I would really like a simple thing on the Home Page that notifies players of Site Announcements like changes to the Player or New Features.  Nothing to comment on, just saying:

"2/24/2010: New Feature:  Attacking RiskyBack with any number of armies is an easy card"

This way people who don't follow the forums can be informed about stuff without having to weed through sophomoric humor and/or opinions about other stuff that is not related to the changes.

I think putting it on the home page with just the latest 3 things showing should work.  Not bug fixes (unless they are MAJOR), but things like the Dual Layers and the View Only Borders.  It could say "See Forums for further Info".

I stopped checking the forums for anything but site announcements so I personally would really like something like this but I don't think I'm the only one.

agree. much.

Here's an idea I've been thinking of suggesting/volunteering for/helping with or whatever and it's along these same lines.

Seems like there are probably a lot of people that join WG and even join a couple of games and then never return, whether that is because it's not intuitive enough (seen a comment in a game that the WG wasn't new user friendly so he was going back to Conquer Club), they just forget about it, or whatever the reason.  So here's my suggestion, new player's receive an email everyday for the first 7 days, that tells them of the basics of WG, how to play, and gradually goes a bit more in depth to the gameplay/community/board design aspects of WG.  This could help them understand a bit more, even though most of it would be Help pages (just that it's being sent to them instead of them having to go to it), and work as an additional reminder to take their turns.  At the end of the free Premium they receive another email about it expiring and just another reminder about WG.

That's the first part of my suggestion, the second suggestion would be monthly (maybe every other month?) "Newsletters" which have links to all the new Live maps and information on any of the big new enhancements and or community information.  Again this would help serve as a reminder of WG in addition to just having the New Feature information up front and summarized.

Of course these emails could be turned off (if they visit/login/disable :P), but would be defaulted on for everyone.

Anyhow, that's what I've been thinking, and like I said, wouldn't mind throwing something together for the first 7 days and also keeping track of "Newsletter" worthy info (could potentially  pull in someone else too, or it could be a thing just on the forums that we all put together).  So anyhow, tom, just let me know if this is doable or wanted.

Oh and I don't mind the Site Announcements thing on the Home Page (there's actually a News Help page that I took down that could serve as this, of course if people don't check the Change Log on the forums would they check the Help?)... that is as long as it doesn't end up having only 4 things on it dating back to 2 years ago (*cough*WF*cough*)

There did use to be a front page news thing but I hardly ever updated it so decided to drop it with a chart instead. I agree it may be a bit daunting to play when you first start on WG, there's certainly a high dropout rate.

I'm not sure about an email a day as that might go down as spam in my book but certainly a good introductory email would be a great idea that explains the site (e.g. how to join games etc) and then a first 'it's your turn' email which explains how to take your first turn.

Also monthly email shots sounds like a great idea too. So if you're up for these things Yertle (or anyone else who wants to help) that would be awesome.

Risky - for board designers like yourself I think it's important you keep up to date on the change log thread:

http://www.wargear.net/forum/showthread/13/Change_Log

It carries details of pretty much all the changes to the site and tends to be just me posting to it.

RisyBack: I stopped checking the forums for anything but site announcements

 I'm disappointed in you RB...