DDI, 6 months later: changing my mind

[Haffrung Helleyes]

Awesome

It's nice to hear that one of the online components of 4E is coming together so well.

I just started running another 3.5 game, so it will probably be a year or two before I take another serious look at 4E. It sounds like WoTC is starting to pick up some real software expertise, and things might look really good by then!

Ken

 

[RefinedBean]

If I remember correctly, the guy who developed the monster builder said it was just a fun little utility that they won't be adding onto.

But with all the love in this thread, and the fact that it's mentioned as one of the top apps of DDI, maybe they should listen in and update it to make Solos and Elites.

Ultimately, it'd be nice to have an Monster/Encounter Builder with all the same functionality and scope as the Character Builder, and would help get both players and DMs on board the DDI bus.

Also, the subscriber-only previews rock my world silly.

 

[TwinBahamut]

You people are making this sound too appealing...

Still, the Mac issue rears its ugly head again. I use a Mac, so what parts of this great functionality would I be missing out on if I wanted to get a subscription? An Encounter Builder sounds like it would be extremely useful (adding it all up so it is just right has been rather annoying for me, especially for large encounters), but if that is one of those parts that doesn't work with a Mac, then it would be a lot less useful to me.

I hate dilemmas...

 

[darjr]

I use a Mac, so what parts of this great functionality would I be missing out on if I wanted to get a subscription?

I think everything, so far, except the character builder, is web based. Works in firefox here.

 

[malraux]

Yeah, everything but the character builder runs fine in safari.

 

[Timeboxer]

I gotta say, I love the Compendium, but I wish it didn't feel so much like trying to drain a pool using a straw.

By which I mean: I think the interface could use some work. I'd love to be able to select a bunch of arbitrary things, store them in some kind of "My Campaign" workspace, and then display them all and print them all super-easily.

 

[Scribble]

I gotta say, I love the Compendium, but I wish it didn't feel so much like trying to drain a pool using a straw.

By which I mean: I think the interface could use some work. I'd love to be able to select a bunch of arbitrary things, store them in some kind of "My Campaign" workspace, and then display them all and print them all super-easily.

Yeah here are a lot of features I'd put on my wishlist like that.

I'd love a dedicated search toold for the magazines. So I could put in say: Cities, and it would pull up all the magazine articles (prefferable abl to be sorted by which magazine) with cities in them. Since it's dedicated to the magazines it wouldn't search the whole site.

I'd love a "favorites" function... A way to tag articles as a favorite, and then a way to pull up only your favorite articles.

I'd like the adventures to be sortable by level.

I'd also like the monster builder to be able to easily scale existing monsters, and create solos n stuff.

I hope they actually complete that portfolio thing they talked about where your home brew stuff could be stored...

Mainly I'm hoping they get it all complete and don't decide it's not worth it...

 

[Hussar]

First of all, I wanted to say how refreshing it is to see a post like this. Amid all the entrenched battle lines of the edition wars, it's really nice to see somebody say, "Turns out I like this a lot more than I ever thought I would."

Second of all, I'm right there with you. I had little to no interest in the DDI just 2 or 3 months ago. Then I saw the character builder and I was pretty impressed. I asked my wife to get me a subscription for Christmas and every time I mess with it I seem to find some other nifty feature that makes it a good investment.

This, a 1000 times this.

Hallivar, I can't posrep you again, but, I hope you are raking it in right now mang. Hearing this sort of thing just gives me the warm and fuzzies.

 

[ki11erDM]

The compendium makes it worth the $5 a month. Everything else is just icing to me (until the Character Creator comes out).

What I really want them to do is to pay Asmor (www.asmor.com/scripts.php) and give him a graphic artist to pretty up his apps and post them for free at dndinsider.com. His Quartermaster tool has saved me hours and hours of time and his Monster Maker is better than the WoTC one.

 

[Nebulous]

What I really want them to do is to pay Asmor...and his Monster Maker is better than the WoTC one.

I have to second the monster maker, i find it better laid out and easier to use than the official one. I'd love to see it updated with an even slicker interface too.