Thursday, July 8, 2010

It’s not easy being green…

As you all know, I’m trying to level the bard to 80. Since Martial Master is also active, I thought it would be nice to work on my skills at the same time. Apparently, the rest of the server doesn’t agree…

Unfortunately, bard is not seen as a combatant job. In addition, the common leveling “wisdom” (read “idiocy”) is that you get XP now and skill-up after, a function of Campaign, level sync and the take-over of RMT power-leveling style of play. These do have their place, but when the chance is there to speed up your skill ups (and thus your effectiveness at your true level) why wouldn’t you take it? There is only 1 answer; because you’re a fucking idiot.

Now bard is not thought of well as a melee job, but /dancer or /ninja we certainly aren’t to be disregarded. Yes, there is always the argument that lower damage weapons only feed the enemy TP, but that doesn’t wash as partys frequently use thief as a DD who are “just feeding the mob TP” outside of their SATA WS, or ninja tanks (who also hit like a feather duster compared to other melee) and don’t have the spike damage of thief either. The point is, my bard can and does hit things. What I don’t do is function well solo, not being the most durable of jobs with the weak armor I can wear.

Unfortunately for me I am not allowed to melee in pick-up parties (actually, the way bard is used end-game I would also be too busy to even draw a weapon as the all-mighty chain [which doesn’t actually increase in XP given after 5] might break). This is one of the main reasons I avoid pick-up parties actually; people I’ve worked with before know that I know when and when not to fight, but strangers don’t.

So I’m seeking on my bard and the invites are slow in coming. Funny, generally not being /anon (without seeking) is enough to get me an invite on Dynamis nights within 5 minutes. I do eventually get an invite to a 75 level sync. 4 of us are 77, 1 is 76 and one is 75 so naturally we sync to the 75. It’s a 2 bard party and I am “lazy bard” which simply means I am not pulling. I actually run just as much because I am refreshing the red mage with ballad and buffing the melee with Minuet and Madrigal and back-up healing the whole bunch, as the pulling bard was doing the double march. Had there only been 1 bard (me) I would have been responsible for pulling, double march, double ballad and healing myself, all while having to listen to the rest of the party bitch every time the chain broke just because I thought I might need to renew shadows before the next pull while they can’t even be bothered to take the critters off my back in a timely manner. And people wonder why I won’t do merit parties…

The XP is ok, but not great. We get about 41k in 2.5 hours, and that’s with rings. Just to put my blood pressure through the roof the melees all take random AFK breaks to slow down the XP even further. Unfortunately, the red mage isn’t of my philosophy of not wasting healing on people who aren’t there, so we don’t get to let anyone die for it. Oh well, so much for educational opportunities. The party breaks up with everyone getting a level or multiple merit points EXCEPT me, I’m left 3.5k short. Grrr… I logged for the night in disgust.

Last night I try to log in but the maintainance is running long. By the time I’m allowed to log in it’s a bit late for a long XP party. In addition, not many are on to form a good XP party, and I refused the level 19 party that was available through my LS, wanting my skill-ups. I do one campaign battle (after wasting time and AN porting to 2 that finish as I arrive) and get 3.7k XP, thus getting level 78. I do some research, but I’m not really finding anywhere I can survive a solo skill-up as a bard/dancer, the only remote possibilities being over-crowded as it is. I try to solo in Meriphtaud Mountains (S) with my NPC, but SE has yet to allow them to level past 70, thus survivability is virtually nil, both for NPC and myself once she dies. So I only manage 3 kills before I’m on my own. In addition, Martial Master doesn’t apply in the past areas, so I only manage 1 skill-up (on parry). Just not my night. My usual cronies are not available (either not logging on or doing something else) so eventually I log again.

Maybe tonight I can get the bard dagger in Nyzul, the mythic weapon being augmentable via Trial of the Maigans. That might just get me a shot at the skill-ups I’ve been trying for. I’m pretty sure you can work off WS points while doing the trials too, so double-whammy. Beast would certainly be ok to get too, since I only need 2 more levels on bard to reach cap and then it’s the beast’s turn. I can always melee in dynamis for my skill-ups on bard, although people may look at me funny.