Hi everyone! I started playing Lusternia a few weeks ago, great game, lots of fun to be had, mad props to the admins. I haven't quite gotten into combat yet due to a severe deficiency in skills, but I've messed around with a friend to get a feel for how fighting works in this game. One thing I've noticed is that it's ridiculously easy to run away from someone when your health starts getting low. In graphics-based games like World of Warcraft, it's a lot tougher to disengage from someone trying to kill you because they can just chase you and get free hits on your back.

But here, there are no graphics, you can't see someone when they move into the next room, there's no way to know which way they went if there are multiple exits out of a room, and it's almost impossible to follow people if they really want to get away from you. I know that there are certain skills that allow you to keep someone in a room, but there seems to be a lot more skills that get you out of a room, or at least hinder your opponent until you can (i.e. tumble, web). So I guess what I'm wondering is, how do keep someone from just running away from you during a fight? It seems like a mighty tough thing to do. What classes are the best at it? What classes are the worst?

When fighting solo, there is no real way to keep an intelligent and competent curer from running if they are determined to run and do so right away at the beginning of the fight or run whenever you hit them. However, as you progress farther along into a fight and farther towards your guild's kill condition (high wounds, aeonlock, saplock, whatever) it will naturally be more and more difficult for the opponent from running away.

It might be easier to give examples of ways to keep your opponents from running if you posted what guild you're in?

I'm a Spiritsinger.

I took Illusions as my tertiary skill because Hunting looked kinda useless (I mean, cluck like a chicken?). But some of the skills in Tracking look pretty sweet, and I'm wondering if I should switch. I've heard that Glamours is a lot more useful in head on combat, but the idea of stalking an enemy across the plains and leading him into a trap seems pretty darn cool. But if they could just run away from you, then that makes the whole thing seem kinda pointless.

Edit: Also, my friend is a warrior, and he has a lot tougher time keeping me still than me keeping him still. I have Perfect Fifth at least, which helps a lot.

Just as a note, Commune bards would study Ecology, not Tracking.

Glamours itself has quite a few ways of hindering, and Music has one of the best.

Aw crap, that sucks. I guess I'll stick with Glamours then, Ecology looks like a really boring skillset.

Ecology has a few hindering smudges, but generally speaking it goes back to Shamarah's comments. The best way to get someone stuck is to get them so messed up with afflictions they can't get up and leave.

Or never let them stand up at all. Veracruz and I both have x.(388/400ish).280ish klangaxes, with maneuvers set for Hack, Strike, Sweep, and Cleave. His are set for KnockDown only, mine include Knockdown and SeverSpine. Between the two of us using Mantakaya, Calcise, other poisons, KnockDown, SeverSpine (and my soon to be Trampling greater warhorse) swinging every 2-2.5 seconds, blocking two exits and Engaging the target, we can keep one person on their back indefinitely, or at least long enough for the rest of our group to show up. Or Veracruz goes for the KnockDown while I womp the target's head with my 360 dmg waraxe, going for Behead.


But yes, I completely agree that it's too easy to escape from a fight if you know you're going to lose. I regularly find myself acting as a moving target, with at least 4 (or as many as 8) enemies chasing me around. Even though I'm using Nexus, I'm very familiar with possible entrances and exits and can sprint circles around the people chasing me. I don't have a system (yet), so I usually turn off all my curing triggers and rely on manual Gedulah, FocusBody/Mind, and allheale to keep myself mobile. It's kind of funny, especially in a game where killing = winning, but I'm very proud of my ability to distract a small army while the real fighters get organized



I'm so squishy >__<

Bards are surprisingly terrible at keeping someone in a room, if they really don't want to be there.
Perfectfifth is, more often than not, a waste of power. Since there's no delay for earwort to take effect, a simple macro or trigger or whatever that eats earwort and moves at the same time would get you out of perfectfifth in most situations. It's probably a better idea to spend power on rainbowpattern and transfix, and learn to track enemies as they move about (with adroitness and sprint, you can move rooms faster than whoever you're fighting).

Does Adroitness stack with the sandals artifact? It seems like combining the two would make you move pretty bloody fast.

Incidentally, I was looking over some skillsets at the Scrying Pool before it crashed , and it looks like city bards (or guardians) with Tarot can be pretty good at locking someone down. Theoretically, you can just lust them and fling Empress whenever they try to run away to bring them back. As a muggie, it takes me three seconds to reject, so it shouldn't be that difficult to keep someone constantly lusted. Is this actually a viable strategy?

Addressing the OP's original question, pretty much anyone with a decent curing system can be a good runner. The people who are best at it (or at least in my personal opinion) include those with wings, Sprint, a cubix, or tanky warriors. Wings give you the ability to move unhindered above a battle, and I know that not many people bother to check using Flyers from Discernment. Sprint is a good way to get around, too, especially if you've got a high racial balance recovery. For the wealthy, cubixing out of an area is a good escape route, and tanky warriors are... well, tanky. They've got the stats to survive attacks while keeping mobile enough to get to a safe area.

Probably the 'worst' classes at running away would be demense classes: aqua/geomancers and druids. Their combat system is built more for staying in place and keeping their enemies at a distance, but that doesn't mean they can't make a getaway if they really wanted to.

... what?

Um. Druids are *built* for running away and fighting at a distance in their demesne. Ever seen Bolting in Stag? The most successful Druids tend to be those who run around a lot. A Druid who stands toe-to-toe with most other classes can get stung pretty badly with a lack of hefty DMP. They're squishy.

Yeeaah, -2 for Inky and Bashara both. Druids run like crazy and are great at it, Blacktalon and Hartstone both, and you don't get much better than bard for getting someone to stand still.