Dancer Archive
Thread: Do you like the new buffs?
PoetDancer wrote:
I don't want this garbage. I want to entertain. Why can't this game give me that, instead of loading me up with all this garbage I never wanted, and must do, simply because I have no other game to play, but click /inspire?
Oh this is very easy, PoetD. Just don't give out active buffs. If all you want to do is dance, and be observed by people dancing, you can easily do this. Just have a policy of "I do not give out active buffs" and you will only get people watching you who want to see your actual peformance.
And before you think I am being facetious or nasty, I'm actually quite serious and I think it might help you a lot. I think this because that was my policy on mind buffs. Whenver someone asked me, "Are you going to be buffing tonight?" or the like in guild chat I always gave the same answer: "I don't buff." That doesn't mean I never, ever gave out a mind buff. If someone wanted it and was nice about asking (such as guildies), and if it didn't interfere with what I was doing (such as if I was about to go on a hunt with some friends), I was willing to give one. But I never, ever, spent time offering or giving buffs as a matter of course. Dejah Thoris was a performer and a HEALER (now just a performer) -- she is not and will never be "a buffer." If Dejah is in the middle of her "Order 66" song (waltz with mandi and a droid doing Ommni), which takes 5 minutes, and someone wants a BE buff, he's going to have to wait. I am not going to /dump the song and start dancing with a Mandi in my hand. Anyone who can't deal with the fact that I do not interrupt my performances to give out buffs can just go get them somewhere else.
Now that said, if people come in and ask nicely and aren't pushy, I have no objection to typing /inspire and clicking the appropriate thing, and I will watch and tell them when it is done. But I am not going to stop PERFORMING to give a buff... and you should not feel you have to either.
As to people who become abusive if you don't want to be their slave-dancer? Well, there is an easy way to deal with them. /addignore jerk.
PoetDancer wrote:
Our patrons want the buff. They don't want to see a show.
Sure some people don't want to see a show no matter what you do. Nothing the devs give us will make these people want to see a show. You could easily substitute BF for buff here: "Our patrons want BF healed. They do not want to see a show." Welcome to the world of leet gamer dudes. They will be in the game forever. You can't let them dictate your play, or you will be miserable.
You are a great dancer, PD. I know this without ever having seen your toon dance, because I can just tell. Don't let /inspire stop you from being a great dancer. If you dislike it that much, ignore it and just put on your show. The people who appreciate you as a great dancer will still watch. Just like they used to with Dejah when she didn't give mind buffs.
C
I have never had any problem with someone having personal alts to enhance their own play. I have a combat alt, so I can hunt or explore in fact. Many of the people in my guild have jedi and made the alt entertainer for fun, before this buff system. Last couple of days, I've asked my guildies to buff me when they were around, and they have asked me as well... its always alot easier if someone else is around and you dont have to go between accounts for a simple transaction.
As far as the buffs, not exactly what I dreamed of, but I can live with them. LOVE that they are not AFK buffs, wish that there wasnt an automatic debuff so you could 'enjoy' a musician and not lose the desired buff. Wish the 'passive one' was also either 1) stackable with any one other .. or 2) an /inspire and pop up one just like the rest. Wish AFK dancer's would vanish from public cantinas (what you do in your house or cantina is your business).
Thats my two creds 
Overall, I like the active buffs. That's a great thing. But I think the passive buff, as I've said, is a real slap in the face to ATK entertainers. The general combat buff can still be given AFK.
And loss of self -buffing to "protect" us was insulting. My pure entertainer doesn't feel it so much, but my entertainer/combat hybrid--not dabbler--is hurting from it. I feel as though my particular role-playing playstyle is no longer encouraged.
And I'm not sure how I feel about the division of the buffs, but it's a secondary concern. In theory it's cool.
Anyway, the active buff system can definitely be a triumph over AFK'ing if all buffs were active. Sure, people will still leave characters grinding, but they can't provide a "service"--other than pretty dancing--without a real person there.
The people who come see me still come more to chat than anything. We have no purpose in this game from a functional point of view. We are seen as an inconvienence for finding a buff and as such all the crafters just use their own personal buff mules for what is now being looked at as a 'must-have' buff again.
Do I like the new buffs? They are a nice idea, but they don't help us. And they missed out on a couple obvious buff additions that would have been very useful: tailor buff lets them get 4 sockets, artisan buff increases survey range, etc.
So, I see things really as status-quo with these new buffs. This was 'easy' to do, rather than adding real content for us and making us actually viable/desirable from a game-mechanics point of view. I've said it elsewhere, but the idea I've always liked is that we can 'spy' on people in parties to obtain information players need for various quests, etc. Something people might actually respect us for rather than looking down at us with disdain...
