Whats better?

[Vaxx]

Nashira body..?

Winner.

[Sanoske]

Nashira would be ideal, but as of now I have no Ultima pieces. So Robe is a nice substitute.

[DIABEETUS]

I'm coming back to my BRD after years, it's at 75. Wanna merit. Here's my gear setup:

Terra's
demon helm+1
Wind Torque
Musical Earring
EMPTY EAR 2
EMPTY BODY
AF+1 hands
Nereid Rings x2
Jester's Cape
Gleeman Waist
AF+1 legs
Rostrum Pumps

so a few questions. i'm primarily going brd/nin to merit.
ear2 suggestions? wind earring, too expensive. melody+1? there has to be something better.

i got absolutely no body piece. was gonna run to AH and grab an errrant houp. but those are ugly/noobish. any other suggestions? i got retarded play hours, so no access to yigit body. haven't camped that sahagin brd coat. manteel, yeaaaaaah right.

any other suggestions? is my above setup ok?

HALP

edit: i also have no ls

[Ruiner]

The only things better for body than what you listed are Kirin's Osode, Marduk's Jubbah, and Shadow Coat. I doubt you're going to get any of those, so it looks like Errant Houppelande is for you.

As for the ear, the only thing better than a Melody +1 that's not a Wind Earring is going to be a Singing Earring, which is just as expensive, if not moreso. So yeah, go with Melody +1.

[Callisto]

Beastly Earring yo

[FailureMidgard]

I'm coming back to my BRD after years, it's at 75. Wanna merit. Here's my gear setup:

Terra's
demon helm+1
Wind Torque
Musical Earring
EMPTY EAR 2
EMPTY BODY
AF+1 hands
Nereid Rings x2
Jester's Cape
Gleeman Waist
AF+1 legs
Rostrum Pumps

so a few questions. i'm primarily going brd/nin to merit.
ear2 suggestions? wind earring, too expensive. melody+1? there has to be something better.

i got absolutely no body piece. was gonna run to AH and grab an errrant houp. but those are ugly/noobish. any other suggestions? i got retarded play hours, so no access to yigit body. haven't camped that sahagin brd coat. manteel, yeaaaaaah right.

any other suggestions? is my above setup ok?

HALP

edit: i also have no ls

I'm sorry, but if you want to be a good merit bard, you should go well out of your way for Yigit Body and Minstrel's Ring. Also, I just use a Loq. Earring...
The most important thing you can do in meriting is get pulls in quickly, and none of your stats help near as much as casting songs faster. Yea, sleeps not resisting is nice and all, but ya...

[Amele]

minstrel's may not be necessary in merit (they're nice as hell but it can be difficult for a bard to stay yellow depending on race and how frequently the other backline members are throwing curagas around while you're in range etc.) and they're sort of pricey for a "sometimes" on piece.

but you should *really* get a yigit body.

[Callisto]

You can fairly easily make a forced latent set w/ some basic shit for Minstrel's, Genbu's Kabuto/Seiryu's Kote/BQ ring, etc. It makes a huge difference in meripo where you can lose a chain by a second if you get stuck casting buffs when you need to make a pull.

[Amele]

You can fairly easily make a forced latent set w/ some basic shit for Minstrel's, Genbu's Kabuto/Seiryu's Kote/BQ ring, etc. It makes a huge difference in meripo where you can lose a chain by a second if you get stuck casting buffs when you need to make a pull.

^ is a good point but it didn't really sound like OP had access to those sorts of HP switches..

[FailureMidgard]

minstrel's may not be necessary in merit (they're nice as hell but it can be difficult for a bard to stay yellow depending on race and how frequently the other backline members are throwing curagas around while you're in range etc.) and they're sort of pricey for a "sometimes" on piece.

but you should *really* get a yigit body.

Necessary? No. Amazingly helpful? Yes.
-Most- mages, when you tell them not to cure you past X, will listen. I personally don't even have a gearswap to get myself into yellow on my bard (if I actually played it outside of meriting, I may consider setting it up, but I don't), I let mobs hit me a couple times to get me into yellow, then keep shadows up from there on out, it isn't the least bit of a problem.

Personally, I'd rather have a bard with open gear slots and a minstrel's ring than a bard that filled out every slot with max skill/cha gear for meriting. Melody Earring +1, 2 Nereid Rings, Demon Helm+1...If the guy only cares about meriting, he should drop those items to NQ and get a Minstrel's Ring, IMO. If he cares about being able to land songs on slightly more resistant things, then those items are nice.

Anyway, sounded to me like his bard was only for meriting to begin with, making Minstrel's Ring a full-time option, and maxing skill completely unnecessary.

Really should do some shout-groups to try to get a Yigit body too.

[Callisto]

^ is a good point but it didn't really sound like OP had access to those sorts of HP switches..

Yeah, but it's mostly stuff that is pretty throwaway for even small shells. There's also Physical Earrings which are cheap as shit.

[Amele]

Yeah, but it's mostly stuff that is pretty throwaway for even small shells. There's also Physical Earrings which are cheap as shit.

throw-away is one thing; not being able to be on when any shell that speaks your language does runs is another.


and yeah Failure; I don't mean to make it sound like I think minstrel's is a bad idea (it's an awesome piece) I just don't rate it as a 'must get asap' type piece either. although if *all* the OP is planning to do with bard is merit I think you're right that the value is much higher.

[DIABEETUS]

Thanks for the replies everyone. With work and my stupid time zone, there's never any english speaking people online when I am. I'd really love to get the yigit body, but pickup shout parties are just not worth the headache unfortunately, so I'm most likely going to camp the sahagin NM, at least I can do that solo. Minstrel coat > Errant body???

I'm a bonecrafter so that's where the helm+1/nereids came from
I'll see what kind of funds I can scrape up for the minstrel ring but it kinda sucks to invest so much just for meriting purposes only, where as the rest of my gear pretty much applies to HNM too, I think. But I see your point, I've used one before, it's pretty handy and noticeable.

On a side note, doesn't the helm+1 suck? What's better?

[Callisto]

Minstrel coat > Errant body???

You aren't going to be breaking any extra March tiers with what you have anyways, Minstrel's Coat won't reall add anything else to your buffs currently and Errant is better for debuffs/pulling.

On a side note, doesn't the helm+1 suck? What's better?

BRD AF2 or Goliard hats, so yeah, for now may as well stick with the Helm+1 since you have it already. Or Walahra Turban is just as well for meripo, for recast timers/HP.

[Reznap]

Guillotine gears:

Potent belt vs warwolf

and black cuisses vs heca legs, im guessing black cuisses are better. But if its by a small amount i think i stick with free heca

[Valyana]

The only things better for body than what you listed are Kirin's Osode, Marduk's Jubbah, and Shadow Coat.

Or AF+1. But Yigit main/Errant debuffs will do just fine. You only need to find two other people to do Assault with you; I trioed a bunch of PSC Periqia to get my Yigit body back in the day....

[Tan]

Guillotine gears:

Potent belt vs warwolf

and black cuisses vs heca legs, im guessing black cuisses are better. But if its by a small amount i think i stick with free heca

Potent belt, and I imagine that Heca is going to give you more consistent numbers, all things being equal.

[Eldelphia]

If you're still doing Limbus, AF+1 body is nice and has the 10 CHR and VIT you'd get from an osode. Otherwise Errant/Yigit. And earrings, musical/melody+1/loquacious. I mention these cos you have af+1 hands/legs and might still have access to limbus. If not, then don't mind me.

[Spekkio]

i probably just fail at searching and apologize if this has already been covered, but a couple of smn questions i've never been able to get good answers to.

1.) sacrifice torque or summoning torque for physical blp like pred claws? fairly confident sac torque, but would feel better knowing i'm not wrong.
2.) do the "enhances avatar accuracy" and "enhances avatar attk" gear stack? eg, are af1 pants, af2 hands, and af2 feet completely obsolesced by the garuda headband from the puk ZNM? is the bonus so marginal i shouldn't even worry about it?
3.) since smn magic skill only controls accuracy, if the effects in question 2 do stack, am i better off w/ nashira feet or af2 feet for predator claws?

[Meat]

silly question i guess but Iota Ring vs Toreador's Ring for 2handers