New Site Layout Split #3

Message

anjuna · #31 Post by **anjuna** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 7:33 am

I don't get why so many people seem to have trouble finding their Items. I always clicked on my NP balance for this. What were y'all using before? :oops:

Unitylejean · #32 Post by **Unitylejean** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 11:22 am

You know, the more I keep thinking about it, the more I belive it actually *might* be an April's Joke thing. That, or people running the site (and I mean both Viacom than TNT) are clearly beyond help.

If you sum it all up:

1) They introduce a new layout out of the blue. Without as much as an *indication* that they're going to (let alone actually asking users' opinion)

2) Ugly or not, it clearly is rather buggy (sidebar floating in the middle of the screen, pet images showing up where they shouldn't, actual error messages etc.)

3) They introduce it right before the weekend, which means we're stuck with it for three days without any response to all the negative comments

4) As if the shock wasn't enough, they introduce obligatory customisation in the same time...

5) ... just a couple of days after the beta stage, which makes you question the purpose of beta. It doesn't look as if they wanted feedback from the users since they went ahead with it anyway, without practcally any changes.

6) They showed us the redraws. The majority of us said they hate them. They kept the redraws. Shiny, shiny logic.

7) This is probably my favourite one - launching customisation prior to introducing any wearable items. A stroke of genius. The best way to convince users that customisation will make up for the redraws.

Honestly, if you take it all into cosideration it looks like the *main purpose* of it all is to make people as mad as they can. Every single step is a disaster from the marketing point of view, and thay could have easly avoided some of them. Not introduce the new layout and customisation in the same time. Or not do it just before the weekend. Or make the gap between beta and actual launch a little longer, if only to make it *look* like they're mulling over our comments. Or release at least 10 wearable items *right now*.

It gives me the impression that people running the site have zero knowledge on marketing, PR and all that stuff. Which doesn't seem right, since TNT have been around for 7 years and should be able to predict users' responses, plus I rather suspect that Viacom knows that infuriating clients is not the best way to increase profit. Or at least they should.

If they are dead serious about all this then I don't forsee a great future ahead of them.

(Sorry for all eventual spelling/grammar misatkes, English is not my mother tongue plus I'm rather ticked off right now

)

#33 Post by **Daze** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 11:25 am

NT Editorial:

http://www.neopets.com/ntimes/index.pht ... &issue=289

It has some Q&A's about the customisation/site transformation.

A very select few!

Scythemantis · #34 Post by **Scythemantis** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 11:41 am

Honestly, if you take it all into cosideration it looks like the *main purpose* of it all is to make people as mad as they can.

No, when you really take it all in consideration, it's exactly the kind of progress they should have made several years ago and makes the game MUCH more appealing to new players and outsiders who always wondered "what the hell am I supposed to DO with four gif images of cartoon animals?" I've played for six years and wondered the same thing myself. The battledome is crap and so is almost everything else. Now, I can at least do something to make my pets a little unique.

TNT have been around for 7 years and should be able to predict users' responses, plus I rather suspect that Viacom knows that infuriating clients is not the best way to increase profit. Or at least they should.

I'm sure they are well aware that several thousand players will stop at nothing to complain violently about anything and everything they do until the end of time. That's several thousand, not several million. For every hardcore fankid complaining on a message board there are at least 500 players who don't take it seriously enough to do so.

If they are dead serious about all this then I don't forsee a great future ahead of them.

I see a bigger future than anything they could have hoped for before, and nobody is really going to quit. They'll all come crawling back to the site.

I wanted to quit when they changed the mutant chia as it was 100% my only reason for playing and I'd still give anything for them to bring it back in some form (even as a petpet or something) but ULTIMATELY, they released a couple other things I like just as much - the intesteen and mutant slorg. Neither is a neopet, but they maintained my interest in the site.

No matter how much you hate a redraw, almost every pet's basic concept was kept at least somewhat intact, and the new layout is NO more confusing than the old. The old was horrible. Plus, they're more distinguished from subeta now. I know it's a good game, too, but it so blatantly stole their layout.

twinklyspangle · #35 Post by **twinklyspangle** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 1:04 pm

Plus, I really hate how the editorial has been all like:

"Well the noeboards are no indication of users feelings, we have recieved lots of positive feedback BLAH BLAH BLAH"

Yes, of course you have. We believe you, really :cry:

Machiito · #36 Post by **Machiito** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 1:16 pm

twinklyspangle wrote:Plus, I really hate how the editorial has been all like:

"Well the noeboards are no indication of users feelings, we have recieved lots of positive feedback BLAH BLAH BLAH"

Yes, of course you have. We believe you, really

I really don't doubt that they have gotten positive feedback, I know some people like it.

But when I look around and see people on the Neoboards furious, or even here at PPT, it makes me wonder if they only have selective hearing now.

neobeth · #37 Post by **neobeth** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 1:17 pm

Quote from the editorial

If you don't like the changes, it's not something we're happy about, but we are trying our best to make the site fun and entertaining for everyone and that's all we can do.

Stick around for a bit, see if you like it, and if not,we'll be sad to see you go!

- The Neopets Team

Ginger Harp Seal Pup · Sat Apr 28, 2007 1:45 pm

There are a few things I've been mulling over in my head.

1. Because the original April Fools joke was lame that people who didn't play the Battledome probably wouldn't have even KNEW about, TNT have been 'clever' and have switched it around to the END of the month instead. From what I've read, it seems that TNT KNEW that not many people would like these changes and that it would cause mass uproar. Isn't that what an April Fools joke is supposed to do? Maybe they thought it was funny to do this at a different time of the month...it's still April after all, though.

2. Neopets couldn't cope from the masses of users as it was a strain to the server, so they decided to do these changes in order to throw out a lot of the members (they would either leave and never come back, ever, or self-freeze their accounts). Number 2 is very sadistic in my eyes and I doubt that TNT would DO this...but...TNT never surprises me...

Morningstar · #39 Post by **Morningstar** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 2:33 pm

neobeth wrote:Quote from the editorial

If you don't like the changes, it's not something we're happy about, but we are trying our best to make the site fun and entertaining for everyone and that's all we can do. Stick around for a bit, see if you like it, and if not, we'll be sad to see you go!

- The Neopets Team

Typical response, huh?

amarise · #40 Post by **amarise** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 3:04 pm

neobeth wrote:Quote from the editorial

If you don't like the changes, it's not something we're happy about, but we are trying our best to make the site fun and entertaining for everyone and that's all we can do. Stick around for a bit, see if you like it, and if not,we'll be sad to see you go!

- The Neopets Team

Gotta love how much Neo cares about its users. 'We know a lot of you hate it, and we know a lot of you have been playing for a long time, but if you leave that's okay, because you will be replaced by new people who will appreciate us!'

This is exactly why so many are upset about these changes. It's blatantly obvious that neo no longer cares what their users think, as long as they buy their merchandise.

Matrinka · #41 Post by **Matrinka** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 3:48 pm

I know this is an extreme comparison... but it reminds me of a classic line from Caddyshack: "You'll get nothing and YOU'LL LIKE IT!"

Pink · #42 Post by **Pink** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:01 pm

I think the new Lutari looks like Gumby

WolfMaiden · #43 Post by **WolfMaiden** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:07 pm

pinkflamingonewsgirl wrote:I think the new Lutari looks like Gumby

Ya know.....come to think of it...I'm quite glad my Xwee got zapped Lutari, and after seeing the new Lutari, I'm even glader she got zapped into a Chomby...

Anyway, onto my point...

This kinda weired me out, cause it wasn't long after that, he asked if it was nap time...

Pink · #44 Post by **Pink** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:24 pm

my neopet doesn't talk to me

Cranberry · #45 Post by **Cranberry** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:37 pm

Hm... you know how when you visit a userlookup, the topbar is half the normal size because the adspace is gone? In IE, my topbar is always like that, I think because I did some stylesheet-related thing a while back. It USED to be small in Firefox, too, but when the site changed, whatever I did got undone. I don't have any ads, but my topbar is huge, and I can adblock the image, but that still leaves a big blank space where it was. Does anyone know how I can get rid of that space in Firefox?

Edit: Nevermind, I just changed my usercontent.css file to:
div.ban,div#ban,div#bottomban {display: none !important;}

And that worked.