ARKs

[Brutal Truuth]

I have a problem . I call for assistance . What is the response i get ? Well just delete that character and start a new one .


I am seeing a very scary trend coming to the CS department that we refer to as ARK . Scripted messages , Being cut off before the actual petition is resolved and down right snobish behavure . 1 out of the 12 times i Have seen an ARK have been resolved in a good manor . That one time that something got resolved and i actualy felt like something was ocamplished was From a GM . What is wrong with that Picture ?


Now i know you are trying to keep the Que down , I know you are trying to answer the petitions as fast as you can , But dont let the QUALITY of the response become tainted by the " rush rush " attitude i have been seeing lately from Junior ARKs .

With age comes Experiance , With Experiance comes Knowlege , With knowlege comes a good deciant response . I havent seen that from an ARK recently .

[_______________Fotik]

big bump for this one. Proof of this is...I petitioned a problem once...ARK spammed his macros at me and went away. I petitioned the next day and got the problem resolved when one of them actually 'talked' to me. I had a bad experience with an ark yesterday as well...He answered my questions in no less than 5 seconds (with his macros of course) and it was a serious matter. ARKs aren't paid, so they don't care. This needs to be addressed. As it is...most ARKs are just call fowarding for support.

-Fotik

[Inocybe]

I encountered such an ARK recently.

He was more concerned at spamming off his canned responses then listening to what I had to say about the problem at hand. His manners weren't impressive either. He left abruptly ... while I was still explaining the situation. And all this after waiting out a 48-petition queue.

[__________Maxtor 1-7]

ARKs are volunteers, they can't do much and you should try to get a GM.

[Carla02]

I think the ARKs do a good job

No better sight when you have been stuck for a while and cant even move.

and if thier scripts solve our problem, great. Im sure they get alot of similar petitions, and have put thought into the scripts they use to speed up the procedure.

AO still has the best support of any online game ive played

[_____________Metaguy]

Post some proof. Ive never had a problem with an Ark always helpfull. With no proof your sound like a bad mouthing whiner.

[_________Crepuscular]

ARKS do the best they can considering some of the circumstances. remember they are all voulenteers. They are players that have voulenteered to help. If you do not like how ARKS treat you, sign up to be an ARK, and change it.

[_____________Bartiir]

In all honesty... majority (can't say all) of the ARKs out there do it because they actually want to help others. Now if you want to go volunteer your personal game time to go listen to abusive players (on the majority of petitions), please feel free and show them how it is done.

If you DO have a valid concern or complaint about an ARK, you can always email support@anarchy-online.com and mention the ARK you had a problem with. However, most of the time in my experience people who complain about ARK fall under one or many of the following categories:

1) A player who waited for a long period of time to get a response and didn't get the response they wanted and want to complain and gather solace from any support he/she may receive from the boards.

2) A player who started being abusive with the ARK and is insulted when the ARK didn't sit around to take the abuse.

3) The player got an ARK who was having a bad day and/or was just downright rude. This case, that ARK should be reported since I doubt ARK directors wouldn't stand for that.

As for GM's being a better source... I doubt it. It would be more or less the same.. if you get a GM who is in a good mood, you might get a more favorable response than if the GM was in a bad mood.

My ONLY complaint about ARK, is that they don't get the support that they deserve and need from Funcom. As it stands now, they are just a filtration system for Funcom so that they don't have to staff more full time customer service employees.

So, if you want to bad mouth ARK... go do it somewhere else. Of course if you want to bad mouth a certain two faced OPS director.... well... go for it. But really, if you think you can do better and deal with the trouble of upset players time after time... then go visit the ARK website to see how to apply.

[assassimon]

Many ARKs know way to little about the game to have any possibility to help me(except if I'm stuck at one spot and can't move)

They should remove ARKs and only have greeters, or they should have much harder req to become an ark.

I think only once an ARK manage to help me and when they can't help me they are often rude and often just leave instead of try to help more.

(I was counselor in UO so I know that ARKs get alot of "stupid" calls, but I also know when an ark should help and not only use their "sorry can't help you with this" macro and leave)

[Ashuras]

A friend of mine told me he applied to be an ARK.

I asked him to seriously reconsider. IMO ... an ARK's job is one of the lousiest one u can find.

1) U have to be nice to nasty people.
2) U are unable to do anything to many people who genuinely needed help.
3) It become a JOB... and WORK, instead of a game and FUN.

It will really spoil the game.

Worse.... I'm not sure if an ARK has "powers" that can abused.

Still, he's an idealistic fella that really wanted to help n00bs. I wished him best of luck and hope that he will remain in AO.

[Octo]

Its just like any place else... There are good ARK's and there are bad ARK's. Some will help you, others just want to clear the queue. The job isn't very rewarding at first glance. But it can become somewhat rewarding if you care to put some time and effort into it. Unfortunally, Funcom has stirct rules that limits the ARK's abilities. That goes as much for tools as for the ability to interact with players. This means the ARKs get bored with responding to the same types of petitions over and over. After a month, and if a patch was in that month, You would as an ARK have heard virutally all possible petitions. So after that its just the same day in and day out.

Hehe, I would like to compare it with missions! Its the same thing. At lvl 150+ theres nothing left to do, but missions day out and day in.... Now you understand how boring beeing an ARK becomes.

Nevertheless the ARK should never let that affect the players, and doing so should constitute grounds for dismissal. The players have no need for someone to come respond with macros. And the CS department has had some petition competitions between ARK's to see who solved the most. Needless to say, that wouldn't exactly encourage the ARK's to spend time with the players to actually try to solve the problem. I hope they stopped having those.


The same goes much for GMs in regard to the good/bad thing. There are some good and some bad. But generally the customer (and I will use that word instead of player) is more content after reaching the GM as they know the GM can actually do something (Well except reimbursement).

And speaking of good/bad GMs Id like to point out GM Ashed as a good GM. Very friendly, which is the most important thing of all!


Oh, and ARKs abusing powers has happened. The worst example beeing an ARK that went berzerk and teleported players to the lavapits in Avalon. Its generally the teleport command that is the most "abuseable". Arks have sent people to 25% zones to be killed by the ARKs playaccounts guildmembers for instance. And there is the instances when n00b ARKs teleports players to the GM playfield. The GMs just loooove that

[buffu007]

BUMP.

Regards,
Itburnz

[FireC]

Originally posted by Azzazzimon
Many ARKs know way to little about the game to have any possibility to help me(except if I'm stuck at one spot and can't move)

*lol* This reminded me of the time my little level 4 doctor got stuck in a team in a big big Tir crash (had team chat but no team and could not get XP cause others had leveled past her, really weird problem). I got fast reply as I was "stuck" and first thing the ARK asks is "have you clicked the leave button". Conversation went on much like that even after I told him I was not a newb.

At least he forwarded my petition to a GM who was very nice and solved my problem... after I had waited for 2½ hours.

Something should be done to make sure ARKs are useful for everyone, most of the ones I've met don't seem to know much of the game and my petitions get forwarded to GMs who take forever to get to me or just ignored.

[Turin]

Arks are good for one thing and one thing only


/petition stuck



I can warp to grid, hence, I will never in the lifetime of my character ever need to send petition.

[Laeni]

Without knowing the circumstances of your particular situation I can't really comment because for all I know deleting your character and making a new one WAS the best solution.

As far as I'm concerned too many petitions are taken up by situations where the player knows darn well that nothing can be done at that moment. Why oh why do people petition for reimbursement of items? If your request is even going to be considered, logs have to be checked and decisions made. Obviously this is going to take time.

Here's a clue folks. Instead of sending an ingame petition regarding reimbursement, SEND AN E-MAIL. Keep a copy and send it again if you don't get a response.

If another player has done something to you that you think they should get warned for and they have left the playfield, SEND AN E-MAIL. That way you can give a detailed account of what happend.

Too many times the petition line is clogged with petitions that even a GM can't resolve at that time because it will take some investigation.

[_________Crepuscular]

Laeni...

I LOVE the way you think. This is the third post I have read by you. I think we are on the same Wave length..

Give the ARKS a break. They are doing the best they can...And yes, just like in EVERY thing else, a few bad apples can ruin it for the group. Cosmik has said he wants to investigate, but needs emails saying when, where, and why to even begin his invetigation. So if ANY of you really wawnt a resolution on GM abuse, or reimbursement issues, use email.....

Try to remember the ARK's that have been helpful and kind. I do know they are out there.. I have had the pleasure of being served by a few of them.

Question for thought: What is easier to remember? The good or the bad?
Try to remember the good things in your RL. Now the bad. Which list is longer?

Just goes to prove human nature concentrates on the negative. Lets try the positive for once.

[Brutal Truuth]

NIce words by all , well except for the Ops director part ... i know wojan and i dont think he is 2 faced .

I know alot of arks , i know alot of GM's ... mostly from the old school people . They know how to answer a petition . They know how to get results . They know how to break off a petition when it is over and when it is over . This Ark did not . Before i could send a response back to him/her i was greated with " You do not have an active petition with this person " This ark was out for numbers and not resolutions . Whatever happened to the ARKs that would attack u back if u tryed to gank them in 2h0 ? Whatever happened to True customer support ? the kind where they would sit and listen and try to make u feel better ?

Telling me to delete a lvl 173 character is not an option . I dont care how screwed up a toon gets ... it is NOT and option .