On Fri, 10 Sep 1999, Rokenn Swiftsong wrote:
>
> hehe one of the bards I saw doing this was 34th, they should know better.
> It is easy to tell they are only bellowing since the bellow messages are
> very close together. And the standard combat lined I use is available to a
> Bard of only 25 songs. Even at 25th level where psalm only gives a 4 pt
> damage shield it is still much more effective then a bellow in the over all
I'm pretty sure this has been upgraded to 5 points at level
25, starting a couple weeks after you and I got the song
(which is why there was some disagreement here about exactly
when the damage goes up to 6 points).
As for bards doing nothing but bellowing or druids (and it
seems mages) tanking, I think it comes from too much solo play
and not enough group play. When soloing, these tactics often
make sense. It all changes when you group though. For bards,
an attack or AC buff that makes little difference when applied
to just one person can make a big difference when applied to 5
people. Druids are used to tanking out of necessity, and
mages to keep their pets alive. But they may not yet
understand the tactical advantage of letting someone with
better AC and defensive skills tank. I've found that most
people appreciate when you explain this to them, and several
are even thankful that you took the time to help them better
understand it. They may not change their tactics immediately,
but they do try.
Remember, saying someone's tactics are wrong is a great way to
polarize them to oppose anything you say. Explaining how
things work in a neutral manner, then suggesting how they
might improve their tactics against this explanation often
gets them to "see the light" without the negative reaction.
Btw, the one time I did do nothing but Bellow was when chasing
down runners. Due to lag I couldn't reliably stay within
melee range so Anthem or Warson didn't help, and the mob was
not attacking me so Rhythms or Hymn was pointless, but Bellow
was almost always guaranteed to damage the target. Then I
reached 23 and got Chain and haven't looked back...
--
John H. Kim
kim@...