darkSpyro

Well, I was not altogether shocked when I finished listening to miniKaboom's latest podcast after over a month of being absent. Critical aspects of SuperChargers surfaced, but the nail in the coffin was the latest sudden shift in making figures available in cheaper single formats....AFTER communicating that these items would be exclusive to the starter packs. In good tempered nature, it was mentioned that it could've been a shift BECAUSE of the negative backlash from making these decisions. In either case, the damage is done. Never mind the lackluster gimmick in this game is weighing heavy with many. This site has not been without its criticisms, and it is very much shared to return the series to its combat based roots and then innovate from THAT perspective.

miniKaboom are teetering from a shutdown from the marketing and design decisions in the game.

What say you, weary portal master?

*sigh*

I've been in this community since december 2011. But even I can admit we're starting to spin out. (ha ha, it's funny because cars.)

Mods, please- DON'T FREAKIN CLOSE THIS. Not everything can be "happy happy joy joy" and we NEED to talk about activision's latest decisions to break things up.

Sales have not been good. Figures and vehicles are sitting there. There are so many fire deals doing on right now, it's starting to show activision is beginning to realize the mistakes they made, and are skipping MANY of their plans, and jumping right to the sales to liquidate the stuff.

Releases- 5 years in- HAVE STILL NOT BEEN FULLY DETAILED. If they had the nerve to cause the yawn trap debacle, who knows what's gonna happen next!? Will we get those Power Blues? Or worse, are we gonna miss out on unique things like new packs!? At this rate- we don't know. You know what else we don't know? If the "exclusive" you get in your starter/racing pack is really exclusive.

Nintendo Exclusives? Yeah- Combo packs.

I remember a user wanted a list of 2 or more sources that said "starter pack only" on the skymiibos.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/...skylanders.aspx

http://mynintendonews.com/2015...-starter-packs/

there's 2. And then the combos happened!

Hot Streak? Single pack leaked for wave 4. Dark editions? Singles leaked. Sun Runner? Single leaked! Kaos Trophy? Buy it separate, save $92!

So we don't know what could happen next. Is it worth buying the upcoming land racing pack if they could release double dare triggs and his vehicle on their own? It happened to sun runner, it could happen. anything can happen now. it's the altmageddon.

So those are my own reasons this is bad. Feel free to discuss.

(Also thanks for reporting my info, miniKABOOM! If you're looking- Notice me, sempai.)

...I thought this was literally going to be about elephants in rooms.

But anyway... Yeah, in terms of marketing and packaging, Superchargers is by far the worst. I'm glad that everything is getting a separate release now, but if you ask me a lot of the negativity about it could have been avoided should they have released all of this, or at least information of it, sooner.

Hopefully they get their act back together for the next game, because I now feel guilty for my mom buying me the dark edition for Christmas.

Listening to the minikaboom cast you speak of now.

While I agree with the central message (Activision should be upfront and clear about what's exclusive and what's in the pipeline), the podcast seemed a bit whiney.

Using words like "heartbroken" just immediately makes me hear violins and #firstworldproblems.

I keep hearing about the big-time collectors - I know I'm not alone, but I'm a pretty big collector of the game - and I'm happy that Activision has made it so that these "exclusives" are easier for as many people to get as wants them. I think many of the larger collectors like myself would have still gotten multiple starters regardless. The only thing I would have not gotten was the XBox One Dark Edition if I could have gotten those singles (and even that's debatable, as I had to get one of those damn Gold Hot Streaks, and probably would have got the XBO starter for the BOGO deal at TRU). I think the ones who were more screwed by this were the casual fans.

But here's the trick, anyone from Activision that might be reading... the casual fans (combined) spend a whole lot more than us crazed collectors (combined). And I do think Activision's missteps here may have ticked a lot of the casual fans off.

It's also the Trap Team's fault. The story, the figures, the crude gimmick! It's often said that your last product affects how the next one will do and, quite frankly, Skylanders fatigue was definitely present during TT.

And now that Lego Dimensions has become a new contender and Disney Infinity is still a thing, Skylanders is on a (deserved) downward spiral.

Quote: Hexin_Wishes

It's also the Trap Team's fault. The story, the figures, the crude gimmick! It's often said that your last product affects how the next one will do and, quite frankly, Skylanders fatigue was definitely present during TT.

And now that Lego Dimensions has become a new contender and Disney Infinity is still a thing, Skylanders is on a (deserved) downward spiral.

Trap Team still sold fairly well and every kid wanted that darn Kaos trap so they could play as Kaos. I think raising the MSRP of the cheapest figure above $10 with Superchargers amplified any fatigue casual fans of the franchise felt and gave extra incentive to just call it quits on Skylanders. You have so many characters from previous games...then a parent looks at the $13/$15 price tags on Superchargers merchandise and thinks "this is ridiculous...this will never end if I keep buying this for my kid."

Obviously, it's a series of missteps and not any one thing that has led to this thread, but Activision has basically been on cruise control since the days when Spyros Adventure and Giants printed boatloads of money for them...I fully believe they are perfectly content with a rinse & repeat formula until the franchise dies despite the optimistic hopes of some collectors that Activision "steps up their game" in the face of increased competition in the Toys to Life market. The animated series seems like too little, too late to me. It's something that should have come out towards the end of Swap Force or at least during the life of Trap Team.

It's all gone downhill. Figure paint & overall quality. Prices are whacked. The wow factor they used to have. The same excitement isn't there.

I still strongly feel their #1 thing to do in order to create buzz again, is for the next game to offer what so many have been requesting and craving form the start and that is playable villains figures. Call the next game Skylander's Ultimate Villain Alliance or whatver, I think that would spark new life into this franchise.

Since the 1st game, players and collectors have been craving for figures of Kaos, Glumshanks, etc. And more recently fun characters like Painyatta, Golden Queen & Chompy Mage.

Quote: ZapNorris

I remember a user wanted a list of 2 or more sources that said "starter pack only" on the skymiibos.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/...skylanders.aspx

http://mynintendonews.com/2015...-starter-packs/

there's 2. And then the combos happened!

Both articles use the same statement from the same Activision Representative, who said "At this time [...] will be sold via the Nintendo starter packs only". I know it would have been better if they clearly said there would be duo packs of the skymiibos sold later in a few months, but until I see an article/video where they say they will never release them outside the starter packs, then people can't complain they "lied" or forced us to buy multiple starter packs only for a few figures.

Ok, I see two elephants here: the gimmick of SSC and the figures release strategy, let's go with each of them:

1) Vehicles: I used to belong to that part of the fans that hated the gimmick and wanted a full return to the classic gameplay. While I will never support a 50% share between those two gamepay styles ( I think the classic one should have a bigger share) I truly believe the vehicles thing is fun and deserves to stay alive, not as the main actor of the movie, but as a secondary mode. It would be a pity to throw to the bin all the work they did when building this gameplay. That said, classic arenas, pvp and even kaos doom should also come back. Somehow the game felt incomplete without these, as these modes maxed out one of the strongest points of the franchise: the brawling style. This fact may have affect casual fans who expected otherwise (the opposite may also be true as I have play online with people who said "this game is most fun than the others").

2) Release strategy: I understand the anger of those whou bought the skymiibo starter packs, but as Unclebob mentioned above, on one side there's the casual fans and in the other, there's us, hardcore fans. Obviously this strategy is aimed at the former group, who may be completely unaware of this issue. So the impact of this (I'm only speculating) may not be as severe as we may believe. That said, the fact that Activision still done communicate their plans is done on purpose and not as a "don't care" attitude which I used to believe was the main factor behind this issue. To be honest, is not much of an issue for me fortunately. When knight Light was announced I got the light expansion pack and a few months later I got the single pack and it didn't bother me, caz I love so much that skylander that I wanted him in all the possible packagings. However, I fully understand how some people feel fooled.

Superchargers was good for the story but not post game, I mean just
I want this franchise to get better but if its not then that's just.. Idk
I've already purchased about $1000+worth of figures and such and if I stop being with this franchise , I will see all the toys as a waste, I don't want to stop playing these games, I want to keep playing and buying figures but boring gameplay just makes me want to cry and think about what I've spent my money on, like people constantly ***** on and on to me saying "its a kids game" "its a waste of money" "sell these toys and buy better things" "play cod and stuff" I DONT CARE, I CARE IF MY MONEY IS NOT BEING WISELY SPENT. I want this franchise to go out with a execelent game, and I don't want to stop because my parents will probably get angry and annoyed about the years I've spent collecting for nothing, like I don't really play with past toys because they are not really useful and already maxed, so there just on my shelf collecting dust, I'm crying right now at the thought of hate people will give me/ are giving me because I have tons of stuff I DONT EVEN USE, but if you have that many Skylanders you are basicly immortal in the game, you cannot die/ have to restart the level if your a collector.
If sky 6 has pvp I will be beyond happy, the 200+ figures i own will finally be used after years.
I'm just crying over , is it worth it? Have these years of buying and collecting been for nothing?
I just need a hug right now (crying face)

What elephant in the room? You guys have been shoving it in EVERY TOPIC to the point you better call it a cat since it likes to butt in the conversation and ask for pets no matter what you're saying.

Honest dellusion with the series is a thing. I was discussing the podcast with a friend yesterday,he noticed Matt sounded a lot like him when Swap Force came out and things weren't looking so hot for the direction of the games until Trap Team proved him wrong. Get a podcast hiatus until the hype is back in, no biggie, it happens.

Now, ragequitting the franchise because of the dumb decisions expecting them to have a change of heart? Do you guys know what company we're talking about?. This isn't Nintendo, this isn't Sony,this isn't your favorite indie.They listen when they want to, they turn their backs when they don't, and they make decisions on games they don't know crap about. The demands of the fans only get listened to when it's beneficial, otherwise we do not exist. How else do you THINK we got here after the LOS series?

I'm not happy with the decisions,but this back and forth only harms us and what we like. I play the games,get them used as much as possible mostly because it's cheaper, I enjoy the games in their several aspects? So I stay. I don't cling to the franchise on a single teethering aspect of collecting because I KNOW BETTER. Acti will change things with a very half-hearted assumption on the blink of an eye, this is how many shovelware became that, how many reboots fell apart; they don't listen to the devs who might've even done research because they're "above" that.
Do you think an outrage is going to help? That'll be the point Acti will cross their arms and decide they don't see worth in pandering to adults anymore because the adults don't like them. Time to get rid of anything that doesn't 100% pander to kids. Screw the franchise over? They don't care,they're not the ones developing OR marketing.

Trying to poison the fandom with the doom and gloom does more than help your entitlement. People like Drawdler stop wanting to talk about the games. People who ignore you like me don't have anyone to talk to. There's nothing to be enjoyed, it's like we're dragging ourselves waiting for fun in the community that isn't there anymore. No community,no attachment. No attachment,the series fails harder than any decision because no one has a reason to stick for long.
And honestly? The attitude of some people here seriously disgusts me. Not you Lemons or Drek, you know how to keep the subject matter where the subject matter belongs, I mean people who in EVERY TOPIC ABOUT A FIGURE/Wave/Whatever will whine and whine about how Acti did the dumb thing and they'll quit next game if they don't do a 180º. WE HEARD IT THE FIRST TIME. Repeating does nothing but drive people away from the topics because they stop caring. It must feel so damn good to be smart and know when they're being greedy,doesn't it? Well, it doesn't to listen to you again and again drive the topics from 'lol look at this dumb paintjob' 'literally bootlegs and acti is scamming us'.

There, you had my wall of text. You're going to ignore it, I know. I'll just go back to my corner, draw my arts,answer my questios,joke around and hope there'll be someone to listen despite all the negativity.

My biggest issue with Skylanders has always been their release strategy. They keep it all secret, never tell us squat, and leave us to figure out when things are coming out. Not "I'm quitting the game", but simply "this really stinks". Their competitors have shown that this amount of mystery is not necessary, there is no reason new waves cannot be scheduled and announced.

Amiibo packs are just another symptom of the problem. I get they may have never said they wouldn't come out - that was just speculation on our part they wouldn't based on vague announcements. These cannot be made and packaged over a weekend, they have known for at least a couple months - no reason they couldn't have given a little notice - unless their goal was to sell more Starters to Amiibo fans by keeping it secret. It all goes back to the thought that they use the mystery to try and get people to buy more things.

TRU, for example, probably would have sold more Legendary Packs (which are WAY overstocked) if people knew they could get the regular versions individually instead of waiting for the regular Sky Pack. More options is a GOOD thing, they just need to tell people - it results in higher customer satisfaction, and less people feeling burned by lack of information.

I love Skylanders, and have a ton of them (every figure and variant for all five games, Traps are the only thing I didn't collect). This will probably be our last game in the franchise - not because I'm rage quitting, but because my son that loves them is getting older. I just find myself more satisfied from a customer perspective with the other TTL franchises because they don't play this "secret game". I don't have to stalk UPS/Fedex or make multiple fruitless trips to TRU/etc. because something is starting to show up in stores.

I knew that Shovel Knight was going to be in the store last Friday. I knew that I didn't have to buy a big bundle if I want to get Boba Fett because he was coming out separately early this year in a single. I know exactly when the next two waves for Lego will be in the store and can pre-order if I want. I don't know when Roller Brawl and her vehicle will be out, it might be next week or next month - and I have no idea if they will release her combo pack in the US at all (multi packs post wave 2 are routinely skipped in the US). As a customer, which release plan is satisfying me?

@Bifrost- Bravo and thank you. I play games because they bring enjoyment. I play with others to share that enjoyment. I come here to learn and talk about the enjoyment. This series has been fun for me and my kids and my wife for 5 years. That is what I want to share with those who want me to.

@defpally - PREACH! The release strategy for Skylanders is an abomination. The whole not knowing, coupled with some figures may not even be available and we don't know when they will ever be re-released (I actually got a response like that from Activision which makes sense but then they directed me to the website which was no help at all) are absolutely sickening. It was ok when I was younger and had time to hunt but right now I have more important priorities and thus lose out on figures.

The whole secrecy is why scalpers make so much money off of the figures because no one knows when anything will be released. It's a very stressful game plan for consumers and quite frankly I wholly regret getting back into Skylanders because of a sale. I believe in trilogies but I may have to put my foot down if they're going to continue with this anti-consumer friendly game.

Cool,but everyone knows it sucks. It sucked from the first year. Why every year do you guys expect anything more from Acti and then complain because you acted on that assumption? Don't stress over things you couldn't predict, otherwise you'd wait forever for that change in price/avaliability anyway.

And back to my argument we heard the complaints a thousand times. Telling that to the fans won't change it - back to my post,only makes everyone bored of reading the same whining over and over - because the higher ups sure as heck won't read it,and support can't do anything about it if they get told 'we'll announce it when we want to'.

I can't comment one way or the other on the quality of Superchargers. Most of you probably know that I was constantly on these forums, but have been lacking in posting much, lately. That's because I haven't even bothered with Superchargers. That's mostly because we wanted to get in on Lego Dimensions and didn't have the money for Superchargers. When the prices of the starters and the figures reached the lows that they did, I was tempted, but didn't have much money, and still have a lot we want to get for LD. I will say, though, that I wasn't really that excited about it. The only reason I'm even considering it, now, is because it doesn't seem to take but a the three vehicles to unlock every area of the game, so it wouldn't be that much, and it would give us another game for us to play with our older figures. All of our Skylanders are now stored away and we haven't bothered with them much. My son got Trap Team for his new 3DS, but never played it (mostly because the batteries that came with it were corroded and I never got around to putting batteries in the portal, but he hasn't been clamoring for it, either).

With the problems that everyone had with getting everything for Trap Team and the competition heating up, Skylanders has become lackluster and people have become frustrated. Lego Dimensions is an excellent game. It not only is helped by getting licenses to help draw people in, but it's a super fun game. Skylanders, on the other hand, wasn't coming up with anything innovative or creative for the actual game and story. They haven't listened to fans and releases were a pain to deal with. I'll admit, a lot of the fun of Skylanders, in the beginning, was the hunt for new figures. But when it eventually became hard to find certain figures (or practically impossible for some), it became frustrating. After dealing with Lego Dimensions, I like knowing what's coming out and when. It helps me plan which ones I want, and when I can get them.

Maybe one day, if Superchargers gets really cheap (like $10-$15), I may bite. Getting the dark edition for around $35 is tempting (because it has two vehicles and the Kaos trophy) if they had it for our console, but I have Lego Dimensions packs about to come out, and a few more I need to pick up. So it may have to wait some more.

Well, I can say this. With Lego Dimensions figures being a really good price right now (7.50 for fun packs), I'm noticing lots of empty shelves for Dimensions here. Does that mean anything? Only that Dimensions is selling better in my city than the other brands.

Think about it, though. 7.50 for a mini figure that can be played with, and a vehicle/gadget that can be played with and rebuilt three different ways and even play different for 7.50, where one Skylanders now - for some strange reason - costs 12.99, and it's hard to see why Dimensions wouldn't be selling better. If Dimensions were to lower the prices of team packs to 19.99 and the starters to the same price as Skylanders and Infinity, I think Lego would win it.

My point is, Skylanders keeps going up in price for figures, but those 12.99 figures barely had any time to shine. It was about the car, car, car. Randomize everything in a level making exploration useless, and killing exploration period, while raising the price of figures for who knows what reason, is just a good way to kill your brand.

And to those who think that TFB members or VV members don't lurk here, you're dead wrong. If they love their brand, they have to listen to us instead of just themselves. They need to take the complaints to heart, not say "oh, it tests well with our focus groups, so they can't be wrong." Yeah, Superchargers is proof they need to test each years gimmick to more than just kids. Those kids who tested Superchargers and helped VV sign off on it weren't thinking right, or we'd have a game that was as good as the previous 4.

Until they value the opinion of all Skylanders fans and make a game for the fans, I see it going downhill. Look at it like this. Lots of people said that Dimensions was the best TTL game this year, gameplay wise. Funny thing is, Lego knows how to stick with what works. When it's not broke, they don't try and fix it. Dimensions feels new, but old at the same time. Fine by me. Superchargers took what I loved about Skylanders, the long levels, the exploration for chests, hats, sapphires, soul gems, elemental gates, adventure packs, and magic items, and flushed it all the drain, along with 254 Skylanders who don't mean spit in Trap Team and Superchargers, because gimmick landers are the only things needed to see everything, rendering our previous landers useless.

Quote: defpally

My biggest issue with Skylanders has always been their release strategy. They keep it all secret, never tell us squat, and leave us to figure out when things are coming out.

I'm *still* waiting at TRU for the Crash Bandicoot pack. :(

Quote: GameMaster78

Well, I can say this. With Lego Dimensions figures being a really good price right now (7.50 for fun packs), I'm noticing lots of empty shelves for Dimensions here. Does that mean anything? Only that Dimensions is selling better in my city than the other brands.

Think about it, though. 7.50 for a mini figure that can be played with, and a vehicle/gadget that can be played with and rebuilt three different ways and even play different for 7.50, where one Skylanders now - for some strange reason - costs 12.99, and it's hard to see why Dimensions wouldn't be selling better. If Dimensions were to lower the prices of team packs to 19.99 and the starters to the same price as Skylanders and Infinity, I think Lego would win it.

My point is, Skylanders keeps going up in price for figures, but those 12.99 figures barely had any time to shine. It was about the car, car, car. Randomize everything in a level making exploration useless, and killing exploration period, while raising the price of figures for who knows what reason, is just a good way to kill your brand.

And to those who think that TFB members or VV members don't lurk here, you're dead wrong. If they love their brand, they have to listen to us instead of just themselves. They need to take the complaints to heart, not say "oh, it tests well with our focus groups, so they can't be wrong." Yeah, Superchargers is proof they need to test each years gimmick to more than just kids. Those kids who tested Superchargers and helped VV sign off on it weren't thinking right, or we'd have a game that was as good as the previous 4.

Until they value the opinion of all Skylanders fans and make a game for the fans, I see it going downhill. Look at it like this. Lots of people said that Dimensions was the best TTL game this year, gameplay wise. Funny thing is, Lego knows how to stick with what works. When it's not broke, they don't try and fix it. Dimensions feels new, but old at the same time. Fine by me. Superchargers took what I loved about Skylanders, the long levels, the exploration for chests, hats, sapphires, soul gems, elemental gates, adventure packs, and magic items, and flushed it all the drain, along with 254 Skylanders who don't mean spit in Trap Team and Superchargers, because gimmick landers are the only things needed to see everything, rendering our previous landers useless.

Lego doesn't do anything new. That's practicality what you said. But your still going to defend LD and hate on SC. And by the way 7.50 was a sale price not the real price which is 14.99. Of course you igored it so LD looks good

Quote: Bifrost

Cool,but everyone knows it sucks. It sucked from the first year. Why every year do you guys expect anything more from Acti and then complain because you acted on that assumption? Don't stress over things you couldn't predict, otherwise you'd wait forever for that change in price/avaliability anyway.

And back to my argument we heard the complaints a thousand times. Telling that to the fans won't change it - back to my post,only makes everyone bored of reading the same whining over and over - because the higher ups sure as heck won't read it,and support can't do anything about it if they get told 'we'll announce it when we want to'.

I expect better because they now have competition that has proven it can be done better. First couple years, fine, you are working this out. We are in the fifth year now and ALL of the competition has got this down to a science and the trailblazer is still screwing this up? Nintendo even did this better, they just suffered from very low prediction of demand and low stock levels.

The big wigs do pay attention, when their bottom line starts to suffer - which it did this year. Speaking loudly and frequently now has a much better chance of notice as the are desperately trying to figure out why they aren't selling nearly as much.

We KNOW that. We know what has been said time in again. It's not adding any discussion,it's just repeating and repeating. We're not the devs,we're fans, and if the dicussion is repeating,people will get bored and leave, and no matter how much you're right, there's no enjoyment in being right if there's only the same 5 people listening.

The bigs wigs could care less. They'll do some stupid changes if it suceeds, they'll shove it under the bus if it doesn't. That's how Crash and Spyro ended up, that's how any of their franchise ends up when things get unsustainable. Making noise in a small forum in a corner of the internet is going to be for that forum and no one else because that's not where they look at. It'll just destroy the little community the franchise has left bit by bit.

I probably act too much like I care about this,but I've seen this fandom start. I've seen the times where people would spend more time speculating or sharing so much about what they thought or what they wanted or what ideas they had for growth. Now I just see the same topics about X figure being released swamped with complaints that go on circles,and maybe the rare real discussion that ends before it gets to 20 replies by derailing or just being forgotten.

Quote: skylandersspyro

Quote: GameMaster78

Well, I can say this. With Lego Dimensions figures being a really good price right now (7.50 for fun packs), I'm noticing lots of empty shelves for Dimensions here. Does that mean anything? Only that Dimensions is selling better in my city than the other brands.

Think about it, though. 7.50 for a mini figure that can be played with, and a vehicle/gadget that can be played with and rebuilt three different ways and even play different for 7.50, where one Skylanders now - for some strange reason - costs 12.99, and it's hard to see why Dimensions wouldn't be selling better. If Dimensions were to lower the prices of team packs to 19.99 and the starters to the same price as Skylanders and Infinity, I think Lego would win it.

My point is, Skylanders keeps going up in price for figures, but those 12.99 figures barely had any time to shine. It was about the car, car, car. Randomize everything in a level making exploration useless, and killing exploration period, while raising the price of figures for who knows what reason, is just a good way to kill your brand.

And to those who think that TFB members or VV members don't lurk here, you're dead wrong. If they love their brand, they have to listen to us instead of just themselves. They need to take the complaints to heart, not say "oh, it tests well with our focus groups, so they can't be wrong." Yeah, Superchargers is proof they need to test each years gimmick to more than just kids. Those kids who tested Superchargers and helped VV sign off on it weren't thinking right, or we'd have a game that was as good as the previous 4.

Until they value the opinion of all Skylanders fans and make a game for the fans, I see it going downhill. Look at it like this. Lots of people said that Dimensions was the best TTL game this year, gameplay wise. Funny thing is, Lego knows how to stick with what works. When it's not broke, they don't try and fix it. Dimensions feels new, but old at the same time. Fine by me. Superchargers took what I loved about Skylanders, the long levels, the exploration for chests, hats, sapphires, soul gems, elemental gates, adventure packs, and magic items, and flushed it all the drain, along with 254 Skylanders who don't mean spit in Trap Team and Superchargers, because gimmick landers are the only things needed to see everything, rendering our previous landers useless.

Lego doesn't do anything new. That's practicality what you said. But your still going to defend LD and hate on SC. And by the way 7.50 was a sale price not the real price which is 14.99. Of course you igored it so LD looks good

Actually, it does do something new. It is a fairly standard Lego game, but they added more interaction with the portal. In Skylanders/Infinity you put something on the portal and leave it there - Lego added moving figures around to different spots to do things. It is more physical interaction with the toys. They also integrated the building with the game. It sounds like you are to busy defending Skylanders to have given Dimensions a honest appraisal (if you have even played it at all).

And yes, sale prices really shouldn't count when matching against MSRP of another product. Otherwise you can say Skylanders are B1G1 free since that sale has happened several times. Lego IS more expensive, but you do get much more functional, higher quality toys from the deal. The closest Skylanders has come to it is Swap Force, which is part of why many consider it a shining moment in their history of yearly gimmicks.

Quote: Bifrost

We KNOW that. We know what has been said time in again. It's not adding any discussion,it's just repeating and repeating. We're not the devs,we're fans, and if the dicussion is repeating,people will get bored and leave, and no matter how much you're right, there's no enjoyment in being right if there's only the same 5 people listening.

The bigs wigs could care less. They'll do some stupid changes if it suceeds, they'll shove it under the bus if it doesn't. That's how Crash and Spyro ended up, that's how any of their franchise ends up when things get unsustainable. Making noise in a small forum in a corner of the internet is going to be for that forum and no one else because that's not where they look at. It'll just destroy the little community the franchise has left bit by bit.

I probably act too much like I care about this,but I've seen this fandom start. I've seen the times where people would spend more time speculating or sharing so much about what they thought or what they wanted or what ideas they had for growth. Now I just see the same topics about X figure being released swamped with complaints that go on circles,and maybe the rare real discussion that ends before it gets to 20 replies by derailing or just being forgotten.

We also KNOW your opinion, yet here you are posting it again. Ironic much?

Yeah,because if you guys are allowed to beat over the heads of everyone about how much Acti does bad decisions in every topic, I can do the same about how goddamn sick I am of it in every post. Maybe then the fandom split can happen for real and we can spiral downward into petty fights faster, hm?

Quote: Bifrost

Yeah,because if you guys are allowed to beat over the heads of everyone about how much Acti does bad decisions in every topic, I can do the same about how ******* sick I am of it in every post. Maybe then the fandom split can happen for real and we can spiral downward into petty fights faster, hm?

The difference is we aren't telling you to shut up. That starts fights pretty darn quick.

By the way, there are kids on the forum - watch your language.

It's the internet. Everything starts fights pretty darn quick no matter what.

I'm not saying that the discussion shouldn't exist at any point, I'm just sick of the repetition. In fact,the discussion is happening right now with arguments other than 'Acti did a bad decision' 'yeah next game will fail if they don't change a lot', isn't it?

Quote: Bifrost

I'm not saying that the discussion shouldn't exist at any point, I'm just sick of the repetition. In fact,the discussion is happening right now with arguments other than 'Acti did a bad decision' 'yeah next game will fail if they don't change a lot', isn't it?

I'd much rather be talking about what is in the next Wave, what abilities they have and the date it will be on store shelves/where we can pre-order. But, we don't have that information so this is what we have to talk about. Hence the problem.

If that's all that you want to talk about though, not much to say as soon as it stops being news. I'd be rather discussing the new lore introduced in this game and there's a criminally low number of new facts, but I'm not bringing this up every time I can.

Then simply exit the discussion. It's not rocket science and this is the discussion that is gaining traction.

Also, you're not wrong but where exactly do we send them feedback? You used to be able to deal with customer service but these days it seems they relegate it to Twitter and the like which is super easy to ignore and discredit.

We have no News. Activision has chosen to not give us any news to discuss or get excited about, per usual. At this point, the game has been out close to five months, the lore has been beaten to death, again with the whole "nothing new to talk about so we have to beat a topic to death". It just isn't the topic you choose, so we need to stop?

If Activision didn't starve us of information, we might not talk about their failures as much.

'Don't like it don't see it' is exactly what's killing discussion. Cool, I'll do it like so many others before and stop talking altogether because you guys want to only talk about the lack of clarity and whatever is leaving you upset. Great, now once YOU are also too bored to talk,there's no one else left. Community is gone.

There's no lore to beat to death. Story and character happened,but very little explanation of other elements other than 'they exist'. I can't dicuss about it but I'm not trying to push it everywhere where we discuss story because it's pointless.

There's nowhere to send feedback except for their official assist page. They easily have some of the worst PR for the kind of game we've got since the devs answer more questions on their personal areas than official sources do(and because of the work,that's once a month if at all so unreliable). But not an excuse to just keep insisting on it here where Orville is the only known dev to even post every now and then, and he's also assistance and not someone who can actually change other areas.

It's quite sad that the better the games are built in terms of quality and story, the smaller the audience gets. I got into the series a bit later, a year or two after SSA, and because of that I have never seen any other person in my area (besides scalpers) who is actually interested in Skylanders. I'm usually one of the only people there now on new release days. Even the online community for Superchargers is still dead after Christmas, and that should mean something to you. This needs to be a wake up call for the marketing team. They have to do something new and exciting again to keep the franchise alive. Although, as much as I love collecting these, I wouldn't mind Sky6 being the last game...

People need to pipe down on Activision's lack of information about when things are released. The elephant in the room magically spoke and told me it's always been this way with releases from the beginning...why expect a sudden transformation now? As long as things are released, I don't care (yes...Activision's sucks for no Yawn Traps). Otherwise, people saying they're getting stressed out and fed up with releases need to take a chill pill and learn something called patience (never used this before, but #firstworldproblems comes to mind). I am patient and not only have I gotten every in-game variant since I started collecting Skylanders, I've gotten probably over 95% on at least some kind of decent sale/discount. I don't go running around as if it's my 2nd stressful job to be chasing after these things...the "must have them now" attitude is a personal preference and certainly not a healthy one if it gets you so flustered. News bulletin...you don't have to chase after figures anymore...maybe 2 or 3 games ago, but definitely not with Superchargers! A lesson in patience goes a long way. Superchargers is so bad with overall sales, I fully expect to get everything I need in time at 50% or more discount. So be it if I don't yet have Legendary Roller Brawl, the new Pop Fizz, Nitro Soda Skimmer, or whatever else has come out in the past 4 weeks. At the end of the day, I know I'll have the same collection as those getting stressed out chasing after everything and I'll have it at a much lower price point with my sanity in tact. Point the finger at whoever you want, but a healthy hobby shouldn't elicit mental health/stress issues.

Quote: mastermc54

People need to pipe down on Activision's lack of information about when things are released. The elephant in the room magically spoke and told me it's always been this way with releases from the beginning...why expect a sudden transformation now?

Again, because ALL of the competition has shown it can be done better. There is no more question of "oh, well there are actual toys involved and they have to be made and distributed". Everyone else is newer at this and does it 1000% better. Even tiny little Yacht Club games had Shovel Knight Amiibo made independently, shipped to stores, had good stock levels and a specific release date - and a timely patch to all versions to support it. Activision with their billions can't even communicate an idea of what is coming and when after five years of doing this. What needs to stop are the excuses for this or acceptance.

Last year the new ones were also better at it? I don't really know,after every topic in the Trap Team section became about Yawn Traps and last wave avaliability I had to do like most and stick to SC to get any response.

On LD, there is no doubt that devs leveraged what they done in the past and what they know works. But they also expanded it tremendously. The amount of free play space is huge, and they've left it open to get even bigger. Some of the puzzles are old, but some are new, or at least new to me. And yes, they add the element of building your character, and moving your character to perform tasks in the game, but that's a double edge sword. Loosing pieces can ruin the game experience, and having to move the figure when you really just want to relax gets annoying rather quickly.

As for the statement about the new comers already handling figure releases better then Activision, are we sure about that? I'm reminding of the parable of 3 blind men asked to describe and elephant. One touches the trunk, one touches an ear, and other touches a foot/hoof. They all describe as 3 completly different things. How does that apply? As consumers, we are only seeing things from our point of view. We do not know if the profit margin for skylander figures is greater or less then the other franchises. I would think that having a more structured and preannouced release would cost more money to produce and distribute. And maybe the other franchises are doomed to die out sooner if they don't maintain a higher level of popularity.

I don't know, perhaps that doesn't matter to consumers, they only care about what they see. Perhaps they only see corporate greed. Perhaps we'll see the competition fall away when they run out of existing character popularity and can't maintain the higher sales volume then need to survive.

Yep, Infinity had well known release dates for every figure that came out and stores allowed pre-orders. And Nintendo, while short stocked had everything dated that came out on time. The main issue with Amiibos was small stock levels because Nintendo underestimated demand - it took them about 6 months to fix it but now it is fine.

Why were people talking about Yawn Traps? Because no one had ANY idea of what was going on. They just sort of sent them to one region then forgot about the rest. No explanation, no communication, nothing. And we still haven't gotten any word. And Lost Islands was put out to pasture last May, and they still haven't acknowledged it is retired from active development. People kept waiting for Superchargers to show up, but nothing.

After the thousandth time being told that Yawn Traps were not happening,people stayed talking about yawn traps. We know the communication was a poor job, but saying it a thousand times doesn't make it get better. In fact,it's been a year, nothing changed - you could probably get ignored on assist or posts purged from social media asking because it's spam at this point there.

Quote: Bifrost

After the thousandth time being told that Yawn Traps were not happening,people stayed talking about yawn traps. We know the communication was a poor job, but saying it a thousand times doesn't make it get better. In fact,it's been a year, nothing changed - you could probably get ignored on assist or posts purged from social media asking because it's spam at this point there.

No from Activision said Yawn Traps weren't coming as far as I am aware. If they did point me to their post that says Yawn Traps will not be released in the US. They didn't acknowledge it, they just let customer support staff try and deflect people then hoped everyone forgot. I don't even collect traps and still think it was crappy.

I guess you are just so used to being treated like this you take it as normal. Lower expectations enough and people will thank you for throwing them scraps. And if they are putting customers on ignore for asking legitimate questions their competitors answer happily, the problem isn't with the customer.

Being constantly postponed is not that different from not happening. Gets said all the time by people being interviewed about dead franchises.

Alright, don't start assuming things about me, I don't start assuming things about you. I know good customer service, I know amazing indie developers that'll pop up in 10 minutes to answer any of your questions should you ask in their forums,or PR whose work feels less like automated responses and more like the devs' hype generator. But I also know Acti and that they just don't care. That they let Legend of Spyro crash and burn spetacularity by changing developers as late as they could, that they sit on Crash's IP and do nothing about it, that they do weird reboots to everything that doesn't need one because of some assumption the style/gameplay is the cause of failure instead of bug testing or poor optimization or whatever. You can't expect anything good when it comes from them and not the developers, there's no high or low expectation there. I'm used to know that people tried SO MUCH to get them to listen here and in other places in the past, and silence was forever the only response.
We're actually lucky now with Orville around, because not even bug assistance was a thing back then.

Quote: defpally

And Nintendo, while short stocked had everything dated that came out on time.

That's not entirely true. Wave 2 of amiibo had issues and was spottily shipped to stores. I mean, amiibo communication is infinitely above and beyond that of Skylanders... but I wouldn't say it was absolutely without scheduling flaws. ;)

Defpally killed this thread. Everything I want to say about what's wrong with this brand, he said for me.

The powers that be with Skylanders keep making mistake after mistake. Wish we could have a brand where secondhand guessing isn't the name of the game, we don't get all released figures like we should, and now they're removing parts of the game that made Skylanders fun. Add to that a community that spends more time speculating and fighting than getting excited over releases. Guess that's what happens when they don't give us release dates.

I'd love to talk about wave 4, but what's there to say besides speculate? But, hey, at least on January 19th, I'm gauranteed to walk into Best Buy and get a new level pack, team pack and 3 fun packs for Dimensions. Same goes for March. Gauranteed to go get a new level pack and 3 fun packs.

When can I looks forward to wave 4 Skylanders? Who knows. Speculation is boring. I'm ready to know something concrete.

Speculation is boring for you, not for everyone. At least it's new things to say.

If we speculate then we can guess and actually talk about when stuff gets released.

With a concrete date we get "totally going to pick up stuff" and "I don't want anything from this wave. Pass."

And a couple of off topic "is the brand dead" and "Superchargers is awful!" Conversations.

Wow, we are reaching a point where saying "Skylanders is a lovely and enjoyable game" is something politically incorrect.

Yep, I'm politically incorrect.

I've been reading all these posts and I'm still not sure what you guys are arguing about. Is it about miniKABOOM, Activision, or Skylanders itself?

-Rov

Quote: Rovaulin

I've been reading all these posts and I'm still not sure what you guys are arguing about. Is it about miniKABOOM, Activision, or Skylanders itself?

From what I can tell it's mostly about how Acti screws up when it comes to releasing figures.

Quote: GaiaMemories

If we speculate then we can guess and actually talk about when stuff gets released.

With a concrete date we get "totally going to pick up stuff" and "I don't want anything from this wave. Pass."

And a couple of off topic "is the brand dead" and "Superchargers is awful!" Conversations.

How old are you? That's quite a juvenile mindset to have. I have been on various forums where Lego Dimensions, Disney Infinity and amiibos have been discussed and a proper release date neither stops people from speculating release dates of other figures/variants nor do people quit engaging should they "pass".

Also, those kinds of threads exist currently and already have since Spyro's Adventure so continue reaching.