Entertainer Archive
Thread: An idea about afk entertainers...
Hear ya brother. The afk plague.That has been suggested before, along with the ability to actually kill afk entertainers.But it'll be ending, once people don't feel they have to master entertainer as fast as possible to become Jedis. It's all the hologrinding, people having to master as many professions as possible to unlock their force sensitivity.
Course, that doesn't help you, since you're trying to play legitimately now. On my server, Flurry, the non afk entertainers have taken over the Theed cantina. I'm not saying there aren't any afk'ers, I'm just saying there's usually two groups. One group has people in it. If you can find a master and ask them, you might find a good spot to go to. A lot of the player cantinas are desolate, but if you ask around you may find out about one that is always hopping and has a non-afk policy. We have a couple player cantinas like that on Flurry.
The other day I stopped by the Mos Eisley cantina, have always used that town's starport because it's close to my house. But it sure has become a bustling city again, probably thosetrial accounts SOE is offering. Used to always be deserted, but since it's become the ONE city new players start in (there used to be a bunch), this has attracted other players, too. I'll see master tailors and doctors running around buffing new people. I got in a good group in that cantina, those folks hadn't quite figured out they couldafk yet. One guy said, "I never thought I'd have this much fun my first day!" After months of hearing hologrinders whining how musician "sucks" it was sort of nice to hear.
Afk entertainers do not bother me at all. If they want to macro thats thier bussiness. What does bother me is people who spam with thier macro, like "heal me if im getting low on action", "watch me and dont forget to tip", *smiles a you seductivly*,or "welcome to the mega entertainer buffbot please be sure to invite me to your group and tip 8k. when 8 minutes are over please leave the group so others may join". Thats what bothers me. If your going to be providing a service and exspect to get paid you should at least be at your keyboard. And if you not going to be at your keyboard respect others and dont spam the heck out of the area your at.
GriskGrizzno wrote:I am new here, just bought the game yesterday. I actualy bought the game because the entertainer class seemed so unique to SWG. So I make my cool jazz playing Trandoshan and head off to the cantina, which is packed.... with people AFK. I could barely fit in, and in the 4 hrs I played I didn't get 1 music healing exp. I only got tipped once, and that was because someone felt sorry for me. I don't think this is right... I mean I have seen some people defend this, but when you think about it would they make the same argument if you were able to master a class like bounty hunter with macros?
I think this is a good example of what bothers me most about the AFK crowd. People that have been around awhile that like to play entertainers have generally found each other and have found ways to enjoy themselves despite everything. It's unfortunate that those ways often don't involve being somewhere that is available for buffing and healing, but it's the way things are right now. But the new player experience at the moment has got to be abysmal.
Thank you for coming to share. I know when I was a new player, I didn't even know the forums existed. If I were starting now, I might have given up on entertainer pretty quick, and probably would have given up on the game not long after without ever knowing I could have come to the forums to find out where I can go for a good time.
There was a thread on one of these forums recently about where to find live entertainers on different servers. Perhaps if you find the thread (Sorry, don't recall where it is off the top of my head) you could find other entertainer and learn what it truly means to jam.
I've been thinking about this sad state now for a bit... the new player experience, that is.
I'll help do my part. I'm going to start dancing and/or playing music in Mos Eisley on Ahazifrom time to time throughout the week. Not because I need entertainer healing XP, and not because I'm looking for tips. But because maybe I can help the newcomers to the professions see that it can be fun. Perhaps this is one of the things that we that still love the professions can do to help **edit** things in the bud... lead by example.
If new players enter the game, and are immediately confronted with a sea of AFK zombies, I'd have to think that the impression they get is "ahh... so that's how this profession is supposed to be played". Next stop, find out how to macro everything, and they feel like they're well on their way. Then they hear to make forCoronet or Theed, andthe AFK notion is confirmed.And they may well miss out on where the real fun can be had in entertainment.
Any other Masters with me on this? No pressure at all, of course. I'll put some time into community service, as it were. Anyone else cares to join me, I'll see you in Eisley!
Something I've been terribly short on lately, I fear.
JohnMarble wrote:
Hear ya brother. The afk plague.That has been suggested before, along with the ability to actually kill afk entertainers.But it'll be ending, once people don't feel they have to master entertainer as fast as possible to become Jedis. It's all the hologrinding, people having to master as many professions as possible to unlock their force sensitivity.
Course, that doesn't help you, since you're trying to play legitimately now. On my server, Flurry, the non afk entertainers have taken over the Theed cantina. I'm not saying there aren't any afk'ers, I'm just saying there's usually two groups. One group has people in it. If you can find a master and ask them, you might find a good spot to go to. A lot of the player cantinas are desolate, but if you ask around you may find out about one that is always hopping and has a non-afk policy. We have a couple player cantinas like that on Flurry.
I know we have one like that on Bria (Bishops' Sanctuary, Veritas, Naboo)
The other day I stopped by the Mos Eisley cantina, have always used that town's starport because it's close to my house. But it sure has become a bustling city again, probably thosetrial accounts SOE is offering. Used to always be deserted, but since it's become the ONE city new players start in (there used to be a bunch), this has attracted other players, too. I'll see master tailors and doctors running around buffing new people. I got in a good group in that cantina, those folks hadn't quite figured out they couldafk yet. One guy said, "I never thought I'd have this much fun my first day!" After months of hearing hologrinders whining how musician "sucks" it was sort of nice to hear.
I guess I'm just saying ask around, travel around. The afkers these days seem to just stick to coronet, where I am. Believe it or not, it used to be a lot worse.
Definitely, Xyrdre. I've already started going back to Theed (and sometimes even Coronet) with my two dancers. One is a master, one is not. On the one that isn't I will sometimes go afk overnight (yes, I'm bad...but healing is so hard...I've already gone up all my dancing trees AND capped at 900K exp on my new character, and have still to make master because I can't get the healing. LOL)
But, my point is this. I know the hologrind will come to an end soon (in the grand scheme of things) and I've been going back to the major cantinas just to get my "presence" known, and to hopefully help a lot of new and up and coming dancers and musicians learn about how to do things. I love talking about dancing almost as much as I love actually dancing. It's fun for me, and I'm definitely, one, of I hope many, "true" entertainers returning to the big Cantinas to set the tone for our next generation. I'm really hoping that some of us can reshape what entertainers are all about...get back to our roots like when the game was first released and instill that sense of community and performance.
I think that is what we really need. The afk hologrind droppers outnumber us 10 to 1 at this point. I want us to have a bigger presence so that the atk'ers start to outnumber the afk'ers because people will actually *want* to be ATK because we're all just so wonderful to be around! 
If we set the tone for the next generation, then it might even trickle down to the community at large who may start to expect people to interact with in the Cantinas again.
Here's hoping. I'm trying to be optimistic, and I'm doing my part.
Since I play mostly combat classes, I thought that it was great that I could go into a cantina in a major city and watch/listen for a few seconds and be rid of any bf/mind wounds...no problem. I liked it.
But tonight, I was with my girlfriend on Ahazi. She's trying to work her way up the Ent ladder. She asked me to meet her in the cantina, so I did. In the entrance of the cantina in Theed, there were about 20 afk entertainers. Inside the cantina proper, there were another 15-20 afk entertainers. These ents were all grouped together with the group leader, of course, afk.
Now, as everyone knows, Ents get more xp when in a group. People are healed faster when listening/watching a group. So, obviously, ents want to get into a group as soon as they enter the cantina, to get the xp. How in the heck is someone supposed to get into a group led by an entertainer who is running a macro while perpetually afk?
This is what I suggest, and this is what I do now. Boycott any entertainer who is playing afk, ESPECIALLY the ones that are spamming. Do not listen to them. Do not tip them. Do not heal them. I know that it takes longer to get healed, but you know, once the stupid hologrinding is over, where will your entbots be then? Helping out the individual entertainer now will keep them playing entertainer long after the afk grinders are gone. Ignoring them will kill the Ent profession.
Thank you Copey for saying that. You're absolutely right. The real entertainers can try all they want to instill a sense of community with the up and comers. And, while I think this will do wonders for us, it's not going to completely work until the general population at large realizes our value and gives us a sense of self worth coupled with the self worth we're already trying to instill in ourselves.
To be honest, I've actually noticed more and more that there is a growing number of combatants who will come into the Cantinas and ask "Who is not afk?"I'll usually pipe up, "me!" and initiate a conversation. When that happens, I usually get a decent tip when they leave. I've also seen the return of people who tip things besides money. On both my dancer avatars, I've had a droid engineer come up and tip me an effects droid! It's so cool when people do that and show their appreciation to the atk'ers. It does wonders and goes a long way towards making us feel good about our chosen profession and makes us want to stick with it.
We are going to be needed when the hologrind is over--hopefully. I'm still concerned about buffbots taking away our clients. But, I like to believe that for every person who'd rather just go in and out with no interaction, there are just as many people if not more who actually appreciate us and want to be entertained. I'm not giving up hope yet. I'm waiting to see what happens after the hologrind. I hope that more and more people come to realizations that you have come to. Interdependency and creating an environment of mutual appreciation between all professions adds so much to the actual enjoyment of this game.
After all, we are a social profession. We are entertainers. As such, we crave the interaction and appreciation. And, believe me, those people that truly appreciate me get it back in return. Those are the tailors that I buy from. Those are the doctors I will choose for buffs if there is more than one out there. Those are the people whose services I buy and the people who I will go with at a drop of the hat to rebuff them after the 2 hour time limit is up on their dancer buff while they're out in the wilds of Dathomir hunting rancors. They're also the people that sometimes will get free or reduced price buffs. What goes around comes around.
Tiaga wrote:
There was a thread on one of these forums recently about where to find live entertainers on different servers. Perhaps if you find the thread (Sorry, don't recall where it is off the top of my head) you could find other entertainer and learn what it truly means to jam.
Not to beat a dead horse, but when you are on Bria type:
/chat join ent
this is up pretty much 24/7. I can only imagine what its like now to start off being a new Ent and try performing in "zombie-land" /shudder. We as Ent's need to support one another, whetheryou are a year long Master or a day one Newbie. If the channel, or one like it is not up start one. I for one don't think I would still be here if it wasn't for the support of my family, and friends in the Brian Ent community.
Alirc Ec-Ecit
Composer / Master Entertainer / Droid Engineer Dabbler
Valcyn