The moment I was able to buy my lute/mandolin (I forget which one I
currently carry ... one's cheaper, the other's lighter, if I remember
right)...

Where was I? Oh ... right

The moment I was able to buy my lute/mandolin, I turned into a baker.
Running around newbie fields with a stringed instrument has got to
be the best way to gather up those bat wings and rat ears!

Last night, when I reached a bubble into level 9, I decided to take
the long trip to Innothule. I've heard that there are some newbie
monsters there with cool magic armor, and I wanted to see how my
Heavy Metal Music does in Troll land.

Results were pretty similar, except frogloks are a lot smarter than
rats and bats -- they actually stay away when they're hurt, and they
only come back when they're half healed. And running after the damn
things through swamplands is dangerous for a good-aligned character
who's nearest bind point is in Freeport (5 zones away).

Anyway, I did use that interesting sit-down trick: The moment a
monster starts to run away, don't chase after it. Sit down. Part of
the mob AI seems to think that characters sitting down are easy
targets. The moment the mob hits you, you automatically stand up and
automatically target the attacker. If you hit auto-attack fast
enough, you'll get one or two hits in before the monster starts
running again. Repeat ad nauseum.

Not sure if this is an "exploit" or just plain tactics.

But since you wouldn't want to waste too much time killing newbie
lunchmeat, use the dissonance to augment your attacks. (Hey, I
actually improved my hand to hand ... skill level 5!!! WOW!)

Does the lute of the gypsy princess or other loot-stringed items
actually improve the performance of Dissonance?? And what are all
those "Box of Lute Strings" for?

===
_oO* John Buenavides *Oo_