The Most Dreaded /tell Phrase

[Faeadari]

When I get asked for KEI or Pet Toys/ Mod Rod.... I usually respond with, sorry carrying blue dildo and not a snake or skittles.

[Ngreth Thergn]

while I find these stories funny and in some cases very sad, it does touch on an issue that bothers me a bit. How does one approach someone with a request? I certainly don't want to end up as dumb_newb01 on a thread like this... and sometimes I have questions and or requests in game... Politeness is very important of course, but still...

ehgs

It comes mostly down to 3 things...

1. like you said, be polite
2. Know WHO you are talking too. Do a \who, LOOK at them, to see what they are wearing, and then if you cannot tell, indicate in your tell "well, you are anon, and you ARE wearing a robe and have a snake... would you mind casting KEI on me if you are 60+ enchanter?"
3. Take no for an answer graciously, either totally drop it or say "thanks anyway" and drop it

things like that will make life easier. sure 2 CAN be a bit harder, but a little thought can make a difference

[tsbaity]

Also, if you are asking for something to be cast on you, be in range to get it. If an /rtar doesn't put you on target, I won't answer your request.

[splunge]

1. Be in the same zone and in casting range when asking for buffs.
2. SPELL OUT THE WORD "PLEASE". 'plz' gets you instantly ignored.
3. If you dont get a reply, do NOT ask a second time. They are probably busy or afk.
4. Learn a little about the buffs you are asking for. Learn what alternate spells you could get. Cant find a chanter? Ask a druid for 9s or a Beastlord for Spiritual Dominion. Cant find a Cleric? How about asking a Paladin? Why ask a druid for a SoW when they can SoEagle (so can 65 Rangers) which lasts FAR longer (mine lasts 90 mins), has levitate, see invis and ultravision as well.
5. Ask for USEFUL buffs. SoW wont help you gain XP, live longer or fight more efficently or have less downtime. It just makes you run (away) faster. Haste, regen, AC buffs etc will. I remember getting some strange looks when i was playing a newbie on a different server and asking a ranger for Force of Nature and NOT SoW. I was never denied FoN, mostly because it was probably such a shock that they didnt know what else to do but buff me! (And i usually got skin, damage shield and SoW anyways, because i asked nicely and was in range) =)
6. Use emotes. /bow /thank /cheer /kneel /clap /wave /bye They are much faster and nicer than 'thx'.
7. You *will* get a bad rep if you are an ass. You will get a *good* one if you are always polite. Being polite is faster and easier then being a jerk.
8. Dont over-do it. No need to throw anyone a parade and grovel at their feet for 10 minutes cause you got a buff. Dont call people 'Sir' or 'Ma'am' (unless you roleplay, then M'Lord/M'Lady is cool). Hotkey something like 'Thank you kindly. /bow' and use it, then leave. Go play. Begging for buffs is not playing.
9. If you cant find a person who can cast your particular desired buffs within 60 seconds of entering PoK/PoT/Nexus, then youre probably just better off running to your destination instead of waiting around. Nothing makes me wish the Darwin principle was more aggressive then passive then seeing some pinhead in PoK OOCing *AND* shouting for Sow for 15 mins so he can run 3 zones away.... just to have SoW fade 10 mins after he gets there.
10. Use /who all [class] [level range] and /who [person] *before* asking. Make hotkeys. If someone is anon/role, leave em alone. If they are in a raid zone, leave em alone. If they are AFK, leave em alone.
11. If you have buffs to cast, buff them back. Even if its just Skin like Wood. The thought is appreciated and remembered, even if it bounces.
12. Just ask. Dont start off with 'Hello' and 'Are you busy?' Cut the foreplay and get to the point. Be polite, be brief, be concise. 'Greetings. Could i possibly trouble you for [name of buff]?' is perfect.
13. If you have a button you spam instantly upon zoning in to PoK asking if any chanter is casting c3, please delete it. I have YET to see any point ever where there wasnt at least one chanter in PoK doing C3 and OOCing it every 60 seconds. (except Test Server) For the big buffs, more than likely theres a 'vendor' somewhere within earshot. No need add more spam where its not necessary.
14. Make a shaman. Learn what its like from the other side.
15. Finally (hooray!)..... Those people arent paying $13/mo to buff your sorry butt. They want to play too. If you get ignored or told no, dont take it personally. Its far faster and easier to say 'Ok, thank you for your time. Have fun!' then to start a flame war, which does nothing but make you look like a moron. Ask someone else.

[Agosia]

Hehe all of the above, and never send tells to a player that is /roleplay in an experience zone for buffs. If no one responds to a polite ooc, then they are too busy. The suggestion to be in targeting range when you ask for buffs is great for PoK/PoT but isn't really a good idea in a combat area. Players that are trying to concentrate on the task at hand don't necessarily enjoy being distracted by some random toon sitting in camp.

I was charm duoing in Tactics last week and a level 56 Shadowknight came in /oocing lfg. I guess he figured he needed to be more agressive because he asked both me and the bard I was with for a group in tells. After we politely said no, he proceeded to scare the living daylights out of me by popping up right on top of me and getting in my line of sight while we had mobs in camp. I had just dealt with a not so pretty charm break and he looked just like one of the arena mobs (I had /shownames off from raiding). Then he saw my epic and asked for KEI. After I told him I was fairly low on mana myself he sat down to soak up the bard song. The bard I was with stopped singing--if the SK had gone out into the arena and gotten aggro with bard song effects on we would have had a pretty sizable train.

[Draggar]

I came back on after a 3 month hiatus the other day. I was in RM killing HGs just for fun (and cash).

It took 5 minutes,

'Excuse me, could you buff me plz?"

Sorry, but I cannot buff, I'm a Rogue"

"But I just say you cast SOW"

"Oh, that was probabally me activating my JBoots, if you'd like, I do have some clickys that I can cast turtleskin and strength of earth."

"No thank you, I thought you were an ENC"


Hmm, a wood elf, dual wielding daggers, backstabbing (even double backstabbing) HGs with no pet.

At least they were polite.

[Cerpicio]

"But I just say you cast SOW"
...
"No thank you, I thought you were an ENC"

Does that strike anyone else as odd?

I was in PoK tinkering while several people were clamoring for KEI. I've been /role for a long time to avoid being pestered too often. But I decided to be nice and sent a /tell to a 60 paladin and told him where to meet me.

He said, "got it man," which I took to mean, "Ok, gotcha, owm." So I sit and wait a couple minutes and don't see him. I ask if he's on his way. "No, I already got it."

I said, "I wish you would have told me, I've been waiting for you." He said, "I did tell you."

Apparently I misunderstood what he meant by, "got it man." Ok, no big deal.

So later that same evening, I'm just exploing the Plane of Growth (had never been there and wanted to exploring before I mess up my faction). I'd been there a while when I get a /tell asking if I am a tinker. I said yes and he asked if I had any standard cams. No, but I could make them. Fortunately I was done exploring, but I was surprised this guy in the bazaar would send a tell to someone in PoG asking for a combine.

I gate back to PoK, buy the supplies and make the item. I send him a link and ask him if that's what he meant. He just says, nevermind, I got one.

???!!!??? ???!!!???

Some days it's tough trying to be nice.


-- C.

[Tudani]

More on how to get buffs:

• spell, capitalize, and punctuate properly - if you can't take 2 minutes to proofread your tell why should I take 2 minutes to buff you?
• Know what buffs the person you're asking can cast, and what you need - Don't ask a 65 shaman for hos, unless they're oocing that they're buffing for pp, find a lower level shaman for that. I, personally, only know what hos is because I got tired of people asking me for weird buffs, I was casting focus before hos was in the game. (And why would anybody want hos instead of kragg + str + dex anyways?)
• Know the classes - Just because I have an off-hand item that looks like a weapon doesn't make me a beastlord, getting bugged for sd on top of shaman buffs starts getting a tad annoying. Always do a /who, and know what the class titles are. If someone's roleplay and you aren't very sure on the class, be polite, and ask respectfully.
• Be in range - If you're out of target range you're going to get a reply saying so. I also don't play the "where are you I'll come to you" game. If I'm just sitting around not doing anything, sure, but generally I'm rushing around doing something, and don't have time to wait for you to find me.
• Offer to trade buffs - It's nice, offer your services in return for mine. Even if I don't want them it makes me feel better about buffing you. Also if you're a mage offer your summoning services, I generally will be happy to trade buffs for pet weapons, even low level ones, or mod rods etc.
• Payment - If you're asking for a good chunk of someone's mana and/or time, offer to pay for the buffs. It's nice and makes buffers at least feel that you realize what their time is worth.
• Reagents - Carry reagents for buffs that you want. If someone casts a buff on you that requires one, give them at least one, preferably two or more of the reagent. This includes portal fragments for ports. If you don't have any of the reagent, always offer money for these buffs, as the caster has to pay money out just to cast it on you. It's a pain for people to have to restock on reagents, and they'll appreciate having those be replaced.
• Say please and thank you - Always say please (not plz, or pls) and thank you (not thx).
• Take no for an answer - Whatever you do, don't start insulting someone just because they tell you that they won't buff you. Nothing makes me want to buff people less than being yelled at because some guy who was rude when they asked for buffs couldn't understand that, no, I don't pay $13 a month to be his personal buff slave.

And oh yeah, when you're going to ask someone for buffs, think about how you would feel if every 5 minutes you got the tell that you're about to send to someone. And remember folks, the more people that are rude about asking for buffs, the more buffers just start refusing to buff anyone at all.

[Eoghnved]

If there's some buff I need I usually just hang out on PoK for a while tradeskilling. Someone will invariably /ooc that they're giving the needed buffs, and I'll go see them. Of course, there are those days where everything goes weird. One night while I was practicing my casting skills after gaining a level, lots of ooc requests for buffs started hitting the screen. I /ooc'ed that I was casting O'Keils Radiation just for a laugh. Then a high-level Iskar monk came back with something like" OMG! O'Keils Radiation? Where are you?" I replied that I was standing next to the Qeynos stone and he immediately ran over and hailed me. I cast the spell and he handed me over 100 platinum. He said he was bored and just looking for something to do. I got out my trusty fishin' pole and summoned a stack of ale for him so he could at least get drunk. Probably a full moon that night or something.

[Sulkano]

I had someone ask me for directions the other day in pok...they were trying to get to the Bazaar. /boggle.

[Cubwynn]

"Hi, remember me?"
*checks friends list*
/r no.
/ignore

why: I don't normally group except with guildies. If we've grouped before and I felt that you were competent, you go on the friends list. I only have 2 toons that are "known" per se, and there's no cross-talk to my other toons.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"hi"
*pause*
"hi"
/ignore

why: experience shows that buff begging, plat begging, and/or gear begging follows.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

============*prior to the new tradeskill interface*============

"Are you using this *insert stationary tradeskill container*?"
/r yes.
*replaces quarter wedging down the CTRL key*
*pause*
"Will you be a long?"
*deliberate pause*
/r yes.
*replaces quarter wedging down the CTRL key*
"If I give you *1/3 of the ingredients of a complicated recipe*, will you do a combine for me?"
*longer deliberate pause*
/r no. Try the bazaar. You can buy the finished product there.
/ignore
*cast invisibility*
*replaces quarter wedging down the CTRL key*

why: 1) I never do combines for anyone. 2) all public channels are off when I tradeskill, and you've invaded my quiet time. 3) I really, really, REALLY hated having to wedge in and pull out that quarter for idle, interruptive conversation.

[Arkaron]

One thing about RP and gender - if you are going to do that, be SURE you know the gender of the person you're emoting at. I'm an Iksar GIRL thank you. Girls have facepaint and are a little smaller than the boys.

Don't ask Iksar/Troll/Barbarian/Ogre Beastlords for 'Kitty crack'. They aren't kitties. The best term I heard anybody come up with was "Can I have some Claw-ity?" Very cute, keep using it.

I can understand more why I get tells for Clarity, since Necromancers and Enchanters get the title Sage at some point. My being a Sage still dosn't negate the specter pet =(

[Unidin]

"Will you be a long?"

I think that's a fair question. Its the difference between running to another zone to find another _____ or just waiting it out behind you if you're only doing a few combines.

[Chip194]

/lfg in pok with anon off is a bad thing! But i do it most of the time anyhow.


Begger: "Could I get Temp/Virt?"
Muah: "nah"

Thats a showstopper there. I've had some fun dialogues with others after a simple 'nah'.

I figure it doesnt hurt to ask me, but if i was temp/virting I would have /ooc'ed it.

Begger: "Could I get Temp/Virt for 100p?"
Muah: "I'm at xxx,xxx"

60+Chanter or 65 Warrior: "Could I get Virt?"
Muah: "I'm at xxx,xxx"

We're all slaves.

[Chenier]

Last night we were in Yxxta, working on Primals when our recruit officer, an enchanter, said in the officers channel "lol, I just got a tell from someone in PoK asking me for KEI".

We all told her to say "come to me". =D