Pathfinder 2E The Pathfinder Subform Is Definitely Dead - So What?

[Filthy Lucre]

Is the lack of activity on this forum, and for that matter the official Paizo forum, indicative of the state of PF2e at the moment? Is there any way to accurately judge the amount of market engagement PF2e has?

 

[payn]

I think most PF folks have moved onto reddit and/or discord servers.

 

[Retreater]

Is there much discussion on here that isn't focused on 5e or maybe Level Up?

 

[Alzrius]

Is there much discussion on here that isn't focused on 5e or maybe Level Up?

Not very much, unfortunately.

 

[Morrus]

We’ve never had a lot of Pathfinder chatter — most PF fans moved to the Paizo boards a decade ago. I wasn’t aware those boards were quiet these days though.

 

[billd91]

I check in every couple weeks or so... and then check out because the conversations all seem kinda the same lately. A decade ago, Paizo was really about where I was as a gamer - now, not so much.

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

Kinda stopped coming here because it doesn't seem to be where people who like the system really congregate-- generally the more interesting topics are the "DND General" ones where the many editions of DND intersect because Pathfinder 2e is only about as different from them as they are to each other, so there's enough overlap to have interesting discussions on useful concepts. Even then I sort of stopped that as well to an extent because I realized I was getting pretty heated, and that I kept getting dragged into the same fights, in the same boards, with the same posters.

Would people be interested in seeing more PF2e content here? At some point I should be able to provide a report on how the beginning of my hexcrawling west marches went, since we started that in the last two months.

 

[Parmandur]

Is there much discussion on here that isn't focused on 5e or maybe Level Up?

I dunno if this site still tracks the online chatter like it did back in the day, but 5E discussion dominates TTRPG discussion fairly completely.

 

[payn]

I check in every couple weeks or so... and then check out because the conversations all seem kinda the same lately. A decade ago, Paizo was really about where I was as a gamer - now, not so much.

Its true for awhile Paizo boards was home to many a great convos. Its not like that now.

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

We’ve never had a lot of Pathfinder chatter — most PF fans moved to the Paizo boards a decade ago. I wasn’t aware those boards were quiet these days though.

Its probably really quiet for OP, now that I read their name and recognize it-- they seem to have been banned from the Paizo forums in the recent purge, if I'm not mistaken. I definitely remember their name being attached to an avowed troll with a cactus leshy avatar from right before that went down and the user account seems to be smote from Paizo's website.

Which actually makes me suspect the purpose of this thread.

 

[Retreater]

I prefer messageboards for discussion. Discord can be good to get a quick answer, but lengthy discussions get overwhelming with all the topics coming in. Reddit is a similar issue.
It could be my age, but messageboards don't feel as much like an extension of modern social media. Even though I don't know most of the posters here personally, I recognize many of the regulars, with their biases and tones just like I would conversing with my friends.
So when Capn Zapp comes here to talk about why PF2 isn't good, I know where that's coming from. The same way The Magic Sword breathes life into the system with interesting new ways to play.
But for me, I don't have much to say about PF2. I've tried the system, didn't find it a good fit for me, and I've moved on like I have from other systems. I'd love to be able to support posters who come here to discuss it in good faith, but the only thing I could add would be "hey, I hope you love the game and have a blast with it."

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Its probably really quiet for OP, now that I read their name and recognize it-- they seem to have been banned from the Paizo forums in the recent purge, if I'm not mistaken. I definitely remember their name being attached to an avowed troll with a cactus leshy avatar from right before that went down and the user account seems to be smote from Paizo's website.

Which actually makes me suspect the purpose of this thread.

Mod Note:

Be that as it may be, we try to avoid cross-board drama and generally judge ENWorlders on their actions here. There are exceptions, but they are rare.

Let’s keep it that way.

 

[Thomas Shey]

While this is the board I'm currently on that I find most compatible (occasional dust-ups notwithstanding) its hard to keep any non-5e conversation going around here; only luck you usually have has been with avowedly D&D-centric ones that are really far more general than that.

I could speculate why there's so little PF2e-specific discussion here (I really hadn't had the impression it was all that down on Paizo, even if the recent ones hadn't interested me), but my guess would be that there's just not enough of a a set of PF2e fans to make the critical mass needed.

 

[payn]

While this is the board I'm currently on that I find most compatible (occasional dust-ups notwithstanding) its hard to keep any non-5e conversation going around here; only luck you usually have has been with avowedly D&D-centric ones that are really far more general than that.

I could speculate why there's so little PF2e-specific discussion here (I really hadn't had the impression it was all that down on Paizo, even if the recent ones hadn't interested me), but my guess would be that there's just not enough of a a set of PF2e fans to make the critical mass needed.

Thing I like about ENworld is its fairly neutral here. You can talk about just about any game and/or general RPG topic. However, there wasn't much PF talk here even before PF2.

I prefer messageboards for discussion. Discord can be good to get a quick answer, but lengthy discussions get overwhelming with all the topics coming in. Reddit is a similar issue.
It could be my age, but messageboards don't feel as much like an extension of modern social media. Even though I don't know most of the posters here personally, I recognize many of the regulars, with their biases and tones just like I would conversing with my friends.
So when Capn Zapp comes here to talk about why PF2 isn't good, I know where that's coming from. The same way The Magic Sword breathes life into the system with interesting new ways to play.
But for me, I don't have much to say about PF2. I've tried the system, didn't find it a good fit for me, and I've moved on like I have from other systems. I'd love to be able to support posters who come here to discuss it in good faith, but the only thing I could add would be "hey, I hope you love the game and have a blast with it."

Totally with you. Its impossible to keep discord/reddit organized. Also, they have almost zero moderation, so quality of discussion is very hit and miss, if not downright offensive most of the time.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

At least some of the Pathfinder fanbase split from Paizo the same way they split from WotC: their favorite company made a new edition, and they went elsewhere to find games compatible with their tastes/existing products.

 

[billd91]

At least some of the Pathfinder fanbase split from Paizo the same way they split from WotC: their favorite company made a new edition, and they went elsewhere to find games compatible with their tastes/existing products.

Not just a new edition with a few changes here and there - but a very different one as the rules work. That's when these splits are most likely to happen.
Chaosium follows the evolutionary model and edition changes don't seem to split the fan base. They're on edition 7 now and seem to be strengthening lately. The game has changed a bit here and there but it's still easy to recognize from 1e on.

With Pathfinder 2e, a split should have been predictable given the history and general hobby environment at Pathfinder 1e's start and PF2's design directions.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Thing I like about ENworld is its fairly neutral here. You can talk about just about any game and/or general RPG topic. However, there wasn't much PF talk here even before PF2.

You can, but it also can easily turn into crickets the farther you get away from the current version of D&D.

 

[kenada]

While this is the board I'm currently on that I find most compatible (occasional dust-ups notwithstanding) its hard to keep any non-5e conversation going around here; only luck you usually have has been with avowedly D&D-centric ones that are really far more general than that.

This is where I am. I still check the site regularly, but I don’t have much to say about PF2 (since I’m not running it anymore), and I just can’t keep up with the discussions in general. I also don’t particularly care for 5e, so I tend to give D&D topics a wide berth.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Not just a new edition with a few changes here and there - but a very different one as the rules work. That's when these splits are most likely to happen.
Chaosium follows the evolutionary model and edition changes don't seem to split the fan base. They're on edition 7 now and seem to be strengthening lately. The game has changed a bit here and there but it's still easy to recognize from 1e on.

More true of CoC than Runequest.

 

[Thomas Shey]

This is where I am. I still check the site regularly, but I don’t have much to say about PF2 (since I’m not running it anymore), and I just can’t keep up with the discussions in general. I also don’t particularly care for 5e, so I tend to give D&D topics a wide berth.

Ditto. If you look at the conversations I'm in, as I said, they're mostly general RPG topics that happened to be flagged as D&D-related.