I am setting up a Lost Mines of Phandelver campaign right now, so haven't played, but "kicked the tires" so to speak. It has some UI issues that are...not what you'd expect in a google/apple/microsoft world (scrolling around a map, for example, is clunky). I'd also like a set of drawing tools (colored pencil besides black please), including spell templates (cones, lines, blasts, etc) and perhaps "dungeon dressing" I could plop on an existing map. You can add "tokens" that display things like beds/shrubs/braziers/ etc I suppose, but it would be nice if it was preloaded.
Beyond that, it does well, I like it better than roll20. It incorporates maths, so when you roll an attack it auto-magically calculates the roll with bonuses and determines if its a hit or miss. I find this speeds up play, which for an online game is probably more important since the math fades and the narrative stays front and center, keeping interest. There is a learning curve, but its not too steep, more idiosyncrasies really. I think the "fog of war" could be better, I think the party sheet and combat tracker are selling points. Getting a PC loaded up right is a pain, but I found with practice it goes fairly quick, except spells, that takes the most time to properly set up.
I read the reddit, and I would agree with most criticisms. I have not had resource problems, but we all run gaming PCs with resources out the wazoo, so we probably wouldn't notice that, so count me concerned but unverified as the resource hog nature. He is running ultimate with presumably "demo" clients for the PCs. That may be a part of it (or may not). You can "push" resources to players, and perhaps he is pushing too much content. The PHB is a must, but beyond that, I only share what I want them to when I want them too, I don't preload anything.
For my part, I think if you treated it more as a regular tabletop game and used it for maps and dice rolling you are doing well, everything else is gravy, even character sheets. you don't need the maths, really, just the roll. Thats what we do at the table, right?
tl;dr: good software, needs improvement, you get as much as you put into it. Don't pay the big $$ if you don't plan on investing some time.
