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Dane_McArdy wrote:

I wouldn't be surprised if it's going to take a good 8-12 months.

I hope not. 12 months would be a full 2 years after the release of 4E.

If it takes that long, maybe they should have pooled there resources and spent the next 6 months getting out one of the other applications that are at least 1/2 way done.

We shall see I suppose. At this point in time, they are in control of their own destiny.

WotC_Trevor wrote:

So last week we announced that we were working on a set of Campaign Tools with the intention of helping players manage and run their ongoing games and campaigns. These tools will focus on encounters, monsters, mapping and adventures.

Previously, we focused all of our energies and effort into making the Character Builder the best tool it could be. We're going to continue that focused effort as we move forward - we're just shifting our attention to the Campaign Tools. This means that we're not actively working on any other unreleased tools, which includes the game table and the character visualizer. Once we have the Campaign Tools out and we're as happy with them as we are with the Character Builder, we'll have a better idea of what our next step is.

As far as more details about the Campaign Tools, I don't have any more information for you now, but we should have some details for you soon.

I'm pleased that you are working on the campaign tools first. And i've actually subscribed to DDI because the bonus tools are available(encounter builder & monster builder )

And to give you some feedback to help develop campaign tools here's a few thoughts.
Encounter builder is almost excellent as it is. If you added a monster stat block/card and a map to the print out. You would have pretty much the same format as the adventures published in dungeon magazine. As it is now I print out the encounter, they go print out the monster entries from the compendium. But being able to put them all together would be excellent tool. Especially as it would be in the same format as published adventures.

Monster builder is good. I would of liked to traps/hazards in there as well. And also the ability to increase/decrease a current monsters level. For instance yesterday I wanted to use a Medusa but they are 11th level, and 8th or 9th level would of been more appropriate level. Be able to load it into the builder and reduce it by 2 or 3 levels would of been great

As for those that are disappointed by the VTT delay, I can understand, but I don't recall ever being PROMISED anything? I saw some plans and some promotion of the plans, but plans change. Stuff happens. Its okay. I'm only paying for what I've got access to.

Well you could try opening to the last page of your 4th Edition Players Handbook.

Right there at the bottom of the page. "Play D&D online".

Personally I think WoTC made a bad call. The campaign manager is too broad and ill-defined. It's the perfect program to eat up all their time but never actually come out.

And the chances of seeing the VTT before 5th Edition are... pretty slim now. Which is a shame. Because it would allow people to play D&D no matter what else they had going on in their lives. Thus encouraging book sales. The kind of people the Campaign Manager helps would buy those books anyway.

And I'm in the camp that thinks the poll was specifically created to get this result. They decided what they wanted and then created a poll that would give them an excuse.

I JUST answered one of their polls. It asked: "Do you play D&D online currently". It did NOT ask: "Do you want us to provide you with a way to play D&D online". A different poll I believe but still formated to reinforce this decision.

All these tools without a VTT is like a dating service without a chat interface. You have all these tools but no way to actually make use of them or be part of a community.

mudbunny wrote:

When the books were originally assembled and sent off to the printers, it was with the expectation (of a company that were novices in software development of this sort) that the software would be ready upon release of 4E.

Well, an ooops later, they weren't, and since then they have switched the business model that they are using to one that works better for them. They are focussing on one project at a time u8ntil it gets to a point where it is in mostly maintanence-mode.

So why did they tell us we had to hand out the flyers for DDi that also said you could log on and play with freinds online, at the opening Demo Games?

The answer seems to be because WotC felt admitting openly, not hidden in some post buried in a board, it would hurt sales.

So they just ignored the fact and went on.

Spin it how you will, but the flyers really give the books were alredy ready before they knew. Someone in marketing knew, and I bet they even got a raise.

Lee

As a non-DDi subscriber for various reasons, I don't really have a dog in this race. But I've seen the 'books were shipped out months in advance' argument a few times, and if I was one of the angry customers it wouldn't fly with me. Here's why:

Say, for the sake of argument, that the books were sent to the printers with the ads 6 months in advance, which I suspect is probably generous towards WotC. That means that 6 months out WotC though the VTT would be at least open beta-ready within half a year.

OK, so things happen and products get delayed. I get that. But at release they must have still thought the VTT would be out soon. Otherwise a forthright and honest company would let it's fans know, "Hey, you know all that hype we've been generating and stuff we've been advertising? Yeah, it's still going to be awhile before chunks of that are realized."

So they either A) honestly believed the VTT and other missing tools would be out within a reasonable time-frame, or B) they knew there would be a greater delay, but knew it would hurt sales to acknowledge it so allowed fans to continue to believe these tools were around the corner.

If A, well it's been a further year since then and we now find out that the VTT has been shelved indefinitely while they pursue other projects, which makes it hard to believe they thought it was close to being finished 18 months ago but still giving them the benefit of the doubt makes DDi - the VTT portion at least - a horribly mismanaged project to the point where it hardly matters if it was intentional.

If B, then no they haven't behaved honestly, and people's scorn is rightly placed.

Long story short, books going to print months in advance of launch isn't much of an excuse and is pretty flimsy cover for not having an advertised VTT a year later.