Overview

Dancers and Musicians are able to perform in order to entertain and provide valuable services to their patrons. These services include the ability to give Mind buff enhancements, heal mind wounds, and heal battle fatigue.

Fundamentals of Dance

When you begin to dance, your most basic command is /stardance. This will bring up a popup window that gives you a list of the dances you currently know. To start a dance without the popup, type in /startdance + the dance name, for example:

• /startdance basic

After you begin to dance, you will be able to flourish your avatar, causing him or her to do various moves in the dance. There are eight possible flourishes per dance. You may flourish by using the command /flourish and choosing a number of 1-8. (e.g. /flourish 5)

To stop dancing the command is /stopdance

Changing Dances:

You can switch from one dance to another using the "/changedance [dance name]" command (when playing alone). You can leave off the dance name, and it will prompt you with a dance list. Example : /changdance formal

Fundamentals of Music

When you begin to play, your most basic command is /startmusic. This will bring up a popup window that gives you a list of the songs you currently know. You must have your instrument equipped before you may begin playing music. To start a song without the popup, type in /startmusic + the song name, for example: /startmusic starwars1

After you begin playing, you will be able to flourish your avatar, causing him or her to do various moves in the performance as well as changing the song's sound. There are eight possible flourishes per song. You may flourish by using the command /flourish and choosing a number of 1-8. (e.g. /flourish 5)

Changing Songs:

You can switch from one song to another using the "/changemusic [song name]" command (when playing alone). You can leave off the song name, and it will prompt you with a song list. Example : /changemusic starwars1

Flourishes

Action costs for music and dancing abilities varies according to the song or dance played and instrument used. When playing music without using flourishes, a base amount of action points are used per tick. This base is affected by the player's action secondaries. When doing a flourish with any music ability the action drain for this is (base / 2). Dancing also uses a base amount of action however its flourish costs are (basecost x 2) per flourish.

You can stack flourishes and the action costs will be issued, but the flourishes wont execute until they finish animating in the queue.

Executing a Flourish

Spatial Log

The Performance-based professions are paired in Entertainer with Image Design. Image Designers can alter the features of any player avatar.

Queueing

Queueing in entertainer differs from combat queueing in that there is a preset limit to the amount of total commands that will be stored to execute. For music, the server will store up to 5 flourishes for execution. Any more flourishes performed by the player will simply use action but not be added to the queue.

For dancing, there is no possible queue. Dance flourishes are executed immediately. What this means however is that a dance flourish must fully execute and complete the duration before another flourish can be attempted. Once executed the performance will go back to the base dance unless the player immediately performs another flourish.

Fundamentals of Image Design

To begin an Image Design session, you must be grouped with the person you are Image Designing. Your most basic command is /imagedesign. This will bring up the ID User Interface (UI) where you will be able to tab through the various panes to view which things you can currently change about people.

Not all species or genders have things you can ID at first (the ones without hair or makeup options).

You may Image Design yourself by using the command /imagedesign self OR by keying CTRL+1 to select yourself and using /imagedesign

Where can Entertainers practice their art?

All Entertainer skills can be used anywhere in the galaxy, but the performance-based Entertainers cannot benefit their customers everywhere.

You can heal Battle Fatigue, Mind Wounds and when you're an elite performer (at least Novice Musician or Dancer) you can administer Mind Enhancements (buffs) in:

• any player structure (player theaters on the backstage area counts)
• NPC city Cantinas
• NPC city Hotels
• NPC city Guild Hall Theaters
• NPC city Taverns

You can only heal Mind Wounds or administer Mind Enhancements (buffs) in scout or ranger camps. You cannot heal Battle Fatigue in one. (Which is pretty nuts, considering a High Tech Field Base looks a lot more advanced than that grubby Tavern at the Dathomir Trade Outpost, but whatever.)

Taverns are popular since doctors can also heal wounds and perform their enhancements (buffs) in them, unlike in all the other NPC structures where performers do their job.

Are there venues for Image Designers?

While Image Designers may enjoy their craft anywhere in the galaxy without limitation, there are 4 Image Design Tents scattered throughout the galaxy in Theed, Moenia, Bestine, and Coronet. You may find the closest ID tent with /find salon.

When can I place my own Cantina?

You must be a Master Dancer, Master Musician, or Master Chef to place a cantina. You may only place it in a level 2 city (Village) or above.

When can I place my own Theater?

Player Theaters may be placed only by Master Dancers and Master Musicians, and only in level 4 cities (City) or above.

What will happen to my Cantina or Theater if the city goes away?

Your structure will remain as normal, even if the city shrinks or goes away entirely. However, if you redeed it, you will have to find another city of the proper size in order to place it again.

What will happen to my Cantina or Theater if I drop Master Dancer, Master Musician, or Master Chef? Your structure will remain as normal, however you will not be able to place the structure again if you redeed it.

How can I prevent someone from using my passive services?

The command /denyservice will prevent someone from receiving benefits from your services. Keep in mind, /denyservice is a toggle. If you use it once on a person, when you use it again, the name will be removed from the list. This list does not extend beyond one playsession. Your /denyservice list is clean at each login.

What are band commands?

The band commands are /bandflourish (1-Cool, /startband, /stopband, and /changebandmusic (song). These commands allow performers to synchronize their performances. However, only those performing Music may make full use of them. /bandflourish will work for both Dancers and Musicians, causing everyone to perform the same-numbered flourish. Musicians can take it a step further by using /bandflourish (1-Cool (instrument) and cause only people using that instrument to perform the flourish. The band commands /startband, /stopband, and /changebandmusic are applicable only to those with instruments equipped.

Special Notices:

"/startband [song name]" has the player giving the command do a quick intro, then all musicians start the song together. If you select a song that not all players can do, only the players with the proper skills start playing, and you receive the message "Some members can not play that song". It's best to find out everyone's skill level first so you can have an impressive start.

"/stopband" stops all the musicians at the same time. NOTE: just using "/stop" defaults to /stopband, not /stopmusic (which just stops you). So if you're in a group of 10 musicians and type /stop to take a break, you just made everyone end.

Changing songs:

To change band songs you use "/changeband [song name]". You can leave off the song name, and it will prompt you with a song list.

You mentioned the usefulness of droids?

Yes, Droids are also useful tools to Entertainers, as they can allow various particle effects or play music.

When can I use an Entertainer Droid?

To use effects modules, you must be either a Novice Musician or Novice Dancer. To program a playback module in a droid, you must have Novice Musician. If you do not have Novice Musician, you can still use a playback droid if you get a Musician to program it. Once it is programmed, you may control it with the /band commands.

Effects Module

To use effects modules, you must be either a Novice Musician or Novice Dancer. To program a playback module in a droid, you must have Novice Musician. If you do not have Novice Musician, you can still use a playback droid if you get a Musician to program it. Once it is programmed, you may control it with the /band commands.

These modules provide visual displays for an entertainer. You can place up to 10 different effects in a row, with a timer of 3 - 60 seconds between each effect. The following is a list of all 6 modules and a basic description of what they do.

• Avian - white birds fly away from the droid
• Foam - sort of like a cloud effect around the ground spreading about 4-5m
• Electric Fog - a slow burst of sparkles surrounds the droid
• Confetti - wads of confetti are thrown into the air and sprinkle everywhere
• Mind bloom - a really nice looking slow moving plasma effect in the air around the droid
• Dancing Jawa - Laser show with images of a dancing jawa floating in the air

The Effects module creates a radial menu with the Effects On/Off Toggle for a Novice Dancer of Musician. The Effects On/Off Toggle has a sub menu called Configure that allows you to program 10 slots. Each slot can be filled with one of the Effects Modules installed and allows you to set a delay time for each effect.

Band Commands

Bandflourishes:

/bandflourish # causes every musician you are grouped with execute the same flourish.

/bandflourish # [instrument] causes every member playing the named instrument do the flourish. For a fun time, play SW3 with a Slither and a Fizz and do "/band 3 slitherhorn ; /band 6 fizz" (or maybe the numbers are the other way around...)

/bandflourish only gives xp to the player who gave the command, but will cause all players to use the action cost of that particular flourish as if they were performing it themself. It also adds to the flourish queue (you can only have 5 flourishes pending). Use /band sparingly, on a rotating schedule, or set up in advance if your goal is to put on an impressively choreagraphed show.

You can turn off the receiving of bandflourishes using the command "/bandflourish off". This only lasts for the current song, if you stop to rest and restart, you will again be receiving /band commands.

Other full-band commands

/startband (song name) has the player giving the command do a quick intro, then all musicians start the song together. If you select a song that not all players can do, only the players with the proper skills start playing, and you receive the message "Some members can not play that song". It's best to find out everyone's skill level first so you can have an impressive start.

/stopband stops all the musicians at the same time. NOTE: just using "/stop" defaults to /stopband, not /stopmusic (which just stops you). So if you're in a group of 10 musicians and type /stop to take a break, you just made everyone end.

Changing songs

You can switch instantly from one song to another using the /changemusic (song name) command (when playing alone) or /changeband (song name(. You can leave off the song name, and it will prompt you with a song list.

Experience

Music/Dancing

The base xp you get per "tick" (about 10 seconds) depends on either the song/dance level or the instrument level, whichever is higher. So playing SW1 on a Kloo horn (Musicianship IV instrument) gives you the same xp as playing SW3 (Musicianship IV song) on a slitherhorn. Then you get an extra xp per tick for each additional performer (dancer or musician) who is actively dancing/playing in your group. Then you get extra xp for each audience member watching the group. Emotes such as /cheer, /applaud, /clap from the audience will occasionally give you an extra boost for a tick or two. For each additional person in the group playing the base XP is increased by 5%. For each player that is watching the group, there is an additional 5% added to the base experience per tick.

Speaking of bonuses, I notice that my Musician XP fluctuates while playing. What's up?

A. As you may have noticed, XP is distributed by ticks, which occur about every 10 seconds. After you do a flourish you receive the maximum amount of XP possible. After that, if no more flourishes are done, you'll continue to get XP per tick, but at 1 less XP per tick. So if you did a flourish for 8 XP and didn't flourish again, the next tick would give 7 XP, the next 6 XP, etc. You must also take into account double flourishes and other band members.

Q. Double Flourishes?

A. Yes, if you do two flourishes (not actually execute them, just get the message) within one tick, you will get roughly double the XP for that tick as if you'd only done one flourish. That "double rule" is subjective though. Sometimes it will give 1 extra XP over double, sometimes two less.

Basics of the affects of flourishing on exp gain:

1> A Musician flourish lasts 5 seconds, so even though you can hit the key twice in succession, it'll still take 10 seconds to actually play the notes.
2> When determining XP, it only matters when you hit the key or when the macro sent the command, NOT when it was actually played.
3> The game counts in 10-second periods from when you started playing; you'll know when a tick ends because that's when you get the XP. If, within a 10-second "tick" you flourish once, it gives you X. If you flourished twice or more, you get 2X. If I hit the flourish key six times in a row, I'll still only get 2X, but it'll take 30 seconds to play and will drain the full Action. So, as a Musician you should always have either 0 or 2 flourishes within a given tick, never any other numbers.
4> Every tick that had zero flourishes drops 1 point off of the XP gain of the previous one.
5> Dancers flourishes basically count as two Musician flourishes, taking double the Action points and twice as long, but giving the 2X experience. You don't care about that, though.

Healing

Healing experience comes from entertainers, dancers and musicians curing players of their mind willpower and focus attribute wounds, in addition to healing their battle fatigue and buffing the mind pools. The amount of wounds and battle fatigue cured per tick varies depending on the ability used and the Battle fatigue and Wound healing modifiers for each respective profession. Players who watch entertainers heal at half the rate if the entertainer is not performing a flourish. Healing experience is shared by the entire entertainer group. If a patron is watching a grouped entertainer, the entire group's healing modifiers sum together to allow for faster healing as the healing tick size is increased. This effect then allows the entire group to share the same experience obtained from healing the player. Experience is displayed in 3 rows of system messages. The first row displays the mind wound experience, the 2nd row displays battle fatigue experience, and the final row displays buffing experience.

Healing experience rates work out as follows

battlefatigue exp = bf_amount healed x 2

primary wound healing experience = primary_amount healed x 0.5

secondary wound experience = secondary_amount healed x 0.1

buffing experience = every 1% of pool buffed grants 1 experience point.

For information on buffing experience, see dancer and musician sections on the wiki.

Entertainer Healing Experience

No formula has been devised but I suppose the amount healed could work like this

Note: Healing modifiers across different professions are not cumulative, they are seperate sources. Dancer and musician modifiers differ so that a dancer's healing modifier will not 'stack' with musician.

total healed per tick = base healing amount x ( (100 + healingmodifier) / 100 )

Group healing rate should be

group heal tick = sum of group members heal total per tick

Below, the chart lists many of the base values for experience and wound heals per tick.

When I was doing entertainer I had strung along all of the flourishes one after another with a ten sec delay in between and then had removed those that did not seem pleasing to the eye and also changed sequences (instead of numerical order). Does the same thing apply? In other words is it still subjective?

Yes. The base dance controls the XP gain, any flourish in the base dance pays out the same. You have a chance at XP every 10 secs.

If I max out dancing exp., and do not flourish any more but turn on /bandflourish will I still get exp if no one is doing the /bandflourish, how does it work?

Yes. EH is granted anytime someone is watching/listening to anyone in your group and needs healed or someone in your group is doing a targeted buff. You don't have to flourish. You could just stand there doing a base dance and it would still come in the same. It just looks nicer if you are flourishing or someone else is bandfloing you. Sometimes EH XP seems to get "hung" and if that happens, doing a flourish will "kick it in" usually.

In the leveler's guide Panthu mentions Master dancers doing lower level dances (while talking about /bandflourish). At higher levels of dancer, does it work like a musician in that one can not participate if people are doing higher level dances? I am a bit confused about that statement as I do not know have much personal knowledge of the profession at this point.

No, it's not like joining a Musician's song. Everybody in the group can be doing a different base dance, it just doesn't look as nice. Once you max out on Dance XP, you can start doing any dance you like for the same EH XP gain. You can do this at anytime, but it will slow down your Dance XP gain if you aren't always performing your highest base dance.

Instrument Crafting

Instrument crafting:

1. Instruments can only be created by musicians (artisans do not receive the schematics).

2. All the instruments up to and including Fanfar can be crafted using the generic crafting tool. Beyond that, you must use the specialized "Weapon, Droid, Item" crafting tool.

3. Instruments do not decay.

4. As far as has been determined, using experimentation points on the instrument quality does nothing for either the xp the player gains, or the rate of healing of the listener.

Related Tags

Ability Information

Musician / Dancer Special Effects from techniques branch

Ability List