Entertainer Archive
Thread: AFK Get over it please!
LeaderDesslock wrote:
Watch survivor? No, I don't watch prime time. Reason I ask is this message gets the point across much better if you read like Boston Rob talks lol. I think the post should speak louder than the title.
Got your attention didnt I? Any post which impacts how my occupation is perceived gets my attention. Well I agree with my message subject statement. Get over it. Why? AFK is not cheating and it is aloud. Is it allowed? Yes. Is it cheating? I believe so. Its just not a cheat that anything is being done about. Live players cannot do the kind of things unattended ones can. Is it for everyone no. I don't know anyone who plays this class live that has not been impactedby itone way or another. Not for nothingbut it takes a certain kind of person to want to stand around in a cantina and entertain players. Agreed. Not many players can do what I do. Its not a bad thing its a good thing but there arn't many people going to want to do that. There doesn't need to be a lot of people entertaining. One entertainer can service an unlimited number of watchers and buff 20 people simultaneously. I played the game before holos and the cantinas werent all that packed but they are now and thats a good thing. Coronet, Theed, and all the other cantinas of renown were still packed, however the patrons outnumbered the performers, as it should be. Today is a different story, mainly for the smaller venues. Is Doaba Gurfeil packed? What about Keren? Wayfar? Lucky Despot at Mos Eisley? I hear people complaining that " Oh boo hoo hoo the afk person wont talk to me" or "I need mind buffs, ifit wasnt for the AFK peopleI could get them". There are people on the servers who honestly have no idea that this class can be played. They see me greet at the door and they think I'm doing something wierd rather than my job as I have always done. Its a subtle change of perception. I maintain that if it wasnt for holo grinding and AFK macros there wouldnt be enough people who wanted to do the entertainment proffession to give mind buffs. I can buff 20 people simultaneously. I can service an unlimited number of patrons for their BF needs. I can travel to where you need me. The galaxy will not, I repeat, not fall apart if thenumber of entertainers drop. We can theoretically do it with ten online at any given time. Im not putting down entertainers I like them and think there a huge and necessary part of the game, im just pointing out reality. The reality is that players like buffbots for many reasons, all of which are unrealistic expectations. You want somebody where you want them 24/7. You cannot expect anyone to do that, but somehow you expect entertainers to do so. You expect master-level services without the need to pay them. Any other class would reject this, but somehow its expected of entertainers. The combat classes have made unreasonable expectations of our class, and thats why they like unattended entertainment. But who cares what I think. I do actually. You are a potential customer.I should be concerned with my own character and you should be concerned with yours. Part of my job description as an entertainer is to be concerned about my patrons. Holo grinding is ending soon and unfortunately unless part of theJedi questsinvolve one doing entertainer the crowded cantinas are going away to. I can service the entire galaxy by myself. I don't see why cantinas have to be crowded. Now if im wrong then why would you be complaining about so many AFK people in cantinas lol. I can't do my job properly in the cantinas as they stand...and my job is not limited to BF healing, mind wound healing and buffs. Those are the reasons patrons come to me, but its my attentive service that makes them stay and tip me. I truely hope there are enough entertainers left to cover all the mind buffs and bf healing becasue it stunk before holoswhen I would go into cantina after cantina and not find AFK people but hardly anyone at all. You'll always find somebody in the grind capitals. That I can guarantee. One entertainer can service the entire galaxy if need be.
Flame on! lol
Well, I had a nice, well-written post that went through this point by point, but thanks to these lovely Lithium forums....
Here's a brief summary of what I said: I question LeaderDesslock's ability to judge the peril of the entertainment profession given his registration date. (unless this is an alt he is using for some reason...in which case, I'd like to know who he really is.) HOWEVER, assuming that Lead has indeed read through previous messages about the AFK macrotainers, he seems to have missed everything about how the entertainment professions used to be. Before the holocraze, macros were tools used by entertainers to improve our acts. The macro systemwas never meant to be used to allow long-term afk macroing, andthe Devsdid say this (reference my recent post in the music forums when this was announced).
So far as the claim that there were few entertainers to be found before the holocraze: I have had entertainer characters of one sort or another ever since mid-July after getting bored with crafting and combat. I specifically remember a character I had on Lowca. He started out in Mos Entha and found a hopping cantina there, however since most of the entertainers there were GATs and I was looking for RP opportunities, I headed off to Mos Eisley. Lo and behold, there was an even larger entertaining group there! By the time I became a Novice Musician, I had traveled to each of the "main" planets--Tatooine, Naboo, and Corellia. In all that time, I found only one consistantly empty cantina, and that was Bela Vistal's. I recall most cantinas being lively places where entertainer and audience really came together.
The macrotainers you find crowded into the Theed and Coronet cantinas these days are no comparison to the way things were. They are little more than powerhouses for NPC spam begging for tips and heals. You will never find a lonlier place than the Coronet cantina.
I am trying to be a fountain of optimism when it comes to the end of hologrinding...I look for a 90% return to the way things were, but in order to acheive this, the remaining entertainers have to move on the NPC-spammed cantinas as soon as the holosystem goes down. We will have a whole new generation of entertainers who don't know how close LAMers came to destroying the entertainer professions. These people will need all the help we can provide before they fall into the rut of AFK'ness.
-Liloman Hammons, Novice Pistoleer 
*Realizes he's gripping his bandfill in a highly aggressive way and carefully puts it down.*
Message Edited by Tralmek on 04-16-2004 03:25 PM
Oh, and since this came up while I was typing this reply... /agree poetdancer
Message Edited by Tralmek on 04-16-2004 03:29 PM
Message Edited by Tralmek on 04-17-2004 12:07 AM
so get over the fact that we won't get over it *smirk*
LeaderDesslock wrote:
... Get over it..... I truely hope there are enough entertainers left to cover all the mind buffs and bf healing becasue it stunk before holoswhen I would go into cantina after cantina and not find AFK people but hardly anyone at all.
It's not macroing per-se that bothers me, it's how and where it is done. If you are going to grind out experience with a macro, that's your business. The problem I have is that I come into a cantina, looking to be at my keyboard and join a group, only to find the groups full. An hour later, when I finally get in a group, half of them are AFK and many of them have spam-messages flying. Again, macro away if you want, but don't suck up experience from people who are there and putting in the effort to earn it. Please don't stand in the middle of the band as if you were there, and please don't spam people for tips and such. It just makes the entire profession look like a bunch of beggars.
Many have stated that things will get back to normal after the changes to Jedi. I think the active band members may return, but I think there will still be a lingering affect to all of this. People are now used to walking intoa cantina and getting services for free. Even after the majority of AFK'ers are gone, I don't think the idea of free healing will go away. They've been getting this for free for so long, why should they start paying for it now? Now, I'm not in this profession for the money, but its more of the principal of the thing. Others in the profession may be relying on this for their income. Remember before the whole holo thing? The reason cantinas were empty was because not many people werewilling to pay for a service rendered, so entertainers left the cantinas to run missions or do other things to generate income. I think that same problem is going to return.
Tralmek wrote:
Well, I had a nice, well-written post that went through this point by point, but thanks to these lovely Lithium forums....
Here's a brief summary of what I said: I question LeaderDesslock's ability to judge the peril of the entertainment profession given his registration date. (unless this is an alt he is using for some reason...in which case, I'd like to know who he really is.) HOWEVER, assuming that Lead has indeed read through previous messages about the AFK macrotainers, he seems to have missed everything about how the entertainment professions used to be. Before the holocraze, macros were tools used by entertainers to improve our acts. The macro systemwas never meant to be used to allow long-term afk macroing, andthe Devsdid say this (reference my recent post in the music forums when this was announced).
So far as the claim that there were few entertainers to be found before the holocraze: I have had entertainer characters of one sort or another ever since mid-July after getting bored with crafting and combat. I specifically remember a character I had on Lowca. He started out in Mos Entha and found a hopping cantina there, however since most of the entertainers there were GATs and I was looking for RP opportunities, I headed off to Mos Eisley. Lo and behold, there was an even larger entertaining group there! By the time I became a Novice Musician, I had traveled to each of the "main" planets--Tatooine, Naboo, and Corellia. In all that time, I found only one consistantly empty cantina, and that was Bela Vistal's. I recall most cantinas being lively places where entertainer and audience really came together.
The macrotainers you find crowded into the Theed and Coronet cantinas these days are no comparison to the way things were. They are little more than powerhouses for NPC spam begging for tips and heals. You will never find a lonlier place than the Coronet cantina.
I am trying to be a fountain of optimism when it comes to the end of hologrinding...I look for a 90% return to the way things were, but in order to acheive this, the remaining entertainers have to move on the NPC-spammed cantinas as soon as the holosystem goes down. We will have a whole new generation of entertainers who don't know how close LAMers came to destroying the entertainer professions. These people will need all the help we can provide before they fall into the rut of AFK'ness.
-Liloman Hammons, Novice Pistoleer
*Realizes he's gripping his bandfill in a highly aggressive way and carefully puts it down.*
Message Edited by Tralmek on 04-16-2004 03:25 PM
Oh, and since this came up while I was typing this reply... /agree poetdancer
Message Edited by Tralmek on 04-16-2004 03:29 PM
Message Edited by Tralmek on 04-17-2004 12:07 AM
PoetDancer wrote:
Trust me, Naufragus, we don't want to talk to you either, but we do it anyways. After all, we entertainers are in the hospitality business, and it pays to be hospitable.
*holds back giggles*
Naufragus wrote:
we have differnt takes on it i guess... apparently
here is how I remember it:
Yes there where many full cantinas...but many more empty ones....but mainly the enetertainers far outnumbered the customers...because the "customers" would heal and leave.....most of the interaction was BETWEEN ENTERTAINERS...there was no real "coming together" as you say....it was just dancers wigglying around talking to each other.Really? I must have missed some of these cantinas--yes there is banter between the entertainers because we play with one another so often we become good friends, but customers are our top priority, that's where our tips come from.
i cant say i ever saw a reall show....it was mostly 10 or more people taking up the entire front area of the cantina and just repeating the same 4 silly moves over and over...then there would be a couple of horn players back blocking the bar. Hmm, this one sounds more like you're an advocate of us getting more flourishes and instruments...not a bad idea, I'm liking where this is going!
There where no glory days.... "were," even?
i actually think the current cantinas are an improvement...now i can actually talk to other PATRONS with out all the lame emotes from the entertainers and their non stop banal chit chat. *smiles* if you're being bothered by the entertainers there is always /addignore. And of course, you can always ask us to stop paying attention to you, personally I'd be happy to /denyservice for you anytime.
If i go to a bar i want to talk to the guy next to me..not the go-go dancer Strangely enough, I pay more attention to women than I do to men (then again, I don't goto barsall that often), maybe I should start rethinking this position on women? NAH!
please remember that before the devs tied battle fatique to entertaining no one watched you. Nothing like encouraging people to interact while playing a Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game...especially one which stresses the community aspect so much.
Ask yourself what would happen to your profession if BF vanished. You might still keep on dancing but would anyone else be in the cantinaOh **edit**you brought the dancers into it...*Lilo ducks as he sees household projectiles begin to fly through the air*