Musician Archive
Thread: 30 Second Buff Seems To Have Been Addressed
Echinacea wrote:
- First: /setperfom only needs to be used on someone outside the group. Anyone in the same group with the performer merely needs to watch/listen.
- Second: Without using the /startm [songname];/flo #;/flo #;/flo #;/flo #;/flo #;/stopm;/recurse macro, and instead playing or dancing 5 flourishes every 8 seconds, which is the maximum the server will recognize, it takes 190 seconds (that's 3 minutes, 10 seconds). This is the same for either a targetted (/setperform) or group buff, provided everyone in the group starts watching/listening at the same time.
- Third: When I've been a Master Doctor buffing people, the timer for enhancements is 15 seconds. 15s*6 stats = 190s = a minute and a half.
My question is, are we still going to be able to do the string that is currently the 30s semi-exploitative buff, which causes us to start, flourish, then stop, then restart, etc.? Or are we going to have to play straight through, flourishing, for at least two minutes? (I would personally prefer the latter, but I know no one at all gives a rat's ass what I think.)
As I can't import my Starsider character to Test Center, and I'm unwilling to put in the immense amount of time it would take to get a character up to being able to test this (thank you, I'd rather play since I'm actually paying now. I'm not the type to be bleeding edge and play on TC, I feel I did my time in beta), I'm going to have to hope someone else tries to test this stuff out.
So, if anyone has a Novice Musician or Dancer and can get someone to be a guinea pig and see if you can do the 30s semi-hax version, just do it for 2 minutes? Or if you have to perform for 2 minutes straight.
I really think this issue would be best addressed if there was a timer on /startmusic and /startdance like there is for /survey and healing wounds/applying doc enhancements. As in, not being able to /startmusic or /startdance more than once every 15 or 20 seconds.
I have a bunch of questions about how it works in practice. I'll jump on TC and test it tonight. (Er, is it up on TC now?) As you say, one question is what we have to do for that first two minutes. Another is whether the buff process starts at the 2:00 mark. E.g., suppose it takes me 3 minutes to buff normally. Will it still take 3, or a total of 5? Enquiring minds want to know. A bunch of us have asked the devs for clarification on this, but I'll probably get a quicker answer by just doing it myself on TC.
I'll give this some testing tonight(I'm Master Dancer and Master Musician). But from what I'm hearing on test on the Dancer end, in addition to there being a 2 minute minimum wait before a buff can be successfully applied:
There is now a 15 second delay enforced when you /stopdance before you can /startdance again. Meaning you can't reset the flo's like people were doing anymore.
Note, this is only what I'm hearing on the Dancer end of things, I'll test musician stuff too but I imagine the same rule is probably in place. The general concensus on the dancer forums is this forced delay isn't really a bad thing save for it preventing entertainers with medic skils from being able to "quick stim" themselves.
Well that and its going to break a lot of afk macrotainer's macro's 
that means when anyone in the group runs out of action it causes the person your
listening to to stop playing according to the system messages and effects any buff your currently recieving
(even when they are still clearly playing)
it has not been addressed. the 30 second buff has NOT been proclaimed by the SOE and DEVs to be an EXPLOIT.
It is in the game. it is an ingame macro, and it should still be allowed. who the heck wants to wait 10 minutes for a 1 stat buff, when you can get 6 from a doctor in unerd 2 minutes.
The buffs from entertainers do not do nothing but dbl the current totals of the stats and only last 2 hours MAX while a doctors 1500-2700 bonus points and last 3-3.5 hours.
and as I can see, my previous post I had on how to master the musical parts in 1 day, 8 boxes and 2 full trees, has sense been removed, yet with no explanation.
people this is NOT AN EXPLOIT. do not be lulled into belief that this is an exploit. this is only being addressed by the 1% of entertainers that are mad cause they can not make any money doing entertainment cause the Veterans and Holo grinders have found an easier way to make faster XP and money.
CSRs in game and DEV outside of game have already stated that this is NOT AN EXPLOIT.
FrostBrimstone wrote:
it has not been addressed. the 30 second buff has NOT been proclaimed by the SOE and DEVs to be an EXPLOIT. When did this happen, our correspondant has been asking them for awhile to give a statement on this.
It is in the game. it is an ingame macro, and it should still be allowed. who the heck wants to wait 10 minutes for a 1 stat buff, when you can get 6 from a doctor in unerd 2 minutes. The devs still frown on macros which allow for people to do things they did not intend.
The buffs from entertainers do not do nothing but dbl the current totals of the stats and only last 2 hours MAX while a doctors 1500-2700 bonus points and last 3-3.5 hours. I would love it if Music and Dance buffs could do more than double the stats as well as lasting for as long as doctor buffs.
and as I can see, my previous post I had on how to master the musical parts in 1 day, 8 boxes and 2 full trees, has sense been removed, yet with no explanation. Possibly because it in and of itself could be considered an exploit...in the terms of service you will find this statement "You may not use or distribute macros or other programs which would allow unattended game play." (Yes, this is meant to cover 3rd party macros, but it doesn't state that specifically...why? Because in-game macros were meant to be a tool for people to use for playing, they were never meant to be able to play the game for us.)
people this is NOT AN EXPLOIT. do not be lulled into belief that this is an exploit. this is only being addressed by the 1% of entertainers that are mad cause they can not make any money doing entertainment cause the Veterans and Holo grinders have found an easier way to make faster XP and money. Please don't make the mistake of believeing that this is something the Devs intended. Veteran entertainers and new entertainers alike have banded together against this affront to our profession, we choose to report exploits as such in order to improve the game experience for everyone playing.
CSRs in game and DEV outside of game have already stated that this is NOT AN EXPLOIT. When did this happen, our correspondanthas been asking them for awhile to give us a statement on this.
It is apparent the Devs ultimately agreed withthe entertaining community on the buffing exploit, because they have taken action against it.
-Liloman Hammons
Master Entertainer, Master Musician
Master Entertainer, Master Musician
Guild Leader - Performer United Professional Society (PUPS)
Band Leader and Booking Agent - Frag's Puppies
President and CEO - Fragpuppie Enterprises and Uber Instruments
Coronet, Corellia, Chilastra
Oh and as a follow-up.....
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FrostBrimstone wrote:
it has not been addressed. the 30 second buff has NOT been proclaimed by the SOE and DEVs to be an EXPLOIT.
You are correct. It has not been "proclaimed" an exploit. However its elimination on TC, and probable elimination on live servers makes that distinction moot.
It is in the game. it is an ingame macro, and it should still be allowed. who the heck wants to wait 10 minutes for a 1 stat buff, when you can get 6 from a doctor in unerd 2 minutes.
It is in game today... yes. It is an in game macro...yes. It should be allowed...well that is not for you or I to decide. And yes who would want to wait 10 minutes for a 1 stat buff. If this were the dance forum I would agree with the one stat part, but this is music so first let me correct you.....we buff 2 stats (and as you can receive music and dance buffs at the same time we might be able to call it 3 if you have the help of a dancer) . Now for the 10 minute part.....there is a commonly known macro called the "3:10 Quickbuff", and like its name implies takes 3 minutes and 10 seconds to confer a full 2 hour music OR dance buff. It uses the theory of spamming flourishes, but only to the server imposed limit of aprox 5 flos every 8 seconds and does not use any /stopmusics or /startmusics.
The buffs from entertainers do not do nothing but dbl the current totals of the stats and only last 2 hours MAX while a doctors 1500-2700 bonus points and last 3-3.5 hours.
This is a concern of ours, and is in our "Top 5", but again, the game engine and how it functions vs. how it is supposed to function is not OUR choice, but the devs.
and as I can see, my previous post I had on how to master the musical parts in 1 day, 8 boxes and 2 full trees, has sense been removed, yet with no explanation.
I did see that too. That concerns me also. What's up with that NJ? Your voice should be just as valid as anyones, and there should be an explination for its removal. I was looking for it to address the answers like the ones I have written here, and also to reinforce a post I submitted in that thread last night saying "The devs do not need to declare somethig an 'exploit' to remove it", as they appear to be doing.
people this is NOT AN EXPLOIT. do not be lulled into belief that this is an exploit. this is only being addressed by the 1% of entertainers that are mad cause they can not make any money doing entertainment cause the Veterans and Holo grinders have found an easier way to make faster XP and money.
Again you are correct that it has not been called an official "exploit", but that it is not is your OPINION. You are also entitled to sway people to your OPINION. In my OPINION its not being addressed by the 1% of entertainers you mention because people found an easier way to make money or XP. I don't think it is an easier way to make money. Its sure not as much fun. Also I make plenty doing the "3:10 quickbuff". In addition, I don't care about XP. I've been master musician since August and couldn't care less about gaining music xp or how fast you gain it. I care about entertaining and the music. The /stop/start macro is neither.
Oh and don't think that you are the one who came up with it. Its been known for months and per NewJedi's request I was not discussing the whys and wherefores in this forum. I have done extensive tests on exactly how fast you can get the buff to take on both music and dance. The xp bonus that you have seen has always been there, however, being capped on music XP it wasn't really an issue.
CSRs in game and DEV outside of game have already stated that this is NOT AN EXPLOIT.
Boy I'd love to see where they have stated this cause I don't believe they have made statements EITHER WAY. Even if they did, they still can change their mind, or even worse, eliminate the reason fro having to make a statement at all.
Lastly, as a sidebar, the 5 flo /stop /start macro works great for the 30 sec buffs, but, in thinking about it, it is stupid for a /stop/start XP macro. Why not limit it to 2 flos? That's all you need in the "tick" for best xp and since you reset the "tick" with the /stop/start, the system should count that towards the appropriate xp tick. There will be less flourish spam and possibly more cycles and a higher xp return. Then again you just grabbed a macro from some other purpose and saw it had a benefit for you. Did you even try to think of improvements to it?
Fragpuppie Uber
Master Entertainer, Master Musician
Guild Leader - Performer United Professional Society (PUPS)
Band Leader and Booking Agent - Frag's Puppies
President and CEO - Fragpuppie Enterprises and Uber Instruments
Coronet, Corellia, Chilastra
FrostBrimstone wrote:
it has not been addressed. the 30 second buff has NOT been proclaimed by the SOE and DEVs to be an EXPLOIT.
[edited for length]
CSRs in game and DEV outside of game have already stated that this is NOT AN EXPLOIT.