I am not convinced that MOBs hate Bards just because they're Bards, but
my experience in numerous crowded dungeons suggests the following:
1) It is not just our attack songs that are Area Effect. All of our
party buffs are also AE. This is obvious from the fact that party
members can be in or out of effect range for all of them (and the area
for many of these songs is quite large). When multiple MOBs are pulled,
typically only one has taken actual damage, the others come along because
they are linked. The taunt value of attacking the neighbor of a MOB is
apparently less than the taunt value of attempting to cast a spell on the
MOB directly (songs with positive effects on MOB enemies are just as
irritating to them as songs with negative effects on themselves). This
is why I have been able to attract as many as ten lizzies in CT, and as
many as eight undead in Befallen even though my party only pulled a
couple. This is not because I am a Bard per se, it is because of the way
that MOBs evaluate Bard song effects.
2) When a new MOB appears, it evaluates the situation in order to
determine which enemy to whack. Among the criteria (all else being
equal): 1. MOBs will whack casters because they are more immediately
threatening. Bards are casters. 2. MOBs will attack the closest enemy.
Bards are often in melee range. 3. MOBs will attack the weakest enemy.
Bards have lower hit points than most melee-based player types. 4.
MOBs will attack the first character to cast on them. Bardics songs are
AE and are usually the first to affect a MOB.
All of these "rules" make sense to some degree. Unfortunately, the net
effect is that most MOBs who are weakly engaged will (by adding all of
these rules together) attack who? The Bard.
This still does not explain why, when I was in Permafrost with 30 other
players, at least 20 of whom were higher level than me, and I was
standing well to the back of the main group, TWO Ice Giants ran straight
through a pack of level 40-50 druids, rangers, clerics, warriors,
wizards, enchanters, et al, to jump on ME. ;P
Kenross Cantoforjado, 30 songs, Innoruuk
David Knadler wrote:
>
> From: David Knadler <dknadler@...>
>
> I also think Bard Hate is a myth. In my whole career, I've yet to see a MOB
> come after me simply because I was a bard.
>
> Desmei Sightblinder
> Lvl 30 Bard [Povar]
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: galen@... [mailto:galen@...]
> > Sent: Friday, October 22, 1999 9:19 AM
> > To: eqbards@onelist.com
> > Subject: [eqbards] Bard Hate...
> >
> >
> > From: galen@...
> >
> > I have been hearing rumors that "bard hate" does not really
> > exist... Anyone actually have proof that it does?
> >