Updates, downdates and things to look forward to! (Patreon)

Greetings, noble patrons. I hope those of you that joined us at PAX West have sufficiently recovered from your exertions (we nearly have, nearly). It was good seeing so many yellow lanyards at PAX; the visual indicator of the size of our cabal was an unforeseen benefit of the merch packages, but a welcome one.

We had some great Club PA related questions at the meetup, that I'll put at the end of the post. We're going to try some different things in upcoming meetups, but we'll always find time for some kind of Q&A. 

New Merch Code Stuff!

Some updates! Which some of you may already have noticed! We've been testing out a new system for displaying your merch codes and coupons and it seems to work well enough that we can draw attention to it. If you sign in to Patreon on penny-arcade.com, you can now click your username to access a boxout with your latest codes on there. This is also where we're likely to put codes for Fall and Spring products if and when they emerge. Your display tier may be incorrect(e.g, it may say you're a fleshreaper instead of a merch) due to a weird bug, but your benefits should be correct. Let me know if anything is awry.

Unfortunately international patrons are having some problems with the integration at the moment. After digging into it (finding the pattern was a challenge), our Technomancer has discovered that this is due to some GDPR based changes on Patreon's side. We're working on a fix! This may affect some other features, but thankfully in ways that they were probably going to be affected anyway (see PAX questions below)

Upcoming Content!

We were really happy to hear that people enjoyed our Tales From The Loop livestream so much, so Temo, Kimberley, Snap, Mick and Betty will be returning for another adventure at noon on the 19th of September. All participants (I'm not naming any names) will have been reminded to use the bathroom before the stream begins.

We're also planning another exclusive stream for October of an entirely different game, featuring storyteller EJ The Edge Benson. Expect a character creation podcast shortly, until then the game will remain a mystery that has merely been heavily hinted at in this paragraph.

We're also planning ANOTHER exclusive D&D stream in November with ANOTHER of our resident dungeon masters, but I am forbidden from revealing any more about it. Hopefully I have been sufficiently tight lipped, and this post will not go down in history as some kind of fail hour. 

PAX Q&A

Is it possible to include purchases of the fall and spring products in the Omegathon?

It's something we can look into, but there are logistical reasons why it might not work. Our PAX experts are investigating the matter. Jerry has also suggested (on mic) that we could just tell you that we're putting you into the draw and that you didn't get picked, which is definitely an implementable strategy.

Is it possible to have Fall and Spring products mailed rather than picked up at will-call?

It is not. Will-call is by far the easiest way to do this on both ends.

What's up with the damn refunds?

We poke Patreon about it periodically (all the refunds are happening on their end) and a new batch of refunds did go out soon after the meetup (a coincidence), so they're working their way down the list. I'm going to keep pushing them and try to get a date where refunds will be 100% complete. Our visibility on these things is zero, unfortunately.

Are you ever going to let ME talk?

Sit down Jerry, this is my moment. 

I'd like to be able to schedule my merch packages to ensure that they don't show up when say, I'm at PAX. Is that possible?

Yes and no. We can't code an interface exclusively for what are typically edge cases, but we are going to have to implement a new method of dealing with international shipping due to both the above-mentioned GDPR issues and the fact that offering free international shipping is a bit extravagant.

A possible solution (let us know what you think), is that instead of making the order automatically we would give you a link to the package (with an option to be spoiled or unspoiled on its contents) and a code that reduce its price to zero. You would then select shipping, and could schedule at your leisure. 

This option is the one that we're most confident we can implement, but no plan survives first contact with the API. Let us know your thoughts!

We're also aware that for some people, import taxes alone mean that the merch package costs too much, so we're going to be offering a "digital only" version of the merch tier, with all of the digital content (e.g exclusive streeeeaaaaams) and no merch. Let us know what you think about THIS as well. 

You should have recorded this so that you can listen back and be sure that you didn't miss any questions?

Hindsight is 20/20, and you aren't even real. You're just a framing device for me saying I might be forgetting one. We're going to endeavour to record these in the future though.

Endeavour with a U eh?

From my cold, dead hands.

Questions as always in the comments or to pgroome@penny-arcade.com!