DDI Character Builder

[azraelabyss]

Just out of curiosity, when WOTC goes over to 5e, are they gonna still support the 4e Character Builder, or are the 4e guys outta luck?

 

[darjr]

I don't know if they have said for sure either way. But it does sound like to me that they want to and might.

I think they should. Maybe they could offer it up to a third party to run.

 

[azraelabyss]

Thank god for Herolab!

 

[Blue]

An impression I've gotten from some of the earlier Mike Mearls pieces that they intended to keep it going. But I haven't seen any recent discussion or any promises.

That said, dropping the previous edition when it still had a strong fanbase that wasn't satisfied with the newer edition was what left the vacuum for Pathfinder to come in. (This isn't a knock on any - 4e has a strong fanbase, 3.5 did/does have a strogbn fanbase, and Pathfinder has a strong fanbase. Different flavors of ice cream for different folks, and hey - ice cream is yummy.)

That said, DDI pulls in a monthly subscription fee for an ongoing revenue stream, and if some people are only there for the already developed 4e stuff, why not keep it up? My *guess* is that they'll keep it up, but they run lean and won't have resources assigned to work on things like the current known issues list for the CB. And they'll use it as a very important barometer for 4e traffic vs. next traffic to keep an eye on how much the various editions are being played.

 

[the Jester]

I hope they do.

If they don't, there are probably alternatives- there's a hack for the offline CB that gives you all the most updated stuff, if you still have the offline CB installed on your computer, and I think there are other CBs out there that rely on your subscription to pull from the WotC database; there might be a way to extract the info and save it or something.

 

[LeStew]

I think the "revenue stream" will be with 5e players/subscribers to DDi. And i think they're counting on several 4e players to make the transition to 5e just like some 3.5 players did to 4e. I do think the 4e CB will be taken offline at some point. My hope is that when it goes offline they open it up to 3rd parties, houserules, what not.

Lets face it, if 4e was working, in both money and design they'd be keeping it around. Not to be all Debbie Downer here, and surely not to start the edition wars, but 4e is going to get put out to pasture. I don't know if that's a bad thing either. Personally I play 4e. And until the new product comes out, I'll be reserving my judgement for play of 5e.

 

[Ferghis]

That said, DDI pulls in a monthly subscription fee for an ongoing revenue stream, and if some people are only there for the already developed 4e stuff, why not keep it up? My *guess* is that they'll keep it up, but they run lean and won't have resources assigned to work on things like the current known issues list for the CB.

I think this is what they will do as well: keep it as a for-pay subscription product with little to no resources assigned to its upkeep and maintenance, and no new material for 4e. This would be really frustrating for me. I'm happy to pay for what we have been getting: new content, Compendium, CB and Monster Builder. But stripping the new content out and failing to properly update the other tools makes me leery of spending, what is it, $80 a year? I think many will move to the unofficial versions of these tools, or whatever might be available for free.

And they'll use it as a very important barometer for 4e traffic vs. next traffic to keep an eye on how much the various editions are being played.

I fear this as well, since it's use would dwindle for the reasons highlighted above. And some will try to take this as a sign that 4e is dwindling more than it really might be.

 

[Blue]

I think the "revenue stream" will be with 5e players/subscribers to DDi. And i think they're counting on several 4e players to make the transition to 5e just like some 3.5 players did to 4e. I do think the 4e CB will be taken offline at some point. My hope is that when it goes offline they open it up to 3rd parties, houserules, what not.

Lets face it, if 4e was working, in both money and design they'd be keeping it around. Not to be all Debbie Downer here, and surely not to start the edition wars, but 4e is going to get put out to pasture. I don't know if that's a bad thing either. Personally I play 4e. And until the new product comes out, I'll be reserving my judgement for play of 5e.

I agree that they are looking for a lot of 4e customers to become Next customers, but they also have to be leery for dropping support for one system for a very different one. Especially if the old one still produces some revenue steam without any additional R&D or new production outlay.

If they have (picking random numbers) 100,000 Next-only customers, or 120,000 Next & 4e customers, why not take the 20000 extra customers * $8 per month? It can't cost them that much to keep it running without paying for new materials (authors, layout, art, etc.).

If it nets WotC some sales of 4e core books down the road from inventory, instead of saying "that could be a Next customer", thinking "We've introduced them to the D&D brand". 4e doesn't have to die for Next, and the 3.5 badmouthing that was going on as a prelude for 4e was well documented as a bad call - it's reasonable to assume they will avoid or at least minimize burning their bridges behind them.

 

[Blue]

I think this is what they will do as well: keep it as a for-pay subscription product with little to no resources assigned to its upkeep and maintenance, and no new material for 4e. This would be really frustrating for me. I'm happy to pay for what we have been getting: new content, Compendium, CB and Monster Builder. But stripping the new content out and failing to properly update the other tools makes me leery of spending, what is it, $80 a year?

I tend to agree with you. I think they'll keep the existing up, but my guess is that they'll let it die on the vine; no new material and same costs. They do want to eventually move everyone to Next.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

WotC has stated through at least two separate people that the tools will remain available.

No, I don't believe this either.

Half the team will be retrenched once Next is released and within a year there will be nobody employed by WotC who will remember the promise. All they will see is a number of 4E fans and then questions will be raised as to why they're being encouraged so the e-tools will be turned off.

In other words, grab the offline Character Builder, the offline Compendium and hope that someone with more programming skills than the rest of us also creates an offline Monster Builder before the 4E lights are turned off.