Dancer Archive
Thread: Companion Professions for Dancers
Hiya, Fellow Dancers!
I've been eagerly pursuing the Dancer Elite Profession, and I truly love dancing - the moves, the flourishes, the attention, and the interaction with customers. However, I share the opinion held by many that Dancing alone really is not a reliable money-making profession, since it is reliant upon the often-fickle trends of tipping. That being said, I'm thinking about pursuing another profession. I'm initially thinking about Artisan (with a focus on Tailoring).
What companion Professions do you have, as a Dancer? Have you found one profession to work better, or worse, with being a Dancer than others? Please share your tips and advice. Thanks!
Atraea Lanaria
Lowca Server
Hi, Staren!
It's a pleasure to meet you! I've a friend who livesin Coronet City, Correlia, and he's told me it is rather beautiful there.
I think that Master Tailor/Master Dancer is a great combination, personally; and the more I think about it, the more excited I become for it. Unfortunately, I wonder if Tailoring on its own is a profitable profession. What do you think?
Thanks,
Atraea
Atraea,
I cannot pretend to know about how profitable being a master tailor is, but having abandoned tailoring at the novice level I can tell you the problems in a nutshell.
You cannot sell most pre-novice tailor items.
It takes lots of resources and lots of time to get crafting experience sufficient to raise skills enought to make saleable goods.
You will probably not make enough money dancing to buy resources.
You will need to spend a lot of time prospecting for and collecting resources.
You will spend a lot of time deploying and moving and collecting from harvesters.
The best resources are often hard to find and in places where the lack of combat skills will be a disadvantage.
Crafting and prospecting are serious time commitments that will cut into your dancing time in a big way.
With such a big post, I thought I had gotten all my thoughts in, but here we go again. Here's been my experience with being an Artisan going for Tailor so far. I do have to agree with some of Eiloo'li's points. Crafting does take time. Yes, surveying for resources takes time. Yes, it takes time away from dancing. Yes, I get tips from dancing, but no I am not one of the best tipped even though I play the crowd. I do not buy any resources yet from anyone but to cut down on work and maintenance I am going to have to buy factory crates of synthetic cloth from other Tailors. I do not plan on having any factories or harvesters of my own, so I won't spend any time maintaining them or making money to finance them. I am mostly planning on making clothes for myself, my husband, and my close friends so I'm not as concerned with getting the best resources for things and travelling all over for prospecting. I've only ever been to one other planet, Tatooine, and that was to visit a Tailor's shop. I'm getting into Tailor for the fun of making clothes not really to make a lot of money. Right now, I make clothes and sell them on the Bazaar and I am very happy when I sell something, but whether or not I sell does not make or break my day. Yes, the most expensive and best selling items are Novice and post-Novice Tailor. But yes, I do manage to sell pre-Novice things. I don't plan on opening a shop ever if I can help it, partly because there are already a lot of people out doing that and partly because that's time and skill points I don't have to put into Business.
I am not a Master Tailor, so I can't say what that is like either. I only have Domestic Arts IV. I read the Tailor board so I know some of what people who have more experience say it is like for them. Most Master Tailors don't have trouble charging what they do for things and some make some decent money since they have gotten their name out. Once clothing decay is implemented properly I think that Tailors will have an easier time making money in the long run. Right now many people except new folks have their wardrobes picked out. I am going for Tailor because I want to have a good selection of clothes and be able to make whatever I want whenever I want it. I am not as concerned about making money with it since I also have pistol skills and do destroy missions for money. That is where my income comes from, not crafting and I don't think I'll be giving that up soon. I don't depend entirely on dancing for my income so I'm not sure what it would be like having to purchase synthetic cloth with money only from dancing. For some Dancers I think it would be no problem, since some already have houses and big wardrobes. Yes, even hunting and doing missions takes away from dancing but I like to explore too and feel that this way I get the best of both worlds and I don't feel like I'm losing out with less time in the cantina. If all you want to do is dance, then dance and don't worry about what other professions to add. While surviving doing melee as a dancer is a little tougher, if you have other good people in your group, even just one other good person, and you carry stimpacks, it IS possible to do melee, even with non-migrated stats and come out okay.
If you do what you like and do it well, I don't think you'll have any trouble making money whatever you choose to do.
Staren Langio
Coronet, Corellia
Chilastra Server
This is my first post ever here, so nice to meet everyone!
I am a Novice Dancer currently working towards Master Dancer. I am also working towards Novice Tailor with the intention of going to Master Tailor. I like this idea since I will then be able to wear the clothes I made while dancing. I don't see myself opening a shop any time soon, but tailoring could definitely help supplement a Dancer's income. Right now I have Advanced Pistol, going for Expert Pistol so I can make money from destroy missions. Last, but noy least I have some skills in medic and scout so I can make and use stimpacs, currently at Organic Chemistry III and Pharmacology III, as well as set up a camp--only at Survival I--and harvest hides. The only beginning profession I haven't picked up is Brawler!
I was born an Entertainer and thought the idea of adding Medic and Scout suggested by the instruction book was a nice idea since then I'd have all three healing bases covered. Adding Marksman happened when my husband, going for Smuggler, went out on destroy missions and I wanted to be able to defend myself more when I tagged along. I don't know if I'll go for Novice Pistoleer or not. Once I hit Advanced Pistol I was able to stay up much longer without being incapacitated, especially if my husband held aggro, even with my limited Health; I still have my starting HAM, I have not migrated anything. Obviously, the problem I'm running into is limited skill points...I will have to be cutting boxes in the pick-up professions soon to make sure I have enough for Master Dancer and Master Tailor. While dabbling is a lot of fun and can make you ready for any situation, almost, it's not as good as being able to do something really well. My first love is still and will always remain dancing.
I tried Image Design and Music for a bit, thinking I would go for Master Entertainer. Now, I think I am not as interested in that and tailoring has been a lot of fun for me. That means a lot to me, enjoying what I'm doing. Sure, I'll end up dropping boxes and reallocating points but I've been having a blast so far. Being able to make my own clothes as well as pick up some decent money from destroy missions is a nice combination for me. Besides, it's the best bonus to be able to stop and rest to shake a tail feather.
Cheers,
Staren Langio
Coronet, Corellia
Chilastra Server
I am a master dancer and decided to trying making master musician as well. I had a friend who wanted to run some missions so I trained novice marksman. I found running the missions for money and firing a pistolextremely rewarding and exciting. So far I've reached novice pistoleer and will be surrendering all my musican skills (not dancing) to have points to put into working my way up the pistoleer ladder. I now can afford to furnish my homes, pay for the upkeep on these homes as well as pay my PA dues in advance instead of week to week. Tips in even the most crowded cantinas never enabled me that much financial independence, in fact most people don't tip at all. I'm looking forward to owning a cantina in my PA city as soon as they are available and I will dance there for fun. I also have novice medic skills for minor healing and explor 4 in the Scout tree to make navigating rugged terrain easier. Minor scouting also lets me harvest bone, hides and meat from my kills to donate to my PA members who are working their way up the crafting skill trees. I love being a master dancer and would never give that up but I feel the pistol/scout/medic skills also let me enjoy life outside the cantina.
Laelaenie
Corellia
Corbantis Server
Well, I am a newly annointed Master Dancer (yay! 
), working towards Master Entertainer, Image Design, and Musician... I also have Advanced Pistol and am working on Pistol Specialist. For me, it's not really a way to make extra money, since I do quite well with dancing, but as an occasional much-needed break from cantina life. After dancing for four hours, it is nice to breathe some fresh air and kill some creatures
As a Master Dancer now on Starstrider, I'm had to take up Scout as my next profession. I tried to add Artisan and Tailoring to my title, but Im finding it a major chore, and quite frankly, boring. I don't like surverying for resources and it's a pitiful thing to have to sell your newbie items off at the bazzar for only 50 credits. Right now I'm also tackling Image Design, a more lucrative field, I think. I'm going to surrender my newbie artisan skills and just go for Image. Or the full Entertainer completement.
Although I'd love to create my own outfits, I'm finding out that running small Scout missions is fun, and more profitable for me. I can make enough to harvest rescouces, get the fast run ability, be able to handle creatures, and sell them, and just being able to shoot things out in the wilderness much more intriguing.
So the professions I've decieded on are as follows:
Master Dancer (for fun and social factor, this is where most of my regular "patrons" know me by)
Novice Image Designer (so I can change my appearance and of others, for the fun factor,, ie "dress up for the holidays with new markings, skin colors, costume parties and the like!)
Novice Scout (for being to handle myself in the great outdoors, and run missions for credits and the like, as well as get to Creature Handling)
Creature Handler (eventually would like to collect some cool pets)
I'd love to get Master Tailor or the other Artisan skills but I'm finding it so much more of a chore. I'm into the roleplaying and social aspect of the game, not to just grind out the products for people.
Once you hit Master Dancer and if you don't have a number of well qualified "partrons" you really are in a bind. You need those patrons to help out with stuff, so it's good to try to recognize when they are online, send them a little note that you remember them, and just be knid to them. I have over 5 patrons who 1) pay for upkeep on my house, 2)maybe buy me a few outifts and all, and 3) just make the social aspect of the game a lot more fun.
That's just my two cents on this post. I love being a Dancer really, it will probably always be my true calling.
Purrs,
Victoria-theWhiteCat
Starstrider Galaxy, Theed, Naboo (Cantina, or VICTORIA'S SECRET IMAGE SALON)
Merchant.
Why...
Well it's pretty cheap to maintain vendors and you earn xp automatically so it doesn't cut into my dance and roleplay time. I'm lucky enough to have been allowed to use a medium house that I furnished as a display room in the enty, lounge and merchant area with a good quality food and chemical vendor (medics love this and so they're in the cantina and usually in a positive mood) and I already atlk to lots of people while dancing and roleplaying. These same people are usually artisans with some combat or combat with some artisan. So most are happy to use my venfors to sell their goods. I buy low and sell at a competitive price.
Recently I've also been getting offers to buy resources of scouts and 'miners' to sell for them. Still negotiating this however. Essentially I get a profession that takes very little time and actually builds on my roleplay oppurtunities.
Things have been going well enough for me in just TWO days that I'm already considering upgrading to a large house or expanding to a second.
Profit in 48 hours has come to 16ooo credits. Not a bad supplement to my tips.
Once I reach master merchant I'll also be able to list my vendor as <name> Cantina on the world map plus get reduced rates on my buildings and vendors.
Working fine for me so far and not a time sink. So I get to use my most important commodity as I see fit. My time.
Coira
Valcyn.
One of my dancers had just dancing for the longest time, but I finally decided to pick up unarmed fighting skills and eventually go for Teras Kasi artist as well as dancer. I like being able to take a break from the dance floor and do something completely different for a while, then come back refreshed and dance some more. Also I picked up novice scout so I can get a little cash from selling hides/meat/bones, not that I'll get rich doing that but it's nice pocket change.
That dancer is my male character and doesn't get many tips. He's been broke forever and I had a terrible time scraping up the credits to buy novice dancer--it took a week. That's part of the reason I decided to take up a fighting skill, but I found another way to make money. First I started doing delivery missions between cities, and while I was waiting for the shuttle back I'd check the bazaars to see if the little towns had nice clothes for sale cheaper than my home city of Coronet. Gradually I realized that I could pick certain things up cheap in small cities and resell them for a profit in Coronet, where you can sell anything. I got really familiar with the going prices in Coronet of certain items, mostly clothes, jewelry, some resources, and I have yet not to turn a profit, sometimes a very nice profit. I finally am at the point where I can afford decent outfits to dance in, although I'm definitely not rich even so.
As for tailoring, I do have a tailor but it's a pretty labor-intensive skill and I doubt I'll ever have another tailor. I didn't do well in it until I got the cash together to set up a harvester on a 95% fiberplast spot, so I have tons of fiberplast leftover from that and don't have to buy it or survey for it. I sold some of the fiberplast for a good price so I can afford to buy other materials, and I have a little scouting and two-handed sword ability, so I can mostly gather my own hides. Before that I could hardly gain for trying to gather materials first. Incidentally, if you do go for tailoring don't forget cooking. You don't gain much making food but you can turn a nice little profit selling even low-skill cooking items to CHs, who need the food for their pets.
Well, I've been a master dancer for a while now, and then it occured to me not only that I was not experiencing the full game-play experience (just as I figure the dedicated gun-toters aren't either!) nor was I capable of taking down a heckler in any way but telling him to get bent. Now my dream is that the next time I get some barely post-pubescent twerp interfering with my boogaloo I can slap on my teras kasi master title and ask him if he wants to put his money where his mouth is.
I am however just making my way up far enough to be able to use knucklers at this point, lol.