Dancer Archive
Thread: State of the Dancer Profession 10-31-03
Sorry I thought the "State of the Dancer Profession" was where you posted what was happening as in new adds and bug fixes.
I see you addressed manyof my points in other posts.
Thanks for stopping by tho.. no really.
Anu1 wrote:
You have got to be kidding if you think AFK dancing is the biggest problem with our profession!!!!
It may not be considered the biggest problem by everyone but is definately considered to be the biggest problem by many.
How about fixing the rate of actions costs!!! A person doing music can play for 2 to 3 times longer than a dancer sometimes even more!
You must not have a very good idea whats going on around you do you? Are you aware that action costs have already been reduced on TC and the change will be going live in a few days with the big update? Yes you can thank me now.
How about the fact that most of the higher level dances don't even have all the flourish done!!!
They already know about this, it was our number one issue in our first report to the devs, they already said their working on it. This is something that takes a lot of time and resources for them to do, what more exactly do you want to be done? From what they've told us they've already done mo-cap for new dances or flourishes.
What about the fact that the only dancer who commands the bandflourishgets xp!!!
And this won't be changing, thanks tho.
It use to work that everyone got exp but in one of their early attempts to cut down on AFK people they changed it so only the person that issued the command got the exp. They certainly won't be doing anything to make it easier again on AFK people so don't expect this to change.
What about the fact that every other profession can do their craft outside of a cantina or camp!!! Why do all the profession get crafting stations in droid but US???? A doctor or medic can do everything they need anywhere!!! How about a stage show droid with a sound system and lights????
Because entertainers and cantina's are used in this game as a focal point to bring people together. Good or bad, like or dislike thats the way they use us. Many dancers wouldn't have it any other way, some would like this changed. Odds are it won't be changed because the Devs want a place where people have to gather/come together.
YOU had better take off your high heels and get something done for the this profession!
I've gotten a lot done for this profession thank you, perhaps I could be doing better then I am but I work pretty hard for this profession and am trying my best. We've gotten more then most professions have managed to get done so far which is saying a lot considering how small of a portion of the games population we make.
Theres a lot of other things coming for Dancers in the future too, such as the ability to buff ourselves, more dances and flourishes, improvements to our Missions, fixes for the buff bugs, andlook and possible rework to our fall ratejust to name a few things on the table being actively worked on right now.
Maybe theres others that could do a better job then I am but I do my best and so far most people seem to think I'm doing a pretty decent job. So, until that changes or until I decide to step down, get use to me being here. 
Wow its to bad you didn't read my second post! Just above yours.
I can see your platform very clearly. I can only believe that it is the same as SWG's so I hope that you and SWG review the numbers ofplayers that Master Elite Entertainers and then quite the game completely.
As I have only been at it a very short time I have seen the rotation of players alarming.
My final post.
Hehe, yeah you must of posted that as I was writing a response to your first post. I hate when that happens.
Anu1 wrote:
Wow its to bad you didn't read my second post! Just above yours.
There has been a turnover for sure but every profession out has one, ours is far from the worst actually. Still a lot like myself that have been a Master Dancer since the first month the game released that are still around dancing. In a game design like this tho where once you reach master you never get anything new, its not unusual for players to quit a profession and take up another.A master dancer can buff mind and a musician buff willpower and focus. A doctor can buff six stats, do them all faster than we can do one, can heal, cure and is very much desirable be it in the medical center or in groups. I can get to master doctor faster than I can get to master entertainer. There just does not seem to be the same reward for the time investment which forces alot of people to just go afk whilst they sleep or go out.
Entertainers need more pro-active benefits, all of them are just reactive ones. Entertainers need abilities that they can utilise in groups that increases the abilities of those around them. Things like performing whilst in groups which can give continous benefits such as state defenses, ham regeneration, temporary ham buffs whilst they are performing, etc. These special abilities should be designed so that the entertainer can perform them whilst doing other group oriented things (like running around doing missions) allowing entertainers to travel with and be entertainers in groups giving continual benefits.
At the moment, entertainers are slaves to the cantinas and that is forcing them to put up with the spammers, the holocron grinders and the afk performers which lessens the entertainment value for everyone involved.
Medical professions can be effective outside of medical centres with surgical droids, perhaps if we can add in entertainer modules to droids allowing entertainers to become mobile performers it would add alot more entertainment to the entertainment professions. If a doctor could only cure poison, diseases, wounds, etc in camps or medical centers then their effectiveness would be very much diminished.
The experience gained also needs to be increased or all other professions need to be slowed down. There is no reason why entertainer professions should be so slow to progress.
ok... I am not a dancer but my wife is. I have always played video games and she has picked them up from me. She likes them but doesnt play near as much as I do. I, however, hunt a ton out on Dantooine, Dath, and other dificult planets. Not only are they hard to fight at but they are expensive to travel back and forth from. I LOVE her mind buff and healing capabilities. They save me from an incap all the time. You dancers that cant receive your own buff to hunt with or have just never hunted have no idea how powerful of a buff you wield. The fact is, as long as a character spends 15 points to turn on medic and as long as he has Mind he can stay alive. With all that said... even though it is not my character am constantly logging her in and getting her dancing so I can benefit from this ability.
Raven, you got a lot of your post right but your emphasis seem to be in the wrong place. AFK dancing is onlya problem for those who dont like to tip and whiney dancers who are having problems competing for the center of attention with people who arent there. Everyone can AFK macro. The moment the devs 'do something' about AFK entertaining is the moment they should pull the plug on Factories. They will also need to replace extractors with shuvles. This is the absolute silliest thing to discuss.
I log Mayette (my wife's master dancer) in and fly her out toDantooine because there are rarely entertainers out there and I relly on her healing/buffs to run solo missions that pay 10K a piece. I put her in the cantina and fire up a macro that takes TEN MINUTES to apply (how long do DR buffs take to apply?). I notice that she draws quite the crowd becuase people have been sustaining wounds and entertainers are few and far between on these remote planets. - I CANT DENY THESE PEOPLE BUFFS FOR NOTTIPPING - . But I am a nice guyand instead of logging her out I leave her there dancing away. Guess how much she gets tipped? NOTHING. Guess how much it costs to fly back to Corellia to find a dancer? 1700c (double that to get back). People complain about AFK dancing because you let them. I personally think all dancers should NOT dance unless they get tipped 1000c per minute. That's how it works in a piano bar. You want to shut people up? Go on stike for one week.
I believe your core problem is not that there are AFK dancers but instead that you can FORCE someone to tip you. A docter chooses who he wants to heal.. dancers cant. So if one patron tips a dancer for healing his wounds what is to stop 30 others from getting free healing? I love checking her chat log and seeing that people actually sat there bad mouthing the "macroing dancer" as they got her heals. I sent them an email telling them that they can fly back to Corellia next time. I caught them watching her again the next day (her monitor is next to mine) I stopped dancing and told them to beat it. Some nice patrons walked in and tipped her... what was I to do? I started wishing the game was shadowbane so that I could just send thenon-appreciatve jerksback to the cloning facility. But I danced for the good patrons and healed the jerks as well...
Drop the AFK thing... you arent going to get a 'fix' in for it... Remind people that without you they would be spendingtheir play timesitting in a camp waiting for their head wounds to slowly heal five points at a time over the next 2 days.
If you want to focus onconstructive improvements (whichwas the point ofan earlier post thatgot skipped right over in a defense whirlwind of 'I am rubber you are glue' assumption fest) I think you should put a LOT more into WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO BUFF OURSELVES (cant dactors? cant squad leaders? cant chefs?). May is a rifler but cant buff herself. Since Dancing offers no other benefit then noone else in our group is going to sacrifice THAT many skill points when the only beni they get is the +7 to melee and ranged defense (how weak is that).
Dancers should get DODGE (masters of agile movements). Musicians should get COUNTERATTACK (masters offlawless hand-eye coordination) but of course I only bring this up because the classes share like issues.
So as a quick recap...
- Dancers buffs and heals ROCK.
- Dancers need to be able to buff themselves.
- AFK Dancing is NOT a real issue.
- Dancers need something like DODGE added to their skill tree. That would allow dancing to assist them as they completed othertasks. (lets not get hung up on -dodge- as it is only a sugestion... the point is similar to that of Nvim's)
The wife and I spend lots of time debating whether or not to drop this skill. She loves the look and feel of Master Dancer but it sure is a lot of points dedicated to that ONEasspect that she doesnt even get to take advantage of...
-Phallun of StarSider
Some good ideas there Phallun. Thanks for posting and don't worry, the ability to buff ourselves is big on my list and we will get it eventually. If you'll notice on our top 5 issues list also I don't have AFK on there right now.. think you'll probably like it even tho it may not be exactly the items you'd pick.
MiloPEZ wrote:
ok... I am not a dancer but my wife is. I have always played video games and she has picked them up from me. She likes them but doesnt play near as much as I do. I, however, hunt a ton out on Dantooine, Dath, and other dificult planets. Not only are they hard to fight at but they are expensive to travel back and forth from. I LOVE her mind buff and healing capabilities. They save me from an incap all the time. You dancers that cant receive your own buff to hunt with or have just never hunted have no idea how powerful of a buff you wield. The fact is, as long as a character spends 15 points to turn on medic and as long as he has Mind he can stay alive. With all that said... even though it is not my character am constantly logging her in and getting her dancing so I can benefit from this ability.
Raven, you got a lot of your post right but your emphasis seem to be in the wrong place. AFK dancing is onlya problem for those who dont like to tip and whiney dancers who are having problems competing for the center of attention with people who arent there. Everyone can AFK macro. The moment the devs 'do something' about AFK entertaining is the moment they should pull the plug on Factories. They will also need to replace extractors with shuvles. This is the absolute silliest thing to discuss.
I log Mayette (my wife's master dancer) in and fly her out toDantooine because there are rarely entertainers out there and I relly on her healing/buffs to run solo missions that pay 10K a piece. I put her in the cantina and fire up a macro that takes TEN MINUTES to apply (how long do DR buffs take to apply?). I notice that she draws quite the crowd becuase people have been sustaining wounds and entertainers are few and far between on these remote planets. - I CANT DENY THESE PEOPLE BUFFS FOR NOTTIPPING - . But I am a nice guyand instead of logging her out I leave her there dancing away. Guess how much she gets tipped? NOTHING. Guess how much it costs to fly back to Corellia to find a dancer? 1700c (double that to get back). People complain about AFK dancing because you let them. I personally think all dancers should NOT dance unless they get tipped 1000c per minute. That's how it works in a piano bar. You want to shut people up? Go on stike for one week.
I believe your core problem is not that there are AFK dancers but instead that you can FORCE someone to tip you. A docter chooses who he wants to heal.. dancers cant. So if one patron tips a dancer for healing his wounds what is to stop 30 others from getting free healing? I love checking her chat log and seeing that people actually sat there bad mouthing the "macroing dancer" as they got her heals. I sent them an email telling them that they can fly back to Corellia next time. I caught them watching her again the next day (her monitor is next to mine) I stopped dancing and told them to beat it. Some nice patrons walked in and tipped her... what was I to do? I started wishing the game was shadowbane so that I could just send thenon-appreciatve jerksback to the cloning facility. But I danced for the good patrons and healed the jerks as well...
Drop the AFK thing... you arent going to get a 'fix' in for it... Remind people that without you they would be spendingtheir play timesitting in a camp waiting for their head wounds to slowly heal five points at a time over the next 2 days.
If you want to focus onconstructive improvements (whichwas the point ofan earlier post thatgot skipped right over in a defense whirlwind of 'I am rubber you are glue' assumption fest) I think you should put a LOT more into WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO BUFF OURSELVES (cant dactors? cant squad leaders? cant chefs?). May is a rifler but cant buff herself. Since Dancing offers no other benefit then noone else in our group is going to sacrifice THAT many skill points when the only beni they get is the +7 to melee and ranged defense (how weak is that).
Dancers should get DODGE (masters of agile movements). Musicians should get COUNTERATTACK (masters offlawless hand-eye coordination) but of course I only bring this up because the classes share like issues.
So as a quick recap...
- Dancers buffs and heals ROCK.
- Dancers need to be able to buff themselves.
- AFK Dancing is NOT a real issue.
- Dancers need something like DODGE added to their skill tree. That would allow dancing to assist them as they completed othertasks. (lets not get hung up on -dodge- as it is only a sugestion... the point is similar to that of Nvim's)
The wife and I spend lots of time debating whether or not to drop this skill. She loves the look and feel of Master Dancer but it sure is a lot of points dedicated to that ONEasspect that she doesnt even get to take advantage of...
-Phallun of StarSider
Good job Raven! great post, keep up the good work!
Teucer Hades-Novice Pistoleer
Ra-Da Gevorp-Novice Dancer
I like the idea of a dodge bonus. Maybe other bonuses that relate to the abilities of a dancer. Lets face it, ever see an unfit dancer? Another thing, nothing takes away more than watching a master dancer slip, stop to wipe off her knees, then continue slipping! What were they thinking? Also, people complain about the "grind" too much. This is a great "role playing game". If all you're worried about is leveling, you're missing out on most of the fun. (or in the wrong game)