Dancer Archive

So I was fighting on Dantooine last night, about 3am local, 1am server time, and gosh, there weren't a lot of people on =). I forgot to clone when I got to Dant - oops.

Got killed. Got the wounds. My only thought was, please god let there be an AFK macroer at this outpost. Sure enough. 3 minutes later, I was back about my business. So I sent that person a gamemail, saying, "hey, I know you probably get a lot of flack for AFK-dancing, because for some reason that I can't fathom, there's a lot of hate for people who do that. I just wanted to say thank you. You saved me a lot of time and money, and quite frankly, saved my night. Thanks." /tip 5000

That person sent me an email back the next daysaying I should post that on the Dancer Forum. So here we go =). Figured it was the least I could do. You AFK-macro folks on the outlaying planets save the game for a lot of us who only game in what normal people consider off-hours.

So: hats off to you guys. And the next time someone wants to hate you because you dance while AFK, just ignore them. They are whiney and evidence a lot of their character through their hate. I wouldn't /addignore, because that person may be a customer for some product of yours at a later date, when you're wearing a tag other than your Master Dancer. In fact, I would /addfriend, with a note about AFK troublemaker, and then charge them a little more I don't hate anyone in the game who doesn't cheat, and the last time I looked (/glanceThru EULA - /glanceThru TOA) marcos aren't cheats. Haters are always haters, and probably not worth your time defending against anyway.

Just keep dancing. We need you.

My response would be to invite you to look beyond your selfish needs and take a good hard glance at what this profession has become. If you cannot see the problem, then there's no point in this discussion.

This isn't hate you're seeing, it's love. Love of our profession and sadness that it's been destroyed by AFKers.

- J

Very well said Pickles,,,you handled that beautifully,,,

/sniff

/cheer pickles

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Greatsails wrote:

That person sent me an email back the next daysaying I should post that on the Dancer Forum. So here we go =). Figured it was the least I could do. You AFK-macro folks on the outlaying planets save the game for a lot of us who only game in what normal people consider off-hours.

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YAY, I made a new entertainer on Chilastra and I walk into Tyrena to find... A AFK master musician, well there goes my healing xp.

I'm really glad you people enjoy AFK musicians, it makes it alot easier for me to cancel subscription since I know nobody is going to miss my live entertainment.

Just keep dancing. We need you.

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So because of your own egoistic needs resulting from tactically unwise gameplay you support exploitive egoistic kill stealing tactics ? Or do you really think this guy was there to help poor souls like you ? Do you think he would have been there if he'd not have a personal gain in form of money or xp ?

If you had spent the money on a roundtrip ticket and tipped 1K cr to a live entertainer, it would have cost you less plus you would have encouraged honest interactive online gameplay. If you like bots, go get a singleplayer game.

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nvoigt wrote:

So because of your own egoistic needs resulting from tactically unwise gameplay you support exploitive egoistic kill stealing tactics ? Or do you really think this guy was there to help poor souls like you ? Do you think he would have been there if he'd not have a personal gain in form of money or xp ?

If you had spent the money on a roundtrip ticket and tipped 1K cr to a live entertainer, it would have cost you less plus you would have encouraged honest interactive online gameplay. If you like bots, go get a singleplayer game.

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Roundtrip ticket to Coronet is >3k. I tipped 5k, becuase it saved me 20 minutes of shuttle-waiting. I have to say I don't understand the sentiment here (hate, or dislike, love for you profession which seems to preclude love for people who play your profession differently than you, etc.). Dancers/Musicians heal BF and Mind Wounds. What difference does it make whether or not they are at their keyboard? They are healing as well as you who are.

In my confusion at this topic, I've read through some of the posts on this board about it, hoping someone would make a valid point that I could comprehend as to why AFK macroers are the evil of all mankind. Seems like the only valid point I could find is that people are all worried about the social aspect of it. Clearly, people who are AFK cannot be social. Granted. But I saw another guy pose the question: if Combat Medics were given the ability to heal Mind and BF, how many people would still visit a cantina for the sole purpose of the socialiability of doing so?

You guys are knocking me here becuase "my own selfish needs were met," and "what about the rest of our poor community?" Well... if we're takling community of the game as a whole, I think AFKmacroing is good for the *game*. Maybe bad for you individually because of some perceived loss, some perceived "kill-stealing tactic." But the point is, AFKmacroers make it possible for players of outlaying planets to get healed without a major interruption in gameplay, and for players everywhere else to get healed faster (resulting is less ofa gameplay interruption). You are calling me selfish? Perhaps you ought to step outside the limited frame of referene you have with *your* profession and see the game as a whole.

AFKmacroers make the game better for more people than it diminishes. Not everyone can be happy in a game this large, so you go for the large numbers, and since no Dev has said (to my admittedly limited knowledge) "we will fix AFK entertainers, just be patient, it is coming," I'm left to assume that the Devs agree with me, and probably see a lot of the posts on this board as the whines, no matter how well stated or nicely put, of peoplewhoselimitedvision of the game makes their points necessarily invalid.

nvoigt, lets examine, just for a brief moment, whose egotisim is most offensive here...

"Well... if we're takling community of the game as a whole, I think AFKmacroing is good for the *game*."

Simply staggering. 95% of the entertainers are currently AFK, are you so blind that you don't see that as a problem? Many of the real entertainers whose primary joy was socializing have already quit because the cantinas became full of zombies. Our profession is dying, if not already dead, to be replaced by what are essentially NPCs. And you don't see a problem with any of this, so long as YOUR battle fatigue and mind wounds are fixed in a timely manner. It's good for the rest of the community, who cares that it's terrible for our profession.

Wake the hell up. It was never about you or YOUR need to socialize. It was about US and the attempt to add professions that appeal to socializers, and because of people like you and all the people who choose to AFK entertain rather than play the game, the socializers are leaving, one entertainer at a time. You're destroying our enjoyment of the game. Am I coming through yet?

Yes, you are selfish. We are here to help you, to cure you, to entertain you. You, in turn, are supposed to value what we bring to the game...the service we offer. We'd love to serve you on distant worlds, but the fact is, when you factor in travel costs, the lack of appreciation and tips and AFKers stealing the best spots, quite often it results in a financial loss.

Do AFKers make the game better? I have no doubt from your tunnel vision, they do. Naturally, 75% of the game population probably agrees with you, because they don't care about the health of our profession. All they care about, like you, is how fast they can get their wounds and battle fatigue healed. They don't see, and most of them don't care, that our profession is dying.

Maybe you don't care about that. Maybe the game is better off without us. Maybe you're just as happy without real entertainers. But don't come to OUR forums and try to shovel that crap into our mouths and try to make ash taste like honey. We'll defend the integrity of our profession until the last one of us is gone.

To summarize, you're part of the problem. Don't come to the dancer forum and stir up what you HAD to know was a hornet's nest with your naive and narrow vision of things, because we've been debating this subject since release, and after 6 months of being completely ignored by the developers and seeing our profession becoming slowly destroyed, the only way we can release our frustration is on people like you. You'll never convince the true entertainers that AFKing is a good thing. Never. Stop trying.

- J

Thanks for posting Greatsails! It's great to see some feedback from others outside the entertainment professions.

Heheh yeah, I was going to say until I read Pickles last post. I just started dancing because I want to be able to buff and heal. I am not always social but sometimes, sure. Heh, the first time out, I went to this remote Cantina in a player city and was embarassed when someone actually came in! Anyway, having moved on to join bands in placees like Theed and Coronet, for better or for worse, I'd say a good 80% or more of entertainers are afk/mostly-afk at all times. My first day as a novice dancer, I take group leader because no one else responds (in a group of 20). Only people you can chat with it seems are those who come in for healing.

Either there's a large number of hypocrites on this forum, or the AFKers don't post. Honestly, I do afk dance, couple times a week in fact...set up my character a few hours before the servers come down and let it go...in my basement. I have a doc as well who performs quick heal on a macro so I get small amounts of healing exp with unlimited flourishes. It's not a Holocron profession for me, and I intend to keep it after I get master, and maybe drop architect for Musician so that between my 2 characters I can buff all 9 stats.

Well, I had a point, but I rambled. It's true, AFKers make for a **edit** dull cantina...but if you're a master dancer and you've never AFK danced (besides that 3 minute RR break you felt guilty about when you came back and got the 3K tip), congratulations, you're in about 1% of the population of dancers.

Hi,

Oh you guys are terrible. This is what I call beating a dead horse. These last fewposts are totally unnecessary. He does have some point. It makes a little sense not to exploit AFKing dancers. For those in different time zone will find the very difficult to find an entertainer.

Besides, what's the point? I found it convenient. I am the one of the very few "alive" master dancers who will interact with you. I pick up some interesting rumors and share with others. I take appointments to meet healing needs. I discuss issues with some professions. etc etc. Somewhere along the line, I get a whole lot more attention and tips too. It's far more interesting to be a dancer than before. Some customers go extra miles just to find me among the crowd; something that never happened before.

Unlike what you might think, AFKers did exist from earliest days. You are really lucky though. These AFKers will do specials. So you do get much better XP being grouped. It used to be much harder. It isn't all that bad.

If youhate it so much, do what I do sometimes. Go to non-urban cantinas or take appointments to go dance for some people. You will find it very refreshing.

Besides, many of these AFKers might become more involved over time.

Don't get upset over something that is not so serious. It isn't like you get incap/db-ed by AFKers.

Qui'lu of Chilastra

To be fair to the previous poster, and to clarify, my disgust is reserved for those who AFK publicly in cantinas and such. Macro in your basement all you want, I understand this profession is slow in progression and people like to make progress. That's not what the original poster was talking about, of course.

I am in that 1%, and I bet you'd be surprised how many are.

- j

I'd just as soon let this horse lie dead, but people like the original poster just feel they have to give it a good swift kick once in a while. Don't expect us to let a post praising AFK dancing to lie unchallenged. It gives the absolute wrong impression to anyone in authority that might just visit these forums.

As for what's serious and what's not, nothing is more serious in my book. I would think that was clear in my rant up there...

- J