Dancer Archive
Thread: Pro/Anti AFK/Bot/Macro All Purpose Sticky
Drygo
Tue Sep 28, 2004 4:22 am
#326
Hvzeda wrote:
Drygo, they are there. Some days it seems like they aren't butbeing a bit active at the keyboard seems to help. I spent half a day being a passive ATK dancer and I didn't get any attention, tells or tips. The more active I became, the more the patrons took notice. I make little comments when I see a line at a buffbot stating silly things about buffbots, recursive macros and AFK ENTs and I've have gotten apologies from a few of those using the buffbot services, stole a couple of those patrons and even gotten tips from a couple in that line even though they got the buff from the buffbot (one even stated that I deserve the credits more than the buffbot). I have parked myself in front of a buffbot greeting people and telling people to ignore my puppet behind me or use the smoke effect to cover the buffbot. I've even gotten the AFK ENTs one time to park themselves around the buffbot.
Basically, I'm not going to get worked up over buffbots. They are silly, self-centered, egotisical little brats. I'm going to make fun of them and as I make fun of them patrons will notice that I am at the keyboard and will take notice. Until the recursive macro is removed, I don't see myself getting bent out of shaped over this because if I am, then I need to reconsider staying in the game and what brought me to the game in the first place. If I don't want to deal with a buffbot, I head back to the Commune and talk to the crafters working there or do mayorial duties or provide escort duty for the pure crafters. I may visit a friend in another player city. If no one happens to be in the Commune, mountain squills are nearby for me to shoot up (or to incap me).
If you are hunting in the Geo caves and a group is killing everything there and leaving nothing for you, are you going to blow a gasket over the game or will you just move on and let them have it and do something more enjoyable? There are rude people in the game, but I will be damned if I am going to let them upset me. They aren't worth it and not worth my time. There are plenty of things to do in the game besides spending all day in the cantina or Geo caves.
Maybe instead of arguing for the end of buffbots/AFK ENTsand how they wreck the profession (the arguments are there and it is up to our correspondent to forward these concerns to the Devs), maybe we should start a support thread and share ideas how to deal with buffbots until they are removed.
Until my next post, dance, enjoy and smile.
First...as I've said to others before, I'm glad that you have had some measure of success in your fight against buffbots. However, I implore you not to assume that others such as myself have not tried some of the exact same tactics as you have and achieved nothing but failure. It's not nice to make assumptions that some of us aren't doing all that we can do, it just makes it sound like you think we just aren't "good enough" at what we do, and I take great issue with that.
Secondly, if LIVE players are hunting in the Geo caves and killing everything before I get a chance to, I take no issue with that whatsoever. I do, however, take issues with afk camp kill stealers--as have the devs. I expect them to take the same issues with afk buffbot kill stealers. Similarly, when there are live dancers competing with me for buffs, I have, on several occasions gotten "pwned" by them because they are simply better at getting business for whatever reason. When a live dancer out competes me? I say "more power to ya." They deserve the business. I feel very differently when it comes to afk buffbots, however. 
Aynianu
Tue Sep 28, 2004 4:48 am
#327
Ive suggested this many times Eaca.
Truely hope this is possible to do in the game. It would fix all afk issues imo
Aleyo
Tue Sep 28, 2004 9:41 am
#328
I'd like to make what may be a minority opinion.
First, (this isn't the minority opinion part), I do not support the idea of buffbots at all in the game. They make the game less engaging and fun, and less challenging. I don't want to play a game where the point is 'I win'. At least, not in swg.
However, I think that buffbots botting in their private houses, PA halls, etc. are worse than those doing so in public cantinas. I don't buy into the idea that they're hidden and won't take business away. First of all, every single person who visits one of them is one who does not visit a live entertainer, plain and simple. But second of all, you can't underestimate the power of word-of-mouth in games like these. News of the buffbot will spread, and a very large percentage of the server population will know about them within a relatively short period of time, particularly if that buffbot advertises its 'services'.
Buffbotting in private places makes it so that we don't even get the chance to compete with them face to face, meaning we can't try to educate the people using them, we can't try to say 'look at me, I'm live and entertaining.' The argument of "we prefer live buffers, so if you just are live and entertaining, we'll go to you instead of the buffbot" goes sailing very quickly out the window when people don't even visit the cantinas but go straight to the buffbot house.
If they're 'out of the way,' then sure, we don't get to see them stabbing us to our faces. But instead they're stabbing us in the back, where we can't see it, and the damage is even worse, in my opinion.
On Tempest, we don't have any buffbots in Theed (and they'll be promptly driven away if they do show up, as has happened before), and I can't speak for Coronet as I don't ever go there, but my friends who do go there have never mentioned a buffbot there (I didn't ask directly, they just haven't brought it up, so there may not be one). However, we do have a buffbot who sits in its house, who advertises on the forums, and who I know is stealing my business. There are names I used to see that I know still play because of their forum activity, but whom I never see anymore. These are names I've seen that have been supportive of the buffbot on the forums, yet don't seem to be the types who would die if the buffbot didn't exist. These are the customers I want back, or at least the opportunity to provide my service to them instead of them going to a house where I don't even see them.
First, (this isn't the minority opinion part), I do not support the idea of buffbots at all in the game. They make the game less engaging and fun, and less challenging. I don't want to play a game where the point is 'I win'. At least, not in swg.
However, I think that buffbots botting in their private houses, PA halls, etc. are worse than those doing so in public cantinas. I don't buy into the idea that they're hidden and won't take business away. First of all, every single person who visits one of them is one who does not visit a live entertainer, plain and simple. But second of all, you can't underestimate the power of word-of-mouth in games like these. News of the buffbot will spread, and a very large percentage of the server population will know about them within a relatively short period of time, particularly if that buffbot advertises its 'services'.
Buffbotting in private places makes it so that we don't even get the chance to compete with them face to face, meaning we can't try to educate the people using them, we can't try to say 'look at me, I'm live and entertaining.' The argument of "we prefer live buffers, so if you just are live and entertaining, we'll go to you instead of the buffbot" goes sailing very quickly out the window when people don't even visit the cantinas but go straight to the buffbot house.
If they're 'out of the way,' then sure, we don't get to see them stabbing us to our faces. But instead they're stabbing us in the back, where we can't see it, and the damage is even worse, in my opinion.
On Tempest, we don't have any buffbots in Theed (and they'll be promptly driven away if they do show up, as has happened before), and I can't speak for Coronet as I don't ever go there, but my friends who do go there have never mentioned a buffbot there (I didn't ask directly, they just haven't brought it up, so there may not be one). However, we do have a buffbot who sits in its house, who advertises on the forums, and who I know is stealing my business. There are names I used to see that I know still play because of their forum activity, but whom I never see anymore. These are names I've seen that have been supportive of the buffbot on the forums, yet don't seem to be the types who would die if the buffbot didn't exist. These are the customers I want back, or at least the opportunity to provide my service to them instead of them going to a house where I don't even see them.
Tralmek
Tue Sep 28, 2004 11:08 am
#329
I didn't miss the point of your post at all. I'm simply saying that your post made it sound like we, the Live Entertainment community were the cause of all that is AFK macrotaining because we're not taking an active role in Entertaining. My point was that the AFK problem was around a long time before now, and we have been trying to do everything we can to make it go away since July of 2003. We do /greet, /wave, /blowkiss, /whistle, /grin,/smack,or /slappeople who enter the public cantinas, we so say "howdy, Joe1337" when Joe1337 comes into the cantina. We make every effort to get noticed, but between the AFK macrospam and the AFK macrotainers, most of the time Joe1337 won't even notice us. Chances are, Joe1337 will lose connection because of the AFK macrotainers & their constant spamming.
Shasi wrote:
Tralmek wrote:
Paraphrased. Think Han Solo: "It's not our fault! It's not our fault."
Ok let me clarify what I was trying to explain since apparently you have completely misunderstood my point and motivation of my post. I love the entertainer profession and what I meant by saying that entertainers made this bed was simply this:
You can only find AFK entertainers - that is why everyone uses them and doesnt have regard for the actual performers that put time into the craft. Entertainers that are truly wanting to explore any of the performing art professions need to become more prevelant in the game. If you give them a reason to not have to spend the extra $15.00 on a second character then they wont. If you give them a reason to spend credits/time with your performer then they will. My only intent by my post is to say that if true entertainers want the AFK buff bots to stop taking the dignaty and spotlight from their profession then they need to be more visible and available. So if they want the AFK/buff bots to disappear so bad when are they going to appear? Don't get me wrong, I love being an entertainer, but too be honest there are very few players who actually play their entertainer. They sit AFK out of bordom or spending everylog in moment in the same cantina surrounded by AFK'ers (no wonder no one notices you!) I am simply saying take entertainers back out into the cities, have fun, host events, visit player cities you have never been to or love to visit. All I am saying is that performers that are truly performers need to start making themselves apparent if anyone of the entertainer class players would like buff bots to go away. You cannot expect everyone to come to you in life, sometimes you need to seek out what you want.
I know you said you love Entertaining, and I believe you. I just think youare mistaken in believing that it is the Live Entertainers' fault that there are buffbots and other LAMers out there. We've done a lot in the past 15 months to try to keep the AFK macrotainers at bay, but between Dev indifference and CSR encouragement, we've been fighting an uphill battle, and a lot of people have just lost the will to keep going. Believe me or not, but Live Entertainers have had little to do with the acceleration of LAMers. We've fought it every step of the way.
Drygo
Tue Sep 28, 2004 3:52 pm
#330
Aleyo wrote:
However, I think that buffbots botting in their private houses, PA halls, etc. are worse than those doing so in public cantinas. I don't buy into the idea that they're hidden and won't take business away. First of all, every single person who visits one of them is one who does not visit a live entertainer, plain and simple. But second of all, you can't underestimate the power of word-of-mouth in games like these. News of the buffbot will spread, and a very large percentage of the server population will know about them within a relatively short period of time, particularly if that buffbot advertises its 'services'.
I don't agree that buffbots in private houses and Cantinas are *worse.* Because I know that even though they exist, when I am in a Cantina without buffbots I am able to sell buffs fairly easily. The Cantinas that are overrun with them however, it's impossible for me to sell more than one every 3 hours, if I'm lucky.
However, I do agree with you that buffbots in private places (erm) are still bad and I want to see all buffbots in any form ended ASAP. I do know, that even though I am able to sell buffs in public Cantinas without buffbots, it's no where near what it used to be. Even in the non buffbot Cantinas, the fraction of buffs that I sell compared to last February is probably about 15%. I know it's because most people are getting their buffs elsewhere. I've happened to come across cities with buffbots, and they have an awful lot of traffic in and out of their Cantinas. The multiple guilds and cities that have buffbots are taking away a HUGE portion of business for the real entertainers, so I know that they are quite damaging. And, I'm not at all one of those people that is content to say their fine as long as I don't see them.
However, the ones in the NPC Cantinas are definitely worse. They are impossible to compete with. At least in the ones without buffbots I am able to do *some* business. I think, maybe, on Kettemoor, people know they can come to Theed for live buffers, so the ones that maybe really care about ethical gameplay congregate in Theed for their buffs. That coupled with some who happen to just be on Naboo, as well as newbie players or those without guild buffbots make Theed kind of the last "haven" right now on Kettemoor. And, I hope to high heaven that doesn't change before the end of the recursive macro. There seems to have developed a nice core group of live entertainers who group up in Theed. And, even though we have afk'ers in the group, there's usually people to talk to, both in group and customers. And, there's usually a decent amount of people who want to buy buffs. It's kind of a sad situation, but I'm truly thankful we still have this last bastion of hope on Kettemoor right now.
Even so, the situation is still completely unacceptable. I mean, it negates most of our choices. Sometimes I wanna go to Coronet, sometimes I want to go to Dantooine or elsewhere. But, usually, unless I'm trying to prove a point or I'm feeling emotionally strong (lol), my time spent in Cantinas besides Theed ends up being at most 15 minutes before I get totally disgusted and have to leave.
I think it's an interesting dichotomy. Seeing how buffbots destroy us, and how the absence of buffbots cause live entertainers to congregate...on Kettemoor, you can see this by comparing Theed to Coronet on any given day. It should be quite obvious for anyone who has any observation skills whatsoever to see this difference and to understand that lack of buffbots encourages live entertainer play, in a big way.
But, back to your original point. I don't think the private buffbots are worse, per se. But, they are certainly damaging and they need to be destroyed just as much as the public ones.
Shyloche
Wed Sep 29, 2004 10:43 am
#331
Before I put my 4 cents in, I'm going to describe my place in this game and define my use of entertainer in this post. Entertainers for the purpose of thispost are those musicians and dancers who play this game. Bearers of entertainers skills who play AFK and who buff-bot are not considered or referered to as entertainers.
I am 100 percent against buffbots. I am not 100 percent against AFK grinding (but only because I have been guilty of it. I fully support my brothers and sisters in their opinion against it). I have a master musician/ent pursuing TKM on one server and a master dancer pursing pike on another server. I also have a second account with pure combat templates on those same accounts. I mastered musician once 100 percent ATK. I AFK ground it the second time (I don't like doing things twice). I then chose, regretfully, to AFK grind dance. I did not realize that Dancer had so many broken things and that flourishes did not stack like in musician. The result was borked performances because I did not spend the time to learn about the profession. As a side note, in both of these cases I spent the majority of the time ATK as I was on a break from school and a vacation from work, only grinding while I slept. (not justiftying it, just pointing out that those professions were my focus, instead of as a side thing while I pwned n00bs or something).
I devote two nights a week for each entertainer. I am a definite minority in that I make ALL my money through entertaining and I make a lot of it. My musician is not pursuing TKM to be able to do janta missions or whatever and rake in more money. Its so that I can handle myself in an average battle while weilding a chidinkalu horn. I spend way more time performing than fighting. My musician is on Chilastra and it is quite true that it is a sorry place for an entertainer. I am lucky that an aspect of my personality draws people to request buffs from me. The ent channel was nice in that people could ask for ent service across planets. One buffbot in particular made that channel annoying to bea part of. I do group buffs for rate of 100k for 15 group members or more. This works for me, and while I am not doing multiple group buffs a day or even a week, it pays MY needs. I also get a fair amount of 5k buffs going in several of the cantinas I visit. (In this case I must just be lucky, or extremely persistant).
My dancer also does quite well (not as well without an ent channel, but I have a large following, nor is there a buffbot to compete against in theed) and charge the same group buff rate. She is pursuing pike NOT because she needs to have combat to bring in money, but because I felt it was an appealing character flavor. (I enjoy combat as much as I enjoy entertaining.) My entertainers pay for my combaters needs. Quite the turn of events, eh?
Also, entertaining in this game (despite the problems people see on either sides of teh argument) is one of the greatest game concepts I have ever encountered. Combat in this game is repetitive, redundant, and straight up boring to me. I think we social gamers fill a larger population than we are given credit for. The difference though, is that the socializers are all real entertainers, real crafters, and real doctors. Vastly different services, one basic personality trait.Combaters, however, are still combaters. The only diversity between them is in which manner they fight. They are still the same principle. Entertainers are a smaller population of the socializers, its true, and an even smaller percentage of the overall population. But, the majority of this shrinking community believe that buffbots are bad. We, the entertainers, those who have mastered this profession legitimately, who have spent the time in the trenches and know what it is to play an entertainer, feel this way. While it is true that there is a VERY minority group of true entertainers who do not mind buffbots, how can a buffbot owner or a buffbot user have any clue how it affects us?
Also, I quite believe that since this is OUR profession (those who play entertainers as they should be), OUR majority voice should hold more weight, than the voice of those who do NOT play our profession. What you get from us is a service, a privilage. Also, an entertainer has as much right to experience the content of this game without being beholden to service all who ask, or condemned for doing so.
Buffbots ruin the entertainer profession, plain and simple, regardless of how convenient it is for combaters. Is it really better and right to ruin our style and choice of play because it merely inconveniences yours? Yes, ruin and inconvenience are not equal. Therefore it is better that a minority save their profession from ruination, despite a majority who want a mere convenience.
The community who would seek our service are tarnished. I was jamming alone in an empty cantina, flourishes raving with my droid and tons of effects and backup bass. A guy comes in and invites me. I ask "are you an entertainer?" he says "no". I ask "why did you invite me?" He responds with "I want a buff". I tell him that I will buff him if he pays me 5k and I will perform for him and that being in a group is not necessary. My dancer competed against a buffbot advertising every 3 minutes (not macroed either) "Support live entertainment and get a live buff". I was told several times "why pay you? The bot is free". I snagged only one bot patron in three hours. Mostly I was ignored. Both of my entertainers have gone to the outposts and performed for hours during peak times. Advertising for buffs, no bots even present, and still no clients. If buffs are SO necessary, why not take advantage? I've been shushed merely greeting a patron. For those who are "loners" why even play this game? While this game is supposed to cater to a wide group of players, its main draw is supposed to be immersion. If you don't want to be immersed, why play this one? If its because you can get things in this game to help your style of play not available in a console PvP game, then you gotta suck it up and interact with those whose service you would enjoy.
The "lack of entertainers" argument doesn't fly with me, because no matter the effort we make to be available you would just rather wait on "ol' faithbot". Its true that there were not a lot of entertainers compared to customers needing them in the beginning. But with buffbots there are even less. If we received entertainer content that would bring back old members and entice new players to be entertainers, the next thing you know is we'll be chastized for enjoying the entertainer content instead of being on hand to service you. Yes, I've managed to eck out a good living despite this entertainer breaking situation, but only because I am lucky. As a final note...money should be pursuable in all professions. For those of you who are combaters, would you do missions or go hunting if there was no money or loot to be had, and xp was no longer necessary for you? If you love your profession, why not? Entertainers should be entitled to the same ability to earn money doing a profession we love. Not just be expected to do it for free because we love it. The point is that we shouldn't have to have combat skills or an alt account just to bring in money. Buffbotshurt our ability, pure and true.
Ikewe
Wed Sep 29, 2004 11:22 am
#332
I have justtwo question that I would like to have answered by anyone. I have seen TH indicate that they recognize that players who play at "off hours" will need to have some mechanism for healing their mind wounds and that the Devs are looking into that. So here are my questions:
What mechanism will be provided for entertainers who play at off hours or in remote locations and can't find any players who need their minds healed? How are we supposed to get healing experience if there are no players around? I assume we will be given NPC's with mind wounds that we can heal??
And will there be NPC healers in the cantinas to keep my action going when I am dancing at off hours or in a remote location and there's no one around to either buff my action stats or keep me healed?
If the game is now going to try to supply all needs at all times then I want *MY* needs catered to as well.
Ikewe, Master Dancer Shadowfire
Nacoa
Wed Sep 29, 2004 11:30 am
#333
Ikewe wrote:I have just two question that I would like to have answered by anyone. I have seen TH indicate that they recognize that players who play at "off hours" will need to have some mechanism for healing their mind wounds and that the Devs are looking into that. So here are my questions:What mechanism will be provided for entertainers who play at off hours or in remote locations and can't find any players who need their minds healed? How are we supposed to get healing experience if there are no players around? I assume we will be given NPC's with mind wounds that we can heal??And will there be NPC healers in the cantinas to keep my action going when I am dancing at off hours or in a remote location and there's no one around to either buff my action stats or keep me healed?If the game is now going to try to supply all needs at all times then I want *MY* needs catered to as well.Ikewe, Master Dancer Shadowfire
Touche
jesikap
Wed Sep 29, 2004 3:57 pm
#334
Just a quick question about a macro ( I think this is the right place??! )
I want to make a macro that will start buffing after I accept my tip, and target the player. This would be for a master dancer. Is there any way to have a macro that will work like that? I manually target the person to be buffed and then just click the button and boom, the macro goes for the specified length of time, tells them they are done and stops?
I've tried to make one, but I seem unable to - any help in this would be greatly appreciated.
And no - I do not plan to buffbot with it, I merely want something to make my life a bit easier instead of typing everything out.
A.S.
Ikewe
Thu Sep 30, 2004 11:41 am
#335
You just need to add a few lines to your current dance buff macro. I don't have onethat does what you wantso you'll want to test and tweak this but I think you should be able to add something along the lines of
/setp; {this will set the performance for who you have targeted so you want this line first}
then to tell them when their buff is done just add in a timer line that says something along the lines of
/pause 240; /sing your mind buff is done. Please stop watching to activate your buff; {I'd use something other than just 'say' so that it looks a bit different in a sea of chat floating in the air /sing /whisper you get the idea. Also I put in a time for you but your time may vary depending upon your buff macro}
By the way there are all sorts of great macros written for you on the Entertainer forum (Tiaga must somehow have more than 24 hours in a day). So anytime you need help I'd check there.
Ikewe, Master Dancer Shadowfire
DanceRulez
Thu Sep 30, 2004 4:52 pm
#336
DemoRat wrote:jmho, master tk doc, master chef tailor, master dancer music, master doc. If I cant find a buff bot up I'll just stick to brandy and c naps. Its not that I'm truly anti live entertainer, its due to the fact I know the buff bot isnt going to force his dislike of live entertainers down my throught. [sic]
Why certainly, because as everyone knows that's all that live entertainers ever talk about in the game. Blah blah buffbots are bad this and blah blah blah buffbots are bad that, as if there was some point to it all or something. It's not like you'd ever run across any of them that ever try to say anything interesting or that even try to make an effort to be friendly with a customer or even TRY to ask the customer about something that might be of interest to them.
the buff bots not going to demand #K credits for the buff it will be happy with what ever I have to donate,
Amen to that! Why should you feel obligated to reward someone else for the time, effort and skill points that they've invested in some profession or the time and effort they spend applying their skills to you? And this is something that shouldn't even be restricted to just entertainers. It should apply to all other professions as well. Why should some Armorsmith get to charge whatever he (or she) wants for that 90% resistive comp armor just because they spent the time to gather resources and craft each piece multiple times to get the experimental values just right? You should just be able to offer whatever you think is fair or whatever you can afford and the Armorsmith should just be happy with that.
the buff bot is going to do its job fast and quietly so I can get on with what I have planed. [sic]
Exactly - just shut up and gimme my buff so I can get out of here. After all, just because this is a massively multiplayer game, it doesn't mean that you should be forced to have to deal with other players. You should be able to get whatever you want done without ever having to interact with another person, or at the very least, with as little interaction as possible. Furthermore they should obviously add more NPC characters that do things like deliver Doctor buffs or sell only the best Chef foods or weapons or resources so that no one ever has to deal with another live player if they don't want to. And of course all these NPCs should be operating on a tips-only payment system.
... I belive to each there own.[sic]
Absolutely! Or even better, "To each, their own as long as it doesn't interfere with my own."
Message Edited by DanceRulez on 09-30-2004 04:59 PM
Gurr
Fri Oct 01, 2004 4:39 am
#337
As a Master Dancer/TKM turned Jedi (who's now taking the new alt to Master Dancer...I'd miss it entirely too much otherwise), I seriously don't understand people who say they can't find live entertainers when they need them. I have never, in over a year of playing SWG, had an issue finding a live entertainer at all. Granted, I may have to travel a bit (or pay them to come to me), but to say that they don't exist at any given time is a total fallacy. I play on 6 servers and this has proven to be the case on every one of them.
As for the want/need mind buff issue, I can actually see both sides...to a point. For the jedi, mind buffs really turn into a need situation due to the massive xp loss and we're pretty much forced to do almost anything we can to survive when we're being hunted. If I'm on the terms, I require mind buffs...period. The risks are too great for me to take any chances or "miss a step" that could cost me tons of time and progress. To address this need, I didn't just "create a buffbot because it's easy". Instead, I took the *gasp* initiative to actually hire an entertainer to come to my safe house to buff me (yes, I pay an ATK entertainer...will wonders ever cease?). This is a great arrangement for both of us as it gives us time to chat while she's buffing me and gets her away from the cantina scene for a bit while giving her an opportunity to try new performance ideas out on a live audience. I make sure to pay her very well for her time, travel, trouble, and performances. Yes, entertainers don't require much money, but as a dancer myself, I know that getting a quickness buff or some accarragm to just buff one guy is not very economical and I also believe that entertainer services are extremely undervalued. As an additional tip, I frequently give her a full set of doc buffs for her troubles and so she can continue to serve others if she chooses to after she's finished with me. When she's not available, I keep a list full of entertainers that I've spoken to about the occasional trip to my house for a buff and all have been very receptive, if not eager to do so.
If I'm not on the terms, however, I consider mind buffs a luxury and often go without them, but not because I can't find an entertainer online. It's more because I don't think of any entertainer as a thing that I possess or that is only there to serve me...rather they are people with their own errands and times where they are busy doing something other than buffing the masses and I sometimes do not want to impact their schedules if I'm just going out for a quick hour's hunt to try out a new skill. In those cases, brandy/canape is just fine and gives me the extra mind stats that I need in the field.
In total, my answer to the combat types is not to just make/visit a buffbot...it's to hire live entertainers. I can't count how many guilded PvP squads that I've buffed in the past and every one of them has returned for more over time...not because my buffs are great (no SEAs here...I can't afford to bid against a buffbot owner's 200mil bank account), but rather because they enjoy my humour, performances, and the interaction that I provide. I've also been, and will continue to be, extremely willing to travel if needed, as are most entertainers. To say that nobody is available is an excuse, in my book. It's not difficult at all to /addfriend entertainers as you meet them or to spend a bit of time in cantinas building a list for future use. Buffbots are NOT the answer for combat folks' needs and they really devalue everyone's enjoyment of the game over time. This is a game that requires people to work together in order to succeed as a whole...to treat it like a single-player game will only make SWG die a quick death. Enjoy your time here and the people around you...don't treat it like a race to some imaginary end-game (trust me, jedi is NOT great if that's your goal).
For the entertainers, my only suggestion is to put yourself out there a little more. Entertainers frequently are outgoing people, but tend to not "push" their services very much (I'm just as guilty of this as anyone). If you don't mind travelling or want to be available for people, tell your customers this as you meet them. If they feel like they're getting personal attention and that you want to perform for them, you'll find that many will happily accept the offer and the tips (and social rewards) will follow. Sure you won't win over 100% of the people (or even 25% honestly), but I consider my week as an entertainer a success if I can help someone realise the benefits of ATK entertaining over buffbots or AFKers.
This is the best player community in the game, in my opinion, and the most supportive of others and passionate about what they do. I know it's difficult to stay positive about the state of things after all of this time...the only word of encouragement that I can really offer is to take comfort in your loyal customer/friend base and keep fighting the good fight. There are still alot of people that appreciate you and what you do.
I know I will continue promoting live entertainers (I think my guildies are sick of hearing me say "just say no to buffbots!" by now)...and I look forward to performing with more of you in the future.
As for the want/need mind buff issue, I can actually see both sides...to a point. For the jedi, mind buffs really turn into a need situation due to the massive xp loss and we're pretty much forced to do almost anything we can to survive when we're being hunted. If I'm on the terms, I require mind buffs...period. The risks are too great for me to take any chances or "miss a step" that could cost me tons of time and progress. To address this need, I didn't just "create a buffbot because it's easy". Instead, I took the *gasp* initiative to actually hire an entertainer to come to my safe house to buff me (yes, I pay an ATK entertainer...will wonders ever cease?). This is a great arrangement for both of us as it gives us time to chat while she's buffing me and gets her away from the cantina scene for a bit while giving her an opportunity to try new performance ideas out on a live audience. I make sure to pay her very well for her time, travel, trouble, and performances. Yes, entertainers don't require much money, but as a dancer myself, I know that getting a quickness buff or some accarragm to just buff one guy is not very economical and I also believe that entertainer services are extremely undervalued. As an additional tip, I frequently give her a full set of doc buffs for her troubles and so she can continue to serve others if she chooses to after she's finished with me. When she's not available, I keep a list full of entertainers that I've spoken to about the occasional trip to my house for a buff and all have been very receptive, if not eager to do so.
If I'm not on the terms, however, I consider mind buffs a luxury and often go without them, but not because I can't find an entertainer online. It's more because I don't think of any entertainer as a thing that I possess or that is only there to serve me...rather they are people with their own errands and times where they are busy doing something other than buffing the masses and I sometimes do not want to impact their schedules if I'm just going out for a quick hour's hunt to try out a new skill. In those cases, brandy/canape is just fine and gives me the extra mind stats that I need in the field.
In total, my answer to the combat types is not to just make/visit a buffbot...it's to hire live entertainers. I can't count how many guilded PvP squads that I've buffed in the past and every one of them has returned for more over time...not because my buffs are great (no SEAs here...I can't afford to bid against a buffbot owner's 200mil bank account), but rather because they enjoy my humour, performances, and the interaction that I provide. I've also been, and will continue to be, extremely willing to travel if needed, as are most entertainers. To say that nobody is available is an excuse, in my book. It's not difficult at all to /addfriend entertainers as you meet them or to spend a bit of time in cantinas building a list for future use. Buffbots are NOT the answer for combat folks' needs and they really devalue everyone's enjoyment of the game over time. This is a game that requires people to work together in order to succeed as a whole...to treat it like a single-player game will only make SWG die a quick death. Enjoy your time here and the people around you...don't treat it like a race to some imaginary end-game (trust me, jedi is NOT great if that's your goal).
For the entertainers, my only suggestion is to put yourself out there a little more. Entertainers frequently are outgoing people, but tend to not "push" their services very much (I'm just as guilty of this as anyone). If you don't mind travelling or want to be available for people, tell your customers this as you meet them. If they feel like they're getting personal attention and that you want to perform for them, you'll find that many will happily accept the offer and the tips (and social rewards) will follow. Sure you won't win over 100% of the people (or even 25% honestly), but I consider my week as an entertainer a success if I can help someone realise the benefits of ATK entertaining over buffbots or AFKers.
This is the best player community in the game, in my opinion, and the most supportive of others and passionate about what they do. I know it's difficult to stay positive about the state of things after all of this time...the only word of encouragement that I can really offer is to take comfort in your loyal customer/friend base and keep fighting the good fight. There are still alot of people that appreciate you and what you do.
I know I will continue promoting live entertainers (I think my guildies are sick of hearing me say "just say no to buffbots!" by now)...and I look forward to performing with more of you in the future.
Gurr
Fri Oct 01, 2004 4:47 am
#338
Small addendum..
I have never, nor will I ever, AFK level my dancer skills. As a five-time (going on six) Master Dancer and two-time master musician, I consider the journey to master to be more fun than actually being a master. I encourage the AFKers to actually give being ATK a shot while grinding. I know many consider it boring, but the grind is what you make of it. My first attempt at dancing seemed boring at first, but once I started chatting with my groupmates and those around me, I found it to be much more fun and rewarding than I had expected. I've even had hard-core PvP'ers drop novice medic or scout nightly to pick up novice entertainer to join in the fun once they got a taste of it. Give it a try...you may find that you like it as much as many of us do, if not more.
Cheers and keep flourishing!
I have never, nor will I ever, AFK level my dancer skills. As a five-time (going on six) Master Dancer and two-time master musician, I consider the journey to master to be more fun than actually being a master. I encourage the AFKers to actually give being ATK a shot while grinding. I know many consider it boring, but the grind is what you make of it. My first attempt at dancing seemed boring at first, but once I started chatting with my groupmates and those around me, I found it to be much more fun and rewarding than I had expected. I've even had hard-core PvP'ers drop novice medic or scout nightly to pick up novice entertainer to join in the fun once they got a taste of it. Give it a try...you may find that you like it as much as many of us do, if not more.
Cheers and keep flourishing!