Entertainer Archive

as far as this affecting the AFk problem... i tend to think that those people who AFK for XP will continue to do so, regardless if the rest of us have these pets or not. however, those who afk as a 'service' to the combat types may find it unnecessary to do so anymore, if we can set up vendor type NPCs on remote planets to heal and maybe buff people 24/7 (for a fee, of course )

i'm in favor of it.

personally, there's two types i'd like to see: vendor types, which we can set up 24/7, so that no one NEEDS to leave their alt AFk on dathomir or what have you. and second, pet types, which we can call out where we are, to really put on more of a show.

obviously, only us entertainers would be able to have these pets. but what do you guys think of cross class helpers? when i was dancing, i really, really, really wanted to have 1-3 musicians behind me, playing a nice song. dancing to silence really stinks. would it be okay for musicians to have dancer pets, and dancers to have musician pets?

I like the idea NewJedi proposed, with allowing us to have Entertainer Pets. Maybe add it to the Techniques line, and let us choose what kind of instruments they use. Getting good looks (50's style common clothing) might be hard, but I think it'd be a neat idea. They shouldn't be allowed to replace players 1 for 1, or generate any kind of experience by their use, but they would let us get fuller and richer sounds in our music...

And it'd open the door to some vocal music as well. Stormtroopers used to have voices - why not add vocalist NPCs who sing in some alien language?

If the NPC Entertainers everyone is referring to are "pets" that we can have perform alongside with us, then I like the idea very much . It sounds exciting!

However, I think these pets would need to limited to the Musician and Dancer professions, and not the Entertainer profession. It could be called a "Group Leadership" skill or something like that perhaps. Maybe it could be called "Band Leadership" for Musicians, and "Choreography" for Dancers. I'm not sure using them would mean healing people faster. I don't think using them should give you more experience, because it would mean people would almost always use them. Maybe they could help a little bit with buffs at some point though. I also think they should only be able to be used if you are not in a group. They would be useful on those occassions when you aren't with any other performers, but want to spice up your performance . Otherwise, if they could be used while you are in a group, the cantina would get even more crowded, since you might have a full cantina group, plus the extra pets performing alongside.

Maybe at the lowest skill level,you would get one NPCEntertainer pet. You would be able to choose what race/gender they are, customize how they look, and determine what clothing they wear. They would flourish whenever you flourish, and would always to the same flourish that you do.

• If you are a Musician, they would be able to play the same songs that you can (and would only play whatever song you are playing just like when you are in a group), but would only be able to play any Entertainer instruments that you yourself know how to play (including the Mandoviol if you happen to be a Master Entertainer), as well as play the Traz.


• If you are a Dancer, they would be able to perform any of the Entertainerdances that you know how to do yourself (again, including the dances the Master Entertainer knows), plus the dances that the Novice Dancer knows how to do.

At the next skill level...

• If you are a Musician,your petswouldthen be ableto play any instrument that you can.


• If you are a Dancer, your pets would be able to dance any dance that you can.

After that, at the next skill level up, you could get a second pet. They would be able to do the same things as your first pet.

• If you are a Musician, you could then have both pets accompany you as you play, but have them playing different instruments.


• If you are a Dancer, you could have both of your pets dancing along with you, either doing the same dance that you are, or different dances if you want too.

At the next level...

• For both Musicians and Dancers, your pets would then be able to use the same techniques that you can do.

Finally, someone above mentioned cross-profession pets. So maybe when you become a Master...

• When you become a Master Musician, you would still be able to have two pets, but you would get the option to have one of your pets dance! However they would only be able to dance any dances that you know how to do.


• When you become a Master Musician, you would also still be able to have two pets, but would get the option to have one of your pets play music. They would only be able to play any instruments and songs that you know how to play.

By having the cross-profession pet only be able to perform in that other profession up to the same level as you are, it would encourage Musicians to pick up some dancing skills, and Dancers to pick up some music skills. It would be up to you to decide how much .

I don't know if we could hope to ever see something like this, but overall, I find this to be a very exciting idea! I can see myself playing Star Wars I on my Mandoviol, with one of my pets playing the Bandfill, and my other pet dancing Basic 2 lol!

I have a baaaad feeling about this.....

We have NPC Entertainers, they are called AFKs. Group with them, play a song, and just /bandflourish for a good, full sound.

Now on a more serious note, I do not think that the addition of NPCs for performerswill make all that much of a difference. We LIKE to group with other performers, and would attept to do this more often than playing solo. As far as characters getting them as healing pets, I agree with pickles in saying, "only if I can get NPCs to heal BF off of." Seriously, NPCs are boring. Even the stormtroopers don't ask if they "can help you, citizen," anymore. Ever see a droid dance? Its not a pretty sight.

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Tiaga wrote:

What if entertainers are completely replaced by NPCs? Those people would be doing something else that you could help them with, so there is no loss there.

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That's an interesting thought... one that has crossed my mind as I have been doing the various entertainer professions. I've seen lots of frustration regarding AFK, lack of content, lack of abilities, and as I'm finishing up musician, I have to say I agree.

The real problem with entertainer professions is that it is a 'passive' profession. I, as a player, can not do anything to advance my progression in the class. Even ATK entertainers have macros to free up their hands so they can converse/socialize. However, the ATK entertainer cannot progress faster than the AFKer, and there isn't much for that ATK entertainer to do that the AFKer isn't doing either. (As a side note, this problem also extends to Merchant).

Now consider the following. While combat professions can be AFKed, to do so is very slow. Park the character outside the starport, enable macro/afk, walk away. I can't say I've ever done this, but I know how pitiful the XP per kill is. So while the AFK combatant gets a small trickle of XP, I know I can go run missions and get 500K-1M XP per evening (and I work during the day). Yes, I've been able to get 1M unarmed XP in a single night, about 5 hours of solo play.

So here we have an instance where ATK play is far superiour to AFK play. Unfortunately, the same is not true for entertainer. The XP requirements are incredibly high, but there is very little anyone can do to make it go significantly faster. Factor in the healing XP requires another player to come in with wounds/BF, it only adds to the difficulty.

Now let me throw one more thing out here. I've actually seen a near perfect NPC entertainer in action. For whatever reason, a player has their character, a master dancer, sit in a tavern on an advanced planet, occaisionally shouts, and offers free healing/mind buffs to anyone who wants it. I find this rather funny. The character obviously doesn't need the XP, doesn't care about tips/treatment/anything, and provides this as pretty much a free NPC service. It takes away from the ATK entertainers. It takes away from the AFKers who are just trying to finish the profession (as players just go right over to the Ent Bot and get buffed/healed at the same time). At this point, that character is now as good as a NPC to me and anyone else that uses it. I have to admit, if I were a combatant, I'd use the service as well. Free healing, free buffing from an AFK master dancer.... but then I have to ask the question: what do we need players for?

I apologize for the length, thank you to those who read the entire post.

Thank you Thrin. That is exactly the point I have been trying to make in this thread. You also make an interesting point about being an active vs passive profession. I think I would add that while merchant is designed to be a passive profession, while entertainer wasn't but has become that.

As a Master Entertainer and proud owner of a fairly successful cantina - I would be for NPC entertainer 'pets'. I LIKE hanging around my cantina waiting for the wearly wounded travelor. I guess it might be nice toset up an NPC in my absence, but I think I read you wrong... are you suggesting replacing the Entertainment profession with ALL NPCs? I would be against this.

In my opinion, the AFK problem isn't due to the entertainment profession or even the path to Master.. The problem is from an outside force - the holocron grind to Jedi. Forcing people to grind thru professions they don't want to do will create the situation we have now - 2-3 cantinas full of AFK zombies who are entertaining only to drop it for the next profession. They don't care for tips, healing or interaction.

THIS single addtion to the game has broken several professions, and it would be wrong to rip up entertainers because of the Jedi craze. I am an entertainer by choice and I would like MORE to do in my profession, better mission payouts, and LESS hologrinders destroying the value of my profession.

I would like to see NPC entertainers as pets, perhaps, to be incorporated to maybe finally put in coupled dancing. It'd be much easier to incorporate coupled dancing with a "pet" than with another PC, I'd think.

How about cute entertainer pets that add entertainer bonuses?

Something cute and fluffy, like a cat or a bunny, but that increases your wound and fatigue healingand maybe lets you play for longer without running out of action by reducing your action costs.

I guess that it would work like familiers for magic users in certain other games.

I also like the idea of NPC dance partners as well, although in general it would be better to have bands made up of players rather than NPCs.

As to NPCs who just hang around in cantinas, I can see this making entertainers much less valuable as you could just watch the NPC.

Maybe a better alternative would be to put is a small amout of BF and mind wound regen into cantinas, like you have with medical centers.

This would at least mean you could regen, all be it very slowly, even in you are on a remote outpost with no entertainers around.

But when an entertainer does come in to the cantina they canfix youup much faster and so are still valuable (worth paying).

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Tiaga wrote:

Thank you Thrin. That is exactly the point I have been trying to make in this thread. You also make an interesting point about being an active vs passive profession. I think I would add that while merchant is designed to be a passive profession, while entertainer wasn't but has become that.

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So is there a real idea behind this thread, or was it just a way for you to preach about your afk cause?

Oh, and I know you don't get reg till the 2novice boxes, but I think as long as you can heal bf and mind, you should get to show up on the map. That should be changed. o.o

I own a cantina on Ahazi Naboo in the town of Numanjii. I've taken great care in decorating it and I love spending time playing there. However, I cannot spend 'all' my time there. entertainers don't earn much cash and the upkeep on the cantina is as high as a large house. While I want to be able to serve my town in healing wounds, I can't be there all the time. As a result, the people go to major towns with afk musicians, and when I am online, no one comes to my cantina. What would be nice is if cantinas or master musicians/dancers could purchase a "jukebox" or entertainer droid that they could leave in their cantinas to service the customers. NPC entertainment, would not work as well as an "at-the-keyboard" entertainer, maybe slower by half, but at least communities would be well served by their cantinas when the owner is not online or off earning money to support their entertainer "habit". In any case, NPCs should not work nearly as well as a real PC.

I'm also very behind the bandleader concept. It would sound so much better if entertainer could have NPC pets to help them fill out their sound.