Online Character Builder is LIVE!

[Insight]

This is slightly off topic, but when did Humans lose their second language? Seems like a stupid nerf to me.

 

[Ryujin]

Seems to be much snappier this morning, with no crashes and minimal delays between screens. Have enough people given up, in disgust, that the server is operating at minimum load?

 

[Peraion Graufalke]

Seems to be much snappier this morning, with no crashes and minimal delays between screens. Have enough people given up, in disgust, that the server is operating at minimum load?

While it didn't crash for me today, it's actually slower than yesterday. Try making a lvl 30 druid - it took me half an hour with lots of waiting for vecna.

Also, don't click "Choose all for me" when selecting the feats. It's painful to see which feats it chooses. Maybe it's rolled randomly?

 

[Obryn]

This is slightly off topic, but when did Humans lose their second language? Seems like a stupid nerf to me.

They didn't. The system just doesn't handle languages very well as of yet.

-O

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I can't even get to www.wizards.com. Magic, D&D, it's all down :-/ Have to try from home later on. I'm intrigued by the idea of an online character builder, though I'm a little bit apprehensive after reading the comments here. One of the main attraction for me is printing my character at the DM's house without having to jump through several hoops. I think printing a blurry 1GB pdf qualifies as a hoop...

 

[I'm A Banana]

Actually, yeah, yeah it is. Basically he is abandoning a perfectly functional game system to go to a competitor out of spite. Its further made absurd when you learn that hero labs has 4th Edition support. Changing to Pathfinder is an act of pure spite meant to punish WotC for not meeting his demands. Of course, such an action means almost nothing since spending money somewhere else hurts a company no more than if the money was not spent at all. Its irrational and stupid.

It may be born out of spite. It may also be born out of disappointment, or frustration, or anger, or regret. It may be to "punish" WotC (even if the vengeance is purely a construct of their imagination), and it might just be because the person who makes that choice could also be happier with a company that doesn't make decisions like this. Helping a competitor that you enjoy might help them become more successful, helping you and others to enjoy their products.

Those are all perfectly valid reasons. Not that anyone even needs a valid reason. The invalid reasons of, I dunno, "WotC's fun police have implanted spy chips in my brain to detect every session in which I do not utter the word 'war' and have poisoned my drinking water to make me see the Far Realm!" is enough reason to want to cancel your account and go spend your money on meds.

No one owes WotC anything. If the CB debacle makes someone get kind of irked whenever they have to sit down and play a game of 4e for whatever reason (maybe the character sheets are borked, or maybe they can't get their current character to work right), they're well within their rights to get their fantasy gaming mojo elsewhere. And in the grand scheme of things, that's not even a very incredible reason to do such a thing. A little work in any public sector will prove that people are irrational. And they're allowed to be. Heck, given advertising hoodoo, they're encouraged to be.

There is also the fact that, as Mac user, I can safely say that the Compendium is more than functional as a character building tool: I should know since I've been using it for three years now. Yes, the new builder is a buggy piece of !!!!, and, yes, the loss of the character builder is lame (you know, for those who got to actually use, and particularly for those who got to abuse it), but its not the end of the game or the hobby. Most of the perpetual chicken littles and rage-quiters don't really have a leg to stand on, and the threats of running to pathfinder more or less confirm suspicious I've had for a while that some of the characters act as they do not out of an objective judgement but merely out of spite. Yes, WotC screwed the pooch big time, but most people act like Mike Mearls personally invaded their homes and snapped the neck of their favorite pet while whistling "Singing in the Rain." Its a software accessory for a hobby game.

They don't need a "leg to stand on." It's their money. They can give it to whatever snake-oil salesman they want to. They can do it out of spite if they want to. WotC isn't entitled a customer base. Irrationality and reactionary attitudes are things that anyone who works with the public faces, and it's part of the risk they manage.

And it's not even that irrational.

Say, you're a resident of New Orleans and maybe you operated a shrimp boat and maybe you bought your gasoline for your shrimp boat from the BP station a few blocks away from the dock.

Maybe after the spills and such you say "I have some serious ethical concerns about BP!" like it means something and then you go a few blocks out of your way to buy your gas at the Mobil station instead.

Or, heck, maybe you're some dude in Idaho who does that.

BP still makes servicable gasoline (in fact, it's better than other choices for you due to location!), but you're going to patronize a competitor instead because you don't agree with some subset of the company's policies and actions.

Happens with blood diamonds and sweat-shop clothing and restaurants all the time.

Happens in a less ethical way with "rude service" at retail stores and fast food joints (and anywhere else that employs surly underpaid teenagers) daily.

Happening now with the CB.

Get over it.

That's one of the beauties of capitalism! No one has to "get over" anything! Because no company deserves anybody's money by virtue of simply existing. They have to do things to keep and earn a customer's irrational loyalty. That can be lost for any reason.

And "releasing a borked electronic supplement" isn't even as irrational as half of the things you'd hear as a retail employee this Christmas.

Besides, to what end? If someone goes away and plays Pathfinder for a few months and enjoys it more than they would enjoy 4e, and thus is a happier person with less angry nerdrage, what's the negative outcome, here? Why should they get over it?

Anyway, this whole thing is just one long way of saying the obvious. "Hey, everyone, spend money on things that will improve your life!" If that's not WotC right now, then screw 'em. If that is WotC right now, then hey, good for them. Either way, it's your choice, for whatever irrational reason you feel compelled to make it.

 

[Kirnon_Bhale]

Character Builder

I haven't read the full thread but, anyone notice this? Not only is it a lot faster way to access the builder than going through the main site, but it has a debug tab where you can copy the XML for your character data... so export ability is already there, they just need to add a button for it.

Wow! so much faster - If the generally available one worked as well as this it would have had so much better feedback.

 

[Abraxas]

Yes, that's strange. I should check it on my comp.

EDIT: 631 MB for my thri-kreen druid lvl 1.

EDIT2: 883 MB for my thri-kreen druid lvl 30.

I got 1.18 GB for my level 24 human rogue. What's up with these file sizes?

 

[Scribble]

Pretty much the same speed it was for me today as it was yesterday...


Yesterday I only had 2 crashes and both of them were from me playing around with the zoom in/out function.

Aside from that no other crashes... I didn't have the weird printing issues some have reported, although I haven't tried printing to a pdf.

 

[Scribble]

I got 1.18 GB for my level 24 human rogue. What's up with these file sizes?

Are these file sizes of the pdf afterward or something? Where are people seeing the file sizes?