Dancer Archive
Thread: Annoyed with Mind-Only Buffing
This has been discussed before and as some sort of pointed out before, it all depends on who the buff is for that determines if the larger mind bar is more helpful or the sub stats are more helpful. I agree having all three would be nice, but we don't and personally I'd prefer to have the larger mind bar other the sub stats for most the things I do when I play my combat characters.
The reason is simple, all the secondary stats in the world are not going to save your ass when someone starts spammingeye-shot, or a rifleman is nailing you with his T-21 with headshot. Yes yourmind will recovery quickly but not fast enough to matter in those situations and NO, it does not reduce the damage you take to your mind bar either. Having high focus only reduces the damage you take to your mind pool for things YOU do like healing. So to say that the focus and willpower buff is more powerful then the mind bar buff is just ignorant. It all depends what your doing when you have the buffs on. To someone like yourself that must not PvP much then yes I can see where having the higher secondary stats would be more useful.
Just wanted to make absolutely clear the issue here is not "whose buff is more powerful". I only brought it up to illustrate how annoying seperating the two is, since it can seem one profession gets the better deal. It was clearly a mistake to bring it up, since it has distracted from my main point, that being each should be treated as a full profession and given the full triple-buff.
Thank you.
While we all admit it might be nice to be able to buff Willpower and Focus, do we also think it would be nice for Musicians to be able to buff Mind.
Before we say we need the secondary buffs, we should be aware of any negative factors. If we can buff everything then Musicians can buff everything. This gives us more buffing ability but it also increases our competition.
Why is it best to keep the buffs split between musicians and dancers?
Because these are two seperate classes. Is there anything besides this buff that sets them apart in terms of game mechanics ?
In response to Leana_Txorana, yes, I agree with your point. It never crossed my mind to give the triple-buff to dancers but not musicians. My apologies if this has not been clear from the beginning. 
Nvoigt, your response is certainly the most obviouspoint for things as they stand now. Thank you.
I have two responses to it: First, musicians and dancers are most definitely different in they achieve the same results through seperate, exciting ways. The two professions clearly work together welll--I do not know of any dancer or musician who prefers NOT to have a member of the other professions join in the performance, regardless of any XP benefits. (MyMasterMusician friend cannot stand playing without dancers.) Therefore, giving them the same healing and buffing abilities detracts not one iota from either class. After all, when buffing was an unknown, everyone still had tons of fun with both professions. Why suddenly start splitting abilities between the two? It is inconsistent.
Despite all the similarities in abilities, though, there is no doubt the two are unique--just look and listen to their presentations. In fact, the two are unique in the entire game in that no other pair of professions works together quite so well as musicians and dancers do. The really cool partis thedancer/musician relationship is (99.99%)not due to any game mechanics, but from the obvious role-playing and general increase in fun which accompanies the relationship.
Second, again, giving each half the ability instead of the full triple-buff says they are each half of a profession, instead of two sides to the same coin. The devs are basically telling dancers and musicians to join at the hip wherever they go, whether that is their intent or not. Why not say dancers canno longer heal focus and willpower while you are at it, and musicians mind? After all, that is the logical conclusion of the buff split.
I am disgusted with feeling I am in a half-profession. It is not a good feeling. Thank you for your responses--I would really like to not feel as I do now, so a satisfactory reason would really help me out. Any other reasons for me?
i'd like to keep it separate... i think you need to give dancers and musicians some unique things so they have their own identity.
most musicians i know don't make even half the tips i make as a dancer, and if their buff is more powerful, i think thats great for them (provided that mine is still useful, of course). they'll be in more demand, and will make a bit more scratch.
Hmm. The whole "unique things" for "seperate identities" I believe to already be in the game. Musicians play music, dancers dance. What more do you need? It boils down to one objective, but a choice of methods to accomplish it--go dancer or musician--either of which works well with the other; in fact, you are almost certain to want to work together. What other professions give you such a choice?
But, I see your point about buffing and tips. Then again, if you could buff all three stats, would you not get more tips that way, as well? Hmm, but you would have to be higher skill than any dancers in the area. Hmph.
Boils down to problems with musicians and tips, I see. Something to ponder. Thank you.
Second, again, giving each half the ability instead of the full triple-buff says they are each half of a profession, instead of two sides to the same coin.
Two sides of the same coin, really nice picture. But each side on it's own cannot buy what a combination of what both sides could. It's teamplay. In soccer, the goalie may use his hands. You'd never call the other 10 players only half a soccer player, would you ? Each has it's own specialties. Each is unique. What would happen if any character would have the same abilities ?
I am disgusted with feeling I am in a half-profession.
Why do you have that feeling ? You are dancer and can buff the mind pool. You cannot mind shot either, so why feel low ? If you want to be able to do something another class does right now, go and play that class. We have enough points for that. Don't go into Bounty Hunter mode and ask for other peoples skills
I disagree with the soccer analogy, actually, as it implies I seek skills which are not commensurate with my profession and is generally inadequate. Thegoals ofeachplayer are unique. As afullback when I played, it was not at all my job to score, but to get the ball to the players who were supposed to score. We all shared the overall goal of winning, of course--just as the professions share the goal of surviving and having a heckuva lot of fun.
By the socceranalogy, the dancer and musician would each be fullbacks. One may be the center, the other a winger, but they have the same goal in mind--they just have unique ways of doing it.
Blue buffs clearly belong in the entertainer professions. This is not at all like me asking for a combat skill or a concealment ability or something along those lines. In fact, all I am asking is the skills which currently exist among musicians and dancers be granted to both--just like every other skill between the two.
I view buffing the blue stats to be an integral part of the dancer and musician professions, not as any sort of gift. Therefore, when told I am unable to buff all blue stats, I have to wonder why. When I am told the devs suddenly decided the musicians and dancers should have seperate abilities, I am rather shocked. After all, the entire point of the two professions has been to master the blue stats and battle fatigue. Now, all of a sudden, this is not what they are for. Seems dancers are supposed to handle mind, so why not give them only mind wound healing? Leave focus and willpower wounds to the musicians. That is the clear extension of the devs decision to split buffing between the two, after all.
As I have said, it is inconsistent. Everything else tells me I am a master of the blue stats and the fatigue. Now, suddenly, I am not. Came as a shock to me, is all.
No, it would be the same for combat. As I said, twice the focus can be essentially twice the mind, since damage to the mind pool is reduced.
Not quite. A higher focus will reduce the mind cost of specials that you use. So a high focus is extremely valuable to a combat medic or rifleman, for example. It does not reduce the mind damage you take from an enemy's attack. So without the mind buff, you will still die in the same number of shots.
Now, in peaceful settings (or in combat where you don't expect to get hit much), the focus/willpower buff is better than the mind buff. In cases where you do expect your mind to get hit (PvP against a rifleman, bounty hunter, or combat medic), the double mind from a dancer is more valuable.
Of course if I am PvPing, I want both buffs. I just want to point out that while the double focus/willpower is a powerful combination, there are cases where I would choose double mind if I really had to choose.
Myself as a musician I would like the mind buff but I accept that they are separate and think it is probably a good idea. I have a friend who will soon be a master dancer and between us playing at our little cantina we can really buff folks up good. If one of us could do everything the other would soon feel a bit left out.
For combat the mind buff is great to help prevent one hit ko to the mind pool. The foucs will power buff is good against mind dots to help you regen fast enough to stay alive.
They need to fix the buff bugs for us to see how really good these things can be.
Kaide