On Fri, 14 May 1999, J.M. Capozzi wrote:

> Well, when you get hit as an individual twice in 2.5 second round, 4 times
> in a tick, in the 60 point range, Hymn has negligble effect. I do 6 per
> tick standing without an instrument, plus the natural 1 point regen. That's
> 7 damage healed per tick. A tick is 5 seconds. 84 hitpoints per minute.

Oh, I agree with you completely. The rate the healing song
heals just does not keep up with the rate monsters do damage
as you advance in levels. I was just disagreeing with your
comparison of 60 pts damage vs 11 points healing per tick for
just one person. That seemed contrived to show a near worst-
case scenario under the guise of a best-case. Best-case you
have to also take into account your party members healing.

> Most of our fights last 45 seconds or less, so if I sang Hymn full time
> that's 54 points damage healed per member. One hit from the monsters we
> fight. Not singing Hymn in lieu of another song, such as Melodic Binding,
> is much more effective. With Melodic binding, I probably stop that mob from
> making half a dozen swings. Proactive damage avoidance.

A good way to think of it is to tally up the amount of healing
you'd get through the duration of the battle. Compare it to
the damage you'd avoid by killing the monster faster. Which
is greater determines which is the better song for fighting.

> >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.
>
> Good tactic, but not something that can be done indoors, nor even in most
> outdoor dungeons. For getaways now, I use the 26th level song, Appalling
> Screech. Area fear song, clears a room in a hurry.

Well, I have 11 levels to use my tactic until I get Appalling
Screech. :-)

--
John H. Kim
kim@...