1.When the entertainer class was created, what was the vision for role that entertainers would play in the grand scheme of things? Do you see entertainers now as filling that role?
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In the grand scheme of things,Entertainers are a very “Star Warsy” profession.From the Bith Musicians in the Mos Eisley Cantina to Jabba’s slave dancers, entertainers play an important role in the setting.The trick was putting them into an MMO.The entertainers, dancers and musicians represent the first time that these activities are available in an online game.Other games have Bards and similar activities, but these are pure entertainer roles.Its never been done and its not easy to develop.In the real world, people watch entertainers and make personal opinions - - how do you measure that in a digital world?It’s a really tough thing to measure with computers.
2.Do you have plans for quests or theme parks for entertainers? Perhaps a quest for new music, dances, instruments or entertainer specific clothing, similar to the RIS armor quest, or a way for entertainers to go perform for Jabba.
There are no plans currently, but we are open to suggestions.I am planning to put up some In-Concept threads soon, but I have to wait and find out how the development schedule is going to break out.We have a rough idea, but there are open blocks for player issues and entertainer/dancer/musician development is a top issue for all of those respective correspondents.
3.Entertainers need more to do. Is there any chance of including entertainers in future story arcs? How about an in-game system to support player run events?
In SWG, story arcs are up to the players.In the preparation for answering these questions, I sat down with Blair on Friday to talk about some of the finer points and one thing we definitely want to do is make it much easier for players to plan events and make entertainer/dancer/musicians a part of that process.
4.We have heard that there is new music and dances in the works. Is it possible to get an ETA on when we will expect this? Are there any other non-specific details you can give us, such as how many new music and dances are coming, or whether they will go to the entertainer or the elite skill trees?
Please keep in mind that these are very difficult things to develop.The parts of this process include making new motion capture animations, mapping those movements to the player avatar, adding the “under the hood” game coding, development scripting and then integrating it into the existing system.Another thing to keep in mind that “Entertainer” is a novice profession.Its meant to be the gateway to elite professions.New dances and music will most likely go in to the elite professions.
As far as the new content myself, that’s an issue I’m working on with the team.As soon as we can get those in, we will, but the details are still in play.
5.Do you have plans for new gameplay for entertainers? Perhaps something simple like a more active role in the healing process, or something more sweeping like giving entertainers a goal to reach such as reaching the status of superstar?
There are no plans per se, but these are some things I hope are discussed in the In-Concept threads im putting together.
Kurt "Thunderheart" Stangl Community Relations Manager
6.Will the new system for attaining a force sensitivie character slot be something that can be achieved by non-combatants, without forcing them to pick up a combat role, or to drag a combatant along for most of it?
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I won’t talk about these details, but I can tell you that players won’t be disappointed.
7.Do you feel that it is acceptable that the role of entertainers is being completely filled by people impersonating NPCs, leaving those who play the class with nothing to do? Do you plan to do anything about this, such as an auto-logout or making healing a more active process?
We understand the nature of this issue.In essence, we can’t prevent AFK people from playing, but one thing we are doing is looking at different ways we can encourage at-the-keyboard play.
(And I know this will come up again, so here is why we can’t prevent people from AFK.Given that this is an online game, there are people out there who are very smart and will learn how to play AFK no matter what we do.It is just the nature of the beast.So instead of keep it so that only high-end computer savvy people can AFK, we make it fair so everyone can do it instead of just an elite few.)
8.Do any members of the development teams regularly play an entertainer?
Yes.Myself included.Many of their wives play entertainers as well.
9.Can we expect a profession-wide revamp similar to what chef's are getting right now, and what will be coming for DEs?
No.The entertainer profession is pretty cool.We need to address some of the difficulties and add more stuff.That is in the works and when I have details, I’ll announce them.Currently I’m focused on the correspondent issue.The challenge is that the correspondent issues are pretty big and will take a while to develop and implement.
10.One thing that is often quoted as the boring part of being an entertainer is that all you see is the inside of a cantina, and all the cantinas look the same, or are at least one of three basic types, with Tatooine having a couple extra. Is there any plans to revamp the cantinas in big cities to give them more local flavor, or make them more entertainer friendly by adding a stage for performers?
There are no plans, but those are certainly good ideas.I’ll ask.
I won’t be around to answer follow up questions this afternoon.Im working on getting to the Pikeman and Image Designer questions (and then head off to a Superbowl Party ) , but Ill be back next week to look through the thread
Be well.
Kurt "Thunderheart" Stangl Community Relations Manager
I'm no longer an entertainer, but being in a PA with more than 80% entertainer, I was interessted in these. I think you (the DEVs) are wrong when you think that being "fair" to the player means, giving everyone the same chance to AFK entertain. Fair would be to not encourage people to afk entertain. And give more to active entertainers. A LOT of the active entertainer who were there from the start have quit or are about to. (I'm not talking about people playing 2 hours a week, I am talking about the real ambitious gamer.)
When you remove the holocron entertainer, there won't be left a lot of real entertainment in the cantinas. Make entertaining MORE interessting, give entertainers MORE content. Just chatting is NOT content I am afraid. The fundament is great, now you have to build upon it.
Make REAL entertainer missions with REAL payouts and REAL rewards. And make entertaining more than just hitting F8. There are so many easy ways to improve this, if you would really want more people to play them you could.
Don't want to flame or anything, I believe Droids are still the most important thing which is lacking in this game for now (followed by the GCW) but entertainer is a dying profession IMO and will need some attention sooner or later.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Quick fixes to make the game fun now:NPCs using weapons and special attacks, reduced resistances on all except faction armor and percentbased encumbrance, faction armor craftable with improved resistances with limited use schematics from recruiters, no permadeath for faction pets, doc buffs percentbased, fixed BH mission payouts, more imperial crackdown activities, replace SBDs on the corvette with high ranking NPCs, reintroduce a Jedi TEF, reward overt players with improved payouts and faction gains How to be a successful newbie Whil Grey#2#3#5#4#6 - My character's screenshots of the day on SWG.com WillGrey.cyndera.com - My homepage
1. When the entertainer class was created, what was the vision for role that entertainers would play in the grand scheme of things? Do you see entertainers now as filling that role?
In the grand scheme of things, Entertainers are a very “Star Warsy” profession. From the Bith Musicians in the Mos Eisley Cantina to Jabba’s slave dancers, entertainers play an important role in the setting. The trick was putting them into an MMO. The entertainers, dancers and musicians represent the first time that these activities are available in an online game. Other games have Bards and similar activities, but these are pure entertainer roles. Its never been done and its not easy to develop. In the real world, people watch entertainers and make personal opinions - - how do you measure that in a digital world? It’s a really tough thing to measure with computers.
How about we try to actually answer this one please. No one asked if it was hard to develop. It was asked "do entertainers forfill the role envisioned in the development process?" At this point, it appears that you are inferring that there was not a development process to abide by.
Bel/Beldraen Chaosstryder =HN= Chaos Heavy Industries Cor De, Naboo
well at least now we know that we have very little to look forward to in the short term...
SWGEntertainer.com Emperor Palpatine (from "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith"): "Every single Jedi is now an enemy of the Republic. Do what must be done. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy." -I support ATK people and playstyles. Account cancelled as of June 23, 2005
I have one question about people who are complaining about non-combatants not being able to get their FSCS without fighting in some capactiy. Mind you, this question is totally legit, so please don't flame me. I am really curious and seeking an answer.
If you do not want to participate in combat, then why do you want to be a Jedi? That is the essence of what a Jedi character does. It is my understanding thatthere aren't many other things for Jedi to do besides learn how to weild a lighsaber and manipulate the force mainly for some type of combat related activity. Now I guess there are also skills to use in iterrogation, healing, and movement, but if you wish to become a Jedi ONLY to use the jedi-mind trick then what exactly is the point? Plus, the way I understand, a Jedi must follow the Jedo skill tree and cannot become a crafter, or musician, or medic.
So the basic question I wish an answer to is, why do the non-combatants or people who wish not to participate in combat, want a force-sensitive, Jedi character?
If you do not want to participate in combat, then why do you want to be a Jedi? That is the essence of what a Jedi character does. It is my understanding thatthere aren't many other things for Jedi to do besides learn how to weild a lighsaber and manipulate the force mainly for some type of combat related activity. Now I guess there are also skills to use in iterrogation, healing, and movement, but if you wish to become a Jedi ONLY to use the jedi-mind trick then what exactly is the point? Plus, the way I understand, a Jedi must follow the Jedo skill tree and cannot become a crafter, or musician, or medic.
Just because someone doesn't have a combat character doesn't mean they don't like combat. Many people like filling the role of an entertainer or a crafter, and don't want to drop it all to become a bounty hunter. When they start a new character though it would be with the intention of bringing combat into it. I suspect this is becoming rarer and rarer as the devs stamp out the last of the pure entertainers.
Another reason is roleplay. If someone wants to roleplay as a jedi, it's kind of hard if they can't back it up.
There are any number of reasons for someone creative enough to think outside the box.
Inside my heart is breaking, my make-up may be flaking But my smile still stays on My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies Fairytales of yesterday will grow but never die I can fly - my friends
If you do not want to participate in combat, then why do you want to be a Jedi? That is the essence of what a Jedi character does. It is my understanding thatthere aren't many other things for Jedi to do besides learn how to weild a lighsaber and manipulate the force mainly for some type of combat related activity. Now I guess there are also skills to use in iterrogation, healing, and movement, but if you wish to become a Jedi ONLY to use the jedi-mind trick then what exactly is the point? Plus, the way I understand, a Jedi must follow the Jedo skill tree and cannot become a crafter, or musician, or medic.
So the basic question I wish an answer to is, why do the non-combatants or people who wish not to participate in combat, want a force-sensitive, Jedi character?
-Risky Business
I'd go even further and not only call it a combat but a combat-grinding profession. Compared to all the other combat professions, the progress seems to be beyond good and evil.
To answer your question; well, basicly I guess people want to play a Jedi because they think it's cool. That's about it. And they don't want to lose their main char by surrendering all his skills. That's what the DEVs intended, they counted on players to not give up on their skills so less people could unlock their slot.
Now, TH answer regarding the new Jedislot unlock-system is made in true DEV-SPEAK, it could mean everything (something TH should at least *try* to avoid IMO.) IF everyone could unlock his slot in the future, without requirering any combat skills, I'd say the DEVs came up with a brillant system unlike anything in the game today. That's why I doubt that. I guess he just said it that generic so he would not disappoint the entertainers. My guess is, you will need a lot of luck (still, not for masterting the right last profession but for example to loot one or a many rare item(s)) and a high end combat group (force players to group and give something to the EQ croud who want an "END GAME" so badly.) I doubt it will be a mysterious system, only perhaps because no one will have a walkthrough on its release. Trying to figure it the first time was kinda fun, though disappointing at the end. My expectations are low now regarding this (and whatever TH says it is, he said to the first it was still mystical or something similar after he knew how it worked. Random is hardly what I call that.)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Quick fixes to make the game fun now:NPCs using weapons and special attacks, reduced resistances on all except faction armor and percentbased encumbrance, faction armor craftable with improved resistances with limited use schematics from recruiters, no permadeath for faction pets, doc buffs percentbased, fixed BH mission payouts, more imperial crackdown activities, replace SBDs on the corvette with high ranking NPCs, reintroduce a Jedi TEF, reward overt players with improved payouts and faction gains How to be a successful newbie Whil Grey#2#3#5#4#6 - My character's screenshots of the day on SWG.com WillGrey.cyndera.com - My homepage
7. Do you feel that it is acceptable that the role of entertainers is being completely filled by people impersonating NPCs, leaving those who play the class with nothing to do? Do you plan to do anything about this, such as an auto-logout or making healing a more active process?
Thunderheart Wrote: We understand the nature of this issue. In essence, we can’t prevent AFK people from playing, but one thing we are doing is looking at different ways we can encourage at-the-keyboard play.
(And I know this will come up again, so here is why we can’t prevent people from AFK. Given that this is an online game, there are people out there who are very smart and will learn how to play AFK no matter what we do. It is just the nature of the beast. So instead of keep it so that only high-end computer savvy people can AFK, we make it fair so everyone can do it instead of just an elite few.)
I'm very sorry this is the stance being taken by the Dev team. The AFK entertainers are really an epidemic now and ruins the profession for those actually interested in playing it. I understand this is largly cause by the Holocron grinders, and that will hopefully go away with the Jedi system fix.
However, would it be feasable to add a popup option similar to the surveying "exceptional resource" popup. Something to stop the dance until a button is clicked and break afk macro dancing?
However, would it be feasable to add a popup option similar to the surveying "exceptional resource" popup. Something to stop the dance until a button is clicked and break afk macro dancing?
They don't WANT to break afk macro dancing.
It's a losing battle, I've seen it at every MMO I have played - you cannot win against afk'ers, and in this case, if you can't beat 'em, you might as well join 'em.
It's the same way they didn't want to "break" afk sampling. The "exceptional resource" pop-up DOES NOT stop afking. It is simply something to do if you AREN'T afk. It doesn't interfere with resource macros at all. This silenced some people from complaining, but it didn't change afking one bit - it just gave a TINY incentive to not afk.
As someone who has mastered Entertainer, Dancer, and Musician, I can tell you - god bless macros! Not because you can play afk, but because you can actually interact with the customers, and set up complex dance combinations and routines. Macros are not the evil that some people would like you to believe - in fact, they add a lot to SWG. For those of us who would like to have fun and not button mash as entertainers, it's a godsend.
The AFKer is still a warm body, a paying customer - and the Devs have clearly let us know that it's ok by them.
We will always have afkers in SWG because of the way they have set up the system - and it's just time to deal with it. Ignore afk people - that's all you can really do.
If people insist on going around a system put in place by the devs that's their bad, but if you enable anyone to do it simply because some will break the rules...
I haven't played a dancer/musician for months now. When I do pick up an instrument now it's to hear the music for my own private enjoyment in my home, or to help heal someone in a remote location.
Entertaining with a room full of afk bots makes my brain feel like it's rotting. It got to where I'd enter a cantina and even sometimes in groups of TWENTY there would be noone to talk to
Something must be done about afk entertainment or this MMO experiment will fail.
That is not good reasoning at all. Lets try applying that logic to some other scenarios....
1.) There are people out there who are very smart and will learn how to cheat in a video game no matter what we do.It is just the nature of the beast.So instead of implementing code that is difficult to crack, we have made it very "hacker friendly," so that everyone can hack it instead of just an elite few.
This is esentially what you're saying.
Or even better, a real world application....
2.) There are people out there who are very smart and will learn how rob a bank no matter what we do.It is just the nature of the beast.So instead of adding security, we have instead laid all of the money out on the bank floor and will use the "honor system" for patrons making withdrawls. We feel this is a more fair way to allow all people access to the money, and not just a group of elite few.
This "if you can't beat them, join them" attitude just doesn't work in the scenarios I've listed above, and it doesn't work for afk entertaining either. You don't allow AFK crafting (without the use of a third party macro), and for that reason, very few people afk craft. (But some still do) By your logic, you should allow all people to afk craft, because an elite few can. However I think it's quite obvious that this would not be a popular decision by either the devs or the players.
AFK entertaining has completely killed the profession for many people. And it's too bad really, I would much rather watch a person who enjoys their chosen profession, and not some holo dancer who checks in ever 6 hours to learn a new skill.
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) , but Ill be back next week to look through the thread 
