth it.

I do only use it for defensive purposes, proplem being that its because a tank has purged my AE mezz rendering the insta useless.

Hibs main CC class with only 1 form of CC

Add a short stun or snare to the dd and id say taking music higher is worth it.

As for a bard healing in a fight,, ur assuming we_always get the *perfect* group setup,, and this isnt true,, not every group has the luxury of a druid.

Fair enough, most of my mana is used by mezzes, but with heals to backup the other healers with tanks/mages on them its a real help.

 

[old.Tzeentch]

im not assuming anything about the group you will be in..

if the enemy is too stupid to realise the bard should be taken out of action, early in the battle, they will probably lose the fight.. it's simply that in any battle against any enemy worth their salt, you wont even have the chance to throw more than 3 - 4 heals

 

[Cloak_]

Thats where the tanks/mages come in to Slam/Stun anything that attacks the bard..

Doesnt happen very often that im in a grp that does that

 

[old.Tzeentch]

dont say it out loud though, you'll get yelled at.

just shutup and play end

 

[old.Niljindil]

Sorry to say this but... Tzeentch makes sense!

For pure RvR, having less resists on your Ae mez and instants(and higher radius on insta) should be more important than better heals because of the 2 following points:

a) if you need to heal, something is hitting your groupmembers, MEZ THEM, if someone broke mez on them, then your group sucks , if you are the only healing class, mezing the opponent and killing them one by one is a better thing to do than heal your group members.

b) If you dont land mez, and the enemy knows what they are doing, you will *not* be able to heal because there will be at least 3-4 people beating on you. If they dont know what they are doing and not attacking you, simply mez them.

Unless the group sucks(not what type of classes are in it, but if the people know what they are doing, as in, dont attack mezed opponents unless there are noone not mezed at any given time) regrowth should not be needed.

For a bard thats not *pure* rvr tho i would think that 33 reg 37 music is far better because of that it changes your heal status from "totally useless" to "really good"

 

[elerand]

Originally posted by <Harle>

As for +regrowth-items: they affect the variance of baseline-heals ( single and group), but only have a noticeable effect untill you reach 2/3-spec, so not needed if you go 33 in regrowth...

As I posted previously, with 2/3 spec in regrowth +reg does make a difference, possibly you won't need +12 however!
Maybe +8 will do just fine, saving on some imbue points somewhere

 

[old.Tzeentch]

+7 from rr, and +11 from items, makes 16+18

/flex

fear my heals of 600+.

 

[SingerOfSoul]

rofl hmm... my spec before was
43nurture
9regrowth
21blades
44music

spec now
43nurt
18reg (went for grp heal and found i had 18pts left at end so )
15blades
44music(hardly ever use instas... givf insta ae spd decrease etc)

 

[Pempulla]

Originally posted by old.Tzeentch
+7 from rr, and +11 from items, makes 16+18

/flex

fear my heals of 600+.

I think you will be more scared yourself, e.g. 600+ heal happens basically when you get a lucky base line heal 300+ (almost max) AND get a crit (that 'crits' also ).
I suspect you have variation of the highest baseline heal from around 240 to around 315 (at 34 regrowth, 75-100% heals, no mastery of healing?), so you have an around 20% chance to get a 300+ 'base' heal off. To crit (you have? Lets say you have Wild healing II) in the first place you have a chance of 10% (reduce to 5% in case of WHI...).
As a crit heal can vary basically from 1 (not sure about this?) to double, lets say the chance of the crit heal to be 300+ is 30% also (exaggerating it a bit ). Anyway, totalling a less than 1 percent chance to get in a 600+ heal....

 

[Pempulla]

Oh, forgot to add: in case you cast a grp heal, and Novamir is in your grp, he has around 10 times bigger chance than anyone else in the grp of getting a crit heal on himself that usually maxes out also. Probably even if you dont have Wild Healing. That lucky bastard .

 

[old.Tzeentch]

wh2 pemp, and correct roughly on the variation, except i have virtually nothing to spend points on really, except aom (which could really end up at 5), and more 1 point RAs.. nothing major i should work for, so i look at the 600+hp heals as a bonus that i never would have done.. and they aren't all that rare

even critting for about 400-500 total is nice, since it is still a lot more than what i currently achieve.. i believe relics also affect heals? not sure on it

anyway, its nice to have

 

[Novamir]

Originally posted by old.Tzeentch
you wont even have the chance to throw more than 3 - 4 heals

exactly.. so even more reason to have high reg..

 

[lofff]

tzee is right here


43nurt 47music 16reg = wtg




As a bard u will b the one needing heals unless situation is under control, in that case no1 will need ur heals. 16 reg for a quick res f needed and to drop couple heals f possible, last instamezz aint very important imo, but 43 music is

 

[lofff]

btw atm at lvl 48, with 0regrowth i drop heals for 400+200sh crit quite oftenly ;P worth a good laugh

(healing from 80-600 range is cool ;D exciting.. life is a lotto isnt it?)