Returning Bard Looking for Some Help

[JRedbeard]

Howdy,

Im another one of those pesky returning players looking for a hand with changes. I havent played since before they added these new bard spells (which sound cool!) and I havent seriously played in years and years so im kind of open to new ideas.

My character has:

105ish in music, peace and provoke.. im at work, im not sure exactly what its at but somewhere around there. Discord is at 80ish, I need to work it up.

I was reading about the discordance masteries doing damage and wondered if the damage was significant enough to make that your primary contribution to a fight (along with provoking monsters on to each other of course).

Maybe my template would look something like:
4x bard skills - 120
magery - 120
resist magic - 120
= 720 total.

The magery would honestly mostly be for utility, I dont want to be a spell slinger (on this character at least). Would use the magery for healing and traveling so 120 probably wouldnt be necessary ( i need to go look and see what determines how much you heal ).
Since the damage would be happening based on monsters / discordance mastery you would hopefully have a lot of freedom with your equipment.

Any thoughts?

Also, I know there are some monsters that are not "bardable"... do the discordance masteries still work on them? I.e. you can still damage them even though you cant peace / provoke?

Thanks for any help / advice anbody wants to give.

 

[Exeter]

Welcome back JRedBeard!!

I too am a returning player and have been focusing on my bard since my return. I don't have alot of time to respond at the moment, but I wanted to throw out a few tips that I have learned from the great Bards on this forum.

First, I would suggest locking your musicianship down where it is and probably get it back to an even 100.0 and lock it while you finish training your other Bard skills. The reason why is explained in detail in 'Poo's disco primer' which is stickied (great read).

The discord mastery songs do pretty good damage over time, but you will have to keep it playing the entire fight which will eat your mana significantly. You may have down time without some type of meditation or very heavy mana regen gear. Even that might be tricky if you rely heavily on the mastery songs.

I'll defer the question about the disco mastery affecting non-bardable creatures to someone else becasue i don't want to tell you wrong. My gut tells me you can damage any creature with this song, but not sure.

I agree 120 magery would be overkill for the uses you state. Remember that +skills can be placed on jewelry now, so you can incorporate a larger range of builds than in the old days where you were locked into your 700+ points.

Here is a quick overview of what I have been running. May not be the best build, but I am having a lot of fun with it. Haven't gotten tired of Rising Colossus yet anyways!!

120 Music
107 Provo (+13 jewelry to 120)
107 Disco (+13 jewelry to 120)
107 Peace (+13 jewelry to 120)
107 Mystic (+13 jewelry to 120)
115 Focus
47 Magery (+30 jewelry to 77 and +15 spellbook to 92 - min. for 100% invis)

I only have 710 points available at the moment.

Then lots of +int/mana, lower mana cost, and mana regen on suit.

So that might give you an idea of how you can incorporate a wider range of skills. That doesn't mean you can't have a great build without adding +skill items. You may decide that it is better to use your jewelry for other abilities and go with the natural skill points. That is what I loved about the new system when I returned. I feel that you can be far more creative now, then in the old days.

Anyways, as I mentioned there are some great bards on this forum, so I'm sure you will get up to speed in no time

Good Luck to you!

 

[Poo]

*does the happy dance*

people to talk too!!!!

*does the happy dance again*

wow its been a while since anyone came in and asked for some help.

ok, first off, welcome back to the addiction.
glad to have another returning addict to share the addiction with.
donuts and coffee are at the back of the room, share as much as you want when its your turn to speak.... oh wait, this isn't UO Anonymous, hehe

ok, so here is the quick and dirty.
bards are fun.
this you know.

bard masteries are cool, but you need the mana to use them and keep them up.
to this end if you have to decide if your gonna be a old school bard or a new school bard.

the difference being this.
old school you use the old barding skills, disco the critters then get them to beat each other up.
peace if ya get in trouble.

the new school use the old skills and mix in the masteries.
so disco the critters, provo them onto each other, chuck out a disco mastery on the baddies to help them die faster, or if you have the provo mastery then you drop a pair of EVs or have a pair of Vollems or a pair of earth ele's and then ya fire up the Inspire to give your summons a butt load more damage.

difference is the mana.

new school you are gonna need a 100 LCR suit with 40 LMC and as much mana regen as you can get.
and then your gonna need med and again as much as you can get.

old school you dont really need much or any med if you have a decent suit.

what i would suggest is this.
if the new bard masteries look good to you and you wanna try them out, then stone off your resist spells (dont need it as a bard anyways) and put on med.

give them a try.
roll them around on your tongue a bit and see how they taste.

id recommend the provo one and using EVs or Vollems is you can get 2.

and if ya need a hand i with anything let me know what shard your on and what ya need.
i bored and could slip in and help ya out a bit.
make a suit or whatever.

yes.
I'm everywhere.
Omnipresent.

 

[JRedbeard]

*does the happy dance*
ok, first off, welcome back to the addiction.
glad to have another returning addict to share the addiction with.

Thanks for the welcome!

the difference being this.
old school you use the old barding skills, disco the critters then get them to beat each other up.
peace if ya get in trouble.

the new school use the old skills and mix in the masteries.
so disco the critters, provo them onto each other, chuck out a disco mastery on the baddies to help them die faster, or if you have the provo mastery then you drop a pair of EVs or have a pair of Vollems or a pair of earth ele's and then ya fire up the Inspire to give your summons a butt load more damage.

difference is the mana.

new school you are gonna need a 100 LCR suit with 40 LMC and as much mana regen as you can get.
and then your gonna need med and again as much as you can get.

old school you dont really need much or any med if you have a decent suit.

I am used to mainly relying on peace / provoke, as you can see my discordance isnt even that great. Working on it though. The masteries are exciting (sounding) so I definitely want to try the new way. I really like that the masteries dont take the place of the skills they just give you an added bonus / work alongside them.

id recommend the provo one and using EVs or Vollems is you can get 2.

EV energy vortex.. vollems? I will have to look it up sadly, not ringing a bell Sounds like a fun option.
Have you tried the discordance one? Is the damage noticable / worth the trouble of doing the suit?

and if ya need a hand i with anything let me know what shard your on and what ya need.
i bored and could slip in and help ya out a bit.
make a suit or whatever.

Im on Pacific. I accept all wisdom and help, thanks!

Thanks for your help!

 

[JRedbeard]

Follow up question that I missed if it was in the FAQ:

Does the lower mana cost item attribute work on the bard masteries?

Thanks!

 

[Poo]

Follow up question that I missed if it was in the FAQ:

Does the lower mana cost item attribute work on the bard masteries?

Thanks!

yes, definitely, thats why you need your suit to have the 40 LMC

 

[Poo]

EV energy vortex.. vollems? I will have to look it up sadly, not ringing a bell Sounds like a fun option.
Have you tried the discordance one? Is the damage noticable / worth the trouble of doing the suit?

Vollems are pets that where given to you where you got the SA upgrade.
they are bonded little gargoyle dogs (for lack of a better description) that are non transferable.

they are basically the same as a nightmare EXCEPT that anyone can use them.
you dont require any taming or animal lore to use them.

so bards find them handy to have.
cause they kick BUTT, hehe.


otay.
so the difference between the provo bard mastery and the disco one.

k this is it.
the disco one does damage that you get, and yes it is noticeable, and its even better when a lot of people are doing damage to the critter, you get a cut of the damage.
so thats good.
and the other disco bard mastery kicks the monsters (or players in pvp) kicks their SDI and DI and all the stuff down.

bad thing about the disco masteries are that they are the heaviest for upkeep cost to your mana.

its been a while since i used them, but even with a hella nice suit and med i wasnt able to keep it up for very long.

now, the provo one on the other hand gives DI and HCI buffs to everyone in your party (including anything you summon)
and the mana upkeep cost is low, usually with a 40 LMC suit with some mana regen and med you can keep it up forever.
the exception is if you are in a BIG party, cause the more people in the more mana cost there is.

course like most players, the provo mastery might not be worth if for ya if your melee characters are allready capped out on DI and HCI.

again, all comes back to your play style.

realistically, both the quest are hella easy to do.
id suggest trying them both out.

when they came out i used the disco one all the time.
but found that over time i was getting more use out of the provo one, so switched most of my bards over to the provo one now.

 

[Poo]

drop me a line if you want and ill take you out and show you my vollems on Pac.

show ya what they can do with the provo mastery up.

 

[BellaofCats]

I'm very curious about the vollems... are they easy to keep up with in a fight? Do they heal themselves regularly? Since bards cannot vet and I am unwilling to work yet another skill on my bard until I am finished with Discord and Provo, I don't want to spend more time searching for someone to rez my pets then actually fighting with them.

I've not seen any in action either so I've got nothing to judge it by.

Also, my bard was lucky enough to be given the Sorcerer's Armor Set from a very good friend, each piece says that it has LMC of 5; does that mean it's a total of 5 or 5 from each piece for a total of 30?

So much has changed... and I'm still getting use to it all!

 

[erreth]

Vollems are pets that where given to you where you got the SA upgrade.
they are bonded little gargoyle dogs (for lack of a better description) that are non transferable.

I'm pretty sure they are transferable. I've transfered mine around my chars and they do re-bond in the normal time periods.

 

[Poo]

I'm very curious about the vollems... are they easy to keep up with in a fight? Do they heal themselves regularly? Since bards cannot vet and I am unwilling to work yet another skill on my bard until I am finished with Discord and Provo, I don't want to spend more time searching for someone to rez my pets then actually fighting with them.

I've not seen any in action either so I've got nothing to judge it by.

Also, my bard was lucky enough to be given the Sorcerer's Armor Set from a very good friend, each piece says that it has LMC of 5; does that mean it's a total of 5 or 5 from each piece for a total of 30?

So much has changed... and I'm still getting use to it all!

sorry im out camping right now, im on a aircard hiding away on my laptop because apparently my wife dosnt consider "UO" stuff to be holidays!

some quick answers for ya.
the vollems do not heal themselves, but i usually dont have a problem with just casting heal on them.
if they die you can just recall to a stable, there are new NPCs there now that are called VET's and they will res your pet for you for a small gold fee.

the sorcerers suit, the lmc for the entire suit when all the pieces are on is only 5.
so get a totem of the void and a scrappers and get a ring and watch with LMC and youll be able to hit 40 LMC.

when i get back from holidays maybe i can take ya out and show you my vollems on my bard.

cheers!

 

[BellaofCats]

sorry im out camping right now, im on a aircard hiding away on my laptop because apparently my wife dosnt consider "UO" stuff to be holidays!

some quick answers for ya.
the vollems do not heal themselves, but i usually dont have a problem with just casting heal on them.
if they die you can just recall to a stable, there are new NPCs there now that are called VET's and they will res your pet for you for a small gold fee.

the sorcerers suit, the lmc for the entire suit when all the pieces are on is only 5.
so get a totem of the void and a scrappers and get a ring and watch with LMC and youll be able to hit 40 LMC.

when i get back from holidays maybe i can take ya out and show you my vollems on my bard.

cheers!

OMG well that does explain the issue I have with LMC! Sheesh!! No wonder I couldn't work the provo mastery for long, lol. That suit is tricky looking I'll fix that up and would love to see your vollems in action as well. I have characters on a few shards but not all are skilled up to survive much past Haven, lol. Hopefully I've some where your vollems are located.

Enjoy your holiday!!

Bella

 

[Poo]

OMG well that does explain the issue I have with LMC! Sheesh!! No wonder I couldn't work the provo mastery for long, lol. That suit is tricky looking I'll fix that up and would love to see your vollems in action as well. I have characters on a few shards but not all are skilled up to survive much past Haven, lol. Hopefully I've some where your vollems are located.

Enjoy your holiday!!

Bella

well, your in luck.
my addiction knows no bounds.
i have a 120x4 bard on every shard with 2 bonded Vollems.
every..... shard......

its just a matter of if ive actually TRAINED my vollems on that shard yet.
ive got about half of them trained up, but even if they are not its not a biggy cause they come 90% done right out of the box.

ill be back next week and ill take ya out and show ya some vollem tricks.

poo

 

[BellaofCats]

well, your in luck.
my addiction knows no bounds.
i have a 120x4 bard on every shard with 2 bonded Vollems.
every..... shard......

its just a matter of if ive actually TRAINED my vollems on that shard yet.
ive got about half of them trained up, but even if they are not its not a biggy cause they come 90% done right out of the box.

ill be back next week and ill take ya out and show ya some vollem tricks.

poo

I love it! If I were not so lazy I'd have a few characters built up on other shards too just for the variety. But, as I said, I'm too lazy. I look forward to meeting you and your vollems on Catskills when you are able.

Thanks!

Bella

 

[Selan]

Is there a difference between the SA gift Vollems and the tinker made ones? My understanding is the tinker mades can only be healed using ingots?

Also, is there anywhere I can still buy the SA gift Vollems?

I'm on Baja, if that makes any sort of difference.

 

[Poo]

the SA ones Bond to you instantly.

the tinkered made ones will never bond.
so when they die they are gone.

i see the SA ones for sale all the time on every shard.
usually around 3 mill each.

 

[Selan]

the SA ones Bond to you instantly.

the tinkered made ones will never bond.
so when they die they are gone.

i see the SA ones for sale all the time on every shard.
usually around 3 mill each.

Can both be healed by magery or only by tinkers?

 

[Poo]

the bonded ones can be healed with spells and cured with spells

 

[Poo]

i was on ATL today and realised that my bard had realllllllllllllllllly low karama

(Dread)

ekkk, guess hes been playing the bad music.

so i decided to go to demon temple in fel and farm up some karama with my vollems.

im allmost convinced that they kill demons faster then my sampire!

and

and while saving those pics i found these from last year from sonoma...

 

[Poo]

i had inspire up and going
and would disco the demon when it spawned, then put the 2 vollems on it.

then the 2nd one would spawn and id put the vollems on it without disco.

then the 1st one would respawn..... its a insta spawn there so it was just back and forth and back and forth.

i was counting it as i was killing.
once i got into cycle with them it was 3 seconds per kill.

so kill.... two.... three.

kill..... two..... three

back and forth, back and forth.

i went from Dread to Glorious Lord in about 10 minutes.