Monthly newsletter ending. Feedback

If I heard this incorrectly please lock the thread.

It sounded like monthly news letters were going to end and be replaced by these video chats. I do like the video chats but I feel the newsletters should still come out each month.

1. They give an easy to look format at what is going on in the background.
2. They are short and easy to find in case you forget something that was said.
3. A visual of the road map for upcoming months is greatly appreciated.
4. Many common questions can be answered by someone copying and pasting the correct answer from the newsletter. We have enough conspiracy theories already.
5. I look forward to these so I know how busy the next month will be and plan my play to either lead to that or know I have time to do things I have put on my back burner.

If the newsletters are for the live shard only, that is fine.
If y'all want to use videos for just new legacy, that is fine. Unlike others I can understand that what you say about new legacy can change.

I could live without the section on bans and account flags.  I am smart enough to know those happen.

That is my feedback on this topic. Keep doing monthly newsletters.

Thank you.

Plus one to keep 

Are you referring to the topic that Mesanna brought up in the stream? If my memory serves correctly she was talking about how there were not going to be Meet and Greets on the Asian shards until they could find an interpreter. If you are correct then I 100% agree with you.

Yes she mentioned that also. But notice in the video she did all the sections of the newsletter including the ban part. I forget if it was before or after that she said they would do these videos instead.

I think quarterly or semi-annual video chats would be best. Keep the newsletter going.

Mariah said:

I admit that the newsletter is useful, but if doing the video chats frees them up to concentrate on the actual game, maybe there's another way?

I re-watched part of the video with the pause button and made a few notes re live shards. While they're not very comprehensive, as they were for my own use. They could be expanded and extended to the rest of the video.

Here's what I made note of so far:

Anniversary rewards September, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas Artisan festival etc & gifts to be revealed later
Store items, Pet castle, silver soulstone
Break apart sets (will take requests)
Cu Sidhe Skins:- Newfoundland, Malamute, St Bernard, Great Dane, Rottweiler
No meet & Greet in Japan, no translater
Provocation on Global events will be enabled
Meet & Greet Oce & Cats - check calendar?
Lore books to be craftable, inscription.

(I'm open to the idea of someone else taking on this task if they'd care to volunteer)

My point exactly. The chat was an hour long. We would have to pause it and write things down.  We can see from responses that some did not hear her say they were going to end the newsletter.
If we want to verify to someone who asked if there is going to be an artisan festival this year, we would have to scan through an hour of this video or wait was it this one of the August one.  

A newsletter is a lot easier to refer back to.

Keep the newsletter, PLEASE.

I do like the streams very much as well as the newsletter. I think we got a lot more information from the stream than the newsletter and the stream is somewhat interactive as they do peruse the chat and answer questions that pertain to the subject and some others as well. I find a lot of value in that.

Mariah, is there a voice to text software that would work with that stream?

AmberWitch said:

Mariah, is there a voice to text software that would work with that stream?

I actually was curious about this. For our hearing-impaired friends these streams aren't very accommodating. 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

“YouTube videos have the option for auto-generated captions for those who are hearing impaired”

Yoshi said:

“YouTube videos have the option for auto-generated captions for those who are hearing impaired”

Yes, they do, but having worked on ADA compliance previously I can tell you for sure they are not near accurate enough. The dev team would have to go in, download the caption file from YouTube, make the corrections manually, and resubmit for those to be an accurate, viable solution.

I can read a newsletter in 5 min. I do not have time to watch an hour-long stream 90% of which is probably of no interest to me. Please keep the newsletter.

I actually didn't hear them say this. The newsletter should be kept because of all the reasons others have said. As much as I don't see the point of the video chats I also don't see how they're incompatible, or how either, or even both, somehow robs them of so much time that they can't work on the game as a result.

AmberWitch said:

Mariah, is there a voice to text software that would work with that stream?

I'm sorry, I know very little about voice to text software and have never used any.

I'm very sorry to hear you're thinking of dropping the newsletter.

I could write volumes on why my husband and I continue to pay for multiple accounts on a game we sometimes don't jump in to play (other than to refresh boats and check on houses) for stretches perhaps as long as a year or more. Suffice to say, there is much that keeps us happily tethered despite the expense.

The newsletters have been a way to stay connected and keep up, at least a little bit, with a game that's thankfully so dynamic you feel like an excited noob when you come back.

I realize it takes some administrative time and effort to put the letters together, but still. This feels like you're cutting a tether. And cutting us off from good reference material (YouTube videos are not that). I think it's an unfortunate step to take. I'm with those who hope you'll reconsider. 

Well, color me confused. When I mentioned this thread about the newsletter to my husband he said, what are you talking about? He said, right at the end of the video Bonnie tells folks to sign up for the newsletter. I just went back and watched the end of the video again and sure enough.

Where is the info coming from that the newsletter may be cancelled?

Please keep the Newsletter. Running one of the biggest guilds on Catskills the newsletter reaches more people in the guild then the live video. Having the video at 2pm est when most people are at work is not helpful as many if they do watch the video later just scan through quickly missing many things, so please keep the Newsletter.

They aren't ending the Newsletter. This month they combined the Newsletter with the Video. @Mesanna said "let us know if you like it, as it is much easier on us to do it this way" This is all stated starting at 3:30 in the video on uo.com Here

IVictim_Of_Siege said:

They aren't ending the Newsletter. This month they combined the Newsletter with the Video. @ Mesanna said "let us know if you like it, as it is much easier on us to do it this way" This is all stated starting at 3:30 in the video on uo.com Here

Exactly. We are expressing feedback. They would end it if we like the video format.

I prefer the newsletter. 

Pawain said:

IVictim_Of_Siege said:

They aren't ending the Newsletter. This month they combined the Newsletter with the Video. @ Mesanna said "let us know if you like it, as it is much easier on us to do it this way" This is all stated starting at 3:30 in the video on uo.com Here

Exactly. We are expressing feedback. They would end it if we like the video format.

I prefer the newsletter. 

yep, I was responding to the folks that appear to think they actually were ending, or thinking of ending it. the way I took Bonnie's comment was that they were doing it this way only this month, but if we liked it they could do it moving forward. Personally I prefer the Newsletter.

Marge said:

 Look at all the confusion just about this. Imagine something that impacted the game

yep

The lack of response here bothers me.  one minute to say news letter not ending. No controversy no arguments why can't we get a response...

Victim_Of_Siege said:

Pawain said:

IVictim_Of_Siege said:

They aren't ending the Newsletter. This month they combined the Newsletter with the Video. @ Mesanna said "let us know if you like it, as it is much easier on us to do it this way" This is all stated starting at 3:30 in the video on uo.com Here

Exactly. We are expressing feedback. They would end it if we like the video format.

I prefer the newsletter. 

yep, I was responding to the folks that appear to think they actually were ending, or thinking of ending it. the way I took Bonnie's comment was that they were doing it this way only this month, but if we liked it they could do it moving forward. Personally I prefer the Newsletter.

I wish they would do it both ways always but if given the choice I would prefer the Newsletter over the Video.  Now if they would do a full text of the video then that might be another story.  It is easy to go over written material a number of times to find something than trying to listen to a tape over and over without knowing wear the information is located (time stamp)

McDougle said:

The lack of response here bothers me.  one minute to say news letter not ending. No controversy no arguments why can't we get a response...

"lack of response?
The thread was created on a Saturday only 24 hours ago, it's now Sunday July 4th - a national public Holiday..."

I don’t think Messana was being serious. I think she was just implying that she really liked doing the streams and talking about what is going on. 

Yoshi said:

McDougle said:

The lack of response here bothers me.  one minute to say news letter not ending. No controversy no arguments why can't we get a response...

"lack of response?
The thread was created on a Saturday only 24 hours ago, it's now Sunday July 4th - a national public Holiday..."

Why yes Merv I'm glad you asked. Yes i want to believe they check these boards daily i mean we do i mean you can  use your phone while watching fireworks.. again 2 seconds investment saves a lot of headaches..

Unusual for any stance to get most all in agreement. Seems like the newsletter is something that players who read it want to keep for the purpose it has had.

McDougle said:

Yoshi said:

McDougle said:

The lack of response here bothers me.  one minute to say news letter not ending. No controversy no arguments why can't we get a response...

"lack of response?
The thread was created on a Saturday only 24 hours ago, it's now Sunday July 4th - a national public Holiday..."

Why yes Merv I'm glad you asked. Yes i want to believe they check these boards daily i mean we do i mean you can  use your phone while watching fireworks.. again 2 seconds investment saves a lot of headaches..

Naw I feel they were let out of the dungeon by the queen so the could enjoy the royal firework festivities. After the feasting and drinks are finished they will return to their tasks.

McDougle said:

Yoshi said:

McDougle said:

The lack of response here bothers me.  one minute to say news letter not ending. No controversy no arguments why can't we get a response...

"lack of response?
The thread was created on a Saturday only 24 hours ago, it's now Sunday July 4th - a national public Holiday..."

Why yes Merv I'm glad you asked. Yes i want to believe they check these boards daily i mean we do i mean you can  use your phone while watching fireworks.. again 2 seconds investment saves a lot of headaches..

They do not need to respond, they do not plan to change anything. Bonnie simply as an aside asked us to let her know if we prefer a video over the newsletter.  Give some constructive feedback and move on. They have no plans of eliminating the newsletter if the majority do not want it.  The video i linked at the timestamp i gave shows the part that people are confused about and it is very clear that they aren't planning anything, just asking a question.

Bilbo said:

Victim_Of_Siege said:

Pawain said:

IVictim_Of_Siege said:

They aren't ending the Newsletter. This month they combined the Newsletter with the Video. @ Mesanna said "let us know if you like it, as it is much easier on us to do it this way" This is all stated starting at 3:30 in the video on uo.com Here

Exactly. We are expressing feedback. They would end it if we like the video format.

I prefer the newsletter. 

yep, I was responding to the folks that appear to think they actually were ending, or thinking of ending it. the way I took Bonnie's comment was that they were doing it this way only this month, but if we liked it they could do it moving forward. Personally I prefer the Newsletter.

I wish they would do it both ways always but if given the choice I would prefer the Newsletter over the Video.  Now if they would do a full text of the video then that might be another story.  It is easy to go over written material a number of times to find something than trying to listen to a tape over and over without knowing wear the information is located (time stamp)

Agreed, a Video with full transcript, or a video and the regular newsletter.  

McDougle said:

Yoshi said:

McDougle said:

The lack of response here bothers me.  one minute to say news letter not ending. No controversy no arguments why can't we get a response...

"lack of response?
The thread was created on a Saturday only 24 hours ago, it's now Sunday July 4th - a national public Holiday..."

Why yes Merv I'm glad you asked. Yes i want to believe they check these boards daily i mean we do i mean you can  use your phone while watching fireworks.. again 2 seconds investment saves a lot of headaches..

Sure glad you think people should do 24/7 on the job, Last time I was required to do that was high threat in the military and that was over 40 years ago.  What job do you work at that requires 24/7 duty, NONE.

@Victim_Of_Siege i understand they don't need to or have to but they have a player base that thinks they don't care and feels alienated and this an easy one why not comment..

McDougle said:

@ Victim_Of_Siege i understand they don't need to or have to but they have a player base that thinks they don't care and feels alienated and this an easy one why not comment..

Not sure why they would think that, Kyronix spends  time on the boards and they all spend some in game watching the spawns when they start one of these events. they gather feedback on kill rates so they can adjust it if needed. 

To clarify what was said during the livestream - we aren't going to end the newsletters.  We'll be doing them as we've done with the occasional "live version" instead of the written version so we can get some more facetime with everyone 🙂

They could post it like UO Stratics does on the UO Forum, what a concept
@Mesanna @Misk @Bleak @Kyronix @Mariah @Rorschach

Kyronix said:

To clarify what was said during the livestream - we aren't going to end the newsletters.  We'll be doing them as we've done with the occasional "live version" instead of the written version so we can get some more facetime with everyone 🙂

So some newsletters will be in video form. As you can see. Information is delivered much better in written form.

Kyronix said:

To clarify what was said during the livestream - we aren't going to end the newsletters.  We'll be doing them as we've done with the occasional "live version" instead of the written version so we can get some more facetime with everyone 🙂

Please provide a written format as well then for the disabled.

Bilbo said:

Kyronix said:

To clarify what was said during the livestream - we aren't going to end the newsletters.  We'll be doing them as we've done with the occasional "live version" instead of the written version so we can get some more facetime with everyone 🙂

Please provide a written format as well then for the disabled.

Agreed, I’m old fat, blind and deaf. I have glasses, but no hearing aids yet. Please don’t make me go there.