Bard AE Kiting 101 Guide, EverQuest P99 Green

I apologize for the long video, please skip around if you want to get to the meat of the kiting. I tried to be as detailed as I could and provide examples from level 2, 30, and 60. Good luck out there!
00:00 Intro and level 2 kiting
20:29 Macros and Instrument Modifiers
25:44 Pulling
28:16 Level 30 Kiting
35:17 Instrument Swapping
44:06 Level 60 Kiting

[@ChefBrianCooks]

I always wanted to do this swarm kite. Then i watched this video. Now that desire is completely gone. It was like being on a constant merry go round.

[@scottromero2536]

FYI… just press enter button when you have your strafe run started. Don’t need to click out of window.

[@ChefBrianCooks]

if you want to mouse click everything sure....

[@silk2612]

You can do 2 songs in one macro doing /stopsong, /cast 1,/pause 25, /stopsong, /cast 2 . Etc picking which songs ya wanted. Just be warned if miss a note or get stunned, you'll miss whatever song it was on, so either have to start macro again, or skip song for that cycle, if the first song was missed it will still do the pause and start the second song if unstunned by then, can hit macro again or just cycle to next macro, your choice.

[@BonnieCaarol]

thanks so much for this.. I have watched it several times learning how to " bard".. My bard and I are still learning but this is a huge huge help

[@MotorSwapDan]

Learned so much!! Shift T wow that alone was worth the watch.

[@TheNitroG1]

I always liked charm kiting better. grab like a dozen mobs charm one for a tick and then break it, finish off that one, charm another. I used to farm the plane of nightmares for werewolves using this method. faster than dot kiting and you can keep it going perpetually with respawns.

[@truedox]

A good area I found for kiting is South Karana. The aviak village and infected paw mound has high concentrations of gnolls/aviaks so you can gather many quickly. If you are ambitious you can still run around the zone to add more stuff. They are few and far between but avoid aviak egrets and gnoll shamans. Not too many other threats to watch out for. Also don't add centaurs since they seem to all have bow attacks.

[@truedox]

Oh and level range that seems good is in the 20s, so it's a good precursor to DL.

[@honeybadgerempire3852]

Great video. I'm learning to bard kite on Blue. I'm not sure if I missed it. but I don't think you mentioned turning off auto loot so you don't loot mid swarm when mobs die.

[@lethandalsegno3072]

So I am unsure how, or if we can, turn off looting on Green. I do have the macros to "/hidecorpse all" and "/hidecorpse none" to reveal corpses when you are done, so that you don't loot by accident.

[@tunabros]

nice vid. i always wanted to play a bard

[@DoggosAndJiuJitsu]

Do you know if the process of a PB AoE (Chords, for example) being centered on the initial cast point is still correct? I have timed the cast point to land on the mobs without success, but if I cast and run the mobs in a tight circle so they don’t pass my cast point I can still land the PB AoE if I’m close enough to the mobs when the song completes its cast.

[@fhoofe3245]

so the instrument you're "holding" o your cursor is played, and doesn't need to be in Primary/Secondary weapon slots?

[@lethandalsegno3072]

The instrument is on your cursor so that you can equip it (swap it out quickly) with the instrument in your primary/secondary slot so it can be used. Be sure to equip the correct instrument with the correct song when twisting them.

[@boffmoffet2826]

Man I love an EQ videos popping up in my feed, but this one made me remember how much I hated every AOE bard taking up every mob in the zone while taking 20 minutes to kill them so nothing respawns. Love the class design, hated players who did that.

[@rawwhide]

Sorry you hated me. I had a blast. I tried picking zones to farm with no one in them like the grey.

[@ajmann1187]

I used to do this back around PoP expansion and seemed like I used cheep SoW pots and would just run straight and cast when I made a turn. The mobs gain ground and would come close enough to get hit depending on how much I turned. Turn a lot they come too close an I'd get hit, turn too little and they don't get hit. There was a fine line because SOE had lowered the AoE radius because people were soloing like this. It was still doable though the timing had to be a little more precise.

[@Holyhandz]

Hey Lethan, I had an itch for Eq again and broke down to make a new toon on green. Went back to my first love the bard. I have a question about your video settings/resolution. So far Lvl 2-5 I’ve been using audio cues for distance as for some reason I can’t get the mobs to peep the bottom corner without already starting to wail on me. I’m all the way zoomed out and to my knowledge in classic you can’t adjust the camera render distance like later expansions (at least from first person zoomed out). Are you on a discord or somewhere I could pick your brains to get setup properly? Great videos, keep it up. And curse you for dragging me back with your elegant Bardliness ❤

[@lethandalsegno3072]

Greeting, my screen resolution is 1920x1080. I don't know if other resolutions cause these issues, I'll have to mess with that. My discord name is Lethan as well. It could be your camera angle as well (maybe needs to be higher). But we can get to the bottom of it!

[@johnfoley2452]

My chase cam seems to go up and down as I hold right click to turn. Any tips? For example, if I rt click, turn, and inadvertently move the mouse up or down, the camera moves up and down. Not a deal breaker, but it throws the distance perception off.

[@lethandalsegno3072]

This still happens to me, as I am constantly adjusting my camera position, even if it looks like I'm not. I think after time I've been able to relax my hand more to make it smoother, as well as my arm position so I'm not as "tight" to my body.

[@Snoozler]

Trying to learn how to aoe kite.. am currently lvl 7 so I guess it's a little trickier cause of the low range on dmg song.. but trying to get the hang of it. I feel like its easier without the selo's speed on? (not because twisting is an issue, just that it seems easier to keep the mobs in range) -- i s that normal? and If kiting is do-able without selos though, why use it at all - even later on?

[@lethandalsegno3072]

Yes, strafing is just fine. I use Selo's because it keeps me in a smaller area. I learned all this while using SoW in an indoor zone were it was required because I couldn't out strafe the mobs, otherwise you can use that method all the way up.

[@junsul88]

That's incredible, could you show progression level 8 unrest, LOIO, and dreadlands. How quick can you get a bard to 60?

[@lethandalsegno3072]

I sure will. I just made another bard that is already level 8 and I will get those videos showing the progression as soon as I can, and when the zones are clear of groups!

[@Dogslax3333]

I love this game. It pretty cool. Subscribed

[@michaelsilverstein2426]

Hey, I have a problem with running out of room to move my mouse with my hand. How do you keep it going with out having to re-adjust off your mousepad or running out of desk.

[@lethandalsegno3072]

So a few things can affect this, first is your Mouse Look sensitivity in the option, i recommend putting that at 100% first, then after that I would adjust your actual mouse speed. By in creasing your mouse speed, you decrease the room you need to drag your mouse, but also be aware you can turn much sharper and could also assist in you getting killed, so definitely test that out before going after large packs. Last, I literally have a massive mouse pad. While I don't use the whole thing, it lets me drag for a much longer time at my normal mouse speed (not saying to buy one, but it does help).

[@michaelsilverstein2426]

@@lethandalsegno3072 awesome, I'll give that a try! Saw ya at yesterday statue race. 😂

[@ShAdOwKiLLeR7241]

Instead of turning the camera with the mouse, wouldn't it be better to turn it with the arrow keys? I'm watching your video (I haven't finished yet), and I noticed that it seems better to turn the camera with the arrow keys... This way you also don't run the risk of unintentional lotting...

[@MastiffDane1]

When did people figure out this whole swarm kiting method? I played a bard back around kunark and some velious days and I never saw or heard of this haha. Oddly enough, i remember doing a very basic style of this just accidentally in lake of ill omen when i would get aggro on something when i wasnt ready to fight so i would just outrun them and dot until they died. But i only ever did 1-2 mobs at a time, i never made the logical connection that could scale it up lol.

[@MastiffDane1]

A side note, I remember back when velious came out we read about the phase spider carapace and where to get it. So two buddies of mine and me (2 rangers and a paladin all around lvl 40-45) went and did our "own version" of this where I would run around casting snare over and over on one of those phase spiders while they just ran behind it hitting it until we killed it. Took forever but it worked and we got a couple of the carapaces for our rangers.

[@lethandalsegno3072]

As far as I know it happened on live but was nerfed quickly after, maybe during the Pop era? It was mainly done on the P99 servers only, when you could swarm the entire zone with no mob hit limit. So if you pulled 100 mobs, you could hit all of them with songs, not just limited to 25 or whatever. And not all P99 servers allow it either.

[@casrogue]

Much respect for bards on p99 lol to much clicking on keys ...I just love the root rotting method lol ..slow and steady ..

[@10mmRebel]

Make a hotkey for /hidecorpse all and it will stop the looting. I had to learn that the hard way lol

[@daveg2916]

Awesome video and love the detailed how to info. One problem I'm having is when I click off the window to desktop to lock the strafe in....everything works until I click back into hand to click turn. As soon as I click back in my toon immediately stops moving and stands still. Any ideas ?

[@lethandalsegno3072]

I am honestly unsure about this problem. I know that if you "move" your game screen while doing this, you will actually stand still, but this seems like a different situation. I'm trying to recreate other odd clicks and stuff to see if I can match it.

[@lethandalsegno3072]

Ok, I cant figure out why that is stopping you, but another method to lock in strafe is is to first use your mouse to run forward (hold right click, then left click to run forward) . Then, while holding that, use your other hand to press and hold your forward arrow key and then the left or right arrow key that you want to strafe (left or right, opposite your kiting direction). Then press your enter key while holding all of that and then release those keys and mouse and that should also put you into the auto run/strafe.

[@daveg2916]

Thank you so much for taking the time to help ! The second method worked it's a little hard but it worked ! Keep making the great videos man

[@MB-dl5lx]

Strafe in whichever direction your toilet water flushes

[@Juntahh]

How do you get an apostrophe in your last name?

[@lethandalsegno3072]

You have to submit the name you want in a /petition. The GMs will approve or deny it and meet you in game to change it for you.

[@Juntahh]

@@lethandalsegno3072 o ok 😎

[@Juntahh]

@@lethandalsegno3072 nice a GM came and changed it for me :)

[@zesaraiz1]

Great video May I ask how you have your xp percent into level on your screen

[@lethandalsegno3072]

That piece I got from here www.eqinterface.com/downloads/fileinfo.php?id=1536. Replace that in your Velious UI file and you should be good!

[@zesaraiz1]

@@lethandalsegno3072 thanks, I hate trying to figure out how far into a level I am. Sadly bard is only 32, I swarm but I also die a lot. Tried fv and the stupid frogs kept eating me. So I’m in ot atm

[@lethandalsegno3072]

@@zesaraiz1 no problem, also save a copy of the original ui file, or just make a complete copy of the Velious folder incase you crash and can't get back into the game. UI stuff can be weird sometimes.

[@BaneofSociety]

What UI do you use?

[@chrisnelson2710]

If I see humanoid on my screen at all, I'm getting hit. Drovlarg(bigger model) or L1 skellie/orc in newb area to practice on... doesnt matter. I imagine they have similar hit boxes, they seem the same speed. Frustrating to watch your vids and see mobs in the corner of a lot of them. That'd be much easier to do I'm thinking. If I keep mobs off screen, keep particles @ med setting I can try to go off the particles showing up in the corner just ahead of the mobs. BW pulling is a pita, would like to get this down better to try CoM like you made a vid for. Cool vids though, thanks for sharing.

[@lethandalsegno3072]

I'm interested to know your screen resolution? I can do some testing to see if there are differences, I always assumed the scaling sizes should be the same.

[@chrisnelson2710]

@@lethandalsegno3072 2560 x 1440. what resolution/refresh are you running? i was looking at a video i took of me and comparing to yours and i was wondering if ther resolutions were the same and if that could make a differencce or not. i noticed your pings were in the 50's, mine are usually 115-120ms. I ordered a patch cable today after wifi nic driver and router firmware update didnt change that. my router has a ping test, speedtest or ookla looks like, i got 13ms to whatever test servers that goes to.

[@chrisnelson2710]

@@lethandalsegno3072 If you got a min, I put up a quick crappy vid. Few circles, I'm pretty squirrely and I was trying to spiral in faster than usual to make the vid short. I get a decent turn / DoT hit around 1min 58sec. Around 2min 17sec in I turn in too quick trying to "catch it quick". Mob is about level on the screen with me, results in a whack from the mob. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hau1mKGriN6ghs0 Comparing that to one of yours, where youre catching it quick 37min 57sec in this vid. mobs are about level with Mctwisty too? kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJ_UZ52IZpyifrs

[@lethandalsegno3072]

@@chrisnelson2710 So, everything looks correct visually. I think its a matter of having a smoother mouse pull, and needing to be a little bit fast pull initially to get the mob closer. If the mobs entire model is in the screen like that, I am definitely getting hit, which it just looks like too hard of a cut. Another option could be to increase your look sensitivity while decrease your actual mouse speed slightly. If you have discord we can set a time to stream and see what's going on.

[@chrisnelson2710]

@@lethandalsegno3072 Yeah let me know! Usually on M-F after work PST. Often on semi-afk during the days too.

[@Jangocat]

Bard was my main in 99, watching this it seems over complicated. There is no need to strafe at all, selo's is plenty fast on it's own. There is also no need for third person, in fact it's easier to drive in first person. All you need is the switchable instruments. Also selo's lasts more then one tick, you can fit at least 2 songs in between selo's.

[@Jesterian]

He's level 2, how would he run selos?

[@greaterfaydark9428]

Teaching your fellow players on how to be a dick in video games. If you were a player at level 2 or 3 in the Freeport newbie area you would most likely have to go elsewhere because this guy took all the mobs. Just because your character can do a thing that doesn't mean you should.

[@MrFrequency4twenty]

Um ...and ahh ..um..... nm ty

[@MrFrequency4twenty]

52 min of video for basic game commands?. Even for a newbie this is excessive. Just look how easy the developer made Gloomingdeep for it's intro audience still ..I'm pretty sure this video was drawn out and now on into this kiting bit ... look around and drop a set of spells that must include snare or /melody on a auto playlist of your choosing then haul ass in circles.. and don't do this with summoning mobs and make sure you have your r2 spells when possible. The end. May the force be with you.

[@0to100_RealQuick]

what fun.... lol

[@keith_dixon]

That's not fucking classic at all. You could not do this on the real game in classic.

[@lethandalsegno3072]

I would argue that you definitely could. Not only that, you could kite entire zones and hit them simultaneously with your dots. I believe it did not become widely known until the Kunark era, and is why it is heavily nerfed on live today. Also the restrictions on P99 when we are limited to 4 mobs in classic, and now 25 mobs beyond kunark for this reason.

[@keith_dixon]

@@lethandalsegno3072 Amazing considering there was no EQ cam in classic.

[@lethandalsegno3072]

@@keith_dixon What's even more amazing is how they used the reverse character cam when you opened your inventory to judge mob distance. I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I think you hit the nail on the head, which is probably the very reason it wasn't known until Kunark (or whenever they introduced that cam).

[@keith_dixon]

@@lethandalsegno3072 EQ Cam went in waaaay after Kunark and Velious. It was quite a while after Planes of Power even. So like I said, this wasn't possible in classic Everquest. It would not have been possible until years after Velious. Also on real Sony servers, one or two mobs would warp if they were in a pile like that for this amount of time at that range. Also in the classic UI there was no way to auto strafe. This behavior is strictly an emulation thing, and a product of emulators superior pathing and much newer UI that isn't classic. This should not be compared to what it was like playing the real game.

[@rdizzy1]

@@keith_dixon I know bards that used to swarm kite in first person the entire time back in 99, same with druids swarm kiting, it was a thing, just not with 25 mobs. Right around the time that kunark came out, either before or after (I played from 99-02).