The original vision of the bard for Vanguard was a grand one. Instruments were supposed to play a big part in this vision. While most of these instruments have been made obsolete by game mechanics, I would like to look into the possibility of getting high end raid targets to drop instrument upgrades for nearly every type. Why, you ask? If you're a bard you already know that most of our instruments, songs, and abilities, do not scale much past 50. I believe one step in the right direction would be to get some instrument updates that take the genre in a new direction. Adding loot to an existing table for high end raid targets, i.e. sparkles, karax, spider, wg, shendu would breath some new life into the old instrument system and create a little buzz for the bard class with ftp coming up. I'll start with the current best in slot instrument list, then state the situation for each type as it stands today. From there maybe we can figure out how to get these 2007 instruments caught up with some of the extreme builds of 2012. Best in slot instruments: 2H brass: Ornate Stone Horn - BASNARET (lvl 50 / 4 dot) Abammisi Lake 1H Brass Ariezel's Horn of Rage - KOTASOTH (lvl 53 / 6 dot) Ancient Port Warehouse 2H String: Moss Strung Lute - Guulreg The Purifier (lvl 46 / 4 dot) Ichtakhta 1H String: Jharuu Skin Lute - Summoneer Yerkj (lvl 54 / 6 dot) Island of Garuzamut 2H Wind: Swamproot Pipe - Saphson (lvl 48 / 3 dot) Vsurog Moor 1H Wind Ebonwood Recorder - LORD FALADRIAN (lvl 53 / 6 dot) Flordiel 2H Drum: The Whitewind Drum - Officer Masuke Whitewind (lvl 58 / 6 dot) Magi hold Voice mod: Mask of Mages - Arch Magus Shendu (lvl 59 / 6 dot) Tomb of Lord Tsangs This list is pretty standard knowledge among bards. There are lists floating around online that are much more comprehensive, but basically this is the useful information. If you're a new bard looking for the best instruments in game, this is the concensus. Of the best instruments (based on their ability to modify) there are only a couple that I use at end game. Useful to me at end game: Voice mod: Mask of Mages - for DPS song 1H Wind Ebonwood Recorder - When I'm kiting on my sorc, instead of my offhand epic for added pixie pitch 2H string Moss strung Lute - Meat Song 1H String: Jharuu Skin Lute - If someone needs meat in combat and I don't want to drop pixie pitch or if I ever need to play a regen song (once in a blue moon) I could make a case for some of the brass items in game because I do have modified dps songs that utilize some of the debuffs and damage from song dots, but their usefulness over raw dps song is questionable. The whitewind drum has been made useless with the weird nerf they put in recently. My point, is that Bards have been placed in the dps role reluctantly, and while many of us have taken the class as far down that road as we can go, it wasn't our choice. Is it a coincidence that we've become a dps class while the only real end game item for us is the damage mod off of the mask of mages. Of the 4 useful instruments in my "useful" list ony two of them are from a raid mob. I hope someone reads my little rant and see's the sorry state of the instruments in game. Are their bigger fish to fry? Absolutely. Does that mean forget about it? No. Let's take a look at what could make a great class even better. Especially in the end game. Adding some better instruments on higher level targets will give bards coming up something to look forward to and give me something to do in the mean time. I liked the direction it was heading with Kota, Masuke, and Shendu having some red instruments, but then it stopped. I realize there are balance issues, but being level 55 with full pota/raid gear and only having 3 or 4 items in the entire database that can improve your build is getting kind of scary. The instrument list could be a good way to give a lot of people something to do while not upsetting balance. That's my 2 cents anyway.
You missed one drop in your post. the best 1h Lute is off Yerkj, the Jharru skin lute with a 2.58 or so string mod. also for raiding the kota horn is somewhat more relivant after the addition of epics for a handful of encounters and while i let it rot years ago, i'd make an effort to pick it up if i was raiding frequently just to use with the epic and the ranged dot songs. to add to your observation that bards are forced into a dps role instead of a support role, you can add the loss of our charm and the degradation of our lull spell in the 51+ areas. while not a big issue since we can still mez, it does take away part of the fun we enjoyed in old dungeons lulling or just turning a 5 pull into a single mob. another point, after the changes to raise the level cap the stacking of our regen components was somewhat altered, not that they were great before, but now the health regen is beyond pitifull.
Nejibana@Telon wrote: Ah thanks, updated the list to include the yerkj drop! Substituted it in for the sake of context even though I don't have it. Also, I made a concession statement for the 1h brass being useful in some situations. I tried not to turn the post into a "fix all scaling issues post 50" because I know it would get no response. Trying to get SOMETHING done and I think adding some new stuff to existing loot tables could be a reasonable request that might get a little look over. I remember the OP pulse healing days of the regen song, so nothing will ever compare to that. Regen song is pretty much a joke now unfortunately. Thanks for the response.
With the re-itemization of the zones I believe it is no longer possible to obtain 3 of those items anymore. Stung Moss Lute, Ebonwood recorder, and the swamproot pipe. Although I could be wrong, I killed these names pplenty of times since the re-temization and have yet to see any of those items drop since. So if you are a new bard you may be screwed out of those 3 items. /failface Hopefully I'm wrong though...
Strung Moss Lute was a rare drop (for most people) so you may not see it for a while. A better way to judge is to see whether the mob's other loot has been changed, which in this case i don't believe it has.
Ghostchild@Seradon wrote: Lord Fal used to drop the ebonwood almost every time and I haven't seen it since the reitemization. I believe some of these drops have been eliminated from the table, without any regard for replacements. We were already hurting in the instrument department, now it looks like it's just worse. :/
Just test Guulreg the Purifier definitely has new loot. He was also mentioned in the patch notes for August 7th. Leading me to believe you are SoL fpr a good lute if you are a new bard.
Thinking about this more. ToT was also re-itemized so the drop from BASNARET is also most likely gone.
I've killed Guulreg the Purifier prob about 30 times or so since the reitemization and have not seen the strung moss lute. Also the Wierlaun's Lute of Melodies from the tricksters line isnt part of the quest reward (the mask is still a reward tho) would be nice if it could be put back into game as it's the only easily attainable 1handed lute.
