Difference between revisions of "Mind Buffing (Game Mechanics)"

System Messages

• Mind Buffing

Overview

At Novice Musician and Novice Dancer, and up, players receive the ability to enhance other players' mind attributes up to 2 hours. Musician buffs are linked to enhancing secondary mind attributes (willpower and focus) where as dancer buffs are linked to enhancing the primary mind pool. The buff strength depends on the Musical Mind Enhancement and Dance Mind Enhancement skill modifiers and each point in the skill will increase the effective size of the buff recipient's base attribute pool by 1%. At Novice Musician, this skill is 10, which results in a 10% increase in the relevant stats. At Music Tech 4, this skill is 75, resulting in a 75% increase. At Master Musician, this skill is 100, resulting in a 100% buff in effect a doubling of the player's base focus and will power attributes.

Note: Cities specialized in Entertainment Healing do not affect buffs; they only affect healing battle fatigue.

Same mind pool Buffs do not stack with one another. For example, Dancer Mind enhancements do not stack with Mind Buff Focused Crystals obtained from the force sensitive quest. The highest of either buff overwrites the current buff on the target, meaning if a player is currently buffed for 500 to a stat from one source (crystal or current dancer mind buff) and the player receives another buff of higher value, then the higher value will overwrite the current one.

Note: Entertainer mind buffs didnt overwrite other entertainer mind buffs. Perhaps we should make it so that they do. Other buff types overwrite buffs that are of the same value or weaker value so it seems logical that the same should apply here as well.

Note: Musicians and dancers cannot buff their own attributes.

Note: Special effects such as dazzle, fire jet and colored lights don't count towards affecting buff durations or strength

Issuing Buffs

Players can administer Mind Enhancements 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
• Camps

In all cases, In order for a buff to be applied to a player, the player must be actively listening to or watching the entertainer and the entertainer must be actively performing. Buffs go into effect on the recipient when the player stops listening or stops watching the entertainer. Furthermore, the player must remain watching an entertainer at a minimum, of 2 minutes of active performance time before the buff can go into effect. This means that the entertainer must have performed for at least 2 minutes while the player was watching them.

Buffing may be initiated on players by two methods:

• Passive Means
• Active Means

Passive buffing entails grouping players who wish to receive the buff and have them watch or listen to the entertainer. In this manner, entertainers are able to buff up to 19 different players at once. Ungrouped players are not able to obtain buffs from watching entertainers.

Active buffing entails using the /setPerformanceBuffTarget command to select a player to receive a buff. The setperformancetarget command will focus the entertainer's buffing ability directly towards a specific target. This is used to buff players who are not in the entertainer's group since anyone who is in the group can automatically gain access to the passive buffing. Entertainers may also add a parameter with the command that includes a player's name. This will have the same effect as directly targeting a specific player so long as the target is within range. The buff recipient must be watching or listening to the entertainer through this process. Only one target at a time may have the focus of the entertainer through using the setperformancebufftarget.

Buff Duration & Strength

The size and duration of a mind buff depends on a number of factors that include whether the entertainer uses flourishes, what song or dance is used and what instrument is used. This section will first cover buff durations and then move on to discussing buff size factors.

Buff Durations

Buff durations have a range up to a maximum of 2 hours. As an entertainer is performing, every 10 second tick cycle that passes or flourish performed increases the duration of a buff by 1 minute. For purposes of calculating duration, both dancers and musicians may queue up a flourish every 2 seconds. This allows for a maximum of 5 flourishes to be queued up within a 10 second time frame, and thus 5 minutes being added to the buff timer for the recipient. This means that at the end of the 10 second tick cycle, an entertainer can create a buff duration of 6 minutes.

Buff Strengths

The buff size is the amount that the buff adds to the player's attributes. Buff size ranges can be anywhere from 10% up to 125% with skill enhancement clothing. As with buff duration, every flourish and experience tick add to the buff, but what they add is different. At each 10 second interval, a base amount is added. The base amount they add is based on the type of dance or song being played and the type of instrument used. Whichever is the highest level will add to the buff at each interval. For example without flourishes, a musician playing virtuoso with a slitherhorn will gain 7% added to their buff enhancement at each 10 second interval. A player with a slitherhorn playing starwars 1 would be granted 2% at each cycle. Fourishes come into play by dramatically increasing the growth rate of the buff. Flourishes add 5x the base rate when executed. For example a dancer performing exotic 4 will increase the buff size by 35% per flourish. If 100% was the current cap for a player, then they would hit this cap in 3 flourishes. Below is a chart listing the base experience values for each ability and instrument type as well as the flourish yield value when a flourish is performed with them.

Note: Guide did not offer values for the Master Entertainer lines such as Ceremonial, footlose2, formal2 and the instrument Mandoviol nor for the special Theater Manager reward song and dance, theatrical (1 & 2) and Western song.

I will assume they are the same as the other Master Profession abilities until new evidence is uncovered to show otherwise.

It is to be noted that the buffing system keeps track of the recipient's current buff size and timers even if the entertainer stops performing. So long as the recipient doesn't voluntarily stop listening or watching the entertainer, their current buff values will remain known so that when the entertainer begins performing again, they will continue from where they left off.

Experience Gain

Mind buffing factors into experience gain for entertainers by adding Entertainer Healing experience. Entertainer Healing experience is generated every 10 seconds when a player is actively watching the entertainer perform. Experience is only gotten if the buff recipient is buffed as a result of natural experience tick cycles, and not from flourishes. Each 1% of the buff that the entertainer is responsible for without using flourishes will yield 1 experience point to the entertainer so long as the player remains watching or listening. Flourishes performed will cut into the maximum possible experience available. For example, if a player performs a flourish that adds 35% to the buff value, then the player can have only at maximum 65 experience if they cease flourishing and allow the tick cycles to continue. If the player hadn't flourished then they would have been able to receive 100 experience at master dancer/musician or up to 125 experience if they also used skill enhancing items. Buffing experience is displayed for entertainers as the third line of entertainer healing experience when system messages are displayed with the first two being mind wound healing experience and battle fatigue healing.

Source References