Monster Builder (the non-online one) gets a patch!

[Scribble]

To be honest, what's going to kill DDI for me is not CB online... it's MB online... I won't be able to work on my games during my work trips.

Conversely- since I only ever take my work computer (which I have no ability to install programs on) on work trips- I'll finally be able to START working on my games on work trips.

 

[Tazawa]

Well apparently it was a cruel joke after all.

WotC_Trevor posted this on the Wizards boards tinyurl.com/2cu7n8p:

So this was intended to be the last update for the downloadable Adventure Tools, and I wasn't actually 100% sure we were going to do this at all, which is why I didn't mention it in any of my updates. The trigger and recharge disappearing bugs are still there, and I've passed that along to the studio in the off chance that we end up doing another update for these tools, but we don't currently have another one planned.

As for the RPGA content being removed, that's in line with what we did with the Character Builder to make sure that all the content that we push out has gone through our normal R&D processes. This was just done to keep that standard and to make sure that the content for the downloadable tool matches the web tool as closely as possible. All that said, I definitely get that losing access to content is no fun, and I've made sure to let the studio know about this. Again, we don't have another update planned for the downloadable AT, and this more recent update is most likely going to be the last one. If that changes, I'll definitely let you guys know.

So basically Wizards released a bug fix with no significant bug fixes that just happened to remove content. I should never have got my hopes up. I feel like I've been tricked into downloading the update so that they could delete the RPGA content. This little episode has left me a lot less confident in Wizard's truthfulness and ability to produce a working Monster Builder (offline or online).

What a disappointing mess!

 

[techno]

It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion. I really hope they are able to get their act together soon. I want to see them succeed.

 

[Mercurius]

I personally found the RPGA stuff to be unwanted noise. My guess is that they're removing it to cut down on information overload, not for any nefarious reason.

How dare you assume that anything WotC does is not for a nefarious reason?

I ran to this topic in hope of something good... as usual, WIzards of the Coast let me down.

Looks like an Epic Fail Update.

An EF-U, iow? Did you intend that or was that Subconscious Genius?

Yeah, as a dm a good working MB is the biggest draw DDI offers me.

Right, me too, and would add that non-online access to MB is very handy at a game table, especially when you play at a friend's house with a buggy wifi connection or you have some time to kill planning an adventure at a wifi-less place of some kind or another.

 

[Scribble]

Right, me too, and would add that non-online access to MB is very handy at a game table, especially when you play at a friend's house with a buggy wifi connection or you have some time to kill planning an adventure at a wifi-less place of some kind or another.

Man... It's times like this when I realize how lucky I am as a coastal mostly city dwelling tech snob...

The last time I was in an internet free place was... ummm 2009 I think, before planes started offering wifi.

 

[ourchair]

Doesn't it seem a bit embarrassing to call your 'update' an update and then say there's no identifiable data in the update for your users?

Couldn't they at least have said -- fixing bugs?

Fixing bugs IS an update. It's been called such very often in the software world.

Everytime your Wintel system automatically updates itself? That's really just going online to address newly discovered security exploits and programming bugs.

 

[Alhambra]

Fixing bugs is INDEED an update. But I wonder if they're just doing it to retrieve old subscribers. Too drunk to tell. Just my opinion. I could be wrong.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

If this update fixed bugs then, yes, I agree it would be an update.

However, this update does not fix bugs. It deletes RPGA content but the bugs still remain. If you don't believe me, try creating a monster by editing a copy of another and then check:

- the speeds;
- the resistances;
- the aura;
- and rechargeable powers;
- triggered actions,

and see if any of these things are correct. Those were the main bugs and they're all still there.

But the biggest bug is WotC's lack of leadership within the D&D part of the business. Bill Slavicsek should be coming online and addressing the issue of the e-tools being e-turds.

 

[renau1g]

No, see that's your problem Scrivener. You have the wrong bugs listed. The "bugs" that Trevor was referring to, were the whole "RPGA" monsters being in there. After all, the less in the Offline MB, the more likely people will want to use the online MB. Oh it makes me laugh that they call it an update to Adventure Tools with a straight face...there are no Tools. There is a tool that was update, not multiple tools, despite all those buttons on the launcher...

"Adventure Tools update:
We fixed a number of bugs that cropped up during our last release and we are releasing this version as the last downloadable one, before switching to the online Adventure Tools. There is no content update for Adventure Tools today.

We wanted to make sure you had a fully functioning tool to create monsters while we work on releasing the online Adventure Tools. The online Adventure Tools will release in beta later this month and will include the new content from Dark Sun Creature Catalog and Monster Vault."

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Actually i would be even happier if they remove every outdated thing of the monster builder and the caracter builder. There is too much useless content.