Greetings all,

This is a repost, I am reposting because my findings are different to
the Bard spell analysis data. which is at
http://www.eqvault.com/guidebook/magicshop/bardreview.shtml

I updated my conclusions slightly.

I did some test to find out the efficiency of Jonathans Warsong and
Anthem de Arms.

First of all I am a 10th level Bard with singing maxed. Dex is
92(base of 90 with +2 ring). For the test I fought Fire Beetles with
my fists. I went against Fire Beetles because they are all the same
level and they dont run away. I used my fists to get more attacks in
per combat thus giving me a larger sample.

I tested 1. No song active
2. Jonathans Warsong active
3. Anthem de Arms active
4. Both song active

The time is the duration of the combat timed with a stop watch.
Hits is the number of swings during the combat.
the last number is how many seconds per swing.

The numbers
Hits Time
None Active 12 40 3.3
15 49 3.26

Jonath Active 15 41 2.73
19 53 2.78

Anthem Active 14 40 2.85
13 39 3
12 35 2.9

Both Active 12 33 2.75
15 39 2.6
15 40 2.66
12 32 2.66

Analysis:
Your swing rate increases singing these songs. You will get 20%
more attacks with one or the other song active.

Anthem appears to be slower but remember this is a small sample
and using a stopwatch is prone to small errors, and I could have
made a mistake, like misscounted the number of hits. But Anthem
may be a tad slower than Jonathans like a 15% increase.

looking at the final set of results it appears that the songs do stack
somewhat, which is interesting. Giving about a 25% increase.

Conclusions.

In group situations it is clear what songs to play. I usually play a
combination of Anthem, Angels and Chords, sometimes I swap
between all 3. lately I have favouried Chords over Angels.

In a solo situation it is not clear for me yet what songs to play and
when. Lately I have started playing Chords. When soloing at 10th
level you have a choice of playing 2 or 3 of the following.

Chant of battle
Jonathans Warsong
Chords of Dissonance
Hymn of Angels
Anthem de Arms

I used to (before 10th) play Chant, Angels, Jonathans.
I have now switched to Chords, Jonathans, Anthem or Chords,
Jonathans, Chant.

It does seem to me(I have no hard data) that Chords can make a
difference in a close battle, say over Angels?

The after effects of Anthem do not seem to last as long as the
others this may increase as my singing skill increases.

New conclusions,
It is possible that these 2 songs get +5% to attack rate every 3
levels up to a certain cap.

Any Comments?

T.

Tony Walsh, Video Coding Group
Teltec Ireland, DCU, Dublin 9, Ireland
Tel : +353-1-7045477
FAX : +353-1-7045092
E-mail : walsht@...