Dancer Archive

I started dancing during what I think of as "the golden-age" of dance. Back before the "holo-craze". I started in the Moenia Cantina on Naboo. The resident Master Dancers then were Shianse Moyle and Javier. Sadly, both of which are now one with the force. Much of what I know I learned thru them. It occurred to me recently reading thru the forums that during this "dark time" there are few to pass along the craft and etiquette that I took as a given and that I received from these masters. Many people "Master" by getting a macro, plopping themselves in a cantina group and head off to watch something called "teeVee".

Opps. . . I find I'm babbling as I tendto do. I dont want to go on forever in a single post. A lot of people simply skip right over the long posts. Many are, after all, out to get information and get back to the game. So I think I'll keep each brief and to the point, just lots of them.

Message Edited by ArgentWulf on 05-16-2004 08:32 AM

What does every new dancer need, besides healing xp that is? Clothes! What does every veteran dancer have trouble fitting into their inventory after awhile? Clothes! Hmmm. . . see any correlation?

We all like to change our appearance to fit our mood and our dance so in no time at all we build up quite the wardrobe. We also find that some clothes we once loved we no longer need, want or care for. Besides, how many times have you bought something only to try it on and find out “it just wasn’t you”? (Hmmm…maybe the devs good give us a 10 second “fitting room”…oops OT) Anyway t this is where the great part of the “one size fits most” philosophy of SWG comes in handy. Lets not be wasteful lets recycle!

We can all tell the brand new player. Their noobe uniform is a dead give-a-way. Shortly after starting many new dancers will ask if there is a good tailor around. By all means let them know of any, it helps both them and the tailor. This is also your cue. Talk to these dancers and see if they would like an outfit or two. It doesn’t matter what at this point most anything will be welcomed. Trade with them (chances are some newbies have never used the trade function and better they learn it around a kindly old pro then some power gamer who has no patience with anyone just learning the game). If they ask you what they owe you say nothing. Most of our old clothes tend to sit around taking up inventory space until we finally need to delete them to make room, so why not recycle them. If the dancer insists on doing something, tell them to pay the favor forward. Let them help someone else out when its their turn. This is also a great way to meet people and make GREAT friends. This I know for a fact. It also helps to perpetuate comradeship and strengthen the overall close bond I find that is prevalent through out the Ent community.

Next up: Tips

Message Edited by ArgentWulf on 05-16-2004 08:35 AM

What is the dancer’s sole source of income . . . tips. I know there are some of you out there thinking,”Hey Lei, didn’t you forget about Entertainer missions?” I certainly try to. These so called missions are a joke if not a downright insult. They consist of going to a random venue, dancing for an unspecified amount and collecting a pitifully small amount of reward. It’s easier and much quicker to double up delivery missions between two distant towns on your planet. I wander OT again. This post is about tips.

At the best its bad form, in a macro its spam. There is no quicker way to get on an ignore list then to spam. Personally I think spamming should flag you and put you on the BH boards, but that’s just me.

Message Edited by ArgentWulf on 05-24-2004 11:12 PM

As you climb the Ent trees and later Dancer (or even Musician) you will and should spend a goodly amount of time grouped. Grouping is a privilege and not a right, please keep that in mind. When you enter a cantina find an appropriate spot and start to dance. Taking for granted that a group is already present a good attentive leader will usually invite you very soon after, unless they are busy with other activities like buffing, talking to patrons or similar pursuits. If you don’t get an invite after a short time ask courteously for an invitation to the Entertainer’s group. If a few minutes goes by and you don’t receive an invite try again. A leader can get quite busy and miss a spatial request. There is also a chance they may be /shudder AFK. At one time this was an extremely rare occurrence. Sadly in this dark time it happens all too often. The group may also be full. You can also try to /tell someone and ask who the leader is. Be polite! They are doing you a favor by either replying with the information or relaying your request. Once in the group get into the habit of thanking the leader for the invite. We as dancers are lucky in that we may choose any dance while musicians that are grouped should play the same song. However try to perform an appropriate dance to whatever music is currently being played. Not only will it enhance your performance but it will also give a more unified look overall.

What if there isn’t a group or the current one is full? Start one. Anyone can start a group. Just be mindful of a few things. Be aware of your cantina. If a new Ent arrives invite them. The more dancers actually dancing the greater your xp will be. Also as leader you have the responsibility to be present. Don’t wander off to the bazaar to do a bit of shopping or go AFK for more than a moment. If you must leave, find a replacement. This can sometimes be more difficult than it seems. A lot of people don’t like the lead spot, me for one. (Lei has a hard time dancing and drinking Accarragm at the same time.) A lot of stuff is going on in a busy cantina and being a leader is just one more cross to bare. It takes an attentive player to make a good leader. If you do find someone to take lead consider yourself blessed, because if you don’t you have a hard choice to make. Disband the group or play “tag”. Never, ever leave while you are still lead! Disbanding the group will upset lots of people, but if no one took lead after you offered it, they don’t have a right to be too upset. You can also play “tag” a rather devious way of sidestepping the issue and one I have mixed feelings about (and don't in fact advocate).You just randomly pick someone and make them lead. The group is intact, but you probablyticked someone off bigtime. Also if the person is not aware they are leader they may log, go afk or wander off and the group is in the same situation as if you had done it. Like I say I really don’t advocate this practice (unless its between friends who often perform together and know one another’s habits), but it does happen often. I mention it here so if it happens to you, you'll be prepared. (Lei can’t remember how many times she’s looked up and down the 20 or so names in the group and not found an “L”! )

Don’t be surprised or offended if you invite a MD and they decline. When we earn that title dance and healing xp have little meaning for us anymore. We tend to do our own thing whether it be buffing or just stepping out into the solo spotlight. It’s no reflection on your group. If they do accept you should feel lucky. Not that MD’s are above anyone else or you should kowtow to them,but for the knowledge and experience they bring with them. (This is provided they took the long road and not AFK’d in a guild hall with a combat medic dishing out mind disease for a day or two. ) With a MD in group you have someone who can train and answer questions for you plus help get you that much sought after healing xp.

Message Edited by ArgentWulf on 05-16-2004 01:07 PM

Oops. . . sorry, running late. I wanted to put this up last night, but fell behind.

As I said in this thread a couple of posts back we as entertainers will spend much if not nearly all of the “learning” portion or our careers grouped. We in many cases will continue to do this even after we Master, unless of course we decide to step out into the solo spotlight.
In the course of our journey to mastery of the craft we will need to train and be trained often. Training someone, of course, gives us apprenticeship or AP points. We all want the magic number of 620 ready and waiting when we finally gather in that final healing xp point to finish that long struggle up the two healing trees. My advice to Masters and very senior dancers: don't immediately jump in and train someone in the group when asked “can someone please teach me Dancing 1?” Let some of the more junior members take a shot at it. Many new dancers aren’t even aware they can teach a skill as soon as they learn it. What I usually do is let the person who made the request know that I will be happy to train them if no one else can. This way AP points get spread around. Trust me; there is no shortage of AP point for Ents. When’s the last time you saw a dancer running around shouting "Master Dancer looking to train Dancer 4444 and Entertainer 0044"? It has been my experience that I always have an ample supply of AP points just lying around.

While we are on the topic of junior members and grouping I want to mention bandflos, temper this with what I mentioned in the last post about “house rules”. New dancers should probably turn off bandflos when just starting out in the craft. To turn them offtype /bandfourish off. To reactivatethem type /bandflourish on. The dancer initiating the bandflos will cause all grouped dancers to do the particular numbered flo no matter what dance they may be doing. This is great for finished pieces and nicely synced steps, but does hurt the new dancer in a few ways. Only the person who initiated the bandflo gets xp for it while the person accepting the bandflo does not, even though theystill expend action. In our particular group of Ents we have a very relaxed outlook on bandflos and tend to let the dancer still in need of dancer xp do them even though we old pros will throw some in now and again. To make life easy and if you have the room on your toolbar put bandflos on one of them. If you don’t have room remember to type /b 1, /b 2, etc. This sure beats typing out /bandflourish 1, /bandflourish2, etc.over and over again.

In my next post or two I will be tackling a subject that is very near and dear to the other half of the “blonde wonder duo”.

Next up: Macros!

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ArgentWulf wrote:

In my next post or two I will be tackling a subject that is very near and dear to the other half of the “blonde wonder duo”.

Next up: Macros!

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Ah . . . humor . . .

Hiya welcome back again. Now where were we. . . . Ahh yes . . .macros.

There are a couple schools of thought on macros; first that a "true" Ent doesn't use them. The second is that one of the entertainer professions can be mastered using only macros. The reality lies somewhere in between. In respect to the first group, macros are a tool; just that a tool. They are neither good nor bad in and of themselves. They should be used, not abused, like any other tool at our disposal. With regards to the second mindset; without any creative input you are simply paying $14.95 a month for the computer to play the game for you.

I should state I am no macro wiz, so you will not find a textbook on the subject here. There are many good guides on this and other forums. You might start by checking the useful links sticky at the top of this forum. What I will try and do is introduce few basic macros that can make your entertainment career a little easier by automating some of the more mundane tasks for you. So with that out of the way let’s take a look at a few.

The first one is really easy. It’s a quick way to say “Hiya” (or whatever) to someone coming into the cantina.

/say Hiya %NT

Make sure you have the correct target before using it. It is some what embarrassing to say “Hiya” to “%NT”. The %NT in the macro will be replaced by the targets first name. Also make sure the target is a player. You can sound rather silly saying hello to some boffa treats. I use this macro when I first meet someone, but not much there after. The reason being SWG has, how shall we say, some rather unique names and I admit right up front I’m a yucky typist. Once you get to know someone you will most certainly have a diminutive for that character and the macro would not be very appropriate. Dbl might think I was being either very formal or that I was a little upset with her if I said “Hiya Dead-by-love”. So greet your patrons and use this when appropriate.

This next one is a flashy little way to change clothes during a performance. I can't take credit for this one. I learned this little trick from the Master Dancer Shianse:

/smokebomb;
/pause 2;
/ui action toolbarSlot00;

I call this one “change”. To use it drop a dress, fleshwrap or similar item into the first slot (F1) on a toolbar. Then either place the macro itself on the same toolbar some place or call it with:

/macro change

Obviously you can get quite elaborate with items to change if you want to use a light bustier and a fashionably pleated skirt (a personal favorite of mine) tack on another line at the end:

/ui action toolbarSlot01;

Then put each item in a slot. This last line added calls the second slot on a tool bar (F2). You can add additional items to additional slots. Just make sure you don’t run the same macro twice in a row unless you swap out clothing items. It can err. . . be quite embarrassing.

Before I go any further let me make a quick table for you because the calls can be very confusing. The chart below will show you what toolbarSlot corresponds with what function key.

toolbarSlot00 = F1
toolbarSlot01 = F2
toolbarSlot02 = F3
toolbarSlot03 = F4
toolbarSlot04 = F5
toolbarSlot05 = F6
toolbarSlot06 = F7
toolbarSlot07 = F8
toolbarSlot08 = F9
toolbarSlot09 = F10
toolbarSlot10 = F11
toolbarSlot11 = F12
toolbarSlot12 = Shift F1
toolbarSlot13 = Shift F2
toolbarSlot14 = Shift F3
toolbarSlot15 = Shift F4
toolbarSlot16 = Shift F5
toolbarSlot17 = Shift F6
toolbarSlot18 = Shift F7
toolbarSlot19 = Shift F8
toolbarSlot20 = Shift F9
toolbarSlot21 = Shift F10
toolbarSlot22 = Shift F11
toolbarSlot23 = Shift F12

Don’t you just love how computer types don’t start with “1”! They have to make it difficult for us “normal” type people and start with “0”.

One last macro and I will break before I lose anymore readers.
Until we get a /groupStartDance command to start all the dancers in the group at the same time I have a little countdown macro that at least helps get Kirah, Dranon and I off on the same foot. With a little practice it can work fairly well:

/gs 1;
/pause 2;
/gs 2;
/pause 2;
/gs 3;
/pause 2;
/gs GO

This macro merely counts down in group chat. All the dancers initiate the predetermined dance on “Go”.

I think we will beak here and continue again tomorrow.

Next up: Macros II (The sequel)

This is just wonderful, Leivi! May I add athought?

Bandflo-ing is a really great way to add fun and pass time while xp-ing. There is a way to participate in bandflos and still xp... Let's say Oola is doing the Bandflos and Leah and Sy Snootles are being flo'd. As soon as Oola hits her /b 1 and all 3 dancers begin the animation together, Leah and Sy tap a flourish... they will continue on the animation Oola commanded, but they'll get xp from the flo they tapped. You can play with bandflos and develop galactic reknown as achorus linedancer even while you xp.

Oops.

Message Edited by Anjh on 05-20-2004 10:17 AM

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Anjh wrote:

This is just wonderful, Leivi! May I add athought?

. . .There is a way to participate in bandflos and still xp... Let's say Oola is doing the Bandflos and Leah and Sy Snootles are being flo'd. As soon as Oola hits her /b 1 and all 3 dancers begin the animation together, Leah and Sy tap a flourish...

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Welcome to Macros 2 or The Macros Strike Back

As dancers we all want to look good and variety is the spice of life. We can easily double click on any item of clothing to wear it. However changing an entire costume in mid performance can break the continuity of the piece as well as prove embarrassing if you are changing from a one piece to lets say a light bustier and hot pants (hawtpants on TC.../giggle ). So how do you do it? You use a macro of course. The following is one I call “bhp” (black hot pants)

A variation on this macro is good for the combat professional as well. Just put in the appropriate armor and “presto changeo” you are all set for the nasties. Of course its doubtful many battle hardened veterans will be reading this post.

Next up: Return of the Macros (if Lucas can do it so can I)

Message Edited by ArgentWulf on 05-21-2004 07:55 AM