Entertainer Archive

I propose one minor edit to point #8. It was originally stated as:

Do any members of the development teams regularly play an entertainer?

I recommend it be altered to read as follows:

Do any members of the development teams regularly play an entertainer and if so, do they actually play at keyboard or do they do it by means of a long-term AFK macro?

I won't explain why I suggest this alteration, as I believe the reasons are quite obvious.

C

Heheh...

It was mostly a tongue-in-cheek suggestion, as I am sure you realized.

C

Message Edited by Tiaga on 01-23-2004 03:21 PM

Thank you Tiaga, you've worked hard for us.

Is it possible to prevent musical instruments like Ommni Box and Nalargon from being moved around a roomby anyone but the building owner or current playing musician?

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Tiaga wrote:

I did make a small substitution however. If you will notice today's Friday Feature:

"The second phase will be to rebuild the Jedi system to be quest-oriented; and toinclude the familiar elements of Force Sensitivity, Jedi-oriented quests, as well as many other elements the developers and the community feel should make up the process of becoming a Jedi."

That means question 6 has been answered already. The class based system will be replaced with something quest oriented. In the interest of not wasting a question, I substituted the following question:

6. Will the new system for attaining a force sensitivie character slot be something that can be achieved by non-combatants, without forcing them to pick up a combat role, or to drag a combatant along for most of it?

Message Edited by Tiaga on 01-23-2004 03:21 PM

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I think you may have misunderstood that quote (I can't find the Fri Feature so I'm not sure).

I think they're re-doing the Jedi profession, not how to unlock the FSCS. Remember that Unlocking your FCSC and becoming a Jedi are two different things. So, now instead of grinding combat xp as an Initiate, you can do quests and other things with your force sensitivity.

Just what I think, so the new #6 may be a moot question since it can't be answered.

Also, about the questions... I don't know if they were gathered or reflected upon long enough... Were you on a time restraint?

1. When the entertainer class was created, what was the vision for role that entertainers would play in the grand scheme of things? Do you see entertainers now as filling that role?
   

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   Nice!
   

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2. Do you have plans for quests or theme parks for entertainers? Perhaps a quest for new music, dances, instruments or entertainer specific clothing, similar to the RIS armor quest, or a way for entertainers to go perform for Jabba.
   

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   Good examples of content that Entertainers would like. I would also ask what content in general that the devs do plan on adding as well as specifically asking about new quests.
   

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3. Entertainers need more to do. Is there any chance of including entertainers in future story arcs? How about an in-game system to support player run events?
   

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   Could've combo'd this with #2 when asking about content.
   

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4. We have heard that there is new music and dances in the works. Is it possible to get an ETA on when we will expect this? Are there any other non-specific details you can give us, such as how many new music and dances are coming, or whether they will go to the entertainer or the elite skill trees?
   

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   Nice!
   

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5. Do you have plans for new gameplay for entertainers? Perhaps something simple like a more active role in the healing process, or something more sweeping like giving entertainers a goal to reach such as reaching the status of superstar?
   

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   Asking about new gameplay is a great question, although the superstar bit is more along the lines of content. I would have left that out and asked a composite question of "Will there be new gameplay?" and "Will the new gameplay involve a revamp of the entire profession?"
   

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6. Do you have plans to change the holocrons to not include entertainer professions, or somehow mitigate the damage that the hologrinders are doing to the economy and the community?
   

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   I think the entire reason that the holocrons are random is so a player is forced to take up other professions instead of sticking with their first 1-4 professions they wanted. That way a person that only took up the Artisan tree/elites gets to see how combat, healing, and entertainer are. Maybe then they'll think "Wow! Combat Medic is a lot more fun than Droid Engineer! Thanks SOE/Holocron!" It's a way to add life to a game that someone may be thinking about quitting. So by excluding Entertainer professions, you're saying that you want to keep "outsiders" away from your pure class. I think that could be unhealthy for the game. I know the real reason is because a lot of Entertainers don't like AFKers and crowded cantinas. Excluding Ent professions from holos is treating the symptoms, not the root cause (lack of gameplay/content in Entertainer). I guess it doesn't matter since you didn't submit this question though.
   

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7. Do you feel that it is acceptable that the role of entertainers is being completely filled by people impersonating NPCs, leaving those who play the class with nothing to do? Do you plan to do anything about this, such as an auto-logout or making healing a more active process?
   

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   You already asked them what they planned for the Entertainer's role in the game, and you've also asked if they would make the Entertainers have a more active role in healing.
   

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8. Do any members of the development teams regularly play an entertainer?
   

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   I would have also asked if they enjoy playing as an Entertainer and why. If they enjoy it for the socializing, then that's not because the Entertainer profession is well made, they just enjoy chatting with people. If they enjoy it because they enjoy actually playing music and dancing, then that could explain why the profession is how it is now.
   

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9. Can we expect a profession-wide revamp similar to what chef's are getting right now, and what will be coming for DEs?
   

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   Could've combo'd this with #5 when asking about gameplay.
   

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10. One thing that is often quoted as the boring part of being an entertainer is that all you see is the inside of a cantina, and all the cantinas look the same, or are at least one of three basic types, with Tatooine having a couple extra. Is there any plans to revamp the cantinas in big cities to give them more local flavor, or make them more entertainer friendly by adding a stage for performers?
    

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    Nice!
    

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The reason I bring it up is because the questions as is seem a little unorganized in thought. I worry that they might not be effective in milking information from TH or the devs. Also, 10 questions seems like a lot so it seems as if we were struggling to fill up the 10 slots with duplicate questions and suggestions from some of the community to fix what they dislike (auto-log, active healing, etc).

The hologrinding seems to be a moot point now <dance with glee> but I would like to point out that the afk cantinas were not filled with those doing the bidding of a little blue cube. The majority of the people in the cantina had finished their 4 blue cubes and were searching for profession #5. Most of them say to themselves "why don't I start checking professions off the list with the entertainer professions. They're easy and I can macro them when I am at work. Should that fail, then I'll start the harder professions like Bounty Hunter, or the expensive professions like Weaponsmith." That's why the cantinas were so packed, because we had both hologrinders and profession #5 hopefuls, who traditionally started with ID/music/dance/entertainer before trying other professions. Again, though, the fact that these professions were targeted as easy and afk is indicative of the huge underlying problems in the professions.

"I think you may have misunderstood that quote (I can't find the Fri Feature so I'm not sure)."

The key part in the quote is "... the process to becoming a jedi ...". Once you start your second character, you are a jedi from the beginning, just not a very skilled one. Trust me, I have clarification on this point from the devs that it means exactly what I said. I would not have made the change if I was not positive. And the new question is not my own. It is a question that was tossed around a lot before the current system was known, so I thought it a fair replacement.

Alright I'm compiling a list now. I'll post it here before passing it on to the devs, so you still have a little time to chime in with some questions.

I am skipping a few questions for certain reasons. Some due to clarity, some because I know what the answer is likely to be.

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2. Are the suggestions we're giving helpfull at all? It would help to know which ballpark we're playing in as far as viable and workable additions/changes so that we all don't keep suggesting something that can't be done.

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Without asking about a specific suggestion, this is a bit too general. If you are referring to the brainstorm threads I have been starting, those ideas have not been presented yet. I will be working those ideas into better detail with the community, and present a nearly complete concept for them to consider. They have already started looking at similar proposals for other professions.

On bug fix questions.. Except for one or two, most these were a little too general. Saying "The bug with theaters" will get the response "Which bug with theaters?". They most likely do not have every single bug committed to memory.

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#7: Do you intent to follow through on your EULA and prohibit any type of unattended gameplay ?

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They have already answered this in the past. They do not consider it a violation of the EULA to use the in game macro system, even while AFK. Asking again will not change the answer. The only question that may get a different response is if they are going to reword the EULA to reflect their policy. However, I doubt that is what you are looking for.

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8. Why are the combat proffessions reseaving sooooooo much focus... i realise that most are in a combat proffession, but it makes sense since they are the only ones who get fixes/ content/ additions so its a self serving cycle... dont you think its time to pay A LOT of attention to the non combat types?

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To be fair, I would say that only a few professions have had positive attention towards them. However, there are 16 combat related professions, and only 4 entertainer professions. There have been non combat professions that have gotten some attention. Chefs are getting a bit of love in the current publish. The upcoming droid invasion publish will be focusing on DEs.

This, of course, is not to imply I will not be lobying for more attention towards entertainers. It means the opposite, in fact. I need to put entertainers on the radat.

There are lots of good questions out there. Hopefully we will get some good answers to them.

Here is the list of questions I will be presenting.

1. When the entertainer class was created, what was the vision for role that entertainers would play in the grand scheme of things? Do you see entertainers now as filling that role?


2. Do you have plans for quests or theme parks for entertainers? Perhaps a quest for new music, dances, instruments or entertainer specific clothing, similar to the RIS armor quest, or a way for entertainers to go perform for Jabba.


3. Entertainers need more to do. Is there any chance of including entertainers in future story arcs? How about an in-game system to support player run events?


4. We have heard that there is new music and dances in the works. Is it possible to get an ETA on when we will expect this? Are there any other non-specific details you can give us, such as how many new music and dances are coming, or whether they will go to the entertainer or the elite skill trees?


5. Do you have plans for new gameplay for entertainers? Perhaps something simple like a more active role in the healing process, or something more sweeping like giving entertainers a goal to reach such as reaching the status of superstar?


6. Do you have plans to change the holocrons to not include entertainer professions, or somehow mitigate the damage that the hologrinders are doing to the economy and the community?


7. Do you feel that it is acceptable that the role of entertainers is being completely filled by people impersonating NPCs, leaving those who play the class with nothing to do? Do you plan to do anything about this, such as an auto-logout or making healing a more active process?


8. Do any members of the development teams regularly play an entertainer?
   
9. Can we expect a profession-wide revamp similar to what chef's are getting right now, and what will be coming for DEs?


10. One thing that is often quoted as the boring part of being an entertainer is that all you see is the inside of a cantina, and all the cantinas look the same, or are at least one of three basic types, with Tatooine having a couple extra. Is there any plans to revamp the cantinas in big cities to give them more local flavor, or make them more entertainer friendly by adding a stage for performers?

#7: Do you intent to follow through on your EULA and prohibit any type of unattended gameplay ?

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They have already answered this in the past. They do not consider it a violation of the EULA to use the in game macro system, even while AFK. Asking again will not change the answer. The only question that may get a different response is if they are going to reword the EULA to reflect their policy. However, I doubt that is what you are looking for.

I know what you intended, and trust me, it will not get anything new out of them. If you take it from the angle of there being two types, they would say that using 3rd party programs is not allowed. If you take it from the angle of what is the difference, they would answer that they don't allow the use of 3rd party programs. If you take it from the angle of why don't they change the EULA to reflect their policy better, you may get them to change the EULA eventually. But that would not make our profession any different. There is no way to word the question to get a simple answer that would be satisfying.

First, if you think this question would not have received a useful answer, by all means chose another better suited question ( as you did ). I have not communicated witha dev since release, so if youeven managed to catch a glimpse of a written character by someone who's making coffee for the stand-in for secretary of the devs, you are worlds ahead of me

I would indeed like the EULA updated. It is the "law" for this game and as such, should be correct. Lets say I start this game and don't read the forums ( not required afaik ) I have an unfair disadvantage because the EULA says you may not use macros for unattended gameplay. This is incorrect. However, if I think that as all people do it, it must be ok, I could use the same reasoning about exploits. All people I saw were exploiting turrets, so I thought it's ok. You can only justify punishment in a system that has a correct set of laws publicized to all. ( Not that SOE would need a justification, but it would be a niceillusion ).