hey

I got a 48 lvl bard and I think my dps is really low compared to other melee classes. I use some instrument weapons, not the best dps but help my songs. Its dangerous to play the AE dot songs in groups, might break mez. My dd song does 50dam and gets resisted once in awhile.
Anyone else think that bards have a low dps compared to other melee classes? I know we got alot of other skills, but in high end groups, its just a healer and 5 dps classes when you grind AAs. Need some thoughts.

Kouran

The thing about bard dps, if it doesn't all come from the bard. Say you're playing your overhaste song. How much DPS is that adding for EVERY melee. And in the previously mentioned situation, where there is no enchanter. Between your haste and overhaste, you may be increasing group DPS by 40%.

Between pulls, you pop up your mana/hp regen song, saving a few heals and regenning the healer/nukers mana pool, meaning the group can pull faster, and nuke more (more dps).

When my monk beats on a mob, the ONLY dps he is responsible for is his own. Bard DPS has to be looked at in terms of net GROUP DPS increase.

That's still only about 62 DPS though. Not really all that amazingly high. You're doing your group a disservice by taking this route really, unless it's a kite group. Xaanru explained it perfectly. Our DPS isn't meant to be high. We're a plate wearing caster class that can carry two weapons. There are artificial ways to raise our melee DPS, but it requires the right gear and a lot of AA's.

When a bard wields a weapon that procs a DD, that DD is coded to have the same aggro as our normal songs (not our chants). That means you can hit a mob several times with a huge DD proc and not take aggro off of your tank. For instance, I use a Dedgrex's Flintforged Cudgel in my primary with the 1.0 in my secondary under normal circumstances (read against mobs that aren't going to resist the DD all the time). I don't have all the right AA's yet, but once you have weapon affinity 5, spell casting fury 3 and all of their upgrades, you can increase your normal DPS by a very large amount, without generating extra aggro.

The key to playing a bard well is knowing which songs to use in which situation. You shouldn't be twisting the same thing all the time, especially at your level. Once you hit the high 50's, low 60's, you start to feel kind of in a rut, because SOE kinda ran out of creativity, but there are still times when you'll switch up your twist.

Learn your songs, play with them, and always look at an encounter with a different view and figure out what songs will benefit the GROUP the most. No one is going to notice your individual DPS, but they will notice when having you there makes pulls much quicker, kills much quicker, and downtime much shorter.

Bards weren't meant as a DPS class. If you want to be a high DPS class, look to being a rogue or a wizzy. bards are jacks of all trades, good at doing most things but not the best at it.....Tho I have worked hard to raise my DPS, and I think I have almost hit the limit for my DPS output...I use Blade of Annilation Anthems in primary and Despair in secondary. Not sure what my DPS is at but, all my friends say there is definitely a noticeable difference in my DPS. I have all the offensive AAs, so you can kind of tell what my melee is at, also I have maxed out my worn attack, so my base attack without buffs is 1641, which is decent I guess, always want more... But anyway I usually duo with a druid and I will twist mana song, haste and 2 chants, and mobs go down pretty quickly (but the druid is Doting and nuking as well) I have gone to GE and soloed alot and see the mobs go down pretty quickly. I would love to find out what my DPS standing is. Could someone tell me how I can find this out? Would be much appreciated.

Like it was mentioned, If you aren't chanting for the group fou are messing up. Personally, I use the high end overhaste, it also increases toe damage of your spell casters in group. I twist in a healt/mana regen, Verses of versargen (if fighting casting mobs, if straight melee mobs, usually the damage mitigation song), and lastly I twist in a combat innate. The added proc for everyone in group is great DPS. Mainly becaue the song also increase the proc rate of the weapon by 400%, and it's also a very low agro proc. Makes for a hefty DPS increase. and like they said, if you need to slow, just twist it in. keep in mind the recast on it is such that you will have to twist 4 other songs between your slow. Personnaly, I tank as well if needed, though I'm a 12.2k bard with 2250 AC and 1080 AAs. I'll end up tanking, slowing, and snaring sometimes depending on what I need to get a group. The odd thing I've noticed is that everyone wants a bard in there group, but not very many people like to play them.

In my opinion the purpose of a bard in a group is to conform to what classes are missing or are present..For instance, if you have 4 melees and healer and you, you can twist haste+overhaste+proc+mana-regen..This is a nice setup for the group. You fill in the mission Chanter and your groups dps greatly increases though your songs plus your cleric will love you for the constant mana..Also for a group like that I like to start the twist off with, Resist-Debuff+Slow then continue on with the rest of the twist..Acutally one of my twists is set up like this /melody 4 5 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 ..Now this will Resist debuff and then Slow and then haste+overhaste+proc so by time the entire melody is reset the mobs slow has worn off and it slows mob again...This is just one example for one instance..most of the time I dont even use this cuz a shammy or chanter is in the group..But the point is to conform your bard to what the group is missing and maximize their dps..you can swing if you want to but the main thing is to make your group Uber..

And you'll continue to feel that way for quite a while, trust me. The songs in the lower levels make you feel very inadequate. You're not providing nearly as much as to the group as you hear about higher level bards providing for their group. That's a limitation of the songs themselves and the lack of worn instrument mods.

Think of it kind of in the respects of how other caster classes' spells work. They get spells that do individual things and have to stack them until later levels when they get "combo" spells that do all those things with one buff slot. Bards get the combo songs early on, but they're very weak. To add to that you don't get some of your real class defining songs until later on, mainly your mezzes and charms, V2 and V3 hastes, proc songs, and spell focus songs.

There is a broad learning curve for the bard at first because of these limitations. All you really have to learn in the early levels is how to twist. Once you start hitting the 30's you'll be able to start experimenting though and the learning curve becomes very sharp. You'll learn about things like keeping control of a charmed mob with a VERY SHORT duration charm, how to keep one mob mezzed while you fight another and still keep your twist going, how to swarm kite, various pulling techniques, etc. These are the things "bot-bards" don't learn and it usually shows in the 70's when the owner decides to play bard in a group. You'll hear a lot of people from every class say that they play the most versatile class, but no one can truely argue that any class is more versatile then a bard. When you start hearing groups say "OMG, I have no idea how you pulled that off, but that was amazing!", then you'll know you're doing ok.