On Wed, 6 Oct 1999, Naeeldar wrote:

>
> Heh well then you have to talk with some 40+ people some more. You have to
> have a basic understanding of what every class can do at high levels to take
> things on.

That's what I said - you have a basic understanding. You
still lack the intimate knowledge it takes to play the class
well. I know my cleric friends can heal, and I know they can
nuke. I know that sometimes it is better for them to use mana
to nuke than to heal. But aside from vague situations (e.g.
mob that heals itself if you don't have a nuker), I cannot
with confidence say when a cleric should nuke and when he
should heal. I have little or no idea how much mana these
spells take, nor do I have their experience of hundreds if not
thousands of situations where they've tried a little bit of
this or a little bit of that. Just like I wouldn't expect my
cleric friends to know when to switch from buffing, to MR, to
healing with my songs. You don't learn that until you've
played it.

> Besides which you don't learn much in the early levels.

That assumes that the same strategies work at all levels.
While there are several meta-strategies that do work at all
levels, as a bard you should know that what works and what
doesn't changes with each new song you get and each new level
you gain. If you're going to powergame solo to L50 to play
with your L50 friends, then I'd agree with you. But if you
plan to play the early/mid levels with other people, then it's
in your and their interest that you learn how to do it well.

--
John H. Kim
kim@...