HOWTO: Twist Bard Songs
Introduction
Twisting is the practice of weaving two or more songs at the same time by skilled bards, stacking refers to having two or more song/spell effects in place on a target. The ability is highly dependant on prevalent network conditions, however it is generally possible to maintain three songs at any given time and some exceptionally intuitive (more on this later) individuals have been known to twist four songs at once albeit briefly.
At the heart of twisting is accepting the fact that, individually, most bard songs are only good. Yet stacking three good songs together often yields great results. Bards are, as has been mentioned before, not jacks of all trades; this is a misnomer and a discredit to their potential - bards are the masters of adaptation. Given our eight song slots we are fully capable of being party buffers, nukers, crowd controllers and designated punching bags without once sitting down to change our repertoire. Any bard reading this will appreciate the last reference, a skilled bard twisting will very quickly work his way to the top of any mob's dance card.
NB to all:
- Watch your bard as if she was a caster - though wearing plate, defensive skills are sorely lacking and a stunned bard is also a silent bard.
- Hymn of Restoration is equivalent to regeneration. If the hand icon is in place, so is the regeneration effect.
- Jaxam's Jig o' Vigor does not increase mana regeneration. This is a client side refresh issue and has been confirmed by Verant.
In closing, I have taken the time to explain the mechanics as follows many times to fellow bards in game, always to their amusement, wonder and joy, and so I hope the same will continue as you explore twisting - the impact is both immediate and dramatic to you and your party's ultimate fun and success.
Preparation
1. Memorize 3 songs.
For the purpose of demonstration and learning, we will use Chant of Battle, Jaxam's Jig o' Vigor and Hymn of Restoration
as all three stack and are visible to the apprentice bard in his spell icon list at the upper right hand corner of the screen. Chant looks like a flexed bicep curl (positive buff icon), Jig appears as a boot (normal motion icon) and Hymn is a hand (healing icon).
Chant of Battle
Jaxam's Jig o' Vigor
Hymn of Restoration
2. Hotkey the songs in adjacently bound key slots.
In "normal" view, simply left click and hold down on the appropriate song in the song memorization spot until you get the icon placed on your pointer. In the designated hotkey slot left click to position the song. Again, for our purposes we will position Chant in slot 3, Jig in 4 and Hymn in 5.
- Setup for Twisting
Implementation
3. Start song 1.
Tap the hot key for slot 3 (default: keyboard 3). If you miss a note, tap until you get it started.
4. Wait for the song to take effect.
You'll see the message
and the buff icon appear in your spell/song icon list.
5. Stop song 1 and start song 2.
Double tap the hot key for slot 4 (default: keyboard 4), once to stop the current song and once to start the next song. Again, if you miss a note, tap until you get it started.
6. Wait for the song to take effect.
You'll see the message,
and the boot icon appear in your spell/song icon list.
Note that both songs are in effect.
7. Stop song 2 and start song 3.
Double tap the hot key for slot 5 (default: keyboard 5), once to stop the current song and once to start the last song in our series. Same deal if you miss a note, just tap until you get it started.
8. Wait for the song to take effect.
You'll see the message,
and the hand icon appear in your spell/song icon list.
You now have 3 songs in effect at once!
9. Stop song 3 and start song 1.
Double tap the hot key for slot 3. If you miss a note blah blah blah.
10. Rinse and repeat.
Congratulations! You've just learned the basics of twisting.
To keep all 3 songs up at once just repeat the above.
Devastation
Practice, practice, practice!
Once you've got the hang of it, you'll be able to sense when the song is about to kick in and your timing will improve (fewer "You haven't recovered" messages). Twisting is generally only possible with under good network conditions, low packet loss and sub 700 ms ping times, due to the short persistence of our song effect (about 4 ticks). Some individuals are able to intuitively twist, and given little network latency can stop and start songs before actually receiving the confirmation message and icon from the server. In this manner potentially 4 songs maybe twisted together, however even masters of this technique will admit that success ratios are closer to 50% for all 4 simultaneously in effect - i.e., this is not a sustainable/viable technique.
The applications of twisting are as varied as the bard, however a few starting (under level 20) suggestions are
Party
Solo
Crowd Control
Offensive
Defense
NB: With the exception of Party Vs Solo, these use just 8 songs!
Advanced Twisting
Use of Instruments
Coming soon...