On Wed, 25 Aug 1999, Jesse wrote:
>
> If you have a snarer in the group, the bard should /not/ be using chains
> unless you don't mind runners. Where I adventure, one runner means evac or
> death.
I guess I need to chastise my druid/ranger friends for not
doing a good job then. I am constantly Chaining stuff that
gets away from them. Believe me, I would dearly love to not
have to deal with what they're fighting (difficult to target
with all those bodies around), and just buff and/or Strike the
other mobs. It never seems to work out that way though.
> Additionally, the chains act as a major taunt, which is sometimes good but
> not always. A snare is a very weak taunt. A ranger/druid can snare a mob
Actually, I think the amount of taunt is about this same,
except Chain gets cast over and over, while Snare you only
need to cast once.
> and never have it aggro on him very easily. Additioanly, snare (NOT
> ensnare) last a guaranteed, set time varying with level. Once they're
> snared, there's no chance of that mob breaking free until that set time
> has passed.
Interesting. Didn't know that - that would change strategies
considerably. Can you "refresh" the snare before this period
is up by recasting it?
> > It's better than relying on casters to snare/root because you
> > can chase mobs while singing this song - they can't while
> > casting snare/root.
>
> No, it's MUCH better to rely on casters to snare. Why? Because chains has
> to be cast while the runner is trying to run -- one failure and it's time
??? You can Chain something that's already Chained. If we're
in a dangerous situation and can't afford runners, I start to
Chain a couple rounds before it should begin to run. If it's
a yellow or red mob with a high chance of resisting, I just
keep Chaining it over and over after that. I've had just two
mobs (red) get away from me in the last month or so of doing
this.
> to evac. Snare can be cast on all the mobs at the beginning of the battle,
> without making the mobs attack the snarer. You then no longer have to
> worry about mobs escaping.
Like I said, I'm constantly Chaining stuff that starts to run
when the snare expires. At that point, you can still Chain
while chasing the mob. Casters need to stand still to
snare/root it again. So Chain is often the *only* option.
> But a bard who chains snared mobs is likely to get kicked out of many
> groups after getting them all killed a few times.
Maybe it changes at higher levels. Nearly all the recent bad
situations I've gotten into involving runners was when I
relied on a druid or ranger to snare and didn't bother
Chaining.
--
John H. Kim
kim@...