Friday, July 24, 2009

Preliminary Elegy Tests


Went out to sea to play with some goldfish at the Holla end of Al'Taieu. Naked party!
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Base stats:
Wind Skill - 241 (225+16 from merits)
Singing Skill - 241 (225+16 from merits)
Chr - 75 (70+5 from merits)

Data
NB: durations measured in seconds

naked elegy on goldfish
w/o instrument (i.e. completely naked) : 90
w/wrong instrument: 180
w/horn: 216

w/o instrument (+15 singing/12CHR): 180
w/o instrument (+15 wind/0CHR): 90
w/o instrument (+45 CHR/2.Macc): 180
w/o instrument (+24CHR): 180
w/o instrument (+16CHR): 180
w/o instrument (+6CHR): 180
w/o instrument (+0CHR -- completely naked again, just to check!): 90

w/o instrument (Terra's/EarthGrip): 180
w/o instrument (Terra's Only): 180
w/o instrument (Apollo's /+2CHR): 180
w/o instrument (Fire's): 180

Conclusion: Those 90-second elegies are the interesting part. I wasn't resisted once, but 90s was the lowest duration I got -- and it was pretty easy to predict when it was going to happen. 180 is the base duration for the song, so I was surprised that I could get 180s from not only +Singing Skill/CHR, but also by adding as little as 2pts of CHR from Apollo's Staff, alone. Wind Skill while not using an instrument obviously did nothing, but I had to check, anyway. Also interesting is that I could wear a Fire Staff (which does nothing for any bard stat), and still get a 180s duration.

It seems like if you're not using a wind instrument, the game ignores any wind gear you may be using and treats you as if you were -- naked. Whereas if you are not using a wind instrument, but are wearing an inappropriate stat, you are 'clothed' and don't get the half-resist penalty.

The results were so blatantly consistent that I decided to switch to Battlefield Elegy and see if anything changed.

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naked battlefield elegy
w/o horn (completey naked!): 60secs
w/wrong instrument (but otherwise naked): 120secs

Conclusion: Same deal. Half-resist while naked. No resist when using an instrument, but no duration bonus. Decided that waiting 2-3mins and hoping for Elegy to get interesting was a waste of time, so went out to see if the same naked-penalty applied to low-lvl mobs.

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naked carnage elegy
orcish stonechucker: 180s

Conclusion: Naked penalty doesn't apply, or my CHR stat is so far over the mob's that I don't get half-resists.

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Problems
I had no way to isolate singing skill, because the only gear I have with singing on it ... also has CHR on it. This would not be a problem if I owned a singing earring. And I would own one, if people hadn't jacked the price up half a mill in the last 2-3months. -_-;;

Because I can't isolate the singing skill, I'm not sure if I unintentionally found the CHR of goldfish (75ish+) and CHR is the only part affecting the partial resist. I hope to find someone who can lend me an earring or test it for me, themselves ... soon. The result with the Fire Staff, however -- in lieu of being able to use a singing earring -- makes me think that at higher levels there's some kind of weird 'naked-penalty' for bards. At least as far as Elegy duration goes.

Also: Goldfish are completely unsuitable for more detailed Elegy-specific testing. I was using Threnody to hold the Goldfish and getting an interesting range of resists, though -- so using Threnody as a substitute test-song may be a possibility.

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