CUEmu - Thread Posts

Kollos

Sat Feb 21, 2004 2:27 pm

In the interest of moving forward positively, here is the seventh in a series of slightly more fleshed-out ideas. All of these ideas have been presented here on the forums in the past, in most cases many times. Note that whether these ideas are implemented as new droids or as new modules for existing Droids is largely irrelevant. New droids would be cooler but would also require more time and effort.

Entertainer Droid

Here's a look at another one of the droids/modules mentioned in Thunderheart's post on Patch 7 & Patch 8. First, the idea as posted in Thunderheart's thread:

Entertainer module: Entertainers would get a certification so that only they could use this droid (no combat functionality is added so its different that the combat certs). This module would allow an entertainer to queue one of 10 different new effects (smoke, lighting, etc.) The advantage is that the droid won’t consume entertainers HAM (just batteries). Each module will represent a different effect. So with 10 different effects, there will be 10 Entertainer modules which means the higher level droids with more module slots will be more useful for queuing different effects.

At first glance, this seems rather underwhelming to me because it really doesn't seem to do anything. It's all smoke & mirrors.

However, I do see potential in the concept.

10 new modules sounds great to me as long as they're all desired. So how do we increase the desirability of these modules? How about tying each module to some small benefit to Entertainers?

Side note: I've never been an entertainer and know next to nothing about them. So what I'm about to propose may be how things already work for entertainers, in which case it's probably what the Devs already have planned. But I'll plow ahead anyway and run the risk of this whole Concept Series post being redundant.

Are there 10 minor bonuses that could be tied to the 10 modules? I think so. How about letting the Smoke module grant a temporary minor boost to an Entertainer's ability to heal Battle Fatigue, say a couple of ticks at 110%. Let the Sparkler module (I'm making these up) grant a temporary minor boost to Mind healing, or Willpower healing, or whatever. Some could grant faster damage healing rates, some could boost Entertainer buffing. There could even be modules that decrease (or help heal) the health and action that Entertainers spend while performing. That way not only would an Entertainer have to pick and choose which modules to put in their droid, they'd have something additional to pick and choose while performing their craft because different customers would want different boosts.

There's a wealth of opportunity in these Entertainer modules, so I really hope that they're not all show. Fireworks and smoke are sorta neat, but by themselves they really aren't enough to make these modules desirable products. They need to have some sort of effect on the game to be truely useful, even if that effect is fairly small.

Thoughts? Improvements? Additions? Should I keep doing these?

Kollos Orcslayer : Master Droid Engineer : Master Artisan

Droids by Kollos -840, 3980 Seacht, Naboo (NW of Keren)
Bounty Hunter Droids by Kollos 4924, 6107 550m SW of Kaadara
Vehicles and Master Artisan Components also available
paying 250k/point for Droid Assembly Skill Tapes, minimum of +4

JediKnightMark

Sat Feb 21, 2004 4:54 pm

#2

Kollos wrote:

This module would allow an entertainer to queue one of 10 different new effects (smoke, lighting, etc.) The advantage is that the droid won’t consume entertainers HAM (just batteries). Each module will represent a different effect. So with 10 different effects, there will be 10 Entertainer modules which means the higher level droids with more module slots will be more useful for queuing different effects.

:

pens the Essential Guide to Droids::

I don't see any chassi that would really be good as a smoke and lights machine? Perhaps if we punched some holes in aDZ70 Fugitive Tracker so it could shoot out little colored beams of multicolored light and it was painted chrome? lol

---------------------------
Haelon's Mercantile, Bounties and Starship Services.
Tatooine 2490 -4860
2-4-1-4 Reality Consultant
Yet another beta wasted
A respec a day keeps the monotony away

Sodan-droiddreamer

Sat Feb 21, 2004 6:08 pm

#3

JediKnightMark wrote:

Kollos wrote:

This module would allow an entertainer to queue one of 10 different new effects (smoke, lighting, etc.) The advantage is that the droid won’t consume entertainers HAM (just batteries). Each module will represent a different effect. So with 10 different effects, there will be 10 Entertainer modules which means the higher level droids with more module slots will be more useful for queuing different effects.

:pens the Essential Guide to Droids::

I don't see any chassi that would really be good as a smoke and lights machine? Perhaps if we punched some holes in aDZ70 Fugitive Tracker so it could shoot out little colored beams of multicolored light and it was painted chrome? lol

Yeah, I agree. The protocol may look nice, but R4s on the dancefloor. As usual we can always dream of new chassis.

Sodan Droiddreamer (GEGN)
Sodan's Exotic Droidgarten - In Bohemian Grove (Geigen Shuttle), Tatooine (6156 7275)

Kollos

Sat Feb 21, 2004 6:54 pm

#4

I was thinking that the R-series droids would look fine, but I gotta admit that a DZ70 Disco Ball sounds a lot cooler.

Kollos Orcslayer : Master Droid Engineer : Master Artisan

Droids by Kollos -840, 3980 Seacht, Naboo (NW of Keren)
Bounty Hunter Droids by Kollos 4924, 6107 550m SW of Kaadara
Vehicles and Master Artisan Components also available
paying 250k/point for Droid Assembly Skill Tapes, minimum of +4

Virtanis

Sat Feb 21, 2004 6:57 pm

#5

Great.... now we've gone from R2's with CDEF's duct taped to their domes to R2's with Disco balls duct taped to their domes.

.....

Forget DE, I want to be a Duct Tape Engineer... those guys must make a lot of cash!

"You Droid Engineers have had to suffer through some tough times. The Devs do not hate the profession and have plans to address some of the larger concerns."
- Q-3PO 10/23/03 1st Annual Droid Engineering Academy Awards
- Fortium - Master Droid Engineer - Master Artisan - Grumpy Advocate for Droids and DE's -
- Proprietor of CF Industries Droidworks -
Naboo: -6600, 3450; Tatooine: -680, -4290; Dantooine: -772, 2860; Corellia: -140, -5500;

SinjenRandall

Sat Feb 21, 2004 7:06 pm

#6

What I like about the entertainer modules:

They do something that nobody can complain about or cry nerf over. They do something specific and basically independent of a player skill, which means they will do something that a player cannot do without the droid. This is a good thing, because it means the droid will be percieved as worthwhile, and it is easier to see it as an entity or an NPC. The problem I have with portable bubbles or buffs is that it makes droids more abstract and less like immersive droids that we are familiar with from the movies. For this reason, these droids that use their own skills are nice in my opinion.

What I don't like about the entertainer modules:

Well, they don't do a lot. The sacrifice for not giving a player "free skills" or "power" from the droid makes the droid somewhat impotent. Although special effects from the droid are cool, the fact that only entertainers can use this module and that the module doesn't appear to provide any actual benefit to the player puts it in a novelty category. Like fireworks. They don't actually come out and say whether or not these modules will infer bonuses to the entertainer.

A slightly different approach:

I suppose I will keep the discussion close to the actual implementation of these droids, considering the fact that development time will prevent much, if anything, in the way of new or different application.

Droids that do something different and do something on their own provides a wealth of roleplaying opportunity, fun, immersion, and potential practical usefulness. The last bit is what I think they should focus on more, though. The entertainer already does a specific job, and I think it does them a disservice to label them as purely socializers. Perhaps this is one of the several reasons that there are so many AFK entertainers. The amount of time the mind buff takes to apply, even with chef food, makes it inconvenient at most outings to find a master dancer and a master musician and have two types of buffs applied.

So with this in mind, perhaps the modules all apply to the areas of interest that the entertainer focuses on. Each module functions in such a way as to focus on one of the areas specific to what the entertainer does best. These modules could be scattered throughout the DE trees so as to provide beneficial products to create throughout the profession. These are just a few quick suggestions based on my own entertaining experience.

Module 1: Double XP on next flourish - this module simply doubles the hit of XP taken on the next flourish performed.
Module 2: Heal double Battle Fatigue on next flourish - this heals double the amount for the next flourish tick off of the Battle Fatigue.
Module 3: Heal double Mind Wounds on next flourish - this heals double the amount for the next flourish tick off of the mind wounds.
Module 4: One-shot heal - this is a more advanced cert that allows the entertainer to heal an entire mind bar in one flourish.
Module 5: Charm NPC (big tip) - this would actually be a new feature that has a chance to increase mission payout for future entertainer missions
Module 6: Charm Player variation 1 - this would have the effect of increasing the size of the entertainer buff by at least 10%
Module 7: Charm Player variation 2 - This decreases the amount of time it takes to fully buff a player's mind pool by a percentage or by a time incriment.
Module 8: Charm Player variation 3 (memory retention) - this causes a regenerative buff for 30 minutes after watching or listening to an entertainer. Remembering the entertainer fondly is enough to let the mind regenerate on its own for a short time.
Module 9: Remove Mind Ailment - This would allow an entertainer to remove (through the normal method of watch/listen) mind disease or mind bleeding.
Module 10: Outdoor concert - A module that allows entertainers to heal outside of the cantina.

So that's what I can see our modules doing. I have been reading the entertainer forum a bit, looking around for issues that our droids can assist with, and I think that some of these modules would help. Considering that one of the biggest issues is AFK entertaining, my hope would be that these modules would increase viability and the "fun factor" enough to at least help the problem.

Sinjen
Elder Ticklemonster - Unlocked Pre Publish 9
Master Pilot
THE Hero of Tatooine

AudioOrgana

Sat Feb 21, 2004 7:08 pm

#7

Kollos wrote:
I was thinking that the R-series droids would look fine, but I gotta admit that a DZ70 Disco Ball sounds a lot cooler.

C-3PO is actually a really good dancer. I'm sure most people reading this know, but you can make droids "dance" by setting patrol points creatively.

As to Entertainer droids, what TH mentioned (special effects droids) hadn't even crossed my mind. I always assumed that an Entertainer Droid would work like a Medical Droid, i.e. allow you to heal outside of the designated space.

With the Special Effects droids, I'd at least like DE's to be able to demonstrate the product - maybe non-Entertainers can make a single effect come out, and only Entertainers can program the multiple-effect queue.

I've really been trying to warmup to the idea, but the more I think about it the more I wish they would just drop the entertainer droid and work on another if this is all they are gonna give us. I really don't see very many entertainers doing this.It's too bad they don't seem very open to even consider limitied use "boom box' droids, that allow Entertainers to heal outside in a city or in a camp. Street performers and healing at camps sounds kind of nice - and isn't the total freedom of being able to heal ANYWHERE like a medical droid.

I want droids for everyone, and obviously Entertainers are included in that. But since this seems to be the "highlight" of the utility droid patch, I must admit I'm disapointed to get something that isn't really useful, only marginally interesting.

Entertainers already have effects that I rarely see used that are inherent - I simply don't see many entertainers having a fleet of droids just to produce a couple of effects each (that they have to rotate out AND constantly power).

Audio

JediKnightMark

Sun Feb 22, 2004 11:43 am

#8

In all seriousness, we have to take into account that we don't want to circumvent the skills of a particular profession by replacing them with a droid. Yes, we want them to perform tasks that the user cannot but we don't want entertainers to forgoe their special effects branch and not master b/c of droids. What we do want is to augment their abilities, which means not overwriting things they can already do.

I have a 2ndary character on Eclipse (or Intrepid, I can never remember)who has mastered all of the entertainer professions so if anyone has any questions and doesn't want to leave the safety of the this forum go ahead and ask. PM whatever.

ok my head hurts from last night I'm gonna go lay down and find my other shoe....

---------------------------
Haelon's Mercantile, Bounties and Starship Services.
Tatooine 2490 -4860
2-4-1-4 Reality Consultant
Yet another beta wasted
A respec a day keeps the monotony away

Lonkley

Sun Feb 22, 2004 8:28 pm

#9

To me, if the entertainer droid doesnt allow for entertaining in the field, like a medic module allows, this droid is DOA.

Personally I just think the devs were working on Entertainer (past posts have mentioned that) and they just moved the development from being native to the profession to the chassis of a droid.

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Thread: Concept Series: Entertainer Droid