On Thu, 30 Mar 2000, Kimes, Dean W. wrote:

>
> Yes they are preprogrammed to do the same thing every time. However, if I
> was within 20% of the other people's damage output over the course of 50
> fights, statistics would tell you that during some of those fights I would
> actually do more damage than them. That never occurred. In no fight did I
> outdamage them for more than a few mob swings.

You're talking about a cumulative random series, not a
comparison of random events. The only time you would've had
the mob on you is when you initially started the fight, if you
"got lucky" and did more damage than them. The longer the
fight goes on, the smaller the percentage variation in damage.
You can "get lucky" again 1 minute into a fight, but it'll
never show up because the other guys greater damage over the
previous minute swamps it out.

In other words, the longer the fight, the closer your total
damage will be to your average * duration of the fight. The
longer the fight goes on, the less likely it is for you to be
hit even if you're only doing slightly less damage.

--
John H. Kim
kim@...