AF Upgrades

[JSHidaka]

That would mean a +-1 stat, is it really that worth considering how much it matters in % compared to our current overall power, thanks to the new gear?
The convenience of having songs last longer probably outbalances a single +1 stat?

I rather keep those +stats, Marduk Legs +1 just add 10 secs, so I don't think the Artifact will add something worth... unless Can get 60~ secs more.. whats the point of even using those piece? A bard just buff.. so keeping the songs up all the time isn't any problem..

[Midkemia]

Any testing on new COR AF "Enhances Quick Draw"?

[Ramzii]

What else are you gonna cast buffs in if the stat bonuses are meh now? If im not mistaken, dont all songs more or less auto-cap potency just from base 99 skill? Im on my phone so i cant double check this.

Duration+ (body, legs, feet)

[NynJa]

So adding an extra 10 seconds to your song duration (when bards plate isnt exactly full to begin with) outweighs adding (presuming 2 bards rotating without daur) STR+10 (and associated attack+7) from minuet 4 + 5? Presuming you're still going to use AF3+2 head, body and hands, thats still ditching 4 STR (3 attack) all to be a bit lazier bard, when the job doesnt involve much to begin with.

idk i guess thats just me.

[NynJa]

in other news, away from the bard feet

http://www.ffxiah.com/screenshots/72909
Seems MNK bd has an upgrade to chakra's potency over AF1/+1, so I wouldnt hastily rule out other Upgraded AF JA/JT mods.

[Ramzii]

30% of ~150 seconds isn't 10 seconds, it has nothing to do with being lazy, but more for preventing the brd from being in danger from having to rerotate. 2.5 minutes might not be enough to kill certain nms like peiste 100% of the time and all that mass AoE is going to be incredibly annoying for the brd to resing. It's even more useful with NT since it might allow for songs to last enough and not drop before a set of nms or before a boss dies.

[Sechs]

A bard just buff..

I think this might be the point where we have a divergence of views.
As a BRD there's a lot of other things I personally do, and having more time to do them would be particularly convenient for me, especially if for achieving so I'm not breaking anything for the players, and I doubt 2-3 points of difference in a stat is going to do that.
I dunno if my way of playing is normal or if it's just me who plays in a strange way, but I know that if I had those feet I'd use them everytime, just like I use Marduk legs for everything except Ballads.

[Sechs]

So adding an extra 10 seconds to your song duration (when bards plate isnt exactly full to begin with) outweighs adding (presuming 2 bards rotating without daur) STR+10 (and associated attack+7) from minuet 4 + 5?

It wouldn't be STR+10.
Let's think about Minuet 4+5.
Full AF3 => +5x2 = +10STR
Marduk => +3x2 = +6STR
Mard+Feet => +2x2 = +4STR

You'd still be giving some stats, just less than you'd do otherwise. Respectively 4 less or 6 less.
Not saying this doesn't matter, but at the same time it doesn't seem a huge difference to me? Especially these days, in %, those 6 points of STR your'e missing represent an even more minimal % of your overall power.
The convenience is worth it imho -at least in the majority of situations I can think of- and not just during the obvious Night/Troub rotations.

[Sechs]

30% of ~150 seconds isn't 10 seconds, it has nothing to do with being lazy, but more for preventing the brd from being in danger from having to rerotate. 2.5 minutes might not be enough to kill certain nms like peiste 100% of the time and all that mass AoE is going to be incredibly annoying for the brd to resing. It's even more useful with NT since it might allow for songs to last enough and not drop before a set of nms or before a boss dies.

Yes on some mobs like Peiste, Butterfly and others it's really annoying to rotate midway through the fight.
On some bosses it's a shame having to overwrite the about-to-finish SoulVoiced songs with normal songs (if your COR fails Wild Card).

And also, as I said before, I dunno if it's me being the strange one, but usually I don't stand around doing nothing. After Rotating the songs in the 2 pts and ballading my healer, I normally keep Haste up on at least a DD, focus -na on the same DD or on others which may need it, throw occasional cures and also debuffs. Some NMs need a constant stream of debuffs (yes you have the magept BRD for that but he needs help) and others do not "need" it but it helps for sure.
Some other times on content which is even more in farm or with particularly good setups I just go /DNC and give Haste Samba to a PT plus Steps for everybody.
In both of these situations (the first pretty common, the second not so much) having more duration is really helpful.
I don't know where people get this idea that BRDs just stay idle as a mule when they're done casting songs? It might be just me who don't? But I don't think so, the other people in my LS do the same mostly.

[Ramzii]

i make my ls brds help haste/erase/na as well so it's not just you

[noodles355]

Less time singing more time for stabbing shit!

[CDF]

Lua to print recast in chat log. Using Klimaform (base recast time 180 seconds).

Dark Arts only: 162 s (consistent with -10% JA recast reduction)

Argute Mortarboard + Dark Arts: 153 s (consistent with -15% JA recast reduction)

Academic's Loafers + no Arts: 175 s (should expect 174 seconds with 30/1024; at least it's 174 with Gendewitha Galoshes and Hagondes Sabots, both nominally Haste+3% as well)

Academic's Loafers + no Arts + Hagondes Coat (assuming 30/1024): 169 s

Academic's Loafers + no Arts + Hagondes Pants: 167 s

Academic's Loafers + no Arts + Hagondes Coat + Hasty Pinion (assuming 40/1024): 168 s

Academic's Loafers + Dark Arts: 143 s

Dark Arts active + Argute Mortarboard: 134 s

Conclusion

Nominal "Haste+3%" seems to be 28/1024 ... it is impossible (afaik) to get Klimaform recast down to 175 seconds with 30/1024 alone (has to be less than 30/1024)

It appears that "Grimoire: reduces spellcasting time" is approximately recast -8% (job ability recast), so the bonus is higher than that of Scholar's Loafers +1 (supposed to be -5%). However, I didn't think to check Scholar's Loafers +1 first.

[pancakesandsex]

Long shot, but could those of you who have pieces made, please check and see if they are storable on the original AF slip?

[Doofus]

You guys should just get Carns like me and be done with it! SE is being a cocktease getting us closer and closer to 10min songs,and when that day comes, it will be a joyous occasion.

On a serious note, i've noticed more and more people just not understanding what bard does and how to utilize it best, and it frustrates me. Duration is very very useful in most end game events. Re-singing songs on shit like butterflies or gnat is nigh impossible, and i promise you will lost more overall dps from songs dropping that a few stats, anyone who says its just for laziness has no idea how bard works.

Not all BRDs are intelligent, but most career bards know what they are doing, and you should trust that they know what they are doing.

[Sechs]

You guys should just get Carns like me and be done with it!

Oh trust me I so would if I could!
And I'm confident with the new boots, or at least boots + new dagger (BRD/DNC! xD) you can probably break the 10mins and fulltime Night/Troub.

[Doofus]

Oh trust me I so would if I could!
And I'm confident with the new boots, or at least boots + new dagger (BRD/DNC! xD) you can probably break the 10mins and fulltime Night/Troub.

You would never sub dnc or thf to any event that mattered though

[Sechs]

That's true Mine was a half-joke. But while I was kidding, in all honesty Delve stuff (supposedly the currently "hardest" content) is so much in farm by most ls, that just as you can allow yourself to go on a loljob for lulz or whatever else, you might as well go BRD/DNC and have fun. I think I did it once on a Tojil Run. Other people took on my job of hasting/naing/debuffing and I provided some small additional DPS. Not just because of my DPS (which wasn't noticeable, while not as small as some might think either) but because of the boost provided by sambas and /DNC debuffs.
But yeah, for content which is not in farm (like for instance the new 3 Delve zones coming) it would be kinda crazy to bring a BRD/DNC I suppose.

Anyway back IT, can hope for 119 AF boots to have an even bigger bonus though! 15%! Yai!
They confirmed 119 AFs coming for ALL jobs right? (which should include GEO and RUN as well)

[CDF]

More evidence that the SKC frequency among crests is greater than 20% with zoning (this is all Firth Umbrils; not one-shotting or two-shotting is a waste of time if you solo):

Crest drop rate (KC/HKC/SKC)
29/101 (10/10/9) - this is pre-update
30/114 (8/7/15) - post-update
15/40 (5/5/5) - post-update

Aggregate:
74/255 = .2902 (.2352, .3501)

Distribution of crests:
23/22/29 (clearly can't be 40/40/20)

SKC frequency:
29/74 = .3919 (.2804, .5123) => clearly can't be 20% (crest distribution and SKC frequency are related as far as significance of deviation from 40/40/20)

I would say there is normally an equal distribution but SKCs are on a longer cooldown timer for whatever B.S. reason, manifesting in lower SKC frequency.

Farming post 11/11 may be more efficient in a party though

Edit: more post-update

Waxing Crescent (~19%)

22/56 (7/8/7)
28/75 (8/7/13)

Aggregate crest drop rate
50/131 = .3817 (.2982, .4706)

Crest frequency: 15/15/20

Not sure if moon phase matters THAT much (probably a very minor effect if anything, maybe +1% on crest drop rate).

BTW I also did this Ionis always so that's another factor to consider affecting crest drop rate possibly (though no reason not to use Ionis)

[mdkuser]

We did Divine Punishers (yagudosx6 @ balga's dais). very hard mode.

Set up is MNKx2 whmx2 brdx2, nothing special for a strategy, we killed BLM > BRD> SAM> MNK>NIN> WHM.

All this for crap tier drops, I was expecting a pouch of 100 pluton or somehing.

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/d...ps6a2af07c.png

Edit: 2nd run 2 single pluton.... this time dagger (blitto needle). fuck that crap. We got a title "yagudo coopkeeper".

[dasva]

You guys should just get Carns like me and be done with it! SE is being a cocktease getting us closer and closer to 10min songs,and when that day comes, it will be a joyous occasion.

Full time marcato song?