On Wed, 7 Jul 1999, James Schuldes wrote:

>
> At your levels - what are you guys doing when in combat with your party?

Usually fighting.

> Are you equiped and in the melee? If so, don't you get stunned and have
> your songs stopped?

Yes, but lately this is only really a problem if I have to use
Lullaby or am fooling around with Discord. Nearly all the
tanks I play with can outdamage me enough that they can pull
anything off me within a song or two. I toss in Chain every
now and then to better distribute the damage (pulling the/a
mob off someone really getting beat up). On average I'd say I
go through about two rounds of twisting three songs before I'm
stunned. My connection is good enough that I can miss a note
or two and I still have enough time to keep three songs going.

> Or are you standing off with an instrument and playing for extra party
> effect?

I'll sometimes switch to a drum twisting Rhythm songs if we're
up against a really nasty magical mob, especially if it can
charm. It really depends on the makeup of the group. If
there are plenty of tanks, you can back off and act sort of
like a caster with enhanced buffs and heals. If you are the
only tank, or one of two, then you're probably going to be
interrupted frequently enough that melee is more effective.

> Does it ever help to equip lute for hp if you are getting hit on by strong
> mobs?

It depends. :-) If your party has multiple mobs hitting you,
then the damage you as a group are taking will far exceed what
you can heal, and you're better off killing the mobs ASAP.
Once the rate they're damaging you starts to approach your
healing rate, then it makes more sense to twist in healing. It
can make sense to equip a lute in a fight to heal, but usually
only if your group is all pretty badly hurt and you are
basically mopping up. Otherwise, healing during a fight is
basically slowing down the rate you're dying at and
lengthening the fight as a tradeoff. (Wish I could draw this
- it's much easier to explain graphically.)

--
John H. Kim
kim@...