The biggest issue with the new Character Builder:

[nerfherder]

Funny you should use that analogy:
Toyota's acceleration problem could be customer-based

http://sg.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-AW224_DRIVER_NS_20100713184815.gif

Report: Many of Toyota’s Acceleration Problems Due to Driver Error | 80beats | Discover Magazine

It appears the majority of the problems were driver error, not mechanical, and in other cases where the problem was shifting floor mats (which happened in my Saturn too). Sure there are some problems, but those problems include users. (Toyota pedals are very close together, for example, which is great for efficiency and performance, but not for people with sloppy foot placement/control)

And yet it still cost the company around $5bn.

Of course, the problem with using an analogy on a message board is that someone will always spend more time picking apart the specific analogy, rather than addressing the main point.

 

[Obryn]

And I'm having nightmares about MB online...

Oh, I'm sure the limit of 20 custom monsters will rock.

-O

 

[malraux]

I was able to make the Character Builder crash once this morning by continually pressing update buttons after making a change but before it actually accepted them. Is this the program's fault or me being (in this case intentionally) impatient?

The program's. Taking seconds or longer to respond to user input is crazy.

 

[Herschel]

Huh, better tell these fortune 5 companies some of their financial databases are bad then. In one database I use many changes take longer than the Character Builder to accept single data point/status changes.

 

[Herschel]

And yet it still cost the company around $5bn.

Of course, the problem with using an analogy on a message board is that someone will always spend more time picking apart the specific analogy, rather than addressing the main point.

LoL, it took me all of 10 seconds to have those links because I already knew the answer from paying attention to the world around me. I'm not going to spend much time doing research on an internet message board debate.

And you seem to be missing the main point: Nobody said it was bug-free, but the mass of nerd rage is also likely in part due to server, connection, personal computer and PEBKAC errors, not issues with the program itself. How is it I've been usuing it multiple times and not having any issues if it's such a "failure" of a program?

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

And you seem to be missing the main point: Nobody said it was bug-free, but the mass of nerd rage is also likely in part due to server, connection, personal computer and PEBKAC errors, not issues with the program itself. How is it I've been usuing it multiple times and not having any issues if it's such a "failure" of a program?

In all fairness, a lot of the nerdrage seems to be aimed more at the reduced functionality, inferior UI, and inability to use it offline, rather than exclusively at poor performance.

 

[nerfherder]

And you seem to be missing the main point: Nobody said it was bug-free, but the mass of nerd rage is also likely in part due to server, connection, personal computer and PEBKAC errors, not issues with the program itself. How is it I've been usuing it multiple times and not having any issues if it's such a "failure" of a program?

"The program" is irrelevant. The user experience of the system, and the expectations surrounding that are what matters. WotC can control everything up to their link to the internet, are responsible for the choice of technology imposed on the end user's machine (i.e. web browser), and should be influencing the end user through various communications and stakeholder management.

If too many customers believe that the fault is WotC's, then they lose goodwill, no matter whose fault it actually is.

Just like Toyota

 

[malraux]

Huh, better tell these fortune 5 companies some of their financial databases are bad then. In one database I use many changes take longer than the Character Builder to accept single data point/status changes.

yeah, any sort of UI that takes 10+ seconds to respond is a bad app. The fact that it happens in several different apps doesn't change the fact that the CB is also a bad app.

 

[malraux]

And you seem to be missing the main point: Nobody said it was bug-free, but the mass of nerd rage is also likely in part due to server, connection, personal computer and PEBKAC errors, not issues with the program itself. How is it I've been usuing it multiple times and not having any issues if it's such a "failure" of a program?

For a few days, it wouldn't run at all on my system. And since the program is heavily reliant on a server client connection, complaining about connection problems is a complaint about the program itself.

 

[ShaggySpellsword]

I feel like the new CB is MUCH slower than the original. I admit, maybe that's just my perception based on how annoyed I am at losing out on the ability to share an account with my gaming group, keep my subscription in order to have access to the builder, use the builder while on break at work (which blocks WotC's site), and keep track of as many character builds as I want to tinker with for as many campaigns and potential campaigns as I want.

So, I'm going to test it. Using just my personalized playing print-out of my character (a 12th level Tiefling Hybrid Barbarian/Paladin/Turathi Highborn) I will rebuild my PC with both programs and see how long it takes from a blank desktop screen to printing the sheet.

I've loved the value for my money that DDI has given so far and feel that WotC has been great at customer support and service thus-far. I wanted to give the new on-line character builder a chance, and this will test weather or not I have been.