Merit question

[Preacher]

Recently recieved my first Merit point, wondering about what I should do, my options are:

A) Cap out Wind

B) Cap out Singing

C) 2 in Wind
2 in Sing

I was going towards the capping out wind skill because I have more of it on than singing, but still confused a bit.

[SharkyBlade]

Is BRD going to be your main job? If you're playing other jobs currently, you should see what merits would benefit other jobs too.

[Preacher]

I have a level 45 war, but I'm using Combat / STR / Critical hit rate up for him.

[Nodachi]

I really don't know waht to suggest, i'm pouring it all into great katana skill but hmm…. I'm gona say harp skill. Reason being is debuffs/lullaby are harder to land on the mob with a harp than they are a flute, and with the Finale +2 and Lullaby +2 instruments both being harps, i would want more re-assurance in landing the debuff/lullaby.

[Preacher]

Hmm, string skill would be nice but I use wind more often, the main reason I'm looking at wind is for landing elegy on gods easily, more potency in madrigal / minuet / prelude, and since singing and wind skill both give more attack in minuet, I was wondering which would actually be better.

[Leri]

I didn't bother I just poured it all into MP. Currently only playing mage jobs so it helps no matter what.

+MP is very nice for bard.... I always use mine.

[Nodachi]

Originally posted by Preacher
Hmm, string skill would be nice but I use wind more often, the main reason I'm looking at wind is for landing elegy on gods easily, more potency in madrigal / minuet / prelude, and since singing and wind skill both give more attack in minuet, I was wondering which would actually be better.

I'm pretty sure the amount of attack from Minuet given caps before your string skill caps. So don't think it'll help with that but i do agree with your goal in landing Elegies. I duno, tough call i suppose.

[Laehn]

Singing effects all songs, just not sure in what way. So if youre in doubt, do that one. There should be some benefit there wether its fewer resists, better power, or both with all your songs.

[Preacher]

From looking at it, wind does get capped and won't add more to minuet for me. But, the skill is nice because I can use my Zenith Pants more than my AF pants. >.>;

Probably gunna put 1 into string, and 2 into singing now.

[Vilurum]

Base skill at level 75 (225 all), no Cornette +1 (it's a flat +5 to any number, and the pattern is more recognizable without it):

Minuet I: +16 attack
Minuet II: +32
Minuet III: +48
Minuet IV: +54

Throw on a Wind Torque, Minstrel's Coat, Choral Cannions, Choral Cuffs, and Demon Helm (+13 Wind, +10 Singing, and even though it won't apply, +3 String as well):

Minuet I: +16
Minuet II: +32
Minuet III: +48
Minuet IV: +56

Huge ginormous improvement? No. But Minuet IV is *not* yet capped.

But keep in mind that the +54 is what you have at level 75, so if you pretended the equation was linear (it's not, if only because of varying skill gains per level), that's less than 1 point of attack per level anyway. And the +skill boosts it 2 points of attack, so effectively at least 2 levels' worth of improvement to Minuet. Considering how slowly skill crawls up after level 60, it's probably actually more like 3-4 levels' worth of improvement. Anyway.

As for the cap, logic dictates that'd be at +64.

Having said all that, most songs *do* cap with base skill at level 75. Of the numerically observable ones anyway (which notably excludes Madrigal and Mambo and Prelude ... and maybe March, not sure if it's affected by skill), only Minuet and Minne improved with my +skill equipment. By 2 for Minuet as I showed above, and by 1 for Minne (+47 to +48, again add 5 for the Harp +1).

Etude, Carol, Paeon ... these can and do all improve with skill (both skill gains from levelling, and +skill equipment when you're lower level), but by base skill at level 75 they're already capped (Carol and Paeon anyway ... Etude may still have room for improvement, but you need a LOT of skill to get an extra +1 to a stat from Etude, and +13 wind/string along with +10 singing isn't enough).

[Laehn]

Hes concerned about resist rates too. Its a little difficult to measure things like boosts from madrigal or prelude with skill if there is one. And i heard somewhere that things like minuet increase attack by a certain %, so a couple extra % points could be fairly significant on a party member with a high attack rating.

[Vilurum]

Minuet only affects attack by a percentage insofar as it's applied to base attack *before* outside percentage boosts. (Thus a percentage boost from food or berserk or whatever, is applied to your attack total *after* adding minuet.)

For example (made-up numbers):

Base attack 200. Have an ability that gives +25% attack in effect. Effective attack 250.

Minuet of choice gives +40. When minuet lands, base attack is now 240. Effective attack is now 300, an increase of 50 over the effective attack of 250 before.

Of that 50-point increase, 40 points is minuet itself, and 10 points is the percentage boost (which is now a 60-point boost rather than a 50-point boost, because it's working on a bigger base attack number).

EDIT: As far as resist rates go, I have never observed +Singing to help. (That doesn't mean it doesn't, it means I've never seen it. Please keep the distinction in mind.) I *have* observed +Wind and +String to help a little. So my personal suspicion is that +Singing either doesn't affect debuff resist rate at all (unless the debuff is played with no instrument), or it doesn't affect it as strongly as +Wind/+String.

Keeping that in mind, it boils down (again, in my mind) to Wind vs. String. Which means Elegy vs. Threnody, really, considering the instrument selections.