FFXI Bards vs. EQ Bards

[Eue]

Hello !

I am recently levelling RDM and BLM to 30 and am wondering about unlocking Bard. The last MMORPG I played, was Everquest, from Kunark to Luclin expansions. I had a level 18 Bard on that game, but I must wonder : how different is the bard job in FFXI from the bard class in Everquest ?

I am not sure if there are many others who have also played both games, but I was particularly interested in solo capabilities. At least at the time I played EQ, bards could sing two songs at once (they were not "intended" to do that), charm a mob and haste their weapon at the same time, and shamelessly plow through stuff with reckless abandon. Can bards do that in FFXI ? Anything even remotely similar ?

[Tsikuro]

BRDs in FFXI are pretty much a support-only job.
I'm pretty sure they're the worst solo class in the game.

[Taskmage]

There isn't really any job in FFXI that can plow through mobs near their level with reckless abandon. Bards in FFXI are party-oriented buffers that don't possess much melee or soloing capability unless you deck them out in some pretty expensive gear.

[Jei]

it's been a long time since I played EQ. Haven't got to see EQ bard's solo before, only saw a lot of shaman/necro soloing. The way the 2 sing are different but I guess how they sing aren't exactly the information what you're looking for.

FFXI brd is very weak on their own. But their present alone can turn any ordinary group into a godly killing machine.

[Spinnthrift]

Bard in a party turns the group into a finely honed abbatoir. For solo though... there are other jobs if you want the chunking through mobs with glee.

There isn't really any job in FFXI that can plow through mobs near their level with reckless abandon.

*cough*Blue Mage*cough*

At least in the beginning... you can't handle more than two Tough++ at once past about level 30... but that's still quite an achievement in itself. I think my silliest record I haven't bested (nor do i intend to try now) since level 12, which was a train of 10 EP, 3 DC and 1 EM as Blu/Brd.

Bst does a fairly good job too of monster solo feats, and Drg can pretty much exp solo nonstop on a diet of EM/T if geared correctly.

- Saeriel

[Neomage]

Thanks for reminding me I have to unlock DRG and BRD for soloing >.>

[Spinnthrift]

You don't need to be Drg/Brd to solo though Onion... you can solo as Drg/Blu, Drg/Rdm, Drg/Whm, Drg/Drk, Drg/Nin... :P

Otherwise.. you're welcome though. ^^

[Eue]

k - thanks for the info/insight guys ! Am now RDM 22, 900 tnl. Will unlock BRD and DRG as well. Hell, may as well unlock BLU too, while I'm at it. Good luck and happy hunting !

[Yeargdribble]

At 75 BRD is far from the worse solo class in the game. They might not be the best but I'd say they are probably near the top 5. The problem is people don't know how to solo with BRD and do it horribly. They wear horrible magely gear and don't really use the jobs ability to their advantage.

We aren't the fastest soloer but what matters when soloing is if you can do it when it's necessary. If you claim an NM it's not about how fast you can kill it but that you can. Sure it takes a RDM/NIN 20 minutes to solo Ulli but what matters is that they can.

The biggest thing about BRD is that they are probably the only job that can handle large amounts of EP-DC mobs. Any other job in the game would have trouble with that. RDM/NIN would come in second but BRD has uninteruptable sleeps that would keep us from getting owned while working out way through a group of mobs.