STILL No Character Builder Update?

[P1NBACK]

Coming from someone who bitched and got a refund for September:

Calm down peeps. It's October 1st. They may not know the exact date yet that they'll get it out. The time to get irritated is not now, but around Halloween if they haven't updated by then.

They've got Dark Sun, Essentials, both September's and October's data to include in the next update.

So, just relax. Check back in a month (at the end of October) or when WotC announces no update for October, and then we can express our dissatisfaction.

...

Yeah.

Sadly, the WotC fanboys are already jumping on this thread making little and fun of our dissatisfaction. Let's not give them fuel for the fire. Let's be calm. We got our refund for September because WotC understood our dissatisfaction. Now, let's give the company a chance to make due on their promise to update in "early" October. And, if they do fail to live up to, as always, email CS and vote with your dollar. Money is what matters to these companies.

Thanks!

 

[renau1g]

Coming from someone who bitched and got a refund for September:

Calm down peeps. It's October 1st. They may not know the exact date yet that they'll get it out. The time to get irritated is not now, but around Halloween if they haven't updated by then.

They've got Dark Sun, Essentials, both September's and October's data to include in the next update.

.

I know they've got a huge amount of data to update, hence why I expressed concern about the snowball effect. If it takes them x hours in a normal month, now they have presumably x*2 or even 2.5 if essentials is as much work to integrate as I'd expect it is.

We all know they're under no legal obligation to provide their updates, thanks Jester. I don't believe anyone was threatening legal action though, people seem to be expressing disappointment.

My suggestion (which I have sent over, FWIW) is for them to update the "easy" stuff, i.e. Dungeon/Dragon articles, PP, and Dark Sun (assuming themes aren't too difficult to implement) on their regular release schedule of next Tuesday.

 

[Herschel]

Well. If it will be 'early' October, they sure did not put that on the calendar...

I've looked at my calendar numerous times now and don't see "early" anywhere on it. In fact, all the days are numeric. Great, WotC gave us a date that doesn't exists so there will NEVER BE AN UPDATE NOW UNLESS THEY WANT TO PROVE THEY LIE TO US!!!!!!!!!

It took longer than they thought to get the update ready and they don't have an exact date. I'm not feeling the need to be upset just yet even though the lack of a Dark Sun update does "complicate" one game I run.

 

[Piratecat]

Hey, is anyone else having trouble using WotC's "email customer service" feature? I can't get it to work.

 

[LightPhoenix]

As was pointed out in another thread, WotC is under no obligation to provide monthly updates. It's nice, but it's a bonus- we are NOT entitled to it, despite the amazing sense of entitlement that the Internet seems to bring out in a lot of people.

The problem is that we are entitled to it, because we're paying for it. CB updates are included in the DDI cost. It's not a matter of internet entitlement, it's a matter of customer dissatisfaction with product.

Now, do I think WotC is being unprofessional? Hell no. In fact, I think they're handling it relatively well with the rebates and letting us know*. Are there things they could have done better? Absolutely. However, I think that they're doing a fine customer service job, and some people may be raging for the sake of raging.

* Supposedly know, if they Essentials updates are the real reason it's delayed. Mudbunny and others seem to indicate that's not the actual case. In which case, that's a case of the consumer being lied to, which is a big CS no-no. Plus, on a personal level, I think that WotC could have used it to drive a spike in subscriptions by owning up to whatever business is NDA'ed. Assuming, of course, that this NDA stuff is as big as it's being made seem.

 

[renau1g]

I'm guessing the NDA stuff isn't nefarious, might just be an internal deadline that they're shooting towards that mudbunny et all can't mention for fear of missing it again.

 

[mudbunny]

Hey, is anyone else having trouble using WotC's "email customer service" feature? I can't get it to work.

Nope. At what point are you having problems?

 

[Prestidigitalis]

The problem with many of the comments above is the failure to understand that WotC is not the name of a person, but the name of a company. Making a product like 4e is a cooperative effort, and there are many things that can go wrong as a result.

You can plan, you can schedule, you can direct, and you can order.

But if the key person in an update gets another job, gets sick, loses a spouse to cancer, has anti-depression meds that suddenly seem to stop working, etc., everything goes haywire. You build in a margin of error, but more than a little and the executives higher up get fussy.

Then there are the miscommunication issues. One of the developers makes an assumption that turns out to be mistaken, and an entire software module has to be rewritten. One of the managers asks how long it will take to implement X feature, but uses the wrong term for it and gets an answer that only accounts for a small fraction of the feature. Etc.

I'm already getting bored coming up with scenarios that could explain the delays, but I've just barely started. Development of good products is hard. Throw in a schedule and customers who get irate when the schedule blows up and it gets worse.

These people are building something that we (those who post here at any rate) value and love. We have a right to ask for high quality, and we have a right to value for our money. But we also need to remember that mistakes happen and plans go awry. If you are one of those people who has never screwed up, go ahead and throw that stone. Otherwise, live with it.

 

[CovertOps]

2nded. And it's not like they didn't know this stuff was coming. (We've known it was coming for at least 6 months and we don't even work there.)

I'm actually a big fan of "it's done when it's done" (I wouldn't even call the Character Builder "done", honestly), but I agree with r1: throw us a bone! I don't know if it's really worth my time to get a ~$5 rebate or whatever, but if they miss two months in a row it'll be worth the principle of the thing.

The problem is a snowball effect, now they have even more data to input, meaning even more time to work on it, but then they're already behind...and next month the new essentials stuff comes out right? I've given them a lot of slack with missed deadlines, broken promises, etc, but if they don't release any update next Tuesday I'll be pretty pissed. I don't care if essentials is in it, just give me Dark Sun and Psionic Power...

They actually have two separate issues going on here. First is the data updates which (no offense to anyone) can likely be done by trained monkeys. The second part are the code updates (and likely database updates as well) that are REQUIRED in order to support the new "stuff" with both Dark Sun and Essentials. You could get the data updates, but without the code/DB changes they'd be worthless.

I know they've got a huge amount of data to update, hence why I expressed concern about the snowball effect. If it takes them x hours in a normal month, now they have presumably x*2 or even 2.5 if essentials is as much work to integrate as I'd expect it is.

We all know they're under no legal obligation to provide their updates, thanks Jester. I don't believe anyone was threatening legal action though, people seem to be expressing disappointment.

My suggestion (which I have sent over, FWIW) is for them to update the "easy" stuff, i.e. Dungeon/Dragon articles, PP, and Dark Sun (assuming themes aren't too difficult to implement) on their regular release schedule of next Tuesday.

Once they announced the first deadline push back and said they'd be including essentials with it they were stuck. As a developer, rolling back at this point would take longer than just going forward and pushing the release date back if necessary. Also see my previous answer.

I also want to strongly second a previous poster. They will announce NO dates until they know it's done. More than likely we'll get no more than a few days advance notice (if that).

 

[jbear]

God bless the Internet and the fanboys that live there.

It's not my intention to get into a name calling session with you, although it looks like your upset enough to happily go there.

My comment was directed at the fact your post seemed like you were having a conversation with yourself. Or as if you're talking to Wotc, well we the good people of EnWorld are not Wotc.

Your post was more akin to a Dear John letter or a suicide note.

If you had of actually raised an issue, I doubt I would have made any comment at all, but like I said, all you were doing was getting something off your chest. It is you who has come to share your frustrations with anonymous people on the internet. So, whatever, I'll refrain from calling names. It's not necessary. You're upset. I get that. Carry on.