map

Kazanukari

Alright, when i have to do delivery missions i always upload where i have to go to my map. But when i got another delivery mission for some reason it wouldn't upload. I walked around a bit waiting to see if it would load. I sat down to make sure my walking wasn't suspending it. (it did that to me once) I checked the world map and i didn't see the marker. I tried it again and again and again. I tried logging off and logging back on. It doesn't work! I asked many people where to go but they wern't helpful, they just said "upload it onto ur map." I tried again and i realized at the bottom it says you must be in rome blue. I AM IN ROME BLUE. Can somone help me? I'm gonna have to keep on doing it over and over cause i only have 10 minutes to do it. And i get a hamburger as a reward!

Phoenix_Hawk

Not all missions/quests have way points. Some are multi-part with some parts having way points and some not having any. The type that usually don't have a way point is when it says go kill this many ____ in the area and come back here. Or kill them then bring back so many of a certain item they drop then come back here. Make sure you read the mission/quest info, not just rely of WP info to get your around.

Then one thing that can be a pain is when you're suppose to find a certain NPC at a WP but someone decided it would be fun to attack that NPC. This causes the NPC to follow the player around trying to kill him and then the NPC you're suppose to find at a certain point can be who knows where rather than at the WP. Omni players seem to be the worst for this, one more reason to go Clan or stay neutral.

Blue3000

Two things you learn immediately once you begin to play this game are:

!.  Maps are practically useless.  Considering all the emphasis the game puts on maps and the fact you walk around with a planet map as well as a map of the current area you're on, they're basically no help whatsoever.

2.  You can count out getting any help in the game from those around you.   Not every single player is unhelpful but consider yourself lucky if you get an offer for help the first time you ask in OOC or in tells.

I got to level 6, then without thinking about it twice quit without any hesitation.  I think the game gets way too much credit considering how mediocre it is.  I say mediocre and I'm being generous.

There are those who like it.  I was hoping I did too but as it turns out I didn't at all.

Phoenix_Hawk

Blue3000:

Level six takes little time, to quit that soon after starting gives you very little insight into the game and you really can't go around telling people what is and is not in it when your own knowledge is so limited. There are those with level 220 chars that have said they still feel like a newbie as there is a lot to the game. AO as with any game or such thing is not going to appeal to everyone but you really didn't give it a fair chance if that's as far as you went with it.

1.
The default planet map isn't much use but the other one you can switch to when you hit the "?" button on the map window is pretty good as it will show cities, whompas and other things. Then you can load in and switch to the huge map (http://travel.to/rubi-ka/ new version: http://creativestudent.com/ao/#sample ) which is very large and detailed with additional info like the locations and levels of dyna camps. PF (play field) maps are quite useful once you get map upgrades so it can then show machines, mobs other players and which side they are on. You need a certain amount of map nav skill to load the PF maps and upgrades in though.

2.
You were using the newbie chat chans, many in it do not know the game yet themselves so you can't expect the most help but there usually will be some swinging through here and there that know more. Then once you leave the island chatting in your faction chan while in a city usually goes pretty well. I prefer clan and neutral but those omni players sure can be rather chatty at times. In your previous posts you said you used vicinity chat to try and get help, vicinity chat has extremely limited range then sending a tell out of the blue to someone you don't know is not the best way to get help. Some people are chattier that others, some times people don't feel like chatting then some days and times of day are busier than others. There are times I've seen the newbie chans getting flooded with chat, other times just days later it was rather quiet, it all depends on who all happens to be on at the same time you are and when that is. Another thing is that the newbie chans will be unavailable to you after or at level 10, that's not going to help you reach a lot of people. Also you should have a greeter sent to you from ARK the AO player help group once or twice when you have a new account. You can also petition for help but that can take a while.

I have a level 1 char on a fr00b account I parked in a city and use to trade items between chars on my other account by dual logging. When I do that I also will usually turn on the newbie chat chan for a stretch and help out some newbies. There are also high level chars that can turn that channel on (otherwise is unavailable after level 10 or so) and will help newbies out at time. You can read the AO official forums but need to be a paying player to post in them but there's the AOFroobs.com forum, forums for AO at places like MMORPG.com and e-mail you can use for help.

Blue3000

You're absolutely right  Hawk.  My knowledge of this game was severly limited.  This was the main reason I got so frustrated in the game a few times and left.

I tried asking for help but of all the times I did, only once did I get it.  First of all, I truley don't like asking anyone anything but here I was forced to.

After leaving the starting zone I went to the place where the subway is.  I wanted to find a shop to buy a better weapon then the starters pistol I had and was told to go to the gates south or north of the subway.  I did and I believe many of the people there weren't as new as I was.  I even saw some with vehicles.

Maybe had I known a bit more it would of been different but as it stands I left and don't plan on returning. 

The game is not an easy game to play as it does have many things to do.  For this reason I even tried to get into a guild but had a hard time doing this too.

I was going to buy all the expansions if I had decided to stay.   It's extremely hard when you're new in a game like this one and even harder when you get no help from those around you.  Not all games are the same and this one is more complicated then most,

Phoenix_Hawk

Based on what you've been saying it sounds like you tried to hurry things along too much and expected results too quickly. There is a fair bit to the game but it's more a matter of how there are many ways of blending the available character development options than anything else. I was able to learn how to get around, do things and so forth largely by reading in game text, what NPCs had to say and checking the manual now and then. I didn't like the interface that much at first but later learned how to modify it and came to rather like it but learning how to manipulate the character to do things wasn't that hard. How to go about improving your character is the difficult part. Not because it is in itself hard as the parts and methods fit together well and make sense, it's more a matter of there being so many available parts and figuring out how to put it all together is somewhat overwhelming at first.

This is why you need to take your time and put more time into AO when you're a new player. Hurrying things along could just lead to frustration later on for one reason or another which is what you ran into. No one in AO starts a new character in a class they haven't tried before and keeps it. We always find out not that far down the line we messed up but with so many skills rather than resetting some just make a new char. Other games have far less options and funnel you into one way of building a char too much which can lead to everyone of the same class differing more in their char name and level than anything else. It's easier that way but who wants to be the same as everyone else? More options offer more ways to build a char but also mean you have to think about what you're doing and plan ahead more than in other games. Each class has multiple functional uses, some you could start early on and build on others you may use to a certain point then reset some skills and go another way. This all makes things more complicated but also more interesting as you won't be the same as everyone else so won't be defined purely on your class but how you built your char of that class.

I know the game pretty well and a few classes at least reasonably well. If interested we could arrange a time and I could walk you through either just through chat or meet up in game as well.

Cillasi

If I remember correctly, your map will only show the waypoint if you are in the correct sector.  So, if you are in blue sector and the mission is in red sector, you have to go into red sector before you'll see your waypoint.