Entertainer Archive
Thread: Musician or dancer?
This is really a personal choice. Do you like music or dance? Both have similar requirements for master. I'm not sure one prof is much different to master than the other.
Females tend to do very well as dancers. Males do much less so. I've seen male dancers, but they have worked in dance troops rather than as lone cantina players. I think dance can offer more creativity once you learn dance as a proper profession. Several dancers can do different dances and costume changes or sync their dance moves together and then change their dance behind a speical effect.
Musicians are for those that like song. There are probably less musicians than dancers overall. Males do better as muscians since it seems more socially proper. You can do band flourishes and solo acts and things like that. Music is great behind a good dance troop. It can also be a lot of fun to create lyrics for the various songs and create acts to go with them.
It's really prefference though. A master entertainer can do both dance and music to a fairly good degree and you can still go on to master one or the other.
One other thing to consider between the two professions, is that Musicians can craft instruments. I think it's nice to be able to create instruments for people to play . You might also be able to sell these instruments to others.
As a Master Entertainer, Musician, and Dancer, my personal preference is for Musician. It just seems more fun to me than being a Dancer. This is because you don't just see yourself dancing on the screen, but you can see yourself playing your instrument, and also hear the song you are playing. I suppose it's like another level of immersion into your character, which naturally makes things more interesting and more fun.
Just like what was said in the previous post, you'll have to find out for yourself what will be more fun for you *giggle*. Good luck in whatever you choose to be!
Message Edited by NewJedi on 01-12-2004 08:13 PM
Not sexist or anything, but it would follow the RPG a little more. Im in a small player city, and I am the male human musician, and have a female twi'lek dancer I work with. Seems to work well (but I think she gets more tips). But as a class, I think musician is better, because you can buff focus and willpower, while the dancer buffs mind. But if you can combine both, its good times.
DaPrez wrote:
Fun and rewarding(credits) profession. I may go both but would like to keep some skill points for a bit of combat.
Well, the fun really depends on which skillset you more strongly identify with. If music appeals to you more than dancing in terms of aesthetics, then music is your best bet. If the idea of dancing for yourself and others is something you think you'd enjoy, then that's your calling.
As far as the credits go, it's possible to make a fair living as a pure entertainer, though it takes a great deal of effort that has nothing at all to do with game mechanics. The money you make as an entertainer, novice or master, is directly related to how you interact with people and who those people are. We're entirely dependent upon the generosity of others, so it's important to give the customer what they're looking for (within reason). If they want a quiet bot-like person, there's no shortage of those to choose from. If they want to be engaged socially (even if they don't know it), then it's your job to figure out how to engage them.
Some entertainers work up a shtick, others wing it. The idea is to make sure the person who walks out the door is a happier person than the one who walked in. If you can accomplish that, then you'll likely find yourself a number of credits richer. I'd say the most important thing in making credits, however, is not doing it for the credits at all. If you're primarilyafter money (which I don't assume you are), customers can smell it on you. If you're sincerely trying to improve someone else's gaming experience, they can pick up on that as well. The latter pays well, the former does not.
Anyway, I wouldn't say you'll ever be monumentally rich as a pure entertainer, but you can certainly live well. Top-levelArmorers and Weaponsmithswho know what they're doing, on the other hand,will have mail and tells waiting for them everytime they log in from people who want to throw money at them. Elite combat professionals can do Mokk Scout missions and receive 20k creditsfor killing two NPCs (which takes about 1 minute for the NPCs and 5 minutes for the lair). If either of those things sound like fun to you, they're certainly better paying alternatives.
In the end, though, what you do in the very beginning is not so very different from what you do in the very end, so it's important to like what you're doing from the get-go. The income at master level can be exponentially greater than the income at the novice level, but there's literally no difference in gameplay between a master dancer and a novice entertainer other than the available dances, a few sparkly lights, and the ability to buff. You'll still be dancing, you'll just have more dances to choose from. It's the same with the combat professions, too. You start off swinging a survival knife at a gnort and end up swinging a gaffi baton at Nightsisters, but you're still essentially using the same game mechanics, doing the same thing.
I hope you find the best fit for you. There's something for just about everyone, but it's not always easy to find it.
and add Master Entertainer ...no, to be serious:
If you look at it from a "technical" point of view:
The BF and mind healing aspect is the same, main difference is
the buffing.
Master Dancer buffs the mind, so it will be seeked out by people
expecting Mind Damage -> more PvP customers
Master Musician buffs focus and willpower, regenerate and cost
relevant values. So it will be seeked out more by PvE people.
Of course, anyone is happy to be able to get both...
But more important... what you like more and what is more fun to
you...
DaPrez wrote:
Fun and rewarding(credits) profession. I may go both but would like to keep some skill points for a bit of combat.
Umm...not sure you want to go for Entertainment if you want credits. I get a lot of enjoyment out of thinking I'm helping my friends by being there to heal them and do mind enhancements. I'm a Musician first, because I love music...but after almost a year of the same 8 riffs on the same 7 songs that only come in 5 different instrument sounds, I almost never have my Player Music on anymore. Pretty sad, huh? On the other hand, I really, really, really loathe the 'lapdance' commentaryI get when I dance, so since I enjoy the kind of healing I do as an Entertainer, I'll stick with Music as my primary profession. Also, I'm personally more of a PvE player, and as such I want Focus/Willpower myself more. Most of my patrons agree that cost/regen is more important than the base mind pool...but then, I can also do a partial Dancer Mind pool buff. So people who come to me can get both. When asked if they only want one or the other, though, they almost always pick Music.
Depending on the combat profession, you can master an elite combat profession, one elite performance profession and then half of the other elite performance profession. If you look at my signature, that's what I've done. To be a little more specific about it, I'm a Master Musician, Dancer 4-0-4-0, Master Swords (two-handed). I could drop the Knowledge line of dance and pick up something like Novice Medic and a box, or Novice Scout and a Exploration 1 (and that bit of Terrain Negotiation would be nice!), but my in-game husband pouts something fierce when I do that. /chuckle For some reason, he and my other friends (even the female players) prefer that I do the dance buffs using Exotic2. 
Anyway, as a Master Swordswoman I'm pretty good PvE. If I don't feel like killing stuff, I hang around Coronet in the Hotel with my tag up and searchable and buff my regular patrons, and anyone new who happens across me. If I don't feel like putting up with people, I take my tag off or switch it to Master Swordsman and go hack at things.
Hope you find a combo you enjoy!