Post by Tekanan on Mar 7, 2017 1:24:13 GMT
Now that the new PP Forums is out and having a browse at it, I must say that I am dissapointed.
tl;dr: Interactions will be missed, strong attractive points now gone, and an unknown future ahead.
Thankfully the Hobby content & Rules query sub-forums are still there. Whilst I am okay with no Faction sub-forums, but the lack of General Discussion subforums irks me. It is hard to believe PP got rid of sub-forums that makes a huge portion of their forum traffic.
PP Forums has always been one of PP's strongest points for me. I got into the game at a time when I find communication between developers and players weak. Having a forum where the developers interact on all fronts was unprecedented. I learnt so many things reading people's opinions on a subject matter (whether positive or negative). Being a part of a place where the global WM community gathers also feels really good.
With the PP forums General Discussion gone, the global community will be fractured in the long run. Social Media is good for banter, but it (and arguably reddit) does not have the archiving power a forum can provide. It would be interesting to see how PP would take on this challenge.
Things you will be missing moving forward:
1) Fluff explanations from the Seacat Signal
- It may still exist in the IKRPG sub-forum, but gone are all the previous elaborations from the lore master himself. IIRC, someone even compiled all his posts. Even if this exist on a separate webpage, the reference links are gone.
2) PP Staff jokes
- PP staffs tend to make jokes. PP_Hungerford is definitely a major culprit here. It not only shows interaction, it indirectly shows that PP are reading your feedback. With the General Discussion sub-forums gone, I believe their interaction will be limited too.
3) Strategy/Tactics thread
- While the new Tactics sub-forum can accomodate moving forward, all the hard work done previously by the main contributors are gone. I don't blame them; alot of time is required to save every OP and content from its links from such a thread. Sadly, some of the main contributors have already mentioned they will not re-add content into the tactica threads.
4) Interesting Discussion Points
- Let's face it. While there has been alot of negativity since Mk.III was released, there were still some really good discussion points raised in the General Discussion sub-forum. When the announcement of a new Hordes faction was in the works, I learnt so many possibilities from people who knows the lore better than I do. Let's not forget the inspirational posts on what people would love to see (e.g. Khadoran Bear Cavalry), home-brew warcaster rules made and even custom scenario/terrain rules!
5) Latest News
- The forums is where I get my latest news fix. (Caveat: not only official news, but also news on what's going on around the PP community). Although social media gets the news first in the past couple of years, it doesn't cut it for me because I may not see it (the post needs to fight on popularity for top feed appearance).
What I don't Miss: Negativity
- I firmly believe this is one of the reasons why the General Discussions and Faction Sub-Forum went kaput. People love to give their feedback when there's an opportunity to influence and make things better. Sometimes, it just comes out wrong or even worse, hostile. It is bad for publicity (as evident in the days when GW shut down their own forums). Some comments do come off sounding entitled and I am glad these are gone.
You'd expect with the CID Forums materialising, negativity revolving around game improvements would be less on the main forum. Unfortunately, the solution chosen is a rather drastic one.
I did not participate much in the forum negativity, but I feel punished in the outcome to control or even remove negativity from the community. PP Forums and its staff interactions have always been one of the game's strong selling points for me because other companies do not have such level of intimacy. I feel it is part of the product I am paying for when I buy Warmachine.
PP weren't kidding when they said things will be different come Mk.III.
tl;dr: Interactions will be missed, strong attractive points now gone, and an unknown future ahead.
Thankfully the Hobby content & Rules query sub-forums are still there. Whilst I am okay with no Faction sub-forums, but the lack of General Discussion subforums irks me. It is hard to believe PP got rid of sub-forums that makes a huge portion of their forum traffic.
PP Forums has always been one of PP's strongest points for me. I got into the game at a time when I find communication between developers and players weak. Having a forum where the developers interact on all fronts was unprecedented. I learnt so many things reading people's opinions on a subject matter (whether positive or negative). Being a part of a place where the global WM community gathers also feels really good.
With the PP forums General Discussion gone, the global community will be fractured in the long run. Social Media is good for banter, but it (and arguably reddit) does not have the archiving power a forum can provide. It would be interesting to see how PP would take on this challenge.
Things you will be missing moving forward:
1) Fluff explanations from the Seacat Signal
- It may still exist in the IKRPG sub-forum, but gone are all the previous elaborations from the lore master himself. IIRC, someone even compiled all his posts. Even if this exist on a separate webpage, the reference links are gone.
2) PP Staff jokes
- PP staffs tend to make jokes. PP_Hungerford is definitely a major culprit here. It not only shows interaction, it indirectly shows that PP are reading your feedback. With the General Discussion sub-forums gone, I believe their interaction will be limited too.
3) Strategy/Tactics thread
- While the new Tactics sub-forum can accomodate moving forward, all the hard work done previously by the main contributors are gone. I don't blame them; alot of time is required to save every OP and content from its links from such a thread. Sadly, some of the main contributors have already mentioned they will not re-add content into the tactica threads.
4) Interesting Discussion Points
- Let's face it. While there has been alot of negativity since Mk.III was released, there were still some really good discussion points raised in the General Discussion sub-forum. When the announcement of a new Hordes faction was in the works, I learnt so many possibilities from people who knows the lore better than I do. Let's not forget the inspirational posts on what people would love to see (e.g. Khadoran Bear Cavalry), home-brew warcaster rules made and even custom scenario/terrain rules!
5) Latest News
- The forums is where I get my latest news fix. (Caveat: not only official news, but also news on what's going on around the PP community). Although social media gets the news first in the past couple of years, it doesn't cut it for me because I may not see it (the post needs to fight on popularity for top feed appearance).
What I don't Miss: Negativity
- I firmly believe this is one of the reasons why the General Discussions and Faction Sub-Forum went kaput. People love to give their feedback when there's an opportunity to influence and make things better. Sometimes, it just comes out wrong or even worse, hostile. It is bad for publicity (as evident in the days when GW shut down their own forums). Some comments do come off sounding entitled and I am glad these are gone.
You'd expect with the CID Forums materialising, negativity revolving around game improvements would be less on the main forum. Unfortunately, the solution chosen is a rather drastic one.
I did not participate much in the forum negativity, but I feel punished in the outcome to control or even remove negativity from the community. PP Forums and its staff interactions have always been one of the game's strong selling points for me because other companies do not have such level of intimacy. I feel it is part of the product I am paying for when I buy Warmachine.
PP weren't kidding when they said things will be different come Mk.III.