DDI "Web Tools Suite" (rampant speculation)

[ExploderWizard]

Making subscription fees and online access mandatory to play your Pen and Paper game = fail.

It never has been mandatory. There are most likely a large number of players who never got DDI accounts and played with the published materials.

I did reach the point where I personally treated the CB and MB as mandatory. Then I realized I could just play simpler games without having to be hooked up to a pipeline of software and updates and have just as much fun.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I very much doubt it is just going to be CB online, that would be meh! what is the point from a consumer prespective. Now it may include CB online but to generate any buzz and some good will it should really add value and be something we all would want, like a VTT or a campaign manager. Though in either case given the compitetion from thrid parties a VTT or camapign manager should be likned into the module or at least the dungeon pipeline. That is for a single mouse click all you need to run a dungeon adveture should load in the relevant apps ready for your customisation.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Napster also has a web based application... it is a major improvement to beeing able to access it everywhere...

there suddenly is no real need to share accounts anymore... you can just log in on any computer you like and use those tools... done!

 

[Zaran]

PaoloM said that the new web based tools system will be a supplement. The quote is buried in one of the threads over at the WotC. So, that tells me that nothing is getting replaced. They really need to give us an article on DDI news.

If I had to guess, I would say that characters can be stored online as well as the Monster Builder will be turned into a web tool with an encounter builder built into it. This would do a couple things. It will make people keep their monthly subscriptions as they would be required to have one to use the storage of charaters and monsters. It would also give them the chance to remove the other circles in the Adventure tools without much uproar.

 

[Festivus]

I seem to recall that Character Vault was one of the "features" of the DDI initiative in the beginning. It's not something I would use unless they had an iphone app to access it.

The day DDI becomes mandatory to play is the day I stop paying for it (and I know I am not alone, and WoTC probably does too). That isn't going to happen.

It's funny that I came back to tabletop games because I grew weary of the monthly fees incurred with MMORPGs. Things come full circle, don't they.

 

[Scribble]

I'm hoping/guessing it'll be more then just a character vault.

It would be cool if the online tools are a sort of campaign planning system. Kind of like a cross between maptools and Obsidian Portal.

Link it to the CB, so that DMs can set the settings for a campaign, and when players "sign up" for a certain campaign it automatically sets everything the way the DM wants it set.

Kind of like importing a character with the settings does now, but the DM could make changes as the campaign progressed and no one else would have to change any settings.

DM would also always have a copy of the PCs in his/her campaign.

Link it to the MB, some sort of word processing feature, and a mapping tool (with the dungeon tiles) so DMs could build adventures.

Link it all to your campaign wiki on the D&D community page.

 

[TarionzCousin]

All I want from DDI is a kit that allows me to build a system wherein I can send mild (but slowly escalating) electric shocks to my players whenever they charge off the rails like this:

"On second thought, let's not look for the missing children. Let's go back to that nice old man's pawn shop and steal everything cool he had."

"Yeah, then torture him to find out where he's hidden his magic items!"

Is that too much to ask?

 

[ExploderWizard]

All I want from DDI is a kit that allows me to build a system wherein I can send mild (but slowly escalating) electric shocks to my players whenever they charge off the rails like this:

"On second thought, let's not look for the missing children. Let's go back to that nice old man's pawn shop and steal everything cool he had."

"Yeah, then torture him to find out where he's hidden his magic items!"

Is that too much to ask?

From the DDI yes. There is always the handy ENW Gamers seeking Gamers utility that you can use to find better players.

 

[bargle0]

• You can still get CB and AT updates every 6 months if you want, but you'll be out of date more often.

The CB and AT are going to be put down like Old Yeller. They're sufferin'. You know we've got to do it.

 

[CovertOps]

Well...everyone can now evaluate how well you predicted the future. The announcement that CB is dead will likely be followed by MB is also dead and CB will be online only from now on. This puts my prediction at half right. Online CB, but offline CB is no more. Some here did better than I did predicting the online only tools. Anyone who was closer to the truth care to pat themselves on the back?