41 minutes ago, Daeglan said:

No what I mean is you do your lightsaber construction under the guidance of an instructor. like would that be doing a combined check with Huyang? or would that be boost die? That type of guidance

I'd probably run that as an assisted check... I dunno if this is RAW or just my GM, but if someone assists someone else with a check, you first check who has the highest ranks. If the assister has the higher ranks, use those. If not, check who has the highest ability score. If the assisster has the highest score, use those, otherwise, just add a blue die

13 minutes ago, TheJack said:

I'd probably run that as an assisted check... I dunno if this is RAW or just my GM, but if someone assists someone else with a check, you first check who has the highest ranks. If the assister has the higher ranks, use those. If not, check who has the highest ability score. If the assisster has the highest score, use those, otherwise, just add a blue die

That is raw. And intuitive. I was just curious if ot is mentioned

I could see an NPC like that having an ability that enhances their ability to aid. Allowing rerolls (at the cost of strain for the mentee) when they aid on a check, for example.

So, an interesting bit of information came up last night. My usual supplier, Shiny Games, announced on their Facebook page that Allies and Adversaries will be out this week. I took the opportunity to ask if they had any news about when Rise would be appearing. They said that their distributor had apparently had it in their warehouse for three weeks, and they'd been expecting it to release at the end of March. They were surprised that A&A appeared first, a Q2 release would normally mean June or July. They think it'll probably release soon, but they won't know until the week before.

I can think of a couple of reasons why the book could be sitting in a warehouse for weeks:

1) Having been delayed this long, FFG decided to hold it until after Celebration and debut the book there.

2) The UK distributor got the book early, and they're waiting for distributors in other countries to get it before releasing simultaneously.

My copy of Allies and Adversaries has apparently been shipped today. Will be with me by the end of the week.

Now if they could just release the other books I have been waiting months for.. that would be nice...

Hey everyone, just thought I'd leave this here. FFG (Asmodee NA) actually responded to my inquiry. To quote their response:

"Unfortunately we ran into issues with Rise of the Separatists. We are working hard to get it out as soon as possible, but we want to make sure we deliver a product that is up to FFG’s high standards. I apologize for this lengthy delay in delivering the book, but know everyone here is trying to get it into our player’s hands ASAP."

It's really nice to get a response like this, even if it doesn't really solve anything. A simple post on the site would have meant so much, even if this was all they said.

1 hour ago, Science_Wiz said:

Hey everyone, just thought I'd leave this here. FFG (Asmodee NA) actually responded to my inquiry. To quote their response:

"Unfortunately we ran into issues with Rise of the Separatists. We are working hard to get it out as soon as possible, but we want to make sure we deliver a product that is up to FFG’s high standards. I apologize for this lengthy delay in delivering the book, but know everyone here is trying to get it into our player’s hands ASAP."

It's really nice to get a response like this, even if it doesn't really solve anything. A simple post on the site would have meant so much, even if this was all they said.

I received the exact same message today. I wrote back inquiring who made the decision to provide those same books to attendees at a convention before the customers who had waited.

23 minutes ago, Khazadune said:

I received the exact same message today. I wrote back inquiring who made the decision to provide those same books to attendees at a convention before the customers who had waited.

Yeah, I'm sure they are receiving a lot of angry or disgruntled messages. I decided to instead provide helpful feedback thanking them for the reply (which is fairly unusual) and politely suggesting updates like that be made available to the public. I know everyone is upset, but that's not going to change what happened.

How does it help those who pre-ordered not to sell the book at the con?

6 minutes ago, Stan Fresh said:

How does it help those who pre-ordered not to sell the book at the con?

I'll admit that ii feels kinda scummy to sell the books publicly while people who already put money down months ago don't even get a serious response about the wait time. I can see why people would be upset, I was at first. It's the same kind of mentality as waiting in line for something while someone else walks past the line and picks one up ahead of you, so I can under stand why people would be mad.

Now that I've calmed down a bit, I still feel like it could have been better handled (by say, making an announcement and clarifying) but it doesn't change that we'll get the book when it releases publicly. I'm not going to debate whether it was or wasn't poor, I'm just gonna sit back and wait for that sweet sweet shipping notification. It's gonna be worth it, I know.

7 minutes ago, Stan Fresh said:

How does it help those who pre-ordered not to sell the book at the con?

By shipping those books to people who already paid for it. I think the issue is it was sold to people who didnt preorder it before it was sent to those who did.

Let's think of it this way; they only had a limited amount to sell at the Celebration Convention (IIRC, they sold out quickly), so they must have had only a limited amount in their warehouse. If they were to ship pre-orders, how would they decide who gets their pre-order and who doesn't? Obviously, they have information about when orders were placed through Asmodee, but not for every LFGS out there. I imagine pre-order numbers were far higher than the stock they actually had that had passed QC, and they had no way to fulfill them all or even the ones in order of placement.

Therefore, what they did was in fact the most reasonable and fair course of action. Unless of course, you'd rather no one have the book unless you can. In that case, I see no need to continue this discussion.

Edit: For the record, I am still awaiting my book along with most everyone else. I placed my order the day pre-orders began.

2 minutes ago, Daeglan said:

By shipping those books to people who already paid for it. I think the issue is it was sold to people who didnt preorder it before it was sent to those who did.

For what it’s worth, my GM did, in fact, pre-order. But bought the book at Celebration, anyway.

33 minutes ago, Nytwyng said:

For what it’s worth, my GM did, in fact, pre-order. But bought the book at Celebration, anyway.

33 minutes ago, Nytwyng said:

For what it’s worth, my GM did, in fact, pre-order. But bought the book at Celebration, anyway.

That does not help most preorder people

37 minutes ago, Science_Wiz said:

Let's think of it this way; they only had a limited amount to sell at the Celebration Convention (IIRC, they sold out quickly), so they must have had only a limited amount in their warehouse. If they were to ship pre-orders, how would they decide who gets their pre-order and who doesn't? Obviously, they have information about when orders were placed through Asmodee, but not for every LFGS out there. I imagine pre-order numbers were far higher than the stock they actually had that had passed QC, and they had no way to fulfill them all or even the ones in order of placement.

Therefore, what they did was in fact the most reasonable and fair course of action. Unless of course, you'd rather no one have the book unless you can. In that case, I see no need to continue this discussion.

Edit: For the record, I am still awaiting my book along with most everyone else. I placed my order the day pre-orders began.

The biggest problem is lack of communication results in resentment. PR wise it would have been far better to ship to those who ordered first first.

12 minutes ago, Daeglan said:

The biggest problem is lack of communication results in resentment. PR wise it would have been far better to ship to those who ordered first first.

So let's show the company that we, as fans and customers, are worth communicating with. Instead of complaining, accusing, and arguing, let's provide polite feedback on how they can improve and how they can avoid escalation in the future. And let's thank them for what we do appreciate, like finally responding to our questions. I'm sure they well know how we feel about the delay.

1 hour ago, Science_Wiz said:

Yeah, I'm sure they are receiving a lot of angry or disgruntled messages. I decided to instead provide helpful feedback thanking them for the reply (which is fairly unusual) and politely suggesting updates like that be made available to the public. I know everyone is upset, but that's not going to change what happened.

9 minutes ago, Daeglan said:

That does not help most preorder people

Nor does some of the resentment that seems to be directed at people who committed the apparently egregious crime of buying a product that was available for sale.

1 hour ago, Nytwyng said:

Nor does some of the resentment that seems to be directed at people who committed the apparently egregious crime of buying a product that was available for sale.

No one is complaining about them. They are complaining about FFGs poor choices and communications. One shouldn't take anger directed at the company as anger towards those who got to buy the book.

16 minutes ago, Daeglan said:

No one is complaining about them. They are complaining about FFGs poor choices and communications. One shouldn't take anger directed at the company as anger towards those who got to buy the book.

Exactly. Those who got the book, good for you, I would have purchased it should it have been available to me. My main concern, as echoed by others, is that if you commit to a pre-order where you have made a practice of and explicitly stated that they are shipped in order of purchase... to arbitrarily change that practice is disingenuous, hurtful and disregards their own established procedures. Should they not have enough for a full release they could a) have released what they had to those who pre-ordered on a first-come-first-served basis, which I think would be as bad as what they have done, or b) wait until stock becomes such that a full release is possible. Should you want to pair your release with an event to boost your profile, great, more people gaming is a good thing, but at least do so while also having begun shipments of pre-orders. This way, although those few in a Chicago get a head start, the others are aware that they haven't been forgotten or sidelined. I realize @Nytwyng and @Stan Fresh feel that they are being attacked for having received the product before others, but that's clearly not the case. No one begrudges you for your successes, they just want FFG to not leave them out of the "celebration"

2 minutes ago, Khazadune said:

I realize @Nytwyng and @Stan Fresh feel that they are being attacked for having received the product before others, but that's clearly not the case.

Huh? Neither do I have the book, nor was I at the con. I don't know why you would think that.

4 minutes ago, Stan Fresh said:

Huh? Neither do I have the book, nor was I at the con. I don't know why you would think that.

Sorry, my assumption your passionate defence of their actions indicated you were somehow feeling as though the criticism of same was directed at you, if not please disregard. (Although I am now curious why you feel some passionately that their actions are justified...)

The Allies and Adversaries has arrived to some people already from their online vendors, mine is being shipped accordingly as well. So, they most likely knew ahead of time what they wanted to sell at the SWC in volume count for every product, as it sold out there from what I understand. They may have all the books at their warehouse in MN or wherever it is. But, perhaps they hadn't had time to process all the pre-orders for vendors and such, before they had to be ready for SWC. Priority speaking they needed to be fully on the bounce for SWC, it's like GENCON crazy for vendors. Thus they arrive back to the office in full wednesday or thursday, put out fires and such. The following week they get back to processing the next groups of products to ship out to vendors, all while the warehouse crew maintains the daily operations (pulling orders, inventory, etc to maintain status quo) back at the HQ. Those kind of events are extremely draining for the whole organization. Yes a blurb would be nice, but in reality the behind the scenes bureaucracy of FFG isn't our business.

They could use a different message on their site, but it would be saying the same thing a different way. On Boat/pre-order/shipping, the terms they use are not a static action, what company X call on-the-boat may be everything from being loaded, shipped across the water and waiting in customs, moved to a shipping warehouse, moved around a shipping warehouse, loaded into a truck and moved to another regional shipping warehouse, sitting there until the vendor FFG contracted with to long haul their product has a trucking transit window available for the volume of product that needs to be moved. Next, once the trucking vendors has it, their logistics may require it to be further split as the trucking companies try to maximize their truck volumes, so you might drive to a port on the west coast from the east coast in 5-8 days, a trucking company may take 2 or 3 weeks or more to get the product to a local shipping transit warehouse, though some do ship directly. So, On the boat may mean a lot more than sitting in a shipping container on a ship crossing a large expanse of water.

1 minute ago, doktor grym said:

The Allies and Adversaries has arrived to some people already from their online vendors, mine is being shipped accordingly as well. So, they most likely knew ahead of time what they wanted to sell at the SWC in volume count for every product, as it sold out there from what I understand. They may have all the books at their warehouse in MN or wherever it is. But, perhaps they hadn't had time to process all the pre-orders for vendors and such, before they had to be ready for SWC. Priority speaking they needed to be fully on the bounce for SWC, it's like GENCON crazy for vendors. Thus they arrive back to the office in full wednesday or thursday, put out fires and such. The following week they get back to processing the next groups of products to ship out to vendors, all while the warehouse crew maintains the daily operations (pulling orders, inventory, etc to maintain status quo) back at the HQ. Those kind of events are extremely draining for the whole organization. Yes a blurb would be nice, but in reality the behind the scenes bureaucracy of FFG isn't our business.

They could use a different message on their site, but it would be saying the same thing a different way. On Boat/pre-order/shipping, the terms they use are not a static action, what company X call on-the-boat may be everything from being loaded, shipped across the water and waiting in customs, moved to a shipping warehouse, moved around a shipping warehouse, loaded into a truck and moved to another regional shipping warehouse, sitting there until the vendor FFG contracted with to long haul their product has a trucking transit window available for the volume of product that needs to be moved. Next, once the trucking vendors has it, their logistics may require it to be further split as the trucking companies try to maximize their truck volumes, so you might drive to a port on the west coast from the east coast in 5-8 days, a trucking company may take 2 or 3 weeks or more to get the product to a local shipping transit warehouse, though some do ship directly. So, On the boat may mean a lot more than sitting in a shipping container on a ship crossing a large expanse of water.

13 hours ago, Dafydd said:

So, an interesting bit of information came up last night. My usual supplier, Shiny Games, announced on their Facebook page that Allies and Adversaries will be out this week. I took the opportunity to ask if they had any news about when Rise would be appearing. They said that their distributor had apparently had it in their warehouse for three weeks, and they'd been expecting it to release at the end of March. They were surprised that A&A appeared first, a Q2 release would normally mean June or July. They think it'll probably release soon, but they won't know until the week before.

I can think of a couple of reasons why the book could be sitting in a warehouse for weeks:

1) Having been delayed this long, FFG decided to hold it until after Celebration and debut the book there.

2) The UK distributor got the book early, and they're waiting for distributors in other countries to get it before releasing simultaneously.

If it was a matter of wanting to pair the releases then why not begin shipping European products that are clearly indicated as being present and in good quantity. The entire debacle is a mess and speaks to a need to address some deep underlying issues in the way the organization has been doing business. @Absol197 has the numbers, but as most of you are aware, this is not an isolated incident, but instead, the norm.

4 minutes ago, Khazadune said:

Sorry, my assumption your passionate defence of their actions indicated you were somehow feeling as though the criticism of same was directed at you, if not please disregard. (Although I am now curious why you feel some passionately that their actions are justified...)

Uh, I made exactly one comment on it, and it was a pretty mild one.

7 minutes ago, Stan Fresh said:

Uh, I made exactly one comment on it, and it was a pretty mild one.

All good friend, like I said, I assumed, and clearly, was in error. My bad.