Elemental staves and Bard.

[Tormentormike]

Well, since she has a Gjallarhorn, saves her the inventory space of having to drag around all the other weapons ;x

I had access to a BRD75 mule, I never really used it for anything outside of EXP, but god damn there were so many instruments.

[Bakthi]

Do you have an extra 30 inventory that no one else knows about? I wish I had the room to carry a MND set on Atum's BRD. >_>

That's why I mentioned the Gjallerhorn. As a MND-challenged Mithra, it would take me a total of 11 slots (above and beyond gear I'd carry anyway) to max my Stoneskin on BRD, and since I'll be lugging around mere mortal instruments for the forseeable future, that's room I don't normally have. I have the same problem with trying to create an HP down setup, particularly since I have 0 pieces of A.abjuration gear.

The upgrade to 70 slots will improve this, although I'd still have to ditch some stuff if I actually needed room for anything important, like lotting coins on Limbus runs. And my non-inventory storage is still bursting, because I actually manage to keep decent gear for all my jobs on my main character (most of it is Ex anyway). 3 mannequins + 1 9-drawer thing for storage, too (need all 3 plus a bed and 2 jars to prevent me from getting Moghancement: Catch A Bunch Of Shit And Waste Time).

Here's hoping for a Mog Wrinkle In Time with 80 slots for WotG.

[Septimus]

Gjallerhorn. Interesting. If only I were in a position where I could demand that my second character get one of those from the Linkshell bank...

[Olo401]

Yes hop to staves, signa is worthless compared to Light/Apollo and Earth/Terra's. Chanter's staff is complete crap btw except for the very few times where it will push you up to the next singing skill tier for buff songs, so don't get one.

I cry when I see 75 brds running around with a chanter staff... had one brd in my previous ls that swore by it

I cry when I see people saying Chanter's Staff is shit for BRD75 - Singing/Instrument skill and Song increases are good at ANY level! I don't know about you guys but I like giving my NINs an extra boost to their recast time with double March, and they like it a lot too.

And there's no reason why you can't use both Chanter's Staff and your ele staff set - just macro in Chanter's for party buffs and ele staves for Elegy/Requiem/Lullaby.

[layoneil]

I cry when I see people saying Chanter's Staff is shit for BRD75 - Singing/Instrument skill and Song increases are good at ANY level! I don't know about you guys but I like giving my NINs an extra boost to their recast time with double March, and they like it a lot too.

that would make sense if BRD songs didn't have a hard cap most of which is achieved with base skill.

[Olo401]

I cry when I see people saying Chanter's Staff is shit for BRD75 - Singing/Instrument skill and Song increases are good at ANY level! I don't know about you guys but I like giving my NINs an extra boost to their recast time with double March, and they like it a lot too.

that would make sense if BRD songs didn't have a hard cap most of which is achieved with base skill.

I know all about the hard cap.. What doesn't make sense is keeping yourself and your party below its maximum potential.

[Sylphet]

I still think capped stoneskin is doable for most BRDs if they just put a little bit of thought into what they will need for a given situation.

We've already established that you can get by in XP with only light and earth staves. In the same vein, you don't HAVE to carry around all of your instruments. For XP you really need only the following: Elegy, Lullaby, Minuet, March. (Madrigal optional). If you're in a manaburn you can forgo the melee ones and just add Threnody. If you're in a RNG burn you can tack on the Prelude instrument. Do you really need to carry around all 14 or so instruments for xp? not really.

Call it seven spaces required for instruments and weapons. You end up with plenty of space for gear. Additionally, you don't need to carry around EVERY possible piece of BRD gear you own to EVERY event.

For most HNMs I don't even really need to use stoneskin because if I'm pulling hate we're in deep shit and a hundred-ish extra HP won't do anything to save me. Additionally, any damage I take can be cured by a Paladin who can use it to gain hate so I don't usually use stoneskin very much at HNMs unless MP is running low or I stand the possibility of being one shot.

I've found that capped stoneskin is most useful in XP and Einherjar though clearly it's never a bad thing. Very rarely do you need to carry around EVERY gear set you possibly could have on BRD. You don't need a haste/fast cast set on HNMs and you don't need a -enmity set in xp. Tailor the gear you carry to the event you're doing and you can carry around enough MND gear to cap stoneskin.

Honestly, I'd say that the main issue with being able to reproduce my stoneskin set is not the inventory but the fact that I have a good amount of expensive and/or rare items that help it a lot. Of course Gjallarhorn helps but it's not required.

I cry when I see people saying Chanter's Staff is shit for BRD75 - Singing/Instrument skill and Song increases are good at ANY level! I don't know about you guys but I like giving my NINs an extra boost to their recast time with double March, and they like it a lot too.

that would make sense if BRD songs didn't have a hard cap most of which is achieved with base skill.

I know all about the hard cap.. What doesn't make sense is keeping yourself and your party below its maximum potential.

Because hard cap means you've already hit your maximum potential and anything above it is superfluous.

[Nightbreed]

Just don't be like the BRD I had in a merit party once who sold their HQ Light/Earth Staves so they could buy a Chanters Staff.

[Bakthi]

Honestly, I'd say that the main issue with being able to reproduce my stoneskin set is not the inventory but the fact that I have a good amount of expensive and/or rare items that help it a lot. Of course Gjallarhorn helps but it's not required.

For me, it's a combination of things that make it a harder goal to reach:

1. Not having some of the gear (although what I don't have that you do, MND gear wise, isn't out of my reach, assuming I just used a Promise Badge).
2. Space not freed up by relic.
3. Not being Elvaan. I can't even get as much MND in most slots as this sets me back.
4. Space taken up by other jobs, so I don't even have the room in my safe/locker/storage.
5. Not having access to Windower macros.
6. Other priorities.

Some of these may be partially alleviated as time goes on. Obviously #3 won't, and I seriously doubt #2 will be.

And yeah, as far as macroing in Chanter's Staff for March...well. Minuet IV is a higher level song than Victory March, and it only takes +12 combined wind/singing skill to max. I doubt Victory March takes more than +12, and with merits, I'm already casting in...+28 without Chanter's, if you include merits. So unless anyone can point to tests where +29 or more skill actually further boosts any buff, which I doubt, "maximum potential" is not an issue.

[Obev]

Wait, what? Aren't victory/advancing marches' effects static, irrelevant of wind/singing skill?

[Charismatic]

Wait, what? Aren't victory/advancing marches' effects static, irrelevant of wind/singing skill?

No.

[Bakthi]

Wait, what? Aren't victory/advancing marches' effects static, irrelevant of wind/singing skill?

They might be at 75; you can be fairly certain this is the case with Advancing March, as it's such a low level (and therefore has a great deal of +skill ahead of it simply from leveling up). Valor Minuet III is static by the time you hit 75, but when you first get it, it's considerably weaker. Most of the buff potency testing I've seen has been at 75, but it's reasonable to assume that most (if not all) non-Ballad buffs are not at full potency when you first obtain them. I definitely remember something like Minuet III being a point or two of attack worse than II when I first used the scroll. I think IV was equal to III because at that point I had some +skill gear (AF and Minstrel's; I leveled BRD before Chanter's).

Victory March is not that much lower than Valor Minuet IV (3 levels), so it may require a bit of +skill to cap, but even if this is the case, it probably requires less than you want to have around to cap Minuet IV anyway. I don't know if I've ever seen tests posted on it by someone who isn't 75 with +skill merits (if anyone knows of some, please link away). According to FFXIclopedia, Army's Paeon V (level 65) is capped by 75, so...whee.

[layoneil]

Victory March is 9% Haste Cap, Advancing March is 7% Haste Cap, +2 to each with +2 instrument, totals to 20%.

no amount of skill is going to get you to 21% so swapping to Chanter's is stupid.

it's also not static because if you /BRD, Advancing is not 7%, it's lower because you're running on only Singing Skill.

[Obev]

Learn something new every day. I'd previously thought marches were static from 29-75 so thanks for un-newbing me.

[Maaglin]

So for someone like myself who is going to start lvling bard, the jist of all this is, use a monster signa till 51 and HQ staves? Chanter's is pretty much crap in almost any situation? Do you keep a monster around for macro switching buffs after 51, or is it not worth it?

[Obev]

There is no point to a Monster Signa after 51.

Chanter's may occasionally put you into a higher tier for buff songs between 40 and 75, but at 75 it does nothing.

I used a Chanter's Staff full-time 40-51, and macroed it into buff songs 51-75. I still have it because nobody will buy the stupid thing, but I guess it's nice for swift belt and soboro runs.

[Daahan]

I have Terra's for Elegy and Ltng. Thren

Vulcan's for Ice Thren. (Primarily for Ouryu but there is other stuff)

and Apollo's for everything else.

I have a well equipped MP bard too, so I always keep my Pluto's staff with me when I have to rest MP.

[Zarath]

So for someone like myself who is going to start lvling bard, the jist of all this is, use a monster signa till 51 and HQ staves? Chanter's is pretty much crap in almost any situation? Do you keep a monster around for macro switching buffs after 51, or is it not worth it?

I'd even just debate MP+ pieces really, signa is nice and all but unnecessary. Pretty much staves at 51 at least, and ur good till 75.

[Sigi]

File it under "Shit is situational."
For its level, the Chanter's staff is a better option than signa. However, at 51+ elemental staves perform better overall.
Then again, I got my chanter's for cheap and sold high 8)