Ryan Honeyman wrote:
>
> From: Ryan Honeyman <honeyman@...>
>
> > [Me]: I have to think that singing the Mana song in battle is not worth it.
>
> ... to say something isn't worth it depends all on the
> situation. Plus, if they ask you to play straight manasong and you
> refuse, the waiting list you were on for 1 or 2 hours to get in that
> group will return. Cause people who want pure manasong will disband
> you if you try to convince them of any other song methods.
>
> > [Me]: If I have to pick one song to sing, it's probably Lullaby...
>
> You are asking for trouble if you keep this song playing, trust me.
> You do not want nor need the extra attention. I'm not certain how
> effective you are in Lguk with Lullaby anyway ...
>
> Harmonic.
>
Harmonic is, of course, correct. I was being much too absolutist. I still
believe that the numbers suggest that the pure mana song is not as useful as
twisting three songs, and should only be used in special situations.
The mana song gives each caster in the party an additional one-third of a spell
for each spell/time increment, by sacrificing three songs that you could be
twisting constantly. So you are trading three songs for one-third of a spell
per caster, a 9:1 tradeoff for one caster, 9:5 for five (and only if they are
all OOM). Mathematically, that makes no sense at all if all spells/songs are
equally powerful/useful; it can only be worth it if the spells the casters have
are vastly better than any songs we could be singing otherwise. Does giving a
Cleric one-third more healing ability really make up for not singing, say,
Anthem/Largo's/DDD (even with resists)? Or Lullabying a MOB or two? I'm not
convinced.
I've had groups that wanted me to play the pure mana song. When I'm feeling
lazy (and not particularly threatened), I will often oblige them. Playing a
Bard is very draining, frankly, and it's refreshing not to have to think some
times. Still, I leave those groups as soon as I can. The fact is that they
are dead wrong to think that the mana song is the only useful thing that I can
play, and I don't like being in a group that is both stupid and insistent that
I go along with their stupidity. Those are the groups that get me killed.
Over and over again.
As for Lullaby, Enchanter Mesmerize is better, but if I'm not in a group with
Mes, it's still darned useful. In Lower Guk (savant, exe, scribe rooms), at
level 34, I was getting about 50% resists. This shuts down half of the goblins
in excess of the one targetted (assuming that the group is smart enough to
target one at a time). In a four-goblin pull, that neutralizes one and a half
goblins. (This is the equivalent of Pixie Striking each of the MOBs, without
all of the annoying retargeting). With more targets, it's even better.
To show how situational this is: 1) it's not worth it if you only have two
targets, and Pixie Strike might be better for three; 2) if you don't have a
Cleric, you'll probably die; 3) if the dungeon is empty of other players, I
don't sing AE songs unless we're close to a zone point.
Kenross Cantoforjado, 34 songs, Innoruuk