I need some advice for bard

[Classikal]

Are you kidding me? Did you some how forget that River of Blood exists? I'm not saying Crit is be all/end all, I weigh each slot piece-by-piece separately. I've lost my share of Crit in favor of DEX/Determination since I hit 50 upgrading to DL. I look at the what I lose vs. what I gain. But, Toxote's Ring over HQ Spinel, the gain is not worth the loss. Shit, HQ Imperial Operative Choker un-melded is better than anything else pre-mythology, and a well-melded HQ Gryphonskin Choker would actually easily beat Allagan Choker of Aiming.

Just because something has higher item level doesn't mean it's always going to be better, it just has a slightly higher level range of statistics than the previous item level, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will have the best balance of stats required for the job.