Your post is a bit...convoluted. But I think the gist of what your asking is A: can we get more feedback from the pros, and B: if not, can one of us be a liason between the fans and the pros.
To the best of my understanding, heres what I think the answers are:
A: Probably not. Jason and Co. are busting humps on the Beta, and whatever we see of them is equivalent to whale breaching for another gulp of air before the dive back down. I don't expect much, but I don't begrudge that fact either.
B: Very likely not. An offical liason, especially one with access to "insider info" would have to be on the payroll. If such a role was to exist, it would have been planned ahead of time, and we would have seen it or hints of it, by now. As much as Paizo is good to its customer base, I can't see them hiring a guy and paying him a salary to effectively babysit us through the alpha-beta process.
Just my 2cp. YMMV.
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Expect to see more of Jason starting Monday. We just shipped the Beta (and six other products) and he and the editorial staff have been getting back up to speed on all the stuff they put aside while gearing up for the big deadline.
A bunch of them took Friday off to go to the zoo, for example. On Monday we're back. Of course, a bunch of us (including Jason) are taking off for Origins on Tuesday, so the second half of the week will be pretty quiet.
But we are all paying attention to the boards and posting as stuff occurs to us.
--Erik
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i think A is a option though, i dont know if how much time jason has to read the posts, but if he had someone looking for specfics that he is working on or looking for feedback on then all they
I think part of the problem is the majority of the posts in the PRPG sections are posted in the wrong sections... that's probably why they don't get commented on.
Jason can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think they're looking for "How I'd do it" feedback. The number of people posting "How I'd do it" instead threads seems to eclipse questions about the rules and actual playtesting feedback about the rules. Just look at the specific forum for posting new rules then look at the people that seem to post it in the chapter feedback/question forums instead. There's more new rules posted in the chapter sections instead of feedback .
While Jason has responded to massive dislike of certain new rules, I think they're more interested in getting feedback on if certain rules actually work, are better, or are confusing then they are on how Joe from Ohio would change the Fighter class.
So if threads that say please fix figher i played one and still feeled unpowered would get more attendion then ones that just i would change fighter this way then. good to know.
Well.. yeah, I think it would.
SirUrza is right. They can't write the rules by committee (where everybody has their own idea and we all try to get ours noticed).
On the other hand, they absolutely do want and need YOUR feedback.
One problem is, and this is my subjective opinion, is that you have a lot of people (not necessarily you) reading the rules and doing the analysis in their head. Paizo really could use people to sit around a table with players and roll the dice, play the game. Then, if the rules don't work, then they need to know. Absolutely.
But let them figure out how to fix it. You'll doing them so much good just if you stick to telling them if it works or not.
You and me? We're Quality Control.
Jason and Monte, and the Editorial Team are R&D.
It sucks that we all can't be the brains by this project, but if we all accept our roles, this will be a kick ass game.
Yeah, to address the "fighter is underpowered" thing, while your opinion counts, what would count more would be playing the fighter as written, and seeing that the fighter gets his rear handed to him all of the time compared to paladins or rangers or barbarians who waltz through the same encounter.
Its an oversimplification to a degree, but the point is, its easier to argue a point and perhaps see a change if, in the course of playing the game, its obvious that something is a problem, instead of having a "gut reaction" to a problem that hasn't been used in play yet.
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Creative Director
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Watcher's absolutely correct. The thing we need most right now for the Beta are reports from playtesters who've played the game. We'll be handling the design element at Paizo, but it's this playtesting element that we need a wider reaching net to accomplish. Right now we're in a sort of doldrum as well, since we've sent the Beta off to print but don't have it out for folks to playtest yet; that and the fact that last week several of us put in 70 or 80 hour weeks to get about 1,200 pages of various projects out the door to the printer so that they'll be at Gen Con in time resulted in a pretty worn-out editorial team over the last week... :-)
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Watcher's absolutely correct. The thing we need most right now for the Beta are reports from playtesters who've played the game. We'll be handling the design element at Paizo, but it's this playtesting element that we need a wider reaching net to accomplish.
How much of an eye is being kept on the pbp part of the forum? the Game I'm running is using Alpha rules, and will move to Beta as soon as it hits the streets, but should we be positing anything to the main boards as well as the in game and discussion threads?
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Director of Games
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Hey there all,
James and Erik have got it right here. We have been crazy busy over the past month and as a result, I have not be as active on the boards as I would have liked. I have been reading, pretty constantly, but posting feedback was just not in my time budget. When James said that we were putting in 70+ hour weeks, he was not kidding, just last week, I was working 12+ hour days every day. Madness...
At any rate, the Beta is now off to the printer, meaning that we are a kind of limbo. The rules are partially locked down until GenCon when the Beta is released. Once we start back up again, playtest feedback is going to be more important than ever. The theoretical feedback I have been getting on the boards has been useful, but the actual play feedback we more valuable. The Beta process is going to be a bit more focused as well, allowing me to have a more active roll. We will be moving from specific topic to specific topic, giving each one a close amount of scrutiny.
My communication with you fine folks is going to be a bit spotty over the next week and a half, until Origins is done and over. After that, I am looking forward to a more frequent presence again.
Talk to you all soon
Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing
PS: If you are going to be at Origins, make sure to bring your Alpha 3 printouts. I will be happy to sign them and take a picture of you to add to my Origins Wrap-Up Blog. See you at the show.