Entertainer Archive
Thread: On Denying Services
Yeah, I fedexed my way up to a nice 30k nest egg. Modest, I know. I bought a house and a new wardrobe. But since then I've had enough income to keep my account easily in 5 figures. My money is coming from tips, instrument sales, and primarily gig earnings from (you guessed it!) player cantinas (thank you Leppy!) and Player Associations that want to hire a band.
My instrument sales earnings are currently going to fund raise for our planned PA Center in the next week or so. Tips are sometimes scarce. Most of my cash to keep me above 10k is coming from gig fees.
That in itself is my reason to go to player cantinas. (we also can make nice tips there on occasion)
I've started more heavily selling instruments in anticipation of our PA hall. I bought the first batch of resources off the bazaar for some ungodly fee of 3.9 cr/unit. I'm selling at least 1 instrument a day from july 30 on, sometimes 2 a day, and sometimes to the same people (different instruments of course). The market for instruments is currently quite viable, this might change.
I didn't even have to buy my resources, i'm just lazy. I bought novice artisan for 100 with that purpose in mind and i'm up to survey 2, halfway to 3. But it takes too long, i use it for wood and that's about it. Otherwise my profits from these instruments would be crazy.
So right now, a "poor" or "disadvantaged" musician could spend 100 on the novice skill, 100 on the survey tool, and 20 on the posting fee and be on his way to cash. A modest 220 startup fee that I'd be willing to loan if someone asked. When that musician gets to higher levels and a second profession, he can return the artisan skill with no tears, cause by the time he needs those last 15 points, he will have enough money to buy materials from the bazaar.
1.the RPG in MMORPG stands for Role Playing Game. Sorry to tell you something you already know; my point is not what it stands for, but what it means. Some people might want to play a role that likes to hear good music. This is a role, there is no game mechanic for it. It's entirely player-created---the desire to see a good band I mean. Yeah, people who aren't interested, won't come. Doesn't bother me in the least. If my enthusiasm to play the role of a good entertainer is not enough to bring you in, than please don't pay the cover.
On a related note, what if I live in a player city with my PA? Then the question is reversed, why would I go into town when I can stay here near the good hunting and get healed for a mere 50cr cover and a 100-200 cr. tip? 250 is about what you'd tip the entertainers back in Coronet, right? and it's a 10 min walk from where i'm at. 250 and no BF now? or 250 and no BF 10 min from now? you tell me. There's your game mechanic for the player cantinas.
2.and 3. If you have doubts about the Customer service, send an email to them outlining your concerns. You are paying for it and I think they want you to feel you got your money's worth from the system.
Having doubts about the system is not a reason to stop using it or say that it doesn't work. The CSR and /report might not work fast enough for you. ...but I suspect that will change. This does not concern me for some reason. /shrug
4. There is an ingame mechanic for finding out where the lists are. It's the spatial window. Talk to your fellow gamers. Also, this website is well advertised by SOE every time you log in. There's a news tab on the launcher, hit it once in a while. Noobs are well taken care of in this community. On these boards, and the board for your server, you can find which PA sites have lists posted. That's how I found out on my server--checked Chilastra board, saw a PA post with a link, checked the PA site with screenshots, login, /addignore.
Again, not everyone has to use this. I don't feel like we need to "leave no child behind" or something with this. The system is there for you to use, learn how to use it; even the tools for learning are given to you so it's not hard. The tutorial and the holocron are very skeletal right now, IMHO, but they still tell you where to go to look for help.
There's another system inplace to help noobs. The HELPER title in the game is a game mechanic specifically set up to help noobs figure out what to do and how to do it in the game. This includes reporting abusive behavior. I can tell you are worried about the noobs so I suggest you turn on your HELPER flag.
5."I have no response to this. That is the most naive argument I've ever heard. Log off and go to a park because someone is bothering you isn't just silly, it's unhealthy. You can't just run away from conflict your entire life. The problem with the game right now is that it doesn't give you any options for directly taking care of the problem. I don't mind the lack of total PVP; dueling is fine. But people who start trouble and then duck their duels should be recognizable. Perhaps a rating for the ration of duels you've been challenged to but haven't accepted?"
I disagree. When I walk away and log off I have directly taken care of the situation. The situation no longer exists. What I havn't done is directly affected the other player. .. .and I don't feel like I have to in every situation. If the abusive behavior is too much for me, I can use the /report feature, the CSR ticket or other mentioned things. With those features I can directly affect the other player.
Again, the ideal I'm trying to get to with the /addignore feature is that I can alter my play experience positively and not alter in any way the other guys game. Beautiful!
The opposite of him abusing me is not me reporting him, it's no interaction at all, and I believe that's what /addignore does: limits my interaction to those whom I deem fit.
Hijo wrote:
Oops how could I forget...
"And as for Entertainers vs. Artisans....people seem to keep forgetting that both "practicing" and the use of harvesters are optional. Everytime you "practice", you COULD have been making the real thing. And you can sample all you want for free, and gather enough materials to make pretty much anything. All you really use up is time and mind points....and given how easy it is to set up mining macros (not to mention the fact that you can buy a machine that will do it all FOR YOU), I still maintain that the Artisan professions are the easiest and most profitable professions in the game. Why do you think there are so many of them?"
First of all, you're right... artisans could make the real thing everytime, and then they could destroy it manually after it doesn't sell and get less xp for making it (i.e., like they did before the practice option was put in). You could also sample for free, but unless you were going to afk-sample (i.e., break the rules) you are going to be spending some credits to buy and maintain harvesting equipment. I don't think "people keep forgetting" about these things, but if you know anything about being an artisan you know they really aren't optional past a certain point.
Mining macros? Yea, if you wanna be making ribbed shirts for the next 6 months.
So like I said, you will be expending plenty of materials as an artisan. Whether by destroying, practicing or selling items, you will be expending materials... you will also be expending lots of money on your harvesters, power generators, factories, vendors and your house, which you will need if you want to sell anything priced above 3000 credits. All of these things also require thousands in maintenance a day, and if you don't pay it for a couple of days... *poof* Oh, and let's not forget about resource shifts. You'll need to replace all of your generators and harvesters every week as the resources shift... fun fun fun!
So, profitable? Yea it can be. At this point though you aren't going to bemaking much money until you are master though, since that is the onlystuffmost peoplewant. Easiest in the game? LOL! You aren't an artisan are you. Like I said, they earn every credit they get.
You're missing the point. Your complaint, and the complaints of so many other people, hinged on the idea that an entertainer could simply macro their way into Master with little to no trouble. My point is that Artisan is just as abusable in that respect. Yes, to be a successful Artisan you have to put some kind of effort into what you do, but then the same could be said for entertainers. Perhaps if you paid more attention before responding to posts, we could avoid repeating ourselves quite so much.
Ah, if only they would allow you to create little elves to help you collect material from your harvesters and work the craft machines, your drudgery could end, and the game would be balanced! You could charge your current prices having done little to no real work of your own. Perhaps, someday the dream can become a reality.
Hijo wrote:
CantinaFly wrote:
You're missing the point. Your complaint, and the complaints of so many other people, hinged on the idea that an entertainer could simply macro their way into Master with little to no trouble. My point is that Artisan is just as abusable in that respect.
Check your facts, you can't macro up to Master Artisan, not even possible.
You CAN macro from start to finish as an entertainer.
Cantinaboy,
Be honest...you just bump this every so often to try and drive your point home, even though the rest of us have already dismissed your argument, don't you?
*bump*
Bumping this in the hopes that the devs read what the community thinks and not just what the correspondant tells them.
And its going to get abused by a few bad entertainers, causing your whole profession to get a bad name. In turn this will cause players to create "entertainer bots" who will just afk dance for free 24/7 while they are not playing their main characters.
Every MMORPG has a player response to stupid ideas.
Mosh_Lokin wrote:And its going to get abused by a few bad entertainers, causing your whole profession to get a bad name.
Mosh, I fear you are correct. Some people will use it wisely but I fear many are going to abuse it for spiteful purposes.. I.e. "Tip me or I will /denyservice you!"
Bleh.
C