Anthony Valterra 11/14 clarification on last nights post

[Ranger REG]

Anthony isn't a puppet. He calls alot of the shots for WOTC and he has ensured that WOTC has had a steady course over the past few years.

He was heavily involved in the new setting search and many other developments for WOTC.

Let's becareful before we just start throwing names around.

Well, he ain't President of Wizards for nothing. So yeah, having the head honcho putting his reputation on the line is a big deal, especially in the eyes of Hasbro, who is probably see him as nothing more than a gamer and not a suit.

 

[Drew]

I must second what Colonel Hardisson said. I purchased E-Tools first and formost because I really want a great D&D computer utility, but the thing that sealed it for me was Eric Noah's postitive attitude and faith in the project. To see Eric begin to have doubts...well, it doesn't bode well for E-Tools.

It helps that Anthony Valterra has taken charge of the project. Anthony has always shown himself to be a stand-up person. He's also pretty much the last of the Wizards "old guard" who realize and respect how important the ENWorld community is and was to 3E. I have full faith in Anthony's intentions but, as others have said, I fear that he's up against an impossible task.

And its all so frustrating because all I want is a nice, useful D&D program.

 

[bmorris]

Hmmm

You know, up until a few days ago, I can see how a person might have been very pessimistic with regards to etools. But since AV is has made supporting etools a priority and has publicly put his reputation on the line for this product, we've had a very clear update every day.

And I believe he'll get the job done.

When the day comes that AV says, "Sorry guys, we aren't fixing any more bugs. Deal with what you have.", well, perhaps then I'll revert to pessimistic mode!

 

[Hardhead]

PCGen

where is the PCGEN download sight? I had trouble with it before, but i think I can get help with it.

You can find it at pcgen.sourceforge.net. If you haven't used it in a few months, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. The development team over there have been hard at work (unlike SOME people who actually got paid for making a character generator) and it's now both fast and relatively easy to use.

If you need help getting stuff from non-SRD products to work, email me at zach@zachshuford.com and I'll give you a hand.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I almost wish that WOTC would adopt PCGen as the official character generator, it would solve a lot of problems on both sides. However, with volunteer lst monkeys I don't see that happening, a company has to have a certain amount of control. (Not to mention multiple turnarounds as a piece of code first goes to Wizards for an Okay, then back to the lst monkeys to make sure it works, and back to Wizards....)

The Auld Grump, who hasn't bought E-Tools yet, and is getting leerier about the program with every post he reads....

 

[herald]

I'm sorry. But i still hate java progrms. I find them clunky and ugly.

I wouldn't use PCGEN until it performed a huge overhaul of it's interface. It's way to crowded, I still find the new versions way to counter intuitive.

 

[Janx]

At the rate things are going, open source (ie. D20) is sounding better and better.

WoTC has tightened the reins on material that can be used in PCGEN, GameHub and other tools. Presumably to make eTools more appealing as it is licensed to use more material.

However, considering that virtually no tool prints out full text and rules on what is used in a character, I don't see how any of them would affect sales on normal printed, purchased materials.

So really, letting anybody produce their own character generators with full access to rules materials (ie. non-SRD) would allow the best of products to develop and gain acceptance.

Since eTools looks like it is failing (and I haven't seen it since WoTC won't sell it at Best Buy), it would be nice if they loosen up the rules so others can make their working products better.

Personally, I own the books for material I am using. I want my character manager to have the right entries, rules text and coded effects so I can build characters properly. Not having the two integrated causes me a lot of hassle. Then I have to try to fudge the program to get it to create my character. Right now, WoTC is allowing programs to use the name only for non-SRD entities like Feats, Spells and Skills. That is often not sufficient.

Heck, if WoTC really wants to pursue eTools, they can make every "Web-Enhancement" for a supplement be a data package for eTools.

Janx

 

[Brown Jenkin]

I'm sorry. But i still hate java progrms. I find them clunky and ugly.

I wouldn't use PCGEN until it performed a huge overhaul of it's interface. It's way to crowded, I still find the new versions way to counter intuitive.

Have you seen the e-tools interface? How counterintuitive is it with people unable to enter stats properly, not find items because of no tool tips, and unable to print thier characters. Not to mention the horendous color scheme. But each to his own. Personally the new PCGen is far superior in my opinion.

 

[herald]

Im not about to get into a pcgen vs. e-tools debate. I have used both and I still find etools a thousand times more intuative than pcgen. I would have to since there is no documentation for e-tools.

And I hate the way jave is coded. Period. I don't like the file structure. I don't like it's hive like construction. As far as color scemes, I can change those. But color scemes is not as important as functionality.

IMHO E-Tools is still better. IF you want to use PCGEN go right ahead.

 

[Mynex]

Im not about to get into a pcgen vs. e-tools debate. I have used both and I still find etools a thousand times more intuative than pcgen. I would have to since there is no documentation for e-tools.

And I hate the way jave is coded. Period. I don't like the file structure. I don't like it's hive like construction. As far as color scemes, I can change those. But color scemes is not as important as functionality.

IMHO E-Tools is still better. IF you want to use PCGEN go right ahead.

Sounds more like your issues are with Java itself and not PCGen. That's fair enough, a lot of people dislike Java, and it does have some issues. But, programming and programs are still in their 'infancy'... one day...

And I've said it before, and I'll say it again now, PCGen and E-Tools, there is no vs. involved here...

The both meet need requested by gamers... E-Tools the core books, PCGen other D20 publishers... there's absolutely no reason the 2 can't co-exist.

Well, other than bugs they both have.