Is the Monster Signa done?

[2.0]

Seeing as how you never "needed" the signa until later levels for debuffs and light staff and earth staff are more effective at landing said debuffs does the Signa have any real purpose after level say 60?
I personally would have to say no. It's a shame too considering I really like the way the signa looks. Oh well. Just wondering what you guys think.

[UnnamedGalka]

The only reason I still have my Signa is for HNM battles, where you'll need all the CHR you can get if you ever hope to land any debuffs successfully.

[Neptune]

Forgive me if this is a stupid statement as I'm only just starting to play Bard and haven't experienced the end-game yet, but it doesn't really make sense to me that items like the elemental staves which help you land debuffs on EXP monsters suddenly become bad for HNM. I mean, the principle of using them to support songs of corresponding elements remains the same, so is there just a unique trait of HNMs that disregards the effects of the elemental staves and makes +CHR the only thing worth having?

[Rekiem]

Monster Signa is kinda neat at lower level because BRD is the king of crowd control and before mages get escape and other stuff for emergency situation, saving the group from a link or something like that is the bard job. Failing this usually mean entire party wipeout. Before level 64, only BLM can escape and I find that the regular sleep spell is totally unreliable because once the monster wakes up, it takes like 2 hit to rape a taru caster and he keep getting interrupted if he try to sleep the monster again.

Having massive amount of CHR at low level is nice for the crowd control aspect. No matter what people say, landing lullaby on an IT monster is tough without good CHR.

[tnt118]

Originally posted by Neptune
Forgive me if this is a stupid statement as I'm only just starting to play Bard and haven't experienced the end-game yet, but it doesn't really make sense to me that items like the elemental staves which help you land debuffs on EXP monsters suddenly become bad for HNM. I mean, the principle of using them to support songs of corresponding elements remains the same, so is there just a unique trait of HNMs that disregards the effects of the elemental staves and makes +CHR the only thing worth having?

No, I think you are spot on with this. If the boost the staves give you help land debuffs better... they seem to absolutly be what you'd want to use for HNMs, as well.

Two main staves are light (requiem, lullaby) and earth (elegy). I *think* finale is light based, too. Apart from the threnodies, there is nothing else you have to land on a mob. I guess the signa is a nice catch-all for the threnodies, instead of having a staff for each one (personally overkill I think.. maybe if you've every staff because you also play SMN or something *shrug*).

However, keep this in mind.. I got this from another thread on beast charming and light staff, and the following has been theorized... that you have mobs that resist for different reasons:

- It's strong to the element the song is based from
- It has a natural resistance to that status effect
- It has a high CHR (or whatever the "check" value for debuffs are)

It could very well be true that high CHR, high skill, or using an elemental staff could each have a different impact on determining *why* the song lands or gets resisted... and against certain creatures the light staff *might* not be the best way to overcome the resists.

I can't even begin to think of how to test this, though.

[2.0]

When my crew was fighting genbu the earth staff kicked the monster signa's ass when it came to landing carnage elegy. It was just so much easier to land. So even for HNM's i'd say that the earth staff is better. I'm not a bard but the ones I know don't use the signa anymore.

[Niland]

i tried the light staff, its really nice.

problem is when you goto exp (not that i really do that as a brd anymore) your bread and butter is threnody and elegy, (on exp mobs finale is rarely resisted so don't worry about that one)

since its normally light threnody in later lvls you'd need to have a dark, earth and light staff to cover everything.

well i can understand ppl just saying "uffff.." and sticking with a signa.

that said i was pretty impressed with the light staff and i'd certainly recommend it, but don't hock that signa quite yet

[Peanut_Midgard]

It's also a nice catch all threnody staff

[Strident]

I'm at lvl 31 and I've been trying to save up money for new equipment. Would most of you agree that I should just ignore the monster signa and just get some dagger until I can use the elemental staves?

[tnt118]

Originally posted by Strident
I'm at lvl 31 and I've been trying to save up money for new equipment. Would most of you agree that I should just ignore the monster signa and just get some dagger until I can use the elemental staves?

Yeah.. at 40, grab the Paper Knife.. and at 48 the Shellbuster... you'll be fine on +CHR weapons with those. I didn't buy my light staff until around 61, which I regret. If you've the ability to pick them earlier, I'd highly recommend it.

[Peanut_Midgard]

You should be saving money up for these things that will be coming your way soon:

1) Corsette +1
2) Light Staff
3) Jester Cape +1
4) Moon Ring x 2

You can ride the Paper Knife for a while as far as daggers go. I wouldn't even worry about Shellbuster. With just the above setup you will have 23 CHR already, plus Bird Whistle and Noble Ribbon, you have 29 CHR. That's quite a bit already. Combine that with +1 instruments, you should land your songs 90% of the time for regular xp parties.