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Post by Todd on May 26, 2018 10:09:27 GMT -5
Unfortunately, MPC's Terms and Conditions basically says they can do this and if you don't like it, they can cancel your order.
Pricing: In the event, a product is listed at an incorrect price or with incorrect information due to typographical error or error in pricing or product information MPC shall have the right to refuse or cancel any orders placed for product listed at the incorrect price. MPC shall have the right to refuse or cancel any such orders whether or not the order has been confirmed and your credit card charged. If your credit card has already been charged for the purchase and your order is cancelled, MPC shall immediately issue a credit to your credit card account in the amount of the charge.
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Post by dmikester on Jun 4, 2018 18:44:03 GMT -5
So in a rather odd turn of events, in recent conversations with friends of mine from rather different walks of life, the MPC kept coming up, and while some friends knew I was into them, many didn't. When I asked why they were asking, it turned out that all of my friends, many of whom wouldn't necessarily know each other, are big fans of The Adventure Zone and were intrigued by the MPC offering. This kept happening so much, and with such a diverse group of friends, all of whom I think have very good taste, that I decided to revisit the podcast, this time by starting from the very beginning as opposed to listening to a brief sample as I think most of us did here. And...
I'm highly enjoying it. It takes quite a while for it to develop, and if you were to jump in randomly, I could easily see it being off-putting (heck, I was amazed at how bad it seemed from my brief listen of their most recent episode at the time this was first announced). But once it gets going, it's actually an incredibly funny and enjoyable listen, with a surprisingly well thought out narrative and some very fun banter. Them being brothers (and having their dad be part of the party) makes there be a fun and familial feel, and Griffin is a remarkably great DM. Having played D&D off and on before, he's sensational at balancing description with action, and he has a wonderful light touch when it comes to improvising the results of die rolls and with how he handles the players wanting to do goofy things.
Is there immature humor? Yes, no question, but it's actually fairly rare (though they do go all in at times, which I admit are not my favorite moments). Do they do annoying voices? Yes, occasionally, though the namesake of this product, Taako, does it and gets made fun of not only by the other participants, but in the second episode alone gets fan mail saying that they don't like his voice, so he stops. Is it highbrow? No, not at all. But I would say that instead of being closed off to this because of our discontent with the MPC, and because it seems "beneath" them because it's perhaps not intellectual or puzzle-oriented enough (though actually, there are mild narrative puzzles the players have to solve), I would go into this with an open mind. I did and was actually kind of shocked at how good it was once I gave it time. I've laughed very hard at least twice each episode so far.
So with all that said, I purchased this and will be approaching it as a fan of the show, not of the MPC. And I also may have been roped into going to a live taping of the show in a couple of weeks....
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Post by karangela on Jun 4, 2018 18:59:24 GMT -5
Interesting...
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Post by centaurofattn on Jun 28, 2018 7:58:38 GMT -5
1. Can/Should this be moved to Experiences at some point? and 2. It's been over a month since I asked about a way to not pay shipping again if the coin is included in the second mailing, but no answer yet. Le sigh.
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Post by Todd on Jun 28, 2018 8:23:25 GMT -5
1. Can/Should this be moved to Experiences at some point? and 2. It's been over a month since I asked about a way to not pay shipping again if the coin is included in the second mailing, but no answer yet. Le sigh. That's been on my to-do list. Moving posts is something I need to do from the desktop interface, and I'm almost exclusively reading the forum from my phone these days. There is also the question of whether this Experience merits its own sub-board, or if its discussion will be manageable in a single thread. It might wait until the first shipments are received and I get some feedback on how to best serve the community there. As I understand it, if you cancel your pre-order and pre-order again, you can add the coin without an additional shipping fee. However, you'd want to do it quickly, as June 30 is the cut-off for the first wave of orders, I think. Alas, I feel if I cancel my pre-order, I probably won't be troubled to re-order.
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Post by centaurofattn on Jun 28, 2018 10:21:09 GMT -5
Well, naturally I would make a post and then get a response. But it was a little bit more comedic/disappointing than I had hoped. First, I reached out on FB with: "I know you are probably backed up on emails (or at least, I'm anticipating that auto reply), but I emailed over a month ago and just got the email that the deadline for the next experience is Saturday so I'm reaching out here as well. If we already ordered, is there a way to avoid paying shipping again on the challenge coin if it's included in the second mailing anyway?" And then received this: Never figured out photo within the Post so here is a link
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Post by dmikester on Jun 28, 2018 12:47:20 GMT -5
That response from them is so lame (and continues the remarkably poor writing we've seen lately; it in fact almost makes me wonder if they've outsourced customer service replies). Did the customer service rep provide their name?
My main reason for continuing to keep my order active as opposed to canceling is that the MPC will not be providing any of the actual content for this; just confirmed from a Twitter post that it's fully written by the McElroy's.
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Post by macindc on Jun 28, 2018 14:57:57 GMT -5
Thanks for posting this for the rest of us here, Joshua/Steve.
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Post by centaurofattn on Jun 28, 2018 15:18:20 GMT -5
Did the customer service rep provide their name?
No, they oddly end all of their messages with "Cordially," and then nothing.
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Post by dmikester on Jun 28, 2018 15:39:58 GMT -5
Did the customer service rep provide their name?
No, they oddly end all of their messages with "Cordially," and then nothing.
I almost guarantee that means they’ve outsourced then. Another very sad change under Kapalka.
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Post by wortelboer on Jul 5, 2018 7:21:49 GMT -5
That response from them is so lame (and continues the remarkably poor writing we've seen lately; it in fact almost makes me wonder if they've outsourced customer service replies). Did the customer service rep provide their name? My main reason for continuing to keep my order active as opposed to canceling is that the MPC will not be providing any of the actual content for this; just confirmed from a Twitter post that it's fully written by the McElroy's. If it is fully written by the McElroy's...then MPC is basically being used as a vehicle to handle the sales and distribution of another entities' product. MPC is just a pass-through for the McElroy's to sell their product and my guess is that MPC gets a percentage for handling the advertising, sales and shipment. I wonder if that is MPC's future...an online storefront that for Kapalka's favored small games and creations invented and produced by others.
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Post by dmikester on Jul 5, 2018 7:51:39 GMT -5
That response from them is so lame (and continues the remarkably poor writing we've seen lately; it in fact almost makes me wonder if they've outsourced customer service replies). Did the customer service rep provide their name? My main reason for continuing to keep my order active as opposed to canceling is that the MPC will not be providing any of the actual content for this; just confirmed from a Twitter post that it's fully written by the McElroy's. If it is fully written by the McElroy's...then MPC is basically being used as a vehicle to handle the sales and distribution of another entities' product. MPC is just a pass-through for the McElroy's to sell their product and my guess is that MPC gets a percentage for handling the advertising, sales and shipment. I wonder if that is MPC's future...an online storefront that for Kapalka's favored small games and creations invented and produced by others. As I said a while ago here, I think this model makes much more sense for the MPC financially, though it of course loses the heart and soul of the company that we all remember and used to cherish. I'm not necessarily opposed to this if it leads to interesting and creative things down the line, but Post Mortem is not encouraging. It's also worth noting that they still don't have a writer on staff on LinkedIn (they have a "narrative director" which strikes me as a different thing). Also, to be fair, unlike say the papercrafts from C&C which were likely made by a friend of someone at the MPC given their oddness and general unpopularity among subscribers, The Adventure Zone is an enormously successful and popular podcast, certainly far beyond a whim of Kaplka's, and something that sells out live shows almost as soon as tickets go on sale. It's also worth noting that at least two of the McElroys have stated that they are longtime fans of the MPC's work, so this could have been them reaching out to the MPC first.
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Post by thegenii on Jul 5, 2018 11:35:00 GMT -5
If the MPC is not making original content, then they are just a "trading company."
I'm just about ready to delete their website from my book marks.
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Post by Todd on Sept 5, 2018 9:26:09 GMT -5
The first shipment of this is scheduled for 9/7... Just days away. I had forgotten about it and have been anxiously awaiting Wilson Wolfe instead.
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Post by dmikester on Sept 5, 2018 15:41:25 GMT -5
I will say that, having become a giant fan of The Adventure Zone and other podcasts produced by the same team, I'm very excited for this, but I'm struggling to understand how this will appeal to someone who doesn't follow the show. I think it goes beyond not understanding references; there's a whole sensibility and to be honest weirdness to the show that I don't think will be appealing for someone who hasn't really become a devotee. There might be some interesting ephemera and/or interactive aspects of this that will be intriguing to some of us here though. I will say it was neat catching up with the show and getting to the point where they talked about the MPC; they specifically mention getting John Augur in the mail and loving it.
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