This is really informal, but since it’s been a while since the last POD update, I wanted to post this here.
The quoute below is from the SFG discord Guild Ball channel. It is partly in response to a suggestion that the POD issues should have a channel of its own to not clog the genereal GB chat, and partly in regards to the POD situation overall.
“The trouble with creating an official POD / support chat is it could have the reverse effect of slowing down our response times, as we have to spend time matching Discord usernames to support tickets and making sure we’re not double addressing queries.
The best route is still to submit a ticket so it’s logged formally on the system.
The trouble is that timelines can move slower on the production than public side, especially when you’re dealing with third parties.
For instance, every replacement ticket and order update query needs to go through our team, then theirs, then back again to the customer, and then any follow-ups need to go through the same loop. We’ve instated a process to streamline this but it takes time to bed in.
We launched and received a wave of orders that exceeded expectations. Our partners ramped up to meet demand but it meant production times ran longer.
In that process, there were some issues that meant some orders needed replacements. So, even as we got up to speed on orders, those who needed replacements were circling around to rejoin the queue. Others were caught in QC and reprinted.
Throughout this, we’re also actively working with them on tweaking and adjusting print files to help prevent those issues.
Our partners have assigned a dedicated bank of printers and QC staff and we’re seeing that make an impact. For every one issue, there are multiple orders that have gone as expected. But things aren’t where we want them to be yet, which is why we held off on releasing the Minor Guild crossover models.
Worth noting the more time we’re writing updates, the less time we’re doing the thing 🙂
Huge proponent of comms wherever possible 🙂 “
None of it is really news, it’s just good to see it mentioned again and hear it repeated that things seem to be getting better and better.
I think we’re starting to need something more again, something tangible that says that issues are leveling out for real. The “We’re seeing an impact” part in the last part above is the most important piece of that quote I think, and I can’t help wanting to know more about how things stand.
Both me and others I know about from discord are holding off to order anything more yet, at least until the crossover models release. I really hope that no one at SFG will see this as “interest going down” or such. There is a great demand still, but even though it might sound harsh it’s kinda reasonable to not fully trust the POD yet.
That being said, it’s also reasonable for SFG to have had some trouble with the brand new POD solution, and we know they are working hard to make it good, just as they say above and have said before. I mean we really want to stay on the hype train, I just think it’s important for SFG to recognise that it’s a fragile situation and act accordingly in regards to updates and communication. 🙂
