Before anything, thanks for opening Santa Zulg! It's much appreciated.

My first request is can you make it so the shattering note edge has a better than "rare" chance to succeed? It also seems to me like when it does fire it has to check on each glass item. Is this how it works? Because the helpfile says the more items the better but if there is a check for each glass item that and each check is "rare" then that makes getting two near impossible. I'm just speculating on my experience with the edge. I was hoping it might offer a good reason to use piercing dissonance but really it seems more like a novelty. Because it is rare there isn't much tactical advantage of hoping to shatter an important glass item. If I want a chance to lag someone I'm better off with going vibrato, which yes is slightly less damage, but, it is only 2 rounds of lag versus 3 so that damage can be made up.

Second, can we get more high level epic instruments in game? I and anyone I've asked in game are only aware of one that is over level 41.

>Before anything, thanks for opening Santa Zulg! It's much
>appreciated.
>
>My first request is can you make it so the shattering note
>edge has a better than "rare" chance to succeed? It also seems
>to me like when it does fire it has to check on each glass
>item. Is this how it works? Because the helpfile says the more
>items the better but if there is a check for each glass item
>that and each check is "rare" then that makes getting two near
>impossible. I'm just speculating on my experience with the
>edge. I was hoping it might offer a good reason to use
>piercing dissonance but really it seems more like a novelty.
>Because it is rare there isn't much tactical advantage of
>hoping to shatter an important glass item. If I want a chance
>to lag someone I'm better off with going vibrato, which yes is
>slightly less damage, but, it is only 2 rounds of lag versus 3
>so that damage can be made up.

You really misunderstand how that edge works. When you destroy glass, YOU pay for it with extra lag, not them.

>Second, can we get more high level epic instruments in game? I
>and anyone I've asked in game are only aware of one that is
>over level 41.

Level has no direct effect on how good an instrument is.

Thanks. OK, I read the help file closer and can see that now. I had previously interpreted statement "the effect can be quite satisfying" placed in front of the sentence about taking longer to recover for the more items shattered as that the more you shatter on the target the longer they are lagged for.

Now that it is the opposite I'm beginning to think this edge is not desirous. Adding more lag to a 3 round song is not satisfying. I've been playing with this song alot and have been trying to find a reason to use this song in PK, even if it is situational. I don't really understand what good this edge is now. The only benefit to it I can see would be shattering someone's return potion or something. But, considering the odds of shattering a glass item against it being the one you want and having it occur in the right situation it's just plain silly to even hope this can be a viable tactic. Right now I kind of feel like this was a waste of edge points. Your thoughts?

Also, could you please shed some insight into what does make an instrument effective? I had at one time thought it was instrument type. For instance, drums and horns would be good for epic, but, that doesn't seem completely true because I can think of a couple of drums that are not good for the epic style. I then thought it was level, as that is the only other statistical indicator I can see that distinguishes between instruments.

>The only benefit to it I can see would be
>shattering someone's return potion or something. But,
>considering the odds of shattering a glass item against it
>being the one you want and having it occur in the right
>situation it's just plain silly to even hope this can be a
>viable tactic. Right now I kind of feel like this was a waste
>of edge points. Your thoughts?

It's fairly cheap, and adds some utility to to a song as you described above.

>Also, could you please shed some insight into what does make
>an instrument effective? I had at one time thought it was
>instrument type. For instance, drums and horns would be good
>for epic, but, that doesn't seem completely true because I can
>think of a couple of drums that are not good for the epic
>style. I then thought it was level, as that is the only other
>statistical indicator I can see that distinguishes between
>instruments.

See the other request in this thread, it will help you identify what makes an instrument effective. There is no set rule as far as I know.

FYI, compare (or maybe it's improved compare, I forget) is pretty good for identifying instrument quality.

I just thought of something after I posted. Perhaps make it possible for a bard to tell via lore or something what style(s) an instrument is best used for? I know you can compare two instruments and see how they relate to each other but it stands to reason a bard would be able to look at an instrument and say "this instrument is great for the tragic rep!" not just "this is better than what I have for the tragic rep".

I added it to examine/look.

e.g.
It is most useful for romantic, tragic repertoires.

That was one of my biggest frustrations.