D&D Insider - My main beef

[Mercurius]

Very simply, the inability to add new stuff like new races, class, feats, powers, magic items, etc. I see you can technically add new stuff, but there is no way to put in stats for it. So you could be a "Xygorthian" race, but there would be no way to add Racial Traits, other than manually, and then I don't think you could have them impact other stats.

Am I missing something here? Or does Wizards have big plans to change this?

 

[Dausuul]

Very simply, the inability to add new stuff like new races, class, feats, powers, magic items, etc. I see you can technically add new stuff, but there is no way to put in stats for it. So you could be a "Xygorthian" race, but there would be no way to add Racial Traits, other than manually, and then I don't think you could have them impact other stats.

Am I missing something here? Or does Wizards have big plans to change this?

You are not missing something - or if you are, I'm missing it too.

I have not heard of any plans from WotC to change this, and honestly I doubt it will happen any time soon; not because of some evil plot to kill off 3PPs (I don't think WotC corporate gives a crap about 3PPs one way or the other) but because WotC clearly has very limited resources available for DDI tech development. They won't get around to supporting us homebrewers and tinkerers until they finish developing the big-ticket apps like the adventure builder, and that won't be for a while.

However, it's quite possible that someone will come up with a way to edit the data files. My understanding is that all the class, race, and power data is stored in XML format, so in theory it shouldn't be too hard to edit. The only problem is that any time you update Character Builder, it will probably erase your homebrew creations.

If WotC wanted to throw us a bone without expending a lot of development resources, they could provide a way to store homebrew class/power/race files separately from the official ones, so that a DDI update wouldn't erase them. Then leave it to the fans to come up with an unofficial editor.

 

[Piratecat]

You're talking about the Character Builder here, I assume, and not the Compendium. I agree; I've been surprised by the chilling effect that the CB has on house rules.

If WotC wanted to throw us a bone without expending a lot of development resources, they could provide a way to store homebrew class/power/race files separately from the official ones, so that a DDI update wouldn't erase them. Then leave it to the fans to come up with an unofficial editor.

Actually, doing this would benefit both 3PP publishers and WotC. 3PP would see a boost in sales as people integrate their material, and people who wouldn't have otherwise subscribed to DDI do so because they can finally integrate their house rules. I can see that as a win/win.

 

[Asmor]

You're talking about the Character Builder here, I assume, and not the Compendium. I agree; I've been surprised by the chilling effect that the CB has on house rules.


Actually, doing this would benefit both 3PP publishers and WotC. 3PP would see a boost in sales as people integrate their material, and people who wouldn't have otherwise subscribed to DDI do so because they can finally integrate their house rules. I can see that as a win/win.

And sadly, it'll never happen because it would be just as easy to make unofficial versions of official books and distribute them for free, removing the need for a DDI subscription for many people.

 

[Mercurius]

It is only frustrating because Character Builder is such a useful tool to the point of being almost a requirement, especially with the ever-increasing proliferation of stats from various sources. I suppose that one could use CB as a resource and make classes by hand, but one of the main perks to CB is that it doesn't miss any modifiers--everything is calculated for you.

Monster Builder seems more customizable in that when you create new mosnters you can program in powers for them. After subscribing to D&DI since March, I just started using this a few weeks ago and just love it.

(Now if WotC wanted to be really charitable, they'd program CB to be able to make characters from any edition of D&D...now that would be a remarkable tool!)

 

[Dausuul]

Actually, doing this would benefit both 3PP publishers and WotC. 3PP would see a boost in sales as people integrate their material, and people who wouldn't have otherwise subscribed to DDI do so because they can finally integrate their house rules. I can see that as a win/win.

Me too. My current campaign is pretty much by the book, but my next one is very likely going to involve a bunch of homebrewed races and magic items, and it would sure be nice if my players could keep using the CB.

...hmm. I think tonight I'll dig into the files in my Character Builder folder and see if I can suss out how they work.

And sadly, it'll never happen because it would be just as easy to make unofficial versions of official books and distribute them for free, removing the need for a DDI subscription for many people.

By this logic, iTunes should have been a total failure. After all, it's easy to make unofficial MP3s and distribute them for free over BitTorrent, right?

iTunes users pay for their music purchases not because they couldn't get the same content online for free, but because iTunes offers convenience, legitimacy, and a slick interface. DDI users pay for the same thing.

 

[Xyxox]

That is a bit of a drag, but I believe the intent is to support only core rules of the game with the character builder. This keeps a common framework for the database and since this is an internet based offering, it would be difficult to allow such customization without a lot of work on the base code. If the effort was expended, such custom work would need to be stored locally on the machine of the user doing the custom work and sharing such work would then be the next hurdle to overcome.

The ability to create custom classes and races was a feature I always liked most about the old Core Rules 2 CD-ROM (+Expansion) from 2E. Export files allowed you to share your custom inputs.

 

[mudbunny]

To the best of my knowledge, there are no plans on enabling the character builder to do the things that you would like. I don't know if these plans are in the works or if it is something that they don't plan on doing.

 

[ExploderWizard]

IMHO it is one thing that may drive players back to simpler systems. I love my monster builder but the char version needs to operate on a similar basis.

 

[Lord Xtheth]

Well, I think that WoTC is trying to do their best with a smaller staff and less money than they orriginally had.
They might be too buisy trying to catch up with all the content they promiced us 2 years (or more) ago to bother going back and creating some kind of 3pp input manager. I'm guessing it IS on their to do list... it just might be at the bottom.