I am spoony!

[Garland]

After turning 30 as a whm, I decided to become a bard. I've been messing around with the class for about 10 levels, and I've encountered a problem. I don't know how I should ideally equip my bard. I'm a Bard/whm, if that makes a difference. I was looking at my character, and I thought - he doesn't use mp for songs, so mp boosting equipment isn't necessary anymore. Then I thought - for all intents and purposes, I should treat my character as a mage, so HP boosting equipment isn't critical (I don't imagine Bard's melee often). Mind is useless in general, and Int is useless for a Bard. My current line of reasoning is swaying me towards a pure defensive setup. My delvings into the frontlines to buff the melees will put me in AOE range. If I'm on the right track with my reasoning, my only debate is agility/evasion or vitality/defense. Tarus have a knack for the former, and are pathetic at the latter. However, IT enemies don't care how high your evasion is. Anyway, any advice on the equipping of a bard would be appreciated.

On a side note, I have a knife and an instrument equipped. I have one string, and one wind instrument. It'd be great to be able to swap the instruments midbattle without entering the menu. Is there a macro command to change equipment? If so, could someone note it down? I'd greatly appreciate it.

[Rostum]

I am guessing you will need +CHR equiptment? I know there's defenatly a macro for changing equitpment but I've forgotten it. >.< But yeah you will be running around the battle field alot to sing / play songs for the melee's and mages. BRD is an awesom job. =D

[Lionx]

/equip "item" will do it i think. however i dont think its necessary at all. Been a BRD for 25 lvls and i will try to maybe lay down my experiences as them. k?

Instruments come in a variety of types. Ultimately there are only 2 types of instrument. Harps (String Instrument) and Flutes (Wind Instrument). They equip to your RANGE slot.

The first instruments you'll get your hands on are a Flute and a Maple Harp. They have a level 1 Requirement, and don’t give any bonuses. Eventually youll one way or another get instruments which have a + attribute on them. Example: a Cornette is a flute which has a +1 to Minuet. What this means is that ALL songs with the word “Minuet” in them, will be increased when played with the specific instrument.

At a higher level, you willl notice youll need to switch your equipment constantly in order to play the right songs with the right bonuses. Macros come in handy for a time like this.

The equipment Macro is as follows;

/equip SlotName Item name

so in our case, the correct macro would be;

/equip Range Cornette

You can throw in an extra line to your macro so it says;

/equip Range Cornette
/echo Cornette Equipped - +1 Minuet

That way whenever you switch your instrument, it will say in your chat box Cornette Equipped - +1 Minuet. Very handy for anyone who is very forgetful, but chances are you wont forget.


What you should focus on is CHR equpiment. They affect the power and potency of your songs like Lullaby/Threnody and to a lesser extent other buff songs...

Go all out CHR, and boost MP on slots like earring and things that doesnt allow you to boost CHR. Your WHM abilities arent used alot, but when it is used, it gives the edge for your party usually. Curaga/Divine Seal at higher lvls are useful to save MP for the other mages.

Items to remember:
Jester Cape (Cape) = CHR+7
Corsette (Belt) = CHR+5
Monsters Signa (Staff) = CHR+8
Opal and Hope Rings = CHR+1, CHR+2
Bird Whistle (Neck) = CHR+3 (and HP+5)
Royal Knight Flute = CHR+3
Choral Gloves (AF4) = CHR+4

Get these babies ASAP.

As for Weapon dont bother usually, i go Sword because it offers more dmg...but BRD=the Sux for soloing more than any other job.

Your job in the Party is to be the best support you can be. Bards are constantly running around back and forth while everyone is fighting. You will never get a break.

Here is a quick example of what a Bard would do for every fight.

First, Your regular PT setup. 3 Mages and 3 Melee’s. They are fighting an anonymous monster.

As the Bard, you must notice that you cannot give the Casters the same songs as the Melee. Afterall what would an Attack Up song benefit on a WHM? So you run to an area where you wont get in their range.

Once in range, play the two songs for the Melee. Whatever you like. Usually most BRDs play Sword Madrigal (Accuracy Up) and Valor Minuet (Attack Up) which really helps the Melee out.

After you played both songs, quickly rush back to the casters. Once there, you have to play the songs for the Casters. Ballad (MP Regen) is a must.

Usually by that time, the monster is near death, you help out with Requiem / Elegy / Lullaby and what not. Once it dies get into the middle of them, and play Paeon (HP Regen) and Ballad (MP Regen) again.

Repeat for every battle. You are constantly moving, busy as a BRD, it can get repetitive, but you are an asset to the party in every single way possible.Some BRDs are lazy and dont play the Paeon and Ballad at the end of every fight. But I think they are a crucial key to fast experience. The shorter the down-time, the more Exp!

As for your Two Hour Ability, it makes all songs double in strength, and your debuff/sleep songs irresistable(at least thats what i seem to get), invaluable in BCNMs and major mob control with Horde Lullaby.

Stringed instruments have a larger range than a flute. Although that depends largely on the song sung, the general idea is that Harps>Wind instruments in range. I would use Flutes for Mage/Melee casting, then when its time for Ballad/Paeon, i switch over to Harp either with macro or Alt E..whatever i feel like doing that keeps the exp flowing like water.

Songs generally have one characteristic based on their name:

Paeon : HP Regen Song (Paeon I regens 1 HP per 3 Seconds. Paeon II regens 2 HP per 3 Seconds. Etc..)
Ballad : MP Regen Song (Ballad I regens 1 MP per 3 Seconds. Ballad II regens 2 MP per 3 Seconds.)
Minuet : Attack Up Song (Depends on CHR the amount of Attack Boost)
Minne : Defence Up Song (Depends on CHR the amount of Defence Boost)
Madrigal : Melee Accuracy Up Song (Unknown amount of accuracy raise)
Prelude : Range Accuracy Up Song (Only song which can be Sung on an INDIVIDUAL player.)
Requiem : Damage-Over-Time Song (Requeim I drains 1 HP a Second. Requiem II drains 2 HP a Second.)
Elegy : Decrease Enemy Attack Speed Song (Unknown amount of slowness)
March : Increase Ally Attack Speed Song (Unknown amount of delay decrease)
Threnody : Decrease Enemy Resistance Song (Decreases resistance for a specific element)
Carol : Increase Ally Resistance Song (Raises resistance for a specific element)
Lullaby : Put Enemy to Sleep Song (Unknown calculation in time spent asleep. Depends on CHR)
Mambo : Evasion Up Song (depends on CHR the amount of Evasion increased)
Etude : Specific Status Up Song (depends on CHR the bonus the specific stat will give)
Operetta : Silence Resist Up Song (Unknown amount of resistance)

Whew that took a while..x-x hope this helped out.

[Garland]

I've only used the two hour ability once. I was in a pt with a friend (just us two) for fun, early on. We fought a difficult crawler and ended up critical and poisoned. I used my hp regen song and it only negated out the effect of the poison. I was out of mp, so I used my 2 hr, and cast the hp regen song again, and though we were still poisoned, the regen's effect was great enough to not only stop the poison drain, but to regen our hp at the standard rate. Quite a lifesaver for a player that's critical and can't rest, at a level where even a Saruta Baruta Yagudo is a perilous foe. To think I had once thought the Bard 2hr useless...

Also - thanks a bunch for the macro. I had tried Equip "itemname". My mistake was not including the location to equip it to. I'm using knives as my offensive weapons because dagger class weapons are the only set where the bard can use the special restricted weapon skill at the end of the list. While Pompidou was envisioned with a rapier and a beret, when I made the character, I suppose effectiveness is more important. At least my AF gear has a beret, so I'll still have the French motif going.

Monster Signa is quite a pricey item. I'd better get saving. I saw another pricy item, Mary's Horn. I might get that too. If it costs a lot, people expect you to have it, generally. Another general rule I follow is, if I can afford it, it's not worth it - keep saving.

[Rostum]

You could always set aside some time to camp the NM's that drop the items.

[Citizen Bleys]

A lot of time.

I want Leaping Boots, but I can't compete with the high level thf/rngs who are ALWAYS camping Lizzie. It'd be easier to pay the 250k by farming crawlers in East Sarutabaruta.

My buddy Clyde keeps saying it's faster to camp the Spook, but the competition's too rough there, too. It's always the warriors with Voke who get it.

EDIT: For that matter, I don't think there are *any* NMs that a lv 26 whm has a snowball's chance in hell at. Stray Mary's not overcamped, but she'd also brutally destroy a lv 26.

[Rostum]

Well, just hang out until level 30 or so, get a RNG sub (doesn't matter if it's level 1 it has widescan) and get a friend to help. If you are camping NM's for gil you can always split the gil and both be happy, either that or you are getting the item and it's a friend who wants to help.

[Lionx]

I just like to note that Elemental Staves also help, you can cast Requiem(light based song), and get resisted alot, but with the LightStaff it will be almost no resistance...same goes with other songs/spells as long as you equip the appropiate staff. A LightStaff is good for lullaby and mob control.

[Garland]

Another quick question. Most instruments have a special enhancement to a certain song type. Mary's Horn is +1 Lullaby, for example. Is it in my best interests to carry an instrument for every song type? Somehow, I foresee a Gobbie Bag quest in my future, if this is the case. I could concievably set a macro to equip the proper instrument before casting each song.

[Citizen Bleys]

The price on the light staff is also approximately double that of Chateau d'Oraguille.

[Lionx]

Yea its expensive, but i plan to get at LEAST Dark and Light...and Dark is already within my grasp.

As for instruments, Madrigal, Minuet and Lullaby is the ones that are more important. Those three are enough.

[Garland]

In the interest of overkill, I purchased several instruments with +2 to a song type. I'll carry any instrument that can do so. After getting all the +2's, I'll fill out my inventory with the +1's that have no HQ version. I've set up my macros to equip the appropriate instrument before playing the song.

I plan on buying two Hope rings (chr +2 each), a noble's ribbon (chr +3) fairly soon. I came up with a fairly reasonable plan to get the money for monster signa and the other uber items, and it involves taking advantage of my class's absolute necessity in the BCNM 40 battle. Not only do I need Erase for my whm sub anyway, but a few sales of a 300,000 gil will let me buy my elemental staves (or Chateau D'Oraquille several times over).

[Lionx]

I will just say that BCNM40s almost require a Mary's Horn..becuase those mandies are tough when grouped together...and as a taru your hp is in danger, so try to get the horn and MAX all your CHR...your horn with Horde Lullaby will get a serious workout.

[Citizen Bleys]

And I thought Ninjas and Rangers needed a hockey sock full of money.

[Lionx]

Every job if you want it to do well needs a certain ammount of money...its just NIN and RNG need that and a constant supply of ammo to be bought. ;-;

[Citizen Bleys]

One "m" in "amount"

[White Mage Nico]

^_^ Hello! and Garland, Good Luck on your Bard, and your macros idea to set the equip item then the song, it will work, type /equip Range "Item" then in second macros slot, type in /wait 2 then ...I forgot how to type in a song >.< and once again, good luck!

[Garland]

Thanks. My new plan goes even further. Melees tend to always get the same two songs without variation, and the same for mages and such (though I have no mage buffs yet). I'm going to make paired song macros for each character type. For example, my macro for melees will be something like:

/equip range "Traversiere +1"
/so "Sword Madrigal" <me>
/wait 11
/equip range "Cornette +1"
/so "Valor Minuet" <me>
/equip range "Royal Spearman's Horn

11 seconds seems to be the smallest interval I can get without a "You must wait longer..." warning. Equipping the Royal Spearman's Horn at the end allows me to avoid making macros for every miscellaneous song with no specific instrument to boost it. That horn is Chr+3, and will help any song equally.

I'm thinking back to my last days as WHM, in Yhoater Jungle. I'm thinking that will be hell for a bard. I haven't gotten down my instrument ranges yet, but I know they're pretty darn large. I remember in Yhoater and Yuhtunga that parties were very cramped - so cramped that people in one party were being slept by the AOE of the next party's mandy. If I'm expected to specifically target key components of the party for special songs, we surely aren't partying there. You said you were a bard, LionX, How did you pass your level 25-30 days? Did you have the class leverage to move your party to Sauramague or Rolanberry? Did you simply give melees and mages the same spells and tell them to live with it, because Jungle stinks?

[Lionx]

After going through the jungles once with my WHM, i vowed never to go there again! I mainly went to Rolanberry Fields and the sort and chained gobs and weaker Quads. That was better than Kazham. Hence after once, i dont go there again.

And as a BRD i have heavy impact on where the party goes, so there :P