1 (exports), 2 (sharing), 3 (original sheet), 6(summary), 7 (editable), 8 (viewer), have alot of overlap in goals. They should not necessarily considered separate things.
I suggest, export to a .dd4e(?) file, and have offline viewer with editable character sheets (for both layout, and at-table use).
F-111 Interdictor Long (200+ squares) distance ally teleporter. With some warlord stuff. Broken in a plot way, not a power way. Thought Switch Higher level build that grants upto 14 attacks on turn 1. If your allies play along, it's broken. Elven Critters Crit op with crit generation. 5 of these will end anything. Broken. King Fisher Does an excellent job at keeping an enemy disabled in a few ways. Strong. Boominator Fun catch-22 booming blade build with either strong or completely broken damage depending on your reading. Very Distracting Warlock Lot's of dazing and major penalties to hit. Overpowered. Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square. Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong. Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked. Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic. Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation. Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses. Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. Sir Robin (Bravely Charge Away) He automatically slows and pushes an enemy (5 squares), while charging away. Hard to rate it's power level, since it's terrain dependent. Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof. Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it. Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways. Battlemind Mc Prone-Daze Protecting your allies by keeping enemies away. Quite powerful. The Retaliator Getting hit deals more damage to the enemy then you receive yourself, and you can take plenty of hits. Heavy item dependency, Broken. Dead Kobold Transit Teleports 98 squares a turn, and can bring someone along for the ride. Not fully built, so i can't judge the power Psilent Guardian Protect your allies, while being invisible. Overpowered, possibly broken Unnamed Avenger|Runepriest/Hammer of Vengance Do lot's of damage while boosting your teams. Strong to slightly overpowered. Charedent BarrageA charging ardent. Fine in a normal team, overpowered if there are 2 together, and easily broken in teams of 5. Super Knight A tough, sticky, high damage knight. Strong. Super Duper Knight Basically the same as super knight, only far more broken. Mora, the unkillable avenger Solid damage, while being neigh indestuctable. Overpowered, but not broken. Swordburst Maximus At-Will Close Burst 3 that slide and prones. Protects allies with off actions. Strong, possibly over powered with the right party.
Forum integration would be very cool (though i wouldn't consider it a high prioity).
Like.. If there was a little drop down box that had all my characters, and i could just click, and it would paste a summary, or i could PM someone my build, or i could list what i'm currently playing or have open access to char-op builds, ect..
F-111 Interdictor Long (200+ squares) distance ally teleporter. With some warlord stuff. Broken in a plot way, not a power way. Thought Switch Higher level build that grants upto 14 attacks on turn 1. If your allies play along, it's broken. Elven Critters Crit op with crit generation. 5 of these will end anything. Broken. King Fisher Does an excellent job at keeping an enemy disabled in a few ways. Strong. Boominator Fun catch-22 booming blade build with either strong or completely broken damage depending on your reading. Very Distracting Warlock Lot's of dazing and major penalties to hit. Overpowered. Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square. Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong. Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked. Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic. Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation. Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses. Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. Sir Robin (Bravely Charge Away) He automatically slows and pushes an enemy (5 squares), while charging away. Hard to rate it's power level, since it's terrain dependent. Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof. Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it. Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways. Battlemind Mc Prone-Daze Protecting your allies by keeping enemies away. Quite powerful. The Retaliator Getting hit deals more damage to the enemy then you receive yourself, and you can take plenty of hits. Heavy item dependency, Broken. Dead Kobold Transit Teleports 98 squares a turn, and can bring someone along for the ride. Not fully built, so i can't judge the power Psilent Guardian Protect your allies, while being invisible. Overpowered, possibly broken Unnamed Avenger|Runepriest/Hammer of Vengance Do lot's of damage while boosting your teams. Strong to slightly overpowered. Charedent BarrageA charging ardent. Fine in a normal team, overpowered if there are 2 together, and easily broken in teams of 5. Super Knight A tough, sticky, high damage knight. Strong. Super Duper Knight Basically the same as super knight, only far more broken. Mora, the unkillable avenger Solid damage, while being neigh indestuctable. Overpowered, but not broken. Swordburst Maximus At-Will Close Burst 3 that slide and prones. Protects allies with off actions. Strong, possibly over powered with the right party.
8) Offline Viewer The Character Sheet Viewer in the classic builder allowed users to check/uncheck boxes to track power use, and had other "interactive" features that made it a great way to track your character at the table on small computing devices (netbooks, iPads, etc). The new Character Builder's online-only feature will remove this option for many gamers who don't have wi-fi at their gaming table (be it in an FLGS, or in a basement where reception is poor, etc).
Users would appreciate an option to have a small Character Sheet Viewer for offline use that would simply read and interact with a created Character Sheet - without allowing any (permanent) edits to things like character stats/powers/equipment.
This way they can still take full advantage of the Builder at their gaming table.
Not sure if this falls in the not to be discussed options here, but depending on how the online CB is implemented, it might not be that much of a stretch to allow two things:
1. A version that can be run outside of the browser. Silverlight 4 allows for that option without too much development effort. 2. A version that allows for you not to be logged into your account/online in order to use it. Web based apps, especially if you're using Silverlight, can be made with a briefcase like architecture, i.e. you pull your information from online to cache it locally, and if the connection drops, or is not available, it saves it locally, so that when your connection is renewed, you are able to save it online.
I think a briefcase edition of the character builder would content a lot of the subscribers who have have expressed issues with the new model.
PS It's amazing. I'm at a convention right now (CarnageCon in Vermont - started 20 minutes ago) and the first thing everybody did was start pulling out their character builder.
Not sure if this falls in the not to be discussed options here, but depending on how the online CB is implemented, it might not be that much of a stretch to allow two things:
1. A version that can be run outside of the browser. Silverlight 4 allows for that option without too much development effort. 2. A version that allows for you not to be logged into your account/online in order to use it. Web based apps, especially if you're using Silverlight, can be made with a briefcase like architecture, i.e. you pull your information from online to cache it locally, and if the connection drops, or is not available, it saves it locally, so that when your connection is renewed, you are able to save it online.
To point #1 - PaoloM has made it pretty clear that while the application could, indeed, be made to run offline - you'd still need an active internet connection to get to the data - which will reside online, making it a rather moot point (unless/until you consider offline browsing capabilities for already-generated characters).
Much the same for #2 - it seems pretty evident that the database will only reside on WotC servers from here out.
WolfStar76 Community Advocate (SVCL) for D&D Organized Play, Avalon Hill, and the DCI/WPN LFR Community Manager DDi Guide
Not sure if this falls in the not to be discussed options here, but depending on how the online CB is implemented, it might not be that much of a stretch to allow two things:
1. A version that can be run outside of the browser. Silverlight 4 allows for that option without too much development effort. 2. A version that allows for you not to be logged into your account/online in order to use it. Web based apps, especially if you're using Silverlight, can be made with a briefcase like architecture, i.e. you pull your information from online to cache it locally, and if the connection drops, or is not available, it saves it locally, so that when your connection is renewed, you are able to save it online.
To point #1 - PaoloM has made it pretty clear that while the application could, indeed, be made to run offline - you'd still need an active internet connection to get to the data - which will reside online, making it a rather moot point (unless/until you consider offline browsing capabilities for already-generated characters).
Much the same for #2 - it seems pretty evident that the database will only reside on WotC servers from here out.
Even if it requires connectivity, a version of the app that can run outside the browser still has merit. Sometimes it's just nicer to have an app running "standalone" rather than inside a web browser.
Not a big deal to me, but it could have merit to some.
1. A version that can be run outside of the browser. Silverlight 4 allows for that option without too much development effort. 2. A version that allows for you not to be logged into your account/online in order to use it. Web based apps, especially if you're using Silverlight, can be made with a briefcase like architecture, i.e. you pull your information from online to cache it locally, and if the connection drops, or is not available, it saves it locally, so that when your connection is renewed, you are able to save it online.
To point #1 - PaoloM has made it pretty clear that while the application could, indeed, be made to run offline - you'd still need an active internet connection to get to the data - which will reside online, making it a rather moot point (unless/until you consider offline browsing capabilities for already-generated characters).
Much the same for #2 - it seems pretty evident that the database will only reside on WotC servers from here out.
Well, I'm hoping that's a here and now stance, and that it might change in the future, which is why I bring it up. Unless it's securing the content that's the big reason for the change, if enough people want it (and prioritize it), I hope it's a possibility for the future. After all, you can't export now either... but it is coming, and is now a bigger priority because people asked. Maybe this could do the same thing...
Even if it requires connectivity, a version of the app that can run outside the browser still has merit. Sometimes it's just nicer to have an app running "standalone" rather than inside a web browser.
One big thing... the browser itself has some overhead, and it's own instabilities outside of the CB, so having just the CB would be a nice thing.
Unless it's securing the content that's the big reason for the change...
I think it is, and I say that as a supporter. It just makes sense from a business standpoint.
On a more serious note, I would LOVE to see a fully featured API. Love love love love love. ... love.
If it works well enough I could build an iPad front-end for it.
So... where is the situation to point to that the content has been pilfered from the downloaded content? I don't think that's necessarily the issue. After all, no one can seriously believe that it takes as long as the update does to download the new content. It's because of the encryption.
1 (exports), 2 (sharing), 3 (original sheet), 6(summary), 7 (editable), 8 (viewer), have alot of overlap in goals. They should not necessarily considered separate things.
I suggest, export to a .dd4e(?) file, and have offline viewer with editable character sheets (for both layout, and at-table use).
I was thinking the same, with regards to the 'old style' character sheets, editable sheets, and offline viewer specifically as well.
If an offline viewer (that could perform no character-data manipulation of any kind) could read the export file, provide any number of character sheet layout options (like CB does pretty well today), and allow saving of the tweaks you make (so every time you want to print, it's still there) - I would be far less bothered by the need to be online in order to level up.
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