I really don't like the Compendium links in articles.

[mach1.9pants]

Hi yall

I just tried to read the Psion article that has just been published and instead of writing out the full powers WotC in their wisdom have instead included the title, fluff description and a link to the compendium. Does any one else out there think that really really sucks? I have just extended for a year just before they did this, this is enough to make me want to cancel my sub. It means I cannot read this PDF on my eReader, it means I cannot even read it on the PC. I find jumping from link to link (which takes a good 5 seconds per power, if not more) to read through the powers virtually impossible! It is not like reading through 4E class powers is a nice flow anyway, this is worse!

This has been implemented without announcement, is it now going to be the standard for ALL articles, effectively ending the Mags as being readable? Imagine all the Dungeon monster stats are just a link to the compendium, etc etc. It is fine as a resource but as something you can actually read? No it is awful.

Is this only me? I must say I am already PDF bitter having WotC end their PDF line without warning.

And why have they done this, to fit more in the page limit? Or an attempt to stop piracy 'cos you have to be signed in to get the crunch?

Anyway I have sent an email and if this is the future, PFRPG will be mine at the end of my current campaign. If I cannot read Dungeon and Dragon on my eReader then (despite the char builder, compendium, etc being such excellent tools) then I will spend my money elsewhere. I subscribe to DDi and I own pretty much every 4E book and the whole module series so this will be a big change. I like 4E ease of use a lot but part of my enjoyment of the hobby is reading new stuff, if they take away the readability of the mags then it is another prod towards a different publisher. Paizo give a free PDF of pretty much everything if you subscribe.....

 

[Inyssius]

I think you would have a much, much shorter thread--perhaps with no replies whatsoever--if you instead asked for people who do approve of this unreadable .

 

[wedgeski]

It's obviously an anti-piracy measure, but I agree with you and think it's the wrong play. You did the right thing by emailing them. Switching entire game systems because of it seems a bit extreme though.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Well I still really like 3E and Paizo seems so much more customer focused, the amount of time they spend on their message boards etc. And I really like to be able to use my PDF reader, I will keep my subscription going until we hit 30th, then I will go PFRPG. Unless this 'compendium link' is a one off.

 

[The_Fan]

Odds are this is not going to be the standard, this is just for articles that accompany the PHB3 prerelease. As I understand, original plan was to just put it out via the Compendium and Character Builder, but that plan was altered when people complained.

This format also just wouldn't work for the normal articles, because those normally aren't released to the Compendium until the following month. Since NOTHING ELSE except the Psion from this month's Dragon has been updated to the Compendium, then there is no way this could possibly be the new standard, unless they absurdly decided to give us no actual crunch until next month.

 

[mach1.9pants]

sensible stuff

Cool I hope you are right, being able to actually read Dragon and Dungeon is a big thing for me. I missed that whole thing, cheers

--whew--

 

[Nymrohd]

They cannot do this on Dragon and Dungeon unless they update the Compendium on every article release.

 

[Jack99]

Thanks for making me laugh, I needed that on this crappy morning, but you might want to tag the thread as humor, because others might not get it..

Cheers

 

[Charwoman Gene]

FWIW, I hate reading stuff off the compendium.

 

[ShadoWWW]

I don't like them as well. And here is the key:
When you display the power in Compendium, let your browser to display the source code of the page with power. You can find a line with the power like this:

<h1 class="encounterpower"><span class="level">Psion Feature </span>Send Minds</h1><p class="flavor"><i>Flavor text</i></p><p class="powerstat"><b>Encounter</b>   <img src="http://www.wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/images/bullet.gif" alt=""/>     <b>Psionic</b><br/><b>Free Action</b>      <b>Ranged</b> 20</p><p class="powerstat"><b>Target</b>: One Creature</p><p class="flavor"><b>Effect</b>: Detail of effect.</p><p><i>First published in <a target="_new" href="http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndlist&brand=All&year=All&type=CoreGameProducts">Player's Handbook 3</a>.</i></p>

Copy the line and add it to THIS CODE as you can see in comments:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
<head id="Head1"><title>

</title><link href="http://www.wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/styles/detail.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /></head>
<body>
    <form name="form1" method="post" action="power.aspx?id=8224" id="form1">
<div>
<input type="hidden" name="__VIEWSTATE" id="__VIEWSTATE" value="/wEPDwULLTExODMwMjkzODRkZGHQZB7jnW7JZi0UAlr6YkSa/nkK" />
</div>

    <div id="detail">
        <!-- These two h1 lines with fictitious powers change with the real powers from  Compendium -->
        <h1 class="encounterpower"><span class="level">Psion Feature </span>Send Minds</h1><p class="flavor"><i>Flavor text</i></p><p class="powerstat"><b>Encounter</b>   <img src="http://www.wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/images/bullet.gif" alt=""/>     <b>Psionic</b><br/><b>Free Action</b>      <b>Ranged</b> 20</p><p class="powerstat"><b>Target</b>: One Creature</p><p class="flavor"><b>Effect</b>: Detail of effect.</p><p><i>First published in <a target="_new" href="http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndlist&brand=All&year=All&type=CoreGameProducts">Player's Handbook 3</a>.</i></p>
        <h1 class="encounterpower"><span class="level">Psion Attack 1 </span>Destruct</h1><p class="flavor"><i>Flavor text</i></p><p class="powerstat"><b>Encounter</b>   <img src="http://www.wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/images/bullet.gif" alt=""/>     <b>Psionic</b><br/><b>Minor Action</b>      <b>Ranged</b> 10</p><p class="powerstat"><b>Target</b>: One creature<br/>Level 11: One or two creatures<br/>Level 21: One, two, or three creatures</p><p class="flavor"><b>Effect</b>: Detail of effect.</p><p><i>First published in <a target="_new" href="http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndlist&brand=All&year=All&type=CoreGameProducts">Player's Handbook 3</a>.</i></p>
        <!-- Copy other powers here -->

    </div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

Save the final code as html file (e.g. psion.html).

Now you have the html page with all powers.