Physical Goods Shipping Update

+1

 

Hi @DarkStarr , @Chaox
tomorrow it's three weeks since your last update that physical goods are about to ship. I see in the Standup Notes that some work was done. However, I and probably many other backers appreciate an update if goods will ship in August or not.
Thanks.

 

@Jens_T as of last Friday the physical goods have been completed and assembled along with the shipping address list being finalised and are no awaiting shipping from the warehouse. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/295637791?t=00h11m10s

 

Thank you Lained - it's good that this was in the Twitch Stream. Listening to it, @Serafina 's statement sounds very similar to Starr's update from July 25th:

I hope that the announcement of actual shipping indeed will be very soon (next few days). I'd welcome any official statement in this forum, though. I and many other people don't follow the livestream and otherwise might have missed that update.

 

This is yet another piece of information that should have been in a Kickstarter update.

 

@jm11744 We currently don't have the bandwidth to keep the Kickstarter page up-to-date. Furthermore, the website is the authority on current information regarding everything SotA.

 

Why would it take any more effort to post there, than it does here like you just did? Just curious. Thanks for your time.

 

Are you really asking whether updating two sites takes more time than updating one?

 

Yes I'm really asking that. Thanks for re-affirming what I asked.

She took the time to respond in here, it wouldn't take much more time to update people who paid for something and expect a response on KS.

It wouldn't hurt to quell some of the animosity on KS.

 

Why would it take any more effort just to come here, rather than there ? See how it works ?

Besides, if it were me, after all the abuse that goes on daily in that comment section, I wouldn't update it anymore either.

 

Please clarify/define exactly what you mean by bandwidth in regards to your statement of "We currently don't have the bandwidth to keep the Kickstarter page up-to-date." This will be needed for an upcoming article. Thank you.

 

I think a kickstarter update would just remind the disgruntled to stoke the flames.

 

Since this is the official site, maybe Portalarium should consider taking down the Kickstarter page.

 

The abuse is due to lack of communication. Less communication will tarnish Portalarium's branding, as well as Mr. Garriott's reputation. It would serve them well to tend to their customers at least a little more on KS. This isn't about identity politics of a game, its about feeling empathy for customers. Especially if the intent is to ask for more money in the future on that platform.

 

You've obviously never had to write a Kickstarter update. Its not just a simple email, nor does it use a great generated system like they do for their weekly update. Its tedious. There is a reason many developers stop sending them as soon as they can get get their crown onto their own system.

 

This really isn't about me or my past history of utilizing Kickstarter. You should be making this about the best business practices for the game you like playing. To try to ensure its longevity.

People will be less inclined to give more money in the future, based on their past actions or lack thereof. Anything in life worth doing, is worth doing well.

 

Right at the top of the Kickstarter page:

The Kickstarter campaign was completed 5 years ago.

 

@Golem Dragon Please direct any media requests to support@portalarium.com.

 

The denial, excuses, and lack of any pertinent information is telling, along with the hyper-defensive attitude on display.

 

But people want to stay up to date with the packages they pledged into. It's much easier to wait for a "things have shipped" update than it is to keep coming to the forums randomly and digging through massive walls of texts about the general updates of the game.

The point of updating KS is to focus on what was promised to the backers on each level. The point of the forums is to talk about everything game related. Making people dig through a bunch of posts that is irrelevant to their KS pledge is lazy on Ports behalf.

Google "shipping updates" takes you to a post where Starr said they are ready to ship out (which was delayed after that) the second hit takes you to here; https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=29385

Doing so on the forums literally leads you to this very thread, again, no info.

This isn't helpful at all. And personally, to appear to bet lazy to expect customers/backers to wade through a lot of hard to find information simply because you're too lazy to make a KS update says a lot to people, at least seemingly. They were eager to make the KS when the money was coming in, now that it's a responsibility and no longer a payday, sorta funny they are now claiming they don't have the "the energy or mental capacity required to deal with a situation" (definition of 'bandwidth').

Wich with that statement of her saying no one on the team has any energy or mental capacity left also answers about the layoffs. It means they reduced the staff to a skeleton crew because of money, not because of need. Otherwise it would be poor judgement to reduce so far down when it wasn't needed that the entire staff is on overload and cannot mentally handle a single other task.

So yeah, my post is negative, but I'm just consuming it the way it was presented to me.