Dancer Archive

One major advantage to entertainers in the upcoming combat upgrade (that is still the name, right? they change it so much) is that group hunts will become popular once again, with that will be the desire to have healers of may varieties come along on these hunts. It would be to our benefit as entertainers to do everything we can to make ourselves available to those desiring group hunting at every opportunity. If we let too much time pass before we mobilize on that effort, then people will begin picking up low-level entertainer skills themselves. A good idea to start with would be to add some scout to your template, being the one to drop the camps that provide healing and entertainment in the wilderness. Traps are a very good combat support role for us, very low risk with benefits to the group members in lowered enemy defenses and several kinds of state effects, even a little damage is included. We must have a mind as a community to move from a passive role in cantinas to active support to other professions. We need to push, along with the rangers for the ability for ranger camps to FACILITATE battle fatigue healing, by facilitate I mean an entertainer must be present and performing, not natural bf healing just by being in the camp without an entertainer around. This will increase the demand for both professions in the long run once the CU comes out. Again, the key here is we must be ready when the upgrade hits, and we must 'market' ourselves as available before the time comes. This is one area that buffbots cannot compete with us, let them have the empty cantinas, we'll be healing, intertacting, socializing, and supporting in the field.....with luck, and the entire community involved, no one may need to go to a cantina. I remember my first few days as an entertainer, I had the most fun jumping into a hunting group tossing traps and setting up dinky camps and healing people's minds, talking, having fun, getting hurt and sometimes even cloning.....after a point, the xp was just too slow, but once the big groups get popular again, even that won't be true....plenty of wounds to go around against a rancor lair after the upgrade, hopefully.

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DarkY0da wrote:

"If you can't stand the waiting and would be happier quitting till things are fixed, you should and you shouldn't feel guilty about it. I was told to pass that along"

"They(The Devs)just feel that we weren't implemented correctly and there are some major design flaws with our original concept. They say that the ability to completely automate our prof through the macro system was a mistake, but nothing short of a major coding and design effort will be able to fix it. That has to be put after the CU (they were promised first) and a few other already scheduled items. " - Panthu

Ahh hmm I guess that sort of answer the question well enough eh.

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There were major design flaws with Jedi, but they sure busted their butts to get that fixed up, didn't they. One could argue their designs are STILL flawed with that, but I digress....

I understand the constraints of IT schedules and how plans can go awry in less than 12 parsecs.

I also understand that a LOT of professions need work right now. Work that is not coming soon enough.

However, Entertainers represent more than a profession. They represent a portion of new players who are drawn to SWG solely for the social aspects of it. We're more than just some professions. We are a playstyle, an untapped market, a segment of the population who's not necessarily playing to run around killing stuff. We're here to help folks, have fun, and maybe meet some new friends. And, our place in the game is now lost, pretty much. It's as if Combat is broken, or Crafting is broken. Entertaining is broken and it's a serious detriment to this game. I know the Devs want to fix us sometime (well, i know that NOW - thanks SOETyrant for treating us like human beings) but sometime is not good enough! It's a seriously BROKEN part of their game.

So, is the Grand Experiment a failure? No. But it will be when no one plays an Entertainer, and those who buy the game TO play Entertainers realize there's nothing in the game to offer them for that playstyle, so they either suck it up and play a Combat or Crafting role, or they just take the stupid game back and never give it all a second thought.

The decision is simple (and this is completely an unbiased opinion - no really lol).

Fix Entertainers quick, make them a HIGH priority as is appropriate,because you have more than broken and failed professions. You have a broken playstyle.