How to be Entertained

Written by Ptoowaaky

This guide purely informational, directed at players who want to get the most from their cantina experience.

1. Finding an entertainer. No one in Mos Eisley? Or the place is full of entertainers uselessly AFKing? Fear not, Mos Eisley may not be the only game in town. Open up your planetary map and click the box next to "cantinas". See the little moon symbols? Well, if one of those symbols is a sun, you're in luck; that means an entertainer has registered there. This is a great way to find entertainment in, say, Theed, or a player city cantina. (These are not used enough, most of them are nicely decorated and should be enjoyed!) Also, /friendlist entertainers who have served you well in the past.

Most of the performers I know are quite flattered to get tells asking if they are performing somewhere. In fact if you regularly tip well, you might find your favorite entertainer willing to come to you! Getting a group together? Ask a performer you know if he/she will come to your cantina or camp. Offer a "travel fee" plus whatever tips other group members might give; or just a flat rate to come to your group.

2. Getting the buff. Not everyone enjoys entertainment for its own sake; for most of you, it's all about the buffage. Right? So here are a few tips.

I can't stress this point enough: If there's more than just you and the performer in the cantina, please wait til you are maxxed or otherwise ready to accept your buff before you request it. Entertainers can only have one buff window up at a time; if you wait three minutes to accept, you're holding up the line! I'm certain that most people who do this are not meaning to be a pain. They just don't realize how it works from the entertainer's end.

When the cantina is crowded, it's easy for us to lose track of spatial chat. If you feel you might not have been heard, send a tell! And be patient, now and then the tell traffic gets a little heavy; but a good entertainer will respond as soon as he/she is able. Most entertainers seem to prefer that buff requests be sent as tells since they are easier to keep track of when spatial chat is especially busy.

Not sure what buff will suit you best? No worries, any entertainer worth his/her dancing shoes can craft a suitable buff for you, if you provide a little information. Something like, "I'm not sure what I want, but I'm a spy heading out for some PvP", or, "I'm a medic, going with a 8-man group doing treasure maps", will get you a buff suitable for the situation. Barging into the cantina waving a rifle and shouting "BUFF PLZ" is going to get you Harvest Faire and Fashion Assembly.

On a side note, you don't have to wait for max buff time if you're going to play for an hour, any more than you have to supersize your value meal if you aren't very hungry. Each tick adds that many minutes to your buff timer. If two hours is all you need, 8-9 ticks is plenty.

3. Tipping. A tip is just that, a tip. It is not a required payment. That being said, tipping for good service is the best way to insure continued good service on future visits. Even a small tip is your way of saying, "Thanks for being here and at the keyboard to provide me this service." Speaking for most entertainers, we appreciate every person who offers a tip, whether the amount itself is a thousand credits or a million. Repeat visits by non-tippers, especially those who aren't especially polite, often result in a cover charge or refusal of service.

4. ID work (Image Design). It's important to tip for ID work, especially if you ask while the entertainer is performing a song or dance. Why, you ask? Because ID work takes us away from buffing and requires full attention to be paid to the one client we are working on. (Namely, you.) Speaking for myself, I don't mind spending 10 minutes showing you multiple hairstyles and skin colors; but do keep in mind that I may have lost a couple of buff clients to a nearby dancer or musician who is actively performing while I do so. Most of us entertainers perform because it's fun, but it's also the only way we have of earning credits. Entertainer missions are insanely dull and pay peanuts, and we don't spend a lot of time killing and looting stuff to sell to the junk dealers.

Entertainer Buffs

Master "Artiste Specialized" Entertainers can build a 20-point buff from the following menu. Entertainers with some expertise in drama or Beast Mastery can still buff you but may not have all 20 points available, and may be missing a few of the less-popular buffs.

ATTRIBUTES - Cost 1 each - stack up to 5

• Agility
• Constitution
• Luck
• Precision
• Stamina
• Strength

Each of these adds 30 to attribute per package (150 max, each).

COMBAT - Cost 5 each - cannot stack

• Action Cost Reduction - 9%
• Critical Hit - 7% bonus to crit hit chance
• Dodge - 7% bonus to dodge chance

MISCELLANEOUS - Cost 2 each - stack up to 5 except for Second Chance - Stack up to 4

• Flush With Success (or "XP buff") - 3% increase/pkg in the amount of XP earned (15% max)
• Harvest Faire - 1% increase/pkg on the number of resources gathered with harvesters (5% max)
• Healer - Increase the strength of your heals by 2%/pkg (10% max)
• Resilience (or "DOT resist") - Reduce the amount of damage received by DOT effects by 4%/pkg (20% max)
• Go With The Flow (or "Speed buff") - Increase all movement rates by 5%/pkg. Note: This affects run and walk speed as well as ground vehicle speed. Excellent for resource surveying, smuggler missions, or any activity requiring lots of ground travel.
• Second Chance (or "Reactive heal" or "Heal chance") - 6% chance/pkg to automatically heal damage when hit in combat (24% max)

RESISTANCES - Cost 1 each - stack up to 5 (3750 max, each)

• Energy - 750 to resistance/pkg
• Kinetic - 750 to resistance/pkg

TRADE - Cost 2 each - stack up to 5

• Advanced Assembly - +2 Adv. Assembly and XP gain/pkg
• Architecture - +2 Structure Assembly and XP gain/pkg
• Booster Assembly - +2 Booster Assembly and XP gain/pkg
• Chassis Assembly - +2 Chassis Assembly and XP gain/pkg
• Culinary - +2 Food Assembly and XP gain/pkg
• Droid Tech - +2 Droid Assembly and XP gain/pkg
• Engine Assembly - +2 Engine Assembly and XP gain/pkg
• Fashion - +2 Clothing Assembly and XP gain/pkg
• Munitions - +2 Weapons Assembly and XP gain/pkg
• Power Systems - +2 Power Assembly and XP gain/pkg
• Security - +2 Armor Assembly and XP gain/pkg
• Shields Assembly - +2 Shields Assembly and XP gain/pkg
• Weapons Systems - +2 Weapons Assembly and XP gain/pkg

Your buff timer stops when you click Accept. If you keep watching/listening you will see time ticks, but they no longer add to your buff duration.

Most "buff-spec" entertainers can offer a full buff with a 1-hour duration anywhere - no cantina necessary.

See you on the dance floor!