Microsoft Zone Archive/Asheron's Call Handbook/Getting Help from the Online Team
Related topics: Administrators, Advocates, Sentinels
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/tips/ashetipsonlineteam.asp
Getting Help from the Online Team
Not only is the journey through Dereth dangerous, it can often be confusing, especially for the newly arrived. While we have many sources of printed help available to you, sometimes it is preferable to seek assistance from a person. The following official helpers can be found in Dereth. Feel free to contact them when you're in need. They are here to make your experiences with Asheron's Call as enjoyable as possible. Please note that no one from the online team, Microsoft, or Turbine will ever ask you for your password.
Advocates
General information on Advocates and joining the Advocate team can be found in The Advocates article.
Contacting an Advocate in-game:
- Advocates normally station themselves by the Outposts / Training Dungeons in each of the "starter" towns, that is, those towns you can choose among for your starting location when you first create a character -- Al-Arqas, Holtburg, Lytelthorpe, Nanto, Rithwic, Samsur, Shoushi, Yanshi, and Yaraq.
- An Advocate is easily identified by his or her glowing Aegis (a shield). An Advocate will also appear on your radar as a pink dot.
- If you are not near where an Advocate might be on duty, you can try to find one in the following manner: In your chat box, type: /list <town>. Example: /list Shoushi <enter> (do not try to list subareas of the starting towns -- for example, don't try /list Southwest Shoushi; it should be just /list Shoushi). The /list <town> command will show you the names of Advocates currently monitoring the given town help channel. Note: This command will only work with starting towns. Other towns, such as Glenden Wood and Cragstone, do not have a town channel nor any Advocate assigned to them.
In the event you cannot find an Advocate on any town channel and you need urgent assistance, use the Urgent Assistance button on your UI panel. This will broadcast your needs to the Advocates on duty and one will respond to you.
What an Advocate can assist you with:
Advocates can provide answers to general game questions, on such topics as:
- UI (that is, "User Interface," or game control) functionality, including spell bar functionality.
- General info on how to learn spells, and on new food items, alchemy procedures, etc.
- General map directions or guidance on using the map.
- Basic info on current quests and quest items.
Advocates can also assist you by:
- Summoning a Sentinel as needed.
- Passing on bugs that you report to them.
- Directing you to the proper forums for additional assistance outside their realm of responsibility.
- Provide you with information on the Advocate program and how to apply.
What an Advocate cannot do for you:
- Advocates cannot recover your corpse, nor can they tell you the location where you died.
- Advocates cannot reimburse you for, nor replace, lost or stolen items.
- Advocates cannot assist you with muling items.
- Advocates cannot assist in a trade between two parties.
- Advocates cannot play while on duty.
- Advocates cannot tell you exact coordinates to any dungeon, quest item, etc.
- Advocates cannot remove players from the world, nor can they take action for Code of Conduct violations.
As a general rule of thumb, Advocates are awesome in-game helpers and a great source of basic knowledge for all players.
Sentinels
Sentinels are another branch of volunteer in-game helpers. Their primary focus is ensuring an environment that meets Asheron's Call's RSACi guidelines. Sentinels are the law-enforcement branch of Dereth. They keep the peace through such means as moderating a dispute, removing a person's chat ability, and temporarily removing offending players from the game. They also bring habitual offenders to the attention of Zone staff managers who will determine whether to permanently remove them from the game.
We strongly recommend you review the Asheron's Call Code of Conduct, Zone Code of Conduct, and RSACi guidelines before entering the world.
Sentinels can be identified by their special red robes and hats -- these items are unlike any others in the game and are available only to Sentinel staff. A Sentinel will also appear as a blue dot on your radar, similar to a lifestone indicator. You may see other avatars that look similar to a Sentinel but whose robes are of a different color. The green robe signifies a World Overseer, a person who monitors the Advocate program in that world. A purple robe signifies a Sentinel trainee, who is learning the ropes in hopes of one day obtaining the red robes.
Contacting a Sentinel in the game:
If you feel you need to report a violation to a Sentinel, please access your UI panel, and use the Report Abuse button. For reporting Code of Conduct violations, it is important that you contact the Sentinel as the event is occurring, not several hours after the fact. If you receive no response within 15 minutes, you should place a second abuse call. As Sentinels are volunteers, there may not always be one in the world you are on, though they do try to float around frequently so they can catch most of the calls. Sentinels must witness abuses before they can act on them. If you are unsuccessful at calling a Sentinel in-game, you should go the AC Help Room and tell a Chancellor on duty what is going on. He or she can go into the game as a Sentinel to help you. To reach the AC Help Room, go to the AC Zone main page, select Game Help from the left-hand navigation bar. In the new pop-up window, select AC Help Chat Room from under Player Assistance. Agree to the terms in the right-hand panel to enter the room.
Screenshots and chat logs are not acceptable proof of violations because they can easily be forged. However, if you've failed to contact a Sentinel, you can send a screenshot or log to [email protected]. While we will not take direct action on these, we will keep a record of complaints and investigate them to our fullest ability.
Please note: Thievery is not an enforceable Code of Conduct violation.
What a Sentinel can do for you:
- Sentinels can respond to calls for assistance involving abusive players who openly flood text, use foul or explicit sexual language, or make inflammatory racial, religious, or other harmful remarks. The enforcement measures the Sentinel will take are determined by the RSACi guidelines for our game, as well as current community policy pertaining to Sentinels. Please do not expect immediate punitive action based solely upon your report. Reports are investigated, and if it is determined an enforceable offense has occurred, Sentinels will take appropriate action.
- Sentinels can get you free if you are stuck between a wall and a piece of furniture, continually falling or "blipping" on a hillside, or -- sometimes -- continuously trapped in the log-in portal.
- Sentinels can also provide assistance with in-game questions, though they like to defer those to Advocates when they are able to.
- Sentinels have the ability to mute offensive players, and they can remove a player from the world if need be.
What a Sentinel cannot do for you:
- Sentinels cannot locate a corpse, nor can they take you to where your corpse is.
- Sentinels cannot move creature spawns away from a lifestone -- you should report this, and they will escalate it to an Admin for repair.
- Sentinels cannot move corpses that appear stuck in the landscape, on walls, etc.
- Sentinels cannot act as a go-between in player trades.
- Sentinels cannot reimburse you for, nor replace, lost or stolen items.
- Sentinels will not enforce against "camping" or "training."
- Sentinels cannot verify account information. (See below comment on hacked accounts.)
Chancellors
Chancellors are also volunteers working in support of Asheron's Call. They run the AC Help Room, and patrol the game lobbies for Code of Conduct violations. Chancellors are identified through their Zone ID, which will look like this: <zonename>@AC. All Chancellors will have @AC attached to their Zone IDs. To get to the AC Help Room, go to the AC Zone main page and select Game Help from the left-hand navigation bar. In the new pop-up window, select AC Help Chat Room under Player Assistance. Agree to the terms in the right-hand panel to enter the room.
What a Chancellor can do for you:
In the game lobbies:
- Chancellors can answer basic questions about the game, and also about the Zone.
- In the game lobbies, Chancellors will enforce the Zone Code of Conduct.
In the AC Help Room:
- Chancellors can guide you to the proper place to resolve billing and subscription issues.
- Chancellors can guide you to documentation for troubleshooting various issues with AC setup and performance.
- Chancellors can take reports of in-game problems -- like lag, server failure, erratic server behavior, bugs, etc. They will forward this information to the proper Administrators immediately.
- Chancellors can answer basic gaming questions -- much like Advocates or Sentinels.
- You can also report a need for a Sentinel in a specific world -- a Chancellor will dispatch a Sentinel to handle whatever issues are brought to the Help Room.
What a Chancellor cannot do for you:
- Chancellors are NOT Technical Support -- they will not troubleshoot or identify problems with your computer. They will offer referrals to information that they think is relevant to your reported problem.
- Chancellors are NOT Billing Support -- they cannot fix any sort of billing issues. They will refer you to the proper place to report those issues.
- If you come to the AC Help Room to report a problem with a Zoner in a non-AC lobby, Chancellors will not respond to the lobby in question. Problems in other areas of the Zone need to be reported to the Zone/Sysop Help Room.
User Security Issues