Status of D&D Game Table?

[Monkey Boy]

Even if you don't, why aren't you using the many 3rd party table tops? It's not like the 4E rules are even going to be referenced in the virtual table top. We know for a fact they won't. Since you seem to have no interest in the other DDI bits, why bother to subscribe when you can get what you want elsewhere?

You are right of course. A friend interstate called up all excited about the DDI wanting to know if the tabletop was live. He was keen to get the old group back together. I told him it was vapour ware but that there were some other tools I that might do the trick. I emailed him a link. He seemed unimpressed holding out hope for an official D&D tabletop, he'd seen the demo with the torch radius and figures and was very impressed. The demo promised a lot of things existing virtual tabletops didn't. As he was our old DM he held alot of sway with getting the old gang back together.

I need to download map tools and have a tinker. Maybe if I know what I am doing I can convince him to give it a go. If its not too resource hungry we should be able to get the expat in the group joining in.

Thanks Glyfair and Asmor, you've made me reconsider the 3rd party tabletop idea.

 

[Spatula]

Eventually you will get it (I would bet by the end of the year).

I wouldn't count on it, and I don't see anything to base such optimism on. Their track record is, to-date, awful (you cite the character generator as a success - it isn't even released yet!), and the last Ampersand column makes it sound like they may be abandoning some projects.

"In very short order, the D&D Character Builder goes live... After that… well, we’re working on that. We had grand plans and we were overly ambitious in what could actually be accomplished in the time we had. We don’t want to overextend or overpromise anymore. We’re going to finish the D&D Character Builder, then take stock of where we are and what we can and should concentrate on next."

 

[malraux]

I wouldn't count on it, and I don't see anything to base such optimism on. Their track record is, to-date, awful (you cite the character generator as a success - it isn't even released yet!), and the last Ampersand column makes it sound like they may be abandoning some projects.

"In very short order, the D&D Character Builder goes live... After that… well, we’re working on that. We had grand plans and we were overly ambitious in what could actually be accomplished in the time we had. We don’t want to overextend or overpromise anymore. We’re going to finish the D&D Character Builder, then take stock of where we are and what we can and should concentrate on next."

I personally am skeptical that the virtual table top makes good business sense. It doesn't synergize well with the rest of the DDI offerings (ie, the compendium works well as a portal for previously published monsters, feat, etc; the Character builder looks like it will do the same for characters). The work done to develop a race, feat, item, etc gets used in several locations. The character visualizer and VTT don't share in that. At best, it might pull from work already done for the dungeon tiles and minis lines, but I'm not sure about that.

In addition, I'm not sure that the marginal dollar chasing is worth it (relative to better fleshing out of the magazines, updates to the compendium, etc or even in other DnD product lines). The cost of DDI would have to go up if they offer the VTT (as wotc has hinted several times). But the VTT's extra revenue will only be from people who won't use Maptools but will use an official WotC product minus the subscribers for whom the extra cost is too much. Are there that many people who won't use maptools but would use the VTT?

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Given that the character builder doesn't look to be out in full till February at this point, the Game Table is still vaporware, and they've given no timetable at all for when to expect it even as a public Beta.

what makes you say Feb...I see them on track for the Jan relase date...

I think I read that WOTC has no people working on DDI. Just one evil monkey that spends most of his time in a fat kids closet. Sad thing is, he wasn't always evil...

man now they have an evil monkey...see that is getting better

"In very short order, the D&D Character Builder goes live... After that… well, we’re working on that. We had grand plans and we were overly ambitious in what could actually be accomplished in the time we had. We don’t want to overextend or overpromise anymore. We’re going to finish the D&D Character Builder, then take stock of where we are and what we can and should concentrate on next."

that tells me they are aware of the problmes and taking baby steps...not that they are shutting anything down.

 

[Festivus]

I personally am skeptical that the virtual table top makes good business sense. It doesn't synergize well with the rest of the DDI offerings (ie, the compendium works well as a portal for previously published monsters, feat, etc; the Character builder looks like it will do the same for characters). The work done to develop a race, feat, item, etc gets used in several locations. The character visualizer and VTT don't share in that. At best, it might pull from work already done for the dungeon tiles and minis lines, but I'm not sure about that.

In addition, I'm not sure that the marginal dollar chasing is worth it (relative to better fleshing out of the magazines, updates to the compendium, etc or even in other DnD product lines). The cost of DDI would have to go up if they offer the VTT (as wotc has hinted several times). But the VTT's extra revenue will only be from people who won't use Maptools but will use an official WotC product minus the subscribers for whom the extra cost is too much. Are there that many people who won't use maptools but would use the VTT?

That is unless they make it so that you can only play things like Living Forgotten Realms online using their VTT or something, using characters generated using their character generator.

I love Maptools, but I wish it had some stuff like what they are promising with the WoTC VTT, like tight integration with the other online products (e.g. characters from the char gen, monsters from the dungeon magazine, etc) so that there is little to no data entry.

I just subscribed to DDI after reading that the compendium lets you access ALL monsters, not just those in the books. Even LFR monsters are listed... very handy.

 

[malraux]

That is unless they make it so that you can only play things like Living Forgotten Realms online using their VTT or something, using characters generated using their character generator.

I love Maptools, but I wish it had some stuff like what they are promising with the WoTC VTT, like tight integration with the other online products (e.g. characters from the char gen, monsters from the dungeon magazine, etc) so that there is little to no data entry.

As far as I know, there was never any talk of integration of any sort. At best, your info from your character sheet would let you roll the dice and add up the numbers. But wotc said that the VTT did not adjudicate any rules, thus, no tight integration.

 

[Shemeska]

"In very short order, the D&D Character Builder goes live... After that… well, we’re working on that. We had grand plans and we were overly ambitious in what could actually be accomplished in the time we had. We don’t want to overextend or overpromise anymore. We’re going to finish the D&D Character Builder, then take stock of where we are and what we can and should concentrate on next."

I don't subscribe to the DDI so I didn't hear about the above till now, but... *wince* That sounds like they're setting folks up for a let down when for when they start dropping aspects of the originally promised DDI.

It's sad that they're even in this sort of position with the late/unreleased portions. There were members of the old admin WizO team that could have coded the DDI themselves, given their background, and WotC let them go (or they resigned during the Gleemax drama).

 

[Glyfair]

As far as I know, there was never any talk of integration of any sort.

The character visualizer is supposed to be integrated with both the CharGen program and the VTT. However, that is as far as the links were supposed to go.

 

[Mistwell]

For those recommending alternatives, please don't forget about the excellent Klooge.Werks!

 

[tomBitonti]

What I wonder about re: The Game Table ... is ... why?

I mean, if WOW wanted to create a game table, couldn't they put together something that would be light years ahead of what WotC was considering?

They could probably put together a table of abilities and icons and animations along with a table of creatures (and their animations) that would seriously kick butt.

They should also be able to create a "tile set" usable for creating dungeons rather quickly.

(As an aside, I've wondered what Blizzard would do if D&D ever really started having an online presence ... that would seem to be a strong motivation for Blizzard to simply squash WotC out of the online gaming market.)