Dancer Archive

Ok I have given it a lot of thought now. Over the last year plus of playing as a dancer I realise now exactly what it is I like from the profession and what it is that I absolutely dread...

Like;

Dancing - The way I look, the way the other dancers look and the playful banter we share with one another.
Healing - I like when someone comes in black barred and heals completely before they realise it has happened. They are thankful 8/10 times.

Dislike;

Mind buffs - People are rude about asking for them (or not asking at all and assuming I am going to read their mind and see that they only came in for this service), rude about how long it takes to get them, rude about me NOT giving them, and rude about me not grouping them the instant they burst through the cantina door spamming "invt 2 else grp plz".

I stopped wearing my master dancer title almost as soon as I got it after the first few people running into the cantina demanded buffs from me. I figure I am not alone in my dislike for being turned into a buff dispensor so I'll ask the questions....

Do you wear your master dancer title? If yes, do you enjoy doing mind buffs?

I rarely wear my master dancer title. Mostly for the same reason. I actually had someone just invite me to a group (accepted cause I thought it was the main dancer group) and was demanded to buff. Being the nice person that I am, I did the buff....shortly the group turns into 10 people and I am buffing the whole group. Didn't get a single tip and the person that made the group disbanded it before some people's buffs were even finished. So, I'm made to look like a jerk.

So, I do not buff, unless it's someone that I know pretty well.

Like you, I enjoy being able to chat in the cantinas if I feel like it, healing people is nice and it allows me to rip out some of my rarer pets. So basically, dancing has become a way to showcase my sexy self and my pets

Not exaclty what you asked but: I wear my Master Musician title nearly full time. I enjoy all of the things you said you liked as well. No, I don't like being snapped at for a buff, though it does not bother me to do it in general. The truth is I do enjoy having the ability to give buffs.

The unfortunate thing is that alot of the current playerbase is quite desensitized to thinking us as people by bots. So we wind up with the situations you describe were people run up and demand to be inivted to your buff group. Even without bots rude people are always going to be there no matter what, unfortunately.

Also, if we lost the buff ability outright that would be just fine as well. I became an entertaienr to entertain/socialize first and foremost. Any other capability is secondary to that. It may be important and even a money maker, but secondary.

Message Edited by Shaizann on 01-21-2005 09:55 AM

There are times I do enjoy buffing. Most of the time when someone seeks out a live entertainer it tends to be fun. On Endor right when the DWB opened up I had a lot of fun there for about a week then 4 afkers and a bot showed up to spam the heck out of the place. (then the fun came when someone trained an sbd all the way inside the cantina there. Took about 45 minutes to kill that thing with a couple groups of random people that were passing by decided to take it out.)

I leave my titles up because I am proud of them. It took me forever to get my Master tag due to the lack of healing xp. I also leave them up for those people that do use the /find command. It's rare but every once in a while I get a tell from a stranger for buffs. (when I'm really in the mood I run a macro that changes through the different titles every 10 seconds.)

People demanded buffs from me LOOOOONG before anyone ever placed a buff bot in a cantina. The first day that patch was live I had at least 4 people demand buffs... They paid well, but they were no less rude or demanding.

I think I really just liked things better when combat types came by only for healing. The rude ones just watched and ran and the friendly types interacted and tipped.

Thanks for the feedback.. I can't wait to read more replies

Im a musician but that's about the same buziness =)
Most of the time I'll wear the "Vituoso" title instead of "Master Musician"... well... because I think it looks great ^^

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Drygo wrote:

I wear my master dancer title about 99% of the time, and it's for the express purpose of showing people that there are live entertainers willing and able to buff, me being one of them.

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Drygo wrote:

Just as an aside...even though I wear the Master Dancer title as a political statement , I often really want to wear something else because the truth is "Master Anything" is really rather boring. The branch titles are always far more interesting. I'd rather be known as a Choreographer, or a Captivator, or an Enthraller. And, if the buffbot situation weren't the way it was, I would probably be using those titles alot. Even my other profession, TK...If I use a TK title I almost never wear Teras Kasi Master. Teras Kasi Mystic or Monk is much more fun. But, as it stands, I have to make that "sacrifice" and wear Master Dancer when I can. Perhaps I'll get a break from that when the recursive macro is nerfed.

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I agree, I tend to think the "Master" titles are too common. I prefer the Captivator title for dance, and Costumier for tailoring.

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FuschiaD wrote:

I agree, I tend to think the "Master" titles are too common. I prefer the Captivator title for dance, and Costumier for tailoring.

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I always liked "Uniform Marshal" myself - most people aren't even sure what that is. Now though, I usually wear my Master Dancer title, like Drygo said, mostly as a political statement, and to give others around me that much less of an excuse to use a bot or claim that there aren't any ents around when you need one. As far as the buffing issue that started this. I generally don't mind it and am happy to help, but I basically never get any requests to buff anymore anyway. Admittedly I don't spend as much time in the cantinas anymore, though when I do, it tends to be a good experience with people showing their appreciation that I'm there. I really don't seem to have to deal with too many rude or impatient people - I think most of them are pretty much buffbot trained by now that I don't have to mess with them. I still get the occasional random group invite, but when I send them a tell asking what kind of group they're forming they usually just say "nevermind" or "sorry" and go away.

On to a larger issue, though, I used to think that our ability to buff was a good thing for our profession because it was a marketable skill that people were more willing to actually pay us for. Unfortunately on further consideration, I think our profession was a lot more fun to play when we weren't able to buff. The problem is all in the circumstances. When people want buffs they want them fast and so they can get out and do what they want to do - not to mention the fact that they're on a timer if they've already got doc buffs. They don't want to spend a lot of time looking for buffers and they certainly don't want to hang out and enjoy a show or enjoy the atmosphere. That's really the antithesis of the game that most of us have in mind and are trying to play. On the other hand, when people are looking for healing, it's usually after adventuring or battling or whatever, and they may be trying to figure out something else to do or just want to spend a little down time. It's this time when they come to see us that they are more receptive to hanging out a while. They're not usually in a hurry to go somewhere or do something, and they may want to chat about the battle they just had or the creature they just defeated or the new loot item they got. They might even enjoy watching our dance routine or listening to our music routine. I think this is what most of us like doing, and this is what it was like when the game first started - before mind buffs. I think if I had a choice in the matter now, I would choose to give up the whole mind buffing skill. Give it to the doctors, or something, and find something new to give us instead.

I wear my master musician title 95% of the time, to be available, politically, and as a support role.
I also am of the mindset that I don't take crap from anyone. But I don't tend to get hostile about it (though sometimes...). Instead, I'm just very matter-of-fact and tell it like it is. Recent example being some guy who came into the cantina and shouted 'invite to buf plz!'. I didn't let myself get bent out of shape about it, because I figure that that kind of behavior really isn't worth my time and worry, but I told him straight "Nope, that won't get you a response around here. Using some common courtesy could get you somewhere though." This time I had a good response and he asked me nicely if I could buff him, and even tipped me 5k halfway through it. If I'd gotten a bad response, well then oh well, not worth my trouble.

I'm tempted to set up a teacher-buff-bot. Externally it gives the same instructions as a normal buffbot, what with when to invite, what cycle it's on. But once you get in group, it'd tell you that you could get the same buffs much more easily and more quickly by using a live entertainer, and give some examples of nice requests for buffs that would get them set up right quick. Hm... prolly not though.