On Thu, 13 May 1999, J.M. Capozzi wrote:

>
> >Melee:
> >I would take preferance to singing Anthem, and switch to healing (and step
> >back from the fight to avoid the shit list effect) with my mandolin.
>
> Once again, when we're getting hit in excess of 60 points per swing, even
> with my 11 per tick with a lute, it's not worth the loss of my blades. Dead
> mobs give you plenty of time to heal. Live ones don't.

If you're in a good group, everyone should be taking damage.
If everyone is wounded, and if the song heals just 5 points
per tick with your weapons equipped, for a six person party
that's 30 points of healing per tick, which can substantially
offset even 60 points damage per swing.

I don't think there's any right answer to which songs to use.
It all depends on the circumstances. Figuring it out is the
fun of playing a bard. :-)

> Switched to an old standby instead..Lucid Lullaby. I'd rather the caster
> not cast, than take my chances resisting the spell. Lullaby does an
> excellent job interupting the casters.

Another use I found for Lullaby is saving your party when a
hopelessly red train gets dumped on it. The song *really*
pisses off the monsters, so you fire it up until you have
their attention, then hit accelerando and lead them away from
your party.

I heard the maximum number of mobs affected by it was limited
to 4 for playbalance reasons. I have no problem with that,
but it seems to me that even when the song is already working
on 4 mobs, it still gets other mobs nearby (who are not being
affected by the song and are normally non-aggressive) mad at
me. It's hard to keep calm when 4 mobs are beating on you and
3 more join the fray, so I can't say I'm certain about this.
But that's the impression I'm getting of how it works.

--
John H. Kim
kim@...