[dev1081] BRD - are job improvements on the table???

[Creelo]

The reason why March III would be extremely beneficial to Bard is that it could potentially allow for Brd's without Gjallarhorn to cap magical Haste (along with Haste the spell of course) without the need for Marcato.

For Bard's with Gjallarhorn lvl 99, March III could potentially allow for magical Haste to be capped with just Marcato + March III, which would be an awesome buff for Gjallarhorn as it would free up another song slot for something else.

Basically, if you don't have Gjallarhorn, you'll still want March III. If you do have Gjallarhorn, you'll really want March III.

One of the reasons as to why March III is being brought up too is because it appeared to be in the dats (along with a bunch of other spells/JA animations) found at the end of October. Posted the link somewhere before in the Bard forums but cannot find... ugh. x.x

Here it is. Around the 30sec mark is where March III is presumed to be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qv7MKFxlyM

Below are some numbers about Magical Haste and Marches that I just reposted for reference. Would like to spoiler it so it's not so huge, but not sure how. :/

Base March Values
Advancing March's = 64/1024
Victory = 96/1024

With March+4
(Current max for Brds, each March+1 gives 16/1024 Haste, so 64/1024 extra haste with March+4. All Bard's should have AF3+2 Hands for that extra March+1 considering how easy they are to get.)

Advancing+4 = 128/1024 = 12.5% Haste
Victory+4 = 160/1024 = 15.625% Haste

Haste the spell already gives 150/1024 = 14.65% Haste.

Magic Haste caps at 448/1024 = 43.75% Haste.

128+160+150 = 438/1024 = 42.78% Haste is the current cap to what we can get without Marcato or Gjallarhorn99's March+5. Basically, Brd's with Langeleik (March+4) are 1% away from capping Magical Haste. Bard's with just March+3 are about 4% away from the cap.

But since we have Marcato, Brd's that have been keeping up with their equipment should allow for capped Magic Haste roughly 60%~ of the time already. (3min12sec base, 6:24 with Troub, or 3min->6min if just March+3) Gjallarhorn isn't needed to cap magical Haste roughly 60% of the time. Even March+3x2 can cap Magical Haste with Marcato.

With March+5
Advancing+5 144/1024 = 14.06% Haste
Victory+5 176/1024 = 17.19% Haste
Together = 320/1024 = 31.25% Haste

So basically, with Haste (150/1024), March+5 x2 + Haste is overkill (470/1024 as opposed to 448/1024).

You may think you could potentially Marcato Victory March+5 to be able to drop a March, but that's still only 264/1024 = 25.78% Haste, thus you'll still need to sing Advancing March and have Haste to cap Magic Haste.

With Daurdabla, you could do Marchx2+Marcato'd Third Song with Gjallarhorn lvl99, while still capping Magic Haste without Marcato, but that's nothing to really go ape shit over lol, especially since the important stat (capping Magical Haste) can already be done now ~60% of the time.

If SE would've released that third tier of March... (We know it's there in the dats!!), and it would follow the same base values as Advancing/Victory, thus having a 128/1024 Haste base with capped skill, March+5 would allow for 208/1024 = 20.31% Haste, with Marcato roughly 30.47% Haste. This would allow for only a Marcato'd MarchIII+5 being needed to cap Magical Haste (along with Haste itself of course). This would probably require a high amount of skill gear needed to do this, which would make Gjallarhorn's skill and "All Songs+4" way more useful.