Entertainer Archive

Currently I am playing as a musician. In order for me to get my full list of songs and instruments as well as max skill in musicianshipI have to also get master entertainer. To get master entertainer I am forced to sit through image design and dance. Well as I was completing these tasks I had an idea for a way change that could be made to benefit all of us who are novice entertainers and who may also be interested gettig master entertainer. My idea also would indirectly help some players who are trying to ease the burden of training image design.

The idea is simple.... Change the current xp for entertainer image design,dances and instrument/songs to a generic entertainer xp. Much like crafting xp for artisan. We will still have entertainer healing xp requirement but instead of seperate image design, dance and music xp requirements a consolidated entertainer xp would be used. The benefit to this would be that a dancer could dance their way to master entertainer, a musician could play music to master entertainer and an image designer could image design to master entertainer if they choose.

Entertainer xp would get a player their choice of novice ID, novice musician or novice dancer if they mastered all four trees much in the way artisan works right now. From novice on you would gain the individual xp as normal using the novice level skills and above.

Whereas I agree that it would be easier (and perhaps more pleasant) for musicians wanting to add ME for mandoviol and ceremonial, I don't really like the idea of general entertainer XP here. I think that it would take away from the concept of the Master Entertainer being well rounded in the different forms of entertainment, because they would no longer have to do anything other than one form.

The artisan example is only one comparison. Marksman and Brawler both share the Entertainer model - where different styles of ranged and melee combat are required to be used to be considered the well-rounded basic profession master. There are some differences in the way that the different ranged weapons are used in practice, for example, and it does lend some additional color and fun play totry outthe different strategies involved. Someone who only likes the rifle style can go on to become riflemen without bothering to do Master Marksman, just as someone who only likes music can just work the music trees in Entertainer to proceed to the elite profession. And there is fun to be had in music, dance and ID in the entertainer trees. If someone really hates doing one or two of the three, maybe ME isn't what they really want to spend their time doing. It's the individual's call as to whether the rewards are worth the effort.

Yes, it can be argued that a Master Musician has to have ME for the extra song and instrument. It can also be argued that the aforementioned rifleman who hates pistols and carbineshas to have Master Marksman for 5 of the 7 rifle speed points needed to cap speedat Master Rifles. It's all the same thing.

In thinking about this, I think that the Artisan general crafting XP maybe should be looked at (if anyone cares to ) as the anomaly here... why is it that we consider someone a Master Artisan because they grinded on making a few hundred personal harvesters? It actually might be nice to have Artisan do some dabbling in the various types of items to gain some rounding there. Course, the difference might be argued that crafting is crafting is crafting... it just takes different resource stats in different places to get good results (as if the majority of people even care about quality of results while leveling Artisan), so it all comes down to the same skills and play.

Granted, right now the major attraction of ME is to musicians. Dancers get one broken dance and one ugly dance at ME, so... err, who cares, and ID's get nothing at all (probably agood thingfor the purely ID minded, as they'd "have" to take up dance or music to get the healing XP needed for ME).

So, I can't think of a good design reason to back a 'general entertainer' XP, as it kinda goes against the rest of the game model in basic professions. Artisan seems to be the odd-man out here, not entertainer. Conceptually (roleplaying wise), there is no reason whatsoever for a general entertainer XP - it in fact is opposed to the concept. Yes, it would make it easier to get, but easier is not always best, in my opinion.

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I understand where you're coming from Reachwind. Sometimes I do wish that in order to get that Mandovial, I didn't have to be Master Entertainer, because it takes up 14 extra skill points that I'd like to use elsewhere. I also dance, so it's really the ID that I wish I didn't have to take. Nothing against ID, because my character on Tarquinas is an Expert Hairstylist and I really enjoy playing ID. But, for my main Kettemoor character, it seems like a waste of skill points to have something that I feel is vital to having a musician character.

I think, however, that my biggest gripe about having to spend those 14 skill points is that I consider them useless for Drygo. Rarely anybody ever asks for the services that can be provided with the entertainer ID boxes. I can change my lekku around, and change my eye color every once in awhile, but those two things are barely noticeable. I suppose if I was human I would at least enjoy having the variety of hairstyles and hair colors to play around with. But, as it stands, these are completely useless for Drygo. However, I think that if the entertainer ID skills were at least useful or fun for me in some way then I wouldn't mind. I'd like to see some kind of ID perk at master entertainer, or even at ID IV that justified me having to spend those 14 skill points. I've considered dropping Master Entertainer to have more musician skills, such as partial buffs, but I can't justify getting rid of that mandovial which I love so much. And, I suspect for someone such as yourself who has no interest in ID or dance then it's even worse.

So, I kinda think we're even looking at this from two different viewpoints. You don't want to dance or do ID at all. Whereas, I don't mind doing the ID part if only it had some actual use. So, I understand why you would want some kind of generic entertainer experience to avoid having to do things you don't enjoy. But, it's not doing the tasks that bother me so much as feeling like I've wasted points on something I'll never use. I also am not sure what kind of generic entertainer experience could be done.

It's kind of like smugglers having to have unarmed. I'm a TKM, so obviously I feel the need to have that unarmed. However, most smugglers (I was a smuggler once), rarely, if ever, use any of that unarmed experience unless they are a TK as well. The unarmed part for smugglers who have no interest in it is just as useless IMO as the ID experience for those who want master entertainer. Now if there were some benefits it would be a completely different story. I kind of disagree with getting rid of these extra skills in order to be well rounded as a master entertainer. I think that has some validity. However, it feels like a waste because they're useless.