How to ask for help and be more likely to receive it.

[Rodasch]

Whether you are a bright and shiny new player or a veteran, computer savvy or technologically challenged, or somewhere in the middle, there might come a time where you want or require advice, input, or help with something to do with the game. When that time comes, and you ask for help, here's a few pointers to ensuring you have the best chance of receiving quality responses.

DOs:

1.) State the problem you are having clearly, completely, but as concisely as possible. Give all relevant information and error messages/symptoms along with what you were trying to do when you got the issue. Do not include extraneous information.

2.) Make your subject line direct, specific, and relevant. Include the basic problem description or subject in your subject line.(example: "Question regarding Lesser Reincarnation", "Problem with Greensteel Crafting", or "Crashing to Desktop issue when changing zones" would let the potential reader know what the thread is about so they can tell whether to read it and potentially reply). This also makes it easier for others to find answers to similar questions later using search.

3.) Make sure you've checked the wiki and searched the forums for the answer to be sure it wasn't answered already. if you have searched but could not find it, say so in your thread (example: "I tried searching using the terms xxxxx and yyyyy but found nothing that answered my question, can someone please direct me to the correct answer.")

4.) State what you have already tried in your attempts to resolve the issue, this will cut down on the number of replies telling you to do stuff you've already done and will help you resolve your issue faster. (example: "I have already uninstalled and reinstalled the ddo client to no avail, as well as updating all my drivers")

DON'Ts:

1.) Don't be belligerent or insulting in your subject line or message body. People are less inclined to help someone who is being insulting, arrogant, or condescending. If you're asking for help, ask nicely and with respect and most will respond in kind.

2.) Don't be lazy. Be clear in your wording, do your best to convey your message without hurting the reader's eyes. Use paragraph breaks as appropriate. Try to format the text for ease of reading. Wall-of-text is hard to read and unlikely to get quality responses. Use the space bar and enter keys when needed

3.) Don't express opinion as fact. Stick to the actual facts when discussing the problem you are having and the attempted solutions. If you must voice an opinion or supposition about what you think might be a problem, state it as an opinion. (example: "I thought it might be my video card, could that be the case?" rather than "It's probably my video card")

--------------------------------------------

If anyone else has any suggestions to add to this list, I welcome them and will edit it to be as complete as possible. I'm also open to change suggestions for anything I listed.

I hope this can prove helpful to people who need help in the future.

[Brennie]

Lovely list!

I would expand upon #2 just a tad "2.) Make your subject line direct and relevant (example: "Question regarding Lesser Reincarnation" would let the potential reader know what the thread is about so they can tell whether to read it and potentially reply). This also makes it easier for others to find answers to similar questions later using search."

Direct and relevant could mean "i need help". Be specific, and be as detailed as you can in a very brief sentence. For instance "Question about Weapon Finesse" or "I need help with Greensteel Recipies" or "What is the deal with airplane peanuts?".

I only say this because the new/free player forum is filled with incredibly generic Subjects that are, frankly, easy to pass over, and don't give forum goers any clarity before they open teh thread. Having a subject line that gives readers an idea of what to expect in the thread will draw more eyes to read and help!

[Rodasch]

Lovely list!

Thanks

I would expand upon #2 just a tad "2.) Make your subject line direct and relevant (example: "Question regarding Lesser Reincarnation" would let the potential reader know what the thread is about so they can tell whether to read it and potentially reply). This also makes it easier for others to find answers to similar questions later using search."

done, see what you think

[donfilibuster]

Very helpful, it is easy to run on issues but being upset won't help getting them solved.
Best thing to do when having a problem is to ask around to see if anyone knows what to do.

The principle is the same to about all issues you may find, if something seems wrong chances are someone knows.
On any issue or bug you find, quests where your way is blocked, objectives not filled, etc. you can ask in the advice channel.

There's quest guides like ddowiki but these may not have step by step details, like levers to pull and doors to open.
However, there might be people that know the quests well, just keep in mind there might be times when the advice channel is desert.
If all fails it might be better to abort the quest and post a LFM with 'need guide', to let someone show you how it is done once.
You can do that on casual and then repeat it on a higher difficulty.

As for the in-game help and GMs, their help is mostly informative, they can't solve bugs or affect your quest.
Ask them if they know about the issue or where to find other help.
Unless you provide detail chances are you will get a canned response.

Either way, if you believe there's a bug you should still fill the bug report because that's the only way to get issues looked at.
You will not get a response and the issue may go unsolved for long time but if no one reports it it will never move up the queue.

And finally, don't forget the forums and the advice channel, the compendium and ddowiki it's all player help.
You can colaborate in many ways, but firstly by posting details more than rants.

[Rodasch]

excellent additions don, thanks

[PopeJual]

Outstanding post from the OP.

I'll also add a somewhat controversial note for how to ask for in-game help. If you don't know where the quest is and you aren't familiar with the quest, it's 100% okay to say so when you join an LFM.

"I haven't run this quest before. Can someone help me find the questgiver?" is an outstanding way to let people know that they might have to slow down a bit to explain things inside the quest or mention particular places where there is a nasty trap. You will occasionally get booted out of a party for not knowing the quest, but that won't happen very often as long as you aren't clicking on LFMs with "know the quest" or "zerg" or similar terms in the advertisement.

Starting your party conversation with "shr plz" is a BIG no-no, however. Many DDO players have come to the conclusion (whether that conclusion is right or not is irrelevant in this case) that people who start a conversation with "shr plz" or "share" or something similar will end up being a burden on the party who is unwilling to even try to take care of themselves and many will boot you out of the party just for using a variation on that phrase. I really enjoy teaching people how DDO works and I enjoy leading groups that are new to a quest. I'm still one of the people who boot folks for the sin of "shr plz".

If you use complete sentences (or even complete phrases with both a noun and a verb) when you ask for help and let people know that you are interested in learning how to do something in the game, many people will bend over backwards to help you. If you demand help and seem like you want people to do something for you instead of showing you how to do it yourself, then people will be annoyed and sometimes boot you from the party.

[Rodasch]

Thanks PopeJual. And thanks for the additions.

[Rodasch]

Any other comments or additions?

[Frotz]

If asking in game, just go ahead and ask, don't ask if you can ask. You can ask, so ask. Ask ask ask.
[That word has now lost all meaning to me and is simply a sound.]

[Chette]

Great list, it's just a shame that the sort of people who make ridiculous post of "HALP ME PLZ, MY CHAR NOT WORK GOOD!" and the people that will read this list are probably mutually exclusive

[Rodasch]

If asking in game, just go ahead and ask, don't ask if you can ask. You can ask, so ask. Ask ask ask.
[That word has now lost all meaning to me and is simply a sound.]

LOL

Great list, it's just a shame that the sort of people who make ridiculous post of "HALP ME PLZ, MY CHAR NOT WORK GOOD!" and the people that will read this list are probably mutually exclusive

sad, but mostly true. I just hope some of them find their way here by accident at least and learn something