[Armando]

I think that if you have to choose you should get the Nereid rings and sell the earring. They are very good rings even at 75.

About the Loq. earring, the fast cast is minimal but can be useful for merit parties, you can macro the earring for buffs and such if you only have CHR earring, if you have +skill earring it depends if you have enough skill to cap your buffs.

If you don't do many HNMs with BRD I guess Loq is a good piece of gear to wear since normal mobs are easy to debuff, but if you do events and HNM as BRD then wearing a +skill earring would be better since those don't need fast cast.

The BEST thing I can tell you is don't make the same mistake I did choosing the ATK/ACC ring from ToAU, get the MACC one... I hope SE makes that quest repeteable. The other nereid ring can be changed for an omega ring.

[Saxonian]

don't make the same mistake I did choosing the ATK/ACC ring from ToAU, get the MACC one...

Fuck you for reminding me

[pathwriter]

Funny, I got Balrahn's Ring and am constantly thinking "I should have gotten Ulthalam's." I play my Bard all the time, to be sure, but the Magic Accuracy isn't a big deal and the Refresh in Assault/Salvage areas is contingent on HAVING my rings equipped and, even then, is not particularly necessary (especially since I have Storm Fife).

[Saxonian]

Funny, I got Balrahn's Ring and am constantly thinking "I should have gotten Ulthalam's." I play my Bard all the time, to be sure, but the Magic Accuracy isn't a big deal and the Refresh in Assault/Salvage areas is contingent on HAVING my rings equipped and, even then, is not particularly necessary (especially since I have Storm Fife).

Ult is nowhere near as useful as Balrahn's. Outside of Salvage/Assault/Nyzul, you might as well use a Woodsman/Blood/Snipers for 1 extra acc, or even Snipers+1/Toreadors for 3 extra at the expense of 4atk (worth it imo), whereas 4macc is unbeatable for things like Dark Magic/Bard Songs/Non MND based enfeebles, inside Salvage/Assault/Nyzul, Ult is a good ring, but honestly, if you have a mage job lvled or Pld then that 1mp/tick is going to be more beneficial than a bit of regen & a couple of STR/DEX. Might not be so noticable for Brd, but jobs such as Blm,Pld,Rdm,Whm,Sch that refresh will help you do a lot more than just idling in whatever else you're going to idle in.

[pathwriter]

I just wonder if you've actually done Salvage. In Bhaflau, I can usually count on getting a Virga Cell sooner or later, but I also rarely need MP in Bhaflau. In other remnants, though, I can easily go weeks before I get a Virga Cell because those slots are more important to our tanks and main healers (who need the MP far more than I do). And, again, I have a Storm Fife. Storm Fife plus Sanction plus a Refresh body piece (Vermillion Cloak, Ixion Cloak, Marduk's Jubbah, Dalmatica, or even Gaudy Harness) will restore MP almost faster than you can reasonably use it in between casting songs. If you have a Red Mage giving you Refresh, that extra tick from Balrahn's Ring would be overkill for a Bard.

As for the claim that 4 Magic Accuracy outside of Salvage is indispensable for Bard songs, color me dubious. If we assume that Bard songs operate in roughly the same way as other magic regarding hit rates, a Heaven's Ring or Nereid Ring are negligibly different from Balrahn's Ring unless you gear is truly awful.

Bear in mind, my 75 jobs are Monk and Bard. My White Mage just hit 71, so that Refresh is becoming a lot more relevant, but since I own Gjallarhorn -1 and Black Belt, I'm still more likely to be called upon to play Bard or Monk in Salvage. Just like 1 tick of Refresh isn't all that impressive on its own, the 1 tick of Regen from Ulthalam's Ring when combined with other sources (Sanction, Melee Cyclas, Orochi Nodowa, Sol Cap, Regen spell) starts to matter more.

I'm not seriously concerned about my ring choice. I have two Sniper's Rings. My irritation is largely with the -DEF on Sniper's Ring when I'm out soloing or tanking things where I don't feel comfortable using Jelly Ring (or where it is meaningless because I'm keeping shadows up). It's not a big deal, just something that annoys me. If I could get people together to kill Chigre, I'd love a Blood Ring (and a few other things along the Tyger path, actually), but my linkshells are all event groups.

[nefarious.lover]

My question is always about if I can get this stat on this slot anywhere else, in double for rings/earrings; and in what quantity.


I just feel like the difference 4macc will make for my BRD is huge compared to what some atk would do for my WAR and THF.

[pathwriter]

Or you could just get Omega Ring. I know you'll say "But Omega Ring + Balrahn's Ring!" It's overkill. It really is. Once you've played Bard more, you'll see it. I am oversimplifying, but songs either land or they don't. Some things you're just not going to get Elegy on without Elemental Seal or the Devil's own luck. You can't rely on the latter, but it does happen. I got Elegy onto Kirin a few weeks ago while kiting the bastard, but I can't do that reliably.

Magic Accuracy is... hard. A Black Mage or Scholar wants INT or Magic Attack Bonus for their nukes and helices. A Red Mage is more likely to be caught stacking INT or MND. Seraa famously resisted the idea of using INT for Bind but, after trying a heavy INT build, changed her mind on the subject. I would not be surprised if Sleep and Repose function similarly. Paladin's spells aren't worth worrying about, Blue Mage spells are either physical or stat-stacked (actually, the physical ones get stat-stacked, too, but whatever). Magic Accuracy might be nice for a Dark Knight who isn't neurotic about equipping +Dark skill, which seems to affect Dark magic more than INT.

[nefarious.lover]

Not that I expressly disagree without testing it myself. Maybe I will see it, or maybe I'll report back some interesting things.


But I guess the way I figure it is that with capped merits and some gear upgrades, etc... maybe I can consistently land elegy on stuff like kirin where it's normally sporadic.

Kirin is weak to Wind; Maybe I need HQ staves and all the grips after all... Land Earth Threnody (Wind based) then land Elegy.

*shrug* Or maybe I'll just say fuckit when nothing I do matter sometimes. Who knows.

[pathwriter]

Kirin is a massive exception. Feel free to cruise over to Kaeko's blog some time, but basically because of his level (magic gets a level correction the same as melee) and the stats that come with that level, stat building seems to work better on him than anything else. The discussion was specifically with regards to INT for Black Magi, rather than Elemental skill, but I would not be surprised if the principle is similar. For other targets... I dunno, my gear and merits are a long way from finished, but I've been told by many other Bards that getting Elegy onto the four lesser Shijin is unreliable at all times.

Even with all my CHR and skill and HQ staves, though, I never can get, say, Lightning Threnody to land on things where that reduction in elemental resistance would matter. It's very irritating for me, but not enough so that I've lost sleep over it.

[nefarious.lover]

So stacking CHR at high skill levels may be more effective than Skill And/Or MACC?

Meaning; Go get a heaven's ring? Or two? =P

[pathwriter]

No, like I said, Kirin is the exception. I suppose stuff like Khimaira or Cerberus might be, too, but I have never fought them and am uncertain of their precise levels. The way that magic accuracy works has to do with getting your base stat above your opponent's, if memory serves correctly, so all those old assumptions about "You need 110-120 CHR" may be more correct than we thought (although I'm going to say right now that I doubt non-Bard/Beastmaster mobs have anywhere near 100 CHR). The big reason Kirin is even an exception is because he's a SMN/BLM, so he has a massive INT stat for Black Magi and Scholars to overcome, so my analogy regarding his CHR stat could very well be grossly incorrect.

Honestly, just do the fights and figure some of this stuff out for yourself. If you cruise around the Bard forum a bit, you'll notice a spreading apathy. We're all hardcore once we hit level 75, but once it sinks in that maybe it just doesn't matter and we really could have leveled up naked but for our instruments, the malaise takes over and we go level a job that lets us beat the shit out of things.

[Kaparu]

The concept of super<stat> builds can be applied to anything, just in drastically different degrees, given that the requirements for the dCHR tier will be different on Khimaira than it would be on Fafnir.

[Antithesis]

I personally love my Loq earring for my UtsuRecast macro when soloing Phaubos on BRD

[nefarious.lover]

Matt you're a fag why are you never on IM?

Anti I used loq for utsu recast on all jobs, too.

[Antithesis]

Yes but I use Rpumps and Loq earring. ^^ <3 that setup

[nefarious.lover]

I need R.pumps.

Wanna help me? =P

[Antithesis]

Fuck that NM

[+Vivik+]

Shame brd doesn't have a random discussion thread.

Go for it, I'll rename this one to:

"Bard's Random chit chat thread"

no point in making a new thread ever time some one has something to ask or share with other brd's!!

[nefarious.lover]

Kay, that's actually cool of you.


BRD could use a place to ask random shit instead of a new thread for everything.


Like ...


Are undead immune to Requiem?

I don't THINK so because I'm 99% sure I've landed it on Jnun and some other undead.

But I 2hour'd in Besieged and could not for the life of me land it on any of the mermaids.



Also; I capped tier1 merits last night. 5/5 lullaby and 5/5 minuet.
Just need to finish Tier2. I'm debating if I want to 4/5 troub/night and 1/5 foe serv. and adv. req. or just 5/5 troub/night.

[pathwriter]

I'm pretty sure that Lamiae aren't actually undead. They're chimeras, but they're considered beastmen, essentially humanoid.

And this is what I was talking about with Requiem. It's damned near impossible to land it on anything once you approach 75. You can stick it all the time before then and certainly on a fair few mobs below level 75, but give up hope of getting it onto a worthwhile target once you have Foe Requiem VI. Once I hit the Mire, I was pretty well done with that spell.