Don't you just LOVE Paizo?!


Paizo General Discussion


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Cause I sure do!

Paizo is a company apart. They do business in a way that I wish everybody could or would. They hire great talent. They produce exceptional quality material. They support it very well. Their staff is very approachable and friendly (esp James Jacobs with his "Ask" thread), and they really seem to listen to their fanbase/clientele.

Also, recently I started a RPG club at the junior high where I teach and Paizo has gone above and beyond to support me in the effort...even making a donation that was more than I could ask for.

I feel like Paizo are my friends, though I've yet to have the privilege of meeting any of them in person. They truly are a company of gamers, for gamers. I'm just really grateful and they have my loyalty. [/gush]


I do love Pazio.

Shadow Lodge

Wildebob, I agree. I know no one is perfect but it does seem like the folks at Paizo sure do try hard.


They're A-OK!!!


I don't, but I won't judge those who disagree with me.

Lantern Lodge RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4

Wildebob wrote:


Also, recently I started a RPG club at the junior high where I teach and Paizo has gone above and beyond to support me in the effort...even making a donation that was more than I could ask for.

That is awesome.

Liberty's Edge

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I don't hate or like them. I respect the people thst work for the company. I like most of theit products. Their not friends nor family to me. Just someone I buy a product from. I also don't feel like they listen to my feedback more than any other rpg company that I buy from.


Although I do love Paizo...

Please, for the love of whatever gods you pray, continue this thread. Their heads can barely fit in their cubicles as it is.

;P


memorax wrote:
I don't hate or like them. I respect the people thst work for the company. I like most of theit products. Their not friends nor family to me. Just someone I buy a product from.

Pretty much this. They used to be better about customer feedback and interaction, but - as is, admittedly, natural for reaching a certain size and forum population - that's slacked off some in recent years.


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Well, I for one have always had the very best of experiences in all of my dealings with Paizo. I feel like more than a demographic when they interact and that speaks volumes to me. Obviously they don't have a whole staff at my beck and call, James doesn't call me for approval of AP outlines, and none of them know me as anything but a handle, but it would be unbelievably egotistical to expect that. Among companies with which I deal, they are the gold standard. And that's worth my loyalty.

Designer

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Wildebob wrote:
Well, I for one have always had the very best of experiences in all of my dealings with Paizo. I feel like more than a demographic when they interact and that speaks volumes to me. Obviously they don't have a whole staff at my beck and call, James doesn't call me for approval of AP outlines, and none of them know me as anything but a handle, but it would be unbelievably egotistical to expect that. Among companies with which I deal, they are the gold standard. And that's worth my loyalty.

By the way, you never got back to me about the final outline for the 2016 spring release. How are we going to decide what to include without your approval?

;)

Liberty's Edge

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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Indeed. I received my holiday christmas card from them in the mail, I love them. :)


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I like the third parties they also provide a niche industry to. Many of the people at Paizo also moonlight there and they make some exceptional products, not just under the Paizo brand name.

Grand Lodge

It's a good system, and the Big Tent campaign setting they have means that you can have the themed campaigns while still maintaining it in a greater coherent whole.


I don't know. They don't buy me flowers anymore and I think they might be seeing someone behind my back.


haha woops, I didn't know there was a post so similar to mine :3

Quote:
I don't hate or like them. I respect the people thst work for the company. I like most of theit products. Their not friends nor family to me. Just someone I buy a product from. I also don't feel like they listen to my feedback more than any other rpg company that I buy from.

I do see what you are saying, they are still a business and as a result they will need to be treated as such. However business can be conducted in many ways. I feel business is conducted in a way that primarily benefits the customer here. You can chose to spend very little here and still play the game or you can spend lots the choice is the customers. They should get some browny points for that :)

Scarab Sages

If it gets cold enough....


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

Ayep

Liberty's Edge

8FoldPath wrote:


I do see what you are saying, they are still a business and as a result they will need to be treated as such. However business can be conducted in many ways. I feel business is conducted in a way that primarily benefits the customer here. You can chose to spend very little here and still play the game or you can spend lots the choice is the customers. They should get some browny points for that :)

Well at the same time I'm not sure I really should be thanking them for something any smart company does. Giving and having customer service is a must for most companies. Some can get by because of having deep pockets. I guess for me to consider anyone a family member and/or friend it has to be someone I know for a long time. Not someone who sells me a product. Despite my complaints about their product. I do think the people that work at Paizo are good people. At the same time I barely know them.

Silver Crusade

Basically, most companies I see are greedy dirtbags playing the "who can get the biggest profit margin" game. Paizo isn't playing that game and it shows. The best part is how they seem to be doing well financially anyway.


I admire and respect Paizo especially for thier inclusiveness - love them no.

They are not perfect and can be a tad self righteous.

Liberty's Edge

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I really like Paizo, and what I've seen of the people who work there. They aren't perfect or anything, but they seem to legitimately be pretty nice people and put in a lot of effort to make a really fun game that I've enjoyed immensely. They're also really friendly, approachable, and responsive on these boards. I've personally asked a variety of questions of the folks at Paizo and actually gotten full answer, which is really cool.

None of this is precisely unique (I've had similarly good experiences with other game companies), but they're not universal within the industry either, and are certainly worthy of approval and high regard.


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They're great. I'd share a coffee, beer or whiskey with any of them.

It doesnt really matter whether people who work at other companies are also great or not.


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Regardless of how positive/negative I feel about the staff or company, the Paizo forums are awesome, both as a resource and a sociological exercise. Sure, having avatars with advertisements proclaiming which products you buy after one's name is a wise marketing choice, but then so is having the forums in the first place - but even beyond that the forums have a life and existence well beyond mere marketing. I have made good friends here, seen excellent home-brewed content, had answers answered and had the honor to play in some awesome PbPs, one of which just reached its first year just a few days ago. And I get to advertise my own 3PP products and find out about those of others.

As for Paizo the company I don't think there is enough transparency on the reasoning behind some product decisions, but that is likely my own bias, and a healthy approach for Paizo to take. I just don't seem to see why some things are held so close to the chest, and why there seem to be sacred cows that cannot be questioned. Still, we all have our idiosyncrasies, and a business or company is no exception.

I wish them well in the coming year. Thank you for these forums Paizo, for that you have my gratitude and respect.

[EDIT] - and for making all the rules free to peruse on the internet - many more thanks. I do have the CRB, three Bestiaries, UM, UC, Monster Codex, ISWG, GMG, APG and ACG in print, but still….)[/EDIT]


The thing that makes me like them most is their inclusiveness. They are going out of their way to be inclusive and that means a whole hell of a lot. And I'm not just talking queer and racial inclusion. They make a point to utilize so many different cultures.

Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

I will join the mob of neutral->positive respondents. I like a lot of their products, but not all of them, I buy the ones I think I will like, and am only occasionally disappointed. I like that they engage the community, both through a vibrant organized play systems and play tests. That they participate in these forums, and blog regularly, I will never under value a company who wants to communicate earnestly with its audience and customers. I do love the customer service folks, I have never had cause to talk to customer service that didn't leave me smiling. Even if the situation wasn't perfect, they are always nice, always helpful, and if possible light hearted and funny. Even if their avatars are killer monsters, they are killer monsters with heart. I am going to continue to support Paizo products in 2015, and I wish them well. My only real complaint is the cost of doing business with Paizo directly. The cost of shipping has just continued to balloon year over year, and the length of time it takes to deliver gone up as well. In the end the subscription discount and free PDFs still end up costing me more then buying it twice (once as PDF and once from an Amazon or their ilk.) But because I don't subscribe I don't take every product, and net I spend less on gaming products, and what I do spend less of it goes directly to Paizo.

So Love'm no, but respect and appreciate, sure.


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I think we can all agree that Paizo does their best to support their players, clubs, PFS, and whoever else. Also great customer service.

We can disagree all we want on design decisions, but there is no doubt they care about their players and do their best to make them happy.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

I do. One of my favorite companies.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I love them.

Great people. Great products. Great system. When I see them at GenCon, JJ, EM, Sutter, JB; they always stop and talk with you.

They've got my loyalty and dollars until they close their doors for good.

Liberty's Edge

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Starfinder Superscriber

Here's one of my favorite things about Paizo: their enthusiastic support of the OGL and their support of standard digital formats.

The support of the OGL is good for two reasons. First, it has enabled a rich third-party ecosystem. Third party publishers don't have to beg for permission and make licensing deals; they can just use the OGL. (And, of course, Paizo can then use their OGL stuff if they want.) Second, it means that players can get the rules for free. Some people thinks this makes them freeloaders who shouldn't be respected, but I disagree with that. Paizo almost certainly does lose some money to sales because players say "why should I buy that when the PRD is free?", but I strongly suspect they get more back because of the people (like me) who get sucked into their system because it was freely available. When I wanted to start a campaign a couple of years ago, I could tell players "there's no need to buy anything, just go to this site", and point them at the PRD. Some of them later did buy some of the books, either in PDF, physical, or both. Myself, I became a multiple subscriber, and have purchased most of the RPG line from a FLGS.

The support of standard digital formats is also important. I have a lot of Pathfinder books now. While I like to just read the physical books, for reference the PDFs are so much nicer. I can bring my library with me, easily, to a PFS game-- very compact on my tablet, or, less compact but much easier to browse, on a laptop. Even at home, when I want to look something up quickly while I'm at my computer, I fire up the PDF rather than going to get the book. It's so nice. One of the main reasons I've subscribed to many lines is that you get the free PDFs with the physical copy. (For the roleplaying line, previously shipping on hardback books meant it probably wasn't worth it. Anyway, the PDFs for the RPG line are all $10-- another great choice by Paizo-- and I do like to support my FLGS, so I buy the RPG books there.)

I also like the fact that they are just standard, not-DRM encumbered PDFs. I can copy them to all my different devices as much as I want, I can rip the images out for purposes of making maps, and it all works. Because it's a standard format, I can use them all using my own favorite PDF reader (instead of Adobe's lumbering monster), and I can do it on my Linux system as well as my Android tablet. (No, I haven't tried to read one of those PDFs on my phone.... Screen size does matter.)

WOTC has dropped the ball on both of these. 4e was never OGL, and that was (as documented in the historical blog posts) part of why they lost Paizo. (The system also was part of it, but since Paizo had no idea if they'd be able to publish under 4e at all, they decided to go in another direction, and hence, Pathfinder.) For 5e, they've made noises that there's going to be something like the OGL, but I'll believe it when I see it; given their corporate history in the last 6 years or so, I think we all have reason to be skeptical. Also, dndclassics.com (a nice site, by the way) aside, WOTC still doesn't seem to recognize that people want PDFs, and that many of those who want them are going to get them, and that some of those who get them would have paid for them. I would be surprised if they really reduce piracy much at all by not releasing their own PDFs, but they assuredly greatly reduce legitimate purchases of PDFs by not releasing their own PDFs! It's all lose for them, and I'm kind of surprised that this many years into the game they haven't realized that. A lack of legitimately available PDFs is something that's holding me back from wanting to really look into D&D/5e, even though (based on the freely-available "Basic Rules"-- kudos to WotC for that, although it doesn't live up to the PRD standard set by Paizo) there are some things about the mechanics that really appeal to me.

So, kudos to Paizo for embracing the OGL, for putting the PRD out there allowing GMs to bring players into the game with all the rules available to them (and also as a handy reference), and for embracing non-DRM-encumbered standard digital formats.

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