>First, I want to make one point: most deaths occur 2 to 3 zones from
>the bind point.
Agreed this would be the average death distance
>With those points made, I believe that Verant gave magic-users and priests
>the ability to bind anywhere because making the 2 - 3 zone run to fetch a
>corpse can be darn near impossible. Magic-users are roughly 40% less
>effective in melee combat because of their reduced OFF/DEF, and priests are
>down 20%, and neither group has any special melee attacks like the melee
>classes.
>Having played a wizard up to the mid-teens before becoming a full-time
bard,
>I can tell you how hard it can be for a naked wizard to handle a tough blue
>that has latched onto you when you are making the run-of-shame to your
>corpse -- and this is with the best root and DD spells in the business.
Agreed the wizard might have a tough time with a hard blue
>For a melee class, the run is an inconvenience, but without nearly as much
>risk, as you can either outrun any problems that may arise (bards), hide
and
>sneak from them (rogues), or have enough varied attacks that do not rely
>upon weapons alone that you can defend yourself adequately (warriors,
monks,
>et.al.).
You gotta be kidding me. I can't take a tough blue reliably, and after 20th
it has been the general consensus none of these classes can solo a tough
blue, and that's with all our equipment. If a warrior over 20th level meets
a tough blue naked, he dies. Not most of the time, nearly every time. He
has zero chance of beating it without his primary equipment. The caster can
at least root and run, if not root and nuke. The warrior can just run and
either zone or die. Fortunately bards can run fast and zone, or die.
A caster without his equipment is far more effective than any melee class,
monks excepted, when he is naked. A caster's main equipment is his spells
which he can regain immediately. All other classes rely on thing they left
on their body to survive. In truth it is far less dangerous for a caster to
run back to his body than for any of the melee classes.
Case in point. My 5 level Druid was able to travel the length of Antonica,
through the gorge without incident. He has camo. An enchanter of 4th level
can do the same. My 9th level Paladin was killed three times trying to
cross the karanas to Highhold. He had no way to evade, no way to fight, and
he could not run fast enough. Of all the melee classes, only the bard can
safely return to his corpse by outrunning the dangers. Goodness imagine how
long it would take to Sneak from freeport to Guk, egads you'd be running to
your corpse for over an hour.
Kitasi
The argument I make is that there is a compelling need for magic-users and
priests to be able to bind and bind anywhere. That need is not present for
fighters and hybrids; rather, it would simply be a convenient ability to
have.
With all the work that Verant has done to balance the various classes, I do
not believe that one can reasonably expect them to make this major change to
the game without a compelling need. I believe that it is also important to
consider the outcry Verant would get from the seven classes that can bind if
they let everyone bind. Can't you already hear Namby Pamby the Necromancer
shouting across the zone about how badly Verant nerfed the casters, and how
they are owed some special 'hot death from above' spell to offset the loss?
My parting thought is this: sure I'd love to have bind. I'd also like to be
the flying cuisinart of death, but I'm not. I'm a bard. I've been endowed
by my creators with a wide variety of marvelous abilities (most of which
work), but bind is not one of them. Being adaptable, I make do with what I
have, and frankly, I do pretty well.
Ranulf
Tunare Server