SWG Tales

PostedMon Jun 20, 2005 10:44 pm

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/boar ... e.id=61474

Esharra - Dancer Correspondent wrote:Upcoming Changes

The following contains information that has been approved for me to release to you.

Timeframe:
These items are currently "In Development". However, there are a lot of variables to account for between "In Development" and release to Live so please keep in mind that this is subject to change.

New Dance:
Dancers will receive a basic and advanced version of a new dance to their repertoire. These dances will be granted to all dancers at the Dance Knowledge I and Dance Knowledge II skill boxes respectively.

New Song:
Musicians will receive a new song. This song will be granted to all musicians at the Music Knowledge I skill box.

Remove Battle Fatigue:
Battle Fatigue will no longer be acquired from combat, and entertainers will no longer be able to heal battle fatigue. Any player that logs in after this change will have all battle fatigue cleared instantly.

Remove Entertainer Healing Experience:
Since mind wound and battle fatigue healing are no longer the responsibilities of the entertainer, Entertainer Healing experience will be removed and replaced with dancer or musician experience as appropriate.

New Props and Particle Effects:
New particle effects will be granted for use by dancers and musicians. Dancers will also have the ability to hold and use dance props. Some types of props might include swords, staves, batons, sparklers, glow sticks, swoosh sticks, etc.

Skill Tree:
The Techniques, Wound Healing and Fatigue Healing skill tree branches will be modified to reflect their new attributes. Techniques will contain particle effects. Inspiration Buffs will replace Wound Healing. Props will replace Fatigue Healing. Other than adding the new dances, there will be no changes to the Knowledge branch at this time.

Other:
There will be an increase in Dancer Experience gain, the value of which is under discussion. Issues related to Cover Charge will be addressed.
This is all the info that I have right now. Again, keep in mind that this is all subject to change.

I suspect health wounds will be next.

PostedMon Jun 20, 2005 10:51 pm

So what you're saying is... there is absolutely no point for a combat oriented person to interact with an entertainer? Is there any reason someone would pay a covercharge now?

Jabe

PostedMon Jun 20, 2005 11:01 pm

Jabe Adaks wrote:So what you're saying is... there is absolutely no point for a combat oriented person to interact with an entertainer? Is there any reason someone would pay a covercharge now?

Jabe

Don't forget the 10% XP buff, though, Jabe. And I doubt this is 'all' their doing. If they make it 'useless' and, indeed, who would master them if the only interaction purpose they provide 'is' the buff, they'd be killing the profession entirely.

I'd say look for them to 'change' what an Entertainer heals. Or, making it an easier and faster to learn 'sub' profession. Maybe they'll even add different kinds of buffs.

If it's one thing I've learned here and from the game it's 'don't' jump the gun on any conclussions. It's 'all' a work in progress.

PostedMon Jun 20, 2005 11:07 pm

Yeah, this is BS. As I've predicted before, SOE is making the entertainer class professions unviable. I don't see the appeal in playing an entertainer (other than the RP value--even that has a limit. One song? C'mon!) or for any newbies to start entertainer professions. Let's see some compelling reasons for everyone to jump onboard entertainer:

1 Have to take a combat profession to defend themselves/or hire someone. Now that no one will be tipping entertainers I'm sure you'll see alot of that.
2. No longer heal battle fatigue. What role do entertainer's play exactly? An inspiration buff? Whatever.

3. No true content. Sorry folks but one song and a few new dances does not equate into "more content". Give the entertainment community venues to play their music/dances and give them real quests to complete not some two bit go here and perform routine. Make it exciting, dangerous. Dance wrong and displease Jabba..you have to fight his goons or better yet escape from the dreaded dungeons of Jabba's Palace. Well maybe not..I doubt Gamerons would be fazed by shaking one's booty at them.

The sad truth of the matter is that the developers designed the CU around the combat professions and the entertainer proffessions are simply an afterthought. I wouldn't be surprised if the amount of true entertainers(other than RP's) is substantially less. I'm sure some of the cantinas are like ghost towns.

Any changes the dev's make will be cosmetic/token changes that will hook the community and trick them into thinking real progress is being made. Keep that cash coming in SOE!

My two cents, take it as you will.

/rant

PostedMon Jun 20, 2005 11:35 pm

Reading futher in the forums. We have more buffs coming. What the buffs are, the Devs are not 100% sure of, so Esharra can't say.

What is also being discussed is the conversion of existing items (mostly armor & weapons) into props with a radial option as well as crafting dancer props (swoosh sticks, etc.. )

I have suggested on the forums to allow both and restrict the crafted items to dancers (e.g. swoosh sticks ) while alowing the converted items (e.g. old, grinding, maybe disabled weapons & armor ) to be worn and used by anyone. This would really help with RP I think.

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/boar ... 583#M61583

If you like that idea, say so on the SOE forums.

PostedMon Jun 20, 2005 11:37 pm

What would be nice is if they could compose their own music and dance moves. Now I'd sit through a concert of player made music anyday as long as my ears didnt bleed.

PostedMon Jun 20, 2005 11:41 pm

Novall wrote:What would be nice is if they could compose their own music and dance moves. Now I'd sit through a concert of player made music anyday as long as my ears didnt bleed.

You actually can kinda compose dance moves by timeing changing the dance during the middle of the flourish.

PostedTue Jun 21, 2005 12:08 am

I agree with novall, the professions would rock... Im sure there are plenty of ways they could make the music thing work...

PostedTue Jun 21, 2005 1:33 am

warsloth wrote:I agree with novall, the professions would rock... Im sure there are plenty of ways they could make the music thing work...

Have you tried Hyperscore? It's a visual music composer. There is a free version you can download off the site.

PostedTue Jun 21, 2005 12:17 pm

I think we may jumping to conclusions just a bit here. I highly doubt that SOE is just going to yank battle fatigue and kill a profession for shits and grins. It would obviously drive players away, and who wants to lose money? Before we get into full on gripe mode, let's see what they intend to replace it with and THEN start up the gripe mobile. Now I know it might be a long time before SOE even gives us a snippet of information, but let's just try and be a tad more optimistic until then. If their new idea sucks, then blast away. But I think we should wait til we have all the facts.

PostedTue Jun 21, 2005 6:15 pm

Krusshyk wrote:I think we may jumping to conclusions just a bit here. I highly doubt that SOE is just going to yank battle fatigue and kill a profession for shits and grins. It would obviously drive players away, and who wants to lose money? Before we get into full on gripe mode, let's see what they intend to replace it with and THEN start up the gripe mobile. Now I know it might be a long time before SOE even gives us a snippet of information, but let's just try and be a tad more optimistic until then. If their new idea sucks, then blast away. But I think we should wait til we have all the facts.

I'm sure the SOE dancer correspondent would not have posted that info if it wasn't pretty close to what the devs plan Krusshyk. She also did say the other buffs are in the works.

I read it as some of the plan changes. Not all of them.

PostedTue Jun 21, 2005 6:18 pm

Oh, I don't doubt that they are going to remove battle fatigue...I suppose my language wasn't really clear. My point is that they wouldn't pull it and not replace it with something else of comparable importance.

I still don't think it's fair to sit here and say "you guys are screwing the entertainer profession" when we only know half the story. That's all.

PostedWed Jun 22, 2005 2:37 am

I was willing to give up scout (and the ability to play tag well) to keep Master Dancer. I don't begrudge the fact that I can do very little else with any true mastery...to keep Master Dancer. I hope that they will get around to rewarding those who stay with the basically useless professions of dancer/musician/entertainer; I expect that such reward will be minimal; I will take what they give us.

In the meantime, i will continute to enjoy my game play. 8-)

By the way, a strange thing has been happening...we have fans, who stop me just to say they enjoy the performances. They also have been, umm, complaining to me that it is getting hard to find entertainers of any kind. Many of them are very polite (to me), enthusiastic 1337 PvPers...perhaps the kind of player the Devs listen a little more carefully to?

PostedThu Jun 23, 2005 4:56 pm

My point is that they wouldn't pull it and not replace it with something else of comparable importance.

They've done it before. It was called the CU. They removed the ability to heal mind wounds and replaced it with <instert hollow promise for some future thing here>.

I still don't think it's fair to sit here and say "you guys are screwing the entertainer profession" when we only know half the story.

It's fair, and it's accurate. They take away more than they give. That's not flaming, that's the sad truth.

When you look at the decision to remove Battle Fatigue, what does that tell you in regards to what they think of the entertainer professions?

Think about it.. the only in-game benefit of investing 44% of my skill points in Dancer is the ability to apply a 10% inspiration buff. Part of the allure of my profession is the "fluff" that comes with it. But "fluff" is not worth that many skill points.

I'd rather have substance, something of value. Some reson for people to say, "I need to find a Master Dancer/Musician". If they won't give me that, then at least give me some skill points back.

PostedThu Jun 23, 2005 5:03 pm

xyryn wrote: By the way, a strange thing has been happening...we have fans, who stop me just to say they enjoy the performances. They also have been, umm, complaining to me that it is getting hard to find entertainers of any kind. Many of them are very polite (to me), enthusiastic 1337 PvPers...perhaps the kind of player the Devs listen a little more carefully to?

That's true, we are appreciated by the players for the most part.

Unfortunately these players, when discussing their needs, don't talk about entertainers. They talk about their own professions, and combat. As well they should.

The sad truth is that Entertainers, and even Roleplayers for that matter, are not the target market here. Even though we are the most dedicated of gamers, they are trying to appease a different crowd.

SWG Tales

BF may be removed

BF may be removed