Entertainer Archive

There have been discussions about just how to handle those Entertainers who work their way up the skill trees through AFK macros. There are a lot of suggestions that boil down to punishing the AFKer by denying him his experience points.

This is completely the wrong approach. Instead of punishing such people, we must nurture them and give them their experience points. Like the Heliocentric Theory, the Round Earth Theory, and the Hamsters Are Carnivorous Brain Slugs Sent By Evil Overminds of the Planet Zebulon Theory, this suggestion may be viewed as crazy talk, but hear me out.

See, these people who use the AFK macros have a medical condition called Cranius-Insertionia-Rectus. They simply are incapable of realizing that the lack of fun they experience as a Novice Entertainer will be waiting for them when they become a Master Dancer or Musician. It is our sacred duty to help these poor souls by revealing this fact to them. The sooner they can reach that level, the sooner they can ask themselves the question, "Why did I just spend $15 a month to run an expensive screen saver?"

So, we must compose ideas that will help the AFKer shoot through the skill boxes faster than...well, faster than something unpleasant through a particular fowl. I propose the following changes in the noble attempt to show AFKers the errors of their way:

• As soon as the AFK flag goes up, the rate of experience doubles.


• Each time a UI toolbar button is activated more than once in a macro, the amount of experience gained is doubled again, up to a limit of 262,144 times the normal reward.


• The first five times an entertainer begins to perform, a message box pops up verifying the user’s intent. The message box reads as, "You do realize that the amount of fun gained as a Master will not be any more than that gained as a Novice, right?" Sometimes this truth eludes those afflicted with Cranius-Insertionia-Rectus; there seems to be a lack of logical progression in their neural pathways. Some scientists propose that the afflicted may comes to terms with this fact if another message box pops up, saying, "Are you sure?"


• Any entertainer who needs apprentice points simply needs to type "Entertainer God Mode Engage." This will produce a neat Voltron sound effect. The sound effect is not needed for the treatment of such people, but we at the Institute really like Voltron.

Using these methods, the AFKer will discover in less than one day just how boring his accomplishments really are. This saves him days of wasted time as he moves on to another sad attempt to master something else. While this solution will not solve Cranius-Insertionia-Rectus, it provides a soothing workaround that allows them to come to grips with this realization much sooner than usual.

Is it really necessary to add a disclaimer that this is all tongue-in-cheek? Well, I'll add it, but I won't disclaim whose cheek contains the tongue!

Ah, I see! A radical rectal-craniectomy! Oh, but if we offer a treatment, that's not a cure...

I prescribe fire, and lots of it.

LOL!

Apparently there are some new games coming out where you can click a "train" button and while you are off-line your PC continues to gain experience. I think SWG should implement that too...

Or better yet, give all professions the "become Master right now" button. Just let 'em do it right away. That would REALLY eliminate the AFK Macroing need.

C

Oh what the heck, I'll throw in my 2c ...

You can't write a macro without understanding what it is used for. You must understand game mechanics before writing a good macro.

So what is somebody who writes the macro doing? They're generally figuring out a way of pressing one button to substitute for pressing the same button over & over & over & (add appropriate number of "overs") again.

You think they're going to really "miss out" on the experience of hitting F3 that extra thousand times? WHY? I have yet to see an interesting part of the game that can be afk macroed. None of the "fun" things you do as an entertainer can be macroed, so why not get the grinding out of the way when you can and focus on the fun stuff?

I will turn this question on its head:

If entertaining stuff (flourishing, music, dance, etc) is so non-fun that you have to macro it, why are you bothering with it in the first place?

A very wise dancer once said on the dancer forum, if being an entertainer wasn't fun for you when you were a novice, then it won't be any more fun as a Master.

Yes yes, you did say there was other fun stuff -- presumably RPing and such. But you do not need a single skill box above novice to do that, so what is the difference what "level" you are, and what is the almighty rush to get to master if you find "all that other" stuff (the non-skill stuff) to be fun? You don't need skill boxes for that.

"I find it boring" is a good reason to quit the profession... It's not really a good reason to AFK MACRO the profession.

And there is tons of evidence to back me up on this. You may be an exception, but so far every AFK Macroer I have seen in game has quit the instant they got Master and never been seen again in the cantina except to quickly self-heal. And most of them have eventually sold-back most or all of their elite entertainer tree to get something "more interesting."

I macro while AT keyboard to free my fingers up to roleplay, and also because I have particular combinations that my brain sucks at remembering but I want my dancer to perform in a specific sequence, so I macro to avoid missing steps (and also missing RP if I am hitting flourish keys while RP is going on). But when I am not there, my dancer SITS DOWN... she doesn't keep dancing. Why? Because I actualy like playing a dancer and I don't want to miss out on any moment of her development.

C

Agreed... Sounds like a wonderful idea. Then these people that think that Entertainment is a boring profession can leave it much more quickly for greener pastures if they so wish (or to stay with the Master level if that is their desire). In addition however, these changes will not be enough. We would also have to institute a change in the way other Entertainers gain experience. I think experience should be given at the rate of no more than 1 point per day to people with the condition nasal-insertus-affairus-d'otro. That way the people who enjoy the "social" grinding aspects of the profession will be able to shout things like: "Entertaining is the only thing I do. Give me money PLZZZZZZZZZZ!!!" Or better yet, make another entertainer as a character, just make sure it's a female human or Twi'lec that wears revealing clothing to ensure proper tipping.

As opposed to your post however, only the first few sentences in mine were tongue-in-cheek...

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Chessack wrote:
LOL!

Apparently there are some new games coming out where you can click a "train" button and while you are off-line your PC continues to gain experience. I think SWG should implement that too...

Or better yet, give all professions the "become Master right now" button. Just let 'em do it right away. That would REALLY eliminate the AFK Macroing need.

C

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I think you are referring to EVE Online, where you need time to learn your skills and training continues when you log out, in real time, but some skills take 30 days but that is completely different from this situation because you do not need experience to become a good fighter or a decent miner.

Seriously, how do you expect me to remain nice when some kid walks in where I'm dancing, he's a choreographer, parks his wookie bottom in front of me and happily tells me "I'm going to skill now, see ya" ?

Eh, edit button would be nice...

This: I'm going to skill now, see ya

Should read: I'm going to school now, see ya