so I just gave the AP a static IP and blocked outgoing traffic to the WAN on my router

It requires DHCP from your router and will NOT work in a static IP network

Also, configure the APs to use static IP addresses

Here is where you can set up your wireless network, assign static IP addresses, create VLANs, guest networks, intrusion detection, device mapping, etc

This 2nd person in short said that I need to change the computer settings to the AP from dynamic IP to a static IP

You need to know how to assign and configure static IP settings, that's about it.

I recommend setting each device with a static IP in order to make them easier to find later

This 2nd person in short said that I need to change the computer settings to the AP from dynamic IP to a static IP

One of them tried and did essentially the same thing as I, and no luck

I'm so happy to finally have a commercial-grade Wi-Fi system that's as solid and reliable as I want it to be.