Entertainer Archive

Firstly, let me say "Keep up the terrific work everyone"

My first character was an entertainer, almost had novice musician and loved it. For the most part, the people that I performed with were very friendly and actually made an attempt to please the crowds.

But, with last Saturday's login server problems, my character was deleted somehow and so I restarted.

Before that happened I sent an email to feedback to suggest some things that were bugging me ( these things bugged me so much, that is why when I did make a new character on Bloodfin, I went Marksman instead of going Musician all over again)

So here it is,

Dear Sony,

Let me get straight to the issues that I would like to address concerning tips, bands, experience and finally text messages.

Tips: It seems that the cast majority of people either do not believe we deserve tips or they just don't care. I feel that like any trade profession, we should be able to secure a form of payment upon delivery of a service or product. You don't see an "optional" payment plan for Artisans or items in the Bazaar.

As such here is my idea on how to fix this so that everyone is treated fairly.

Auto-Tip. Here is how it works, when the entertainer/dancer/musician begins to perform a window appears with a questions asking if the entertainer would like to engage the auto-tip function. Upon answering YES, another window appears and it has a slider ( similar to stat migration ). This slider goes from 0 to 50 for example and is defaulted at 0. The entertainer selects 5 as their total and hits ACCEPT.

What this does is, for every point of BF that is healed ( or mind wounds and such ) 5 credits is automatically withdrawn from the player who is watching. If they have no cash on their persons, it is transferred from their bank. In the case of people who have died and are on the way to their corpse and have no cash, they can simple /tell the entertainer in question, explain the situation and ask if they may watch for free. In which case the entertainer opens the radial menu on that player and a new button appears called PERFORM.

When this is selected, the entertainer will preform for THAT person for free.

Also, I find it odd that there is no "Split Tip" command or option for band members. This is, in my opinion, something that needs to be addressed immediately.

Now, as far as exp goes, there is something a bit..weird. I earned Entertainment Healing "HE" IV while I was still working on Musicianship "M" III. By the time I got 15k away from M IV i had earned 75k HE exp, basically the cap for EH exp for Entertainers. Now, this is odd. Firstly, they scale completely different from one another and secondly any bit of HE exp I earn while still trying to finish 15k for M IV and another 60k for Novice Musician is completely wasted. Since, I'm at my cap.

What I would suggest is either scaling Dancer/Musician exp up a "little" in order to more closely match HE exp gains OR raise the potential cap for HE exp.

This ties me into my last point. If you reach the cap for a certain exp type, why does the player STILL get a message stating that they received that type of exp? If I'm at my cap for exp, then effectively I am NOT receiving it am I? This can be applied to all professions I would imagine.

Well, that about sums up my concerns and suggestions, I hope that you have the time to read this message and with all luck, perhaps some if not all will be considered and applied.

Thank you

Callixtus, "Twi'lek entertainer". Bloodfin

So, that is what I sent last week, and as I mentioned above, my entertainer somehow was lost this past Saturday.

Well, be safe everyone and keep it up. Entertainers are an essential part of the community, it's about time that that concept is enforced, not recommended, as it has been up to this point.

Callixtus

Zabrak, "something-or-other". Bloodfin.

I like your points except the auto-tip. I have had no problems getting tips in the past. A large portion of it is how well you perform, interact with customers, etc. In addition, you come to learn who does not tip well, so just don't give them any attention since they will not reward you for it.

And, as much as I hate to say it, I think some entertainers need to find a part time job to supplement their income. That might be another profession or delivery missions.

I don't know any artisans or doctors that can totally support themselves solely from doing activities inside their profession either.

That is a good point DarthMinos,

But, what I mean to say is, if for example I want to purchase something from an Artisan or any "trade" profession, for the most part I must pay WHILE making the trade.

In essence, without the cash I cannot purchase the item(s) that I want.

I personally believe that what the Entertainer/Musician/Dancer does is basically as important. But, we don't have the ability to effectively withhold a service. The Artisan, or any other person selling something, has the ability beforehand to say no, if you come up short in payment for a certain item.

The Auto-Tip function effectively gives that ability to the Entertainer, and remember I did mention that in addition to the auto-tip there would be also a "perform" radial menu option on a player who had no cash. That way an Entertainer can give away free services when he/she wants to.

On the point of a "part-time" job; yes I think that most people will branch out.

Well, be safe and have fun.

Callixtus, Bloodfin

I hate the auto tip idea (great post though). Just seems greedy and it I don't want people walking into a cantina with the prejudice that the entertainers are greedy. We don't play for tips...if we were playing for tips then we wouldn't start playing until you tip. If YOU want to play for tips, then you should ask for payment up front. You won't get any business, because I'll play for that client for hours without expecting a dime.

This wouldn't work because the generous musicians will ruin those who are charging. You will still have to run missions for money...it is the way of the entertainer in SWG.

I like your letter aside from the auto-tip suggestion. The solution for entertainers who want guaranteed income is to perform at a private building that has an entrance fee and work out a % cutwith the building owner. Or do deliveries..

Trust me I understand about the money issue. I didn't think I was doing so badly forcash,until some of my friends started making massive credits selling their crafted wares... Now I feel like a pauper with my little nest egg of delivery mission money. But people are starting to get more generous and regulars are always appreciative, so...

What I'd really like to see is /tipband, where someone could select any member of the entertainer group, /tipband x amount and it gets autosplit between all the members. I think people would definitely use something like this if it were available.

I think "/Tip group"should be the number one request to Devs. It's simple (right?), and it would help everyone. If you wanted to give an individual tip, you could just "/Tip target". That way, bands could spam the cantina asking for people to "/tip group" if they like what they hear.