Day 7
Before calling, traded Luto an Uchigatana and set NPC fighting style to Shield.
Teled to Yhoat, and without really thinking it through, attacked a crawler. I backed off to buff the NPC up and let him do his thing. Protect, Shell... before I could cast Haste on him, he was giving the low HP warning (which is easy to miss since it's in /say and makes no mention of HP). I ran up to melee & threw him a Cure 3 and Cure 2... which was good enough to pull hate. Unfortunately he chose that moment to use Tachi: Goten, which did unspectacular damage, drew aggro back to him, and got him 1-shotted before I could get off another Cure 3. @.@
This taught me what most probably instinctively knew...
1. WHM Chat Filters and NPC Chat Filters do not mix. Part of the reason he got so low so quickly was because I'd blocked a bunch of damage text for an XP party earlier in the evening. In the 4 seconds it took me to remove them... He probably lost 75~80% of his life.
2. The NPC, like any of us, shouldnt be left to his own devices against a mob 10 levels above him. If I wouldnt Lv 30 PL a PC against a particular mob... I sure as hell shouldnt try it with my NPC. Lesson learned.
3. The use of a Tachi:Goten opens up a number of SC possibilities for me... if I can manage not to completely waste my calls. My goal is to, at some point in the future, figure out a macro to SC/MB with him when he say's he's ready. No fuss... no muss.
And finally... 4. I have to be the worst NPC worker-outer on my server. 7 calls... only 2~3 of which have been successful (ie he left when he was ready, not when one of us died or I had to run for my life). He may never hit 31 at this rate.
Fortunately... he didnt get hit with any major downgrades to his armor.
This is tougher than it might seem from a mage perspective. Its been easier/less taxing to solo many of the mobs I'm pitting him against. I end up babysitting him and trying to fight at the same time... its a lot to juggle.
Edited, Wed Jul 27 12:17:41 2005 by soobooboo