It's a Damn Shame about E-Tools (please read)

[Mortaneus]

E-Tools doesn't hold a candle to PCGen for one very simple reason. E-Tools is completely incapable of creating a single one of the characters in my campaign. PCGen can do all of them without a hitch.

PCGen, while being quirky, works.

 

[Krail Stromquism]

Im not sure even where to begin.

I feel a little bit scammed.

eTools, I do not like it.

I tried to make an NPC, it was a bit wonky, and they have FR feats and equipment. I could see past the GUI and its bugs but then I tried to print preview...didnt work. I tried exporting it as an HTML file...didnt work, then XML...didnt work either. So Ive now got a character I cant do anything with.

SWEET!

and all it cost me was 30 bucks plus tax!

Im using every once of willpower not to just totally bag on this program but its hard. Other programs, which are free, have been out for a while and Fluid should have used those as a standard and tried to out do them in everyway. I dont know how much Fluid got paid for this product but it had to have been too much.

Ok, Im just going to start freeaking out so I'll go now.

Until things are fixed and patched and everything is happy Ill stick with PCGEN.

Krail

 

[Fast Learner]

Being unable to print preview is a form of bug (due to Fluid neglecting to tell you what browsers you need to print and preview the sheets), but is easily fixed. If you don't have IE 5.5 you'll need it. If you have IE 5.5 already and you still can't print or preview, it appears you'll need to upgrade to IE 6.0 (that's what I had to do). This is well documented on Fluid's support forums. (Yes, it still sucks that you need such a thing, but there are pros you'll see in the future that will, imo, make such browser goofiness worthwhile.)

 

[Wormwood]

(Yes, it still sucks that you need such a thing, but there are pros you'll see in the future that will, imo, make such browser goofiness worthwhile.)

Unfortunately, not all of us have the patience to spend $30 to join a Cargo Cult.

 

[Mistwell]

I'll tell you, I expected an expansion on the free character generator we got with the Player's Handbook, and didn't get that. There is no excuse for the rotten interface they gave us with E-tools. There should be the easy drag and drop we had with the Character Generator. It should have the cool music, the interesting sounds, the humor, the beautiful graphics that the Character Generator had, but it doesn't. And why doesn't it? What is their excuse for this?

And don't tell me this will be patched. Interfaces, that don't start as skins to begin with, are rarely a subject of patches (though I suppose it has been done).

Having used PCGen for a long time, and being fairly familiar now with E-tools (and really wanted to like it), I can honestly say that the two programs are very similar. And that stinks. I expected a better product if I am paying for it. If the data has to be the same, at least make it LOOK better, be more user friendly, and engage me.

It's not a bug, just a poor choice for product development.

 

[Davin]

There is no excuse for the rotten interface they gave us with E-tools. There should be the easy drag and drop we had with the Character Generator. It should have the cool music, the interesting sounds, the humor, the beautiful graphics that the Character Generator had, but it doesn't. And why doesn't it? What is their excuse for this?

I'm sorry that it doesn't live up to your expectations. However, WotC/Fluid asked us (the online community) what we thought of that interface and the answer was a resounding "give us tools, not toys!" *We* told *them* to get rid of that interface, and they obliged.

(I just wanted to make sure your finger was pointed in the right direction.)

 

[smetzger]

I'm sorry that it doesn't live up to your expectations. However, WotC/Fluid asked us (the online community) what we thought of that interface and the answer was a resounding "give us tools, not toys!" *We* told *them* to get rid of that interface, and they obliged.

(I just wanted to make sure your finger was pointed in the right direction.)

So they gave us something that had different color for different screens, no mouseover hints, and forms that don't maximize correctly.

 

[Nathanael]

Why not? They used the same business logic to completely revamp the FR products. One book didn't sell well, so they changed the direction of the entire line. So why not take one comment 'we want tools, not toys,' which I believe refered to the 3d mapper and models, and totally blow it out of proportion.

Same with ETools. If it doesn't sell well, they'll pull a Chainmail, yank it from the shelves, sit on it for a year, and then release it as a different product that you'll have to buy all over, but which is functionally the same.

WOTC/Hasbro business managers: Monkeys banging away at typewriters, I tells ya...

 

[Davin]

So they gave us something that had different color for different screens, no mouseover hints, and forms that don't maximize correctly.

I'll grant you, it could have been a little nicer. But what I was referring to was that Mistwell was apparently complaining that WotC/Fluid took it upon themselves to completely change the interface from the "demo" look and feel to a "Windows" look and feel and felt that was un-called-for. I just wanted to point out that it was *we* that called for it.

 

[Davin]

So why not take one comment 'we want tools, not toys,' which I believe refered to the 3d mapper and models, and totally blow it out of proportion.

Personally, I think corporations as a whole have serious problems with their motivations. But the "tools, not toys" response had specifically to do with the PH demo software look & feel and had nothing to do with the product functionality or corporate mis-management.