Dancer Archive

When I'm giving mind buffs in an NPC cantina I don't advertise (I really dislike people who spam spatial every 2 minutes to sell their buffs). In my experience, enough people come looking for buffs on their own, we don't need to spam about it. So anyway, when someone comes in and asks "can anyone give a mind buff" I'll speak up (if I'm free) and say that I can, or sometimes send them a tell if it's very crowded and noisy. Nine times out of 10 when I start buffing a patron or just before I start, they ask me "how much?" And that's what this post is really about. What do you say? Personally I don't need the credits desperately, although I certainly appreciate them. Usually I say "Whatever you want to tip is fine" or "Whatever you think is fair." I've always thought that by doing this I'm letting people tip whatever they're comfortable with, if that's nothing, fine, if they're a noobie it might be 500 credits, if they're a rich uber looter, it might be 15k.

But I was thinking some more about it the other night in Theed. And I wonder if not setting a price actually makes people uncomfortable? Maybe I should just pick some random price and always say it when asked? Think about it...people are used to getting doctor buffs. Doctors advertise in starports etc., saying, for example:"master doctor buffs, 2300 to all stats, last 3 hours 40 minutes, bank tip 10k to get in line." You know what you're getting, what the power is, what the duration will be, and how much it will cost. When I give a buff, the patron knowswhat he's getting, what the power will be (at least 100% of the mind pool, plus some extra if I'mwearing enhancement items), heknows what the duration will be (2 hours), the only thing he doesn't know is the cost.

So I'm really thinking of deciding on a price and using it as my answer from now on. I was thinking maybe 2000 or 3000 credits would be fair. Any thoughts on that? I'm still not going to advertise ("110% mind buff for 2 hours, 3k!"). If the patron doesn't ask for a price I'm not going to volunteer it. But maybe if they do ask, I'll just start saying "2000" or whatever I decide on. Naturally if it's a friend I'm going to give the buff for free, the same for an obvious noobie. And I figure the big spenders will probably still tip 10k or more; they're not the ones that usually ask the price anyway.

What do other dancers do? What price seems fair, especially in light of the widespread use of Vasarianbrandy and so forth? Before brandy I would have said a mind buff is easily worth 5k, but now I'm thinking the bottom line is more like half that.

Thanks for any feedback.

La'lepa Ofo

Master Dancer :: Master Swordswoman :: Force Sensitive
AFKing is not entertaining - support real entertainers

Actually, experimented brandy can last for about 40 minutes, which is about enough time for your stomach to empty also. With a stomach filling of 49 you can drink two. Plus, once it wears off you can drink another one, just pull it out of the crate and go. So it definitely has an impact on the demand for mind buffs.

(Also, brandy buffs mind/focus/willpower, not just mind like fishak did.)

La'lepa Ofo

Master Dancer :: Master Swordswoman :: Force Sensitive
AFKing is not entertaining - support real entertainers

If timed correctly, you can manage to triple-stack a long-duration, slightly more weak brandy for a good length of time. Add food and muon and you've got twice the power of a mind buff

my answer is "Just tip me what you think the buff is worth"... well i usually get tipped from 1k-20k... some use it of course to get a free buff, but if i remember their name and they come next time its "No why? You obviously thought last time, my buff is worth nothing, so I don't see why you want it. Have a nice day"

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Coreena Telios
Master Dancer
Starsider Galaxy

I asked a dancer how much she'd like for the buff, and her reply was "Sticking around for a bit and keeping us all healed up would be plenty enough payment for me." I tipped her 10k and then just wandered a bit and kept healing folks for awhile. I thought that was pretty cool.

but yeah, i can see how people might be uncomfortable with leaving tipping open-ended. the new player doesn't have a clue what to pay - and doesn't want to look cheap. The powergamer or uber looter will probably tip around 10k to 15k or more.

My usual response is "Whatever you can spare is fine by me." and I'm always grateful for whatever people give me - whether it be 1 credit or 100k. If I get 1 credit from a new player, and it's their last credit in the game, that means more to me than a veteran tipping me 100k. Not that I'd turn down the 100k I just know how valuable those smaller credit amounts can be, and they're much appreciated. I've even on occasion, after looking at a player's bio (and provided they seem very new to the game) asked the new player to pick a color - red or blue. Let's say they pick Red. I invite em to a group and tell them "If my chance cube rolls Red, free buff. If it rolls Blue, you win my contest today and get 25k." Depending on the roll (they also see the chancecube roll Red or Blue in theCombat window - only if you're grouped with em though),they always get their money back, but they can also maybe get some credits to help them along. Make a game out of it. They get so excited. It's awesome. Artisans can make chance cubes, and they take nothing to make.

Warryyr
Musician Jedi|Explorer|Interior Decorator|Wookiee Superhero

memories ... especially of the fans that make it all worthwhile.
Play live or logout!

Ub-ick Esava
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Bria - Working towards Master Dancer one fall at a time

Lowca - Master Dancer Extraordinaire
*CENSORS* Cantina, Honor's Keep, Corellia,

I'm usually in an npc cantina,too. I don't advertise my service, but my Master Dancer title is always up I used to not specify a price, but then when more people started being atk I didn't want to feel like I was taking there business, so now i charge just so I don't seem like the evil one who doesn't charge, not that you're evil if you don't charge or anything....

So, I asked some of my guildies how much I should charge, the first guy said he'd charge 10k-12k since i have +25 mind enhancement, but that seemed a little much so I charge 5k, free for guildies of course, but some of them are silly and tip me anyway, which is anywhere from 5-15k.

If someoen asks for a buff, in my experience about 3 out of 10 times they ask how much I charge so usually with them not asking, I forget to charge and they get free buffs but I usually get tipped a lil anyway so yay me... about Brandy, that stuff wears off in like 15 minutes, and buffs stick for 2hrs(ish), so I see buffs as being worth more,though I wonder why they made Brandy...

Hehe, I like what Coreena said Although I don't bother remembering their name if they get a free buff and decide not to tip me anything, I just put them on my ignore list.

I make most of my income from mind buffing on Valcyn, it's not great money but I enjoy it, plus it's a service a lot of people seem to need. I've tried both the set-price and the open-ended method of charging for buffs. In my experience people do seem to like knowing what they're going to have to pay for their buff, but at the same time you'll rarely get a penny over what you're charging because it becomes a matter of price and not generosity.

Another reason I've stopped setting a price on my buffs is it makes it difficult for the other entertainers who are just buffing for tips to make as much money as they would normally. I've also found that if I just ask my customer to pay what they think the buff is worth I'll usually get anywhere from 5K - 60K because they determine it's value and that relates directly to how much money they make. If they really want a ballpark figure to work with I say "most people tip from 3-10K" and they'll usually tip around 5K.

Master Dancer, Valcyn.

I can't stress enough how much I prefer a set price, both as a buffer and a buffee. My usual charge is 5k. It honestly doesn't matter to me if I am passing up the opportunity of a 20K payment by not saying "whatever you think is fair."

Personally, I think 5k is very fair and it keeps me from being stiffed, even though it's not really about the money. I just think that the people who would normally pay less should know that this is a valuable service that should be paid for to every Master Dancer and/or Master Musician. And, quite frankly, I think those who would normally give you 20k if you say "whatever you think is fair" will still give you 20k if you say 5k. These are the generous people who will think that 5k is a low price.

From the standpoint of the buffee, I know it *always* makes me feel very uncomfortable when I'm told "whatever you think is fair." First, I don't like to be cheap so I always feel uncomfortable paying what I really think it's worth. LOL. I usually over tip someone just so that they don't think I'm cheap. And, I just can't afford that sometimes. I'd rather be told a price and pay it. Now, I did try the "whatever you think is fair" a few times, and I had quite a few people that seemed uncomfortable because they didn't know what was fair. Some people even got short with me and just said, "name a price." LOL. So, I did.

Basically, I like the idea of a set price for two main reasons. First, not setting a price makes a lot of people very uncomfortable. And, second, we're not a charity. We offer a service that should be paid for in order to keep our place in the economy of the game.