Dancer Archive
Thread: AFK Mind Buffing?
Well, it's gotten to the point where there are so many issues, I'm not going to go into every single one of them.
But, in my world, there would be no afk buffing whatsoever. However, it's not my world, so I can only give my opinion. I suppose that if someone is actually paying you ingame credits for your services and it's in a PC Cantina, it doesn't seem *quite* as bad to me. IMO, NPC Cantina buffbots are ten times worse the menace than a PC Cantina buffbot. And, completely free buffbots are ten times the menace than one that is getting paid. In your case, you're at the lower end of my buffbot ire. LOL
I would still personally rather if it weren't possible. But, at least in your case, you're not taking away as much business from the population at large as those who give it away for free, or do it in the NPC cantinas or both.
at the flood of hologrinders and buff-bots in the public cantinas. 
Bestine!!). People are dancing and playing because they actually enjoy it! I met a wonderful dancer in Dantooine who had retired like me but who had returned, and she convinced me just by saying "I missed it"!! It's was such a refreshing change!! And i just hope it will continue...
since they're on auto-accept anyway lol). About an hour later, the bot starts screaming "tells" at me...calling me "rude" and "selfish".... I was stunned!! How did I become the selfish one is all this?? Takes all kinds!!
No not NPC buffbots.
They mean buffbots that buff people with their AFK macros in the NPC cantinas.. the cantinas that are not player owned.
But really, it does not matter where you afk macro buff. Buffbots should be destroyed at all costs. The easiest solution should be the removal of the passive buffing, where the entertainer does not have to /setperform on his/her clients. He/she only needs to be in the same group as the customers and that can easily be taken care of with the simple /join command in the AFK macro. If this ability is taken out, and only active buffing is allowed, then AFK buffing will not become an issue ... I hope.
Something needs to be done to discourage AFK entertainment. Maybe perhaps an entertainer can heal and buff only after acknolwedging his/her customer(s) personally, possibly with the /setperform command or some new command like /acknowledge or something. Without that, there will be no healing or buffing possible, thereby making AFKing useless.
This AFK issue and ability to self buff are two most important things in my opinion. If these two get addressed, I will be happy with the way things are. Of course, I am not saying that i don't want more content. I do.
The good news is that I have seen the number of AFKers drastically decreasing in the public cantinas. Even 2,3 months ago, Theed and Coronet cantinas were full of AFK entertainers 23-7 from entrance to the back... now there are significantly less. With the holocrons becoming useless in a few days, I am really glad that this holo madness has finally come to an end.
Youna wrote:
But really, it does not matter where you afk macro buff. Buffbots should be destroyed at all costs. The easiest solution should be the removal of the passive buffing, where the entertainer does not have to /setperform on his/her clients. He/she only needs to be in the same group as the customers and that can easily be taken care of with the simple /join command in the AFK macro. If this ability is taken out, and only active buffing is allowed, then AFK buffing will not become an issue ... I hope.
Actually, there is a new and perhaps even more disturbing breed of buffbot out there. The subscription buff-bot. I've seen many of these now on Scylla, Intrepidand Ahazi. They have macros that do not do join, they have macros that INVITE to the group anyone on their subscription list. This could easily be set up to do a /setperform rather than an invite, so your suggestion to remove passive buffing would do nothing but nerf general buffing abilities of entertainers and do almost nothing to eliminate buff-bots.
Electro wrote:
Actually, there is a new and perhaps even more disturbing breed of buffbot out there. The subscription buff-bot. I've seen many of these now on Scylla, Intrepidand Ahazi. They have macros that do not do join, they have macros that INVITE to the group anyone on their subscription list. This could easily be set up to do a /setperform rather than an invite, so your suggestion to remove passive buffing would do nothing but nerf general buffing abilities of entertainers and do almost nothing to eliminate buff-bots.
Ah... I see where this new exploit is going. You don't have to tell me the details of this. I can pretty much figure out what they are doing. Wow... this is truly pathetic. It is so sad to see people going out of their way, stopping at nothing, to exploit the system to their advantage without giving much thought, how their actions can destroy the community and the game.
I guess then the only suggestion I can make is to have the entertainer manually give his/her customer access to the mind buff via radial menu upon clicking on the customer. Something that is completely not accessable by pre-written macro.
I will not let my beloved entertainer profession to turn into some mindless buffbot class. If that ever happens, SOE and SWG can kiss my subscription goodbye.
PussyWillow wrote:
Thank you very much for all the feedback! Especially on the NPC Buffbots... that had me wondering for a moment. :-)
It's interesting to hear everyone's opinions on afk mind buffing and dancing afk in general. I'm kind of torn, personally. Being a dancer who likes to talk to people while I'm dancing, I absolutely hate going into a crowded cantina stocked with afk entertainers. But then I don't like crowds in general. They're just not any fun, and it's almost impossible to get a group invite. I've been very fortunate to come into contact with a number of group leaders that do a good job of inviting people and turning over their duties if they go afk once in a while. In other words, I don't mind afk entertainers, as long as someone's still at their keyboard inviting new entertainers into the group. From there, I take it as my responsibility to attract customers to watch me.
I can't see the point of removing afk healing altogether. If I can establish a group with fellow entertainers, and still help everyone improve their xp while I'm off doing all those tedious real life tasks I'm faced with every day, then shouldn't I go afk to help the group? The alternative is to go offline, which doesn't help anyone. If I'm afk, but I'm in the group, it means that other entertainers are getting better xp. So, why not help them?
As for tips, I can certainly understand the concern, but in my experience, I've always received more tips from being at my keyboard and talking to a customer than from being afk. I don't care either way -- I didn't get into dancing for the tips, I got into it because that's the storyline of my character. But I can't imagine the afk-ers are taking that many tips away from us. Sure it might be tempting for most players to reap healing from an afk entertainer without tipping them, but who says those same players don't stiff the entertainers at their keyboards? Tips are tips. You either get them or you don't. I don't ever really expect them, but I always thank people when I get them. I mean... it's a tip, not a paycheck.
I'm still fairly new to the game, so I don't know what life was like before the hologrind. Personally, I've come to love the dancer profession. And even though I DO go afk, and even though I DO offer afk mind buffs (only at my player city cantina), I really think that you only become successful as a dancer if you develop a following, and the only way to do that is by talking to people. Players who dance and buff afk full-time will never get to experience the best part of being a dancer, and that's their loss, not ours.
Youna wrote:
This AFK issue and ability to self buff are two most important things in my opinion. If these two get addressed, I will be happy with the way things are. Of course, I am not saying that i don't want more content. I do.
Good discussion and very valid points. Trust me when I say I'm not trying to be argumentative... I'm just trying to understand other people's opinions. So thank you for helping me.
I agree that buffbots in NPC cantina's are unethical. That's why I've only done it in my player city cantina. I'm usually the only entertainer around, and I only ever have maybe 4 or 5customers a day. Turns out I've actually been at the keyboard for each of those, so they weren't very afk after all. Since I'm a citizen and employee of my player city, I feel like I should do what I can for other players in the area. If it turns out a bunch of other entertainers show up at my cantina (please!) and start working there (please!), I'll either stop the afk buffing or group with the other entertainers and ensure that someone is around to do invites. I feel like my job though is to try and attract people to the player city so that they not only come to the cantina, but they shop in the surrounding shops, maybe even move in. Even if I don't get tips, I'm helping the economy of the city just by being there all day.
So if a change went in to restrict group buffing to player city cantina's only, I wouldn't complain. It might drive more business my way.
As for the afkers that ask for heals or invites even when they're healed or invited, I've never done that. My macro consists of a welcome shout to let people know I'm there and a thank you at the end. I try not to be annoying with my macros because I know that people know how to do an /addignore.
Honestly, however, I can't see the parallel between combat professions and entertainers. Combat professions are considerably more dangerous -- with the imminent death and all -- so it makes sense for players to have to be at the keyboard. The beauty of Star Wars Galaxies (in my opinion) is that it's fun for casual gamers as well as hardcore gamers. Although my family would probably disagree, I consider myself a casual gamer simply because I don't have the free time to play as much as I want. Non-combat related professions that can be done afk are great for people like us who otherwise would never get anywhere in the game. I played EverQuest for a long time and constantly got frustrated with having to kill monsters all the time in order to level up. I'd like to think that the developers of SWG had this in mind when they created non-combat roles. Artisan, Medic, and Entertainer are just as important to the game as Brawler, Marksman, and Scout, but they're all played differently. I like the fact that I can still accomplish things in the game, that I can still benefit people even when I'm away from the computer. I'd prefer to be at the keyboard, yes, but it makes me feel good to know that I'm playing even when I'm not playing.
I guess what I'd like to see maybe is Entertainers have some advanced skills that cannot be done afk. But I wouldn't want to completely remove the afk ability. I suppose that one of the advantages of being at the keyboard is that you can buff players a heck of a lot faster. Also, you can talk to directly to customers to get them to watch/listen to you. I think there should be a few more non-afk skills though.
I also understand everyone's frustration with the hologrind. My opinion is that you should try out every profession that interests you, but if you're only doing it to become a Jedi, don't bother. The good news, however, is that there are a lot of entertainers out there that really enjoy what they do. And when the Jedi revamp goes in, hopefully things will get better for every profession because people will be doing professions because they want to, not because they have to.
In the end, I think it's ultimately your job to make friends and talk to people and establish a customer-base. AFK players may make things more challenging, but I think that most cantina patrons are going to opt for a buff or a performance by a dancer that talks to them while they're waiting. At least that's been my experience. I have a group of people that know me, that come to me for healing because I've established a working relationship with them. If I can heal them while I'm afk, then I'm doing them a service. And if they tip me, I'll thank them when I get back to my computer. Sorry I missed them.
So, I guess my point is that you can do good stuff afk. It's not all bad and I don't think it should be taken away completely. Seriously, if I have to sit there and type /flourish 1, /flourish 5, /flourish 3 all day long I'm gonna go nuts. I'd prefer they leave things as is, give us the ability to self buff, maybe add some abilities that can only be done at the keyboard (like self buffing!), and possibly restrict group buffing to player city cantinas.
Oh, and make metal bikini bottoms. But that's another discussion for another forum...