Dancer Archive
Thread: Dancer buff exploit
No, that's not an exploit - it's working as intended. He has to over-flourish (like once per second) to give a buff that fast - and even then it'll only be a 45-minute to an hour buff - not the full 2 hours.
Personally, I think it's bad role-play to over-flourish. I don't really want to turn myself into super-buff bot.
There is a post a couple down from this one that talks about a 3.5 minute buff. I am very into roleplay and adore being a Master Dancer, but I had to test it out to see if it did indeed work as mentioned. With only a quickness buff, I buffed my doctor friend in 3.5 minutes and it was the highest buff I had done. Oh, and it lasted 2 hours.
I am not saying that by knowing this I will use it everytime, but it is nice to have the option. Expecially when I am with my guild and would rather be out hunting than in the Cantina buffing the whole group for ten minutes...now I can do it in five.
When the buffs were revamped, some theories popped up about the duration of the buff.
The theory I like the best (and still subscribe to until I am given proof to the contrary) is that the buff duration is dependent on the Action burned (before being reduced by Quickness).
If that theory is true, then the 3.5-minute buff makes sense. Instead of waiting for a flourish to finish, you keep on cranking out Action. In an 8-second span, Dancer A may spend 40 Action while Dancer B spends 200. So, Dancer B would be closer to the 3.5-minute buff.
It also makes sense why they say you should do your highest dance. Exotic burns up more Action than Rhythmic I. So, the Dancer doing Exotic will have buffs that last longer.
The theory might not be true, but I've yet to see evidence that directly counters that so far. There is too much contention on whether the Action burned by the special effects contribute to the buff duration.
I really should write a buff macro so that I can ask people for their buff durations now that the UI has changed.
My friends used to say "no thanks" to mind buffs because "it takes too long." Then finally one day I talked ONE Of them into taking one. We went after bolle bols, which target, you guessed it, mind. Well the girl I had buffed basically didn't go down once the entire time, while the others kept getting mind-incapped. After a while we made camp, and they all said, "Can you buff us like that?" Nowadays, it is standard practice for me to buff them all with the passive group buff (which takes, *gasp*, fifteen minutes, but is faster than active-buffing 4 or 5 people) before we go on a mission. If a doctor is buffing the group, by the time the doc buffs everyone it takes almost all that much time anyway, so them watching me while the doc buffs is not a big deal. And in particular, the combat medic LOVES the extra mind.
But I guess most people who play this game are really impatient. I know we keep our hunting group rather small (5 of us plus an occasional 6th person if we trust him or her), mostly because we are all patient and impatient people have tended to get us killed, and ruin hunts...
But really, if waiting 5 minutes for a mind buff is OK but waiting 10 is not... I'm not sure what to say about that. I guess your friends must go ballistic when they miss the shuttle by 10 seconds.
C
Chessack,
I must say that I am an ATK performer and have been since I created my character. Impatient? Yes! Yes, I am. I have a Cantina to manage, which I must add, is home to the ATK entertainers on the Intrepid server. I am working on Master Entertainer and also working on the grind between Unarmed 4 and Novice Tera Kasi.
When I am playing music in a cantina and someone wants a mind buff, I will gladly deliver. I will deliver it with a First Class attitude with jokes, showing interest in their profession and genuine chatter. If I am running errands or hunting and I get a Tell asking for a mind buff, again, I will gladly assist if I am in the area. However, if I can get them buffed in half the time, why not? They will remember me not only for my entertaining personality but for my efficiency as well.
And as for bringing my friends into the picture, shame on you. You know nothing of them. How dare you to judge. You have your style of gaming, I have mine. I don’t agree with the AFKers, but you won’t see me sending them hate mail. Unless someone attacks my species I will not pass judgement on them.
Lastly, I love this game, and I love being an entertainer. But please remember this is a game. I will never live by someone else’s expectations of what I should be in game or out of it. Life is too short.
/clap jasminflower
"If a doctor is buffing the group, by the time the doc buffs everyone it takes almost all that much time anyway"
That's totally untrue. As a doctor I can buff a large group of people in a matter of a few minutes while an enertainer has to focus thier dance onto one particular person for an extended period of time.
Is this issue an explot becasue part of it may be macroed? if so, AFK enertainers have been exploting the game for a while now. I don't think there's anything wrong the 3 and a half minute buff. People DO have busy lives and if there's any way to help enertainers keep the skill line more appealing, then so be it. If there's a way to drop the buff time from 10 minutes to 3 minutes, I'm all for it.
Soulburner69 wrote:
hmm. off topic, but i do the full 8 min thing. and earlier today i /setp on a customer, and he only ended up getting a buff for 1 hour 2 minutes, not the full 2 hours, and i danced and flourished, for the full 8 min. is something screwy with the entertainer buffs?
I do think so. I know I've done a full 8 minutes with regular flourishing and often my customer will get a buff that only lasts 1 hour 15 minutes. But using this "quick buff" method (which I can only do if I myself have a quickness/stamina buff), the buff is always good for a the full two hours.
I also adjusted my regular 8-minute buff macro to make the flourishes every 10 seconds. When doing Exotic3 (my dance of choice for buffing), they do overlap a bit on this timer, but it seems to make the buff more effective. However, it doesn't burn as much action as the flourish-every-second quick buff does.
If 10 minutes is ok what about 15? If 15 minutes is ok what about 20? If 20 minutes is ok what about 25? If 25 minutes is ok what about 30? Gotta draw the line somewhere.
Chessack wrote:
I guess my question would be: Is that extra 5 minutes really going to kill you, or them....? I mean... five minutes??