Bard Detail

[Fake]

Acurracy food should get you back up i think. If you wanna spend the mytho Hero's ear should help give you some more accuracy. Also Gryph Bracers is BiS even tho you lose some dex you gain acc/vit/crit if melded right.

I wish people would shut the fuck up giving this stupid advice.

Crafted i70 stuff is fine as placeholders, every job (sans healers I imagine, who the fuck cares though) can hit the accuracy cap for all content using full i90 gear with acc food. No amount of crit/det melds are ever going to compare to increases in primary stat at this point in the game.

[Kelenae]

Lets see. http://xivdb.com/?item/4185/Allagan-Bracelets-of-Aiming 8 det 16 skill speed http://xivdb.com/?item/6249/Hero's-Bracelet-of-Aiming 11 skill speed 16 accuracy. I take the crit over thoes 2 any day. I just dont agree that 4 dex is that big of a upgrade. If someone can give me some math on that. I'll change my mind.

[Carraway]

If I plug in my current stats into BLITZBALL's physical damage returns calculator, I get a 0.39% increase in WS and AA damage from 12 crit and a 0.72%/0.69% increase in WS/AA damage from 4 dex. The calculator isn't perfect because it relies on a derived damage formula that loses accuracy the further away you get from level 50/ilvl 70-80, but the general indications are absolutely spot-on even with almost full ilvl 90.

[Fievel]

Main stats are weighted too heavily for off stats to really matter as much as people think they do.

[Viena]

If I plug in my current stats into BLITZBALL's physical damage returns calculator, I get a 0.39% increase in WS and AA damage from 12 crit and a 0.72%/0.69% increase in WS/AA damage from 4 dex. The calculator isn't perfect because it relies on a derived damage formula that loses accuracy the further away you get from level 50/ilvl 70-80, but the general indications are absolutely spot-on even with almost full ilvl 90.

However, as far as I'm aware, that formula doesn't take into account Bloodletter procs. Granted, most of BRD's damage is coming from auto attacks and Heavy Shot, with Bloodletter usually accounting for 10-15% of the total. The impact of more crit+ will not only yield an overall per-action increase of damage, but an increase of Bloodletter's relevance (albeit small, as crit+ translates to a tiny crit% increase, 14-15 per 1% iirc?).

Not disagreeing with the conclusions you're getting with BLITZBALL's, but pointing out that the differences in those %s are probably slightly smaller than that (ilvl inaccuracies aside).

[Carraway]

Yeah, there are proportionately greater synergistic returns from crit for BRD specifically, but with the way those gains are broken down -- 1% gain in crit should equal 1% more Bloodletter procs, or 1 more Bloodletter per 100 ticks / 2 DoTs, or 1 more Bloodletter per ~150 seconds -- I still don't see it winning out over equivalently itemized dex. Someone more enterprising than myself could math it out given a certain level of gear.

[Spider-Dan]

I think the point is that while you can straightforwardly say main stat uber alles for non-BRD/SCH jobs, the bonuses for crits on those two jobs make the comparison slightly more nuanced.

In this case (wrists), while you're seeing a base 0.3% advantage for the DEX, and BL resets may or may not make up that full 0.3%, the extra melds can tip the scales. Basically, we're talking about:

Allagan: DEX+13 DTR+8 SKS+16
Hero's: DEX+13 SKS+11 ACC+16
maxed HQ Gryphonskin: DEX+9 VIT+10 CRT+12 DTR+8 ACC+12

If the extra BL procs do wind up offsetting the extra DEX, then (melded) Gryphonskin are clearly better (by a significant margin). So the question is, how close does the crit come to offsetting?

edit: Unless you are weighing SKS as a significant factor, Gryphonskin might be better outright.

Allagan is DEX+4 (SKS+16) vs. CRT+12 ACC+12 (VIT+10), so if you are not at capped accuracy Gryphonskin may win outright (before BL resets are considered).
Hero's is DEX+4 ACC+4 (SKS+11) vs. DTR+8 CRT+12 (VIT+10), so I'm not sure Hero's even do as much damage at capped ACC, and whether or not they will deal more (in practice) will depend heavily on your exact ACC total (again, before BL resets).

Seems to me that melded Gryphonskin is a reasonably good middle ground between damage and accuracy that has VIT+10 to boot. I don't think it's unreasonable to call that BiS.

[Jem]

I could see the Crit overcoming 2 DEX but not 4.

That is also a pretty pricey piece for something that even if it did win, would be incredibly marginal. It's also going to be situational because I imagine it would be relying on you being able to always immediately take advantage of Bloodletter resetting if it did win out.

[Elcura]

Everyone always assumes in these calculations that they'll play like a robot.

[Fake]

... I don't think it's unreasonable to call that BiS.

If you want to start arbitrarily adding VIT into the equation then there isn't much point in responding. It is absolutely unreasonable to consider vit melds when talking about BiS.

[Spider-Dan]

That is also a pretty pricey piece for something that even if it did win, would be incredibly marginal.

All of these comparisons are marginal. And given the amount of complaining about myth caps that goes on, if you can skip a myth item and use it elsewhere, that's not insignificant.

It's also going to be situational because I imagine it would be relying on you being able to always immediately take advantage of Bloodletter resetting if it did win out.

I think properly configured macros make this a non-issue.

If you want to start arbitrarily adding VIT into the equation then there isn't much point in responding. It is absolutely unreasonable to consider vit melds when talking about BiS.

No, it isn't. In damage output where accuracy is a factor, Gryphonskin falls somewhere between Hero's and Allagan. VIT is entirely reasonable as a tiebreaker.

Or, to put it another way: if you want to summarily dismiss maximum melds on i70, then of course it's inferior to i90.

[Deadgye]

You should never use an ilvl 70 accessory over an ilvl 90 accessory unless you absolutely need the accuracy. The gains from the dex dramatically outweigh those from the secondary stats.

This is not necessarily true.

I wish people would shut the fuck up giving this stupid advice.

Crafted i70 stuff is fine as placeholders, every job (sans healers I imagine, who the fuck cares though) can hit the accuracy cap for all content using full i90 gear with acc food. No amount of crit/det melds are ever going to compare to increases in primary stat at this point in the game.

Oh the delicious irony.

Why are you guys only NOW doing the math to figure out what I posted 2-3 pages ago.

In terms of pure raw damage increase, 12crit is worth at least approx 2dex and 6det is worth at least 1dex. This basically makes Allagan vs Gryphon rings 0~1dex, 4acc vs 0-2det, 2-3slots, and ~1% increased crit for bloodletter. Allagan vs Gryphon wrists gets reduced to 2dex vs 12acc, 2slots, ~1% increased crit for bloodletter. Allagan vs Gryphon neck gets reduced to 4dex vs 9acc, 1crit, 8det, 3slots.

Going with gryphon ring, gryphon wrists, and allagan neck would put you at 476acc with food. And thus what I will likely be going with. Did the comparisons for myself and figured I might as well share them.

[Jem]

I think properly configured macros make this a non-issue.

That's not what I meant. You aren't twanging away at a training dummy full time.

Sometimes Bloodletter is going to reset and you are not going to immediately hit it through choice.

[Azurewrath]

So, for the main bard macro that some bards use that combines Misery's End, Bloodletter and Heavy shot into one button push, the norm is
Misery's End
Bloodletter
Heavy Shot
For this, if the mob is in Misery's End range, it'll do that. If Bloodletter is up, it'll do that, if nothings up, it'll Heavy shot.
Now we all agree the problem with this is when Bloodletter cooldown resets and GCD also resets, you use bloodletter and while in the animation your GCD is ready to fire off the heavy and it's waiting, so you're losing DPS

Why not put Bloodletter at the end of the macro instead of the middle?
That way if Bloodletter procs and you're between GCD, it'll automatically use Bloodletter, resetting the cooldown and getting it rolling. If the GCD comes up at the same time, you'll heavy shot then Bloodletter a few frames later, eliminating the wait and wasted time explained in the previous macro.

I understand the con with this method is that you had Bloodletter up and ready for an extra .25 seconds or so, but does that matter when you'll likely have River of Blood proc anyways before the 15 seconds pops up? I think in the end, sticking Bloodletter at the end would be ideal, ASSUMING you're spamming this macro at all times. Any time the GCD isnt ready you'll automatically default to bloodletter

Someone please explain why i'm wrong and am losing dps doing this cause I have no idea

[Raldo]

I'm not online so I can't check for myself, and probably won't be pitching my lot into this discussion, but for my own knowledge (and the knowledge of anyone else who mildly cares, but not enough to ask), how much HP is 10VIT worth on a 50BRD anyway?

Edit: In response to the above dude, I would put Bloodletter at the end of the macro, but I don't use macros because I prefer the queued nature of actions over macros (or so I'm told), so I'm not qualified to answer that.

[Deadgye]

Your logic is sound. What do you feel you're "losing dps" to, the other macro order or pressing everything manually?

I used the macro for a little while, but eventually opted to going back to pressing everything manually.

[Voyage1970]

I'm not online so I can't check for myself, and probably won't be pitching my lot into this discussion, but for my own knowledge (and the knowledge of anyone else who mildly cares, but not enough to ask), how much HP is 10VIT worth on a 50BRD anyway?

Should be 14.5 HP per VIT just like everyone else. HP Formula is (N*85)+floor((VIT-202)*14.5) where N is a job specific modifier and in the case of BRD this is 21.

[Jem]

I'm not online so I can't check for myself, and probably won't be pitching my lot into this discussion, but for my own knowledge (and the knowledge of anyone else who mildly cares, but not enough to ask), how much HP is 10VIT worth on a 50BRD anyway?

Edit: In response to the above dude, I would put Bloodletter at the end of the macro, but I don't use macros because I prefer the queued nature of actions over macros (or so I'm told), so I'm not qualified to answer that.

I want to say 145 but can't remember why I think 1 VIT is 14.5 HP.

[Niiro]

I think in the end, sticking Bloodletter at the end would be ideal, ASSUMING you're spamming this macro at all times. Any time the GCD isnt ready you'll automatically default to bloodletter

I don't really play BRD when making macros for it I came up with something like what you're describing.

Spoiler: show

/micon "heavy shot"
/ac "misery's End" <t>
/ac "bloodletter" <t>
/ac "heavy Shot" <t>
/wait 1
/ac "misery's End" <t>
/ac "bloodletter" <t>
/ac "heavy Shot" <t>


/micon "straight Shot"
/ac "straight Shot" <t>
/wait 1
/ac "misery's End" <t>
/ac "bloodletter" <t>


/micon "venomous Bite"
/ac "venomous bite" <t>
/wait 1
/ac "misery's End" <t>
/ac "bloodletter" <t>


/micon "windbite"
/ac "internal release" <me>
/ac "windbite" <t>
/wait 1
/ac "windbite" <t>
/ac "misery's End" <t>
/ac "bloodletter" <t>
/wait 1
/ac "misery's End" <t>
/ac "bloodletter" <t>

I found using these macros instead of regular redundancy macros (without any waits) allowed everything to "flow" better and required less button mashing.

[Spider-Dan]

In response to the above dude, I would put Bloodletter at the end of the macro, but I don't use macros because I prefer the queued nature of actions over macros (or so I'm told), so I'm not qualified to answer that.

I previously tested 30 (precisely timed, single-press) queued actions vs. 30 turbospammed macros and the speed difference was not significant (or, if you interpret that it was, you should be gearing for skillspeed).