Development Cycle Archive

Message Edited by Thunderheart on 07-12-2004 05:35 PM

I guess when it comes down to it half the fun of questing is getting something that you might not get otherwise. For career dancers and musicians, it's best to stand out, so getting thatoutfit (possibly with modifiers)would be a great thing (such as "magic" dancing shoes, a new instrument -- such as a standard instrument in an alternatekey, a new flourish -- perhaps only usable in a certain old song).

Continuing on my prize comments, I'd like to seea set ofsongs and/or dance steps that only can be learned through questing. As an additional level of fun,they could make these tradable or single use. (Yes, I know, nothing about new songs/dance steps, but it fits so nicely!).

As for missions, I think the number one mission is the mission to be able to play at Jabba's Palace (or is that a quest since there is a prize). Obviously playing at the Palace could have its rewards (and risks).

It would also be interesting if the NPC missions providedother band membersfrom time to time -- we're missing a Fizz player -- could you fill in?

I like the idea of Entertainers (Dancers and Musicians) to be able to play @ Jabba's Palace. But before they can they must complete a couple of missions for Jabba. I know most Entertainers don't have combat skills but this allows for great group interaction, (ie, The entertainers must group with combat professions to complete these tasks).

Maybe they have a certain minimum amount of time to play or even a schedule to keep up with. And if they don't then they get fed to the Rancor

For any of the entertainer classes:

Undercover spy work

Entertainer gets a gig mission to perform for a high-level faction NPC. Interaction could be along the lines of "pick the right response" of the beginning mission of Act III. Perhaps the character gets one of several "dossiers" that would give a hint as to what conversation topics would be successful.

When the performance is complete, a roll is made based on correct responses + level of entertainer + random number and compared to the difficulty rating of the mission.

If successful - the entertainer could recieve a schematic for a new item (which can then be sold) or a disk with tacticaldata on it (which can be sold to players to generate a faction mission or turned in for faction). It would be even better if this could involve several factions (Jabba, Valarian, etc. as well as Imp and Rebel).

(This mostly just speaks to number 3)

I was an entertainer for a while. I didn't find it all that interesting or find much to do.

However, I do have an idea of how to help here. Entertainers are the socializers of the game. Giving them missions to interact with NPCs seems to just defeat their purpose.

Why not allow players to advertise for entertainment groups? Example, I'm running a hunt. I want a small group of entertainers to perform at an outpost for a couple hours. I'll pay 10K or so per hour...

I think just 'improving' NPC missions is not going to add much 'flavor' for entertainers. I think giving them additional avenues to socialize through events (hunts, parties, weddings, private performances) can be a much more fulfilling experience for the player than just entertaining for an NPC. Aside from the message boards, there is almost nothing in game that facilitates this (as the bazaar does for crafters).

See the point? Probably not what you wanted to hear, but I thought it was worth at least mentioning.

Th, In a recent letter posted on the main website by someone in charge (the name escapes me at the moment), that person says that you have achieved the current set that you had promised as post-launch additions: Dark jedi, PCs, vehicles and Mounts.

I disagree, there is one item that you have not put int yet, and that seems to have been forgotten: Player missions!

Something interesting for these types of missions would be to have a player gig mission. A player goes to a terminal in a cantina. He pays a set amount to be fully healed (something for example: 5 credits per mind wound and 7 credits per BF point.) Then, an entertainer in the room can take that mission. He enters "mission gig" mode. He will be paid if he stays there and performs until the client is healed. If he stops in the middle of when he has started by doing a voluntary action (moving, /stop'ing) he will not get paid the amount, and the mission is sent back to the mission terminal so another ent can play for him. If the player who placed the mission leaves ranges of the entertainer, he has to come back within 20 seconds and start watching/listening again or the amount will be sent to the entertainer.

I know that this would be:

A: Demanding in terms of developpement time, to make sure it is not griefable and

B: Why would we want that system in the first place?! We have ents in cantinas, they are playing, they can /deny if they are not being tipped, right?

Well two counter arguments to this:

Entertainers would get an XP boost during the mission or a final XP bonus for completing it. On top, they are sure to get paid if they complete their end of the bargain.

These missions could also be extended. Someone could set up a camp, use a command and "request" for an entertainer to come all the way there. But why, you ask? After all, wouldnt it be faster if he just let the camp auto heal him? Well in case of big groups full of people, the mission could be just the request for an entertainer. For the game, the entertainer has to:

Get to the waypoint. Start playing. Play non stop (or with no more than 1 or 2 30 second breaks, to heal or rest, etc...) for 5, 10 or 20 minutes. Once that is done, he gets paid.

On the other side:

The player needs an ent for his group. He uses a command and "requests" an entertainer for X minutes at his location. He sets a desired range where his mission can be seen. For instance, only terminals within 4 kilometers of the player will list this "mission". The money is deducted automatically. He requests a certain level of entertainer, for instance, a minimum of a novice dancer or musician. Or a minimum of a novice entertainer, or a "minimum" of a master dancer/musician. Let's get a solid example here:

Bob has a big group, they jsut took down a cave full of nightsisters. No ents in the group! But they want to do the dungeon again when it respawns in 15-20 mins. They decide to order an entertainer. The group leader asks for a Master musician (they're all very wounded) to come. He looks t his map and decides that he doesnt want to wait too much, so he sets the range for 4000 meters. In that range there's a player city called "New hope". The price for such a service is 7.5K. The money is taken from Bob's bank account already.

Master musician Jeana needs some cash. She's in new hope, so she decides to use the entertainer terminal to make some cash. She has the choice between the 'regular" style missions (the ones we currently have) and a player mission. She has a vehicle, and she's up for some adventure, plus it pays a lot better. So she looks up the list of current requests.She sees bob's request for the healing of his full group, bob is 3 Km away. She is requested to play for 10 minutes, and it will pay 7.5K cash! Cool, she accepts it.

Bob gets a notice that someone has accepted his mission. He tells the group. the notice says the musician is 3 Km away. She shoudl be here quite fast. 5 minutes later, here comes jeana. She gets in position and starts healing. She chats with the group, about their cave adventure, etc. She spends her 10 minutes there. Jeana gets a notice that she is done. 7.5K are transfered onto her bank account. bob gets the notice that the mission he had ordered is now complete, and that his 7.5K have been transfered onto Jeanna's account. Bob's group goes back in the dungeon, all healed up, and Jeana goes back to new hope to get another mission.

I know this might take some time to make and implement but:

It is a game mechanic that forces people to socialise, or at least puts them in a position where they might meet new people. bob might /tell Jeana later if he needs his group healed again, and he'll pay her directly. It's also a game mechanic that is of great use to group leaders and soloers alike. For instance, a casual player that does not play so often might not have contacts for an entertainer to come out in the wild and heal him. with this system, he doesnt have to go to the city to get healed, an ent will come to him and heal him. Awesome service.

The entertainers might or might not like this. I'm sure some of this would be against having to do this, and this is why i say keep the "old" system, the one we currently have. That way everyone is satisfied. If ents want to run the new missions and get more cash, they can. If they don't want to move around and they want to stay in a cantina, so be it! It doesn't force anyone to do anything, but it's a great way for ents to make more cash "easily"...

What do you think of my idea, TH?

First of, I would like to point out that I am not an Entertainer of any kind ingame nor do I plan on being one. With that being said:

While reading TH's post an image flashed before my eys of a full theater ala Vreni Island or all the unused big scenes around the cities filled with NPC's sitting in drows chearing for a band playing or dancers perfoming. This scenario would likely draw in PC's (I know I would go watch it) and it could be enhanced by making the NPC's lively and a bit unique chatter wise. The perfomers could take this kind of gig as a group mission with a semi generious reward. After accepting the 'mission' the gig would be announced in some form
throughout the respective cities it involves. The means of the advertising could be through either 'Callers' (like Homer in that Simpson episode where he steals the job from Flanders to ring a bell walking down the streets) or by lightboard/neonboards like in the speeder chase scene in EP2. This advertising would in turn make PC's come see the event and thus the perfomers would not exclusive be perfoming for a NPC crowd. To draw in futher PC's, there should be some form of incentive to come watch, like a unique 'used ticket' or similar bearing the name of the concert, play, danceshow etc.

I do not know how diffecult coding wise this would be to implement but I see it as a great way to enhance the professions. To futher improve the idea an Image Designer could be included into the group to enhance and lay makeup (whatever is possible for them to do) that were only availeble during such sessions.

Well, that was just a chain of thoughts going in there, and I hope it helped you TH and whomever this conserns. I took the time because
these 3(4) professions really need some love and any enhancements these guys get will help minimize the growing Entertainer afk population.

Regards, Morta.

Scouts and Rangers have "hunting missions", why not give something like that to entertainers An example would be:

Entertain X number of people

or

Entertain 1 person in X number of cities.

This would be a great way for entertainers to actually make credits, while performing their services for others, and potentially give incentive to travel to different places

If there were a way for each cantina location to "know" when people are present and/or performing, it opens up an interesting possibility:

Let the cantinas sponsor missions when they don't get 24 hour coverage by themselves. When an entertainer requests missions, the mission generator checks and gets a list of cantinas with poor coverage. Mission payout is based on distance to the cantina, time since it last had an entertainer present, and the number of people who have visited the cantina since the last performance.

What that means is that locations with many players but few performers generate the best missions. Watchers get better coverage, and entertainers get missions in places where players go.

This would also be a great time to introduce player-sponsored missions. Let a player-city cantina/theater owner sponsor a mission from their building management terminal, perhaps. They enter the amount they will pay per hour of performance, and the mission terminals display this job periodically.

The key is that most entertainers want interaction with other players, so the system should be one that puts them in places where players want them, and away from places that are over-crowded.

Recon missions. Or "No one looks at the help."

Send Entertainers on factional missions. They go into factional NPC bases (covertly) and play a gig. They play until they overhear a certain amount of information from some watching and talking NPC's. If their faction with the enemy is too high they run a risk of getting caught and guns getting drawn.