A Technical Look at D&D Insider Applications

[Charwoman Gene]

Why does Paizo give me a better deal than Wizards when Wizards is bigger, sells more, and controls a large portion of the market?

Umm, this question answers itself.

 

[amethal]

That's a pretty good set of aspirations.

I like the fact that quite a few of the applications are free. It allows me to adopt this whole internet thing at my own pace, moving on to subscription only if and when I feel ready.

However, I imagine it will be a bug riddled nightmare for the next couple of years. I suppose I'm a bit lacking in faith.

 

[Aloïsius]

hum.... Nothing new. I fear the virtual game table won't be able to manage 3d deplacement. So I won't use it because that won't be an improvement. Of course, If I was not able to meet my player IRL, I would reconsider this.

 

[DaveMage]

Eh. I have an honest question.

Why shouldn't WotC charge a "nominal fee" for such things?

Because if you subscribe to the D&D Insider, you are already paying a monthly fee. It'd be like paying for a news service, but having to pay more if you want to access certain feature articles.

I can *understand* it, but since I'm already paying, it would be nice not to be nickel-and-dimed for parts of the same whole.

 

[Aeolius]

Meh. Somebody wake me up when this thing runs native on my Mac, supports movement in three dimensions, and has support for non-core PC races.

 

[JoelF]

I'm still waiting to find out the subscription model and to see if you can subscribe to only parts of D&DI. I'd love the character generator, but could care less about the tabletop and I'm still not convinced about the new Dungeon and Dragon magazine - maybe I'll want one of them only or none.

 

[Meatpuppet]

Because the other D&D Insider applications are not DirectX driven, they should also be usable on Mac computers using the dual boot system.

I'm suprised.

Wouldn't everything D&D insider has to offer (including the game table) work on an intel Mac with dual boot?

When you install windows on your Mac using boot camp doesn't it install DirectX?

 

[(contact)]

Meh. Somebody wake me up when this thing runs native on my Mac, supports movement in three dimensions, and has support for non-core PC races.

All in all, I'm pleased to see that there were no dropped functions (coughetoolscough) and that the Dungeon Tiles application is looking good. I'll be looking forward to hearing how it runs. I wish I could use it -- I've got a number of pals from this site that I could be playing with online.

For me, I have no problem with paying a little extra for a digital version of a DnD book, provided I get a searchable .pdf that I can store locally. I would't pay for a database upgrade to an already sketchy online service.

 

[Maggan]

I'm suprised.

I'm not. I've stopped being surprised at how many non-Mac people can't keep the different options on the Mac apart.

I think he is talking about running Windows in Parallells or VMware, but thinking that is called "dual boot".

And even so, DirectX support is available for both those solutions, so basically if you have an Intel Mac, you have the option of running the DDI under Windows either as dual boot or as a virtual machine, without any loss of functionality.

/M

 

[Charwoman Gene]

you have the option of running the DDI under Windows either as dual boot or as a virtual machine, without any loss of functionality.

Well, except the cost is high. On the order of $300 between a legal virtualizable copy of windows and the cost for parallels.