What is the state of Pathfinder / Paizo?

[Mantriel]

So obviously most of the people reading this are employees, freelancers who worked, are working or want to work for Paizo, fans who play RPGs as their "lifestyle game", friends and family etc.
So any kind of negative feedback is usually (how shall I put it) not welcome??? (and please I don't want to argue with you about this or anything else).

But I was curious about your opinion so I hope to get at least a couple of answers. To emphasis: I am not trolling, I don't want to start a flame war (to be honest I don't really intend to answer to this post) or something similar. I am just curious.

What is your opinion about the state of the game (Pathfinder 2) and the efforts of the Publisher (Paizo) regarding sales, production value, direction where the game is headed etc.?
Are you looking forward to the upcoming books and are you generally satisfied overall with the products that you have bought?

- - -

For me the short version:
TL;DR: I don't like the APs at all, I like the 5e "AP"s much-much better, PF2 is dead to me.

- - -

I for one never bought into 3.5, 3.75 or PF1. So I was anticipating and waiting for PF2 years in advance. When it finally came out I was pleasantly surprised how much better it was than the playtest and bought every book and was very happy with it. Particularly everything Jason Bullmahn, Mark Seifter and especially what Logan Bonner wrote. The core design team did some awesome work in my opinion.

I was very disappointed with the two APs that I bought (Age of Ashes and Agents of Edgewatch), but that is just me. And I am extremely frustrated that the book Absalom, City of Lost Omens was delayed a full year.
I thought that Bestiary 1 was a masterpiece but was kind of disappointed with Bestiary 2 and 3 (I am not sure why).
From the 3 Lost Omens books that I bought, I thought all of them are especially well written, but from a usability standpoint the world guide is kind of pointless since most of this info is on pathfinderwiki, same with Gods & Magic and the first 50 pages of the Character Guide imho should have been in the core book (the material is so good) and I don't really care about the rest of the book. I haven't bought Lost Omens Legends (which I don't care about at all) or the Pathfinder Society Guide (which I don't care for either), I would be interested in the Ancestry Guide and The Grand Bazaar (if Absalom, City of Lost Omens turns out to be good I might still buy this one).

So overall I think I got "my moneys worth". Production quality is top notch, layout, typography, art, art direction, editing, direction and creative direction are all awesome. (Although from a physical production standpoint I had some misprints, unreadable pages and similar things).

I was hoping to start at least one PF2 campaign with my gamers, but decided against it and all of my PF2 materials will be never used and will only collect dust. This is mainly because I dislike the two APs I bought, so much that I won't force my players to learn a completely new system if we don't use the APs anyway.
I don't regret buying them, but I will stop buying any more Paizo Products (after Absalom, City of Lost Omens comes finally out, I have preordered it at my friendly online gamestore more then a year ago).

My "verdict":
I won't buy anymore Paizo Products ever (well perhaps one more book: Lost Omens The Grand Bazaar). Paizo lost me as a potential consumer. Not because of production quality, not even because of the direction development is going, but mainly because of the fact that I am not the target audience (anymore??? ever???). I don't want to start a flame war, so I don't want to go into details, I am more interested in your opinion and experience.

I overall had great time with the books. I sold all of my 4e books (which I also never used, but loved them) and PF2 will replace those on my shelf as dust collectors, to be never used but provide some great inspiration.

Did you like the APs?
Do you think PF2 was a success?
Do you think enough people bought into it from PF1?
Do you think the PC games Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous will bring enough people to PF2 that it becomes (even more???) successful?
Are you satisfied with Paizo?
Do you think they should have done something differently?
What is the general consensus about the state of the game?
Am I in the minority?
What is your opinion?

If Mr. Bonner (Logan) decides to work for another company and releases another Core Rules (or if PF3 comes out and he co-authors it) I will be happy to buy his latest and greatest. But please, please, please make the economy make some sense the next time.

[Rysky]

K

[Mantriel]

Rysky wrote:

K

Care to elaborate a bit more?

You like Pathfinder, have been a long time fan, you like the direction where the game is headed etc.

Something like that would be nice.

[Zapp]

Mantriel wrote:

Rysky wrote:

K

Care to elaborate a bit more?

You like Pathfinder, have been a long time fan, you like the direction where the game is headed etc.

Something like that would be nice.

You won't get it in a thread that starts with "I won't buy anymore Paizo Products ever". People will think you just want visibility for your anti-Paizo message.

[Mantriel]

Should I "delete" this thread and start a new one?
Care to start a new thread that is better phrased?

[captain yesterday]

I like Pathfinder 2, I've actually found I like the APs better after a second look through.

I didn't care for Age of Ashes as it was being released but I recently pulled it out and started looking through again and found it growing on me more.

[Albatoonoe]

You didn"t give us much to actually talk about. The specifics are lacking. I got second rysky here.

[Mantriel]

Albatoonoe wrote:

You didn"t give us much to actually talk about. The specifics are lacking. I got second rysky here.

Did you like the APs?

Do you think PF2 was a success?
Do you think enough people bought into it from PF1?
Do you think the PC games Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous will bring enough people to PF2 that it becomes (even more???) successful?
Are you satisfied with Paizo?
Do you think they should have done something differently?
What is the general consensus about the state of the game?
Am I in the minority?
What is your opinion?
What is your opinion about the state of the game (Pathfinder 2) and the efforts of the Publisher (Paizo) regarding sales, production value, direction where the game is headed etc.?
Are you looking forward to the upcoming books and are you generally satisfied overall with the products that you have bought?

[Paradozen]

The game is a success in the sense that it is a fun way to play with friends each week, and that it reliably produces fiction I am excited to engage with. An amazing success that has led to some of the best fun I've had in the last couple of years. I assume it is also a success in the sense that it provides fulfilling careers for the people who make it as everything I've seen about them indicates they thoroughly enjoy what they do. Those are the successes that matter most to me and keep me coming back for more. I don't have an informed opinion on the financial success of the game beyond knowing that I have no use for such information, I'm not making decisions based on it.

[Sara Marie]

Mantriel wrote:

[i]So obviously most of the people reading this are employees, freelancers who worked, are working or want to work for Paizo, fans who play RPGs as their "lifestyle game", friends and family etc.

So any kind of negative feedback is usually (how shall I put it) not welcome??? (and please I don't want to argue with you about this or anything else).

For me the short version:
TL;DR: I don't like the APs at all, I like the 5e "AP"s much-much better, PF2 is dead to me.

Feedback and discussion is fine on our forums, doing so in a way that is disrespectful to people within the community (other fans, employees, freelancers, etc) is what is not welcome and I am not convinced this thread is shaping up to clear that bar. Since it's PaizoCon Online and a weekend, I think I'm just gonna close this one up.