Dancer Archive
Thread: Our role has changed and now I feel useless
I am just sad. I am not a Bot. I have two other characters on other servers that I have explored the combat only option with and they simply aren't fun. So, I come back to dancer.
Dancer where I spent hours dancing laughing and chatting. Dancer where even though people were "forced" to come spend time watching, they left with a smile on their lips. Dancer where I had a profession and did things for fun, but it was always as a dancer. Dancer where like other characters in the Star War Movies I had adventure with a profession. Dancer through which it gave me depth to my character game play. I like dancer a lot.
Now, I dance in bestine in the company of two bots that shout out "to watch them and no need to tip because they are AFK". They have been there 24 hours a day for three or more days now. Not sure how long as I no longer care. I dance in a cantina that has no customers, just these two spamming bots. Well, without the bots my game would be totally alone.
I don't PvP, its not fun, I am no good at it, and attacking real players stresses me out. The game group focus redsign means I can't solo much any more. The game's space design means if you can't complete a faction mission you can just repeat that one mission forever until you do. For those things the game is not worth playing. The game is to dance and have fun with people! This upgrade and change to the entertainer function have left nobody for me to play the dance game with. I dance alone now in a cantina with only bots for company.
I am sad.
Message Edited by CandiDance on 07-28-2005 07:53 PM
Doriana wrote:
The reason why I view these as negative is because of the history of the people posting them. They're not people, by and large, who've supported live entertaining for the past 2 years. They're the people who've supported bots for the last two years. The same combat people who are posting their "condolences" now are the ones who drove us to this point.
They're people who view us as worthless because they view a bot as the epitome of "entertainment." And THAT'S what I find offensive.
I agree completely.
Doriana wrote:
Panthu wrote:
I don't know why they want it to be used for entertainer if they have no interest in social interaction
Money, fame/popularity and because it's the easiest way to make real world dollars translate into an in game way to "pwn" the people who may be more skilled at actually *playing* than you.
Again, I could not agree more with Doriana. This is the crux of the issue of why they would play an entertainer with no interest in social interaction.
Message Edited by Shaizann on 07-28-2005 06:07 PM
I think I've liked entertaining recently just because the stress of the bots is over for me. Before, they got all the benefits. Now, they don't. Yeah, they still exist. But, now, I really do think most people will choose a live player over a bot. I don't see people running to the bot anymore. They can get what they want and more from us. And, I enjoy having that feeling again.
But, I also agree with Panthu. It's not enough. For me, now, it's satisfying. But, long term it's not. Despite my glee over the uselessness of buffbots, the truth is that I'm going to eventually get tired of not being more a part of the game world. I've always wanted more interdependency, and I know that's what I will want in the future. But, for now, I'm just enjoying my superiority complex. 
Caerwynn wrote:
Candidance, which server are you on? Should you be on Chim, send me a tell if you need help with space missions, these are meant to be done as a group.
Well I have never been a BoT and always considered BoTs the scum of all the Galaxies, but I guess I have never been a “real” entertainer either because I really am unhappy with the current change. I’ve always believed us to be a support class and not a fru-fru class and now I’m learning I have been misguided all along. I am trying very hard to get used to it, but it’s not going well.
During the Buff Era I did enjoy buffing people, I had a blast traveling all over the galaxy upon request, lol if a BH ever got hold of my data-pad he would be set for killing spree since most of the WP there were Jedi’s hiding places. I rarely made any tips dancing in cantinas, most of my income was from “house-calls”, yet I still loved to dance inside cantinas, having fun with fellow entertainers, chit-chatting but yet being there for anyone who would walk in and need healing/buffing.
I do understand there was a need for change, but the sequence of changes Devs choused really makes little sense to me, are those of us who used to like being “useful” just supousto keep on waiting till they figure out what to do with us? Is there even a plan for it? And how long wait is too long?
I guess what irks me the most is almost no communication of time-frame for us. It’s so much easier to wait if you know what it is exactly you are waiting for and how long a wait you must endure.
I am also very shocked by some of the community members who are ecstatic with the changes telling those of us who are not to just quit. I’m sorry but during the BoT Era when those entertainers hated buffing and felt pressured by combatants, we were there for them, we understood their right to choose not to buff and just dance, they had our support, yet now that they got what they always wanted they seem to have absolutely no sympathy for us and instead of understanding our feelings on the issue all we get is “well I dance just for shear love of dancing and if you cant do it just quit”. I find this very sad.
There should be room in this game for all of us, those who just want to dance and nothing else and those who want to feel useful to others while they love dancing.
I believe our profession should be able to exist as a choice of “main” character, character who can be independent as an entertainer, character able to pay their own bills without being forced to have combat or crafting Alt.
Yesterday I was doing the entertainers missions (only reliable income left to us) in little over an hour I was able to complete 6 of them (3 sets), because if anyone happened to walk in the cantina I didn’t want to stop dancing and just run out for new mission regardless if they acknowledged my presence or not (most didn’t and went to the quest NPC). My droid needed more batteries, so before I logged I went to buy some, it cost me more then what I made from missions. Now I find this very wrong.
Message Edited by Petronela on 07-29-2005 07:54 AM
CandiDance wrote:
I am just sad. I am not a Bot. I have two other characters on other servers that I have explored the combat only option with and they simply aren't fun. So, I come back to dancer.
Dancer where I spent hours dancing laughing and chatting. Dancer where even though people were "forced" to come spend time watching, they left with a smile on their lips. Dancer where I had a profession and did things for fun, but it was always as a dancer. Dancer where like other characters in the Star War Movies I had adventure with a profession. Dancer through which it gave me depth to my character game play. I like dancer a lot.
Now, I dance in bestine in the company of two bots that shout out "to watch them and no need to tip because they are AFK". They have been there 24 hours a day for three or more days now. Not sure how long as I no longer care. I dance in a cantina that has no customers, just these two spamming bots. Well, without the bots my game would be totally alone.
I don't PvP, its not fun, I am no good at it, and attacking real players stresses me out. The game group focus redsign means I can't solo much any more. The game's space design means if you can't complete a faction mission you can just repeat that one mission forever until you do. For those things the game is not worth playing. The game is to dance and have fun with people! This upgrade and change to the entertainer function have left nobody for me to play the dance game with. I dance alone now in a cantina with only bots for company.
I am sad.
Message Edited by CandiDance on 07-28-2005 07:53 PM
Why are you in the cantina with the spammy bots? You don't NEED to be in the cantina any more. If you're not getting group xp, and surely you're not getting healing xp, why in the world do you suffer there? Sorry hon, but if you're sad, you need to change what you're doing. The old rules don't fit any more. Adapt.
Get out and dance in the starports or other places where people frequent. People will stop and watch, some might even tip! I've made more tips dancing in front of the major starports, and had more fun chatting with passersby than I did the whole last 6 months in ANY cantina. I've been in several impromptu jams at starports. One guy on Starsider pulled out his Kaadu and made him dance with us! We had a blast. I got a 100k tip that night.
Kyree-Sunrunner wrote:
Why are you in the cantina with the spammy bots? You don't NEED to be in the cantina any more. If you're not getting group xp, and surely you're not getting healing xp, why in the world do you suffer there? Sorry hon, but if you're sad, you need to change what you're doing. The old rules don't fit any more. Adapt.
Get out and dance in the starports or other places where people frequent. People will stop and watch, some might even tip! I've made more tips dancing in front of the major starports, and had more fun chatting with passersby than I did the whole last 6 months in ANY cantina. I've been in several impromptu jams at starports. One guy on Starsider pulled out his Kaadu and made him dance with us! We had a blast. I got a 100k tip that night.
Not everyone picked dancer so they could "get tips" and be eye candy for the few people that enjoy looking at eye candy. There are many that truly want to be a functional and important piece of the game economy as well. A needed service provider AND showman. That's the whole point of this thread. The part of the game economy we had has been removed from the game and replaced with what is in reality nothing more than disposable fluff in terms of the game economy.
There were dancers with outfits designed for healing (BE and skill tape enhanced) and with force sensitive augmentations that prided themselves on being the very best healers they could. How is dancing in a star port going to replace that? It just can't. Also while you may really enjoy being at the star port and you may really just enjoy the aspects of positioning your entertainer character with other entertainer characters, not everyone enjoys that too. Some of us truly enjoy the one on one aspect of entertaining to someone that has need of us for healing or enhancing. Some of us need the audience that is coming around looking for us as healer/enhancers to be at our best. Telling us to adapt is good advice, but not for the reasons you stated. What we as entertainers have to do is adapt to the role of enhancers and position ourselves in such a way that we can be as effective as possible in the role that was chosen for us.
Two years of the game has shown us that the most effective way to be an enhancer is to be at the right place (anywhere adventurers gather in bunches and need our service). Right now I'd say the Dantooine mining outpost or Mos Eisley cantina on most servers.
You need to be running 24/7. Create a repeating macro and log your character in every morning before you start your day.
You need to announce your service to those that may not be aware that your character is offering enhancements is availble. Just add the line /shout /watch me for a master level inspiration buff!;/pause 200
You need to remind your audience to pay you for the service you gave them. There are two schools of thought for this. One is that you simply remind them that you survive on tips (through use of the /shout Please remember to tip after you recieve your buff!) The other is to utilize the /covercharge ability and set a value for your service.
Reachwind wrote:
Kyree-Sunrunner wrote:
Why are you in the cantina with the spammy bots? You don't NEED to be in the cantina any more. If you're not getting group xp, and surely you're not getting healing xp, why in the world do you suffer there? Sorry hon, but if you're sad, you need to change what you're doing. The old rules don't fit any more. Adapt.
Get out and dance in the starports or other places where people frequent. People will stop and watch, some might even tip! I've made more tips dancing in front of the major starports, and had more fun chatting with passersby than I did the whole last 6 months in ANY cantina. I've been in several impromptu jams at starports. One guy on Starsider pulled out his Kaadu and made him dance with us! We had a blast. I got a 100k tip that night.
Not everyone picked dancer so they could "get tips" and be eye candy for the few people that enjoy looking at eye candy. There are many that truly want to be a functional and important piece of the game economy as well. A needed service provider AND showman. That's the whole point of this thread. The part of the game economy we had has been removed from the game and replaced with what is in reality nothing more than disposable fluff in terms of the game economy.
There were dancers with outfits designed for healing (BE and skill tape enhanced) and with force sensitive augmentations that prided themselves on being the very best healers they could. How is dancing in a star port going to replace that? It just can't. Also while you may really enjoy being at the star port and you may really just enjoy the aspects of positioning your entertainer character with other entertainer characters, not everyone enjoys that too. Some of us truly enjoy the one on one aspect of entertaining to someone that has need of us for healing or enhancing. Some of us need the audience that is coming around looking for us as healer/enhancers to be at our best. Telling us to adapt is good advice, but not for the reasons you stated. What we as entertainers have to do is adapt to the role of enhancers and position ourselves in such a way that we can be as effective as possible in the role that was chosen for us.
Two years of the game has shown us that the most effective way to be an enhancer is to be at the right place (anywhere adventurers gather in bunches and need our service). Right now I'd say the Dantooine mining outpost or Mos Eisley cantina on most servers.
You need to be running 24/7. Create a repeating macro and log your character in every morning before you start your day.
You need to announce your service to those that may not be aware that your character is offering enhancements is availble. Just add the line /shout /watch me for a master level inspiration buff!;/pause 200
You need to remind your audience to pay you for the service you gave them. There are two schools of thought for this. One is that you simply remind them that you survive on tips (through use of the /shout Please remember to tip after you recieve your buff!) The other is to utilize the /covercharge ability and set a value for your service.
I did not choose to be a dancer to be 'eyecandy'. I'm definately not an entertainer for the income, never have been. I chose to be a dancer because I wanted to dance and be social. And it's certainly a nice surprise for someone to appreciate you enough to give you a tip that you weren't expecting. CandiDance complained that she was alone in the cantina with spammy bots and getting nothing out of it but being sad. Sounded to me like she was missing the social aspect of her profession more than any of it, so I made a suggestion that works for me.
We're getting better buffs down the road, and hopefully that will bring the customers back to the cantinas. But for now, take your fun however you get it and hold the hope that the buffs will find you feeling 'useful'.
Don't get all bitter and give me tips on how to be a buffbot. It's not terribly constructive and doesn't help anyone.
I've tried dancing at the starports a few times. It was a completely different experience from what you describe and when I went back to one of them the next day there was an AFKer dancing right where I had been. I've tried going to the cantinas where patrons are likely to need an inspiration buff but after seeing a pair of dancers using a side room for private lap dances I had to go find a place to vomit.
Sometimes the only purpose behind a rant is to have a release of the frustration and to know you aren't the only one who feels that way.
Ikewe wrote:I've tried dancing at the starports a few times. It was a completely different experience from what you describe and when I went back to one of them the next day there was an AFKer dancing right where I had been. I've tried going to the cantinas where patrons are likely to need an inspiration buff but after seeing a pair of dancers using a side room for private lap dances I had to go find a place to vomit.
Sometimes the only purpose behind a rant is to have a release of the frustration and to know you aren't the only one who feels that way.
I guess can see that. I'll just bunduki right on out of this thread and let people vent then.
You and people like you though are simply shining a light on the major problem here between those that are like me that desperately want some kind of developer assistance for fixing a MAJOR problem with the design direction of dancer and those like yourself that want everyone to stay quiet, respectful and calm and just merrily dance no matter what atrocities are done to the profession. We both want the same thing for the profession on one level but you are content to let things be in order to get what you want. That way that just DOES NOT work in reality. The fact is that unless players are reacting extremely negatively to a change and or abusing the mistake to get an unintended advantage from the change nothing is done to repair it.