Is it worth starting a Minstrel these days?

[Wof]

I used to play a minstrel back in the good old, bad old days, before the Minnie was revamped and when we still had Ballads that actually did things rather than just be building blocks for other skills. I have been thinking about giving the Minnie another try and starting a new one, but am rather put off by the fact that I never see any minstrels around anymore. Not only that, but when I asked my Kin about them, no-one could help me with advice as there is not a single Minstrel in the Kin, but there are over 50 Rune Keepers. So what gives? Are Minstrels not worth playing anymore, are they not able to compete or something?

[Galadhloth]

I, for one, love my Mini (currently level 59 and leveling fast). She is extremely versatile, survivable, and can storm through pretty much any content. She has really good DPS when running in War-speech (rivaling my Hunter main) and can heal very nicely in either Harmony or Melody stance depending on the needs of the group. I may well end up playing her more often than my hunter once I get her to cap, she's such a blast to play.

Oh - and ballads do actually have effects other than setting up other skills. Minor ballads have some damage and damage buffs, Perfect ballads buff power costs (and a bit of tactical skills), and Major ballads buff healing. So ideally you match your ballads with your stance and what you're trying to accomplish.

[Cloudie-wan]

Minstrels are an awesome class, but Rune-keepers are much more versatile. This means that while Minstrels are pigeon-holed into one class role (healer) for almost all content by the majority of the playerbase, Rune-keepers can fulfill two class roles (healer, damage-dealer) in ALL content. They are not preferred over Minstrels as healers, but since they do have the two defined roles, they can do more. At endgame, RKs also have a much easier time of perfecting their Legendary Items to fit their two roles due to the Major/Minor distribution of their legacies, which is another small factor in why some people enjoy them more.

All that said, though, if you want to play a Minstrel, do so. It's a great class, especially while solo early in the game (damage doesn't scale well proportionally as you get higher level, but you can still easily do everything). Minstrel also fulfills a class role that is essential to most group content, so you'll usually be able to find a group.

[Galadhloth]

Very true - when you group up as a Minstrel, you'll pretty much be expected to heal 95% of the time. If you like to group, and don't like to heal, then being a Mini is not a good idea.

That being said, occasionally you'll get to switch it up. I was in the unusual position the other day of being in a Skumfil group with 3 healers (2 minis and an RK) and was asked to DPS instead. It was great fun going full AOE warspeech and just blasting away at all those spiders and gredbyg.

[00CloughRN]

I used to play a minstrel back in the good old, bad old days, before the Minnie was revamped and when we still had Ballads that actually did things rather than just be building blocks for other skills. I have been thinking about giving the Minnie another try and starting a new one, but am rather put off by the fact that I never see any minstrels around anymore. Not only that, but when I asked my Kin about them, no-one could help me with advice as there is not a single Minstrel in the Kin, but there are over 50 Rune Keepers. So what gives? Are Minstrels not worth playing anymore, are they not able to compete or something?

I've no idea why you've observed such a big lack of a Minstrel presence. In my opinion the Minstrel is in a very good place. In a raiding situation there is certainly no consensus that the Minstrel is a lacklustre healer compared to the Runekeeper, I've found the two main healing classes to be pretty well balanced against each other, while maintaining their identity. Certainly both Healing classes are being used by progression raid kins.

In group content I find the Minstrel to be the much stronger healer given the relatively low bar that healing requires, the minstrel has strong group buffs and some nice DPS options to fill in the time when not healing whereas the RK locks out most of their offensive abilities.

Solo I much prefer the Minstrel, they have some excellent burst damage for taking down landscape mobs, as opposed to the RK where I find it a pain building up attunement, particularly when mobs are widely spaced. In mounted combat I also much prefer the Minstrel who can generate some big AOE hits.

RK's will always outnumber Minstrels as DPS classes have always been more popular. However if you do what to play exclusivly as a healer, we are a perfectly viable choice. As for advice, the forums are generally happy to help you, or at least throw many words at you.

[xmorzan]

Minstrels are in terrific shape right now. It seems right now that some well-played RK's will put out more heals due to the nature of how the class is played, but there's no content that a Mini can't heal either. I prefer the mini because of the versatility that comes with it. With easier content you can trait 4 yellows and keep 4-5 anthems up. You can give out other fellowship buffs from skills like song of aid to call to greatness. We're one of the best classes to remove corruptions with as well. We can do a lot more than heal when healing. Plus, you can always use your 2nd or 3rd best attack skill regardless of stance (auto attack ^^)

So in my opinion there's no disparity between the two classes as far as performing a healing role.

[Frisco]

Minstrels are great for healing, and Ballads still do stuff, just different stuff. All the things that ballads used to do are done with anthems. If you enjoy that aspect, you can complete any content as a yellow-traited (buff focused) Minstrel with no real healing drop-off in almost any situation.

RKs are popular mostly for DPS. For the 50 RKs you see, 40 of them don't enjoy healing. While RK healing is fun, it's a challenge, and you have to put forth twice the concentration for equivalent heals.

[Frieja]

We don't have a lot of minstrels in my kinship either. Just me and maybe 1 or 2 others, but we have a ton of Rune-keepers. The minstrel is still fun to play, but you get a lot more "bang-for-your-buck" with an RK. The RK levels faster (higher DPS), and is twice as useful (main DPS or main heals).

I don't enjoy healing on an RK though, which is why my Minstrel is still my main, but you can see the appeal of the RK over the Minstrel for most people.

I will say that the devs have given the Minstrel a lot better functionality for small groups with the new build focused on Anthems. I love the buffing focus while still having the ability to heal AND do respectable AOE damage. We used to be pure healer or pure DPS, so it's nice to have the hybrid buffing build.

[Daec]

I used to play a minstrel back in the good old, bad old days, before the Minnie was revamped and when we still had Ballads that actually did things rather than just be building blocks for other skills. I have been thinking about giving the Minnie another try and starting a new one, but am rather put off by the fact that I never see any minstrels around anymore. Not only that, but when I asked my Kin about them, no-one could help me with advice as there is not a single Minstrel in the Kin, but there are over 50 Rune Keepers. So what gives? Are Minstrels not worth playing anymore, are they not able to compete or something?

You information seems to be either a little off or a little misleading. While ballads do build up to the coda they also have their uses as well, providing bonuses to your healing, your damage, and reducing the costs of your skills.

Well played minstrels can provide a lot to a group, in harmony they can provide a pretty nice buffs and some extra dps and decent healing.

In their healing stance (no stance) the healing is unparrelled, enough said.

Warspeech i consider a solo role and doesn't fit into groups imo, but i will say if you have a good WS mini they can put out some nice damage and will be able to fill that roll in a group setting if a champ, hunter, or rk isn't avaliable.

[LoyKashka]

Minstrels are in my opinion one of the strongest classes right now. They're dedicated healers, but they've got much more flexibility in that role than any other class.

[Elpinto22]

Minstrels are an awesome class, but Rune-keepers are much more versatile. This means that while Minstrels are pigeon-holed into one class role (healer) for almost all content by the majority of the playerbase, Rune-keepers can fulfill two class roles (healer, damage-dealer) in ALL content. They are not preferred over Minstrels as healers, but since they do have the two defined roles, they can do more. At endgame, RKs also have a much easier time of perfecting their Legendary Items to fit their two roles due to the Major/Minor distribution of their legacies, which is another small factor in why some people enjoy them more.

All that said, though, if you want to play a Minstrel, do so. It's a great class, especially while solo early in the game (damage doesn't scale well proportionally as you get higher level, but you can still easily do everything). Minstrel also fulfills a class role that is essential to most group content, so you'll usually be able to find a group.

Dude, what are you smokin?!! Rune Keepers are much more versatile? Mini's are pigeon-holed to one role?????

Tell that to my DPS traited Warspeach Mini, lol....

[xmorzan]