Question Regarding Bard Gear Scaling

This came up a bit in some other topics, and I didn't want to derail it too much.

There are mentions of bards scaling poorly with gear (they get less of an overall decrease from upgrades compared to other dps classes). What's the reasoning behind this, and what are the implications when I try to choose my upgrade route?

Specifically, I've been contemplating on a penta melded Kirimu Coat over the poetic top (which is saturated with skill speed) and dreadwyrm lacking accuracy.

You only need 535 accuracy.

I'm personally not a fan of spending 4 million to perfectly meld the chest just to create an auroral tabard with accuracy. You lose a lot of precious dex and vit by sticking with a 110 chest. You really do need all the vit you can get. If you use melded accessories to make up for the lost vit then you're losing even more dex.

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Originally Posted by LunarEmerald

You only need 535 accuracy.

I'm personally not a fan of spending 4 million to perfectly meld the chest just to create an auroral tabard with accuracy. You lose a lot of precious dex and vit by sticking with a 110 chest. You really do need all the vit you can get. If you use melded accessories to make up for the lost vit then you're losing even more dex.

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Yeah, but in my context, I'm not exactly waltzing into final coil trying to rush it through or anything; I'd have a couple of poetic pieces before stepping in. Another thing is that this is probably my only crafted piece because both the poetic and dreadwyrm top for bard has an excessive amount of skill speed, while every other piece has desirable stats.

Unless I'm literally going to be living off the skin of my teeth from a vitality loss of 6/13.

Close to 200 hp. Which does make a difference in turn 13. Skill speed isn't as bad as people make it out to be. A little extra isn't going to make a difference. You're gonna run out of TP just as fast. Unless you have a massive amount of skill speed. People are crazy to think the melded 110 is better than dreadwrym. I'd say melded is a bit better than normal poetics but worse than updraded poetics.

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Originally Posted by LunarEmerald

Close to 200 hp. Which does make a difference in turn 13. Skill speed isn't as bad as people make it out to be. A little extra isn't going to make a difference. You're gonna run out of TP just as fast. Unless you have a massive amount of skill speed. People are crazy to think the melded 110 is better than dreadwrym. I'd say melded is a bit better than normal poetics but worse than updraded poetics.

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If anything, the top would be the last on my upgrade as far as potetics + carbon is concerned. And with the holidays showing up we're having trouble getting over to finish up T9 so even that's a bit off.

Pentamelded stuff are as good as IL120 gears if you discount the VIT part. Which you can always boost with IL90 pentamelds.

Ring, neck, feet and head should be your only buying options.