Obligatory I love Meeroos starter. (I really do love them!)

Ok Here we go, my first batch of beta Meeroos functioned very well! I had to rebuild a little guy here and there but that is to be expected when dealing with SL. The second batch is a different story completely.

Late last night I received my new Beta Trunk with freshly updated Meeroos. I opened the trunk and rezzed the stump and food while chair dancing to the fanciful "Meeroo Tunes". I then went about rezzing my 6 Meeroo nests. They all plopped down right in front of my trunk just as expected. However, I did notice a few that had "Placeholder" as the origin instead of USA or Scottish highlands, and these Placeholder Meeroos also show the coat as being "Beta Meeroo Coat". This was slightly confusing but I thought OK maybe they are simulating what it will be like if several different coats and Meeroo types are available.

Next I went about "birthing" my new nests and this is when all hell broke loose!! LOL I received many error messages, mostly related to not being able to access database information. I have one nest that looked like it was birthed but then it reverted back and no Meeroo appeared, this nest now has hover text above it but does not appear to be functional anymore (i.e.: can't re-birth) I also have another nest that the Meeroo appeared then poofed in a matter of seconds. And the four remaining nests did appear to birth Meeroos but they have various "Birth Defects". Three of them are either all blue or partially blue and all four seem to be frozen in mid animation - though some of them scoot about without the actual Meeroo movement.

About this time I realized that my shiny new HUD had robbed me of my regard and kicked me out of my fellowship, the fellowship I created!

(this is were I crashed for the evening - insert elevator music until I return)

OK back! So upon returning I tried to Rebuild my "slightly off" Meeroos and every time I received an ERROR message in all caps telling me that the Meeroo information could not be obtained. Now, I am sure you were all chatting away in the Meeroo group chat about these exciting events, however, the damn group chat crashes on me EVERY time I open it so this was of no help to me. I would have loved a few group notices, details of what was happening posted on the website, or even a mass email. Instead I was basically in the dark and unsure who or what venue to use to obtain information or help. I did contact Toxic and explained a few of my problems but I am sure she was being hammered from all directions with similar questions. Unfortunately, I had to run off to bed before her response, and I will try removing and reattaching my HUD and attempt to rebuild my poor Meeroos as soon as I get home :-).

This is getting rather long and I really hope you all stick with me to the end. I always gain useful info just listening and watching how a customer interacts with my creations so I hope my play-by-play helps a little.

Here are a few thoughts that I have had since the start of the Beta experience. (in random order)

1. I would really love to see your website updated to be more user friendly, less of a blog or forum template and more of a Customer Service and educationally oriented website. I'd like it to serve both as advertising for your wonderful product as well as the place everyone goes to learn more about Meeroo, and when needed a place to go for customer service and support.

2. Communication, please DO NOT rely on the SL in world groups as your main form of communication! SL groups are unstable and unreliable, many people like myself cannot even get the group chat to open most any day. I think your CSR's are doing a wonderful job but it might make everything a bit easier for CSR and customer if you had a dedicated customer support area of your website where we can submit a ticket and look to for a response or communications regarding critical issues. The forums are a fairly horrible way to try to maintain customer service; it's hard to know what area to post to or where to find information that may be helpful in a specific situation.

3. Be Proactive when something goes wrong! (OK I know this is Beta but just wanted to mention this) It would be HUGELY helpful to get a message as soon as an issue is identified, and again PLEASE DO NOT rely on the in world group chat to communicate this information. A group Notice at the very least or even direct communication chatted to us from the HUD, and a banner message of some kind on the website.

4. I would love the option to attach my Meeroo without having the default hold animation play. I created a cute hold animation of my own for photos or just toting my Meeroo about the grid with me and every time I attempt to use it the default "Meeroo Hold" animation with the hands in front of the avatar takes over. I have cool ideas about how I could carry my Meeroos around and would love to show them off.

OK, so those are the main things that keep coming to mind, I might post more later but I’m at work and should really be working!

Recap: Would love some help with my poor gimpy Meeroos, they really look sad scooting about all blue and frozen. Also, can anything be done about the lost regard and being booted from my own fellowship?

Thank you for creating a fun and adorable product; I hope some of these comments help.

- Liz Gealach