Dancer Archive

NERF IT PLEASE!!!!!

Afk dancers suck are the worst thing to happen to this profession. Becoming a master should take work and it ticks me off to see so many not bothing to be present to actually play the game...so what is the use in playing at all. The grind was most of the fun about becoming a master! I talked to people, I learned the dances and made cool looking routines, and I had soo much fun getting there...I made some great friends with the other NON-afk dancers who have made being a master now alot more fun. I accomplished becoming a Master Dancer!! Not some stupid macro.

So if you want to play SWG and become a master dancer, then PLAY it...not go afk for a month then think you will be proud of yourself for being a Master....because you really aren't. You know diddly squat about your profession, becuase in all reality...you never played.

Dealite,

It will be okay. Check out the message boards.. they are started to fill up with people going okay, I'm master, now what? This is the exact type of thing that the afk dancers will say when they get there (I am NOT saying everyone asking this afk'd their way there). Then they'll spend a week or so learning that entertaining is the same job no matter what the level and they will get bored and move on to other things.

Personally I'm trying to think of a way to nerf afk macros without nerfing macros in general as they are a very important part of our field (or can be if they are used properly). The only thing I can think of is if a macro is running the program somehow checks for keyboard hits at least once ever 5 minutes and if you aren't making any than it logs you out. But I don't know if something like that can be programed or not.

The AFKers will get bored and leave. Just give it time.

Min'Tora Ehi

Well, killing AFK macros without killing other macros is actually quite simple - the game does distinguish between a macro and anohter command (you have a macro tab in your command window that shows only macros, so it must)

So here's hwat has to be done:

1) A macro may not call a macro - the only reason in a simple language like this for that is to make a loop

2) When an alias is called by a macro - find the command actually being called - not a hard trick even if you can alias an alias of an alias - if that command is a macro, don't run it. This relies on the machine being able to tell if a command came form a macro or the keyboard which is, again, not really a tricky thing.

Since the language includes no loop command, that's the end of loops. Now, you may AFK macro - but you've got a whole lot of typing to do.

If your using your macros at your keyboard, there's no need for it to call another macro for groups of repetitive actions - you an execute those macros manually.

That rant done, I find it amusing to read that the people who AFK Macro do in fact realize that they are doing something that bother and annoys people and don't really care. Much of one post was about how to make sure no one knows your AFK. Well, that may work with the customer, but as has been said, any entertainer - and most customers - can spot an AFK with no tag. If you've grouped with me and respond to neither /say, /tell or /g, I'll ask a couple other entertainers if they get the same. If this holds up for more than 15 minutes and an AFK flag does not appear then you are AFK macroing - it's the only reason to turn off your auto AFK, and you are obviously AFK.

To the one who AFK Macros because they just got Poplock and don't like it, dance Popular, they come at the same time and are worth the same XP. I also agree with the database programmer about the dangers of creating a loop that can only be ended by exitting the program. These are never good from a programming stand point. They are memory hogs, can cause any number of potentially harmful errors on your machine (or worse on the server) and are recommended against by every programmer I know.

Ciao
Adaral

Yes, you have the right AFK macro and we that don't like it have the right to say it stinks. Becourse it does, I am not sure why you would want to be AFK in the first place. I just made Novice dancer and I had good fun all the way. From that first dance step I took I been getting very good responses, aswell as tip,from the ones visiting us in the cantinas. And if I don't like a dance I try and figure out how to make it look the best.. What I don't understand is what the people that isn't even interested in seing there char evolve to become a dancer/entertainer. What fun are they going to get out of a char that is Master of a skill they don't know the first thing about? Okay you can do some more moves, okay you get flashy bombs and whatnot. But it is still you (and your char)that need to get the people to wake up and be interested in what you do. I been tempted once or twice to just go to bed with Nynna dancing away, but I never been able to do it. What if something happens when I am gone! If one of my "specials" come in to the cantina and see Nynna dancing away AFK. That would ruin the way they see me. Just as it ruins the profession as a whole when AFK dancers stand around in the cantina, and even have talk included in there macros! If you don't see the wrong in being an AFK:er just becourse it is possible to do, maybe talk to the developers and ask if that really was what they intended? Just becourse you can do something the easy way, or break rules, don't mean you should.

Lora *hugs* you are absolutely correct, the friends I made during my rise to master are what have made this game so much fun!!! I don't know if I would have made it without all of you!

I have a question... if you only do it in your locked house, how do you heal when your action runs out?

Shell

Apprentice Performer

Bestine

To all the Dancers out there...

Dancing is one of the most enjoyable parts of the game for me, and so many others. I can sympathize with both those in need of marcos, and those against. Allow me to give my view as to why macroing as a dancer should be allowed.

I only use macro when I am truly away. While I type this from work (... doing this at work... why?), my dancer is hopefully twirling away that dizzying thing known as the Formal dance. Baring any crashes or lost connections, I'll have an extra 15-20k of dancing xp when I get home. So, what makes this okay?

What you do with that experience is what matters. If I HAD the time to sit and either macro flourish chains or sit and type / flourish 1 over and over again, I would happily do it. But, as a full time office drone, a grad student, and spouse, I'm lucky to squeeze in an hour a day to play. But, when I do play, I am one of the most socially active players in the cantina. The patrons are happy to see unique dances and have a good chat, which I'm happy to share. Just because I macro my way up the tree doesn't make me a bad entertainer, it simply gives me more tools to use.

However, I absolutely agree that dancers should make their own macros if they want to use them. Most people will give up in frustration after a few failed attempts, ditch the skill and go be Bounty Hunters. But, for those who use a script, that is their right in this game, and if they can make it, I say why not? It's not like there aren't tips or cantinas enough to go around!

Good grief, this thread has me confused! I guess I have a few questions that need clarification.

1) Why would you want to AFK macro yourself to Master Dancer? You're paying $15 a month to play this game, setting an AFK macro up, switching off the monitor and going to bed/work/whatever is not what I call playing a game. The only reason which I can see why anyone would do this is to get a Master Dancer asap without actually 'working' at it for either i) Status or ii) A 2-boxed healer (used to see this often in Everquest with 2-boxed clerics being hauled around). This brings me to my second question...

2) Why make up a 2nd or 3rd account for an entourage of healers when you're actually playing a MULTI-PLAYER GAME? There are others out there - you don't have to play alone - this isn't Quake! This kind of 2-boxing defeats the object of playing an MMPORG.

So in conclusion, you are paying to play a game you don't actually play so you can get your 'main' character more power by having 2/3 boxed healers in tow despite the fact it's a multi-player game, and you're playing it solo?

Hmm.......guess what kind of image I'm generating of you?

The final macro will sit when necessary to heal action.