I am getting very close to B grade equipment and I am wondering what I should be saving up for? I am guessing BW robes would be the correct armour for a bishop? But what weapon? Any general tips for playing a bishop around this level would be welcome! Hunting spots, group tips anything!
BW robes definitely, they give lots of mp plus casting speed plus the highest res % bonus you can get. As for a weapon, I'd take any one-handed weapon with acumen for high casting speed on heals, as well as a weapon with either mana up or conversion for when you go on raids. You will be able to afford two weapon, since you do not need weapons with high matk (the bonus to heals is negligible). Where other try to get top B weapons for 30m, you can just take low C grade with the SA you want. My clannie cardinal still walks around with a crystal staff/mana up and does very well. So I'd guess mysterious sword/acumen (uses only two blessed C instead of the three a homunculus does) is a good standard weapon.
Exactly what Sylvart said :) you will only really need a weapon with high Matk much later on if you need to mana burn during PvP and raids or to sleep high level resistant mobs. But it really isnt necessary. On some servers Blue Wolf is expensive, so if you want cast speed then Avadon Robes are usually cheaper, but they have less total MP than BW and Divine Robes.
Having a high lvl Bishop, I can tell you that for healing you need the mana up. A crystal staff with mana up will work fine, as the C bsps is cheaper than the B. Cast speed is fine but if you cast faster that just means you run out of mana faster. A healer has to have the mana to heal large parties.
BW robes are actually a tad faster than a set with 15% casting speed so it's already better than avadon in just that. , acumen weapon if you do any kind of anything.
Mana up is only really good for lasting longer and then having that much more down time. I used mana up for probably 15 levels and acumen wins out easily. If you pvp/siege at all it's the only choice anyway.
BW Robe set is almost 10M more expensive than Avadon Robe set on Bartz. I once seen someone selling one for 17M (he was desperate), but that doesn't happen often. You can get a Avadon Robe Set for 15M or so.
If you need large MP pool e.g. for raids, I would use Conversion instead of Mana Up. Pack both weapons with you, when you deplete MP up to point where Conversion is in effect, switch to Acumen weapon.
You have -40% HP, but not that it matters for raids anyway ... you are squishy robe user, you die in one hit from RB anyway.
BW Robe set is almost 10M more expensive than Avadon Robe set on Bartz. I once seen someone selling one for 17M (he was desperate), but that doesn't happen often. You can get a Avadon Robe Set for 15M or so.
Problem is that you lose a **** load of mp (hundreds) plus a lot of the +res% bonus.
A human mystic has 20 wit, plus maybe 4 from a tattoo. So you're looking at 24 wit in Avadon vs. 27 wit in blue wolf. That is 22% res bonus vs. 41%. For a maxed res lvl 74, this is a 85% res vs. a 90% res. And if you look at B grade skills (say the lvl 60 res), it means a 67% res vs. a 75% res (which is also the res value you will get for a maxed out mass res, it also resses for 55% without bonus). Your friends will like you more if you use BW robe, especially if you do a mass res at an epic raid on a lot of super high levels.
Is it worth it to upgrade from the blue wolf to the majestic? Do you lose a lot in the rez %? I just subbed a bishop so I'm trying to learn pretty quick. Also,would going +5 wit be better than +4 or is it unnecessary?
From what I understand max rez is at 27 WIT, which is BW. Majest gives you 24, and DC gives you 26. If I had gone +5 WIT though, I'd still have 27 WIT in DC.
But I like my con and dex better. I also like maj better and no one has ever said "zomg put on bw before you rez me".
Max rez depends on the current base percentage of res you get - you get a percentage bonus to that, but that bonus never goes past 20 extra percent of exp restored.
Therefore, EEs max out their res bonus much faster (in early B Grade) than bishops due to having higher base WIT, but bishops ultimately need lower WIT to achieve it. I know a +WITted top level EE can wear tallum light (-2 WIT) and still give their highest res, I'm not sure if such an extreme is possible for bishops - but a WIT bonus from robes should not be required.
Majestic is a fantastic healer set, I have worn all but nm and tallum and the bonuses that maj gets are tip top ;) If it had the wit and run speed of DC it would be flawless (hey maybe S grade... eventually.. lol)