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3 years ago ::
Nov 04, 2010 - 5:03PM
#1
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I have a lot of characters at any given time – How many characters can I save to the web-based Character Builder?
Currently, the limit for saved characters is set to 20. This is something we may increase in the future.
We only get 20 characters? We can't even have one character of each class? (Completely ignoring essentials there are 26 classes currently available) Combine that with the lack of any ability to save a character to local storage and I really have to wonder what exactly is going on in the heads of the people at WotC...
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3 years ago ::
Nov 04, 2010 - 5:09PM
#2
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Hey, at least now you don't have to carry them around on your usb stick? They think that the digital service they are providing is on the level of say WoW, you know with their great 3d visualisation tools?
Just another example of how they expect their customers to pay the same amount of money for a service that is severely diminished .
But yeah, even I was shocked at that statement.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 04, 2010 - 5:10PM
#3
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20? Wow. Currently I have 100s. Some just concepts, some for campaigns I play in, or ran or run. Another limitation that is unacceptable.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 04, 2010 - 5:15PM
#4
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I have 106, myself, and I mostly DM.
It's gonna be a tight squeeze.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 04, 2010 - 5:16PM
#5
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Yeah, 20 is an awfully low number.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 04, 2010 - 5:17PM
#6
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Yeah, 20 is an awfully low number.
I'm guessing they had no way to anticipate their server space needs, and picked it out of a hat. Now, I don't use those 106 all, of course - in fact, less than 20 are played - but I do it to experiment, to simply have fun, and to familiarize myself with player character options. Heck, my "hordes of wary, heavily armed sociopaths" was used as a testimonial for the product.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 04, 2010 - 5:20PM
#7
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Date Joined:
May 16, 2006
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This is a simple math issue from an infrastructure point of view.
I just nosed at one of my campaign folders with my players characters in... The 15th level wizard (for example) has a file size of about 350kb.
20 Characters comes in at about 7MB.
About 40,000 subscribers, comes in at about 267GB.
Remember that enterprise storage isn't quite as cheap as home storage space. Remember that it will likely be being stored in multiple mirroring and load balancing machines across multiple clusters.
Remember that they have to have backup solutions that can cope with the quantity of data involved as well.
Remember that they will want to allow for storage for other upcoming tools as well, so some of the available storage space has to be allocated for future growth.
Finally, they've no idea how many people will store 1 character or 3 dozen. So if they set a limit of 100 and everybody suddenly uploads 100 characters, they will be running at high capacity right away.
I believe the 'initially' in the statement absolutely. Its something that will change over time, based on demand, usage and their experience with the service.
So while 20 might seem small, in the broader picture of offering a new service, I can understand where they're coming from.
Additionally, once they offer external storage (or expot/import or however they do it) this issue goes away.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 04, 2010 - 5:22PM
#8
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Oh, absolutely. 20 sounds low, but I also thought about it in the same terms. It will be like 2012: who makes it on to the Ark? Who lives? Who dies?
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3 years ago ::
Nov 04, 2010 - 5:25PM
#9
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I assume the number 20 was picked rather arbitrarily.
As a DM, I need copies of the characters for all of my players. I also frequently like to create important NPCs using the CB first, before I NPC-ify them.
Like you, I also have lots of characters that I put together to explore concepts and optimization. I find it fun to build characters like this, and even to build entire hypothetical adventuring parties.
20 slots just doesn't cut it, and I hope that WotC wises up and raises that number before Nov 16.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 04, 2010 - 5:27PM
#10
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Date Joined:
Nov 23, 2003
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276GB. They could host that on S3 for $40/month. Or one tenth of one cent per subscriber, not including bandwidth.
Excuse me, I've got to go look behind my couch for some loose change, so they can buy a real harddrive. I've currently got 70 characters in the directory structure for the old builder. 20's just silly.
Edit: To clarify, that's S3's 99.999999999% reliable solution, not anything as unreliable as normal enterprise RAID5. 0.14/Gig/Month. The reduced reliability solution, only 99.99% reliable, is 9.3 cents/Gig/month. And there are bulk discounts from there.
"Nice assumptions. Completely wrong assumptions, but by jove if being incorrect stopped people from making idiotic statements, we wouldn't have modern internet subculture." Kerrus
Practical gameplay runs by neither RAW or RAI, but rather "A Compromise Between The Gist Of The Rule As I Recall Getting The Impression Of It That One Time I Read It And What Jerry Says He Remembers, Whatever, We'll Look It Up Later If Any Of Us Still Give A Damn." Erachima
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