Shodau

I joined a raiding guild several weeks ago, and could use help with some issues. I've read through this forum and found alot of valuable information, but there are still somethings I had questions about.

1. DPS - My dps averages about 2.5 - 3 K each fight. What is a reasonable goal that I should be trying to reach?

2. AA (hear me out!) - My guild requested that I take bladedance, which leaves me with fewer options for KOS. What would you suggest? Right now I have Str - 4 4 8 6 2, Wis 4 4 6 8 2, and Int 4 4 8 1 (room for 4 more points). I raid in a mage group that sometimes has a melee such as a SK, but not always. In TSO I took abilites that enhances songs such as Offensive Prowress, Defensive Ballad, and Strenghened Links. Would I do better dropping some of that for enchancements to my combat arts and spell? I see my role as primarily to support the mage group, so I run the magic skill song and defense song in almost all fights.

3. JCAP - I try to Jcap in this order - tank, dirge, brigand/swashbuckler, wizard/warlock, assassin/ranger. Does that sound reasonable or should I take anything else into consideration?

I've read the FAQ that someone created as well as the old AA thread, but some of the information seems controversial or outdated and hoped to get some fresh answers. Thanks!

Uyaem

- DPS is hard to say because it depends on the gear you have, the group and buffs that you get, and also general raid wide dps.

- AA wise, INT is pretty much a waste because casters including you will buff casting techniques well enough to not have issues even on orange cons, if people throw one or two debuffs and keep em up. Also, for 8 points you get an extra 17 or so points to disruption... way to expensive for maybe 0.5% less resists. Same goes for Ministrel's Melody, the haste increase you'd get out of it is just not worth it. Go 4-4-4-8 STA instead.

About STR line ... well guilds have a tendency to force their bards to get this shitty AA. Not the end of the world, but generally outdated. Mobs in TSO often have damage shields and which will take this ability right off you. This is what most raid leaders that are not bards don't get, unlike all other AE avoidances this one gets dispelled when you take damage. Mid-combat, this is basically all the time thanks to effects and damage shields.
Also, TSO has many AEs that just eat through AE blockers.
It's okay for learning encounters, to use on pull, but there's better options out there, namely Druids, Swashbucklers, and mages that don't hug the mob. Also the recast is way to high with 10min so if you can't spec out of it, make sure you cap yourself before you use it or there will be a lot of waiting before you can pull the mob again.

- JCap on the tank can be done for named encounters, I'd say it's wasted on trash fights. Dirge is debatable if you only have one Dirge in the raid and you time it for CoB, otherwise there's probably better options. Brigand is good as you want as much Dispatched and Enfeeblement, because it'll increase raid wide DPS and not only the person you are JCaping. After that, rule of thumb is use it on high dps, people who make use of it. A mediocre assassin or a semi afk necro is not high dps, while a well geared and eager dirge might be.

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Uyaem

Forgot something:
Defensive Ballad is a horrible thing to increase. You'd only want to run this on fights with physical AEs, and not because of the increase to Defense but for the mitigation increase that you added onto it from Strengthened Links. The latter part adds so much mitigation that it'll easily prevent another 10% of damage a squishy mage would take. You will never see them avoid an AE however.
Also Offensive Prowess = shit. It enhances your self-buff's reactive damage by 25% if maxed. Now it hits for like 700 instead of 550. How often do you get hit in a raid?

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Harovan

2.5-3k dps doesn't sound too impressive in TSO times, strive to double that in an average, raid buffed group of a casual guild. Bit more perhaps on palace trash. Overall you should be fine if your damage is about 5% of your guild's total.

Talk sense into your raid leader. I know that's not an easy thing to do but do your best. Keep turnstrike for yourself (with only 1 point in it), but Bladedance isn't worth the points you put into it. At best offer him a compromise, like keeping a mirror with BD for the times when you're learning new mobs.

The most common setup in the bard tree is something like STR 4-1, AGI 4-4-4-3, STA 4-4-4-8, WIS 4-4-6-8-2 (or 4-6-4-8-2, you decide) and INT 4-1. Some drop either STR or INT in favor of 8 in poison; I think to have both Turnstrike and Rhythm Blade (your best melee skill buff) outweighs a higher poison trigger chance by far.

In the troub tree it's usually worth to bolster your resist buffs with wards, along with buffing JCap and PotM of course as your class defining abilities (EDIT: I forgot to mention Aria, which should be maxed as well). All else is pretty much optional and you'll find wildly differing opinions. I took Harmonization even though it costs 21 points (all you take to get it is crap). I took sonic interference as well, it's mediocre but seems to work well for some mobs (Xebnok comes to mind). Into demoralizers I got with a branch from Alin's, putting some points into Spell Rebuff and Dispirited Processional, two of my best debuffs. But as I said, there are very varying opinions.

In the shadows trees I got Heart Condition, Swift Strides, Strengthened Links, Quick Strike, Evasive Maneuvers (nice, hard hit), Shrieking, Selo's, Dextrous Sonata and then filled the last line except Demoralizing chorus (not everywhere full 5 points, though).

What concerns capping, what Uyaem said. Some key people (like the tank) have /tell macros for JCap requests and I have a button to cap the last reply target. The rest depends a bit on the fight. If AE blocks are an issue, the druids may get some love. When the tank's health spikes, the MT defiler and templar are good targets. If it's a normal tank-and-spank, dps-ers like rogues, sorcerors and predators are good cap targets.

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Werdar

Aye when I first started raiding I had to spend alot of time convincing them that BD is complete crap..however I do have it on a mirror, which I haven't used in forever btw...

Jcap, I usually hit the MT for when he asks, but save my general tank/spank rotation as Brig's first, then the highest ass we have, then adjust it after the first couple trash mobs to see who's really doing the best dps

Oyce

Good responces.

Blade dance in TSO is worthless. Still nice to have on Trak but for TSO I can't think of a named outside of Strange Stalker that it is even somewhat useful. My group normally has a Fury (yes we still use one), so BD spec for me is a very rare occurance.

JC order for me is my group, rarely do I JC outside of it. Mind you my group is the major DPS and we run with 2 and sometimes 3 Troubs so JC'n the "other" high DPS / brigs are usually covered without any issue. Have a useabilityonrt macro for those "tell" requests.

Some fights the healers are priority for JC to have cure curse etc up faster but only a couple. On those they use a "tell" macro to me and alas until they are JC imune my DPS targets wait.

You should keep BD spec on a mirror for when you have to run it and a typical raid spec for your normal setup.

As far as DPS goes its going to vary, factors include, raid DPS, gear, group make-up, group buffs, etc. Anyway a good rule of thumb is 4-6% of the raid DPS is what you should be obtaining. Less than 4% you need to look as to why, more will only make the raids job easier.

Have fun, a Troub is a fun class regardless of the hype. Busy busy busy.

O

pnktnkrfly

Unfortunetly J cap does not decrease the reuse for curse curing.

Sparks

The only thing that you should keep about Bladedance is a macro that says that you just cast it. Pretending to cast it is exactly as effective as actually casting it. There is nothing in the game that can't be Countersong'd more effectively.

Jseter's Cap has no effect on Curse Cure. Its recast is unmodifiable.

<edit>

/kick a rock for being slow!

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A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.

Koinoo

To add to this, nothing can affect Cure Curse currently.

Oyce

I stand corrected on cure curse . After speaking with the ole wife Templar she informed me those JC's were not for cure curse but DI's..... oh well. Back to mashing buttons.

Kicking rocks might hurt ones' toe.

O