4e / GSL Character Builder and Compendium Update Announcement April 28th

Mustrum_Ridcully · 24th April 2009, 11:19 AM

Didier Monier has announced the contents of the next update of the Compendium and Character Builder:
April 2009 Character Builder & Compendium News

Major think is what was to expected - the new material from DDI (last month) and Arcane Power, E1 and and the Minis will be added as material.

What is nice to know is that this material is also added to the Demo version of the builder.

A neat feature that seems to have been frequently asked for is the XML export and character summary. The XML Export will apparantly contain more information to be more useful for 3rd parties, and the character summary can be copy & pasted to forums and back into the application!
Sounds cool to me.

The compendium gets a glossary feature for summary information about rules.

wedgeski · 24th April 2009, 11:26 AM

Very good stuff. Improvements are coming at a good rate.

Now please, Wizards, sort out connecting through a proxy, *please*.

Mustrum_Ridcully · 24th April 2009, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wedgeski

Very good stuff. Improvements are coming at a good rate.

Now please, Wizards, sort out connecting through a proxy, *please*.

I am not sure what your particular issue is, but I know proxies can cause issues with various programs. This suggestions very simple and probably inadequate, but anyway:
Set the correct proxy information in your Internet Explorer.
I know that .NET by default uses proxy settings that are set for the "system" - which actually means Internet Explorer. Even if you never use the IE for regular browsing.

I don't know how well this works for password-protected proxies and similar stuff. BUt I know that this was something I stumbled over myself recently when I connected my work notebook via a T-Mobile Hotspot in a hotel and forgot to change my IE settings, and my freshly downloaded CB couldn't update.

Of course, if you have an issue with the site itself, I've got no idea.

wedgeski · 24th April 2009, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mustrum_Ridcully

Of course, if you have an issue with the site itself, I've got no idea.

The issue is that the CB installer doesn't seem to obey any proxy rules I have set anywhere on my machine.

I do use Firefox, but have ensured that the IE settings (and those accessed through Control Panel, i.e. the same ones) are also correct. It simply seems to be a bug, and one that doesn't appear to be getting much attention from the developers either.

beverson · 24th April 2009, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mustrum_Ridcully

What is nice to know is that this material is also added to the Demo version of the builder.

Just as a note, since WotC wasn't really clear, it states that the demo will include "all content up through Player’s Handbook 2." I get the impression from that statement that Arcane Power and the new minis stuff will NOT be in the demo...but that's just my interpretation.

Mustrum_Ridcully · 24th April 2009, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wedgeski

The issue is that the CB installer doesn't seem to obey any proxy rules I have set anywhere on my machine.

I do use Firefox, but have ensured that the IE settings (and those accessed through Control Panel, i.e. the same ones) are also correct. It simply seems to be a bug, and one that doesn't appear to be getting much attention from the developers either.

Hmm. The installer might be another matter. That of course is not .NET. I haven't figured out what they used for that.

Charwoman Gene · 24th April 2009, 03:43 PM

Glossary!
Yeseseseseses!

Verys Arkon · 24th April 2009, 04:49 PM

Adding a glossary to the Compendium will be excellent, and makes it even better as an 'at-the-table' tool. It is clear WotC is listening to user requests here.

I appreciate that WotC is still devoting resources to polishing the Character Builder, on top of adding all the new material released that month. I know some people are impatient for the other tools, but it bodes well for those future releases that quality is a high priority for the CB.

DDI continues to increase in value.

catsclaw227 · 24th April 2009, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mustrum_Ridcully

A neat feature that seems to have been frequently asked for is the XML export and character summary. The XML Export will apparantly contain more information to be more useful for 3rd parties, and the character summary can be copy & pasted to forums and back into the application!

This is going to be nice. I can write a parser to convert the XML into JSON properties used by Maptools and the 4e framework I end up choosing to use form the VTT game I am going to start running (sometime here in the next month or two).

Scribble · 24th April 2009, 06:09 PM

Scribble happy.

Now all they need to do is add a section in the compendium for:

Traps
Diseases
Poisons (or are they covered under alchemy/equipment?)
Terrain

I think that's all I need.

mudbunny · 24th April 2009, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scribble

Scribble happy.

Now all they need to do is add a section in the compendium for:

Traps
Diseases
Poisons (or are they covered under alchemy/equipment?)
Terrain

I think that's all I need.

I poke them about that fairly regularly in my weekly reports.

Echohawk · 24th April 2009, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scribble

Traps
Diseases
Poisons (or are they covered under alchemy/equipment?)
Terrain

I think that's all I need.

No. Hazards and Skill Challenges too, please

Nymrohd · 24th April 2009, 06:52 PM

Yeah it would be nice if we never actually needed a book in the table and could go by the Compendium only

Asmor · 25th April 2009, 06:49 AM

I'm really excited about the XML stuff.

Hawke · 25th April 2009, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asmor

I'm really excited about the XML stuff.

Yeah hopefully it is as fully featured as I'm hoping...

mshea · 25th April 2009, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asmor

I'm really excited about the XML stuff.

I'm really excited that you're excited! I can't wait to see some custom character sheets based off of the builder. It's the one big thing the builder is missing.

Asmor · 26th April 2009, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mshea

I'm really excited that you're excited! I can't wait to see some custom character sheets based off of the builder. It's the one big thing the builder is missing.

I'm specifically thinking of finally updating my power tracker so that you can just import the powers from the XML file.

The ability to create custom character sheets is nice, but what really excites me is the idea of using laptops as a replacement for character sheets. One click of a button and it makes the attack and damage rolls for you and expends the power...

Not sure how viable that will be, though. Even with full access to the rules database the character builder leaves a lot of things dependent on the player (e.g. it doesn't seem to calculate attack bonuses for the dragonborn racial power, and ditto for many conditional modifiers).

ppaladin123 · 26th April 2009, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mshea

I'm really excited that you're excited! I can't wait to see some custom character sheets based off of the builder. It's the one big thing the builder is missing.

::cough:: pdf character sheets ::cough::