Arete quest list

This list is a brief guide to the quests in Arete.

THIS LIST HAS SPOILERS

WANT TO SKIP ARETE? READ #19.

TIP: Are your team mates in different GS’s? (instances) Have all team members go back in the shuttle where you start the game (step on the blue dot on the ground) OR
the Alien Ship (way SE from the beach) and reform team, then exit.

TIP: MAP: Press “P”. Click the ! in upper left corner. Choose “Select Map/Saavick’s” Drag corner to size it as you prefer. Much more detail then the default Map. Note in Arete it’s not clear how good Saavick’s map is but on mainland you’ll be glad you did!

TALK TO EVERYONE WITH A BLUE NAME! Some will not respond for various reasons but quest/mission givers always have blue names.

The FIRST NINE QUEST GIVERS are REQUIRED & must be done in ORDER to get the ID Card that lets you leave Arete.
Completing each mission then points you at the next one to be done.

Each has a Mission Marker showing as a yellow dot in your compass & as an X on the mini-map
:eyes: :point_up: :point_up: :point_up:

MISSION & QUEST LIST:

1. Rex Larrson: (Start) Kill 5 bots then open a crate. Tip: stay up top killing bots until level 5. Much less pain, plus bots drop rings (which can be combined to make a better ring) armor (crap armor which is better then no armor) junk loot and the SHINY SWORD! (R-click sword to activate funny side quest) Note–the SHINY SWORD is a quest item and not a usable weapon.

2. Marcus Stone: Put out a fire w/ the extinguisher he gives you. There is an easy-to-target fire on top of the crates. Do his med quest too. Heal stims reward.

3. Flint Novak: he works for Fedex… (go kill this, deliver that-- extra for overnight delivery) Kill 10 rats…er, spiders? No, it’s bots again. Then deliver the bio analyzer that auto-magically appears in your inventory to Alex.

4. Alex Gibbs: After hacking the FLYING spybot camera with the device she gives you, head to the office & plant bug in the potted plant. Do her trade-skill mission too. Junk Shop Terminal is behind her.

5. Stan Goodman: Wants you to steal something.

You’ll need a lockpick which is sold in a Tech Supplies terminal–follow the mission marker to it.
(But I’m at the lockpick marker & there’s nothing here! Just a stupid ramp up… Doh! Yes, AO has 3 dimensions)

Okay, got the lockpick, (OW, stupid customer proof packaging! Oh, right click it) and following mission marker to the…nice doggy?)

Okay, heading back down from the death respawn at the top and this time pressing “H” to turn on sneaking BEFORE I get to the doorway.

Note, the item you steal auto magically appears in inventory as soon as you open the chest.

When you turn it in He gets FOUR ITEMS BACK, not just one! Read what Stan says!

Update: The item is an “Antonio’s Adaptation Factory”. While Antonio does sell them you still need to do the steps in the quest to complete it.

6. Sara Greene: Wants her uber armor back (no you can’t keep her armor, no really, YOU CAN NOT KEEP HER ARMOR!)
which is under the deck on the dead thief–which is guarded by a Flea Boss. level 3 toons will probably die fast. level 6 should have no problems.

7. Vernon Godfray: Go hack a terminal. Social misfit (Us geeks know our own). easy quest(s)

8. Doc Mason: Make an Implant. (Shades can’t use implants. They get a pointer to Lady Sheila instead for their “spirits” quest.)

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!!!: :scream: :scream: :scream:

Follow the mission instructions EXACTLY. You will have to start over if you don’t. (yes, re-roll your toon…or farm enough credits to bribe Vaughn Hammond to let you leave) Vets discovered this the hard way since his task is simple & easily shortcut.

USE ONLY THE CLUSTERS SPECIFIED IN THE ORDER ASKED FOR!

SHADES DO LADY SHEILA’s QUEST INSTEAD.

9. Lorelei wants her pet bird, “Lolly” back. BUY THE COOKIE (From Lorelei), =TALK TO THE BIRD= Target Him (Yes, Lolly is a “Him”) as he flies by and right click. He will drop to the ground. Click the hand icon & give him the bird! Erm, I mean cookie. Click the option “pick up the sleeping bird”. “SLEEPING BIRD” NOW IN INVENTORY. COMBINE BIRD WITH CAGE (pick up bird then < shift + R-click on cage> ), RETURN CAGE, DONE! 60 seconds to 3 minutes. OR you can chase Lolly & spam cage (target Lolly & Right click it) for 15 min if you really want to-- it does work sooner or later…usually later.

Lolly flies along the West shore in a loop from the GREEDY REET to the Bar and back. (60 sec? yes, really…if you run out of the bar and Lolly flies right into your face…OW! ) TA DA! You now are the proud owner of the required ID needed to exit Arete. Give the ID to NPC Vaughn Hammond who can be found on this same level over by the big ICC HQ sign. BUT BEFORE YOU LEAVE TAKE THE MISSION FROM JANOS!!!.

9.1 (Janos) is not required to get the ID card but you really really want to do this one.

Janos: Janos is inside the shuttle you just landed in-- Step on the blue dot on the ground to enter.

DO THIS ONE AFTER YOU GET TO LEVEL 5 AND GOING TO ICC!

(Yep, he has one of those annoying rules: “You must be this tall (Level 5) to get a straight answer from me.”) i.e., he wont give the mission unless level 5+.

He wants you to deliver a package when you LEAVE Arete. Take it to RALPH who is in the Holodeck Building. It will be on the right as you leave the Arrival Hall-- hard to miss. You’ll get a level & credits. Then go talk to the other Blue names in that room.

These next five quest givers are vital but not required to leave. If you don’t do them, your forehead is stamped with “GIMP”

10. Desmond Calistri: Time to plant your commie pinko imperialistic jackboots on the necks of Arete Workingmen! The quest is where you planted bug above. Shiny BACK ARMOR reward.

11. Marco Spida: Buy Nanos (from the Nano Shop)-- your profession’s starter nanos and a composite attributes nano

12. Remi Galois: PAID ONLY at the moment. Well, 9 years later (started guide in Arete Beta in 2014) I can safely say that Froobs MUST get their Composite Weapons Nanos from Neut or sided shops.

Weapons Dealer Remi’s Rocket Launcher test. Ranged & Melee & Specials Composite nanos reward. The Rocket Launcher Works now…and can be used for the mission. Update( as of July 2015): The scout mech does work again.

(Pssst: He sells weapons too…not very good ones mind you but still.)

13. Antonio Stacklund: Tradeskilling 4 times.

  1. Upgrade weapon (you’ll add about 1/3 more dmg & an extra special attack)

  2. Make hud (+3 dmg all types & +10 Inits)

  3. Make vest

  4. Make Bracers.

#1, 2, & 4 are VITAL, #3 just for the XP if needed. Note: Bracers add +3 poison dmg each–even for ranged!. turns you into a low level killing machine. The vest chest armor is the same one from the original newbie isle & was/is very good but with the revamped Sundance armor for paid players and new Newcomer’s armor for everyone, it’s lost some of its lustre.

14. Patrick Sun: Talk to him for 3 slot belt. You wont have to die…much. (I say we should be allowed to return the favor!), At the moment there is no ncu for sale in Arete but the lowest ncu drops from rats & bulls RARE!. When you leave Arete, get 3 free ncu 16’s from Fia Lou in the Shopping Hall. Update: You can now get 3 ncu’s (ncu 8’s) from the Alien Team Mission as Emma noted

Rest are not vital but fun & useful.

15. Shady Guy: Car nano reward. OK it’s not a Charon or Yalm but when you got nuttin, you take what you can get. (want to mug him too!) It also works in SL which is useful!

16. Leet King. I know, you always wanted play Cupid, well here’s your chance to advance the cause of True Leet Love! ( Basic Fashion parts reward) One of the funniest quests.

17. Emiel Dijkman Farmer Southeast from the Greedy Reet. Have you considered a career in the food service industry? Well, now’s your chance to become a renowned delivery professional… (Basic Fashion parts reward again) & if you talk further to logistics manager-- he wants more then pocket change for something. The mission is repeatable if you want to “farm” the basic fashion part-- only get the reward +cred + xp for the first run.

18. Lady Sheila: *Shades Only, all others use the servants entrance. The reward is a dupe of starter shade nano but explains more about soul capsules and spirits. It’s the shade version of the Doc Mason quest above.

19. Lenora Marty, who roams around the merchants, has lost her Credit Card. Find it, return it to her and get a med suit and xp and 1k credits or RIGHT CLICK IT for 15k creds. The med suit is the better option for first timers. Oddly, 15k is the exact amount needed to bribe NPC Vaughn Hammond into letting you leave right away. The card, found below the deck, guarded by a Flea Gauntlet, is at Pos: 3451.4, 891.6, 9.1. At level 3 you will probably survive the flea gauntlet. At level one, just RUN to it, grab it & run like hell back out. If you die you’ll respawn back at start. Of course at level one you’ll max your run speed & body dev (press U for skills) before running. Vaughn Hammond can be found on the top level of the complex.

20. Aliens & Alien Team Mission. (FROOB FRIENDLY!) Aliens are Southeast…waaaay SE. See the bottom of the mini map? Go there. Paid players should kill aliens to AI level 2 or 3. Team Mission in ship is now fixed (What, you still want to face lvl 250 & level 300 guards on your lvl 15 character?) and there’s a new prequel make-a-team quest that gives 3 ncu 8’s. The general does drop bots. can’t make AI armor in Arete yet as the ql100 tool is not available. All of the other components are. Tip: Turn off Fog in effects for a better visual experience. This mission is also repeatable as Revenant noted below.

21. Clan Sign up OR Omni Sign up. Going sided is required to use either the clan or omni vendor for the newcomer’s armor badges. Arete is the only place to get them. Note, as a Neutral you can do BOTH sides’ quests & get the shoulder pad armor for ea side. You do not have to actually sign up & you will get the XP for both. (I recommend brand new players stay Neutral up to level 100 before joining a side.) The sided recruiters & vendors are past Vaughn Hammond-- same level as Lorelei’s Bar.

22. Finally, The Greedy Reet wants the One, the Only. the Magnificent SHINY SWORD! (Sword is way random drop. I’ve gotten it most from the bots while doing quest #1 but also from leets, reets, fleas, mini-bulls, waste collectors & a boss or two.) Composite nano-skills reward. Right click sword to activate mission. Very funny for long time players. NOTE: SWORD IS A QUEST ITEM NOT A USABLE WEAPON.

A few more tips:

DID YOU GO TALK TO JANOS? I see, you want all the mobs in the Subway (the first training Dungeon) to see the “KILL ME NOW” sign taped to your back. (only they can see it you know) What? Get mission. Leave Arete. Turn in mission, get a level, creds, and a “commendation”. Go to rewards terminal, buy the item (Mutant Flesh) that turns you INVISIBLE to all mobs but the one you’re attacking. In other words, no getting bogged down by trash mobs. Note the similar items for higher level dungeons. (one for TOTW & one for Inner Sanctum)

Making Money in Arete= Boss Loot. Specifically Rings. Flea Boss below Deck, Gnarl the Rollerrat (roams the beach) & the Saltworm (roams the lake) pop every 3-ish minutes. A “Ring of Luck” sells for 2k+ while the rest go for 300+. Don’t waste space on crap armor loot, it sells for +/- 5 creds. The weapons & nanos are useful as shop food though.

Paid players can sell on the Global Market Interface (AO’s Auction House). Froobs can’t sell on the GMI but they can search it & get a Paid to grab something.

February 2024 Update– Inflation has gone insane since COVID. Expect to buy/sell for 10X plus now. So the K91 or 94 would go for 10m to 50m. OTOH, once you have a clue about what sells it’s easy enough to keep yourself in “walking around” credits. 500m to 1B.
(Pre-COVID prices)–>ONE weapon to keep & sell on GMI when you get to the mainland: Sol K91 pistol (also the K94). They sell for 1 to 5m creds in ql15 range. Making money on the mainland is much easier for paid players due to all the options available.

It’s very useful for paid players to kill the alien Zix spiders for the 2 “free” AI levels. “Free” meaning one shot one kill zixes are a snap to grab enough ai xp for those levels. Your AI levels go to 30 & getting a head-start on them means less pain/more fun later on.

The mini-bulls you see on the way to the alien ship give the best xp to level from 8 to 16. After that, the leets will take you to level 20. Max level in Arete is 30. (Getting to 20 is easy but grindy. I don’t see 30 as practical even if it is possible.)

Turn on Social Wear! (Press F10 & find it). The most important thing about AO is to have your characters looking sharp. (I’m SO GLAD I have the Atrox Thong Prevention Sunglasses! ). There is a practical reason to turn it on: emergency inventory space!!! There you are, inventory and back pack full of crap armor & monster parts & the mission you’re trying to start says “you must have 1 space free!”. Taking any armor/clothing out of inventory & wearing it on your social tab will free that space.

Shop Inventory turnover. (This applies more to mainland then Arete). If no one is IN the building then it refreshes every 2 minutes. If any one is present then every 15 minutes. (Fripping afk’ers!) If someone is holding a shopping terminal open then inventory in that terminal is on hold pretty much indefinitely.

AO CHAT: Newbies lose access to Neut Newbie Chat at level 31. You can make multiple chat windows tabbed by right clicking one tab & dropping it on another tab.

Wildlife food chain: watch the saltworm wander over to near the Greedy Reet and chomp a hapless reet. Update: 8/28/2019 This just in-- Noted infamous reet “Lolly” devoured by the Saltworm! ( first time I’ve seen it in the 60+ alts I’ve run thru Arete)

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Of note, do not confuse with Atrox Sun Prevention Thongs, which you also wear on your head.

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I’ll also add in here that the landing platform with the Malfunctioning Cleaning Robots is an EXCELLENT place to farm the Unique NoDrop items needed for the faction shoulderpad quests from Alvin/Dodga. I spent about an hour deliberately farming and collected everything I need twice over, plus a bunch of extra ones that I didn’t need.

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There is a hitch in the new starting zone with upgrading weapons, 2 materials are fully missing and no current mob drops them. Stalker Limb and Salamander Bile. I spent hours killing every mob trying to see which dropped what getting at least 10 of each item and literally zero of those.

Which weapons still need those to upgrade? Antonio gives a gives a quest for each weapon to upgrade.

I just went through every upgrade Antonio offers and none require limb or bile. Old Newbie Isle is still running IF you have a character saved there. Otherwise what you see in Arete is what you get. When you leave Arete, the “illegal OFAB” weapons dropped from strikers & deep sub mobs are pretty good and usable by froobs and paid.

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The second shotgun upgrade and the shield.

Those are old newbie isle upgrades. The shotgun you now upgrade with a screwdriver. The Meta Shield looks like it was removed entirely as an upgrade-able weapon. They still drop on Mainland.

The shotgun has 2 upgrades, one into a duel wield which is the screwdriver and one into a 2h which is the stalker limb.

The Shuttleport one did. The Arete one has just the screwdriver. The “New Player Experience” simplified a lot of things.

Minor update-- was running a froob alt thru Arete to refresh my memory & was surprised to see the Saltworm snag & devour Lolly as he flew by. Usually there’s a reet conveniently placed right at the shore for the Saltworm to munch on. I was both pissed & pleased-- annoyed since I’d been chasing Lolly-- pleased 'cause it couldn’t happen to a nicer reet!

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Minor editing for clarity

Really really really minor editing for clarity. :thinking:

Meanwhile, in February 2024, a somewhat bigger edit. When I started this 10 years ago :scream: the forum software was only allowing 255 characters by actual count! (Joke)…OK was like 50k which sounds like a lot but it ain’t.