On Sun, 13 Jun 1999, Garramone, Michael (CCI-Las Vegas) wrote:
>
> Try this if you are fighting bigtime casters, put on a drum and sit that
> melee out, play guardian AND elemental rhythms, and see how happy everyone
> is with 100+ magic resistance.
At L19, Guardian Rhythms raised magic resist by +25 using a
drum. Elemental Rhythms raised it by +25 as well. At L20, it
was +27 each. So I imagine it'll be a while before I can use
just these two songs to get everyone's magic resist to 100.
Right now I can only do that if a spellcaster casts Endure
Magic first.
> As far as playing hymn of resotration during a fight, I was always of the
> opinion that it is just not worth it, especially when not holding a
> mandolin/lute. The 5hp or so per pulse can not keep up with the dmg the
> party is taking. I say put the creature down as quickly as you can. Maybe
> until you get to 23, Anthem and 2 Bellows, while boring, is most effective
> and i think that is exactly what i did. then AFTER the fight, put on a
Another thing to keep in mind (and something I intentionally
didn't mention in my previous reply because I didn't want to
confuse what is already very confusing to analyze) is how many
party members there are. The more people in your party, the
less effect Bellow has on reducing the combat duration, and
the more effect Restoration has (assuming multiple people are
damaged).
> as buffing everyone elses melee abilities. And it is a very rare occurrence
> to play heal, as there is always a cleric or druid in your party who can
> heal 400+ hp in one spell, and your mana song regenerates their mana far
> faster than your heal song can regen their hp.
That will feel very strange, not having Restoration memorized.
:-) Does Clarity increase the mana regeneration rate only
during meditation, or all the time?
> Personally I don't like being "ordered" to do anything in a group, by leader
> or other members. They do not play a bard, therefore they can not know all
> of our benefits to a party. If the group asks and we agree on a strategy,
> no problem. but if it pisses you off like it does me to be ordered around,
> just tell them "next time you tell me to play that song will be the last
> time i play it." usually that shuts them up, especially if it is the mana
> song =)
Well, I think it's helpful to discuss strategy with the group
beforehand. I've been grouping with the same 5-10 people for
a while now, so they pretty much know how to work with a bard
(my current gripe is with the paladins not using Lay Hands on
me until one bubble of life remaining, which is well beyond my
fail-safe point to hit Accelerando and get out of Dodge). If
there are differing opinions on what's the best strategy, then
it may be in the group's best interest for the leader to
dictate which strategy be followed. But yeah, I'd be pretty
pissed if a clueless leader told me what songs to play.
We pulled off one helluva feat last night. One of the
low-level paladins kept insisting on pulling, and due to the
monster frenzy thing, we ended up with an entire orc camp and
just about every orc nearby on us, along with a couple undead.
I'd estimate there were about 12-15 orcs total, ranging from
green to white to me at L20. I pulled every trick I knew with
lullaby, getting the train fixated on me, then running around
in circles nearby while the group finished off the few orcs
that stuck with them. Then I'd swing through the group again
to let them pick off a few more orcs, repeat. It was close
and a lot of passerbys jumped in to help, but we all lived. I
don't think we could've done it if the group hadn't learned
the "everyone attack the same mob" and "let the bard handle
the train" strategies I've been pounding into them. :-)
--
John H. Kim
kim@...