Doctor Archive

There are a few things that are missing in your analysis...

Dancer (or musician) buffs can be applied in roughly the same amount of time as doctor buffs (i.e. 2 minutes, or less -- see the dancer board for info on how to do this). Further, entertainer buffs can be applied to as many as 19 people at once. A master dancer/master musician can buff all 3 mind stats on 19 people in 4 or 5 minutes with ease...

There was a fix put in on Test yesterday or today to make it impossible to apply performance buffs in under 2 minutes (or perhaps to start the buff after people have been listening for 2 mins, the wording was vague, as usual)...

Now, as both a doctor and someone who regularly pays for performance buffs, I think it taking 10 minutes per stat is rediculous. Honestly, I see no reason for it to take anything over 2 minutes or so per buff... Unless you're lucky enough to find an ATK dancer and musician in the same room (and group), you'll likely have to get both buffs in sequence, rather than simultaneously... There are enough time sinks in this game already... Since mind buffs are more or less required by the current game mechanics for any serious fighting, they may as well be relatively painless to get... (the current system, for that matter, encourages people to use "buff-bot" entertainers that will auto-join groups and spam flourishes all night long... there is no reason to seek out a live entertainer when there's a buff-bot nearby. That is not as it should be...)

At any rate, there should be no competitive issues -- doc buffs and performance buffs are complimentary, not exclusive... I certainly don't begrudge the entertainers their resource-free buffs -- in fact, I'd like to see performance buffs become more effective, if anything -- maybe that would make it easier to find master dancers and musicians that are actually playing their characters... Since the chef revamp, certainly, doc buffs have been in much higher demand than performance buffs -- only the truly hardcore need the extra 1k mind to go with their 3 stacked brandies...

Actually, what provoked my asking this question is because of the "nerf" on the entertainer speedbuff. So, I know all about the "quickie" alleged "exploit" buffs. I also know that you can apply a buff in under 10 minutes if you've got a healer and if you spam flourishes. But, even so, I believe the devs *intention* at any rate was *not* for us to use the speedbuff, or to spam flourishes with a healer to get the buff in under 5 minutes. I'm pretty sure that, if we did as the devs intended, we'd all be doing 10 minute buffs, which is why I went with that figure in my scenario.

You are, correct, however, in that we have a distinct advantage in being able to buff an entire group of 19 other people at once. I also think you're right about our buffs being complimentary, and if dancers were to have a much lower time in applying a buff, it wouldn't affect the doctor's position at all. It might possibly affect chefs (maybe), but usually the argument I hear for dancer buffs taking so long is that we don't use resources like the docs do. So, I was curious to find out what actual docs thought about that.

I dont care about how long entertainer buffs take to apply. What I do care about is the price. On chilly they go for roughly 5k for the dancer and another 5k for the musician. (atleast what i have seen, i dont get mind buffs that often).

This is rediculus. It dosnt take any recources to use entertainer buffs, it doesnt take you all going out and pay rediculus prices for recources, it dosnt take stock pilling of the best recources you can find because never know when they will be available again. Not to mention that you all can buff 19 people at a time!

Ahh, alright. That frames your question a bit better for me Drygo...

Ok, so entertainers don't use resources to buff people... They do, however, have to give up a whole lot of skillpoints for that ability, which comes with very little else (+ 7 ranged defense baby...). So, think not only of actual or physical cost, but also of opportunity cost.

I'm a doctor, but I've probably buffed 3 people for money in the last 2 months. Aside from the ability to buff myself (something that entertainers lack...), my skillpoints spent in doctor allow me to perform a number of other useful functions -- healing states, poisons, diseases, and so forth, along with crafting.

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Ledao wrote:

Ahh, alright. That frames your question a bit better for me Drygo...

Ok, so entertainers don't use resources to buff people... They do, however, have to give up a whole lot of skillpoints for that ability, which comes with very little else (+ 7 ranged defense baby...). So, think not only of actual or physical cost, but also of opportunity cost.

I'm a doctor, but I've probably buffed 3 people for money in the last 2 months. Aside from the ability to buff myself (something that entertainers lack...), my skillpoints spent in doctor allow me to perform a number of other useful functions -- healing states, poisons, diseases, and so forth, along with crafting.

So, to compare prices (as hothype has) directly is misleading, because mind buffs are an entertainer's only livlihood (paid gigs seem rare enough not to be a consideration). You aren't paying merely for the dancer or musician's time, but also for their skillpoint expenditure -- of which you are the beneficiary. Although I still think doctor buffs are underpriced, they aren't nearly as underpriced as performance buffs, which should be apparent from the dearth of ATK performers...

SOE should be doing whatever they can to encourage a) more people to become entertainers, and b) more non-entertainers to seek out their services.

The 10-minute buff, which becomes 20 minutes if the same person is your dancer and musician, or if you can't find them both at the same time, accomplishes nothing positive (that I can see) for the entertainers. It discourages people from going out of their way to find performance buffs (spend 10 minutes waiting for a shuttle to then spend another 10 or 20 minutes getting buffs?), and thus hurts the entertainers' ability to make money.

It would be cool, for instance, if it were possible to code performance buffs such that an AFK performer would take 10 minutes to apply a buff, while a live performer could apply the same buff in say 3-5 minutes. If something like that were implemented, I know I'm not the only one that would be happy to pay a premium for such a service.

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I don't see how the relative skillpoint expenditures could possibly matter...

A doctor has at least 3 ways to make money: selling buffs, selling meds, and running missions. Sure, buffs are undervalued... So are meds, except for enhance packs (although I think anyone can sell 10 stim Bs/day on the bazaar for more than they're worth...). But, any doctor with even a modicum of combat skill (I have 0-0-4-0 pistoleer, so I'll use myself as an example...) can go out to dath and solo 40k enraged rancor missions. Doctors are powerful in combat -- don't underestimate the value of a 3k heal... And the skillpoints used in doc enhance any skillpoints used in combat profs. So, for the skillpoints, the doctor becomes a more able combatant, and is provided with a couple of viable options for income.

Performers, on the other hand, perform. They have nothing else to do. Their skillpoints do not help them in combat, nor do they provide them with any secondary means of income. Sure, they can buff 19 people at once (which I did mention, by the way...). How often do you think that happens? 19 paying customers at once? I've certainly never seen more than 8 or 10 in a non-guild situation...

They do, however, provide a very important -- even necessary -- service, and should be compensated accordingly. Right now there is really no incentive for a master dancer or musician to hang out in a cantina -- they're not making any money... 5k doesn't go very far in this game... Nor does 10k for that matter. All kinds of buffs are vastly undervalued, given the difference that they make in combat players' ability to make money...