At 04:44 PM 05/28/1999 EDT, you wrote:
>From: mprez20@...
>
>In a message dated 5/28/99, 4:33:00 PM, eq_wizards@onelist.com writes:
><<Maybe it's just a quirk of my character's nature - but if I'm grouped,
>there is never mana left for an emergency Gate. I can't bring myself to
>Gate-out on my Tanks - even in the most hopeless of situations, so we all
>die together. >>
>
>When I play my shadow knight and my group is deep in befallen on the 3rd
>floor and all the sudden I get hit by 6 greater skeletons, 3 necro thero, 2
>ice bones, 3 ghouls etc etc, I see that as the party leader this train is
>going to run over our asses. So I yell RUN and stand my ground to the
death.
If I get the order to run, I expect everyone to run. If someone chooses to
stay behind and get chewed on, I'm grateful for their sacrifice, but I
under no circumstances expect it from them.
While I'm perfectly willing to run away from a fight with them (hell, I've
called retreats for them), I don't gate on them. I'm no melee fighter by
any stretch of the imagination, but by gating out on my tanks, I'm removing
one more potential random target from the mob - thus decreacing my tanks
odds of survival. Whatsmore, I don't want them to be in a situation where
they think they are being backed up by artillery that doesn't exist -
whether the Wiz is OOM or has just plain split.
Strategy check: Which has the better survival rate? A group running away,
or a group that scatters? (I'm not questioning your qualifications as a
leader, just wanting to know which has worked better from your point of
view) I can see pluses and minuses on both sides of the argument.
> If my wizards did not take the time to gate out I would be pissed. I am
>willing to die so that you might escape to have everyone die is a waste.
The
>rule of thumb should be based on your group. If you are all friends and
work
>well together then you should know when to gate and when not to. If you
gate
>and your leader hasn't given the run command then your are a coward. Every
>party needs a leader, usually a paladin or tank is best for this position.
>Since they know how much they can take. As long as magic users keep
everyone
I usually lead my parties (if one can call it "leading" since I'm in the
back). Wizards can do this effectivly as long as they aren't so caught up
in blasting they forget to keep an eye on their tanks health or the groups
surroundings. And from the back, I'm removed enough to keep an eye on the
flow of the battle (like if we seem to be getting too near a critter that
will decide to assist the one we are attacking, or said critter decides to
charge us)
>informed on mana with "LOM or OOM OOM" then the group should work out fine.
Complete agreement there; I call for a mana check before we engage anything.
>So basically I think you should Gate only when you get the command in
battle,
>or your leader is dead and the rest are running.
We'll have to agree to disagree there. =)
-Pennaggolan, 3rd Circle Wizard of Felwithe