Musician Archive
Thread: Idea/Discussion: Give Entertainer professions combat levels
I'll keep my comments simple and say while I don't disagree in principle, I think a Clvl of 80 should be reserved for the true combatants. They paid their skillpoints, let them get a benefit (a less hazardous galaxy).
I think that the numbers for Clvl need to be adjusted, and I think that giving a Clvl bonus for mastery in even noncombat professions wouldn't be unbalanced.
As it is, a single combat master is Clvl 54. I think that if that were lowered to 50, and any elite crafter/entertainer were given a Clvl of 14, it would make some sense. Lvl 14 would allow basic travel on core worlds with less worry of death from yard trash (most of the basic mobs are lvl 1-16 andlvl 14 seems to represent where a noncombatant would fall on the food chain realistically). A hybrid character would become Lvl64, and hit the "magic number" with access to stim Ds- something that would increase survivability in a balanced manner (many mission mobs I was used to fighting as ahybridon worlds like Yavin and Endor are now L64, instant death to 54, but a fair challenge to 64 especially considering group aggro and advanced attacks).
I am just greatly disappointed that Hybrids are punished and locked out of so much content that they used to be able to expect to handle (im not saying it should be as easy as it used to be, but it shouldn't be unattainable). I am also bothered by the painful vulnerability of elite Entertainers and Crafters, and think that granting them a few Clvls to show them as "experienced" entities wouldn't be unfair at all.
Ok that ended up being not so simple, but I hope I made my point. 
As it stands having a single combat profession limits you greatly in even just PvE combat. What i was thinking was to make it where with a mastered entertainer profession you would be level 80 combat level. Also some ranged and melee defense should be added as well.
As it is now if someone wants to do combat they need a new character or be severely handicapped combat skill wise if they want to master an entertainer profession. If this was done right we could have combat/ent characters like there were many of before the CU.
Doing this wouldn't make someone better than others combat wise if they had a ent profession since it would not enhance their offensive ablities.
This might also not be a bad idea for crafting professions.
You'd still need people to do the acutal killing for you but at least you wouldn't die in one hit to a kreetle that you looked at wrong. I have heard many people worry about going places because they are easy to kill by weak npc's. This would help that also.
Well, I may just be saying crazy things but I think this would be a way to help our professions. I'd rather have something like this than clumping all of these amazing professions together or reducing their skillpoints further.
I'd like to hear what others think.
Nanatree wrote:
I agree we need to have our levels upped. I mean, I try to travel and get killed by stuff before I can get where I am going.
I hear you..it's sad..I'm in my friends house crafting..a mere 34m or so from my Cantina, friends ask me to come perform for them and my reply is "O.k...just come shoot the Huurton Puppies around this house...or I'll die before I can reach the Cantina".
Laughable but true..*sigh* a dress with Musician bonuses just isn't much armor from a puppy bite =p. Thankfully my friends will "rescue" me for my songs..guess not all folks think us Entertainers utterly useless.
All we need is a little Dev Loving...they could make us a welcome addition (and a useful one) to the game. Personally, I agree that Entertainer as it stands should be 'absurbed' by Dancer/Image Designer/Musician...I don't know about the others but it boggles my mind that an Entertainer can play a musical instrument I can't ... Oh well, maybe in the days that come the powers that be will balance things a bit and work those of us on the outside looking in into the mix. *crosses her fingers*.
In all my time I was a Combat Level 1 person, there was not one time that I couldn't in some way get past aggressive creatures when I had to travel around. On vehicles, you blow past everything too fast for them to actually aggro you and only factional aggressiveness occurs in buildings (and if you are a low combat level person, you shouldn't be afactional combatant anyways).
Matheaue wrote:
I disagree. A true hybrid is level 54, they still have access to the best armor and weapons available for their chosen combat profession. In groups, you are using the highest level person's Combat Level anyways, so yours is pretty much arbitrary anyways.
I disagree with this premise. Ever try going out as a lvl 54 with another L54? The two together are no more effective than alone under the new system, and they are effectively cut off from doing simple missions on an adventure planet where the base level of most critters is 60+. My girlfriend and I are true entertainer hybrids and we love to hunt on Endor, but that is only barely possible now. We don't object to added danger, nor do we object to having chunks of the game cut off from us, but the fact that many things we used to do are now undoable (not simply harder to do, but suicidal to attempt) is an issue.
Also the "highest lvl person's" argument is flawed too. That only mitigates the level bonus/penalties, it doesnt mean we can compete when it comes to raw defense or accuracy skills. It also means we'd have to rely on said high level person (obviously not a hybrid) to support us.
All I'm saying is there has got to be a way to bring a bit more balance back into the mix and I hope the Devs are looking to do that.
. I'm one of the "rare" breed of Entertainer..I did it without being afk and because I wanted to be an Entertainer...not to buff an alt or make a ton of money. I'm paying my money to play the game just as everyone else is and all I am asking for is a bit more I can do and a bit of balance. I don't think I'm alone in seeking that from the Devs, but I think I'm becoming one of a small (and shrinking number) in waiting for the day it happens.
Matheaue wrote:
Non-combatant professions are just that non-combatants, you can't expect to get the same benefits that combatants get, because that is not their role.
No, but I can expect a trained and experienced professional, someone who knows how to make their way in the world and understands the risks, to be able to withstand more than 2 hits from a feral chicken. We're not asking for defense skills. We're not asking for the ability to go everywhere and do everythign with ease. We are asking for the artifical construction of the Character Levels to reflect the Life experience we have as an Elite Master. It is the artifically inflated bonuses to damage and penalties to defense inherent in the Clvl system that make things most dangerous for us, and it doesn't make sense that a fully trained non combatant is just as vulnerable as someone fresh off the shuttle.
A parallel example from our world. A dancer that has lived in New York City, gotten some jobs in Broadway shows, knows how to earn a buck, and keep herself safer than someone fresh off the bus from Iowa. It's logical to say that neither will be as capable as a hardened thug or a policeman, but it's not illogical to say the experienced person has a better chance of survival than the new person.
I've wanted a way for us non-coms to protect oursleves (passively) ever since the CU. The Rangers got camo kits to sell, but I don't see a lot of them doing it, and the kits don't do a whole lot anyway. /shrug Keep up the discussion, there are some good ideas rolling around here.