Bard Merit Category 1: What To Pick?

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Bard merit category 1: What to pick?
 Cerberus.Tidis
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By Cerberus.Tidis 2014-12-30 07:52:07
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Leviathan.Protey said: »
i think i figured it out. i went and tested stun on my RDM and only got it down to 9 seconds like you said, even though i have 43.75% magic haste, 25% gear haste, and 80% fast cast. that should have gotten me well below 9 second recast, but didn't. So for magic finale it is the song recast delay gear that got me below 80% reduction.
Ah ok, so there is an 80% cap but then there are certain things that are calculated outside that cap.
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By Phoenix.Gameesh 2014-12-30 10:41:19
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This is gonna sound like a dumb question, but are there any good swords for BRD besides the Swan Bilbo? It's an amazing sword, but 'only' level 60.

Here's the stats for anyone interested:


I'm asking since I solo BRD as BRD/DNC, and thus want a good off-hand weapon. The choice of daggers is rather slim, and I have sword meritted. It's the highest skill I got of the weapons Bard can use.
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By Asura.Solacia 2014-12-30 11:05:09
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Joyeuse? That is what I used on BRD back at 75 cap when I wanted to hit stuff!
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By Lakshmi.Byrth 2014-12-30 11:20:49
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Even if you were going to waste merits on Finale, Madrigal > Minuet as your second category. 5 Attack per minuet is trivial at this point, while 5 Acc/song is still very important in difficult fights.
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By Phoenix.Gameesh 2014-12-30 11:26:03
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Asura.Solacia said: »
Joyeuse? That is what I used on BRD back at 75 cap when I wanted to hit stuff!

Oh snap how could I forget...
Wonder if people still camp that NM. I might have to go take a look soon >.>
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By Lakshmi.Eyrhika 2014-12-30 11:26:58
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Quick AH search shows:

http://www.ffxiah.com/item/20722/usonmunku

http://www.ffxiah.com/item/20717/arendsi-fleuret

http://www.ffxiah.com/item/20614/pukulatmuj-1

Some good daggers:

http://www.ffxiah.com/item/20615/levante-dagger

http://www.ffxiah.com/item/20620/sabebus

http://www.ffxiah.com/item/20624/eminent-dagger

http://www.ffxiah.com/item/20636/izhiikoh

http://www.ffxiah.com/item/20630/atoyac (OAT aug)
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 Cerberus.Tidis
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By Cerberus.Tidis 2014-12-30 11:40:19
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He's not level 99.
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By Lakshmi.Eyrhika 2014-12-30 11:45:11
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He said something earlier about grinding CP so I assumed he was. His profile isn't up to date, either. It reads as 60 but he said he was 75, so 1 night of abyssea can put you at 99. What level daggers/swords are you looking for then? The only sword lvl 75-90 that BRD can use is from ADL, the next being lvl 94, Galenus. Dagger wise there are a few options, but most require a decent amount of farming, grinding, or lvling up a magian dagger as you go. Augmented Yataghan from dominion points, or a non augmented from sparks is a decent 75+ dagger.
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By Phoenix.Gameesh 2014-12-30 12:04:55
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Lakshmi.Eyrhika said: »
He said something earlier about grinding CP so I assumed he was. His profile isn't up to date, either. It reads as 60 but he said he was 75, so 1 night of abyssea can put you at 99. What level daggers/swords are you looking for then? The only sword lvl 75-90 that BRD can use is from ADL, the next being lvl 94, Galenus. Dagger wise there are a few options, but most require a decent amount of farming, grinding, or lvling up a magian dagger as you go. Augmented Yataghan from dominion points, or a non augmented from sparks is a decent 75+ dagger.

1) My profile refuses to update for months now. Don't know why. All I get is this stupid message "Profile is fresh, not updating". Except I have been leveling jobs, doing missions, filled in merits etc etc etc.

2) I use other jobs to grind merits / CP. Mainly BLU, PUP and / or GEO since I main those jobs.

3) I refuse to use Abyssea to powerlevel my way to 99. It's cheap and feels unrewarding.

4) Thanks for the dagger / sword recommendations though. I appreciate it. I have enough options now for the (near) future.
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 Leviathan.Protey
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By Leviathan.Protey 2014-12-30 14:23:19
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Phoenix.Gameesh said: »
1) My profile refuses to update for months now. Don't know why. All I get is this stupid message "Profile is fresh, not updating". Except I have been leveling jobs, doing missions, filled in merits etc etc etc.

I know mine doesn't update unless i turn on guildwork.
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By Phoenix.Gameesh 2014-12-31 03:32:40
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Leviathan.Protey said: »
Phoenix.Gameesh said: »
1) My profile refuses to update for months now. Don't know why. All I get is this stupid message "Profile is fresh, not updating". Except I have been leveling jobs, doing missions, filled in merits etc etc etc.

I know mine doesn't update unless i turn on guildwork.

Except I don't have guildwork, or windower. Not a fan of programs that enhance / intervene with FF11.
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By Phoenix.Gameesh 2015-01-02 07:08:16
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Got 5/5 Nightingale and 2/5 Troubadour and I already love both JA's.
Thanks again for the comments, guys!
On a side note, I have 4/5 +2 Abyssea armor. Working on the pants tonight and then I'll try get 85 or close. I don't even remember how the Abyssea armor set looks, but the stats are promising already :)
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By Lakshmi.Saevel 2015-01-02 08:23:03
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Leviathan.Protey said: »
i think i figured it out. i went and tested stun on my RDM and only got it down to 9 seconds like you said, even though i have 43.75% magic haste, 25% gear haste, and 80% fast cast. that should have gotten me well below 9 second recast, but didn't. So for magic finale it is the song recast delay gear that got me below 80% reduction.

That goes into how Haste and FC work towards recast reduction. Haste could never go under a 20% floor, but your effective cap is (256 + 448)/1024 or 68.75%. FC caps at 80% for a 40% reduction, but it's multiplied and not added to the haste reduction. Finially JA reduction (Light Arts / Dark Arts / Alacrity / Celerity / ect..) is multiplied separately. So for haste it's 45 * 0.3125 * .6 = 8.4s recast without JA. A SCH's JA would reduce it by 50% for 4.2s recast, but just DA would make it a 10% reduction for 7.6s recast.

Finale would be 24 * .3125 *.6 = 4.5s. But not sure how much -SCT / FC a BRD can get nor do I know if it adds to the recast reduction like fast cast does.
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By Bahamut.Scizor 2015-01-02 08:43:36
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Phoenix.Gameesh said: »
Leviathan.Protey said: »
Phoenix.Gameesh said: »
1) My profile refuses to update for months now. Don't know why. All I get is this stupid message "Profile is fresh, not updating". Except I have been leveling jobs, doing missions, filled in merits etc etc etc.

I know mine doesn't update unless i turn on guildwork.

Except I don't have guildwork, or windower. Not a fan of programs that enhance / intervene with FF11.
You can use Windower without using any addons, guildwork doesn't actually enhance your gameplay either.
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By Phoenix.Gameesh 2015-01-02 12:28:17
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Bahamut.Scizor said: »
Phoenix.Gameesh said: »
Leviathan.Protey said: »
Phoenix.Gameesh said: »
1) My profile refuses to update for months now. Don't know why. All I get is this stupid message "Profile is fresh, not updating". Except I have been leveling jobs, doing missions, filled in merits etc etc etc.

I know mine doesn't update unless i turn on guildwork.

Except I don't have guildwork, or windower. Not a fan of programs that enhance / intervene with FF11.
You can use Windower without using any addons, guildwork doesn't actually enhance your gameplay either.

Didn't know that. I was under the impression that Windower was just a tool for making things less tedious and (in some more drastic cases) giving you the ability to adjust some things in-game like movement speed and clipping.
My apologies.
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 Lakshmi.Byrth
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By Lakshmi.Byrth 2015-01-02 12:38:29
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Naw, windower features are almost entirely opt-in. If you don't choose to use any plugins, the only thing it offers you are a (some might say) more stable windowed mode and windower scripts (optional).

If you ran a pretty plain Windower with Guildwork enabled, you'd see a message when you logged in about logging in to guildwork and you'd be able to chat with people on guildwork if you felt like it, but otherwise it would still be pretty unobtrusive.
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 Asura.Solacia
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By Asura.Solacia 2015-01-02 13:06:35
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Windower makes the game plain look better too, in my opinion. Last time I had to log in to regular FFXI windowed mode (to finish a cutscene that froze) it looked...washed out. Even if I didn't use plugins, I'd definitely still use Windower.
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By Cerberus.Tidis 2015-01-02 13:31:48
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I'd suggest just giving Windower a go, if you find objection to it, you can always just switch back to Vanilla FFXI.
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By Phoenix.Gameesh 2015-01-03 03:47:44
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Lakshmi.Saevel said: »
Leviathan.Protey said: »
i think i figured it out. i went and tested stun on my RDM and only got it down to 9 seconds like you said, even though i have 43.75% magic haste, 25% gear haste, and 80% fast cast. that should have gotten me well below 9 second recast, but didn't. So for magic finale it is the song recast delay gear that got me below 80% reduction.

That goes into how Haste and FC work towards recast reduction. Haste could never go under a 20% floor, but your effective cap is (256 + 448)/1024 or 68.75%. FC caps at 80% for a 40% reduction, but it's multiplied and not added to the haste reduction. Finially JA reduction (Light Arts / Dark Arts / Alacrity / Celerity / ect..) is multiplied separately. So for haste it's 45 * 0.3125 * .6 = 8.4s recast without JA. A SCH's JA would reduce it by 50% for 4.2s recast, but just DA would make it a 10% reduction for 7.6s recast.

Finale would be 24 * .3125 *.6 = 4.5s. But not sure how much -SCT / FC a BRD can get nor do I know if it adds to the recast reduction like fast cast does.

I never knew FF11 and math could be so intertwined.
All I do is just hit buttons and stuff dies ._.''
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By Phoenix.Gameesh 2015-01-05 04:15:11
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Oh my profile decided to update.
I blame Amhuluk. Those Abyssea NM's always force titles upon you. Maybe the title change triggered it? I haven't had my title changed for weeks.
Getting close to wearing a full +2 Abyssea set. And merits are going along nicely too! Group 2 is halfway now.

I have been using Troubadour and Nightingale together to extend songs on myself and Trusts at a reduced casting time, which is great.
But is there a time you only use Troubadour? Just curious.

Nightingale can't go wrong I guess. Faster songs is always nice.
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By Cerberus.Tidis 2015-01-05 04:56:22
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I don't think I've ever seen Nightingale + Troubadour not used together, the fact the have the same recast time makes it so there's no reason not to use them together.
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By Phoenix.Gameesh 2015-01-05 05:25:54
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Cerberus.Tidis said: »
I don't think I've ever seen Nightingale + Troubadour not used together, the fact the have the same recast time makes it so there's no reason not to use them together.

Well, I was just curious since they are different abilities. In theory they can be used seperately.

It's just that I can't see a use for solo Troubadour.

Leveling a job to 99 solo is fun, but I notice on Bard that I am missing some vital information here and there. Stuff you can only really try out in legit parties.
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By Cerberus.Spirachub 2015-01-05 05:36:56
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There's not a lot of reason to use them separately. The only time I've done that legitimately (i.e. not lag or accidentally popped only one without the other) is during messy tenzen fights that lasts longer than expected, where corsair random dealed and I got troubadour back to sleep the tarus for longer.

Nightingale really is just there to compensate the penalty of troubadour, you would never pop that on its' own as a bard who's properly equipped sing songs really fast anyway. If you use Troubadour, there really isn't a reason to not pop nightingale if it's up.
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By Phoenix.Gameesh 2015-01-05 10:11:22
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Cerberus.Spirachub said: »
There's not a lot of reason to use them separately. The only time I've done that legitimately (i.e. not lag or accidentally popped only one without the other) is during messy tenzen fights that lasts longer than expected, where corsair random dealed and I got troubadour back to sleep the tarus for longer.

Nightingale really is just there to compensate the penalty of troubadour, you would never pop that on its' own as a bard who's properly equipped sing songs really fast anyway. If you use Troubadour, there really isn't a reason to not pop nightingale if it's up.

Thank you :) My understanding of how the two JA's work went up a lot.

One more question though: I get the bonus you can have when Nightingale is under effect (insta-cast), but what does Unerring accuracy mean when Troubadour is in effect?
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By Cerberus.Spirachub 2015-01-05 10:37:27
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Phoenix.Gameesh said: »
One more question though: I get the bonus you can have when Nightingale is under effect (insta-cast), but what does Unerring accuracy mean when Troubadour is in effect?

From BGWiki:
Quote:
The final translation of this Job Ability's adjustment may be misleading. The impression from the test server was that it would give an Elemental Seal-like effect 25% of the time per merit level past the first, so permanent Elemental Seal with Troubadour 5/5 active.

basically at 5/5 it boost your macc significantly for debuffs 100% of the time.
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By Phoenix.Gameesh 2015-01-05 12:34:37
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Cerberus.Spirachub said: »
Phoenix.Gameesh said: »
One more question though: I get the bonus you can have when Nightingale is under effect (insta-cast), but what does Unerring accuracy mean when Troubadour is in effect?

From BGWiki:
Quote:
The final translation of this Job Ability's adjustment may be misleading. The impression from the test server was that it would give an Elemental Seal-like effect 25% of the time per merit level past the first, so permanent Elemental Seal with Troubadour 5/5 active.

basically at 5/5 it boost your macc significantly for debuffs 100% of the time.

That... is very very nice O.O
Thanks for the information again!
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By Phoenix.Gameesh 2015-01-08 17:42:45
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Just got 92 Bard. The Abyssea gear looks so nice =) Once I get 99 Bard I shall maybe post a screenshot to commemorate the occasion.
Thanks again to everyone posting very useful tips and merit advice in general.
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