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3 years ago ::
Nov 05, 2010 - 5:22AM
#41
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Date Joined:
Nov 17, 2008
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@djordi: I won't comment on your "20 character limit" and "no exporting" comments, because WotC has addressed these issues, and I'll just presume you haven't read about that yet.
Can you point me to this info please, the part abut the 20 chr answer from WotC, I have not seen it and frankly, not sure I want to scoure 100000000000000 posts to find it, thanks in advance!
community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...
There you go, just scroll to Trevors post.
D&D Outsider since Nov 18th 2010, if you wonder about the little red dragon, this one is dedicated to the great VT community.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 05, 2010 - 5:22AM
#42
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Date Joined:
Sep 22, 2006
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Pros:
-can download character onto any computer from the cloud; can't leave it at home
-more convienent to do micro updates; faster updates and better feedback
-will eventually support virtual tabletop
Cons:
-have to pay subscription every month now or lose content and characters
-doesn't work if you don't have internet connection, or if WotC servers are too busy
-dark sun + essentials were 2.5 months late because of development of this
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3 years ago ::
Nov 05, 2010 - 5:23AM
#43
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Date Joined:
Dec 11, 2006
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@djordi: I won't comment on your "20 character limit" and "no exporting" comments, because WotC has addressed these issues, and I'll just presume you haven't read about that yet.
Can you point me to this info please, the part abut the 20 chr answer from WotC, I have not seen it and frankly, not sure I want to scoure 100000000000000 posts to find it, thanks in advance!
community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...
There you go, just scroll to Trevors post.
Thank you!
Browncoats Unite...
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3 years ago ::
Nov 05, 2010 - 5:40AM
#44
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Date Joined:
Oct 20, 2003
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Reducing piracy is probably the top reason with the move to web-based. Wizard as shown in the past that it protects vehemently it's brand and will not tolerate any form of piracy. The decision to move to web-based was probably made a long time ago, they just were waiting for the right time (release of the essentials line).
Too many people subscribes for one month only. And even then, only one person in the group will pay for that month, and then send their password to everyone in the group. If you were CEO of a company, would that fact be troublesome to you ? Especially if you take into account that the CB costs a lot of money to operate and update.
We would all like addtionnal tools, but i'm pretty sure Wizards needs to prove that the CB is making more money that it's costing before adding any tools. One-month subscriber gimic (or pirating) is not helping Wizard do that at all. They probably took the decision to find a solution to pirating before adding any new tools.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 05, 2010 - 5:50AM
#45
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No, what I'm saying is that I got a laptop, I take it with me fairly frequently and still I know that after the CB goes Web 2.0 I will have access to character creation infinitely more often then I did before.
And anyone can see that.
I won't have any more access than I did before.
With the old CB, I could use the CB on my home PCs, and on the PCs of those who also have the CB.
With the web-based tool... I can still only use it on my home PCs, and the PCs of those who also use the CB. I still can't use it on any computers at work or anywhere else I go, because none of those computers will have the Silverlight extension installed. When using any other computer, I'm not a colossal enough **** to just go ahead and install software, and for the most part it would not be possible to do so anyway.
See, some people are overlooking that the web-based CB does require a local software install. It's a software install that may already be there, but which probably won't be.
Anyway, I sent an e-mail to dndinsider@wizards.com about this column. I'll share it here, too:
Spoiler:
Show
I just finished reading Bill’s Ampersand column for this month, and there are some quotations in the article that I take issue with.
“We are moving to a web-based solution to make the tools accessible to multiple platforms. The web-based solution makes it easier for us to react to new technology opportunities, such as tablets and mobile devices.”
“It’s ultimately portable. I can use it on any computer or computer-like device, wherever I am.”
Your multi-platform strategy completely fails to meet your stated goals, and is misleading to potential customers. By reading this, I would infer that the new web-based CB (wCB) is meant to support tablets and mobile devices, which is simply not the case. A customer could be misled by this into subscribing under the assumption that the tool will work with his mobile device, only to find out that it most certainly will not.
By building the tool with Silverlight, you’ve limited your supported platforms to Windows PCs and Macs. A few OS’s without Silverlight support include: Apple iOS (so no support for iPhone or iPad); any versions of Linux, including Android (so no support for Linux PCs, no Android-based smartphones or slates, and many netbooks); and Blackberry OS. Furthermore, it can be used only on computers that have Silverlight installed, which you certainly can do on any PC that you own – but any other PC, wherever you go, is unlikely to have Silverlight installed.
That is what you call ultimate portability? Please tell me, exactly, just what “tablets and mobile devices” or “computer-like devices” you think you’re supporting with this? I don’t think there’s a single mobile device that can run this, aside from laptops and the rarely seen Windows phone.
Another quote that bothers me is this: “We also wanted to move to a solution that promotes individual account ownership and hinders piracy.”
That plan backfired on you. At launch, the wCB will have no ability to share or export characters. What does this mean for the group I DM? It means that everyone in the group, including those that have their own DDI accounts, are now required to use my DDI account to make their characters. Unless we’re all using the same account, then I can’t access their characters. Until the wCB gets an export or sharing capability, those players that currently have their own DDI account and e-mail me their character files will no longer be able to use their DDI accounts to make characters.
As much as I applaud the initiative to take the CB back to the drawing board and rebuild it from the ground up (as a poorly architected and inadequately extensible design, it needed it), your implementation leaves much to be desired. The development of this tool has led to delayed and missed updates for months, and Dark Sun content is arriving more than two months over-due. What did those months of failed service buy for us, the subscribers? All we get is a tool that supplants one we already have, while offering only a subset of the functionality previously available. For anyone who is not a Mac user, I find it hard to see the up side in any of this.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 05, 2010 - 5:56AM
#46
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Date Joined:
Jan 25, 2009
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Wait... did he say in the article that the tool was usable on any "computer-like device" (his first point)? Aparently computers running linux, iphone/itouch, and android systems are not computer-like enough for him.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 05, 2010 - 6:17AM
#47
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Date Joined:
Jun 11, 2008
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No, what I'm saying is that I got a laptop, I take it with me fairly frequently and still I know that after the CB goes Web 2.0 I will have access to character creation infinitely more often then I did before.
And anyone can see that.
I won't have any more access than I did before.
With the old CB, I could use the CB on my home PCs, and on the PCs of those who also have the CB.
With the web-based tool... I can still only use it on my home PCs, and the PCs of those who also use the CB. I still can't use it on any computers at work or anywhere else I go, because none of those computers will have the Silverlight extension installed. When using any other computer, I'm not a colossal enough **** to just go ahead and install software, and for the most part it would not be possible to do so anyway.
As you wouldn't have your character sheets on their computer, it would be pointless. Unless you are saying that emailing your .dnd4e files and hoping the CB doesn't mess them up when loading (hint: it will) is a "more portable" solution.
WotC's point on portability is completely right. It's impossible to make a sensible argument against it. With the new system, you can do whatever you did in the past and more, except in those situations where no net is available (which border on the next to nothing side of things).
The counter arguments we have tend to point at people playing in places with no Internet; honestly I find that puzzling. I play at my place, at my players' places, at my LGS, at my local game club and often in the conference room of my company. Every single place is wi fi connected, and I live in Italy, which is a dinosaur in terms of e-infrastructures.
More importantly, I'm sort of puzzled by the idea of people playing in places without internet but still having a printer and power available for all the other CB connected operations, with explanations that seem to border on the "I need the CB while LARPing in the woods!" side of things. The core issue here is that before discussing how often such a situation would arise, one could begin questioning how essential is the availability of the CB at the gaming table to begin with. How did people survive past editions and playing every single other RPG on the planet?
That's what baffles me. It sounds like WotC is cutting the life support out of your games. If that's the case, the best advice would be considering if you've not begun to depend too much on the CB; but certainly given the amount of drama people is lifting over something that will be an issue for a tiny fraction of the gaming population in a tiny fraction of the possible gaming situations sounds suspicious. That's the point: the uproar is hard to justify in the light of the "diminished portability" because that is hardly a credible issue at all. So the next logic step is thinking that the uproar is actually over having to actually pay for the service.
Interested in reading about a Dark Sun 4e game? Here's the blog of our current campaign. My homebrew Dark Sun material: - the Lord of Blades, a melee oriented Kaisharga/Dead Lord
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3 years ago ::
Nov 05, 2010 - 6:21AM
#48
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If it's an online tool, and you go to someone else's computer the only thing you need to do is install silverlight, so simply ask.
Once they say ok, you access your account. Simple.
Same with the old way, if they didn't have the CB downloaded, you would have to do that first. Then wait for the updates, then load your character.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 05, 2010 - 6:24AM
#49
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yall are only looking at part of what he said. he also said this will help them to combat piracy, and update the thing faster.
Well, I do agree that those are positive things and have nuthin' in particular to add to that, so I decided not to write anything about it.
With all the ranting and raving of the board this week I dont see how lack of internet connection is a problem for players.
Please, pay attention to what people actually write. Kind fellow forum user.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 05, 2010 - 6:27AM
#50
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If it's an online tool, and you go to someone else's computer the only thing you need to do is install silverlight, so simply ask.
Once they say ok, you access your account. Simple.
Same with the old way, if they didn't have the CB downloaded, you would have to do that first. Then wait for the updates, then load your character.
Once they say ok, you install the character builder, then access your account. Simple.
(As Paolo has said before, Silverlight needs to download the 13MB character builder executable and install it before it can launch.)
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Your subscription will continue to be active until the expiration date listed below.
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