Musician Archive
Thread: A note to all those people who can't get buffs because you play during off-peak hours.
Beery wrote:
There's another way. I do 3 minute buffs without any quickness buffs or accarragm: I just got a stat migration, putting all my stat points into the action parts of the HAM. I can flourish every two seconds all day long. Of course, if you do any combat at all, you need to get your stats re-migrated for that. So in that case it's stillgoing tocost money to do a 3 minute buff.
I've thought about that, but I don't think it would work for me (I'm a Twi'lek). Are you human? You can max your secondaries quite a bit. As a Twi'lek my stamina is capped at a measly 400. Quickness isn't a lot better. Even with a maxed primary action bar, giving the usual "quick method" buff would drain that bad boy in no time.
Thanks for the suggestion though. 
StikerRunningfly wrote:To my knowledge, that only works for humans. Zabraks, for example, can have only 450 quickness and 400 stamina at the very most. They must have either doctor buffs, or food buffs.
Yes a Stamina of 1100 and a quickness of 900 does help a lot.
NewJedi wrote:
Well said. The /friends list is your friend.
I do have a question, though. What's the range on the search feature? Last night I knew some Master Musicians were online on my server because I saw them on my friends list. But when I tested the search feature, I found only a couple Novice Musicians. (I didn't even pick up myself, but I guess the search list excludes your own avatar.) Is it limited to your own city and surrounding area? To your own planet? Should I be suggesting that the devs broaden its range?
One thing I know to suggest: /register needs to be fixed ASAP. It's quite urgent now.
You should pick yourself up in a search. It sounds like you have the box checked in the character pane that makes you not searchable.
(My comments in groovy grape)
Beery wrote:
"the PERFECT answer to AFK buffbots is to make attended buffs last 3 hours. Now they match Doc buffs"
Yeah, and I suppose you'll expect Joe Average player to pay 15K (to match the doctor's buffs)for a buff if that happens. It's like pulling teeth to get him to pay 10K now.
Good lord I'd never charge someone 15k for a mind buff. I took a poll among some folks on my server and came up with 5k as a fair, reasonable price for a primary mind buff. I would probably stick with that, even if my buff did last 3 hours (and even when I wear my special outfit and buff for 120%). The people who tip me 10k, 20k, or 50k even when I tell them it's 5k...well they're just big spenders.
"It's not that people hate at the keyboard Entertainers, its more poor game design with buff times and such."
I don't think so. I'm pretty convinced that people hate entertainers as a class. It's clear that many players resent having to come into a cantina. Many posts on these forums have said as much. Even before buffs were a feature, we still suffered abuse from players who simply didn't want to take time out from the constant slaughter to get their BF and wounds healed in a cantina. Buff times weren't an issue then. What makes you think that changing the buff times will suddenly make entertainers a respected class?
Beery, I'd caution you not to read the forums and internalize things too much. If I just read the forums I'd think that everyone hates entertainers too. But my in-game experience has not borne that out. If anything, just the opposite. Even the crankiest of combatants has been nothing but polite to me when I've danced for him in the cantina. Sometimes when I read the forums and start to get really discouraged, I log in my dancer and perform for a while. It never fails to make me feel better.
Message Edited by Beery on 08-05-2004 11:47 AM
Beery wrote:
"Itook a poll among some folks on my server and came up with 5k as a fair, reasonable price for a primary mind buff."
What has 'fairness' got to do with it? You charge what the market will bear. That is capitalism. Are you suggesting that Star Wars Galaxies should be a socialist utopia?
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Settle down my friend. Maybe "fair" was the wrong word to use. Yes of course it's "what the market will bear" on my server. Is it higher on your server? Lower? The same? Whatever the case may be, it's the price that the people I polled felt was "fair" and "reasonable."
I mean most doctors charge 10k-15k for a set of buffs, with the average on Intrepid currently 12k. That's for six stats. I can only buff one (you can argue that the mind stat, since it is unhealable, is possibly more important than others, but I don't want to get into that discussion). 12k/6 = 2k per stat. So really on a purely equivalent basis I should maybe charge 2k for a buff to the mind pool, and a musician should charge 4k to buff the focus/willpower pools.
Since the doctor uses resources, but I do not, my prices can really only be based on the time and attention that I invest in each buff. I'd include in those considerations the fact that I must stay in a cantina (or theater, hotel, or camp) in order to give my buff as well, unlike the doctor who can whip out his droid and buff anywhere. I'm "chained" to certain locations to provide my service, which limits my freedom as an explorer, if nothing else.
So taking all of the above into consideration, I think that 5k for a mind buff is fair. Just my opinion, your mileage may vary, etc., etc. Like I said before, most people tip more. God bless them, I do appreciate it. If you want to argue semantics then yes, it's not so much "fair" as "economically reasonable for my server." 
Also I'm very sorry to hear that you have had so many negative experiences in cantinas. I've played on Starsider a bit and never had anything like that happen to me, and certainly not on Intrepid. The only harassment I've ever gotten was from immature idiots making inappropriate sexual innuendo, which has nothing to do with BF or mind healing, and was a very rare occurrence anyway. Most patrons who come in and watch me to heal their BF either say nothing, are polite and respectful, or socialize like mad! Tipping is unpredictable - some socializers tip nothing, while some "strong, silent types" tip very generously. At no time have I ever heard anyone come into a cantina and say "God I hate entertainers. Why do I have to watch you idiots just to heal my BF?" On the contrary, many times a person will come in with massive mind wounds or BF, and announce "You guys are gonna love me! 600 BF! Yaaay, who wants it?" 
"Since the doctor uses resources, but I do not, my prices can really only be based on the time and attention that I invest in each buff. I'd include in those considerations the fact that I must stay in a cantina (or theater, hotel, or camp) in order to give my buff as well, unlike the doctor who can whip out his droid and buff anywhere. I'm "chained" to certain locations to provide my service, which limits my freedom as an explorer, if nothing else."
But again, these are irrelevancies. The price you are able to charge has nothing at all to do with these things, which is what I was trying to say in my previous post. If you base your price solelyon these issues and without taking into account the primary market forces of supply and demand, yourun the risk of severelyundercutting the market. This not only costs you money, but it forces your fellow entertainers to lower their prices too. Many of them can't afford to do that and keep their lifestyle. After all, it's not like our customers can't afford a 10K buff. 95% of people coming into my cantina are happy to pay 10K for a buff oftwo stats.
"So taking all of the above into consideration, I think that 5k for a mind buff is fair."
As I said before, fairness has nothing to do with it. Anyway, if we're talking about fairness, then entertainers have been unfairly treated for a long time. It is virtually impossible for an entertainer working full time to make even 1/10th of what a combat professional can make. If we're talking about fairness, let's consider that. Add that factor into your calculation of what a fair price should be. Also, add ina calculation that takes into account all the heal thieves who steal heals and run. Hardly anyone tips for heals these days. It's become so bad that I'm sure some newbie entertainers don't even realise that they're supposed to heal combat wounds.
Beery wrote:
"I mean most doctors charge 10k-15k for a set of buffs, with the average on Intrepid currently 12k. That's for six stats. I can only buff one (you can argue that the mind stat, since it is unhealable, is possibly more important than others, but I don't want to get into that discussion). 12k/6 = 2k per stat. So really on a purely equivalent basis I should maybe charge 2k for a buff to the mind pool, and a musician should charge 4k to buff the focus/willpower pools."
But equivalence has nothing to do with it. The market - supply and demand - determines prices. Nothing else matters.Let's just say, just for the sake of argument, thatI'm the only person in the universe giving a musician buff, I can set the price. It doesn't matter what doctors charge for their buffs, or what resources they use. None of that has any bearing on the price. None whatsoever.
"Since the doctor uses resources, but I do not, my prices can really only be based on the time and attention that I invest in each buff. I'd include in those considerations the fact that I must stay in a cantina (or theater, hotel, or camp) in order to give my buff as well, unlike the doctor who can whip out his droid and buff anywhere. I'm "chained" to certain locations to provide my service, which limits my freedom as an explorer, if nothing else."
But again, these are irrelevancies. The price you are able to charge has nothing at all to do with these things, which is what I was trying to say in my previous post. If you base your price solelyon these issues and without taking into account the primary market forces of supply and demand, yourun the risk of severelyundercutting the market. This not only costs you money, but it forces your fellow entertainers to lower their prices too. Many of them can't afford to do that and keep their lifestyle. After all, it's not like our customers can't afford a 10K buff. 95% of people coming into my cantina are happy to pay 10K for a buff oftwo stats.
"So taking all of the above into consideration, I think that 5k for a mind buff is fair."
As I said before, fairness has nothing to do with it. Anyway, if we're talking about fairness, then entertainers have been unfairly treated for a long time. It is virtually impossible for an entertainer working full time to make even 1/10th of what a combat professional can make. If we're talking about fairness, let's consider that. Add that factor into your calculation of what a fair price should be. Also, add ina calculation that takes into account all the heal thieves who steal heals and run. Hardly anyone tips for heals these days. It's become so bad that I'm sure some newbie entertainers don't even realise that they're supposed to heal combat wounds.
Perhaps that is why you have bad experiances with people in game. If you cahrge what is considered a "fair" price, people will not resent coming to you.
However, if it is the common practice on your server to squeeze as much out of people when nobody else is around, this will lead to resentment.
Whether you will ever admit it or not, perhaps supply and demand, coupled with extreme prices for buffs is part of what encouraged people to buy secondary Entertainer acounts, then set them up as buff bots.
Let's look at your Han Solo arguement. Yes Han charged a crazy high fee, yes it was paid. He was able to charge that fee because his ship was the fastest around., and he was the best pilot, and he didn't ask questions. If all of this wasn't true, Luke and Ben would have simply went to the 50 other pilots in the room.
If your going to charge more your service had better be better. People know when they are being gouged, they will resent it.
It's kind of odd to see somebody complaining that people resent Entertainers, yet at the same time, encouraging price gouging.
Message Edited by Beery on 08-06-2004 07:33 AM