I wanted to share this, and hopefully disprove the idea that all I send them are complaints...
customerservice @ Hasbropulse dot com
To Whom it may Concern at Hasbro:
I just want to pass along a Compliment to Avalon Hill for their service to their customers. Please forward this email to the relevant parties.
I have said many times before how I appreciated the HeroQuest community's treatment by Avalon Hill's team under the leadership of Chris Nadeau. The recent clarification on social media that 'Against the Ogre Horde' expansion is "not cancelled" is a great relief to many,
including myself. After hearing a report from one store (Miniature Market) that it was "not" coming to other retail stores, some of us panicked, thinking perhaps this was going to be a trend, but lately we have not heard more stores cancelling and refunding orders. I even apologized for my part in furthering on negative rumor that maybe this was the end for it (thank goodness I was wrong!). Avalon Hill was not to blame, they were working hard as always within the limitations imposed upon them, I'm sure.
We are still waiting to see and hear what the future of the product line will be moving forward. Meanwhile I am pleased with Avalon Hill's commitment to their customers. They seem to embody the slogan "where the fans come first." I am now much more confident that HeroQuest will live (officially supported by Hasbro) on beyond 2024. I appreciated that Doug took time out to comment and answer questions that [oops, I cut off my own sentence should continue... "came up."]
To me, "fans" are people who love a product, not just those who pay for premium memberships or who "follow" companies on social media. Many of them are just ordinary folks who post about stuff on forums, in chat rooms, other media, or just play games at home and have fun and spread that love by word of mouth. They introduce games to their children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews. I don't have an instagram or "X" account, but that's what I do. Many fans are so dedicated, they were saying on Discord that they would only buy from HasbroPulse if they thought it would support the product. Turns out we were told that isn't necessary. You guys get paid if someone buys it from BigBadToyStore, Entertainment Earth, Amazon, a friendly local game store or wherever they are being sold via a retailer. Many don't have the option to use Pulse, however, so that is a big relief.
Since the layoffs, the loss of Chris Nadeau (Encarmine) and William Mort (Avalon Bill) we have been suffering a little bit in terms of communication. In the past, inaccurate rumors could be quashed immediately. Misunderstandings about how things work were something they were great at addressing quickly and succinctly. Chris would happily explain, in layman's terms how things worked in the board games industry, why things were taking so long, or what their basic creative process was. It was a respectful and fun way to learn what it is you guys do day in and day out. The Avalon Hill discord was a step in the right direction, since not all of your customers are going to hang out on Instagram or X waiting to see updates. Not hearing anything until the next pre-order announcement isn't so good. I for one appreciated the interviews, live play demonstrations and Designer Blog postings a lot more than these short social media posts. Even better were the conversations on discord that gave us insight into the thought process of this game and the Avalon Hill team.
When the Guardian Knight debacle happened, they made their apology, and at the time I wasn't sure if it would be sincere or not. I figured it was "damage control." But they made good on that promise. We didn't see anymore "exclusives" or "limited run" products for HeroQuest. The Guardian Knight hero, that so many fans wanted, appeared again, wrapped up in the beautiful package that was "Rise of the Dread Moon." Hasbro allowed them to respond directly to these fan disappointments and make good on those promises to re-direct, doing even better than their word. So many fans were disappointed to have missed out on the Mythic campaign. Then we got the Spirit Queen and Prophecy of Telor boxes with bonus content. That was great!
More recently though we've become worried again that maybe these promises are not being adhered to by Hasbro... the Dread Veil Dice seemingly was to be an exclusive (thankfully turning out not to be... next month everyone will be able to get them, not just in English speaking countries). We were concerned that Spirit Queen and Prophecy of Telor would be Pulse exclusives, cutting off many countries from owning them at a reasonable price anytime soon. Thankfully that turned out to be false as well, as even Amazon got it within 23 days of the official release date. Membership exclusive was limited to an extra hour (?) of pre-order time on a non-limited stock product. Again, good things pursued, bad things avoided. Then we noticed that leftover "Mythic" sets were being sold, exclusively to premium members (and sold out within hours). While it was nice that some Mythic sets were being sold at reasonable prices, sadly many of these immediately went to Ebay for scalper prices, so they did nothing to really help the average fan get their hands on them. Plus it sent a message that there are some fans that count more in the eyes of the company than others. I think more fans were happy about the idea of these specialty figures and quest books coming to retail so anyone could get them and not be "forced" to look for them on ebay for multiple times the price, not a dollar of which would go to the creators. I think Avalon Hill were on our side, they stressed how they were working to make sure as much as possible of those things would come to store shelves as regular products. The choice to make the sets with fancy transparent plastic and bonus dice was a nice touch and I think for the most part was received positively. I hope that continues and this Mythic oversale was not a sign that things are moving backwards.
I trust Avalon Hill, but sadly I don't always trust their parent company due to events of the past year (and I hope Hasbro can rebuild that trust in mine and the minds of other customers). HeroQuest should be for all the fans, not just premium members. It shouldn't just be available at one website. We were told the company doesn't lose money when we buy new from other online retailers. From its birth in 1989, HeroQuest was a game intended for the masses, the people, not just superfans or hardcores. It's not an elite collectible, it's a family game... not just a bit of nostalgia for 40 and 50 year olds. Avalon Hill are acting as ambassadors, showing that despite past mistakes, there are aspects of the Hasbro company that are still working with and for the fans, not just looking for quick cash-ins and ignoring customer service.
So I hope and pray that Avalon Hill is allowed to continue on the trajectory they've had prior to the layoffs. I hope they are given that same freedom, and maybe an increase in funding or staff needed to make those dreams a reality. They have sought to respectfully enhance and add to the legacy of a great game created by Stephen Baker and the team at Milton Bradley and GamesWorkShop all those decades ago (by the way, Stephen Baker did a great job on those youtube commercials for HeroQuest, I hope we see more of those! his involvement in the project has just been fantastic). Avalon Hill seems to get their audience. They are many of them fans themselves! I hope you honor and respect what they have accomplished and continue to give them access to the community (and let us have access to them) so that this relationship can continue to grow in positive directions.
Major kudos to them, and please, let the magic continue!
PS: Would GamesWorkShop be up for doing a collaboration in the future? How awesome would it be to see the return of things like BattleMasters and Space Crusade/StarQuest? Thanks to them for working with you to get HeroQuest re-released, maybe there's more things in store?
Sincerely,
Kurgan of HeroQuestFans
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