After 23 years I'm back

[Eliseen]

I left when it was only GSII, as you can well imagine things are different now. I've wanted to get input from more experienced bards about my stats. So here they are:


Name: Eliseen Starfriend Race: Elf Profession: Bard
Level: 27 Gender: Male Age: 56

Experience:
Experience: 863752 Next level at: 899000 exp.
Exp. until next lvl: 35248


Skills:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Two Weapon Combat.....................| 5 1
Armor Use...................................| 130 35
Shield Use...................................| 130 35
Combat Maneuvers.......................| 66 14
Edged Weapons............................| 154 54
Brawling......................................| 62 13
Ambush.......................................| 25 5
Multi Opponent Combat.................| 20 4
Physical Fitness............................| 140 40
Dodging......................................| 102 24
Arcane Symbols...........................| 58 12
Harness Power.............................| 117 29
Elemental Mana Control.................| 20 4
Mental Mana Control.....................| 35 7
Elemental Lore – Air......................| 30 6
Mental Lore - Manipulation.............| 15 3
Mental Lore – Telepathy.................| 15 3
Survival.......................................| 50 10
Stalking and Hiding.......................| 78 17
Perception....................................| 128 34
Climbing......................................| 40 8
Swimming....................................| 40 8
First Aid.......................................| 50 10
Trading........................................| 30 6

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental..........................| 12

Spell Lists
Bard..........................................| 13
Training Points: 0 Phy 5 Mnt (48 Mnt converted to Phy)

and my Stats
Stats: Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 99 (24) ... 99 (24)
Constitution (CON): 59 (4) ... 59 (4)
Dexterity (DEX): 83 (21) ... 83 (21)
Agility (AGL): 89 (34) ... 89 (34)
Discipline (DIS): 64 (-8) ... 64 (-8)
Aura (AUR): 99 (29) ... 99 (29)
Logic (LOG): 46 (-2) ... 46 (-2)
Intuition (INT): 43 (-3) ... 43 (-3)
Wisdom (WIS): 69 (9) ... 69 (9)
Influence (INF): 100 (35) ... 100 (35)

I am a board adn sword bard. I like to lore sing and gemsing. Let me know what you think before I finalize my fixskill runs out

[Tgo01]

Welcome back! 23 years is a long time to be gone.

[Orthin]

If this was my bard and was going sword and board I would remove

Brawling
TWC training
Arcane Symbols
lower HP to 27
remove MMC and probably EMC
stalking and hiding
FA/Survival/Trading
Mental lores
bring PF to 1x

I would then attempt to
Pump to 425 (personal preference, everyone has different ways to get there)
get CM up to 1x
attempt to get Elemental lore Air to 1x



There is an amazeballs guide on the GSWIKI if you look it up, it is done by Whirlin and it will be a game changer for you.

[Orthin]

Welcome back I forgot to say!!

https://gswiki.play.net/Comprehensive_Bard_Guide

[Tgo01]

Welcome back I forgot to say!!

Fired.

[Taernath]

Welcome back, how far behind on guild dues are you?

[Eliseen]

Welcome back, how far behind on guild dues are you?


I'm ahead a month. It has been a learning experience. Yep I can see brawling going down. Do you suggest all the way or to a certain level and twc as well. Arcane Symbols, doesn't that help you read scrolls and such?

HP decrease to 27th, then add to it as I level?

Stalking and hiding, I sometimes like to hide, just for the fun of it. Lower it perhaps? You suggested remove MMC and probably EMC, no help in lore or gem singing, transfer the points to mental lore telepathy and Manipulation?

FA/Survival/Trading, doesn't trading help when dealing with shop keepers?

And increase PT.

Not knocking your suggestions. When I started way back when there wasn't a lot of bards around and no forums like this to get input. Just trying to get my head around all this traing stuff.

[Orthin]

I'm ahead a month. It has been a learning experience. Yep I can see brawling going down. Do you suggest all the way or to a certain level and twc as well. Arcane Symbols, doesn't that help you read scrolls and such?

HP decrease to 27th, then add to it as I level?

Stalking and hiding, I sometimes like to hide, just for the fun of it. Lower it perhaps? You suggested remove MMC and probably EMC, no help in lore or gem singing, transfer the points to mental lore telepathy and Manipulation?

FA/Survival/Trading, doesn't trading help when dealing with shop keepers?

And increase PT.

Not knocking your suggestions. When I started way back when there wasn't a lot of bards around and no forums like this to get input. Just trying to get my head around all this traing stuff.


For TWC/Brawling - if you do not plan to train brawling as a dedicated attack plan (2x) I would recommend dumping the points to something more useful, otherwise the points are not being utilized well (wasted).
For Arcane Symbols - it does help you read scrolls - If you like buying/using scrolls feel free to keep it but you could dump some of those points if you do not use it often for a spell or some CM training or some other core skill.
For the Stalking and Hiding - if that is your personal preference keep it for you. The amount of stalking/hiding you have if for fun and hunting will just become frustrating with most things you hunt. If its just for around town to hide and creep on people you could certainly just have a couple skill points but that is TP you could use to core skills to help you out.
For HP - yes go 1x or as needed once you move it down. It has diminishing returns if you are above your level though they did make some recent changes to HP.
for the Lores/EMC/MMC - personal preference, I was more interested in having more spells (especially 425 at 25, was a game changer for me literally). You can keep them but again they take points away from things you could feel have a more direct impact now.
FA/SURV/Trading - I have never really invested in trading - I see that as a post cap goal if any - some people love it but I don't play a race that is reviled in any one town. As to FA/Surv - that is personal preference, I think at 10 ranks each, juice may not be worth the squeeze for skinning/foraging bounties at your level or just skinning critters in general. I 1x skinning/survival on all my characters because I love doing skinning/forage bounties but most folks don't even touch either skill and instead focus on core skills.

Ultimately do what makes you happy. What I like, may not be what you like or what someone else likes for how they play their character.

[Taernath]

I'm not the person who made these suggestions but I'll toss my 2 silver in...


I'm ahead a month. It has been a learning experience. Yep I can see brawling going down. Do you suggest all the way or to a certain level and twc as well.

Remove them entirely if you're going OHE/shield.


Arcane Symbols, doesn't that help you read scrolls and such?

It does, but it's not super important.


HP decrease to 27th, then add to it as I level?

Yes, you want to keep it at level. So if you're level 27, you have 27 ranks, level 28, 28 ranks, etc. The reason for this is diminishing returns.


Stalking and hiding, I sometimes like to hide, just for the fun of it. Lower it perhaps? You suggested remove MMC and probably EMC, no help in lore or gem singing, transfer the points to mental lore telepathy and Manipulation?

If you're not actively using it to hunt, hiding training is kind of a waste. MMC and EMC are good to have but not a priority. I wouldn't put much if anything into Manipulation unless you're going to be heavy on purifying gems. Telepathy is good for song duration increase and a few other things, conventional wisdom is 25 ranks and put the rest into air but other people have their own preferences.


FA/Survival/Trading, doesn't trading help when dealing with shop keepers?

I personally would remove trading and keep FA/survival at 1x. I think trading may be getting a rework so there may be some changes.

[Eliseen]

Quick question, I use Storm Front. The tab at the bottom Skill goals, I find that it always want to change physical point to mental. Would I be wiser to go to an Inn?

[wetsand]

Welcome back, a lot has changed but not a ton has changed for bards. First thing I would do(if you can) is fix your stats and set them for max at level 100. If you enter the below stats for initial placement, you will have 100’s in everything but int, which will max at 90. You could also choose to set them for mid level 50-60 and this will ease some of the growing pains in the earlier levels.

str 62
con 82
dex 49
agl 68
dis 88
aur 49
log 88
int 68
wis 73
inf 33

Regarding training, my personal preference is utilizing UCS(Unarmed combat system) also know as UAC, which relies on the brawling weapon skill to perform attacks. I think bards excel at UCS but it can be more difficult due to initially lower DS vs sword/board.

Skills:
2x brawling
1 rank of TWC or .5x ranks for extra DS
27 armor ranks for brig or 6 for doubles(this will free up more TPs but is less sturdy than brig), eventually you will want to train up to augmented chain(50 ranks)
1x PF
1x dodge
1x HP
1x perception
Air lore to 30 ASAP for tonis
Climb/swim at 20 add more as needed

There is two options regarding spells, prioritize bard spells to get 1035 or prioritize 400s for 425/430. I chose getting 425 at level 25 and got 1035 at ~level 40. Either path is viable.

Once you hit 1035 and 430, I would add in 25 ranks of EMC and start prioritizing Manipulation lore to get 75 ranks at level 73.

[Eliseen]

So I've done this so far.


Eliseen (at level 27), your base skill bonuses, ranks and goals are:
Skill Name | Actual Actual
| Bonus Ranks Goals In-Game Time to Goal
Armor Use...............................| 130 35 35
Shield Use...............................| 130 35 35
Combat Maneuvers...................| 66 14 14
Edged Weapons........................| 158 58 58
Ambush...................................| 25 5 5
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 20 4 4
Physical Fitness........................| 141 41 41
Dodging..................................| 102 24 24
Arcane Symbols.......................| 58 12 12
Harness Power.........................| 117 29 29
Elemental Lore - Air..................| 40 8 8
Mental Lore - Manipulation........| 15 3 3
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 15 3 3
Stalking and Hiding..................| 78 17 17
Perception..............................| 128 34 34
Climbing.................................| 40 8 8
Swimming..............................| 40 8 8
First Aid.................................| 50 10 10
Trading..................................| 30 6 6

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental.......................| 15 15

Spell Lists
Bard.....................................| 15 15
Training Points: 6 Phy 29 Mnt

I did get this message [Current skills bonus is insufficient to gain DF reduction.]

Oh and I upped elemental lore air to 11

[Makkah]

Sorry to be a dick, but you know it was GS3 long before 1997, right? Did you mean GS3 not GS2?

[Eliseen]

It was GSIII back during the AOL days.

[Seizer]

Honestly at that level and that long away. I’d re-roll. You can change the name too if you’d like. I’m surprised you can squeeze that many skills out at level 27.
The path back to level 27 will be fast and you get to relearn everything.

[FlayedAngel]

Welcome back!

[Makkah]

It was GSIII back during the AOL days.

100% correct. It was not GSII in 1997.

[BriarFox]

100% correct. It was not GSII in 1997.

1990-2003. I think he probably meant GSIII? GS][ was only around for two years or so.

[Eliseen]

I dropped harness power and it lowered my mana 23 points, changing that. Upped PT and still working on some other stuff. I'm thinking of losering elemental/mental mana control as I can't see needing to send mana.

[Eliseen]

Oh and by the way I remember GSIII when it was on AOL, if you played a lot what you owed AOL was ALOT hundreds of dollars a month. Only serious folks played. Also I remember the Lag Beast.

"A Steve Case walks into the Room"