Digital Insider 21

[Shroomy]

I was poking around the WoTC website and found today's "Digital Insider" article (they haven't posted it to the main page yet):

Digital Insider #21

Highlights:

*Apologies for last week's column being a repeat of the "Ampersand" information; you can thank Mother Nature for that.
*Updates on the Character Builder. The full version is still scheduled to be released at the end of January.
*WoTC is working on getting the account management features more up to date. News to follow.
*Hints about a certain famous demi-lich.

 

[Zaukrie]

Pretty lame. All it said was, we still plan to launch the builder, unless something happens, which isn't really news. We know there are issues with the account management, we are trying to fix those.

That's it. After not doing one last week, or while they were closed, or while it was snowing. As an insider, I don't have any faith that this part of the package is worth more than the bits and bites it is made of.

I'm not surprised. Randy may or may not have been good at the rest of his job, but at least he improved their communications. Now that he's gone, I've not seen much of anything.

There are probably a dozen or more questions people have been raising for weeks/months, and not one has been addressed (for example, we are still waiting on that paypal option, man, that must be hard).

 

[gizmo33]

*Apologies for last week's column being a repeat of the "Ampersand" information; you can thank Mother Nature for that.

Mother Nature is keeping them from getting internet connections? I'm a big fan of time off and all of that - but I would think that a bulk of the work could be done remotely.

 

[Scribble]

Mother Nature is keeping them from getting internet connections? I'm a big fan of time off and all of that - but I would think that a bulk of the work could be done remotely.

It's easy to do stuff remotely- But not when it comes to the corporate world.

You need stuff like VPNs, and to give people access to those VPNs, and then you have to worry about how that effects people's salaries, and overtime, and taxes and stuff. Plus I think technically you can't make someone work remotely on their own equipment, so that means supplying people with remote equipment they probably won't use much...

Plus then you have people getting upset because other people just have the day off but you still have to work from home and get no extra benefit...

Headaches!

 

[Zaukrie]

He had all day Monday and all day Tuesday to write something. He had a week to write something for this one.

None of that takes into account whether or not he did a minute or two of thinking about it while not in the office. I would never ask someone to work while on vacation. But, that wasn't the situation here.

Note the lack of discussion here and on the gleeeeeeeemax boards in general on the DDI articles and news.....they just don't manage us well at all.

 

[Shemeska]

Pretty lame. All it said was, we still plan to launch the builder, unless something happens, which isn't really news.

Well I think at this point that they'll release something by the end of the month. But the question lingering in my mind is if they'll be releasing it because it's actually ready for release, or because they can't afford to promise and not deliver on that promise again, and so regardless of the number of bugs, or its stability, etc they'll still release it with an overly healthy amount of self-congratulations.

 

[Zaukrie]

Not surprisingly, you are not alone in your concerns. I have been pretty impressed with the builder at this point, actually. Dragon and Dungeon have good to very good content, if a tad light in volume. The compendium is a great tool.

But, their ability to communicate with us has really dropped off again....really. Has any designer posted to their WotC blog in weeks?

 

[Dire Bare]

Pretty lame. All it said was, we still plan to launch the builder, unless something happens, which isn't really news. We know there are issues with the account management, we are trying to fix those.

I don't think it's lame at all. If you are providing your "insiders" with a weekly report . . . sometimes there just isn't relevant news to impart every week. This week Bill apologized for the slack last week, but really, what else could he have added in last weeks column? Of course, no matter what they do, there will be a vocal contingent of displeased gamers.

That's it. After not doing one last week, or while they were closed, or while it was snowing. As an insider, I don't have any faith that this part of the package is worth more than the bits and bites it is made of.

Practically the entire country got hit with severe weather over the holidays. Seattle got a lot more snow than they are used to and conditions were hazardous. Paizo shut down, WotC shut down, and tons of other businesses in the Seattle area shut down. I think it's lame to try and criticize this, as weather is outside of mortal control and all that.

There are probably a dozen or more questions people have been raising for weeks/months, and not one has been addressed (for example, we are still waiting on that paypal option, man, that must be hard).

I'll bet dollars to donuts that adding a paypal option isn't "simple". It's not like they can just flip a switch. And it may not be high on their list of priorities, which is fine by me. I'm fairly certain the number of gamers interested in D&DI that don't own a credit card or debit card are a relatively small number of folks.

While I'm sure there are plenty of questions people have that have not yet been answered . . . if WotC doesn't have solid answers yet to give them then why would they mention them in the weekly update? "Ah, about that paypal issue some of you asked about . . . still no news, but aren't you glad I mentioned it?"

D&DI has a long ways to go before it reaches the functionality we all expected/hoped for at 4th Edition launch, but I feel a lot of the criticism thrown WotC's way is unwarranted and unrealistic. As usual.

 

[Dire Bare]

Well I think at this point that they'll release something by the end of the month. But the question lingering in my mind is if they'll be releasing it because it's actually ready for release, or because they can't afford to promise and not deliver on that promise again, and so regardless of the number of bugs, or its stability, etc they'll still release it with an overly healthy amount of self-congratulations.

Glass half-full type, aren't ya?

The Character Builder Demo works practically flawlessly, I'm fully confident that the full version will work beautifully as well. Will there be bugs? Oh, I'm sure of it. Will it be broken, uber-buggy, unstable, etc? I highly doubt it.

We'll find out either way in a few weeks.

 

[Dire Bare]

He had all day Monday and all day Tuesday to write something. He had a week to write something for this one.

None of that takes into account whether or not he did a minute or two of thinking about it while not in the office. I would never ask someone to work while on vacation. But, that wasn't the situation here.

Oh give me a break! I'm sure that writing the Digital Insider column is all Slavicsek has on his plate at WotC!

It's important for him, and WotC, to keep us as informed as possible to allay our fears and build our confidence in D&D Insider . . . but the weekly column is probably not tops on his priority list, which is as it should be IMO. I'm sure that, just like The Rouse, Slavicsek has more to do than he can reasonably get done in an 8-hour workday.