I recently came back to EQ after a little break and decided to try something different. My ranger at 75.330 just felt like a grind, so I decided to try out a new class; enter the bard. I thought I would share my experiences so far. LFG on Cazic Thule can be amazing or abysmally dim, so if I can join or form a group then that has been my preferred route so far...the first 20 levels flew by in the tutorial and then moving on to Field of Bone and Kurn's Tower.
Around lvl 20 a friend was bored and offered up a powerlevel for a half hour or so; the ravine leading up to Black Dire and all his pups was simply amazing to the tune of about 13-17% xp a kill. A few duos and groups later at the zone in to Castle Mistmoore was fairly good and fast (btw, our snare is awesome at this level and made solo here fairly easy). However, I spent so long camping the maid and butler on my ranger for his quest here that I soon recalled just how much I hate this zone, so it was time to move on.
Warsliks Woods has been empty as long as I can recall unless its Fabled time, so I headed there next. There was no groupage to be had or made, so an hour and a half of soloing dark blue wandering goblins and some dark blue to yellow giants at the fort was enough to ding 24 and remind me that I like the trees in this zone as much as the ones in Tenebrous and Burning Woods. That remind me, anyone know what zone Burning Woods is off of this month? (old joke, could not resist, sorry)
My next foray was into Blightfire Moors for some payback on the nasty rats that made my first trip out of the tutorial such a royal pain. I, however, was the one surprised. The dark blue rats and snakes were yielding about 3% xp a kill, easily matching the same xp I was getting for the same con mobs in the hot zones. Another pleasant surprise? These mobs were going down faster than the mobs dark elves in Mistmoore and the giants in Warsliks; go figure, right? Level 25 brought Psalm of Warmth, and solo kills only got faster. While hunting the rats and snakes, an easy quest to grab is noobling hunters or some such from the crossroads sign near the zoneline to Crescent Reach; that quest requires only turning in 4 dire rat pelts and 4 blightfire snake skins (both are stackable and I am told the quest is repeatable) so loot up those no drop pieces if you have room to spare as the quest was 3% regular xp at level 25. I dinged 26 solo as well an hour later at the western pond killing the gators and turtles. They are slower and the quest pieces they drop for Ozzum(sp) are being rather rare for me, but they die fast and require no pulling. I simply /melody 1 2 3 4 using selo's snare/slow, heal song, haste song, and the ds song now.
I vastly prefer a group or even a duo right now as the kill speed jumps tremendously, but my solo opportunities are not so shabby at the moment and I cannot even swarm or chant kite yet. I keep twisting what benefits the group or my solo efforts the most for now, and I have gone buffless for the most part except for the occassional drive by druid skin like nature or cleric symbol (yes, my cleric friend never got around to getting Temperance, he figured Virtue was just fine). At level 26 I have 1001 hps, 656 ac, and 650ish attack (and did not bother twinking apart from an acrylic breastplate I had laying around on my trader) so you hardly need to be heavily twinked to enjoy the ride. It is about time to start working on brass and wind instruments now as I seem to have slacked on those 2, but all melee skills are capped except pierce (and it will be in another hour or so) and I am getting the hang of pulling indoors finally. Well, that is my 2 cp on my travels so far, and I hope to join the ranks of the gifted conductors in due time so, til then, good hunting and enjoy your time in the hot spotlight all!