Dancer Archive

What if we could define prime entertainer locations and AFK entertainment is not allowed in those locations. Continue to allow AFK dancing in back rooms and away from entrances but anyone who tries to go AFK in the prime locations either cannot /startDance or cannot go AFK.

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Sigrun wrote:
I agree with most of what you said, but I disagree vehemently with the following:

1) Macrotainers do it to heal their PA members. This is overwhelmingly false. Their PA members have nothing to do with it in most cases. The logistics of making this work are nearly nightmarish - all PA members would have to get to wherever the macrotainer is. That alone makes it unappealing.

2) Macrotainers do it for phat tips. Please. We all know that there are no phat tips for entertainers, especially not for those who are AFK.

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1) Good of you to assume why everyone does the Macro thing but your wrong. I know oflots ofpeople that do it for their PA and park their Entertainer in the PA so the members can make use of them. (these are not AFKers I see as a problem personally)

2) I said they think they can make tips, fact is most learn very fast that there isn't going to be a lot of money made that way but I've seen many that somehow got the idea we made a lot of money doing this stuff. I never said they actually make money, just that they get into it thinking they can. (these people I see as a short term problem since they usually are gone when they learn the truth of the matter)

Macrotainers do it for two reasons:

1) To get the experience to master the class. Could be because they want to be master entertainers. Could be that they want to get past the next Holocron hurdle. They're certainly not doing it just to annoy you.

Yes indeed, this is one of the reasons they do it, and these people are indeed a large part of the problem.

2) To help other players. Too frequently, there are no entertainers out on the adventure worlds. Entertainers macro there to take care of these people.

While not as large of a part of the problem as 1, these also contribute to the popular belief that almost all entertainers are just AFK bots. While I believe their intent is good, they are still part of the problem.

So basically the only person here making assumptions is yourself. If you read more carefully you'll notice I did not say those are the only two reasons people AFK, they are simple two of the reasons, you'll also notice I never said they could make phat tips,but thetheres been many an ignorant soul thats thought they could. Also your assumption that PA's don't make use of AFK's is laughable. Both of the two you listed as well would fall under the means to an end group. I do appreciate you adding to the list however of problem AFKers and the reason they do so.

Also, so you know, and as I said earlier if you where paying any attention at all. I favor the change to the AFK system that makes it impossible to gain exp while Macrotaining.. not stopping someone from AFK healing all together. So your people in the middle of nowhere would still be able to do that. I'm not saying this is whats going to happen, just saying its what I personally see as the best solution to get rid of the majority offenders/abusers.

Ravenmist... Please, please, please, please and please ask them to correct the spelling of our title Captivator this time. It is still mispelled as Captivater (from the last weeks of beta)

Also I think it is fairly well documented now that the group interested in actually playing as a social entertainer is rapidly declining. For two major reasons.. The huge lack of enjoyable content and the existance of the larger group of regularly AFK entertainers (short term or not). Don't minimize the problem. Until our dev in charge addresses the content hole we are going to become an even larger macro bot profession. Forcing people to be at the keyboard won't keep players interested in playing as a dancer but new FUN things to do will. That is the important point to get across.

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Reachwind wrote:

Ravenmist... Please, please, please, please and please ask them to correct the spelling of our title Captivator this time. It is still mispelled as Captivater (from the last weeks of beta)

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::nods:: its on my list of issues/bugs. As far as the rest goes, I completely agree and think we're heading in that direction. The horde of AFK people are one of the reasons many claim things aren't fun tho.. just one piece of many tho. I definately think more content and other ways to make the profession more enjoyable is hugely important to the survival of our profession, which of course is what some of the post is about but doesn't go into a lot of detail. Those sort of details are more likely to make it into my issues/changes thread or bug thread etc.

I don't think AFK maco entertaining should be adressed now either. I think it should of been adressed way back in beta when /bandflourish couldn't be turned off and the DEV's let mindless twits use our characters like pupets. So the time is long over due! If we don't adress the problem now then WHEN? Oh I know there are much more important issues like how can entertainers make more money or gain more buffs or EXP more quickly (sracasm intended). The time to attack these people as they have attacked the spirit of our class is now. How about we do this, TEF anyone entertaining then let the players decide who will suceed as an entertainer and kill the rest.

Ravenmist - I think you've made an apt summary of the state of the profession. Good job!

Just give me the ability to automatically DB any performer who has been AFK for more than five minutes, and the AFK problem will go away. At least on Wanderhome.

Seriously, thank you for the update, and keep it up.

P.S. Honestly, I hardly even care about the AFK issue. Just funnin', here.

Weak. The group of entertainers who want to be social is dwindling because of AFK entertainers.

Why?

Because the AFKs eat all the tips, leaving no cash for the ATKs? That's funny.

Because the AFKs take all the exp from the ATKs? Er, can't be.

Because they can't ignore the AFK's. Hmm. I'm no Shao-Lin monk, heck, I'm sort of ADD, but I have the discipline to do that...

Truth is, I haven't seen an argument against AFK entertainers aside from that fact that some ATK entertainers don't like them.

I don't like mobs spawning on top of my head while I'm tending my harvesters. I clone, I run back, I get over it.

I don't like people asking devs to waste valuable time implementing anti-macro code that will be easily defeated. So I try to educate and probably argue too much while doing that.

I don't like losing my house and all of its contents into some pit of dev-bug induced quicksand. Again, I get over it.

I don't like that droids are basically useless hunks of metal in this game that should be Star Wars but is closer to **edit**. So I ask the devs to BUFF droids. Not NERF creature handlers.

*shrug*

Ignore the AFK's. Why are you allowing them to alter your gameplay? You can be better than them. Do so.

There are only two problems I have with AFKers, really: One, they sometimes have stupid sayings which they say constantly and which get old in a heckuva hurry. Two, they sometimes perform in the best location for hours, which is nuisance value, at best. Still, it is annoying, especially in those itty-bitty shacks the maps claim are "cantinas". Suuuuure.

Well, three, I guess, is I suspect the devs adjusted the XP charts to take into consideration the use of AFK to achieve mastery, meaning those who do not AFK have to work harder. (Okay, just having more fun, here.)

Sigrun,

It's not that I don't like them its that I LOATH them. Yes you can ignore the stupid talkie emotes it still makes customers miserable. I can't delete their graphic presence from the world though so unless I want to be swiming in a sewer of AFK bodies in the cantina I have no room to work. If you can't see a live player being girefed by a player who isn't even present as a problem then I don't know what to tell you. Our team lead is trying to solve a problem for us here if AFK entertaieners dont bother you great then the lack of them won't either so there. <giggle>

Hey guys, Ravenmist asked for this not to become another afk debate. We have at least three other afk debates going on other threads. I think we've heard everyone's opinions and reasons. We know some people want to afk and some want these afkers gone. We've seen all the arguments, let it go, keep it to the threads discussing that. Great job Ravenmist, I think you summed up things perfectly!

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Sultrina wrote:

Sigrun,

It's not that I don't like them its that I LOATH them. Yes you can ignore the stupid talkie emotes it still makes customers miserable. I can't delete their graphic presence from the world though so unless I want to be swiming in a sewer of AFK bodies in the cantina I have no room to work. If you can't see a live player being girefed by a player who isn't even present as a problem then I don't know what to tell you. Our team lead is trying to solve a problem for us here if AFK entertaieners dont bother you great then the lack of them won't either so there.

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When you go to a bar IRL, do you lament at all the people there who have no interaction with you whatsoever? Do they have no right to be there, just because they choose not to notice your existence?

Back to game terms. What harm are extra bodies in the cantina doing to you? They're just like the NPC's that are ever-present. Heck, the NPC's chatter more than the macro-tainers in every cantina I've been to.

I'm sorry, your argument just doesn't hold up. It is illogical and irrational. It is, however, plenty emotional. *shrug*

And why won't you understand, there never will be a lack of AFK entertainers!

Even if the devs spend 1000 man-hours trying to code something, the macro'ers will find a way around it inside of a week. This has happened in every MMOG to date. SWG will not be an exception to this.

You are asking the devs to spenda lot ofcoding hours to do something that will fail, no matter how hard they try and no matter how smart they are. When instead you could be asking them to do something to help our class become better than it already is, and would have a great shot at working.

I don't get it.