So basically Chains is like bards in general? An afterthought that's nice
to have when the real spells fail. I waited 22 levels for this. Sigh,
maybe I should just give in and play a necro so I can complain about how my
400 pt DoT's take a whole minute to happen and my 65 point heal/DD's aren't
mana efficient because my pet keeps me from ever taking damage. Sighs in
defeat.

Kit

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Illian [mailto:jeff@...]
Sent: Monday, March 20, 2000 3:01 PM
To: eqbards@onelist.com
Subject: Re: [eqbards] Chains Reliability

From: "Jeff Illian" <jeff@...>

Chains is a backup song to snare or to be used on runners when there is no
"snarer" present. It is as simple as that. If for some reason snare
doesn't stick... or is more often the case at higher levels it is resisted
many times in a row, then chains is the backup and emergency tool for
stopping runners.

For example, this weekend we did the Efreeti raid... We almost screwed it
all up because one damn imp resisted all of the snare attempts and started
running. What saved the day? Luckily the other bard in the group had
chains loaded and stopped the runner cold in its tracks. Me being a DOLT
didn't have it up (last time I do that!).

As for reliability, chains is resisted far too often, breaks far too easily
and lasts not nearly long enough to be used as the primary means of stopping
runners. As a backup to a good druid or ranger, it is simply awesome
(particularly because you can sing it while chasing after the runner).
There is nothing I hate more then having to do runner control for a party.
There are far more important things for a bard to do.

What about the slow down effect? Well your level 20 song is as good as
chains, has an area effect, doesn't break root and stacks with the
enchanters slow downs. IMHO this is a much better song for during combat
and chains should be loaded for the emergency situations when everything
else fails.

As for Lazy vs. non-lazy snarers? Snare tends to last 2 minutes normally.
We have all our snarers announce when they have got snare to stick. Every
snarer keeps casting until one of the announces. 99% of the time when
someone gets snare to stick, it is unnecassary for any further action to
prevent a runner and chains is a sufficient backup to the 1% of the time
when the MOB breaks snare for some unknown god-awful reason. The biggest
problem with snare is its resist rate, but once it sticks, it usually sticks
for the duration. If your snarers aren't repeating snare attempts until
they get one to stick, then your snarers are not doing their job.

Taneran Dreamweaver
<Clan Jax>
Bard of the 45th song
Prexus

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