Warlock or Bard (for newer player)

jr9008

Just hit 20 on my paladin, now I want an alt. I am torn between a Lock or Bard. I want a healer/dps which both are but I have no clue on how to play either. A better question is: which is more fun for a beginner? Either one is an option for me, feedback is needed!

reg1981

My main is a Warlock, at 58k he does well and is setup for DPS and heals. I've recently leveled a Bard and found it very fun to play and not super hard to level. I've also started another Warlock over the past few weeks and as a starting character, it is NOT fun! I love my end game Warlock, but would not want to be starting out as SW at the moment. I made it to level 4 before stopping this new toon, it wasn't worth the effort considering I can play a different class with half the effort and twice the fun.

jr9008

ty for the reply! I guess a Bard might be my best bet anyway, after all they wear light/leather armor right? Plus they are newish. I do want to try a Lock at some point

pitmonster

I main a pally and I would not recommend a pally but that's because I main a pally.

You get two character slots, try all the classes, go all the way up to 20 to get to know all their powers, and try different loadouts on the classes. You can create more then one account if you want to keep them after leveling them or just buy slots.

jr9008

pitmonster#5684 said:

I main a pally and I would not recommend a pally but that's because I main a pally.

You get two character slots, try all the classes, go all the way up to 20 to get to know all their powers, and try different loadouts on the classes. You can create more then one account if you want to keep them after leveling them or just buy slots.

after further reading i found out rangers CAN melee, which makes me think of vanilla WoW, so I'm totally gonna go that route first....we shall see..

as for paladins...i wish they had a true dps spec...but you can atleast build hybrids in this game

plasticbat

jr9008#1208 said:

pitmonster#5684 said:

I main a pally and I would not recommend a pally but that's because I main a pally.

You get two character slots, try all the classes, go all the way up to 20 to get to know all their powers, and try different loadouts on the classes. You can create more then one account if you want to keep them after leveling them or just buy slots.

after further reading i found out rangers CAN melee, which makes me think of vanilla WoW, so I'm totally gonna go that route first....we shall see..

as for paladins...i wish they had a true dps spec...but you can atleast build hybrids in this game

I thought you want healer/dps. Ranger can't do heal.

cren

I run a cleric but full split loadout & that cost alot but is a great healer & i pretty good DPS imo & yes i focus more on the healer loadout

jr9008

plasticbat said:

jr9008#1208 said:

pitmonster#5684 said:

I main a pally and I would not recommend a pally but that's because I main a pally.

You get two character slots, try all the classes, go all the way up to 20 to get to know all their powers, and try different loadouts on the classes. You can create more then one account if you want to keep them after leveling them or just buy slots.

after further reading i found out rangers CAN melee, which makes me think of vanilla WoW, so I'm totally gonna go that route first....we shall see..

as for paladins...i wish they had a true dps spec...but you can atleast build hybrids in this game

I thought you want healer/dps. Ranger can't do heal.

you are right, kidna forgot lol...very much a noob to these classes in Neverwinter haha

blargskull

Warlock or bard?? I have a new bard myself. In the past, I played as a former Luskan gang member, Thayan Red wizard wielding his magic scythe, and most recently an undead king returned to claim more lands. I think by warlock, you probably mean my cursed adventurer, who made a poor deal with a demon, and now suffers in vocal torment for all eternity? Well I haven't played his story out to its fullest yet. Due to his curse all Velkar Doombringer can say, is broken up by the word batiri all the time. He is very difficult to understand.

Currently I am working with my Bard. I guess, if you like being followed around by a completely worthless black spirit all the time, you could play a warlock.

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onodrain

Why do you want a healer/DPS class?

But out of the two, I would recommend the Warlock. I main a bard now. But Warlock is lots of fun to play as DPS and they are ok healers. I recently levelled one which has minimum ilevel and it was very fun. Not sure why the lock above did not like it. Maybe they are not specced properly. I also have a Warlock that is medium tier, which is lots of fun to play. It shreds things easily. Getting the spec right is important, as it is with any class. I play them all.

reg1981

redhawk321#6379 said:

Bard gameplay is utterly annoying and basically forces you to cheat by keybinding the stupid songs.
Warlock DPS is fun, healing is weird though.

Bard is still clunky to play, yes. But how does it force you to use binds? I don't use them for dps or heal path. Songs are easy to learn and I play them with my numpad, not the top of my keyboard. I've ran most dungeons using both roles with the exception of VOS.

onodrain said:

Why do you want a healer/DPS class?

But out of the two, I would recommend the Warlock. I main a bard now. But Warlock is lots of fun to play as DPS and they are ok healers. I recently levelled one which has minimum ilevel and it was very fun. Not sure why the lock above did not like it. Maybe they are not specced properly. I also have a Warlock that is medium tier, which is lots of fun to play. It shreds things easily. Getting the spec right is important, as it is with any class. I play them all.

When the SW is leveled up, def great to play. One of the best IMO. It was the lower content I didn't enjoy. There is nothing to spec at this level. Keep in mind all at-wills, encouters, class feats, dailies, and feats are all unlocked 1 by 1. It very well could be the fact that I main a well built 58.5k Warlock and starting this class from level 1 just wasn't for me.

tchefi

redhawk321#6379 said:

Bard gameplay is utterly annoying and basically forces you to cheat by keybinding the stupid songs.
Warlock DPS is fun, healing is weird though.

I second @reg1981 .
The musics are short and easy to learn, and with some few weeks practicing the bard, i can now play them with the eyes closed. It takes me between 1 to 1,5 sec to play one, and though mistyping a note and have to redo still happens time to time (and i immediately know by ear i have made a mistake), it has became rarer and rarer.
I also use the numpad to play the battle musics with my left hand, so I can move around and avoid AoEs with the autorun on + the mouse on right hand (I have also switched the autorun from the default key to one of my mouse thumb button).


@jr9008 All in all, i like the dps style of the bard and find it relatively fluid to the point i'm gradually droping my precedent main class (since 5 years, a rogue). I won't top the paingiver weenie-meter and won't hit as hard with my bard compared to my rogue, but bard is more fun to play in my opinion.
The bard's healing paragon still feels clunky, but maybe that's because i didn't figured out a build i'm satisfied to play with yet. It also seems to me significantly weaker than the other healing classes.
And you can play music in free perfoming :P that's the very best part

Warlock is a very solid choice for dps, and quite dynamic to play. I don't like its healing gameplay, but that's a personnal opinion and the one I have is not very well geared, so... All the efficient warlock-healers i played with perform well in any kind of situation.

greywynd

blargskull said:

Warlock or bard?? I have a new bard myself. In the past, I played as a former Luskan gang member, Thayan Red wizard wielding his magic scythe, and most recently an undead king returned to claim more lands. I think by warlock, you probably mean my cursed adventurer, who made a poor deal with a demon, and now suffers in vocal torment for all eternity? Well I haven't played his story out to its fullest yet. Due to his curse all Velkar Doombringer can say, is broken up by the word batiri all the time. He is very difficult to understand.

Currently I am working with my Bard. I guess, if you like being followed around by a completely worthless black spirit all the time, you could play a warlock.

Warbard? Bardlock?

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blargskull

greywynd said:

blargskull said:

Warlock or bard?? I have a new bard myself. In the past, I played as a former Luskan gang member, Thayan Red wizard wielding his magic scythe, and most recently an undead king returned to claim more lands. I think by warlock, you probably mean my cursed adventurer, who made a poor deal with a demon, and now suffers in vocal torment for all eternity? Well I haven't played his story out to its fullest yet. Due to his curse all Velkar Doombringer can say, is broken up by the word batiri all the time. He is very difficult to understand.

Currently I am working with my Bard. I guess, if you like being followed around by a completely worthless black spirit all the time, you could play a warlock.

Warbard? Bardlock?

It would be awesome if we could duel class in this game. Combos like rogue fighter, barbarian wizard, and whatnot would give us more than 9 to choose from. I think it would give us 72 correct?

Well I am getting back to my home project, I am going to splice the DNA of a bat, lizard, and a firefly to make miniature fire breathing dragons. What could possibly go wrong with tiny flying reptiles, that can breath fire, and want to roost in your attic... of your wooden house.

divectore

Theres also the cleric, it can dps very well, and it is the best healer. Warlock is the best single target dps and it's an ok healer, bard is a bad healer and dps can be either very good or very bad, it depends on the bugs you use.

shugensha

Kinda late but i will try to give my pov since i played warlock for years and now im maining a bard. Both classes (as healers) need a good team to shine.
Locks can heal and support the whole team with ease. The problem they have it's that it's better heal it's static. But once you learn the dungs mechanics and find your rotation, you will rarely see you team with less than 90% hp and your soulweave less than 80%-90%.
Bards focus more on COMPLEMENTING the party with buffs and heal only when needed. But since most players are used to the other healers, they think bards heals suck.
With a bard healer you can make your dps hit harder and your tank live more. And in a trial it can even make the other healer heal more. And if they know how to play, you can maintain this for a long time without losing much performance. But it has 3 big problems rn:
1) AP gain on single target is HAMSTER. Even with heals it's hard and slow to gain.
2) Tab is way more bugged than other healers. A big problem since you need to tab to use your powers.
3) It doesn't regen performance (divinity/soulweave) as fast as the others. It have a power and feat that helps you, but the passive regen it's almost non existant.

Overall, i would say the easiest of them it would be warlock and bard the hardest. Both can be adapted to any content/team but at the same time they have a harder learning curve than the other two healers that just base on brute heals or shields.

If you like challenges go warlock, if you like hard challenges go bard. You will have a blast with any of them.