At 10:02 AM 6/9/99 -0500, you wrote:

>From: James Schuldes <jgs@...>
>
>I think we are saying the same thing here - yes the bard gets the mob's
>attention but it's because of the way mob ai works - they can sense who they
>should kill and they see you as both dangerous to them and as easy to kill.
>Because you are in the party that attacked one of their party - you get put
>on their hate list. All of them now hate you. You are right it is a
>programming thing but I think it's the way they want it.

Actually, it has been noted that mobs will single out Bards who are *not*
in the party attacking them, who have no reason to be on the hate list at
all, to attack. As I've experienced:
In Crushbone, a group trains Crush into the cave where a Bard is resting.
Crush stops pounding on them, and turns to pound on the Bard, completely
ignoring everyone else.
This is why Bards make the best engineers ;)

I think the programming that causes this is the part where a mob checks the
immediate area for threats, and detects the Bard's potential threat (not
actual threat - potential threat). Therein lies the problem. The Bard
(who has mostly group-affecting songs) is seen as the greatest threat
*regardless* of the fact that he or she is neither attacking nor even a
member of the party on the hate list. This is what needs to be fixed.
That and the attractiveness of our instruments. *sheesh* I know I play bad
notes once in a while, but still!

Talies the Wanderer