AICN Reviews the DDI Character Builder!

[Admiral Caine]

Sure it's gushing. But, at the same time, is it not also true? Name a single RPG company that is doing this?

Heck, recall the massive backlash by 3PP when the idea of an OGL Wiki was first floated. People were throwing all sorts of accusations of others wanting to steal material for free. Yet, here we have WOTC putting EVERY book in a single application. For what, six bucks a month, you get access to every single book in their library.

And this isn't a completely new idea in RPG publishing?

Respectfully,

You're not differentiating comments on the review and the reviewer from the actual product itself. You're confusing those two topics.

There doesn't seem to be any challenge to idea that the character builder is really quite promising, if not really really good. So far the strongest critique of the application is that it still has some room for improvement. For a project that is not even out of limited beta, that's a really positive reaction.

On the other hand, what is being said is that the favorable reaction to the character builder is in spite of the review, not because of it. If you're the reviewer, that's a problem. It communicates that you're not being taken seriously, even if you happen to be correct.

This probably doesn't really matter. AICN has a website/blog and they can write anything they want on it. Nobody is forced to read it. It only matters if they expect to be respected and taken as credible. It goes to the old saying that any clock is right at least twice a day. In this case, the clock was right.

For a review to have real honest value, the reviewer must be respected and taken seriously. If the reviewer is suspect, then it casts a doubt on anything they review.

One can write a glowing review, without the histrionics and melodrama.

If you like the style in which it was written, then you probably won't agree with me. For me, it got in the way of what the reviewer was actually trying to get across.

 

[Grazzt]

That wasn't a review, that was a gushing rehash of WotC talking points about a future product. But then given the source that is not surprising.

Yeah. I think I'm gonna go with this one.

 

[Wisdom Penalty]

Was it "gushingly positive"? Yep.

Was it from a writer who previously said positive things about 4e? Yep.

Was the review accurate? Yep.

Ad hominem and all that. Separate the dang review from the reviewer, and sift through the bias to see the facts (Americans should be good at that, considering the way the media delivers our news).

But most of all - stop whining. Criminy.

WP

 

[Admiral Caine]

Was it "gushingly positive"? Yep.

Was it from a writer who previously said positive things about 4e? Yep.

Was the review accurate? Yep.

Ad hominem and all that. Separate the dang review from the reviewer, and sift through the bias to see the facts (Americans should be good at that, considering the way the media delivers our news).

But most of all - stop whining. Criminy.

WP

If I had never read his original 4E review, I'd have the same reaction. Who wrote it is irrelevant. The reviewer is more enamored of his own writing style than he is in being taken seriously.

And it's not whining to say that. Trying to label a post as whining when you don't agree with it is weak and lame, because all you're trying to do is shut the conversation down. If it threatens you on some level, state why you disagree or just ignore the comments that you don't like. This thread is about the review, not just the character builder.

 

[Piratecat]

Lesson I've learned on ENWorld: He wrote a glowing review of a 4E product. Therefore, he must be biased.

What the heck, people? Quit trying to preemptively pick fights. Racing to the "who can be a jerk in the thread first" finish line is not something you want to be proud of. I'm not surprised people reacted in a hostile manner.

From this point forward the conversation should be about the review and the software, not about people who happen to disagree with you.

Ain't it Cool News is known for gushing, over-the-top reviews, and this one still sent me into insulin shock. That being said, I think it's accurate. It really does feel like WotC is getting it right with this software. I'm excited. First Dungeon and Dragon start giving me really good articles, and then this? Even my cynical side is starting to believe that my DDI money was very well spent.

 

[Wisdom Penalty]

Ain't it Cool News is known for gushing, over-the-top reviews, and this one still sent me into insulin shock. That being said, I think it's accurate. It really does feel like WotC is getting it right with this software. I'm excited. First Dungeon and Dragon start giving me really good articles, and then this? Even my cynical side is starting to believe that my DDI money was very well spent.

Right.

Wish I could have said it like that. Frustration, and my inherent lack of wisdom, got the best of me.

 

[Admiral Caine]

Ain't it Cool News is known for gushing, over-the-top reviews, and this one still sent me into insulin shock. That being said, I think it's accurate. It really does feel like WotC is getting it right with this software. I'm excited. First Dungeon and Dragon start giving me really good articles, and then this? Even my cynical side is starting to believe that my DDI money was very well spent.

Despite anything I said about the AICN review, I agree with Piratecat.

I plopped down a year's subscription for DDI, and I don't have any regrets so far. Not every article has been pure genius, but overall, there has been at least something really great every month.

And considering this...

I've gotten a number of questions about how the Character Builder is going to interact with D&DI subscriptions. Here are some answers: Once the full version of the Character Builder is ready, it will be added to the D&DI package and we plan to raise the price. However, if you are already a subscriber, then our new price will not kick in for you until the end of your current term. In other words, if you sign up for a year at $4.95 per month, then you will get the Character Builder "for free" until the end of your year (at which point you would renew at the new price). We haven't finalized the new pricing yet, but we will let you know once we have.

That's just awesome for those that took the gamble and subscribed for a whole year. I am really pleased.

 

[xechnao]

People that say they find the review accurate have they been exposed to the matter in question?

It seems, if the review is accurate, that DDI will be a nifty application for who plays and likes 4e.

 

[Piratecat]

People that say they find the review accurate have they been exposed to the matter in question.

For me, yes. It's on my desktop right now. It was honestly kind of a pain in the ass to install, but I'm very glad I did. It's that good... and the fact that new options are being added to it transparently as they're published, and that I don't need my books open when I create a character, make it invaluable to me.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

People that say they find the review accurate have they been exposed to the matter in question?

It seems, if the review is accurate, that DDI will be a nifty application for who plays and likes 4e.

So far, I am very pleased. But it's "only" a beta release, and a few of the things talked about in the review are not entirely in yet. But the core features that could be tested looked very good.

It has been quite some time since I last used PCGen (2 years at least, I think) and even longer then the old 3.0 Character Generator, and I never got into e-Tools, but: The interface looks solid. You can get through the character generation reasonably quick, and the information on rules material is presented well and (as far as I can see) complete.

At this point, the book only contains the information necessary to create 3rd level characters, so basically it doesn't have the "complete" rules database. This might decide aspects like application performance in the future, but I don't worry too much. (If they are in fact using a database, the performance should stay good, if they try to keep everything in memory, not so much. But I doubt that.)

I am not sure if the stat calculations are entirely perfect. I think I have noticed that some conditional attack bonuses in powers might not be calculated in, but that is relatively minor, since the rules text is still found in the power.

I think the DDI will be worth it, particularly if all the remaining applications can achieve a similar quality. Assuming the teams developing the apps work together (are the same?), it definitely looks as if they can get things done well.