If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

Warning: Pox-Righteous Rant Imminent

This account is new, but I used to play back in the Octopi days, and in my long absence, I've creeped the forums periodically, and kept up with you guys. I wound up leaving due to financial troubles, and I just never got back into it. Later, SOE kept me away, and I just recently learned of DOG's acquisition. So I came back, giddy like a school girl. Unfortunately, what I've learned in the few days I've been back scares me.

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."
My middle school guidance counselor always said that to us, and I always thought she was full of crap. 15 years later, I realize just how right she was. Her catch phrase is heavily relevant to our beloved PoxNora right now. I've seen so many players post things like:

"Everything was gutted!"
"We waited 4 months?"
"Wah, I sold my runes and got scammed, I'm leaving"

Everyone is so quick to just be upset with the revamp, or point the finger at DOG, and leave cause they're mad. Is it too much to ask of the few players we have to HELP?
Let's just entertain the idea that everything sucks now...Don't be mad about it. Be constructive, not destructive. We all love this game, Desert Owl JUST got it back, perfection isn't going to happen instantly. They need our feedback, they need our support. Leaving the game because you're upset won't fix it, it will kill it.

Our player base is so small, we could probably keep track of each other on a first name basis, remember birthdays, and go to each other's kids ball games.
I've heard we're under 100...? Yikes!
We need people, but if by chance a new player shows up, and they see 25% of our player base angry on the forums...what good does that do? For the most part, most of us are pretty cool people. Over my years of forum creeping I've seen a lot of kindness, and support. I just wish we could all hold hands and sing...

As a community, could we start some kind of Mentor System?
Something where old veterans, or players who just have a crap ton of extra runes could take newbies under their wing and help them out. Give them a decent deck to start with, or maybe just help them with trades. Anything we could do. Hell, if DOG liked the idea, maybe they could even reward the mentors somehow. Personally, just helping breathe some life into this game would be reward enough for me.

We could organize flash mob-like social media blasts to help get our name out there. We could all mass share DOG's Facebook page during peak traffic hours (weekday early evening, weekends, etc.) Or just link the PoxNora website. We could do the same on Twitter.

We could help bring in new people, even if it's only a few, and then help them get started. Then encourage them to do the same.

With such a small player base, it's going to be very risky for DOG to do something like, change prices, or increase gold rates, or whatever. Let's face it, what if it doesn't work to bring people in? They don't have infinite money for advertising hype. Especially if they lowered prices, and it was unfruitful, all they will have done is lost money, and then we'd be in a worse position than we're in now.

Even if none of you agree with me, I'm still going to do what I can to help. I'll offer to help newbies, and I'll do what little I can to bring them in.
I'm under no illusion that my ideas are absolute. Maybe there's a whole in my thinking somewhere. I'm more than eager to hear someone's input. That's basically why I posted this.

TL;DR
I love this game. Please don't be mad about a change you don't like, instead, offer your opinion, and let everyone on the forum's discuss it.
I'm begging you, let's all work together, to help DOG revive PoxNora.

 

They had plenty of input every time they gave us a peek at what they were planning. It's no surprise things turned out this poorly, but there's also not much indication that offering opinions is going to be particularly productive.

And why would we do a bunch of extra work to lure friends into an extremely expensive game that just got worse? That would be sort of mean.

 

think of pox right now as a game in beta, but where you still have to pay for everything


no one new wants that. hold off a bit on your social-spamming i'd say, until pox is really back up and running. or if you do talk it up, do mention that it's undergoing renovations

 

-1/10

People are going to voice their feelings. And DOG should encourage and support this. It's up to them to be able to translate "I HAT U" into some useful data and catalogue it and move on.

Interwebs =/= kindergarten

 

Lol sad but true!
They should have a sale or some discounts, I won´t buy anything as it is now but with 50% off I will

 

I wantz mentor NAO.

 

Imminent*

 

The negative reactions are a product of there being no controlled framework for player's beta test feedback and of not clearly defining the "revamp" as a beta test for casuals/new players. It's a predictable result of a mismanaged deployment of an unfinished test product to an already-bitter customer base. Allowing forum posts to be the sole vector for player feedback on these sweeping changes guarantees the chaos, redundancy, and hyperbolic exaggerations we are witnessing.

We're all rooting for the new dev team, but the evidence is mounting that they are capable of the same, or worse, mismanagement as SOE. Let's keep supporting them and offering our help. My constant criticism of their QA [or lack thereof] and customer engagement/communication is my way of trying to help.

I am available to work as a volunteer or consultant directly with the developers at their request, in any capacity.

 

I for one am pretty happy with the revamp some changes are just ******** and looks like a little kid came up with it but other than that somethings are actually balanced,, I think DoG has MUCH to work on and they went a little overboard but it is starting to feel like old pox runes I haven't seen played in years are being played and every game I have played I have seen something new instead of the same meta back before revamp.

 

"Only the sith deal in absolutes"

Anyway, many changes are terrible. Thats okay. A change was needed, a change was had and now we need some adjustments.

 

one of the worst lines from one of the worst movies. you're fired booz.

 

"Only the sith deal in absolutes"

Every swing a hit with a statement that general :} Besides, what constitutes a bad movie happens to be a matter of taste. Shame on you, newsbuff.

 

isn't it kind of a contradictory statement, though? "only the sith deal in absolutes" ?

"only" ? and jedi said this?

i'm not arguing with the general point of the statement, just saying that the phrasing seems off

 

Holy crap I am ashamed of myself. I KNEW BETTER, lol. thank you.

 

To be fair, Obi-Wan was not exactly a wiseman anyway.

 

right, but it wouldn't have been like

"his" saying, right? he would've picked it up from somewhere

like the SITH

#obiwanconfirmedtr8r

 

I'm still rooting for OWLz. Unlike SOE their replies are prompt and actually takes our opinion into their understandings of the game. Let's just give them a few months. Its impossible on the first try anyway (whoever that dev team might be)

however, they might have misinterpreted some of what we have said. I still believe that it'll all be better with OWLz.

 

Best part of jedi philosophy is that of "strike without fear and without anger"

 

Lol noz0rs, best part is lite saber to ur face

 

I suppose I should have been more clear, lol. I was kind of just posting this to hear from people and how they feel now. Obviously bring in new people now, for the most part...probably wouldn't be good
As for my social spamming, the few friends I have that would be up for a game like this, are open minded enough to understand. They would basically feel the way I do. I have a couple friends who do regular live streams, and upload game videos to youtube and such. I could have them spread the word, but I'm not going to say anything to them until Pox is running full steam ahead, just like you said.

Just from what I've learned since I made this post, I've discovered you are absolutely right. There is a lot DOG needs to do just to facilitate some sort of legible, comprehensive system of feedback they can actually use. I do feel that they have kind of mislabeled PoxNora as it is. One of the best ideas I've seen on the forums so far is to "re-release" PoxNora as it is right now as "PoxNora 3.0 beta" or whatever version number they so desire. Then set up some sort of feedback section of the forum, and mitigate all of this chaos somehow. Some form of effort in bring structure to this would make a lot of existing players feel a lot better. The "beta" label would give new players coming in the immediate feeling that this is a game in the works. Things are being fixed.

That said, I also learned that they have only had Pox since freaking March. I don't think it has even been 3 months. I think, with all things considered, they are doing ok. Could they do better? Sure, but mistakes are going to be made. That's what patches are for.