A guide to good Minstreling

This is the first release, Its been through a lot of touching up, and I wanted to release what I've done so far to the public and see if anybody has any comments or ideas. So far, this guide has been my views on the skills and traits, as well as some guidance on grouping and soon things every Minstrel should know about other classes when grouping. I'm lucky enough to have a brother for a tank, and a girlfriend for a Lore-master, a good buddy for a burglar and another friend for a champion. Having pretty much grouped with at least one of them my entire leveling career Id like to think I've picked up a few subtleties when dealing with the classes.

I realize its a long read, but I really hope people out there can pull something from my experiences and perhaps have a better time as a Minstrel. I plan to add more to this guide. Firstly I would like to finish off the grouping guide. Next I want to tackle a FAQ section and finally, well I dunno but I'm sure you will be both awesome and educational.

If you would like to reproduce this guide on your site for some strange reason, or would like to do anything with it that doesn't involve reading it on this very post, please get a hold of me at Sparkky(@)gmail.com, I'll probably be more than happy to let you copy and paste my beauty, Id just like to know where its going up. Don't want my baby working in some sleazy second rate site after all.

So here it is, expect more updates soon. It would be faster but first my crew of spelling and grammar checkers needs to painstakingly translate my bachelor of science gibberish into coherent English. enjoy

As a note, I am always looking for other people input, so get a hold of me and share your ideas. Ill even give you credit for them!


History
1.0 - Initial Draft.
1.1 - Engrish fixed.
1.2 - Adapted for forum.
1.3 - Added info/Revised Still as Death, Triumphant Spirit, Song of Soothing, Song of Distraction, Graceful Demeanor, Subtle Movements, and Life-Singer.
-Added more about positioning to the grouping guide. This was in response to some of the comments and I tried to clarify my position on the issue.
-Added the strategy of waiting, then healing then feigning death as suggested by pdhn8580
1.4 - Added whole Trait Section and added last edited time
1.5 - added info/revised Heralded Saviour, Focused Performance, and Smooth voice

1.6 - Grammar police took me down to the station and all there/their/they're and your/you're errors should be cleared up. I hope people appreciate this, it was painful for me.

1.7 - Added buffing section to the grouping guide as well as conjunction and Tips sectionn


1 - Introduction

1.1 What is a Minstrel (short and sweet)
That's a good question. If you're familiar with the normal healing class, be it a Druid, Shaman, Blood Mage, Priest, Cleric. You're going to recognise some things, but there are also some new things Turbine threw in to make the healing experience feel fresh.
Minstrels are the healers with a nice selection of buffs. But unlike many games, in order to use your buffs and some heals you're gonna need to pummel your foes with music. I'll go more into this later, but for now know that minstrels don't just sit in the back and mash the heal button.
At lvl 20 you get your first res, but it has to be used out of combat. Later, post 40, you will get Rally! A legendary trait which enables you to resurrect in combat.
Throughout this guide I will use a few common terms new players might not be familiar with.

Dps - Stands for damage per second, but is often used in place of the word damage. This term also refers to a player who's job is to deal damage. (I do 5dps, my dps is insane, I'll do dps)
Aggro - (aggravation) Is the hate a monster has towards you. In order to determine who the monster attacks each player has a level of aggro. Whomever has the most gets the monsters attention. This is important to understand as a healer since you want to make sure that you're the target as rarely as possible.
Tank - Generally a guardian. This is the person who is designated to take the damage for the group.
Crit - Refers to a Critical hit or cast. Your character has a crit rate and every spell or swing has a certain % chance to be much larger.
Adds - Additional monsters.
Freep - This is what you are! unless your playing your monster character. It stands for Free people.
Mez - A skill that freezes a mob, usually broken if the target gets damaged

Now that that's out of the way, I'm sure you want to know why I'm writing this guide. Firstly, I cant find a job and I'm bored stiff. First year university student apparently doesn't mean much on a résume. Secondly, I haven't seen a very thorough guide. There are specific questions, but sometimes a skill can be confusing or there are answers to questions you never even thought to ask. Thirdly, I love my minstrel. I'm generally a dps class in most games, but the minstrel just captivated my very heart and soul. I want to share my interest in this class and perhaps somebody will read by guide and have an idea or want to try one of my ideas. I just want to share the love! Now wont that make my mother proud
Lets hope someone out there gets something out of my guide or maybe you just want to read it cause you're bored and like reading my ramblings. Whatever floats your boat as they say.

2 - General Specifics

2.1 Tiers? Anthems?
One of the more interesting new things you're gonna have to learn to deal with as a minstrel is the idea of Tiers, and Anthems. Most of your attack songs and buffs are assigned to a tier, an example of a tier 1 ballad is the Ballad of Vigour.
Once you play a tier 1 ballad, assuming it wasn't resisted (T.T) you will now be able to play tier 2 ballads for a certain window of time. Think about it as about 2 songs before you lose access to that tier. Once you play a Tier 2 Ballad such as Ballad of Swiftness, you then unlock Tier 3. Tier 3 is different, as the ballads you can play here are buffs. For example a crowd favourite is Ballad of War, a 10% melee damage buff. This buff only last 15 seconds but it is quite powerful. After a third tier ballad you unlock the ability to play an Anthem. Anthems are generally rather powerful. One example being Anthem of Valor. It is basically an AoE damage attack. The catch with Anthems is once you play one, all your tiers are reset and you're stuck with only tier 1 ballads again.
What this means for a Minstrel is that not only do you have to heal your party, but in order to keep them happy and buffed you need to also think offensively. The following are a few little tricks to help you get started.
In your UI options there is the option that if your current target isn't an acceptable target for your skill, to target their target. This way I find I make less mistakes when I have to use an attack skill to build up my tiers. I can mostly just target the tank for healing, and either just keep targeting the tank when I attack, or the dps class so I know im not going to be attacking anything that doesn't have enough aggro built up on it.
As a note there is a trait, Smooth Voice, which turns your Ballad of Vigor and Balance into buffs for the whole party. I haven't experimented much with it, as the buffs are minor at the lower levels and for soloing and small groups. I need those ballads for dps. >

2.2 Heals!
For the most part as a minstrel you have 3 basic heals. First you have the quick little heal called Raise the Spirit, secondly you have a much larger one called Bolster Courage. Finally you have the group heal called Inspire Fellows, which also gives a minor 1% reduction in damage.
As well, we have a few other heals at our disposal and following this little introduction. I am going to go over my experience with each of these heals and hopefully include other peoples experiences as well.
Also many of your heals, unlike your attacks have a short animation after the cast. This disables movement, which is something that you will probably notice early on and will be the bane of your career.

Raise the Spirit lvl 1
"Im cheap and fun!" (Wii joke #1)
In terms of power cost, raise the spirit is your cheapest option, but not by much. This is not your most power efficient heal and should only be used if the player is particularly squishy with very little morale(think lore-master), or if you need to get a quick heal off before somebody dies. This heal also has a short 1 second timer between its uses. This means you can't just chain these heals one after another. If you are relying on this heal, you can usually fit an offensive song in quickly between heals for that little added dps. BAM. At higher levels once you have Bolster Courage you will use this heal much less, but until then, this is your 'bread and butter'.

Inspire Fellows lvl 10
"aka Taunt!"
This skill is notorious for attracting large amounts of aggro. It doesn't heal for that much and it consumes a large amount of your power. Many players avoid this like its a 50dkp minus, and truthfully, I think many people should. Although it's a tough tool to use, because it has limited uses, that doesn't make it useless. Throughout the game you can sometimes run into mobs with an aoe fire dot (one great example being the Matron Drake in the South of Angmar). This is when this skill truly shines. Assuming you are confident in your tanks ability to keep aggro you can generally knock off a group heal to top everyone in the group up. Play around with it a bit and try to get a feel for how long in a fight you have wait before it's safe to use this skill. A lot of healing is getting the feel for your aggro level, which is something you just have to learn through experience. Keep in mind that your aggro level will be different with different tanks.

Noble Cause lvl 16
"The *******(illegitimate) child of dps and healing."
Often underused and forgotten about Noble cause can give a nice group heal in some situations as well as provide a little dps. Soloing I use this skill as often as it is up as it provides me with 5 quick Heroic strikes, and with a 2.5min cooldown its nothing to be stringy about. In a nutshell, Noble cause resets your Heroic strike timer, then lets you unleash 3 strikes on the mobs, without any cooldown, as an added bonus each hit heals everyone in your group. The heals are related to the damage, so if you have the trait that gives more heroic strike damage or have a slow weapon with high damage you will notice larger heals. To get 5 smacks out of this skill, first use heroic strike, then use Noble Cause, lay down your 3 fwacks of fury, then finally end with a 5th heroic strike. This is a nice little chunk of damage, and can also give a little healing to the entire group or yourself if soloing. USE THIS SKILL, so many people completely ignore it, which is silly given how powerful it really is.

Bolster Courage lvl 18
"I'm large and in charge." (2nd Wii joke)
Once you hit 18, you've received your new 'bread and butter' heal. The casting time is slightly longer, but the amount of morale it recovers is much larger. The power cost is also very close to that of Raise the Spirits. A good habit to get into is to know how long your heal takes to cast. It sounds silly but some times your tank is going to be low on morale, but you wont have time to pull off a longer heal. At those times its generally a good idea to pop a smaller heal than risk your tank dieing mid heal. A good tactic is to know how much health your tank has and never let him drop past a certain threshold. Keeping a tank full health is often in-efficient, for example if he is only missing 600 morale and you heal him for 710 that's 110 morale lost. Generally it's safe to keep your tank around 50-70% of their max morale. Personally I find this to be good because, if he gets a big hit, he's not so low that he's gonna die, but if you get a crit heal all of that extra morale isn't wasted. Often times some tanks will get anxious if he or she is constantly low on morale and might start using cooldowns in fear of dieing. If this is the case try to reassure your little canned chicken that he will be just fine.

Anthem of the Free Peoples lvl 20
"Cruise control for healers."
This is an anthem that increases in-combat morale regen. This wondrous skill makes healing for its 30 (45 trait-ed) second duration rather easy. Aside from laziness, it also has some practical uses. In boss fights where there are lots of adds, this skill is your saviour. When you use this skill, the aggro gain is minimal because you aren't actually healing the players, you are simply increasing their regen. In fights with aggro problems putting this up for the first 30 seconds allows you to really skimp on the heals, thus permitting you to not only sit back and have a snack, but also prevents you from drawing aggro from one of the mobs early on. In fights such as Ivar in the Angmaur, this is really useful for helping the tank setup the initial aggro. Earlier on and example would be if you've reached lvl 20 and are in the Great Barrows. There is one boss fight with the 2 elites who spawn frequent adds, this skill can take over the healing for the first while so you don't have to worry about all the wights and disembodied hands bending you over. Often times Ive found in that particular fight, that you can drop the boss who spawns the mobs before the anthem is over, making the fight much more manageable. Even, dare I say it, easy.

Triumphant Spirit lvl 30
"Larger and in charger!" (3rd?)
Sitting in the right corner with a 15 Minute cooldown is Triumphant Spirit. Those from FFXI might remember something called Benediction, its basically the same idea, with less aggro generated. Using this skill isnt a guarantee of getting aggro, but it does give a massive amount. Generally in controlled fights I will only use it if sombody is really close to dieing and needs a large heal quick. This skill has no casting time and is your largest heal healing the entire group for a massive amount. This skill can be a life saver. Another use for this skill is when you're training (think choo choo here), not leveling, but running through a large aggro area trying to get through without dieing. Usually a higher armor class will run through but if their low on HP you can pop this skill to heal them fully, be aware though, you will now be the target of all the trains passengers, so its best saved if you know that you can run away from them all. I also use this is im being lazy and forget to heal myself while soloing. Ive done this countless times, and given its a 15min timer, use it when you can.
As an added note, Milarien pointed out that I forgot to mention that because of the lack of casting time, this spell can be used while you're running. Useful, trust me.


2.3 Buffs!
As a minstrel you are given a nice selection of buffs for your party. Some of which are Ballads, some Anthems and others can be used out of combat. A good minstrel heals his group and keeps everyone alive. A great minstrel keeps his group buffed and ready for the fight ahead.

Ballad of War lvl 6
Melee made easy.
This is the first buff you get and the one people are going to want most of the time. This is a Teir 3 Ballad and last 15 seconds. the 10% melee damage increase is quite hefty but requires teir 3 Ballads to be unlocked, so there is at least 2 songs you need to play before this song. This buff is often a safe bet, and champions will love you long time for this one. This also helps the tank as more damage means more aggo, not that much, but every bit does help.

Ballad of Unshakable Will lvl 8
Seasons don't fear the reaper... nor should you
Great, now I got a song stuck in my head, as do most of you, but regardless, here's the lowdown on this Tier 3 Ballad. Fear resistance. Many mobs in this game, especially wights gives will debuffs, they often rear their ugly little heads in the form of a dot, or even worse a massive debuff to will and fate. Ive seen will debuffs upwards of 70 will, which is quite a lot of my power gone. At lower levels the 1-2% fear resistance may not seem by much but as you level it grows. Don't be too quick to blow this off. Its not that hard to throw in as you can easily play 2 tier 3 ballads before you're forced to either renew with a tier 2 or use and anthem to start from scratch. Fear is annoying, don't underestimate it, it may not be a 100% buff but when your power pool drops, don't say I didn't try to help you. This one lasts for 20 seconds.

Tale of Heroism lvl 22
wtb clever comment
I dont know what to say about this skill. Its painfully simple. It gives Will and Fate, and its an aura around you, so everyone in the part near you gets it. Keep it on all the time, there is no reason not to always have it on.

Anthem of Compassion lvl 24
Makes healing less aggravating.
Not to you, but it sure does to the mob. If you're worried about attracting aggro on a mob, this a good skill to pop up. 30 seconds of 40% less heal aggo is nothing to scoff at, and if you're in a fight where you know you're going to have issues with aggro, playing this anthem can give you a little more wiggle room. I like to use this if I know I'm gonna have to be spamming heals, if its a boss that does loads of damage, or if weve got an off-tank situation and I need to be a little more careful with my healing aggro.

Song of Soothing lvl 28
Aggro reduction for the rest of us. (Ha, a Dummy book quote, how appropriate)
Being a healer sometimes mean getting aggro. Believe it or not, even minstrel Messiahs such as myself pull aggro from time to time. This ability is better used unprovoked.. or rather preemptive(thanks Bush) as it has a casting time that can be setback by getting smacked around. I try to use this skill as much as I can, Its a good habit if you're not in a rush, better safe than sorry. But mostly I do this because it unlocks a trait that lowers your overall aggro gain. Which will most likely come in handy with endgame PvE especially Raiding, where its less you want no aggro, but just need to make sure you got less than the other healers ;D

Ballad of Flame lvl 32
Only you can stop forest fires.
If not forest fires, than at least this tier 3 ballad help prevent those maniacal fire dots that lag my computer. Early on not much does fire damage, but as you get into the higher levels, you'll start to have run ins with drakes and other fire hurling menaces. Also in monster play the reaver at later ranks can make all his attacks fire, this probably will help in that respect. The times when you should use this buff are rather self evident. If it spits fire, breaths fire, or is generally on fire, its a safe bet this buff can help deal with some of the damage.

Lay of the Hammerhand lvl 42
Choo choo!
This skill makes you a training machine. Low Power doesn't kill you, low morale does. Power also comes back to you out of combat at a relatively generous rate. Use this when you know you're gonna take damage, the power drain isnt that bad, and this skill will probably save your life many many times.

2.4 Utility Skills
Minstrels have a bunch of odds and ends in their toy box. Hopefully here I can demystify any skills that you were unsure of possible uses or if you wanted to see what I had to say about them.

Cry of the Valar lvl 12
Rawr!
This skill often has a veil of confusion surrounding it. This skill will send aggro mobs running. For example a wolf will just attack you, it doesn't threaten to attack first. A wolf can be a target. A bear will threaten to attack first and thus will not be a valid target for this skill. It should also be noted players, freep or monster, cannot be the target of this skill. A second common mis-conception is that the mob you send running will pull adds. They don't. It doesn't Pull. One more time. It doesn't pull adds. The only time this happens is if you send a mob running that was being attacked by a pet or a particularly stupid champion. Use this skill as much as you want, its another CC and comes in handy both in groups and when soloing. Its also good if you're being hammered on, as its instant and gets the mob off you. Make sure your guardian knows you will do this though or it could cause some confusion.

Song of the Dead lvl 18
Rest for the Restless dead
This song is a mez that ends before the recast timer. When you fighting wads of undead, this is how you can help the burglar and lore-master with CC. I tend to use it with soloing or duoing undead with a none mez'ing class. Usually the Lore-Master or the Burglar have things under control, but if they need help, you can. Its worth noting that Lore-Masters cant mez the undead, so you may need to take over for the undead mobs.

Song of Restoration lvl 18
Have no Fear! your Minstrel is here!
This song is on a rather stupid recast timer, so each death you're only gonna get it off on one person. Generally, if your group wipes, its good to get the dread off your tank. If thats not an issue, im partial to putting it on another squishy, such as a lore-master. Or trade em with another minstrel as it can't be cast on yourself.

Cure Fear lvl 26
Seasons don't fea... did that one already >.<
This skill is on a 1 min timer so I use it mostly if I get a huge fear debuff on myself or somebody else like the tank. Can be useful when soloing with fear dots. Its only a 1 min timer, so dont be afraid to use it. Too many people save it for the "perfect" time, but letting it sit idle is a waste.

Cry of Chorus lvl 26
Your 10min fast-forward button
This skill is going to be your friend. Don't be surprised of one night you scream for Cry of Chorus. But fear not, just like in the cheerios commercials, its okay to love it that much. This skill enables you to play any tier ballad or Anthem. If you don't have time to pop up the Anthem of the Free Peoples, or Compassion, use this then throw it up fast. A common mistake is to just go right to the Anthem of the Free Peoples. Instead play a Tier 3 Ballad, which will unlock the anthem, but also give you the much loved 10% damage or fire/fear resist.

Song of Aid lvl 30
Unleash the beast!
This song is actually pretty interesting. It lasts 10 seconds, and during the length you cant do anything else. What it does is it triggers all reaction abilities. If there is another minstrel in the group for example, all his tiers are unlocked. For Guardians, they are free to spam their aoe taunts or their stuns. As a bonus, it removes the recast timer for Lore-Masters and reduces the morale cost for them to use their heal, so if there is one in the group, they can cover for you with heals while you do this. One example is that I play with my gf a lot, and she is a lore-master. Her heal takes morale and power, as well it also has a rather long cooldown, 20 seconds I believe. If the tank is getting low in health and needs a quick burst of hp, I can pop this song and the lore-master will be able to heal the tank at an insane rate. The insane hate the lore-master generates can often be offset by the tanks ability to use all of his reactive abilities. Ive seen some pretty cool things pulled off this with skill, its really fun to toy around with.

Song of Distraction lvl 34
Look, over there, look, right there!
I dont use this song much as Ive had bad experiences with it. If it is resisted the mob will aggro you. If successful this will let your group sneak past mobs or split pull a group of mobs. It has a rather long cooldown so you can't always use it, but try using it when you can. It has been noted that this can be helpful when harvesting to reduce the mobs aggro, there's an example of something simple that never even crossed my mind =D(had to change the smilie, did you know you cant disable them.. and you're only aloud 4 in a post O.o)

Still as Death lvl 38
"Playing Possum is what we do. We die, so we live." -if you don't know who this is, you need to spend more time with kids
Being a character that can resurrect other players, it makes sense that if we can live, every ones happy. If you're wiping, run then die. Not literally, just play dead, wait till everything is done, then resurrect everyone and rejoice. Be wary, its not a 100% deal. It helps if you're a hobbit to have the backup, but don't be surprised if they both fail. That being said, its saved me many times, and its much, much more reliable than Song of Distraction. Also, as a note this skill if successful clears all aggro, which is infinitely useful in very aggro cautious fights.

3 - Traits And Virtues

3.1 Trait List and Explaination

Battle-Hymn Use Anthem of the Valar ? times
"Defeating enemies with Cry of the Valar gives group combat boost.
Line Bonus: +65 to max Power"
How often do you defeat enemies with a skill that does damage rivaling a champions auto-attack...

Focused Performance Evade 300 attacks
"Your skills are more difficult to disrupt.
Subtracts 10.0% from Induction Duration. Line Bonus: Fear Resistance 2.0%."
Induction = casting time. Who can say no to a 10% reduction in casting time. There has been some confusion surrounding this skill. I did some tests using bolster courage, starting my timer when I click and stopping when the bar is full. 10 tests with, 10 tests without the trait. the average time for bolster courage without the skills was 3.03 seconds, with the skill was 2.74 seconds. This leads me to believe that it is indeed casting time that is effected, buy the 10% labelled which would work out to be .3 seconds, which is what appears to happen.
After doing this though, I am starting to wonder if that third of a second is worth it.

Glorious Anthem lvl 30 quest
"The duration of your Anthems is increased.
Adds 15.0 to Effect Duration. Line Bonus: moralee Regeneration in combat 0.3"
Useful. 15 more seconds of reduced aggro(not working atm) , and 15 more seconds is easy mode healing. I like it personally, doesn't add to your dps, but the extra 15 s of Anthem of the Free Peoples is useful. I used it for a while, but slotted in more dps talents to speed leveling along.

Graceful Demeanor Use Enlivening Grace ?(gota log in and look) times
"The effects of your Enlivening Grace and Rally are enhanced.
Subtracts 2.0 from Bringing back fellows from defeat induction time. Line Bonus: Fear Resistance 2.0%. Adds 20.0% to Revive moralee Total. Adds 30.0% to Revive Power Total"
I could see this being much more useful with Rally and ressing in combat, but when you're out of combat, 20 more health and 30 power saves all of a few seconds. As a note, Rally isn't available until your first Legendary trait slot opens up at 41. Milarien the Defensive Minstrel would also like to point out that this skill does become useful at later levels when you will be using Rally.

Harmonious Melody Use 1500 ballads
"You have a longer window of opportunity in which to perform your next tier of Ballads.
Adds 5.0 to Effect Duration. Line Bonus: Adds 0.3 to moralee Regeneration in Combat"
I personally don't see much utility in this skill. The only reason you would want this is if you had multiple skills to use in the 3rd teir. Which you dont really, it might come in handy if you needed to heal a few times between teir progression, but your trait slots are valuable and there is better traits to place.

Heralded Saviour Use Song of Aid 400 times
"You use your Song of Aid to greater effect. This song is especially effective at lightening the hearts of your fellows.
Line Bonus: Fear Resistance 2.0%"
Doubles the duration of song of aid from 10s to 20s
Shortens the recovery time from 10m to 9m
Thanks to TheSidhe for this information. With this slotted I could see more fun being had with the skill. Id still like to toy around with this skill more and see if there is any really interesting things that could be done. If somebody has a cool story about using this skill, feel free to post it.

Herald's Hammer Use Herald's Strike 700 times
"Your Herald's Strike is more effective than before.
Adds 100.0% to Herald's Strike. Line Bonus: Adds 50.0 to Max moralee"
This skill has some good solo uses, the added damage is nice, as well when using Noble cause, more damage = more heals. As well, the dps is always welcome when it comes to soloing or small groups.

Life-singer Use 1000 Healing Songs.
"The Power costs of your moralee-renewing skills are reduced.
Subtracts 10.0% from Power Cost. Line Bonus: Increases moralee Regen in Combat by 0.3"
If you're healing a lot, this could be useful, I heal a bit, but power has never been an issue for me. Perhaps this is another trait that shines with endgame content. Ill give it another shot once Ive done more endgame.
Again it has been noted that in my infinite wisdom, others have a different opinion than me. Apparently, not everyone has a Lore-Master for a girlfriend and they might end up doing hard content without one. You poor poor people. But regardless, the survey came in and the cries of the people tell me that I didn't give this little beauty Justice. If you are noticing you have to cut back on buffs or give up on other parts of your job to have enough power to heal. Grab little little beauty, it should help with your power problems!

Light in the Dark Use Ballad of Resonance 1000 times
"Your Tier 1 and Tier 2 Ballads inflict more damage to your enemies.
Adds 10% to Tier 1 damage. Line Bonus: Max moralee 50.0"
10% damage is 10% damage. If you're needed for dps, you cant go wrong. If your song does 100 dmg you now do 110. Not life changing, but useful.

Piercing Cry Use Ballad of War 500 times
"The duration of your Tier 3 Ballads is increased.
Adds 10.0 to Effect Duration. Line Bonus: moralee Regeneration in Combat 0.3"
This is a common trait for people to use, and an extra 10 seconds to Ballad of War is nice, but the other Teir 3 Ballads haven't gotten too much mileage from me yet. I personally dont bother with this.

Powerful Voice Use 300 cries
"The Power costs of all your Cries is reduced.
Subtracts 5.0% from Cries Cost. Line Bonus: Power Max 65.0"
Never touched this one myself, and I honestly have never been strapped for power while I was trying to do dps. I see very little value in this trait.

Silver Tongue Use Cry of the Chorus 125 times
"Your Songs recover more quickly than before.
Subtracts 3.0 from Song Skill Recharge. Line Bonus: Fear Resistance 2.0%"
I never really see myself needing to use a song 3 seconds sooner. I will probably take this trait for a spin some day and see how it goes. Who knows maybe it will end up being good...

Smooth Voice Use Piercing Cry 600 times
"This skill transforms your Ballad of Vigour and Ballad of Swiftness to become slower songs, that no longer deal damage but act upon your fellowship for a longer duration.
Line Bonus: Adds 50.0 to Max moralee"
I don't use this because in small groups, or duoing, my dismal dps still has some use, so I wouldnt get too much mileage out of this skill. I will be sure to look at it again once I'm knee deep in endgame content.
Milarien noted that using Smooth Voice you are able to run up the tiers before combat and get of a Anthem of the Free People or Compassion right as the fight starts. This has been echo'd by quite a few people, as well as the value of it in a large group. If you're specc'ing more into full group healing and buffing, this is a good one to take.

Subtle Movements Use Soothing Song ? times
"-25.0 from threat
Line Bonus: +65 to max power"
Generally, aggro isn't a problem for me. This is another trait that looks like it will be something that gets more mileage with raiding assuming we are doing a lot of healing. As a note, people have been saying this skill becomes more helpful later in game, not just with raiding. Aggro is bad, and if you would rather be safe than sorry, I would recommend this. Personally, I think it hasn't been an issue with me since I've never done anything challenging with a pug, so your mileage may vary. Thanks to those who pointed this out though.

Unrelenting Land 100 Piercing Cry critical
"When you land a critical Hit with your Piercing Cry, your enemy is stunned. This trait also causes your Piercing Cry to recover faster.
The sound of your voice can stun your enemies. Line Bonus: Max moralee 50.0. Subtract 5.0 from Skill Reset."
This skill is amazing. I slotted it as a joke, but it is no joke. It greatly increases the crit rate of your Piercing Cry, as well your crit will stun. Not only that but it casts much faster. This makes a rather large difference in damage as well, get it fast and use it.


3.2 Virtue Stat Explanations
First off, throughout your level career you will gain access to 5 Virtue slots. Each Virtue has between 4 to 7 ranks and they are obtained by completing deeds. For an excellent guide to getting your virtues, I'd recommend Fizen's Guide http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=33459 which I used as a reference when I created the list of Virtues for my guide.

Each Virtue has 3 stats, the first stat is a major boost, the second in a lesser and the third is a rather minor. They are labeled in order to the best of my knowledge.
Initially I started writing the guide, talking about one trait at a time, but I found that I was just repeating the same things over again, so instead I will list the bonuses and give you my take on all them, and then make some suggestions on traits.

Melee Resistance
You will get beaten on, its a fact of life. Especially when soloing or duoing with another squishy. This can be quite useful to minimize the damage you receive. It's not something I would put a lot of emphasis on, but it defiantly is something I consider a plus on a trait.

Ranged Resistance
I don't take much ranged damage, even on a bad day. When soloing, I want to be in melee range for the added dps. When grouping I am usually in melee range, or if not in melee range, close enough that the mob doesn't use ranged attacks on me. There are times when adds will hammer on me from a distance, but its not common, so I really would place very little value in this stat.

Disease Resistance
Disease debuffs tend to be of the -agi/-might nature. Its not that I like having 1 might and 1 agi, but in groups, it really doesn't make much of a difference to me. If you're soloing with mobs that regularly use Disease debuffs and you need that 50 might or however much you have, then you could try to factor some of this in, but other than that. I don't worry about it.

Wound Resistance
Wound is generally a dot. I haven't encountered much in terms of AOE dots using wound, or any stat debuffs. But there is a common runspeed debuff used my animals. For a healer a dot really isn't much. Over the course of 1 min or however long it lasts, we might have to pop a small heal. The run speed debuffs aren't frequent enough or annoying enough to justify must Wound resistance.

Poison Resistance
Poison is another thing don't notice much aside from dots. The dots are never really to terminal, and I believe there is a power drain poison, but it is both rare and dismal. I wont say that later in the game there might be an encounter where poison resistance helps. Right now I'm saying you encounter it rarely, so its not worth really worrying about.

Shadow Resistance
Shadow damage rears its ugly head semi-often while fighting evil. Ghost may have it, wights, and the dots that usually pair up with dread debuffs are often shadow damage. This is nice, as you will notice some aoe shadow attacks from time to time, but again its not that common, especially if you're killing in friendly non-evil places. Unless you're fighting lots of undead, Id favour melee resistance over the much rarer shadow.

Fear Resistance
Fear is one I would recommend. Ive mentioned it before that Fear debuffs are will/fate and Ive seen as high as -70will/fate. That's annoying. If have full power, that just took a chunk of your pool. Again, not all mobs do this, but bears are also known for fear dots, making this resistance semi-relevant. Because of the actually annoying debuffs associated with fear as well as the fact that many different kind of mobs use fear based dots, I would recommend trying to get some Fear resist into your virtues.

Magic Resistance
I honestly have a hard time thinking about a time when I've taken magic damage, if I did, I didnt notice it. At this point in time, this stat is pretty much useless to me. If anybody knows of an example of when a mob uses magic or if there is something painfully obvious that I missed, I'm sure you will point it out.

Out of Combat morale Regen
This speeds up out of combat morale regen. usually in healthy amounts, and this defiantly helps speed downtime. As a minstrel you can usually just top yourself up quickly with a small heal so I really don't care about this skill much at all.

Out of Combat Power Regen
This is something I like to look for in a Virtue. In some fights you're gonna be drained of power. Who wants to wait there for 5 min just to get all your power back before engaging the next mob. "But Tyar, it doesn't help in combat." That's true, but this is just like morale Regen, and it will frustrate your fellowship to no end if you need a 2min break after every pull to regen your power.
As a note, this particular liking of out of combat power regen appears to be a personality quirk of mine, so take it with a grain of salt. There is food that can increase your regen and a minstrel, given the high wisdom will have a pretty quick regen time anyways. I think the quick regen came in more handy for me in the duo'ing situations when we were chain pulling.

In-Combat moralee Regen
I am usually pretty good moralee wise while in fights. Sometimes I take damage, but I usually have no problem topping myself up every so often. Early in my career I tried to get more morale regen so I could try to ignore my own morale bar and leave it to regen. Not a good idea. Id recommend just relying on self heals to watch your morale, nor in-combat morale regen.

moralee Bonus
Who doesn't want more moralee. People can argue till they're blue in the face that they are a more efficient healer than you cause they have this much more power. But In group situations I seldom find myself running out of Power, more often an add we weren't expecting shows up, or something happens I take damage. If I die, the group is gonna be in for a rough ride. Playing dead is one solution in these cases, but there is something to be said about being able to take a few hits while the tank takes the mob back. This is my opinion and I know some will argue the perfect scenario, but Id rather have some moralee and no power left at the end of a fight than some power and no moralee.

Power Bonus
Power = good. You can never have enough power. I think regen is more important, but a large, full pool of power gives you a healthy reserve for the fight ahead. Some people tend to go overboard with power and just try to get as much as they can. I think thats silly, you do need a balance, but you can't really go wrong when you add more power.

Armor Bonus
Armor prevent damage. Most of the Armor bonuses that come with traits are so minor I wouldn't even factor them in. How often does 3 Armor save your life?

Will Bonus
The benefits of Will are many-fold. Not only do you get some power, but you get a bonus to fear resistances as well as your out of combat power regen. Anybody whose read this far probably knows I am a huge fan of out of combat regen, so I would sooner reach of the Will than the +power, as you still get some power, but you also get a whole slew of other useful stats.

Fate Bonus
Fate is allegedly broken at the moment, but in its tooltip fate is supposed to increase in-combat morale and power regen as well as increase the crit rate of heals and the damage of dots. Minstrels don't have any dots, but the crit heals do help, as would the in-combat regen. Sadly the in-combat regen potion of Fate seems to be broken. As of this current patch, Fate is slightly less valuable, but expect that once it is fixed, it will be a useful stat to have.

Agility Bonus
This one I'm sure to take some flak for, but here it goes. I like agility. If you're getting hit, I would much rather evade/block/parry than take even the slightest amount of damage. Not just because if you do, you take no damage, but if you do, your casting isn't interrupted. This helps o-so-much when you need to get a heal of and a mob hits you. Personally I have around 30% block/dodge/parry and having mobs only interrupt me 1/3 of the time when I get hit is a god-send. Not to mention that It completely mitigates the damage. I have yet to do much thorough testing on the amount of evade/parry per agi, but I will get on that and put it up asap.

Might Bonus
I don't do much melee at all, and as a hobbit I'm lacking a whole lot in this department. Aside from the whacks between songs and your Heroic strike this stat does very little for us. I don't even bother factoring it in when deciding on virtues.

Vitality Bonus
Vitality primarily gives more moralee. I like moralee for the reasons discussed in the morale section. That being said Vitality also gives a bonus to out of combat morale regen, and resistance to poison, wound and disease. Not only that but it increases your Shadow and Fire mitigation, which is always nice, mostly at higher levels.

3.3 Virtue List
Here is the list, first is the major stat, second the lesser, third is the very minor bonus.

Charity
- Wound Resistance
- Ranged Resistance
- Out of Combat morale Regen

Confidence
- Fear Resistance
- Will Bonus
- Out of Combat Power Regen

Compassionate
- Ranged Resistance
- Out of Combat Power Regen
- Magic Resistance

Determination
- Agility Bonus
- In-Combat moralee Regen
- moralee Bonus

Discipline
- Might Bonus
- Disease Resistance
- Melee Resistance

Empathy
- Armor Bonus
- Fate Bonus
- Fear Resistance

Fidelity
- Shadow Resistance
- Vitality Bonus
- Power Bonus

Fortitude
- Out of Combat moralee Regen
- Might Bonus
- Disease Resistance

Honour
- Poison Resistance
- Shadow Resistance
- Vitality Bonus

Idealism
- Fate Bonus
- Fear Resistance
- Will Bonus

Innocence
- Melee Resistance
- Poison Resistance
- Shadow Resistance

Just
- In-Combat moralee Regen
- moralee Bonus
- Out of Combat moralee Regen

Loyalty
- Vitality Bonus
- Power Bonus
- AC Bonus

Merciful
- Out of Combat Power Regen
- Magic Vulnerability
- Agility Bonus

Patience
- Out of Combat Power Regen
- Wound resistance
- Ranged Resistance

Tolerant
- Magic Resistance
- agility Bonus
- In-Combat moralee Regen

Valour
- moralee Bonus
- Out of Combat moralee Regen
- Might Bonus

Wisdom
- Will Bonus
- Out of Combat Power Regen
- Wound Resistance

Zeal
- Disease Resistance
- Melee Resistance
- Poison Resistance


3.4 Virtue Recommendations
using the previous list, I'm going to go over one selection of Virtues and why I chose them. Of course virtues are where people can personalize their minstrel to suit them, so Ive given you information on all the stats, and Ive given you a list of everything. Grab a piece of paper, and figure out what ones suit you best.

Here's how I go went about it. I went through the list and I looked at the 3 stats and make a few lists:
If I like the first one, and the second one, I put it into one list.
If I like the first one, but not the second one, but maybe I do like the third, Ill put it into a second list.
You can make a third list if you like, with just ones that you like the second and third but not the first, but I tend to not get it unless I at least like the first.

Next once Ive got a few traits down, I look at the stats I like to use little abbreviations on the stats so I know why I liked each one when I'm trying to fill in the blanks.
For example Confidence if Fear resistance, will bonus, and out of combat power regen so I write down fear, will, oocP.

For me, my lists looked like this
First list:
Confidence - fear, will, oocP
Fidelity - sha, vit, power
Idealism - fate, fear, will
Wisdom - will, oocP, wound

Second List:
Empathy - AC, fate, melee
Innocence - melee, poison, shadow
Just - icM, moralee, oocM
Loyalty - vit, power, AC
Merciful - oocP, magic, agi
Valour - moralee, oocM, might

In this case, Ive got 4 I really like, and 6 I kinda like. You may have noticed I cheated on Wisdom, as I don't like wound that much, but the will is just too much to pass up for me. Anywho, I need to grab a 5th. My first 4 have plenty of shadow, out of combat power regen, power, fate and will. I could definitely go for some more Melee mitigation or moralee, maybe even some Agi. With this in mind I look through my second list and see that loyalty might be a good option, or maybe I should go more mitigation and get innocence. I settled on Loyalty, but any of those on the second list would have worked.

My final list was Confidence, Fidelity, Idealism, Wisdom and Loyalty.

Try it and see what you come up with. Its nice to have ones to shoot for so you know what to look for when you're doing deeds. This is my ideal setup, I currently go with something less than ideal due to the deeds I've been able to complete but had I known sooner what to look for, I think id have been a little better off.
post by Tyar@http://forums.lotro.com