Musician Archive
Thread: Devs: I'm not a musician, but this seems unfair to me.
Background:
My wife would not play AO with me because combat was unavoidable. She's never even seen the moveis, but she likes SWG because she doesn't have to "shoot stuff" in order to play. She's a music professor in real life, and naturally chose to play a musician.
The problem:
I've been watching her play, and theses "gig" style missions are really not fair. Heres why I think that:
1. Compared to combat missions.
* With any other profession the more skill a person has, the more reward there is for completing a mission.
* As far as I can tell, musician skill has no bearing on the reward paid for a "gig" mission. {see footnote 1}
The point: I think that the skill of the musician should raise the reward for it's completion in a manner similar to (but maybe not equal to) the combat missions.
2. Compared to delivery missions.
* ANY newbie can run delivery missions. There's no particular skill required.
* Delivery missions only require someone to be in the destination city long enough to click on an NPC.
* Gig missions, on the other hand, require the person to stay longer in the destination city. {see footnote 2}
The point: I think the extra time involved should raise the reward of gig missions versus delivery missions.
Conclusion:
Taken together, I hope that the two points mentioned above make an adequate case for raising the reward associate with completing "gig" missions.
Footnotes:
1. From a continuity/RP perspective, a novice musician SHOULD make more money playing gigs than running errands, while unskilled entertainers and others might be better off doing deliveries.
2. Musicians have complained about two things: Not being able to charge for their services and overcrowded cantinas with no stage, etc. MakingGIG missions to hotels more worthwhilemight help to both reimburse the musician, and to help move the crowds to a stage-friendly venue.
It seems to me that gig missions are the most "musician-like" way of earning credits. Harvestors, etc, don't seem very musical. Crafters have warez to sell, Combatants have destroy missions, not to mention loot/harvest.These are sources of income that are in keeping with the spirit of the profession. Yet healers seem to lack sources of income other than hybrid professions like healer/crafter or healer/combatant.
Another thought:
In addition to increasing the payout for completing a mission relative to the musician's skill, one might consider increasing the time that it takes to complete the mission (the time the musician must play) as the musician become more skilled. In other words, if the master musician got paid like a rock star, then he should have to play for like an hour.
I have tried to be constructive and organized in starting this thread. I'm not a musician, yet I do believe that there are very good reasons to consider raising the "gig" mission rewards. It would thrill me to see a dev's response to this thread.
I'm not sure about more credits, but I'm pretty sure I don't had to perform as long as when I first started out. Right now (Musician with the first 2 skill rows filled) I can complete a music gig in about 5 minutes, soloing with no audience. I've heard that the completion requirements of the gig is basically "accumulateN xp", whereN is based on your skill. Now higher level musicians get more xp per flourish, so ifN ramps up slower than xp per level, you get the same (or maybe slightly higher) credits for less work. Kind of like having Eric Clapton sit in for one song making as much as (probably more than)the local unknownband who plays all night.
Niklesnitz (sorry, almost used an 'h' instead of an 'n'): If you get the gig from the nobles in the theater guild hall (as opposed to random NPCs), you can always abort the mission and ask for a new one until you get a local venue. This works best on planets with few hotels/cantinas (these gigs never send you off-planet), since it seems to randomly pick a venue each time. For example, on Rori there are only three hotels: two in Narmie and one in Restuss. So if I'm in Narmie, I havea 2-in-3 chance of getting a 450-550 credit mission that doesn't require a shuttle ride. If you work it right, and only accept local gigs, you can make money faster with gigs than with delivery missions. If you want to cut down your downtime even more, you can take both a music gig and a dance gig. Or if you decide on switching towns fora change of scenary, get the same type of gig from the origin and destination cities' guild hall.
Although now that I think about it, I would love a couple-thousand credit gig mission that required a planet hop. I tend to get stuck in a rut, staying in a few familiar places, and this would be just the bribe needed to kick-start me off on a multi-planet tour. Or maybe a random "agent" npc spawns who says "I need a band of at least 4 musicians and 2 dancers to play this location, pays 10,000 credits". Heck, anyone know Palpatine's birthdate? I'm sure that'd be quite a party to play. One wrong note and your fanfarr becomes a lightning rod. =)
CavemanGamer wrote:
>The point: I think that the skill of the musician should raise the reward for it's completion in a >manner similar to (but maybe not equal to) the combat missions.
No. Gig missions are the only mission in the game that have zero risk,yet let the player get paid for performing an XP-generating activity that they'd most likely be performing anyway. You get paid pretty well also. By this logic, a master musician or dancer should be getting paid thousands for doing nothing more than practicing their art for a few minutes.
>The point: I think the extra time involved should raise the reward of gig missions versus >delivery missions.
There isn't any extra time involved if you play it smart. Take missions in your local town and abort missions that require travel to other towns. Try and get dance and music missions at the same venue when you can.
>Conclusion: >Taken together, I hope that the two points mentioned above make an adequate case for >raising the reward associate with completing "gig" missions.
IMO, the rewards are fine. They're on a par with deliveries, especially since the length of the gig shortens as you rise in skill. By the time you're hitting the novice entertainer/dancer levels, you can run a gig in as little as five minutes and be back at the theater for another one.
>2. Musicians have complained about two things: Not being able to charge for >their services and overcrowded cantinas with no stage, etc. MakingGIG missions >to hotels more worthwhilemight help to both reimburse the musician, and to help >move the crowds to a stage-friendly venue.
Moving the entertainers does NOT move the crowd, unfortunately. People know the cantina. A major chunk of the players don't even realize that any other building can work as a healing room. Additionally, crowds of entertainers happen because of the massive group XP bonus from both grouping with a large group and being seen by a large audience. Playing at an unpopular venue hurts you by reducing your XP and hurts your customers (assuming you have any) because it takes longer to get healed.
All of the entertainers in my home town of Dearic know about gigs because I've taken pains to educate them. They all run them, then when they're done they come back to the cantina to do their normal work. Running gigs to the theater and hotel doesn't change their perception that the cantina is really the place to be. If anything, it reinforces it.
The only thing that will change that perception is for a good band to make a hotel or theater their home base. The regular customers will follow and things will build from there. Gigs don't have any influence at all in that arena. Making them more rewarding won't change alter the perception that the cantina is the "place to be".
"No. Gig missions are the only mission in the game that have zero risk, yet..."
You obviously haven't taken any gigs to Kor on Corellia. 
I personally would rather be able to take those far away gigs and get paid better for them than having to keep aborting missions until I get a local one. Obviously I'm not gonna travel for 400 beans, when not only does it take longer, but I have to incur travel expenses. I think making travel gigs pay more, at least more than delivery missions since they take more time, only makes sense. The solo xp you get is about a third of what you'd be getting in your cantina with a group. Even if you get a local mission, you can't group when you do a gig or you end up splitting the money cuz it considers it a group mission. /sigh
Hijo wrote:
"No. Gig missions are the only mission in the game that have zero risk, yet..."
You obviously haven't taken any gigs to Kor on Corellia.
ha ha! Well, I doequip my pistol any time I shuttle into Kor Vella. 
I view the Meatlumps more as a source of free clothing than a real risk. 