Dancer Archive

Yesterday I was dancing in my regular cantina. A master dancer was there doing her moves. A less skilled dancer then asked a question of her that completely blew me away.

"If you're already master, why are you still practicing?"

I couldn't understand this. The master was dancing, not practicing. What is the point of being master if not to dance?

Apparently this person has some visions of making master dancer then getting invited out to who knows what. But it got me to thinking. How many just visit the cantinas to be able to make master dancer, then plan to leave cantinas forever?

That is a question that I am still wondering myself. I am only a novice dancer at the point, but as far as being in game, the rewards are nil. There just is not much for masterdancers to do, except to keep dancing. And the only thing that this grants is a few tips (more than likely unneeded by this point...it just lets us know you care), and a continued chance to roleplay. The true reward though, is the journey of getting there. Most people who choose to go into the dancer/musician are not in it for the money, and they definately dont get anything super for getting to master. They are in it for the roleplaying, for the fame, and the prestige. I know many master dancers, and every single one of them is adored by a massive chunk of the server (except for some of the afkers....they did not take the time to develop relations and friends durning the loooong trip to the master class). Of course, this is only opinion, as I have yet to attain the title of master.

After I hit Master, I dabbled around with combat skills and scouting skills, because I figured, hey mind healing and combat should go well together. Eh...

I hated it. Even after stat migration my girl just got beat up too quickly, I hated keeping up with armor and weaponsand when I tried to solo I had no way of healing myself. Spending more points on medic just wasn't appealing.

Instead I started to craft and went for tailoring. As with all dancers and entertainers, I love clothes, and it just got to the point where finding a tailor with the time to do custom clothing was a hassle. I started with just a couple harvesters and crappy artisan clothing and now, I'm nearing my goal of Master Tailor (Formal 4, Field 4, Casual 3) and couldn't be happier.

Do I still dance? Sure, its a great form of advertisement for my clothing and when my friends and guildmates need quick healing, they come to me. Will I keep dancing forever and ever? Couldn't tell ya, but as of right now I don't have a plan to get rid of it. And hey if you're on Corbantis/Naboo and want some new clothes, send Mahalia a tell.

After a month in the cantina working hard to get master, I am doing all sorts of things. I will travel to off-beat places and perform there. I am doing destroy missions and also starting on becominga tailor. I am having a blast now.

Its funny this should be brought up. The masters deffinetly move out of the regular cantinas... This sunday, I was the only, I mean only entertainer in the Bestine cantina. I've been dancing in Bestine from the beginning and I've NEVER seen this happen. And its not that there were any less customers, just no performers for about an hour until one musician came in a joined me. I'll tell ya, the tips were incredible. I made more in that hour than I ever have dancing. But when aske where everyone was, the answers were pretty much "X Master has moved to a private cantina where the tips are good" or "X Master Ent has gone to one of the outpost on the rougher planets" Understandable really, I'll probly not stick around in Bestine all the time anymore after reaching Master either.. just to get some variety. I'm sure thats what the other masters are thinking as well.

I made Master a bit back, and I still visit Keren Cantina, the one I call home, regularly to perform. The difference between now and before I made master? I can dance whatever dance I want, and never even think twice about the XP. I can dance with peopl who are there, and from the Academy, and practice for our shows. Most of all? When the cantina gets out of hand, or I don't like something going on there? I can leave, even if there is a decent crowd, and not have to put up with it.

That being said, I've also trained to Master Unarmed, just fighting things around our Academy, and I spend a good deal of my time now playing instead of dancing, as I hope to master Music as well.

I think everyone has different goals. My dream was always to open the Academy. Now that we've made that a reality, I spend more of my time doing paid gigs, performing at the Academy and our cantina and things like that. But I still very much enjoy going into Keren and entertaining there - to see customers I have not in a while, to meet new people, and to help new performers.

I've seen so many Master Dancers and Musicians who ground their way up to the top and then were totally burnt out from the experience.

While I'm working to Master Musician, I'd say the question is an equally valid one - I'd answer that I'm not concerned about it. I'm spending my time NOW on activities that take me out of the cantina and often times across the galaxy. I enjoy the ride and try to experience as much as I can along the way. The people I meet who play the "the game only starts when you're fully maxed out" game are invariably unhappy with their lot. Me, I'm a dancer/musician but I'm also a tailor, a hunter and just recently a miner and speculator on resource futures.

I've seen so many entertainers come and go in Dearic, but there is a small core of us who make it our home and who can be counted on to be around someplace when folks need us. I suppose that when I finally make master Musician (assuming Ido it at all. I may decide that playing nalargon is not the be-all end-all of music and I really want to be able to dance Popular.) that I'll take the first steps towards creating a real band there out of the folks who I've converted there from other professions and who have otherwise tasted dance/music and found out it's a lot of fun. I'm not the sort to run a PA or an academy like Adara but I'd like to think we could eventually give FatalX some friendly competition.

Speaking of Fatal Xceptions, I'd probably also consider hooking up with them and spending some time doing gigs with other masters who were in it for the music and not for the XP. I'd never abandon Dearic, though. The community there is what makes the whole thing worthwhile.

ive had master for about a week now, i go to deep space, type /who and says 0 people. are there any duty missions to do? or is there just helping friends get master?

Missions from space stations are on TC now I believe.

Well, you can try to see how high the prestige xp cap is. Someone here suggested it was 15 mill, and imma here to call that person the grandaddy o' all liars! Cracked 15 mill tonight and it's still countin'.

pilot xp??

Message Edited by Crusaders on 11-21-2004 03:29 AM