Melody earrings... Do i need them?

[Vilurum]

Have a pair myself, and the latent effect does indeed kick in when you have any bard song on you (meaning for me, it's pretty much always active). Also, you will note from their description that it's a boost to "Evasion skill" rather than "Evasion". As such, it raises the skill, not the stat.

[Rekiem]

Oh so you can see it in your "Combat Skill" menu when the effect kick in?

[Layoneil]

Oh so you can see it in your "Combat Skill" menu when the effect kick in?

yes

[Dux]

I have been playing this game for a while now and I have heared alot of "You must have maximum possible DEF for job X", or "You must have maximum possible ATK for job Y" at various times and in 99.99% of the case's it's just not true.

Most people have 9 to 5's, family or other responsibilities to attend to before sitting down to play FFXI or just don't have the patience to get the x million gil item(s) that people would have us believe we need. So in an effort to be a great BRD but still maintain some kind of social life (and my will to live) I need to draw on your BRD experience.

I would be very interested to hear what the higher level Bards think this theoretical "cap" actually is. It doesn't really matter if this cap does or does not exists but if you was to shout out an eductaed guess as to where this cap would be then what would you guess?

So lets take level 60 as an example (ignoring BCNMs or NM/HNM for now) as this is firmly in the "middle game" and you can assume that AF has been completed. WHat would you say is the point where more CHR goes un-noticed?

[Vilurum]

At that or any level, on exp enemies, I'd say +30 is a very reasonable goal. You could probably even get away with somewhere in the +20's if you've got some of those nice +skill items like the Wind Torque or Minstrel's Coat.

Honestly, I've found relative level to be far more of an issue in my resist rates than +CHR. Go to a new levelling place where you're a little low level? Resist, resist, resist, unresisted. Gain a level and do your happy new level dance? Next battle? Unresisted, resist, unresisted, unresisted. Gain another level? Unresisted, unresisted, unresisted, unresisted.

That's before skilling up to your new skill caps, I might add.

However, starting at level 62 I believe, you have a neat little CHR "cheat" you can do, and it's called "Bewitching Etude". Make a macro to use this on yourself (preferably with a Rose Harp +1, you're getting around +7 or +8 to a stat with the instrument, rather than +5 or +6), and if you're finding yourself with ugly resist rates, use this macro before debuffing. Single-target etudes are faster-casting buffs like Prelude, so you should have time to use it.

[Stolin]

I've been in parties with +0 CHR and still hardly ever got resists. =/ Edit: I never got my AF gloves either just the pants

[Peanut_Midgard]

Many tests on various websites have shown that the soft CHR cap for xp mobs is around 30ish. And in actuality for xp mobs, levels and +skill is more important than CHR. For the CHR 30-35 range, you would still notice reduced resist rates. But after 35 it's really not noticable unless you have a large data sample.

I have personally observed and equipped CHR stuff for 30, 35 and 40. I find it to be most effective for me at 33-35. That's hardly an unattainable goal. All the ubah CHR items are really for NM, HNM and Gods where it's believed that the soft CHR cap is higher (different diminishing return curve).

Get everything else first. Melody Earrings are hardly must haves.

Bird Whistle/Star Necklace (CHR +3)
Noble Ribbon (CHR +3)
Corsette+1 (CHR +6)
Jester Cape+1 (CHR +10)
Moon Rings x2 (CHR +6)
Shellbuster (CHR +4)
Choral Cuffs (CHR +4)

That's CHR +36 already. A very solid base and doesn't cost an arm and a leg (still a good amount). Jester Cape +1 is really important though. Since the difference is CHR +3 between NQ and HQ versions.

Coupled with the +skill from the rest of our AF pieces, resist rate should not be a problem at all for your xp parties. This should be your core CHR equip, everything else is icing on top for xp mobs.