The Most Dreaded /tell Phrase

[Itek]

This happened yesterday.

One: any KEI?
Two: KEI or V?
Three: donating for KEI
Four: anyone casting KEI?
Three: donating for KEI
....
(I was trying to get my wife her last 9% of level 54, so she could ding to 55 and make some Ornate Leather [helm, boots] and finally we could think about second tier planes)
*insert more pleas for KEI*
Three: ok, donating 100pp for KEI

Itek: (real life) Ok, I'm gonna MGB KEI then we can go
TheWife: Ok.

Itek: /ooc MGB of KEI at Main Bank in 3 minutes (Usually I give 5 minutes warning but I was in a rush)

Suddenly I'm everyone's BEST FRIEND...

Later I arrive in Gunthak with TheWife to check out her new favorite hunting ground. (yes, *sigh* she's even less of a risk-taker than I am)

Guy: hiya
.... nothing.... I don't reply

Guy2: Hail
Itek: (thinking they are together) howdy
Guy2: can I get KEI for 50pp
Itek: Um... I'm all the way over by the Nadox (castle) zoneline
Guy2: da*
Guy2: darn, oh well

Ok, I can understand that....

but...

Guy3: /ooc Anyone doing KEI?
Guy3: /ooc can I get a KEI?
Guy3: /ooc looking for KEI

So I check.... /who enc
45 enc Feets
58 enc Othersillyname
65 enc Itek

Hmm... who on NORRATH could Guy3 be talking to... no reply needed.

I understand OOC'ing for KEI in PoK. I understand /tells for KEI in adventure zones.

But why would you spam a whole zone asking for KEI when only one person in the zone can POSSIBLY be willing to cast it for you? If you've turned on /role or /anon it's extremely unlikely that you are gonna respond to a /ooc for KEI. And Guy3 didn't ask for Virtue/Temp/Kaz or Focus or 9's or anything else. Just KEI.

*sigh*

Oh, and while I waited for TheWife to gather the materials for the Ornate armors I zoned into PoTran to wait.

Guy4: Can I donate for KEI?
Itek: Um, sure I guess... I'm by the PoK book.
Guy4: Hail, Itek.
/tar Guy4
/cast 1
Itek: inc

*KEI hits Guy4*
*KEI hits Guy5*
*KEI don't stack with C5* (me)

** Guy4 hands me 23 plat **
Itek: many thanks, be safe and good hunting

Now, I've cast more MGB KEI than you can shake a stick at and never taken a copper. I've cast KEI and refused donations. I've "drive-by clarity"ed people since 2 weeks after Kunark went live. (I actually had a friend buy Breeze for me, I didn't have the expansion, and used it for 3 days before I got Clarity.) I've never asked for a donation, or set a minimum. I generally when "selling" KEI use target group buff or cast as soon as there are at least 2 people in my party. I don't make people wait for a full group, that's a waste of their time.

And I was sitting around waiting so I could easily spare the mana for KEI on Guy4. I'd have done it for free.

But 23 plat? I've taken MUCH less. 5pp, 2 pp... but I just don't get 23 plat for KEI for a group. It's just an ODD number in every sense of the word.

[Unidin]

might have been what he had on him.

[Serenya]

.

But 23 plat? I've taken MUCH less. 5pp, 2 pp... but I just don't get 23 plat for KEI for a group. It's just an ODD number in every sense of the word.

I'd go with the guess that it's what he happened to have on him. Had probably given up on getting KEI in POK, or it had just dropped, and saw you zone in so chanced that you would do it. Really wierd amount though. I generally donate 25pp when getting a KEI in POK (or 2-3 dots if I don't happen to have coin on me); if I'm asking someone to cast on my entire group I usually give them 100pp or so. The latter instance is almost always a case of group at magus camp, when no one in POK was casting before we headed out -- in that case what I donate is really random, and has included half a stack of dots instead of coin.

[Rhyianna]

when donating for something myself, i often just grab the slider bar down to the slightly higher side of what i am willing to pay, but rarely a nice round number, no patience for that stupid bar, and i hate typing #.

donating for ride to cs (yes i hate running 3 toons through pom, and the cat DETESTS water and refuses to learn to swim at level 52!!!). 50 per toon, slider somewhere between 150 and 175...163.

hehe

[Itek]

Oh my....

I sincerely HOPE it was not every plat coin they had on them... I'd feel bad. Really I don't ask for donations and don't care how small they might be, it just seemed odd. I used to refuse donations on many occasions when I hadn't been "selling" it in PoK. But a friend of mine set me straight....

Tilvaren: Don't cancel donations.
Itek: But I don't charge, and don't really feel I'll miss the mana.
Tilvaren: If you don't ask for it, it's really a "donation" donation and they feel they won't miss the plat. Accept it as a gesture on their part. You wouldn't turn down a tip if you were a waiter, and if you tipped the waiter and he handed it back wouldn't you be offended?
Itek: You are truly wise... for being the son of unmarried parents.

(he's a good friend, he knows I'm kidding)

[Elyssanda]

I have to come at this from the needing angle.. There was a chanter in POK one fine day selling KEI, I sent a quiet tell to him asking if I could pay to get VOQ (had checked his level first) He said sure, but that he didn't quite have enough mana at the moment if I was willing to wait.. I said I'll go you one better, I'll manasong you (being the bardess I am) So I get to him, give him a 50p donation group up and manasong... wait, wait... keep waiting, and he broadcasts selling KEI, 2 people run up he accepts their donations and casts group KEI... I say um.. excuse me I thought I was waiting on you to get enough mana for VOQ.. He says you are, I still don't have enough, I said you might have if you didn't cast KEI after accepting my PP and manasong. He gets pissed at me gives me back my pp and disbands leaving me sitting there with KEI, but no VOQ at a time I was using VOQ to help my tradeskilling.

[Chenier]

Tilvaren: If you don't ask for it, it's really a "donation" donation and they feel they won't miss the plat. Accept it as a gesture on their part. You wouldn't turn down a tip if you were a waiter, and if you tipped the waiter and he handed it back wouldn't you be offended?

50pp, straight up. That's what I always donate. I don't say hi, I don't say thank you, I just give them 50pp. Usually, I'm running to a group or have something specific to do and don't want to stop and chat or RP or whatever. I'm buying a service, you're selling a service. Cast, donate, gate.

[Abazagaroth]

If i'm buying buffs in PoK, and its from someone advertising, I just go up, hail them, get the buff, and hand them 50pp. Say thanks, and head on my merry way. I absolutely HATE the people that demand payment first, and will not take anything from them. I immediately told a guy demanding a donation first for kei, "no thanks" (wasn't rude, just said no thanks because that was my choice) and then "/ooc Paying 1000pp for a kei". I just hate that. Its one thing to look at it as a mutual service, helping people out with buffs, and making some plat (particularly when LFG or waiting on raid time or whatever), but to me its entirely different when its a moneygrubbing enterprise that is so obsessed with making plat the person demands some set donation amount and demands it before buffing. Just puts me off for some reason.

If I'm looking for buffs and no one is casting, I'll /ooc for it saying I'll pay 100-200pp for the buff. The only time I'll usually send a tell to someone is if its an ldon camp. Then I'll usually offer a BSS + 100pp for whatever buff I need. Most of the time the donation (and sometimes the bss) is declined. When someone asks me for BSS I'll cast it and never take donations (never take donations to rez either).

[Kakg]

.........keep waiting, and he broadcasts selling KEI, 2 people run up he accepts their donations and casts group KEI... I say um.. excuse me I thought I was waiting on you to get enough mana for VOQ.. He says you are, I still don't have enough......

Yeah, I agree completely. That was pretty disgracefull behaviour on the part of the buff seller. It's only 300 mana more to cast VoQ as to cast KEI so there was no excuse to claim that he was still out of mana other than he was too busy grabbing cash from others and freeloading mana song from you.

There is an upside though (assuming no changes between now and going live), the new level 68 OoW spell Clairvoyance gives 32 to Int and Wis but is single targeted and costs just a little over half that required by KEI. Once crack vendors get their hands on that they will be much keener to cast that than KEI if requested.

I'm a chanter but I refuse point blank to sell KEI or other buffs because I don't want to get sucked into the buff seller cess pool. I get upset that I have to hide my class from other players but I get even more upset when I have to send lots of refusal tells often when I'm in the middle of a raid in a completely different zone. People just can't seem to get it through their heads that just because I'm a chanter doesn't mean I'm in PoK to sell KEI.
Because of this I spend most of my time in roleplay to avoid tells for KEI and allow me to get my tradeskilling done. It's not that I begrudge buffing or object to those who choose to sell buffs in PoK, it's that I don't have the time or the inclination to spend all my playtime doing only that, which is what would happen if I starting agreeing to buff people.

But in my defence I never refuse to buff clerics (or charge them) and I make a point of regularly going out to newbie yards like Kel to buff the newbies for free when I'm just kicking my heels LFG (often funny to see how many newbies ask me to group with them not realising my level because I'm rpg).

[Arrica]

...I say um.. excuse me I thought I was waiting on you to get enough mana for VOQ.. He says you are, I still don't have enough, I said you might have if you didn't cast KEI after accepting my PP and manasong. He gets pissed at me gives me back my pp and disbands leaving me sitting there with KEI, but no VOQ....

Look on the bright side, at least he gave you your plat back. I've known a lot of people that would have kept it: "Well, I did cast KEI on you, so your 50 plat is the 'donation' for KEI", nevermind that you donated for VoQ and got KEI. I mean, yes, it's only 50 plat, but that 50 plat can go a long way.


Though, I did have some positive reinforcement the other day, sitting outside the main bank in PoK, while logged in on my recently dinged 44 wizzy, when I get a tell from an Erudite SK, asking me very politely, if I could TL him to Dawnshroud, and that he'd pay and also had a portal frag (not too many people I've run into that ask for TL's know or understand about frags /shrug). I was pretty sure I wasn't high enough level for the Dawnshroud TL yet, but double checked, since it had been a while since I'd last played Sorlea, sure enough; 49. I told him this, and in the same tell, told him that if he wanted to, I would just group port him to DSP and gate back. His reply at this point was the real kicker: "That's not too much of an inconvenience for you?" Most people would've said "Sure, ty."

So, there are some good tells out there.

[Agosia]

I absolutely HATE the people that demand payment first, and will not take anything from them.

Many enchanters at least used to ask for some sort of donation first so that they can easily target people for invites. The last time I cast KEI (probably a year ago lol) I asked for some sort of donation (a cp was fine) because of this and would hit invite when the trade window was open. It's way easier than having to /target everyone that hails you or sends you a tell and keeps you out of tell hell.

These days I only respond to polite tells or says, won't cast if the person is not in /target range or if I'm busy and cancel the trade window if they try to donate.

[Dunthor Warsmith]

The last time I cast KEI (probably a year ago lol) I asked for some sort of donation (a cp was fine) because of this and would hit invite when the trade window was open.

Aah, thank you for that explanation. Always confused me about the "invite for target", since you can't cast while the trade window is open and, if I remember right, completing or cancelling the trade clears your target, too - though its been a while since I've traded. I wondered how that transient targetting was of any value other than to try to solicit more payments - never though of the group-casting nature.

[Eowenna Celerdain]

/Agree...

Random buff requests from strangers, especially if more demanding than polite, get old FAST.

Random strangers requesting tradeskill combines - when they've not even troubled to collect all the materials - those also get old FAST.

Beggars ... well, the persistent ones get told that I've spent all my "spare" plat on high-end scrolls. Then I suggest that if they want donations quickly, they might do better to target a player and type "/d" for "donation."

/grins evilly

But there is another tell that I abhor even more than these.

Stranger_01 tells you: R U a woman in RL?

I think Itek did a fine job of describing a reflex reaction to the type of conversation that tends to follow -- even if I don't respond. Especially since the questioner may not accept "no" any more readily than buff-seekers.

... asking random... or semi-random ... strangers for money...

That's bad...

but asking random strangers of gender (let alone persuasion/kink) unknown for cyber....

**Itek feels the urgent need to bathe... a lot... for a long time...**

Itek: (whisper) I'll never be clean... never... never again...

[Itek]

Hehehe...

Aye, that's one of my best "quoteables" in a long time....

And the reason I hope they never implement "Illusion: Gender" spells.

*Itek refuses to buy, quest, or scribe Gender or Frog illusions*

[perryslots]

person #1 sow pls
person #2 sow pls
person #3 sow pls
person #4 sow pls
person #5 sow pls

i come out of it with about 5pp