BRD Merits

[Crizto]

enmity + song is nice for kited fights like kirin or omega if you are farming gun pods... err wait. no one kites either of these anymore

No one kites KB anymore either

[Kri]

No one kites KB anymore either

touche. well played my man.

[Midnightjade]

I actually used to find Finale timer more annoying than Lullaby timer, but that's probably just me. At least with Lullaby you have a good idea of what's going to happen and when, plus you have Foe and Horde.

So many times in lowman situations I would Finale boss mob X or Y and then it would immediately throw up exactly the same buff. Used to drive me nuts. Even worse when it's a mob that doesn't respond to regular Dispel.

[Shamaya]

enmity + song is nice for kited fights like kirin or omega if you are farming gun pods... err wait. no one kites either of these anymore

(-enmity loss), this is kinda one of themes I was getting at.

Hey Tsuko. There are definitely situations where Sirvente is optimal, but they just hardly ever happen and the difference isn't gamebreaking. Examples

*mp is higher than can be spent quickly
*well-stacked haste / capped/nearly-capped spell recast
An example of this is 2 bard parties. If one bard has double march and the other does a single ballad and a sirvente, and mp is just rockin and there's nowhere to spend it, (nobody's throwin their -hp sets, etc) go for that sirvente.

I've had situations like this with ultima, after his hate reset. MP on the tanks was capped / near capped they had marches.


And, of course, kited fights. It's not always easy to hit a / multiple Nin/Drk etc's kiting kirin with 2 of the aoe songs, and sometimes their more than fine on mp/recast. Who kites kirin anymore too eh?

I'm not sayin sirventes great, but I have used it a few times. But now that I'm usin brd/blm on HNM's, I think contrary Gergall mentioned I'll be changin my merits now. I like to merit anyway and my merits have been capped for a long time, so it's always good to have something to merit.

[Gergall]

I'm not sayin sirventes great, but I have used it a few times. But now that I'm usin brd/blm on HNM's, I think contrary Gergall mentioned I'll be changin my merits now. I like to merit anyway and my merits have been capped for a long time, so it's always good to have something to merit.

I understand the 5 troubador is so that you can do ES Elegy every 10 minutes.

What's the 5 nightingale for? You don't need Nightingale for ES Elegy. I still say you only need 1 point in nightingale, just for when Soul Voice Troubadoring.

[diemos]

Personally, I have 5lullaby, 5finale, 4nightingale, 4troubadour, and one of each of the enmity songs.

I kinda wish I could have 5/5 nightingale/troubadour to have a nice even recast with Elemental Seal, but those enmity songs do seem to help when applicable.
The reason I do 5/5 lullaby/finale is because I lowman stuff with brd a lot and keeping things slep/debuffed is fairly important. It all depends on what you want to do or use your brd for. Get together with the other brds in your ls and see who can do what.

[Gergall]

Personally, I have 5lullaby, 5finale, 4nightingale, 4troubadour, and one of each of the enmity songs.

I kinda wish I could have 5/5 nightingale/troubadour to have a nice even recast with Elemental Seal, but those enmity songs do seem to help when applicable.
The reason I do 5/5 lullaby/finale is because I lowman stuff with brd a lot and keeping things slep/debuffed is fairly important. It all depends on what you want to do or use your brd for. Get together with the other brds in your ls and see who can do what.

Hey, little known fact: If both BRD/BLMs have 4 Troubador (or better), they will be just fine. Each Troub ES Elegy lasts 7 minutes, and there are two of you, so there is 14 minutes of downtime between each Elegy.

4 Troub merits puts your recast at 12:30, well under the 14 minute downtime before you need to play again. Obviously, ES will be up and ready too.

4 Troub FTW? This is PERFECTLY fine if your linkshell has other bards who do the same or better.

Edit: You can do 4 troub for Troub ES Elegy, 1 Night for Soul Voice, and still have 5 merits left over to max out an enmity song. Interesting, IMHO.

[Crizto]

I understand the 5 troubador is so that you can do ES Elegy every 10 minutes.

What's the 5 nightingale for? You don't need Nightingale for ES Elegy. I still say you only need 1 point in nightingale, just for when Soul Voice Troubadoring.

So you're not singing for ever and can be a better lazy brd. Gives you the option of afking a couple seconds earlier than w/o the merits

[diemos]

Well, I try and prepare for the worst: Not having as many people as you'd like.

It definitely helps out.

Also, I wouldn't really max out an enmity song since I don't use them but for Kirin(nonzerg) and KB really...

[FailureMidgard]

Conversely, DD are going to cap out regardless, so enmity reduction is pretty futile.

Lullaby/Minuet, Troub/Night

That logic is off. Doing X% more damage before dying/pulling hate/having to stop attacking is good. Whereas dmg songs just make you hit that earlier, -enmity songs actually give you more damage since they raise your cap.

Hey, little known fact: If both BRD/BLMs have 4 Troubador (or better), they will be just fine. Each Troub ES Elegy lasts 7 minutes, and there are two of you, so there is 14 minutes of downtime between each Elegy.

4 Troub merits puts your recast at 12:30, well under the 14 minute downtime before you need to play again. Obviously, ES will be up and ready too.

4 Troub FTW? This is PERFECTLY fine if your linkshell has other bards who do the same or better.

Edit: You can do 4 troub for Troub ES Elegy, 1 Night for Soul Voice, and still have 5 merits left over to max out an enmity song. Interesting, IMHO.

That's nice and all if you have a bunch of bards that do it, most people I find have 1troub/1night and don't merit past that. 5troub lets you keep elegy up nearly all the time with one of these people.

So you're not singing for ever and can be a better lazy brd. Gives you the option of afking a couple seconds earlier than w/o the merits

Pretty sure you lost way more time meriting nightingale than you will save by afking 4 seconds sooner, even if you continue to play FFXI up until you are 80 years old.

[Crizto]

Pretty sure you lost way more time meriting nightingale than you will save by afking 4 seconds sooner, even if you continue to play FFXI up until you are 80 years old.

It's a goal of mine to make 5 Nightingale merits completely worth it.

[Kaeko]

Just in case people still don't know -

Sirvente (the enmity up song) doesn't actually increase your enmity (like say +10 enmity in gear would). It LOWERS the amount of CE you lose when you get hit (like the Burtgang effect).

You have to be hit by something to get a bonus from Sirvente.

[Arthars]

<3 dirge in ACP rng mania final BC

[Shamaya]

Just in case people still don't know -

Sirvente (the enmity up song) doesn't actually increase your enmity (like say +10 enmity in gear would). It LOWERS the amount of CE you lose when you get hit (like the Burtgang effect).

You have to be hit by something to get a bonus from Sirvente.

Thx very much Kaeko. I'd thought I'd remembered what I read off your LJ but my memory can be pretty bad. So basically this isn't necessarily very good for kiting...depending. Hmm.

Good point on the nightingale thing though if you're swapping parties (even when not doing SV) or have many different songs to cast to a party with a variety of needs, I imagine further merits can help. I hadn't really thought too much about it; nice to know I only need 1 in this.

[jurjur]

I've never had a problem with lullaby recasts since I use both of them but I do find myself screaming at my finale recast. Then again maybe it's just because I seem to be the only bard that finales anything...

[Faris]

No one kites KB anymore either

wait wait, noone kites KB anymore?! please do emphasize, because i didnt get the memo.

[Nerull]

Do people actually use lullaby in merits, outside of links?

Personal pet peeve of mine: BRDs who sleep every single bird after pulling it to the party. Assuming you're /nin (as the pulling BRD should be), is it really that difficult to just blink tank it for at most a couple seconds until the melees pull it off you? Especially considering you just cast elegy on it. Sure, like 9/10 times it will wake up and lullaby the BRD, which usually isn't a problem, but that 1/10 can mean a lost chain if badly timed. DDs shouldn't have to /nin just so the BRD (and healer) can be lazy. Even on the occassion I get a link, the COR is usually on top of things and light shots it.

/tangentialrant off

(Though, this is only a fraction of what makes me think 95% of BRDs are retarded...)

On topic: riding the Min/Lullaby/Troub/Night train

[Shadowrunner]

Personal pet peeve of mine: BRDs who sleep every single bird after pulling it to the party. Assuming you're /nin (as the pulling BRD should be), is it really that difficult to just blink tank it for at most a couple seconds until the melees pull it off you? Especially considering you just cast elegy on it. Sure, like 9/10 times it will wake up and lullaby the BRD, which usually isn't a problem, but that 1/10 can mean a lost chain if badly timed. DDs shouldn't have to /nin just so the BRD (and healer) can be lazy. Even on the occassion I get a link, the COR is usually on top of things and light shots it.

/tangentialrant off

(Though, this is only a fraction of what makes me think 95% of BRDs are retarded...)

On topic: riding the Min/Lullaby/Troub/Night train

Short Answer: Yes.

My personal opinion is, out of the 4 years+ of barding that I've done, I have found without a doubt that 5 lullaby merits have been -the- most helpful merits ever. From accidental agro that goes wrong to keeping mobs infinitely slept with Horde (which you can't afford to waste on a single enemy), to simply exploring a new zone and finding out that you don't have to sneak/invis, .. might as well just blow your awesome lullaby timers.

I ride the 5 Min/5 Lullaby train. Minuet is the most commonly casted song, and since March isn't an option, the next most common is Lullaby. IF I could shift Tier 2 merits into Tier 1, It'd be Finale next.

Tier 2 just.. sigh. 5 in Troub, 3 in Nightingale, 1 in each of the other songs (to have them.. that's it)

[Killo]

Short Answer: Yes.

My personal opinion is, out of the 4 years+ of barding that I've done, I have found without a doubt that 5 lullaby merits have been -the- most helpful merits ever. From accidental agro that goes wrong to keeping mobs infinitely slept with Horde (which you can't afford to waste on a single enemy), to simply exploring a new zone and finding out that you don't have to sneak/invis, .. might as well just blow your awesome lullaby timers.

I ride the 5 Min/5 Lullaby train. Minuet is the most commonly casted song, and since March isn't an option, the next most common is Lullaby. IF I could shift Tier 2 merits into Tier 1, It'd be Finale next.

Tier 2 just.. sigh. 5 in Troub, 3 in Nightingale, 1 in each of the other songs (to have them.. that's it)

I go with him he knows what he is talking about.

[Arthars]

my wife is a utility brd

i went from 5 min 5 mad to 5 lulluby 5 finale

mainly for sleeping shits when needed and dispelling mofos like flayer

i dont dual box her brd for merits!

also went 5 trou and 5 nigh cos it means afk more every once a while

dual boxing brd is tired unless your in a blm pt :\