Entertainer Archive
Thread: forget buffbots, lets make the Ent classes worth being at the keys for!
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EmeraldBlade
Mon Aug 16, 2004 6:00 pm
#1
lets face it, the entertainer classes are afk even when you are there. its mostly a social gathering wich is fine, but the fact that you just stand around all day dancing or playing music in a cantina is the whole reason buffbots are a problem.
In many other games you play there is an entertainer class. only its called 'bard'. The bard class contributes to COMBAT by playing music and singing during COMBAT. so long as they are performing, the group members are BUFFED. why cant the Devs create something like this? you cant have a buffbot join you in combat! well im sure they would find a way, but it would inevitably be killed.
I personaly could never stand to play an Ent class, (i did them all for unlocking, and it was a nightmare) tho i know some people like socializing its pretty damn boring. Now imagine taking your skills into battle with your guildies! them relying on you constantly, protecting you as you buff them up! i think that would make the ent classes far more desirable and exciting.
please let me know what you think, and keep bumping this. maybe a Dev will take notice. (and send me a cheque for helping them out.)
Tiaga
Mon Aug 16, 2004 8:48 pm
#2
SWG has a profession to fill the bard role already. It's called Squad Leader. In the past the response by the devs have been that entertainers aren't bards.
Bards in other games aren't really "entertainers" in more than name. Some games let you make limited music... Some didn't have any sound at all for bards.
Finally, just because you found it boring doesn't mean everyone does. SWG caters to quite a wide variety of play styles, and some people find more to do as an entertainer than just stand around dancing.
Bards in other games aren't really "entertainers" in more than name. Some games let you make limited music... Some didn't have any sound at all for bards.
Finally, just because you found it boring doesn't mean everyone does. SWG caters to quite a wide variety of play styles, and some people find more to do as an entertainer than just stand around dancing.
EmeraldBlade
Tue Aug 17, 2004 4:46 pm
#3
well i said that i know some people find it fun. my point was that this would help with the problem of buffbots. because the fact is, there doesnt have to be anyone behind the keys for an ent to do his job.
Banthabutcher
Tue Aug 17, 2004 5:06 pm
#4
Story Time! 
It was the wee hours in the morning and barelya soul was in the Theed cantina. A broken buffbot was at the front and since all the grinders go to Coronet these days, I was the only musician there. So I set up my droid (Sparkles) with the Bandfill track for Ceremonial. I whip out my Mandovial and start playing.
An hour later and only a few passing people. Then someone new to the game walks in. I guess I was the first [live] master they've seen. We traded a few passing words and then he sat down in a corner. I just assumed at the time he was logging out so I didn't talk to him. 10 minutes later I decide it's time to head to bed so I hit the ever fateful /stop. I finish and pack up my droid. On my way tomy logout chairI pass the guy. I assumed he just did /quit and didn't pay any notice. I sit down and surprisingly, the guy gets up and comes over to me. I don't remember his exact words, but they were something along the lines of:
"Man, that was beautiful. I didn't think you could do that kind of thing in this game."
"You liked it huh? You don't hear the Ceremonial song too often."
"So it was all pre-set?"
"Just the basic ref and the flourish sounds. I arranged them into that particular order. Otherwise it would just be the basic ref over and over again."
He didn't understand so I started up again showing him the basic ref and how you can do the flourishes in any order. Explained to him how there were 8 different flourishes and the timing. I think he began to understand how there's a serious difference then spamming flourishes and making a song in-game.
"Wow, you're a good musician then."
"Heh, thanks."
"That song really is beautiful. I mean, it really got to me in RL."
At which point I left. Never really saw him again (trial account I guess) and I've forgotten his name.
But that little moment was enough reason for me to be "at the keys."
Not ganging up on you, just reinforcing Tiaga's post:
Some of us enjoy sitting there and making music/dancing.
Xyrdre
Tue Aug 17, 2004 5:22 pm
#5
EmeraldBlade wrote:
well i said that i know some people find it fun. my point was that this would help with the problem of buffbots. because the fact is, there doesnt have to be anyone behind the keys for an ent to do his job.
"There doesn't have to be anyone behind the keys for an ent to do his job". Therein lies the problem with the macro system as is - too much can be fully automated. And that's why AFK/recursive macros are being looked at. Full circle, and right back where we started... here in the present.
In truth, entertainers have been asking for content to make the gameplay more fun for a very long time. AFK and buffbots simply became a crisis to the continued existence of theplaystyle that overshadowed those attempts to get some dev time for content. Believe me - having some more engaging things to do as entertainers is high on our lists - just not quite as high as preventingbeing totally replaced by scripts. See my recently stickied thread in the Dancer forums for one content proposal that could be looked at for future development... it's still something that we think about, of course.
As has been stated, the devs already have implemented the "bard" class, and they are called Squad Leaders. Very appropriate, in my opinion. Generally speaking, the entertainer community do not want to be combat bard characters. Your original post seems to imply that nothing is worthwhile unless it involves combat - hence your abundant overuse of all-caps on the word itself. The existence of the social playstyle in SWG, largely personified by the Entertainer professions, provides a unique gaming experience for those players who do not share your enthusiasm for a constantbattlefield existence. To think that the only reason that entertainers don't have the same relish for battle is because we don't have the bard-like skills to do suchis missing the whole point of the existence of this playstyle.
Those entertainer players who also enjoy having a place on the battlefield typically take up a combat profession to round out their character development and provide for that chosen added playstyle as well, and there are plenty of skill points available to do just that. I myself enjoy going out hunting, and I've managed just finebeing a Master Dancer and MasterEntertainer, and added first Pistoleer and now Riflegirl to that.It seems to me that an Entertainer/Squad Leader character is just one small house away from being a fully functional bard type, without having to twist the professions of the social playstyle to fit that narrow view. One could even add additional combat skills to that 'template' for added survivability.The skill points are there - it's just in how you choose to arrange them.
Ikewe
Wed Aug 18, 2004 12:09 am
#6
uhm... we can already fill that need for our "guildies" and other combat players. We can indeed buff in camps and in other structures. AFK ers and buffbots became a problem because people who had no desire to be entertainers chose to grind through the professsion. Some then proceeded to drop it whileothers chose to exploit the system as an easy credit cow. Unfortunately the AFK craze created by people who see no real value in the profession has sparked a whole new generation of people who think it's not worth being an entertainer until you reach the master level (this attitude also affects other professions but not to the same extent). Only by educating them (and stopping the practice of grinding a profession you dislike) will we really save the entertainer profession.
Ikewe, Master Dancer (having never, not for one microsecond danced AFK) Shadowfire
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