A Technical Look at D&D Insider Applications

[Zogmo]

Nominal Fee?

I am sorry if this has been stated before but I haven't read anywhere that says this is only a one time fee. Are we sure this isn't a nominal monthly fee?

If it's a one time fee how long will access to the books last?

If it's monthly then the monthly bill will be huge after buying a bunch of books and activating the electronic versions thus limiting my electronic purchases and limiting my access to the material with the character builder and whatever else uses them.

 

[D.Shaffer]

Electronic copy

My worry is this...

If I register my electronic copy and download it into my computer, and then accidentally delete it/my hard drive fries, am I going to have to reregister to get it again? Not all companies allow repeat downloads.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

I am sorry if this has been stated before but I haven't read anywhere that says this is only a one time fee. Are we sure this isn't a nominal monthly fee?

Yes, we're sure. Its been said elsewhere. You pay once to activate each book to get the digital copy of the book and its permanent.

The only thing in 4th Ed that has a monthly fee is DDI.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Dual boot my ass. Not all mac users got that option, only those who bought in the past 2 and a half years or so. Does Didier need some cluing on that? He ought to go edit his article to clear that up that only the minority of Mac users with Intel processors can opt for the Boot Camp/virtualization program option.

I don't think he needs it, because it should be obvious to any Mac owner whether he can dual boot or not. I hope it's also obvious (to both Mac Users and WotC) that dual-booting doesn't come free.
You need BootCamp, whose Beta Phase is now over and is supposed to cost money if you're still using Mac OS Tiger , and you still need Windows License (which isn't free except in a few corner cases, like the MSDN Academic Alliance) to have anything to dual boot.

So despite having a dual-processor 64 bit 1.8 Ghz PowerPC G5 tower intended to last for another 3-4 years comfortably, I get to be denied DDI content until my upgrade cycle comes around again.

Really, this feels more and more like my hobby is telling me I'm not invited to come along to the next big cool thing. . . . until I drop a few thousand dollars my budget doesn't have.

If you see using the Virtual Game Table and the Character Portrait Builder (or what it is called) as a main component of your hobby, it appears so.
Except your price seems a bit too high, I think you can a get a decent Windows PC for the minimum requirements notably below thousand dollar.

If you have a group at home, do you really absolutely need all the digital stuff? I played around with a few character generators, but in the end, I always return to "hand-crafted" Open Office Text Documents for writing down my characters.
(Incidentally, currently I use my MacBook for this stuff)

The bright side is that Gleemax might have its flaws fixed by then and we might be on to D&D 4.5.

You can use Gleemax (for free!) without Windows. Other parts of the DDI are indeed unavailable to you. (That doesn't mean you shouldn't wait till Gleemax flaws are fixed, though .)

The other hope is that by the end of 2008 WotC's paid-thinkers decide the handhelds aren't worth ignoring and they get on the ball and put out an iPhone/iPod Touch client app using the forthcoming iPhone SDK. And because the iPhone runs OS X it is only a tweak away from full Mac OS X. While I'm not going to get a new computer until after 2009 (at best) I will have an iPhone by mid 2008.

I do not think that the 3D intensive stuff is suited for the iPhone, the iPod Touch or any other hand-held. Not for the next few years, at least. And that's still the main reason why they are relying on DirectX and thus Windows - the 3D Effects.
I still don't know how hard it would be to convert the non-3D stuff to other platforms. (And even less do I know whether they will do it all, but I really hope so.)

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

But it's a digital online copy, correct? Can you download it?

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

But it's a digital online copy, correct? Can you download it?

It sounds like yes, but as I mentioned before, all questions to WOTC about this have received vague rather than definite answers. They basically say "We'd love to give you a document that you can use in the most flexible way possible while still maintaining security." It sounds like if they can find a way to have a reasonable amount of confidence that their document won't be copied or given to anyone else, then they will allow people to use it offline. If their tech people say that there is a significant risk involved then they will force people to be online to check for security. And they have a number of more months to investigate possibilities before they need to decide.

 

[DaveMage]

It sounds like yes, but as I mentioned before, all questions to WOTC about this have received vague rather than definite answers.

In post #65 of this thread, Scott Rouse is pretty specific.

 

[Hussar]

And if the feat has an effect on mechanics that would be reflected on your character sheet, it will also not get figured in? or will it and it just doesn't explain why it changed...

My guess would be that without paying the nominal fee, you'd have to manually enter the mechanics. Not a big deal. Makes sense really. Pay your 1 or 2 dollars, save the work on your VTT. Choose not to pay and amend your die rollers yourself.

Remember, they have emphatically stated that the VTT will NOT adjudicate. It is simply a table to play at. You will have to make sure the rules are being followed, same as a regular table. If players are buying the extras, then the calculations will likely be done automatically. Otherwise, you have to audit the macros.

Seems pretty straightforward to me. Damn good idea too. Let's face it, most people buy the books for their characters. I don't make a binder without having the Tome of Magic. Sure, I could borrow books, but, remember, VTT gamers don't have this option. There's the whole geography issue preventing it.

IMO, it's going to be the RPGA that really, really drives the VTT in the beginning. I can foresee getting even 1% of RPGA members running regular games on the VTT will mean thousands of players. RPGA members are used to buying their own books since RPGA play means you generally HAVE to have your own books.

In all honestly ladies and gentlemen, if you have a regular table top game right now, the VTT isn't aimed at you in the slightest.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

What I am hoping for is that they set up a two-tier subscription to D&DI. One level is just the online extra content - Dungeon, Dragon etc. The second level gives you access to the applications and online tools. As a Mac user who cannot currently Dual Boot (and not sure if I would buy the program and Windows even if I had an Intel chip Mac), I probably won't pay for a subscription if I have to pay the same price but not have access to the tools. I probably will pay a few dollars for the e-copy of the books.

To turn the argument on people in other threads who have asked why Windows users should subsidize the cost of Mac development, why should I subsidize the cost of the online tools if I can't use them?

 

[Zogmo]

What I am hoping for is that they set up a two-tier subscription to D&DI. One level is just the online extra content - Dungeon, Dragon etc. The second level gives you access to the applications and online tools. As a Mac user who cannot currently Dual Boot (and not sure if I would buy the program and Windows even if I had an Intel chip Mac), I probably won't pay for a subscription if I have to pay the same price but not have access to the tools. I probably will pay a few dollars for the e-copy of the books.

Now this makes a lot of sense. And it should be a much easier way to keep at least some of the Mac users in the loop until a more more feasible solution is presented.