Status of D&D Game Table?

[Scribble]

It was connected to a button that said "Enhance Image". Having no clue how he should do that, but having found a note that this button HAD to be included in the release, the original programmer added the button and added an eventhandler/actionlistener that would just get the hourglass turning. But the original customer believed the button would work...

Hah! This makes me think of when I used to do sound for an AV company...

Inevitably no matter how great you get the sound gear running the client will need to have you "adjust it."

The easiest way to fix the issue they're having is to turn a knob on the board that has absolutely nothing to do with the mic they're using and ask- "That better?"

98% of the time they'll say "Much better thanks!"

 

[Zaukrie]

I'd guess in about a year, if ever.

Frankly, there is one thing I've never understood about some of the anger over this (actually more than 1 thing, but I'm trying to focus here): why do some people feel 4E can't be played, or is somehow missing something, if DDI isn't there? While I understand that it was promised, no other edition had that level of virtual support, and this one does not need it to be viable either.

As for DDI in general:

character builder is great so far. This might become my favorite tool

The compendium is the best D&D tool yet (other than the books). I can quickly look items up, cut and paste to make my encounters, this thing is nearly indespensible to me as a DM.

Dragon-too little content for my taste. The quantity has dropped since it was free.

Dungeon - see above, and also, they have not always delivered on the three adventure promise. December had 2 and a side trek. The awesome quality of the FR and Eberron conversions of Keep set the bar too high for this magazine to even come close to living up to the first on line version.

Bonus tools-these are throw aways, that cost little production time, and some people use them. Not a big deal to me either way.

Character visualizer-i don't care if this ever comes out.
Virtual table-I don't think I care if this ever comes out, but it could be useful someday.

edit: what I really want is a robust NPC/Monster creator, so I can make fair encounters with monsters of my own creation (or to power up/down an existing monster).

 

[Scribble]

Bonus tools-these are throw aways, that cost little production time, and some people use them. Not a big deal to me either way.

edit: what I really want is a robust NPC/Monster creator, so I can make fair encounters with monsters of my own creation (or to power up/down an existing monster).

Awww man I use the bonus tools constantly... They serve the same function as a calculator basically. Not really needed but they speed things up tenfold.

They also have a monster creator in the bonus tools you know right? I wouldn't call it particularily "robust" but it gets the job done...

 

[Zaukrie]

Yup, I've used it. It's not bad. By throw away I meant, not really robust and not something they'd ever try to sell, just extras.

I've used the bonus tools some, but they aren't great, and won't get any support/updates (given that they've said that, and their champion was laid off).

 

[Scribble]

Yup, I've used it. It's not bad. By throw away I meant, not really robust and not something they'd ever try to sell, just extras.

I've used the bonus tools some, but they aren't great, and won't get any support/updates (given that they've said that, and their champion was laid off).

Yeah I know that part sucked... which bugs me because throw away or not, they're crazy useful (to me at least!)

I hope they at least automatically add the new monsters from the compendium.

Maybe they're just linked to the same database and would do it on their own.... rather then have to be updated right? I can hope right? right????

What I really think dragon needs is it's own specialized search function. So way down the road if I want to look up everything they've put in dragon about eladrin cities... I can use the dragon search tool..

 

[Sir Brennen]

Yeah I know that part sucked... which bugs me because throw away or not, they're crazy useful (to me at least!)

Biding time until I can run a 4E game, I've been doing some conversions from 3.X adventures, and the tools have all been very handy. I'd really like to see a trap builder similar to the monster creator, and have the Encounter Builder allow adding traps and not just monsters. This would greatly re-enforce the 4E idea that traps are much better used as part of an encounter mix with creatures, or other traps (actively trying to kill the party round-to-round).

What I really think dragon needs is it's own specialized search function. So way down the road if I want to look up everything they've put in dragon about eladrin cities... I can use the dragon search tool..

Or at least a filter in the compendium based on source. As it is, some searches return a metric asshat of results with less than a year's worth of source material to draw from.

 

[Lizard]

I'd guess in about a year, if ever.

Frankly, there is one thing I've never understood about some of the anger over this (actually more than 1 thing, but I'm trying to focus here): why do some people feel 4E can't be played, or is somehow missing something, if DDI isn't there? While I understand that it was promised, no other edition had that level of virtual support, and this one does not need it to be viable either.

Oh, I'm not mad. I think 4e is perfectly playable without it. I think it was a silly idea from the start, it reeked of someone from Hasbro saying "This Dungeons whatsis, it's like Warcraft, right? But without a computer? Why don't you put it on a computer, or something?" I looked at the entire concept and said "Huh?". The whole advantage D&D has is face-to-face interaction with your real cheeto-gobbling, Mountain Dew swilling, best buds. The advantage MMORPGs have is not having to wait for people to show up -- and the computer knowing all the rules. To have a program which combines the "Sitting alone in the dark" aspect of MMORPGs with the "Flipping to look up the rules" aspect of tabletop is to go after a very small niche market indeed. The resources dedicated to it could have been better used on the tabletop game, or getting the GSL out on time.

Dragon/Dungeon online are excellent and worth paying for. Compendium is of minimal use to me because there's no wireless where we game. Character creator I'm waiting on, but it's still of small use to me as a player because, hey, I make up one character every couple of months, if that. (I'd like something which had all the Monster/NPC rules for use as a DM.) Haven't tried any of the other tools. Some of WOTC's ideas for cash flow -- BUYING miniatures to use with game table? And having the cost based on the "Size" of the mini, as if a dragon cost more pixels to store than a kobold -- are just wacky. (And what happened to each book having a code which could be used to unlock online content and get free watermarked PDFs?)

My main worry is that WOTC projected a lot of revenue from Gleemax and DDI, revenue which will never be realized, and this will anger the gods at Hasbro, who will wonder why they've still got this division now that the Pokemon fad is over...

 

[Nebulous]

They also have a monster creator in the bonus tools you know right? I wouldn't call it particularily "robust" but it gets the job done...

I lost the link, but someone here on Enworld also made a 4e Monster Maker that works really, really well. I've used it more than the official one on DDI.

 

[Scribble]

Biding time until I can run a 4E game, I've been doing some conversions from 3.X adventures, and the tools have all been very handy. I'd really like to see a trap builder similar to the monster creator, and have the Encounter Builder allow adding traps and not just monsters. This would greatly re-enforce the 4E idea that traps are much better used as part of an encounter mix with creatures, or other traps (actively trying to kill the party round-to-round).

Well, you can. Just use a hazzrd of appropriate level. I agree it would be better if they added them in as actual things though so you could cut/past the stats like you can monsters.

I looked at the entire concept and said "Huh?". The whole advantage D&D has is face-to-face interaction with your real cheeto-gobbling, Mountain Dew swilling, best buds. The advantage MMORPGs have is not having to wait for people to show up -- and the computer knowing all the rules. To have a program which combines the "Sitting alone in the dark" aspect of MMORPGs with the "Flipping to look up the rules" aspect of tabletop is to go after a very small niche market indeed.

My guess is the question was asked: "Why are we loosing out to games like Warcraft?"

One of the answers was probably it's easier to simply log on and play in your free time, then to either find a group to game with, and find time to game.

Will it work? Dunno. I think it might be neat, to be able to log on when bored, and hop into an online 24/7 convention though. No need to wait for my Friday Night game.

I don't think it could ever replace my normal table top game, but I think it will definitely get people playing more often (provided the program doesn't suck.) Which is a good thing for D&D.

 

[resistor]

I agree with the earlier poster who said that the GenCon and subsequent videos showed an app that seemed solid;

As time has progressed, I'm increasingly convinced that we were shown a mockup or hi-fi prototype at GenCon. It's relatively standard operating procedure for the software engineering team to produce a mockup or prototype that implements just enough of the surface functionality to be useable for demoing. The client (in this case, the D&DI managers) test it out, give feedback, and they iterate until they settle on what the final program will be like. Then the software engineers go off and write the actual program.

Speaking as a software engineer, a prototype that looks pretty in a quick demo does not a working program make. Not even close.