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<blockquote data-quote="Pauper" data-source="post: 6718886" data-attributes="member: 17607"><p>This seems like a decent rationalization, but I have a problem with it -- if Angry did decide to jump in and get more involved in the online resources and available modes of communication, I don't think he'd find many reasons to change his mind. There are plenty of issues that start at the top of the food-chain that suggest the same basic problem, that the program is being run 'on the cheap' and with little consideration for the folks it's being run for:</p><p></p><p>- The pre-gen situation. Thanks for the update, by the way -- I'd neglected to consider the distinction between the LC-provided pre-gens and those direct from WotC, and the LC-provided characters are much better organized and more consistent in their presentation. But this simply throws the relative lack of same from the 'official' WotC sources into sharper relief -- why are the characters being published by volunteers so much more...well, professional, than the characters being published by the folks getting paid for their time?</p><p></p><p>- The Adventurers League Player's Guide. Even after two iterations of the ALPG, there are still sections that haven't been updated to reflect better explanations and understanding, despite the admins having sent those explanations up the food chain months earlier. Basic copy-paste errors exist that make some rules seemingly contradictory, to the point where the FAQ on the Organizer's page flat out says that the ALPG is wrong in places. Again, the explanation given is that the volunteers don't have access to the ALPG and rely on WotC to make the changes, but again, why does that mean the volunteers would end up doing a better job than the professionals?</p><p></p><p>I get it -- there's a lot of uninformed criticism out there that doesn't really do much to help. And the admins absolutely go above and beyond in making up for a lack of support from the mothership. Heck, I was at GenCon 2015 -- I saw the admin staff busting their butts to organize the *two* Epics, to keep Fai Chen's open longer than the originally published hours because it proved popular, and generally try to keep their smiles on when it seemed that some folks only showed up looking for reasons to complain, whether their complaints seemed reasonable or not. I really do get it.</p><p></p><p>But Angry's criticism isn't uninformed -- it's the honest response of a guy who volunteered to bring new people into the game and instead was given tools meant to sell products to new people that they probably don't really need. And it's not the only example of where the rhetoric we get from the mothership isn't matched by the effort being put out by the people who work there.</p><p></p><p>I used to be one of those guys who defended the WotC staff on behalf of the volunteers. But they've dropped the ball so frequently that I've almost lost faith that they can actually carry it. Almost. After all, Dragon+ has slowly improved over its first three issues, and the seemingly obligatory intelligent magic item in the hardcover adventure got handled much more smoothly this time around than it did in Horde of the Dragon Queen. I don't think the problems at the top are due to a lack of will or desire to see Adventurers League succeed; I think they have everything to do with the focus of the AL WotC team being pulled in many different directions and as a result they just assume the volunteers will take care of anything they don't catch, like a movie director who assumes that flaws in the filming can be fixed in post-production.</p><p></p><p>If the WotC folks can be convinced that this issue is a clarion call for them to renew their focus on the Organized Play program, and thus achieve an improvement there similar to the improvements we've seen in other areas where WotC has chosen to exercise focus, then I think this will ultimately end up being a good thing for the program. But if the folks at the top of the AL food chain look down and shrug, "eh, the volunteers will handle it, they always do," then I'm not sure the problems at the core of the program can ever really be fixed.</p><p></p><p>--</p><p>Pauper</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pauper, post: 6718886, member: 17607"] This seems like a decent rationalization, but I have a problem with it -- if Angry did decide to jump in and get more involved in the online resources and available modes of communication, I don't think he'd find many reasons to change his mind. There are plenty of issues that start at the top of the food-chain that suggest the same basic problem, that the program is being run 'on the cheap' and with little consideration for the folks it's being run for: - The pre-gen situation. Thanks for the update, by the way -- I'd neglected to consider the distinction between the LC-provided pre-gens and those direct from WotC, and the LC-provided characters are much better organized and more consistent in their presentation. But this simply throws the relative lack of same from the 'official' WotC sources into sharper relief -- why are the characters being published by volunteers so much more...well, professional, than the characters being published by the folks getting paid for their time? - The Adventurers League Player's Guide. Even after two iterations of the ALPG, there are still sections that haven't been updated to reflect better explanations and understanding, despite the admins having sent those explanations up the food chain months earlier. Basic copy-paste errors exist that make some rules seemingly contradictory, to the point where the FAQ on the Organizer's page flat out says that the ALPG is wrong in places. Again, the explanation given is that the volunteers don't have access to the ALPG and rely on WotC to make the changes, but again, why does that mean the volunteers would end up doing a better job than the professionals? I get it -- there's a lot of uninformed criticism out there that doesn't really do much to help. And the admins absolutely go above and beyond in making up for a lack of support from the mothership. Heck, I was at GenCon 2015 -- I saw the admin staff busting their butts to organize the *two* Epics, to keep Fai Chen's open longer than the originally published hours because it proved popular, and generally try to keep their smiles on when it seemed that some folks only showed up looking for reasons to complain, whether their complaints seemed reasonable or not. I really do get it. But Angry's criticism isn't uninformed -- it's the honest response of a guy who volunteered to bring new people into the game and instead was given tools meant to sell products to new people that they probably don't really need. And it's not the only example of where the rhetoric we get from the mothership isn't matched by the effort being put out by the people who work there. I used to be one of those guys who defended the WotC staff on behalf of the volunteers. But they've dropped the ball so frequently that I've almost lost faith that they can actually carry it. Almost. After all, Dragon+ has slowly improved over its first three issues, and the seemingly obligatory intelligent magic item in the hardcover adventure got handled much more smoothly this time around than it did in Horde of the Dragon Queen. I don't think the problems at the top are due to a lack of will or desire to see Adventurers League succeed; I think they have everything to do with the focus of the AL WotC team being pulled in many different directions and as a result they just assume the volunteers will take care of anything they don't catch, like a movie director who assumes that flaws in the filming can be fixed in post-production. If the WotC folks can be convinced that this issue is a clarion call for them to renew their focus on the Organized Play program, and thus achieve an improvement there similar to the improvements we've seen in other areas where WotC has chosen to exercise focus, then I think this will ultimately end up being a good thing for the program. But if the folks at the top of the AL food chain look down and shrug, "eh, the volunteers will handle it, they always do," then I'm not sure the problems at the core of the program can ever really be fixed. -- Pauper [/QUOTE]
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