On Thu, 23 Sep 1999, Frank Hartmann wrote:
>
> We as bards have a much easier time being bound in evil
> cities. After we die, we can invis past the guards, we can
Um, if you've died and have no wind instrument, how can you
make yourself invisible? If you're bound in an evil city,
going to the bank to pick up a spare isn't an option.
> use our sneak ability (rogues have it even easier because
> they can sneak and hide at the same time) or with Selo's
> we can attempt to even just run right past them to the
> nearest zone (you might get whacked a time or two as you
> go speeding past though).
I accidently entered Neriak when I was level 16. I actually
didn't have any trouble getting into the city because I
entered the cave from the top. Just inside the city didn't
seem to be a problem. I zoned back out, and was immediately
jumped by two red guards. Mind you, I had Accelerando with a
drum running just before I zoned, and I restarted it
immediately upon exiting. Being server AI-driven, they were
easily able to keep up with me and whack me from behind while
I navigated the twists and turns that are at every zone point.
When I finally got out of the cave, a third guard jumped into
the fray. I managed to get away from them and zone into EC
with two bubbles of life. This was with my drum and all my
banded armor. Without my equipment I most likely would've
died.
A monk on the eq_monk list used to be a big advocate of what
you suggest - binding in Grobb (or whatever the troll city is)
for fighting in Guk and Innotule. He'd use sneak (it works
better for monks) to get past the guards outside the zone.
Then one day, Verant caught on that this was going on, and
added a wandering guard just inside the zone. He lost almost
a full level from being killed over and over just as he
respawned, until he finally managed to zone out.
None of the strategies you suggest are viable at low levels
because you just don't have enough hit points to take the hits
from the guards should they attack you. At high levels it's a
moot point because a cleric can revive/resurrect you.
When you die you typically lose about an hour's worth of
experience. Running the extra 4 zones takes about 10 minutes
for a bard (I've timed it - with Accelerando and a drum, most
zones take from just under a minute to about two minutes to
cross in your mid 20s, W and S Karana and the ramp to Highpass
in EK being the exceptions). That means even if you're
re-killed only 1 time in 5 doing the bind-in-an-evil-city
trick, you're worse off than if you'd bound in a safe city and
made the full run every time. The numbers are different for
all the other non-binding classes since they can't run as
fast, but that also means they're at more risk of re-death
since they can't outrun the guards.
I really wouldn't recommend you do this.
--
John H. Kim
kim@...