Dancer Archive
Thread: Why Bother?
I have one step left to Master Dancer and I have to ask myself, why bother?
What does this get me? A couple more dances with not enough flourishes?
It certainly isn't going to do anything for my income in the game...
What skill would I have to drop for this? Scout skill? Artisan? Marksman? I don't know if there are any skills less valuable to me...
All dancing has done for me is put me on the sidelines while others are out having fun.
I have created a really cool club that I have to support with a mining operation, although its a nice place to live...
I have been holding on waiting to see if they will do anything to justify this profession and I'm just not seeing it... I have put a lot of time into this profession and I am no better off then when I was a novice entertainer.
Mariki Lee
Dissillusioned Dancer
Other than that?
I'm only holding onto my Master skill because I still enjoy dancing for special occasions. I have a few private cantinas and PAs that have my name and know I'm always willing to show up for parties, and will always give them a good performance. It's my "other life" in SWG now, when I'm not hunting.
Someday before long I expect SOE to get a clue and give Dancers some meaning in the game world, like the ability to give special buffs.
Until I'm sure they're not going to do that I think I'll keep my Dancer. I've had enough skill points to go pretty far in Unarmed/TK, dabble in Medic and CH and Scout and have other kinds of fun than standing in cantinas.
Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I danced in a public cantina! But that doesn't stop me from valuing the skill.
*hugs* to both of you
I , for one, love being a master dancer....just wish i had enough skill points to master entertainer too for that +10 dance skilll lol (master dancer and only have 90 skill lol)
I've been fortunate to have made some great friends that help me out when running missions cuz lord knows this dancer can't save her butt for nothing 
~Niemph~
Kettemoor
Personally I'm a dancer for the socializing, combat just doesn't interest me at all so I'm going for Master Image Design and Master Dancer. I will admit I wish I had 280 or 275 skill points instead of 250, then I'd be able to full learn the pistoler skills I want, but I'm willing to go one without that since I only do battle to earn faction points, which I only want so that I can have the pleasure of saying "I've got a squad of Dark Troopers" other then that combat means nothing to me.
So that's why I bother, because the enetertainer professions are the only ones siginificant to me. 
Well in the long term I'd like to be a Master Dancer but I'm still pretty far away from it. I started early enough but the third or fourth week of the game my PA finally got the funds to get a large generic and thus our Cantina was born.
I'm a manager now and almost never have time to dance, but I love it and now I roleplay an older retired dancer that never quite made it. The cantina is not 24/7 it operates only twice a week fully staffed for about 8 hours and we have musicians, bartenders, cooks, servants all player characters. The dancers seem to have a lot of fun. When we're not open the dancers and musicians are doing parties and clubs as hired by the Cantina, with costumes and roleplay. When we're not doing a gig or being the cantina there is a roleplayed criminal underground that uses the people and the cantina to further dark seedy plots that will hopefully help the whole server we're on create a good "game feel" for what its like to be a real smuggler or bounty hunter or thug on the edge of the law. Entertainment is often linked to organized crime.
There's really no time left after resource shopping and negotiating for foods and drinks, staffing issues, entertainment issues for special performers, doing parties, managing things etc. But it all revolves back to dancing for me, its the core of who my character is. I always try to work on dancing, I am known as a dancer turned manager. When I get to Master it will be doing more choreography, trying to find ways to fit being a dancer into the greater game world and fitting the game world into that of a dancer's life.
We are interested even in contracting with other master dancers to teach choreography and lessons to our dancers (something to do in the profession), possibly in the future doing some combination entertaining etc. I take a lot more time to teach other dancers "how to dance" instead of grouping and training them up a level. Something all master dancers could do which I think is more important then lending the xp to the dance xp grind pool. Teach people what you like, what you learned, the tricks and make friends with them to see if they really are going to be roleplaying dancers
We discuss what they've done, what they know what quickchange steps are to change between dances, what flourishes work with different styles etc all in character terms. People seem to appreciate that.
Between parties, house warmings, business celebrations, PA Hall victory celebrations, dancing troupes for visiting cantinas, healing safaris, training, practicing, managing cantina's helping run and advertise other businesses, fine arts and theater, criminal distractions, bribery etc the possibilties excite me. You don't NEED to be a master dancer for any of it, but its good to have career goals that keep defining your character as a dancer to my mind. It gives me something to shoot for in the months ahead. It does lend you more respect in the community I think just as little letters behind your name does in the real world. But its not necessary if you don't really enjoy it.
If you no longer enjoy it, then by all means find something you DO enjoy. For some the journey itself is the reward and once it's over, there's nothing left.
But it does not mean the profession is in any way lacking or broken. It just happens to be a 100% social activity and as such, not right for everyone.
- J
I guess the biggest problem I have now is I am totally out of skill points, zip, nadda, and I am advancing in other skill trees that could be more useful to me.
Do I halt my growth in other areas or do I start dropping my dancer skills. I love dancing but it doesn't support me. Recently I picked up novice business so I could have better venders. I have maxed out my pistol marksman and have the opportunity to enter the pistolier skills. I have master artisan and not going to drop that... I have already gave up novice weaponsmith to advance up the dancing tree... I would like to pick up novice architect when that comes available... Something has to go... I suppose I could still have my club and be an ex dancer too...
I just think its too bad Dancer eats up so many skill points for such little return, heck, I don't even need to be a dancer to be social... I putso much time into dancing too...sigh..
I suppose for the social aspect I could always keep Coreographer and drop all the other trees... I won't need /denyservice, no one will heal watching me anyways! lol Maybe we all should do that in protest till SOE gives us some real benefit in advancing these skill trees! Still would be able to do all my advanced dances too
Beery wrote:
I agree with that point of view, but it would be nice if there was some greater reward. I'd like to have Master Dancer open up certain themeparks for us. It would be nice to be invited to dance in Jabba's palace, or at least get some well-paying missions out of it.
I think you can dance in Jabba's thrown room. You just have to complete all the Jabba missions to get in there. Not a simple task for a dancer. I am going to attempt this with my boyfriend over the weekend.
I've been a Master Dancer for some time now, and I'm also wondering what the point is.
I thoroughly enjoy the social aspect of the profession. I've had great fun in the cantinas and made some very good friends. And I find the wound and BF healing very useful both for myself and my hunting companions.
But all the Master title seems to give me is extra moves that are almost indistinguishable from the previous ones, a slight improvement in melee defence (erm, like I'm going to hang about and wait for something to come up and hit me if I can help it) and a mind buffing ability that I can't even apply to myself. (At least...I don't think I can...please correct me if I'm wrong and tell me how to do it!).
And achieving Master means that I have to use up a lot of skill points for fancy effects that are great fun (for a while at least ) but don't actually do anything useful.
I'm considering dropping to 0444 in dancing, as this seems to serve my purpose just as well, but frees up a lot of points that I can use more effectively elsewhere.
I know that most of the good entertainers are self-less people who enoy being able to look after others. I like this aspect of theprofession myself. But achieving Master really ought to give *us* some more benefit.
Give Master Dancersthe ability to buff our own mind pool. Give us superb dodge ability -- after all, we ought to be extremely agile. Give us access to more interesting or better paid missions. Give us...oh I don't know...something that's worth having .
Mirella wrote:
Give Master Dancersthe ability to buff our own mind pool. Give us superb dodge ability -- after all, we ought to be extremely agile. Give us access to more interesting or better paid missions. Give us...oh I don't know...something that's worth having
What Mirella said.
You know what's more discouraging than anything else? It's not the things I can do as a Master Dancer, nor the dancing or even the hormonally challenged customers. I can handle all that and have fun. What discourages me is the lack of value -- to the game, to other players.
Some time ago, a large PA on my server hired myself and 2 other Master Dancers to be their regular dance troupe. We've been mainstays whenever they have parties, which unfortunately hasn't been as often as they planned originally. The 3 of us have gotten plenty of compliments for our synchronized routines and the fun we generate when we're dancing. I like to think we know what we're doing and offer value for our service.
But when that PA advertises for their next party, do they even mention the dancers ONCE? Not a word. They gave the 2 Master Musicians who are coming, their own mention in their promotion, but not one word about the dancers. How is that supposed to make us feel, when gaining Music mastery isn't that much harder than Dance Mastery? (Master entertainer being another kettle of fish entirely)
Are we valued? Do we really add anything to the game that gives us an ongoing role in the story other than being the chick Jabba dumps down into the Rancor cage? I'm waiting to hear something profound from SOE that will give us a reason for being. Because if what I saw in 3 different cantinas last night is any indication, the Dancing profession is going to hell quickly due to lack of purpose.
I guess Master Dancer is something thats not going to happen to me. I was one step out but last night more business skills came available so I dropped two wound steps and a heal step to get them. The Tech steps will go next.
I was in Corellia yesterday and checking out the shops just outside the city. As I was running out there I saw a huge camp for the first time. It even had crafting stations. I was asked to dance and I did a quick dance healing everyone in which I was tipped 50 cr. I Had been away a couple days and came back to over 40k in minerial sales. Its a no brainer what skills I will keep and what I will loose. I had started dancing really for me and thats why I will keep coreographer and drop the healing trees and useless tech tree. I suppose I will loose them gradually as I need more skill points... I will still dance but from all the attitudes I have read on these and the devs boards that we owe someone our time, I couldn't care less if it heals anyone. I never started dancing to be some healer, I got caught up in it from an RP aspect of it being fun. Most of the ppl who came to visit me rarely needed healing anyways. For them they never ran off after the lil healing they needed anyways and always visited a while so the healing from the entertainer tree should suffice just fine.
Perhaps in the future they will enhance this profession to have more use. Who can tell? If they do, you can always change your skill base and relearn.
- J