Dancer Archive
Thread: One Front: A Survey for the Dancer Community
Message Edited by Schardour on 07-06-2004 01:27 PM
)Message Edited by Schardour on 07-05-2004 02:59 PM
Schardour wrote:
What do you feelis the single most importantbug that needs attention from the development team ASAP?
The lack of a full set of motion-captured flourishes for all of our dances. If this is not considered a bug then, highest priority first, the broken lyrical and formal base dances; and the inability to get a music and dance buff at the same time.
What do you feel is the single most important issue / concept that needs attention from the development team ASAP?
Buff-bots. Buff-bots break our profession, cause other players to actively disrespect us, and, with the amount of AFK 'play' ensuring that no one even tips for basic healing any more, removes our only source of real income unless we pick up a crafting or fighting profession. I am preaching to the choir here in the dancer forum, but it must be made clear to the devs that the end of hologrinding will not bring an end to the issue of unattended 'play' in this regard.
rebus_ks wrote:
The lack of a full set of motion-captured flourishes for all of our dances. If this is not considered a bug then, highest priority first, the broken lyrical and formal base dances; and the inability to get a music and dance buff at the same time.
Blamj wrote:
If we do get updates, it would be from the buff system... every update we get closer to NPC buff bots
Message Edited by Panthu on 07-05-2004 07:44 PM
Panthu wrote:
"make our healing and buffing interactive and fun"
Looking at the problem from this perspective, I'd like to see all entertaining made more interactive and fun. In the current leveling system for entertainer professions, many players are bored to the point of turning to unattended gameplay before they ever reach a level that they can buff or that their healing ability is that noticable to patrons. Not only would I like to see tools/games incorporated to keep players active and interested but perhaps a reward systemfor patrons of ATK entertainers.
I'd be willing to give it a chance (hell..at this point..ANYTHING),but when it comes right down to it..if there's a way around it people will find the way..even if it means using 3rd party apps (which SOE has so far been unsuccessful at combating).
Panthu wrote:
Blamj wrote:
If we do get updates, it would be from the buff system... every update we get closer to NPC buff bots
Stop avoiding the questions you!
(for the record, again, I do not think "stop the buff bots" will ever fly... "make our healing and buffing interactive and fun" most likely will though... same end result, just a much more constructive request... the Devs prefer to "improve gameplay" for one group over "restricting gameplay" for anyone... asking for an improvement that we will enjoy is more likely to have a high priority over complaining about another group of players' "playstyle")
Message Edited by Panthu on 07-05-2004 07:44 PM
Message Edited by Drygo on 07-05-2004 10:26 PM
Drygo wrote:
Do you really think they don't understand this?
Ok, first... I don't think the Devs are childish or simple. Most of them are older than me and work in a field I think would kick butt to work in, so I actually admire them. I do not think they "get this" though. Or, at the very least, I don't think they get how big of a deal this is and why.
That's nothing bad, if they thought they "got" every aspect of the game, they wouldn't ask for player feedback in these forums. I would much rather have a Dev team that knows there is no possible way they can understand the game from every possible player aspect.
An example often brought up is the Survey Pop-Up... I hate these. These are not fun to me. They do not stop AFK Sampling. You can ignore them with an AFKmacro easily and most people do. This fix was not put inbecause people were asking for Survey/Sampling to be made more fun, interactive, and challenging. It was put in because people said it was an unfair advantage for people who were willing or able to go AFK.
The Devs answer? Pop-Up that "encouragesat-the-keys play."
I do not want that for us. It will not fix our problems. It does not addressour concerns.
Possible solutions have been suggested: that would require participation from the patron as well as the Ent, that would make our buffing more like the old ID system with out any command line options (click menu only), or that would be like a "check" every time you wanted to "turn on" buffing/healing for a period of time like ten minutes.
None of these proposals or any of the others are being shy about this being a forced at-the-keys only option. I can't talk the same way out here that I do in the Corre Forum. I gave up that option, lol. Just trust me, active only is a big deal to me. However, we have been complaining about AFK for how long now? This just isn't the way to get the response we want from what I have seen.
I also don't want to see us saddled with further restrictions like the IDs were given with the timers... I would like for us to improve here... in a fun and useful way.
Here's the problem thinking as I see it... Social Players only want to chat, they don't like Combat or Crafting -> Ok, we'll give them something easy to do in just restricted areas so they won't have to interact with other parts of the game -> Oh, but they will still need to talk to the other players, ok, we'll add a need here for the Combat players so the Social players can meet new people in a safe restricted environment away from the parts of the game they don't like -> Oh, people are using AFK Macros to level and make Buff Bots? That's because they aren't really Social players, but that's ok because they are only doing this because we put this need in for the Combat players... the real Social players won't care because all they want to do is RP and chat, they aren't willing or interested in taking part in the larger game so this is more fair to everyone.It allows for there to be a Social Chatting/RP gameplay option and also a way for more advanced non-Social focused players who do want to take part and put forth effort with challenging gameplay to have their option too.
I think that is the thinking. I think it makes sense when said like that. This is what they are hearing from the Playerbase. I think interactive gameplay in our healing is the only thing that will change this thinking and make our interaction in this game make sense. I also think this is the only way we will ever get "perks" like self buffing (not something you should care about for RP/Chatting only), any real interaction with other Profs, any new "services" we could do for other people (like the crafting buffs), and any chance of getting more interactive Dances, group Dance commands, and props.
Our strong desire is interaction. Either with other players or with our Dances. Devs can understand that request... they can design and code for game interaction, it's what they are all about! What it seems like they can not understand is how to make a playstyle work that is dependent on not interacting with the game. I think we should stop asking for safe guards against people ruining our way to not interact with the game.
They seem to think this is a working option. Have you talked to Buff Bot owners and supporters? They think this system is working too. It is only those of us that I believe truly crave a Social gameplay option that are so caught up on this "interaction." Combat players do need us, the inter-dependency is there on a game mechanic level. What we are wanting is "interaction"... which makes complete sense considering that we are Social players.
You are free to disagree with me, but that's how it looks from where I sit. If you guys are really only interested in asking that Buff Bots be stopped and you do not agree with my angle planning, then I'll pass that along. I'm just one Dancer who spends way too much time thinking about this and reading what all sides are saying. 
What I mean is, I don't need to agree with something to pass it on. Just say whatever you need to and I will try to keep my own opinions out of it as always... but there they are if you guys are interested, lol.
Schardour wrote:
What do you feelis the single most importantbug that needs attention from the development team ASAP?
The fact that a patron can no longer receive musician and dancer buffs simultaneously. While they've acknowledged that it's a bug and an unintended consequence of their "anti-speedbuff/anti-xp exploit" measures introduced in publish 8 (8.1? 8.2?), they haven't indicated that they're working on the solution or how soon we can look forward to one.
Close runners-up: broken formal/lyrical base dance, broken registration system, "you direct your attention to %TT"
What do you feel is the single most important issue / concept that needs attention from the development team ASAP?
Tough choice, but I'd have to say the buffbot issue. The prevalence of unattended buffbots makes it clear that changing the path to Jedi and eliminating the hologrind will NOT solve our problems with AFK play in general. It definitely won't solve the problem of buffbots, which are diminishing our profession and our livelihood. It think it's also important to stress that the existance of buffbots is further widening the gap between the "leets" and the "social types," and contributing to a definite feeling of animosity between combat-oriented players and entertainers. I would love to expand on this but you said to keep these answers short, so now I'm zippin' it.
Runners-up: falling, buffing interface, performance enhancements, entertainer missions, missing flourishes in high level dances, expanded venues for entertainer healing (BF in Ranger camps, Jabba's Throne Room as cantina)