Shield of Crystallized Music

A

antihelei

Dalayan Beginner
I feel that the Shield of Crystallized is terrible underpowered for the level of difficulty the mob that drops it is. The mob, Arbiter of Air, is incredibly difficult and requires alot of strategy and perfect execution, yet he drops a shield that is underpowered compared to the other pre-inner prison shield standby the Reverent Aegis, off of a much much easier mob.

For reference:

Shield of Crystallized Music
AC: 62
STR: +8 DEX: +8 STA: +8 CHA: +12 WIS: +12 INT: +12 AGI: +8 HP: +140 MANA: +115
Stun Resist: +5%
2.2 Wind Instruments Modifyer

While good for bards, it's got less of a modifyer than flute of the fribbet, and a much better bard offhand drops off the trash mobs that a guild would be required to clear many times before even attempting arbiter.


Reverent Aegis
AC: 65
Skill Mod: Parry +10
DEX: +12 WIS: +35 INT: +35 AGI: +12 HP: +100 Mana +100
+12 to all resists


This shield, which drops off a much much easier mob, is superior to Shield of Crystallized Music in almost everyway. The +10 parry mod decreases the damage taken by the tank, it has higher AC, much better resists, provides a much larger amount of mana, but not as much HP and stats. Currently, the Shield of Crystallized Music is not worth wearing for any of the classes that it drops for, providing no major benefit for bards over the Crystallized Djinni Voice in the off hand or sk/pal's over Reverant Aegis other than a slight increase in HP, at the loss of a large amount of resists. I think that the shield of crystalized music should be looked at for increased stats, its below the level of all of the other loot that arbiter of air drops and isn't reflective of the time and focus that is required to beat arbiter.
 
Please include classes that each of those shields can be used by. I beleive the difference you see in stats can be accounted for by that alone.

As it stands, it is the ONLY shield worth having that a bard can use, and as such is quite an unusual item in and of itself. The ability to have a wind instrument equipped while also getting a whopping load of AC and using a weapon is not to be discounted.

In addition, the CJV is probably overpowered, and last I heard, was going to be nerfed to a 1.5 mod.

Don't bash the shield, it's great for a bard!
 
I think it needs an upgrade, its pretty lacking even for bards. Maybe if the instrument mod was higher it would be worth using.

Ginam
 
Shield of Crystallized Music
AC: 62
STR: +8 DEX: +8 STA: +8 CHA: +12 WIS: +12 INT: +12 AGI: +8 HP: +140 MANA: +115
Stun Resist: +5%
2.2 Wind Instruments Modifyer

While good for bards, it's got less of a modifyer than flute of the fribbet, and a much better bard offhand drops off the trash mobs that a guild would be required to clear many times before even attempting arbiter.


Reverent Aegis
AC: 65
Skill Mod: Parry +10
DEX: +12 WIS: +35 INT: +35 AGI: +12 HP: +100 Mana +100
+12 to all resists
Click to expand...

The op didn't include useable classes here, but I'm 99.99% sure that the 2nd shield is not usable by bards. Even if it were, the first shield would be vastly superior (for a bard). More raw HP and stamina, a reasonable amount of mana, and Charisma (which is completely lacking on the 2nd shield) make it a better deal. Stun resists helps the bards offensive songs not drop when stunned, a major factor since the melody changes.

Bards really have very little use for mana, so the major benefit of the 2nd one (+35 wis/int) is really lost on them. The only really saving grace for the 2nd one is the parry, but the instrument mod on the first one more than makes up for it.

I must admit, when I first saw the Arbiter shield I was baffled. Why in the world was bard on it for usable classes, and what's more, it appeared to be crafted with bards in mind. This is the first shield I have ever seen with bard on it, other than the typical storebought and noobie all/all shields. It didnt' make sense to me from a RP pov, and, to be honest, it still doesn't. It was like seeing a 17/21 rapier crafted for clerics. But there it is, and it's quite good at that; particularly with the new Nuke songs that use wind instruments, and with the prospect of the CJV taking a nerf. (The reason for this is that the BDR which drops from Versikol, the boss mob in CoD which is much much harder than Arbiter, drops a weapon with the exact same instrument mod.)
 
Allielyn said:
The op didn't include useable classes here, but I'm 99.99% sure that the 2nd shield is not usable by bards. Even if it were, the first shield would be vastly superior (for a bard). More raw HP and stamina, a reasonable amount of mana, and Charisma (which is completely lacking on the 2nd shield) make it a better deal. Stun resists helps the bards offensive songs not drop when stunned, a major factor since the melody changes.

Bards really have very little use for mana, so the major benefit of the 2nd one (+35 wis/int) is really lost on them. The only really saving grace for the 2nd one is the parry, but the instrument mod on the first one more than makes up for it.

I must admit, when I first saw the Arbiter shield I was baffled. Why in the world was bard on it for usable classes, and what's more, it appeared to be crafted with bards in mind. This is the first shield I have ever seen with bard on it, other than the typical storebought and noobie all/all shields. It didnt' make sense to me from a RP pov, and, to be honest, it still doesn't. It was like seeing a 17/21 rapier crafted for clerics. But there it is, and it's quite good at that; particularly with the new Nuke songs that use wind instruments, and with the prospect of the CJV taking a nerf. (The reason for this is that the BDR which drops from Versikol, the boss mob in CoD which is much much harder than Arbiter, drops a weapon with the exact same instrument mod.)
Click to expand...

But Allielyn, it its current state and in CJV's current state, why would any bard use this over CJV? Also save Ginam, I don't see a bard tanking and using a shield for a long time. Maybe I am missing something, but I do not know who would use this item atm.
 
Jun said:
But Allielyn, it its current state and in CJV's current state, why would any bard use this over CJV? Also save Ginam, I don't see a bard tanking and using a shield for a long time. Maybe I am missing something, but I do not know who would use this item atm.
Click to expand...

you said it yourself, it's for cmal4 :p
 
Jun said:
But Allielyn, it its current state and in CJV's current state, why would any bard use this over CJV?  Also save Ginam, I don't see a bard tanking and using a shield for a long time.  Maybe I am missing something, but I do not know who would use this item atm.
Click to expand...

Correct - no bard in their right mind would use this (on the tier of a guild killing AoA), and its retarded to even include them on the class list. It needs some serious beefing.
 
1) Nobody has posted the usable classes for each shield, which I beleive is necessary for a proper comparison.

2) Not every bard that can do arbiter actually has CJV - it's an insanely rare drop. In fact, I still don't have one.

3) I agree with you guys that it's odd for bard to even be on the shield - I didn't think the staff was interested in actively making bards better tanks, but that's their decision, not mine.

4) The fact that bard is on this shield and not on the other one is pretty much justification for the stats to be how they are. Just because a warrior wouldn't use it over the other one doesn't mean anything at all. Bard is on both the Pilfered Dragonscale Boots and Muskl's Boots of Agony; but even though Muskl is a harder fight and supposed to have "better" drops doesn't mean I'd EVER wear Muskl's over Pilfered.

5) I wouldn't mind seeing the shield beefed if it had the exact same classes as the other sheild - I don't really feel it needs beefing if it remains as a bard instrument. In addition, I don't really feel there's a lack of attainable sheilds at this level, so I don't see anything wrong with some item diversity.

6) The key to the bard is diversity, and they have a range of weapons and instruments that promote this. Just because I have a drum doesn't mean I use it all the time. I would categorize this item as a "diversity" bard item.

In other words,

a) You can't just compare the two items with the difficulty of the mob while ignoring the usable classes as 'justification' that this shield be upgraded.

b) The shield provides some diversity to bards as secondary tanks, and gives them a nice wind instrument modification while still allowing them the use of a main hand weapon. In fact, as far as I know, it's the only raid end bard usable shield in the game.

c) You *might* have a point about CJV; but that's only assuming the CJV isn't nerfed, and assuming that the drop rate is high enough for the bard in question to actually get one - both of which I think are dubious assumtions.
 
1) Alright, one has bard, shadow, paladin, warrior and the other has everything except for bard.

2) CJV isnt that rare, you just didn't raid higher air that much, we've seen around 5.

3) They aren't interested in making bards better tanks, and it really doesn't since blocking doesn't even work for bards. The idea was to use it and sing the new bard nuke songs i imagine. This is basically just 62 ac and since ysthar parrying dagger has 35ac and a parry mod, along with a decent ratio i don't see it as much of an upgrade.

4) Muskl isn't supposed to be harder then aanslav

I really don't see a point in using this at all, I do very occasionally for aux tanking so i don't take as many ripostes, but the mod is too low to make it useful. If its a ranged fight you can equip flute of the fribbit for a much higher mod, if its melee its better to just melee and nuke without the extra mod.
 
The Reverent Aegis is PAL/SHD only, the CSoM is PAL/SHD/BRD only. The main point I was trying to make was that for paladins and shadowknights this shield is worse than something that drops off a much much much easier mob, and for bards it's not effective as an instrument or an off-hand item.
 
:(

All right, Bard #1 has spoken.

P.S. Pilfered Dragonscale drops from Nart, not Aanshlav, but it makes little difference in this context.

By the way, if it's a ranged fight, why would you use a flute instead of a drum?

And, would you rate it the same if CJV was a 1.5 ratio?
 
Allielyn said:
:(

All right, Bard #1 has spoken.

P.S. Pilfered Dragonscale drops from Nart, not Aanshlav, but it makes little difference in this context.

By the way, if it's a ranged fight, why would you use a flute instead of a drum?

And, would you rate it the same if CJV was a 1.5 ratio?
Click to expand...

PS Boots most certainly drop from Aanshlav
 
Wrong again! That's two for two! :(

I must be going crazy, I could have sworn they dropped from Nart.

I think I'll stop posting until my brain comes back from thesis-land. :psyduck:
 
Ginam said:
3) They aren't interested in making bards better tanks, and it really doesn't since blocking doesn't even work for bards. The idea was to use it and sing the new bard nuke songs i imagine. This is basically just 62 ac and since ysthar parrying dagger has 35ac and a parry mod, along with a decent ratio i don't see it as much of an upgrade.
Click to expand...

Very minor nit-pick, more for future reference than anything, but you don't need the actual block skill to benefit from the block bonus of a shield.
 
No, but if you have a shield you should block no matter what class you are. Bards don't even with shield equipped.
 
the best shield is not useable by bard, its normal since knight gear is usually much better than the rest (especially PRIMARY and SECONDARY). The only thing would be to add some resists on the crystalline, but check HP/Mana...no need to up that too much.
 
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