Entertainer Archive
Thread: Question for Master Entertainers
I'm getting fairly close to mastering Image Design and Musician. I'm agonizing over whether or not I should Master Entertainer. For those of you that have done it, is the extra instrument and song worth the skill points? I assume that since you did it the answer is yes so could you write a line or 2 about why?
Thank you very much for your advice.
I'd rather master Entertainer for the mandoviol and ceremonial than Musician for the Narlagon (can't really speak about the song virtuoso, I've never mastered Musician to play with it on all instruments). I can't stand the way that stupid Jamaican-sounding keyboard comes across in all the songs I've ever heard. I love the mandoviol, though! And ceremonial is one of the coolest songs...I love playing it and hearing "Wow! I've never heard that before!" It sounds very Slavic;it's like waltz, only more so. The mandovol is disgusting on jazz, though. Texas Swing on a violin...ugh!
I have a goal...I want to play the virtuoso song on the mandoviol. Now that Musicians can buff (when I first pursued music, that didn't exist) it seems rather silly to not just go ahead and do Music to mastery. First time I did music, I just went up the Knowledge line, and the only thing I couldn't play was the Narlagon/virtuoso combo. I enjoyed that a lot, but it seemed pretty dead end. (That was before we could buff...which seems to breathe a little life into the whole thing...if the new HAM cost changes on TC don't kill us, 'cause all anyone will want will be Dancer buffs.)
Or maybe I just need to find an amp to hook into or something! heh
I think it's reasonable to say that the Mandovial is the most sought-after instrument in the game. Frankly, having played the Nalargon a bit I'd have to say it's mainly just a flashy gimmick. The mandovial can sound good solo, in small groups and in large groups (when it isn't drowned out as someone alluded to). The Nalargon needs backup in order to sound good.
If you enjoy entertaining then it's definitely worth it to go ME. It's really a question of skill points in the end. If you never dance and rarely use ID then you've got a lot of skill points tied up in what amounts to an ability to play one instrument and one unique tune. I'd say go ahead and finish ME and try it out. If you get tired of mando then just let it go. The beauty of the game is that you can change to become whatever you want whenever you want.
I remember the sound amplification of it being an issue, too. Broke my heart. The only time you could hear the strains of the mandoviol in a huge band was if there was another Master Entertainer, or even another 2, to play with you. And how often does that happen? (The few times it did, we actually got everyone to stop and played Ceremonial on Bandfill, horns & Mandoviol...oh, man! That was seriously cool.)
Question is...is there any reason for a Dancer or Image Designer to Master Entertainment? (No, Formal2 isn't enough of an improvement over Formal, and there's not diddly squat in there for ID.) I really think that's wrong. Here's what I've thought the case should be since beta:
Move the Mandoviol to Music Knowledge 4. The on-the-floor instruments should be the mark of a Master -- Narlagon for Musicians, Ommni Box for Entertainers. Leave Ceremonial in Master Entertainer. Swap Exotic 1 and Formal 2. It's silly to have that many levels of Exotic dance all scrunched up against each other there in Dance Knowledge. And put something nice from Image Designing into Master Entertainer! I have to admit to not knowing a whole lot about Image Design. Right now, though, there's absolutely zero reason for an Image Designer to master Entertainment unless they're also a Musician, which makes it feel like a non-participant in the class. Not cool.
That would give Master Entertainer a purpose other than the Mandoviol, which as it stands is the only real reason to do it right now.
I prefer the Mandoviol of ME to the Nalargon of MM. Virtuoso and Jazz are the only decent solo songs for the Nala, while the Mando is completely off the charts on SW1 and a few others. For overall listening pleasure, I play the mando more often, although I use both in my concerts, since I don't like singing with a horn in my mouth. But I I had to choose one, based on instrument/song alone, I would say Master Entertainer.
Sadly, the two most rare instrument/song combos are not worthy of their post. Playing Virtuoso on Mando, and Ceremonial on Nalargon require mastering both Ent and Music. I would have liked very much if those combos had been more appropriately musical.
Echinacea wrote:
I have a goal...I want to play the virtuoso song on the mandoviol.
Prepare to be disappointed. Just like Jazz, Virtuoso is awfull on a Mandoviol,both sound unfinishedon the Mandoviol
Agreed. Virtuoso is a tune that sounds great in a band and sounds flat played solo. Virtuoso is all about the bass-line. One master on omni/bandfill and one master on pretty much any other instrument sounds great. A full band of masters on Virtuoso sounds awesome.
One master playing solo just sounds blah. It's interesting because of the novelty but you don't get anything like the full tune when you're playing solo.
Solo mando does sound better than solo nalargon, though.
I just recently made Master Entertainer. I think that it is well worth your time. I enjoy playing the Mando very much and I agree that ceremonial is the coolest song! SW1 also sounds great while playing the Mando. Also for the people who want to move the Mando and ceremonial to Musical Knowledge 4, I disagree with you. I mean really, do you want almost all of the musicians playing ceremonial and the Mando. I think that becoming a Master Entertainer is a rare thing, therefor the Mando and ceremonialare rare to hear. If you took it away from Master Entertainer, there would really be no reason to become a ME. There areonly a handful of MEs and I think that they should be rewarded with the new instrument and song. I also am going for MM and I think that moving the Mando and ceremonial over to the musican skills would be a big mistake. Thats just my opinion, but it is up to the Devs. GO FOR MASTER ENTERTAINER!!!!
I agree that there seems to be no reason for a non-musician to bother tying up the skill points necissary to master entertainer. But when I created my musician on Chilastra, I decided to myself that, before I do anything else with him, I am going to master entertainer and musician. Now, I had a whole lotta nothing to do at the time, and there were very helpful entertainers around as well as a handful of awesome medics... I mastered entertainer, from scratch, in 3 days. Without ever going afk, all while interacting with people and being social as you're supposed to.
Now that I look back on it, that was a little too easy to master a profession. But seeing as how I was doing it solely for the one instrument and one song, I would have been a little angry if it took me forever. I just want to be able to play any song, any time, on anything... but I need to finish mastering musician before I reach that goal. ^_^;
All in all, if you like being a musician, I say go for it. I love my mandoviol.