APC Mage Coat vs. Shi'ar Manteel

[Kimiko]

Ok, would like an opinion on using the ACP Coat (the +5 INT/MND/CHA body) with the fast cast and m.acc augments versus a Shi'ar Manteel for bard. Think it's worth the effort of not having to spend 4+ mil gil for the Shi'ar?

[The Blackrose]

I think this is one of those "Shit is Situational" situations. I can see the appeal in both, depending on your role. I lean slightly towards the Manteel though because I have Ixion Cloak.

[drwaffles]

A Prystalline Crophecy?

But seriously, I think Redingote is a fine substitute for Manteel most of the time. For pulling in merits, though, Manteel will always be king, but Redingote should also do well.

[Shinryuu]

Reyal Rodingote.

Real answer is useful augmented bodypiece + Yigit body. Spare me the "but Salvage...", you're not doing Salvage every day always forever, work (slowly) towards it.

[Zosi]

Manteel or Yigit are both a lot better for speed-singing, and there are viable alternatives for CHR/m.acc on the body slot. I wouldn't make a BRD body from ACP personally, but I also wouldn't call you gimp if you had one and used it to debuff.

[fantasticdan]

Seems pretty silly to waste the ACP body on brd, considering yigit + errant is better anyway.

[Cairthenn]

errant is better anyway.

No

[Isiolia]

I'd say Yigit is better/more comparable as an alternative to a manteel. Errant/Osode/AF+1 for offensive songs.

The Fast Cast effect on it isn't as strong for reducing singing times, and isn't as strong as Goliard body or something for Utsu recasts. 4 MAcc isn't that much either.
Would be decent, but not altogether -that- appealing.

[Shinryuu]

For BRD, you can lazyman it up with Fast Cast/M.Acc. This way, it both gives a bit of songcasting speed and it beats errant for debuffs. I'm probably getting this setup for my bardmule but I'm also opting for not buying CP at all.

[fantasticdan]

No

Going by all the macc testing when alkalurops came out, 1 base stat is roughly equivalent to 1 macc in most situations, Making +5 chr generally better than 4 macc. Or is there more testing on chr/macc and brd songs somewhere else with different result?

[Starr]

What happened to the "you will be rewarded more for repeating it more"? We can't get additional bodies can we?

[Ragnus]

I think SE said you can re-obtain a new body piece by chucking your current one and repeating the final fight.

[Valyana]

Going by all the macc testing when alkalurops came out, 1 base stat is roughly equivalent to 1 macc in most situations

Only when your INT < mob INT + 10. And nobody has done the tests for BRD songs yet.

[Shinryuu]

Yeah my "M.Acc+4, CHR+5 > Errant" is assuming a CHR is less than a full 1 M.Acc, which is probable, but not proven.

[Morari]

What happened to the "you will be rewarded more for repeating it more"? We can't get additional bodies can we?

That's referring to the mid-expansion rewards that you get from the Treasure Chest in Jeuno when you farm for the different keys.

[Cairthenn]

Simply stated CHR gear is really easy to get for BRD. Assuming that stacking CHR is negligible, this would be second best to Shadow Coat (third including HQ).

[shaddix]

lol the brd thing is anecdotal evidence stating that chr needs to be above a certain level or your debuffs are going to fail. Hence osode/errant/marduk body are used to stack a large amount of chr to free up other slots for skill. On a related note when is the ability to move theads from bg to alla coming?

[Shinryuu]

What do you mean, coming?

[Cairthenn]

That's coming the next time you make a thread.

Osode sucks.

[Conrad]

I imagine the best body combination for bard would be Manteel for most buffs, Marduk for offensive spells, and Minstrel's for Madrigal/March. I'm rocking Yigit+Errant at the moment due to price, plus I don't yet have the proper pieces to cap on +skill.