Entertainer Archive

I am hoping that by posting here I can get the attention of all musicians and dancers. Daily I see posts on even the regular galaxy boards where buffbots are mentioned. Clearly this has been a long time issue that has been simmering that has now boiled. I think we need to continue to let the devs know how we feel about the buffbots. I am tired of hearing that buffbots are ok because what is a person to do if they can't find a live entertainer? Sometimes people can't find a doctor...so they make alternate plans. But if they can't find an entertainer that makes the live entertainers at fault? Anyway, my point is I think we need to stick our heads together and figure out how to fight back at the buffbots, and I don't mean using macros to shut them down. Here are some thoughts that I have had. I know some require a little work but I for one do not want to just give up when I am in competition with a buffbot. Please let me know what you think, if they are good ideas and if you think we can work together to do something. Post your ideas as well and please avoid making this thread into all the evils of afk and buffbot entertainers (since I think we all ready know that. )

1. Have a thread on the galaxy you play in each night were all the live entertainers can list where they are playing at the moment. People complain that can't find live entertainers....so lets tell them where we are.

2. A complaint I hear is that live entertainers don't know how to buff and will mess it up. Perhaps those who have been around and understand the buffing process can start seeking out the atk entertainers and teach them. Perhaps just putting together an email to send them. Within the letter explain the use of food to help buff action so that you can give the faster buffs in order to compete.

3. Have a night once a month where all entertainers are invited to come play in acertain cantina. Makeit a party. I think this is more for us because it can be great fun to get together and play in a band or put together band flourishes for dancers. Its a neat sight when we all get together. But don't forget to let people know about the party. People need to see what it is like when a few of us live entertainers get together

4. As master musician/dancer/entertainer walk into a cantina and if you can find a group of atk entertainers, get them together and teach them how to line up, do bandflourish (each taking turns so that they get exp share) and how to entertain. I am giving FamousFATWOOKIE this credit because he did this one night and it was great seeing the reactions of the people...and the entertainers didn't know about bandflourishes.

5. Pair up with a partner (musician/dancer) and set up right next to the buffbot. Advertise that you are live and no waiting on buffs. Invite people in as needed and capitalize on the fact that there is no waiting for the next buff session. This takes some work to coordinate and sometimes macros are helpful in giving instructions to people to not try to /listen and /watch at the same time. Change your music around (because I have found it doesn't matter what song you play). Use those techs and outperform the buffbot. If this is something your interested in, let me know because I can give you some tips on how to make this more efficient, set a timer so that people know they are done, etc.

6. Getting all live entertainers together and work on making a community skill tapes or other loot items that enhance mind buffs. People keep giving the buffbots all the good loot when found so that they can get a bigger buff. Perhaps if we work together we can get all those who do play at the keyboard improvements so that once again, we can try to outdo the bot.

Please share your thoughts and ideas.

(provided as informational only)

It would bea shame if 2 members of a faction (1 Overt and 1 Covert) were to enter a cantina looking for a buff. Oh, what luck, a handy buffbot. What a valuable service they provide, so easy to find what with their barking and all. The Covert member has some Medic skills (let's say Novice Medic) and they /invite the buffbot for a mind buff - they've got healing to do, after all.

But wait, in comes Johnny Imperial (or Johnny Rebel, whoever the opposite faction is). A fight ensues between the Overts! The Covert must help his comrade in arms - so he applies a Stimpack A to their Overt friend. Oops, TEF'd. Oops, poor buffbot is group TEF'd. Oops, open season on buffbots. It's not the Covert's fault, the Entertainer should defend themself at that point.

And all that poor Covert wanted was a mind buff...such is the perilous life of a buffbot who provides a valuable service while completely AFK and let's say....sleeping while "playing" the game.

Warryyr
Musician Jedi|Explorer|Interior Decorator|Wookiee Superhero

memories ... especially of the fans that make it all worthwhile.
Play live or logout!

The bot would get a group TEF not a TEF that would allow anyone to attack them.

sorry to troll....

i always choose a live dancer over a bot.

to get my business...

you have to be there at the keyboard.

you have to talk to me when i ask for a entertainer buff.

you have to be nice.

that gets you my credits and respect every time.

you have to know enough to actually buff me.

I was accualy coming in to this forum (more trolling) to complain about this very thing. I already knew I was going to be preaching to the choir but I was going to anyway in hopes to spark a massive thread about the stop of mindless dancing and instrument playing ZOMBIES.

See, I was in Theed on Naboo and I stood at the top of the stairs waiting for a polite greeting or something like that... nothing.

I walked in very slowly to a chair near the bar, maybe there was a live entertainer behind a non-live one and they didn't see me through the large crowd...nothing.

I sat down and nodded and smiled to a few ent's to encourge converstation...nothing.

I sighed and began to watch and listen to the 2 closest ent's sat there for 5 mins reading every work in the chat box for an indication of life... nothing.

I got ready to type my standard tip of 5k for each entertainer hoping maybe someone would get a 6th sense that I was typing something in... nope... so I backspaced it all.

0 BF, I stood up, waited at the stairs did a /wave walked.

I am sorry to be long winded and boring, I am just wondering why this is such a big deal since the Jedi revamp. I personally hate to chat. But I do it to be nice to the ent's because you peeps are out there and doing your hussle, thats great! You chosea profession that is a reflect of what you like to do, chat, meet new people.

Thanks All

Arick Uchra-Ob

"I personally hate to chat. But I do it to be nice to the ent's because you peeps are out there and doing your hussle, thats great! You chosea profession that is a reflect of what you like to do, chat, meet new people."

Speaking for myself, that has nothing to do with why I entertain. Lots of people think that entertainers become entertainers in order to chat, but I certainly don't. Chatting is nice - sometimes -but it has nothing to do with dancing or playing an instrument. The entertainer professions have members like mewho are not there for the social aspect. Please don't assume that we all want to chatwith you. Many of us do, but if you're subsuming your naturally reserved character andchatting to me just because you think I like it, you're doing the same as those entertainers who hassle non-socialpeople whocome into the cantina just to get their heal and a buff. When you do that, you're creating an artificialsocial situation just for the sake of it. I prefer my interactions to happen spontaneously, built on a foundation of a naturally occurringconversation-starter.

In my opinion, weloner types - even loner entertainers -havethe same right as anyone else tobe able to play the gameas we wish. A MMORPG isn't there only for social players. If I want to chat with you, I'll make some comment thatinvites you to do so, but which also allows you to ignore it if you wish. If only everyone would do it this way, rather than talking to a person in a way that leaves no option but to respond, the game would be a non-threatening place for usloners, just as it is for social butterflies.

As for your points, they are valid. You should have got some response, even from me. But standing at the top of the stairs would have elicited no response from me. I don't automatically assume that any player wants to talk to me when they stand there. Similarly, walking slowly to a chair would get no response from me. In my view you have every right to wander through a cantina unmolested, and nothing you've done so far makes me believe you want to talk to me. When you sit down and nod to me, or smile, that's when I would smile back. But still I'm not going to start up a conversation because of it. We're greeting each other - acknowledging each other's presence. It's a polite gesture that recognises the other person, but it's not an invitation to a conversation. I alwayswait for a conversation-opener to know that you want to talk. A "Wow! It's busy in here" or a "Boy! It's nice to sit down in a cantina after all that excitement". That's what I wait for to know that someone wants to talk. However, you didn't get any response at all - so you were right to deny the entertainers any tip. If they're not going to bother to play the game, they don't deserve a tip.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since June 2004, running one of the game's first completely nonviolent characters. Testing the limits of non-combat MMORPG play and trying to have fun into the bargain (although the developers make it difficult).

Combat is no longer compulsory.

Well, the way people play Jedi has changed, the way to get a Jedi still hasn't. So, people are still grinding away in the hopes of unlocking. Try after Publish 10, I think things will be different.

Thats very, true. If I wanted to have a conversation with someone, I should have accually "said" something. I did say that I was not looking for a chat at that time. But in this particular case I was looking for a pulse in the building (other than the beat of a droid using it's playback module). I would have tipped you because it does show you are there making an effort to perform your profession.

I am familiar of a member in my guild that welcomes each player that enters the cantina it's just a simple "Welcome Arick". I think that is the same a smile. It's a verbal smile, it indicates to me that this person is available to chat with if you want to, if not, the customer would not respond.

You are also correct about choosing an entertainer to be a non social/social character. I should not have assumed all entertainers want to be talkative.

My point is, a smile would have been all I would have needed to be a happy customer and wanted to return to that player again.

-Arick

Another idea to add to Muria's list would be the use of chat channels for live entertainers, and those who are looking for us. These have been successful in varying degrees on some servers, and would provide a vehicle where ATK entertainers and those seeking us could find one another.

Naturally, ATK entertainers and those seeking entertainer healing and/or buffs would have to be encouraged to use the tool.

There are two ways to consider this option now.

1) Rally to have a new persistent Entertainment chat channel, akin to the new Auction and Planet channels.

2) Continue the previous methods of having a player create a channel each morning

Although there are existing methods of finding entertainers in game, none of them work all that well. Search has a limited range, venue registration is not functioning correctly. Having galaxy-wide chat to post that an entertainer is performing/buffing, or that healing/buffing is requested somewhere, facilitates players finding one another, interaction, and may assist in alleviating the difficulties in locating entertainment.

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hmm, friend of mine had me laughing in my coffe yesterday when he told me his way to deal with the buffbots..

he goes to an atk entertainer to get rid of his BF, tips her good, then goes to the buffbot to rip her off for buffs

his philosophy is : hurt them in their wallet, and promote atk by rewarding it

- Leasa Ace - Farstar - deceased

(don't know why I can still post either )

Hi muria,

So if you don't mind adding to your post, here are my thoughts on the "Fight":

* Do something besides entertain. That keeps you fresh for when you are and gives you something in common with other classes in the game and a starting point for conversations. Race, tour, craft, fight do something that seems interesting to you and wear your title while doing it. Don't hide--make players know we're out there.

* Buffs are a service and its up to you to make it entertaining for you as well as your clients, and others in the cantina. You don't have to buff, but if you do know what you're doing. Be willing to team up with others who aren't even masters to just create more of a show and to spread the wealth around. Watch your spam--that's the hardest thing to do , but if you invite others to share in what you're doing, they might not mind as much. Bots rarely share or socialize, so avoid "fighting" a bot in a way that turns you into one.

*If you don't like to buff--find out who does so you can toss out the names ifyou get asked (or ifyou get asked when busy). We can counter the impression that there are no entertainers so bots are needed.

No matter how you fight--remember we're not fighting against the bots so much as for a class we all enjoy. Focus on that and I bet that spirit will move other players to help us in time.

Mabia (Master Dancer/Musician) Asked me to post this for her. Great ideas Mabia