Development Cycle Archive

Thread: Test Center Update Notes April 21, 2004

surreal2000
Thu Apr 22, 2004 12:41 am
#40

Love that maintainence droids will go off-planet. if they didnt, they really would be kind of pointless I think.

Good job!



Surreal Arccadia
Shipwright/Rebel Pilot

Bann
Thu Apr 22, 2004 6:41 am
#41

Why? Doc buffs dont take nearly as long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Doctor buffs also cost them money and take time to create many of the parts well before hand...and thats after the grind.


Dancers/musicians can get right up there and do it....with hardly any resources, let alone decaying resources.
Saratoga
Thu Apr 22, 2004 7:01 am
#42






Entertainer: Players need to watch a performer for at least 2 minutes before entertainer buffs can be applied.






WHY? It takes less than 2 minutes for a doctor to buff 2 stats.Entertainer buffs are already at a disadvantage they takeway too long (10 minutes without flourish macro), buffs only 2 stats for musician or 1 for dancer, last a maximum of 2 hours while doc buffs last 3.5 hours, and the buffis 25% or less of what a doctor buff is. With mind the weak spot for all characters it would seem the DEVs would be make entertainer buffs easier to get and far more powerful, but common sense does seem to be lacking in SOE.



Triston Jedi Fugitive (retired)
Nagamitsu 12 point WS/AS + arch (retired)
Jengi wookiee ranger (retired)
Medreka Doctor/musician (retired)
Caillech MBH (soon to be retired)
Groovymarlin
Fri Apr 23, 2004 5:10 am
#43

I have no problem with the forced 15 second pause between stop and start when playing or dancing. It eliminates the 30 second buff exploit, which is fine with me, since I've never done it.


However, please please please devs DO NOT ADD THE TWO MINUTE THING. That's just an unfair burden on entertainers.


Right now, if I have my quickness/stamina buffed, I can use a macro that flourishes every second, and give a full dance buff in four minutes. Adding this buffer will cause the buff to take six minutes. My regular buff, when I don't have a quickness/stamina buff, uses a macro that flourishes everyeight seconds or so, and it takes eight minutes. WIth this change it will take 10 minutes! People already complain that eight is too long!


I beg of you, reconsider this change. The 15 second pause fixes the exploit, making the two minute delay unnecessary. Please take that two minute delay out.





La'lepa Ofo

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

Sylune_heart
Fri Apr 23, 2004 5:43 am
#44

Groovymarlin,


I am certainly with you in this crusade, the biggest problem i have with this issue is that i am both a muscian AND a dancer, so i give out both buffs to people that ask for them. Under the tightest circumstances being able to give a group both the Dancer buff and the Music buff i could do them both in an 8 to 9 minute window, but this precludes any traveling i have to do to get there as well which can be 15 minutes or more. so now we are up to 25 minute of people waiting on me.


Now you just tacked on 4 more minutes on either end, Music and dance bufff. So now we are hitting the 30 minute mark if i have to travel to buff someone..or a group that desires it. I always felt that the time was unacceptable to begin with...now its starting to reach the point of outrageous!


Get rid of the 2 minute window for goodness sakes...at least give us that much! From day one with afk macros...then holo grinding afk macros ..buffs that didnt work..to buffs that were good but take to long..to know buffs that take even longer! BEAT US SOME MORE. Us entertainers are not sadists! Jimny Christmas!


Throw us a bone here will ya?


Ceta

Masterdancer/ Musician

Bloodfin
Kreistor
Fri Apr 23, 2004 6:08 am
#45

First, as a Dancer for a while,I'd like to state my opinionsthese items:


30 second buff = exploit


Mind Buff times are fine the way they are.


Now,


My biggest question mark, which doesn't seem to have been answered yet, is whether the two-minute time where buffs don't count are in ADDITION to our buff time, or INCLUDED in our buff time?


If it's included, then I'm wholeheartedly against the addition. Even though I believe that the Dancer buff times are fine right now, that in no way means I approve of making them longer. It would be really great if we could get some clarification from the Devs or the testers on this...


Plus I'd like to ask why are there two fixes for dancer going in to fix one exploit? Either add the two-minute non-buff fix or the 'you can't dancer for 15 seconds' fix. Do we really need both?!?





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

Lowca - Master Dancer Extraordinaire
*CENSORS* Cantina, Honor's Keep, Corellia,
FuschiaD
Fri Apr 23, 2004 6:46 am
#46

Come on, devs... we're not feeling very appreciated right now.


This is going to make our problem SO MUCH WORSE than it is right now. If you tack on another two minutes to our buff times, we're going to have even MORE dancers flourishing like crazy just to get their clients buffed and out the door in a timely manner, without wasting so much time on their other buffs. And I will most definitely be a part of that camp if this goes live.

Dancers are not getting a break here. This does not benefit us in any way whatsoever. This is a nerf, and it's an unnecessary one at that. We are already widely regarded as a fairly useless profession... an incorrect view, butthat is the mindset of a lot of people.Mind buffing gave us a purpose... and now you want to reduce our purpose even more. This is utter madness. Why don't you just remove the profession altogether? After this, you might as well.




~*~ F U S C H I A D A R K W A L K E R ~*~
Yes, I'm a respec Jedi. Get over it.
~*~ A V A D I H A L O N A - S O E P ~*~
Entertainer For Life - COMPNOR Eye Candy

"You don't really rank around here unless you've been flamed by Oben, trolled by Mono, set straight by Geen, got caught in a love triangle between Cherry and Anoq, had your house decorated by Kipera, hugged by Esin, fondled by Fuschia, had IG respond with something inane and nonsensical, or at the very least been (a.) asked "can I have your stuff" or (b.) been accused of being a Todd by any number of random Tarquinian posters." --TalonKarrdeTN/Tyndaleon


PoetDancer
Fri Apr 23, 2004 7:19 am
#47

To those that would say that our buffs are free because we use no resources do not understand the limiting factors in each buffing method. For doctors, resources are the limiting factor. The limiting factor is in the actual creation of the buffpack, but once created, the application is not an issue. While it is true that entertainers need no resources, the limiting factor has always been the application, the venue,and the ability to keep performing while applying the buff. That's why we need compensation. Because if you don't compensate those who spend time, skill points, and energy to apply a buff to you in the cantina, then you'll soon find there will be nobody there to buff you. Why spend time and skill points doing these things when one receives no compensation?


Now on the subject of the two minute rule, why as a performer should my first two minutes mean less in terms of the mechanics than my final two minutes? If anything, it will give the bots an incentive to do nothing but basesong or dancefor two minutes, and spam the 30 second "faux performance" for the final two. Because you have to understand that these buffbots really don't care about playing an entertainer. They just want the buff, entertainment value notwithstanding. Never underestimate the power of a "goodie" like buffs to motivate players to get it without following the spirit of the professions they alledgedly belong to.





Madame Sirii Ajaan
August 2003-September 15, 2005
"There is a difference between being /watched and being WATCHED."
kirah_ashlin
Fri Apr 23, 2004 9:27 am
#48





/agree with Sirii


This is an unacceptableresponse to the 30 second buff "exploit" (though to my knowledge it was never officially classified as such).


Have the devs forgotten that entertainers are paying customers also?! Why would they deem to make it more difficultfor us to not onlyenjoy playingthe game,but to be members of a viable profession who offer a usable, desirable service to other players? This isn't a solution - its a punishment!


I don't care for either the 15 second delay between stopping and starting dances and I abhor the 2 minute deadzone for buffing time. Neither of these "fixes" are acceptable to me. I am not a child, I am a grown woman and I simply will not stand here and say, "Oh, well, I'll accept what the devs throw at me 'cuz the game is kewl." Find another solution, devs!


If you want my money, Sony - if you want my patronage and my loyaltiy - then you darn well better start acting like you do. Trust me, I CAN be a powerful ally - but you don't want me as a resentful ex-customer!


Einhinder
Fri Apr 23, 2004 9:47 am
#49

Once again We get next to nothing and are slapped in the face with something that just makes us more obsolite. no one is going to wait 10 or 20 or 30 minutes for a mind buff when they can just down brandy ty very much for for taking away and real earning power i had. docters charge 10k and can buff in under a minuted we cant charge that much for a buff its its going to take 10 minutes. and so what were limited to making on average 3 k in ten minutes if we find people willing to wait for a buff and forget it if theres a raid or a base vuln time we cant buff all those people anymore itll take an hour or more.





Fainora Sarrasri

F K O D | S A G E
Drygo
Fri Apr 23, 2004 1:52 pm
#50

For those who may be asking what costs are associated with mind buffing. Of course, there's the time related cost. The fact that we can only do one stat compared to 6. The fact that they last half as long. The fact they are half as effective point-wise. The only real advantage we have is the rare time that we are buffing an entire group. But, that rarely happens, and usually is part of a guild hunt where we offer our services for free to our own guild. That one advantage doesn't really outweigh all of the others, in my opinion. As for purely financial? While it is possible to buff without an action buff, many dancers buy them. It's extremely difficult, unless you can pace yourself for a good 10-12 minutes to give a fully effective dancer buff without getting an action buff of your own. And, then of course, if you choose not to get an action buff, you have to deal with regen time between customers if you don't have a healer. So, if you're giving a mindbuff without the aid of a doctor, we're looking at 15+ minute turn around times between buffs, which allows us to give about 4 buffs an hour. But, as I said, many of us choose to get action buffs to aid us in serving our clients better considering the fact that those high level dances that we buff with do a number on our action pools! It's standard, for me at least. Although, I know not everyone uses action buffs. So, for me, in order to serve my clients better, there is usually a 5k-10k expenditure from my pocketbook in order to ensure giving adequate mindbuffs. This means that I have to give one, possibly two buffs before I even start to turn a profit. And, considering I can only give 6 an hour tops if I go the full 10 minutes, except in group situations, then mind buffing, no matter how you slice it, is already financially disadvantaged compare to the doctor buffs. There's absolutely no good reason they need to put as at an even bigger disadvantage by taking on an extra 2 minutes to our already overly lengthy buff times. Not to mention the fact that the longer a buff lasts, the less people that are going to want to spend the time on getting one, again cutting into our business.



- I support hawtpants
Flying750
Sat Apr 24, 2004 4:42 am
#51

That sounds great! It makes me wonder about the "Death Watch Bunker" more and more! I wonder what it will be like. Maybe I should join TC to find out



Akmaro Dervus
Master Carbineer/Bounty Hunter Enforcer

"I love this profession.....to use our skills takes real practice, and not just smashing the same key over and over while staring blankly at the screen. We use our heads and learn to be a competitive Carbineer"!!!
nvoigt
Sat Apr 24, 2004 12:42 pm
#52

I really like the 15s timer on startd and startm. This renders the speed buff exploit useless. Good work !


However, exploits only happen if people want something, and though I find it disgusting to use the speed buff macro, it shows that a timely buff is in demand. We are competing with Chefs food, which is widely available even if the chef is offline and which is applyable everywhere. On the hunts on another server, I saw many people geting mind incapped over and over. No one thought of getting a dancer buff, because even if you find one, it takes 10 minutes. Add shuttletimes. As entertainer buffs are the shorter variant, people get docs buffs first. Putting on an entertainer buff would then waste 25% of the doc buff if you don't have a personal entertainer master in your backpack. Adding two minutes on top of that is making buffs even more unattractive.


I like the fix for the speed buff exploit. But the 2 minutes watching before a buff is overkill.


Page 4 of 5