I recently came back to GS and used a fixskill for Song of Tonis and swinging a short sword in 1 second. During my first hunt using a sonic short sword I became disappointed by how little I was seeing the air flares. After reviewing my logs and crunching some numbers it appears to me that the second flare (with a loud snap) can only happen with the first flare (unleashes a blast of sonic energy) instead of independently.

From gswiki
Unlike "normal" elemental flares in more common weapons, the Sonic Weapon can and frequently does flare sequentially, on back-to-back swings. This makes the flares from the song among the most highly regarded flares in GemStone.
In addition, a second chance of flaring is achieved when the Bard has trained even a single rank in Elemental Lore, Air; more ranks provide an increasing likelihood of the flare. This second chance is completely independent of the first, and has distinct messaging when triggered so the Bard will know whether the weapon has flared the "first" time or the "second" time if there is only one flare.

I remember it working like this when my bard was young and I even found many examples like the following.

You swing a sonic maul at a cinder wasp!
AS: +305 vs DS: +175 with AvD: +33 + d100 roll: +8 = +121
... and hit for 19 points of damage!
Smash to the kneecap.

With a loud snap, a blast of energy bursts from your sonic maul!
... 60 points of damage!
Blow to chest frees a rib to spear a lung and heart!
Roundtime: 5 sec.


I have 95 ranks of air lore, so I should see the second flare a little over 1/3 of the time.

From gswiki
Elemental Lore, Air: The following training thresholds yield 3% additional chance for the secondary flare to activate: 3, 7, 12, 18, 25, 33, 42, 52, 63, 75, 88, 102. Note that the increase is continuous rather than discrete; each rank trained adds to the chance to flare.

222 hits with 21 outright kills with the weapon, so only 201 chances to flare
None of the first flares killed
44 unleashes a blast of sonic energy (first flare)
10 With a loud snap (second flare)
If it matters I was running Song of Tonis during my hunts.

Out of 201 swings I should be seeing approximately 66 of the second flare instead of 10. Also the second flare only occurred with the first flare (double flares), never independently.

Did I miss a nerf to Sonic Weapons while I was gone or am I just unluckiest bard ever?

I just went out for another hunt. I had 18 of the first flares and 4 of the second flare only as a double flare with the first. This was with a sonic short sword. I give up.

I went out an did some checking with my sonic trident in a grimswarm camp and after killing several hundred grimswarm, I concur something does seem off.
I have 202 shield, polearm, and cman ranks, 127 songs known, and 101 air lore ranks and I did not see:"With a loud snap, a blast of energy bursts from your sonic trident" unless it was a double flare. On single flares, it simply says: "Your sonic trident unleashes a blast of sonic energy at XXX." so I can't tell if its a primary or secondary flare activating.

I also didn't see messaging when the critter dies from the first flare, but you would have gotten a secondary flare on the swing, seem to remember something like that in the past.

Another question I had is if wearing uac gloves and boots might negatively impact how often your sonic weapon would flare in melee combat, or when using combat maneuvers such as, cheap shots.

Archales

So, apparently since 2013, there was a bug that was preventing the second flare from triggering unless the first flare also triggered. :( It's fixed now though.

GameMaster Estild

Yes thank you

Archales

Wow, that bug must have been tough to spot! Thanks for noticing, Loten and thanks also for the quick fix, Estild.

/seo, wheels and skulls department/