Entertainer Archive
Thread: On being the band leader
Just wanted to share a few useful tips for bandleaders and band members alike, based on my experiences over the past few weeks. =)
Firstly: go into your configuration screen ingame, click on "Chat Colors" at the left, enter your character's name in the box at the bottom center of the screen, and click "Add word coloration" (or "add sentence coloration" if you prefer). Pick a really loud color from the palettethat contrasts with your UI colors --I chose shocking pink for mine. Now you will NEVER miss when someone says your name, as long as they spell it right. This is incredibly handy in a chaotic cantina situation, to help when someone is trying to get your attention -- such as when someone needs an invite from you.
Entertainers -- don't just walk in, stand in the corner, and pull out your horn or start bopping around! I did this too when I was first starting, because it hadn't occurred to me to do otherwise. You're a performer! Stride in, hold your chin high, introduce yourself and ask to join the band! (And don't feel miffed it you don't get any acknowledgement at first... it's easy to lose track of chat if things are busy. Send tells to the other performers and see if you can find out who the groupleader is, and send that person a tell -- best way to get their attention.)
Groupleaders -- if you're watching the door, and the group isn't full, you might as well go ahead and invite anyone who looks like a performer -- either because they have their entertainer/dancer/musician title showing, or are dressed for the part, or they came in and stood in the corner and started doing their thing. Nearly everyone will accept or decline appropriately depending on what they came to the cantina to do, and it's quicker than going through the whole "did you come to join the band" rigamarole. (Chat spam strikes again).
If you're group leader, and you have to log or leave, transfer the group leadership to another member of the band. The syntax is:
/makeleader <name>
Minus the pointy brackets. I don't know if this is documented anywhere and a lot of people don't know it, so it's worth spreading the love. Try to choose someone who has been actively engaging the customers and/or otherwise at the keyboard more often than not. Nothing's worse than an AFK groupleader, and sometimes the only way to accommodate new people in that situationis to disband and reform, minus the AFK person. And ALWAYS announce that you've transferred the group leadership, so the new leader is aware -- it's easy to miss (though having your name colorized will help, because you get a system message when leadership is transferred to you).
Please add any other words of wisdom you may have. =)
Great post! Only a few things I would add:
Invite the medics that are healing you! They get XP for healing and you get to play longer. Invite them into the group so they can keep better track of everyone's Action.
Get your band in a formation! It looks great when everyone is in line in the corner or in front of the bar.
When inviting a new musician, make sure you know what they can play and don't play anything that's too hard for them unless they're content with dancing.
AND MOST IMPORTANT: DO NOT USE /CHANGEBAND! It's fugged. And ask before using /bandflourish, but those work fine...it's just that only the person who typed the command gets the XP.
Not to mention, but if you get tired of trying to read chat in your window, and it's full of "You perform a flourish" messages, right click on the chat tab, select modify, and move system messages to the left side, then click OK. No more flourish messages in the chat bar. However, if someone tips you or heals you, it only flashes at the top of the screen, not in the chat box.
I do this, but then I make another chat box for System Messages and while performing, I seperate this box to the side of my screen so I can still see tips, heals, and flourishes.
Hope this helps someone.
Has there ever been any discussion with the dev's on the /bandflourish only giving exp to the one doing the command? I can't see any reason for it and it discourages us from giving the best performance we can. We're all doing the flourish, losing the action pts, why should we not get the exp?
Wow keep the great suggestions coming!
I can't believe I forgot about inviting medics... I'm still learning that one 
"Removal of XP for bandflourishes was a godsend"
Really? It seems high praise for a system which has almost eliminated the use of bandflourish.
You'd think some method could be found to allow the exp for all by requiring some periodic input from the band members. Then you'd avoid the 'washing their car' problem and still encourage the use of a very entertaining function.
I think, and I know I'm going to get hammered for this one, but I think they should make a timeout if no mouse / non-macro keyboard interaction takes place after 10-15 minutes. Kill the afk dancers, musicians, and surveyors. In my opinion, humble as it is, that this would really make a difference in the game. Point the game to those that play it. Then, they could increase exp a little bit and increase sampling time too.
Okay, I'm ready for the flames to come. 
This is off topic?
Bandleader thread and talking about using bandflourish?
Anyway, I agree on the macroing. There is a musician on Chilastra, Naboo who not only macros hours and hours a day but does a rodney dangerfield joke about every three minutes. He may be the first person on my ignore list, which I hate to use.
Well, I know my musician char won't stay on bandflourishes long before doing his own for exp. I wish they'd change it.
I was referring to Mani's post. I'd like this to be athread for helpful suggestionsfor keeping an entertainer group running smoothly (see first post). THANKS!!
Yes, they can. It's a sad testament to the number of AFK players that you were under the impression that they couldn't.
Waho wrote:
They can't talk while playing anyway, right?