The Dungeons & Dragons Virtual Table

[ProfessorCirno]

TAnd then communication with the web-based Monster Builder. (You *did* catch that in the FAQ...right??)

Yes, I was just hoping it was a fluke or joke, since the Monster Builder was the second most useful thing besides CB, and hahahahaha welp, we know what happened to the CB.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I need to spread some xp around. Can someone hit Weem for me?

 

[Canor Morum]

w00t!

 

[Mirtek]

So they try to make a cheap copy of maptools now? While they're going to fail, at least they did pick a good role model

 

[delericho]

If this works as advertised, it will be awesome. Indeed, the VTT is the one tool that would persuade me to maintain an active DDI subscription.

However, I will believe it when I see it, and maybe not even then.

 

[Mirtek]

Simple. They aren't going to announce anything that isn't pretty far along in the development process just in case something massively horrible goes wrong and they can't complete it.

Didn't the online CB show that in such a case they just release it anyway?

 

[Jack99]

I need to spread some xp around. Can someone hit Weem for me?

Done

 

[DaveMage]

That's promising- a nod in support of older editions. It might help them gain a little revenue from non-4e players.

Such as the 5e players by the time the bugs are worked out.

 

[fanboy2000]

the clamming up after the first VTT debacle was what they shouldn't have done.

Actually, I think it was the right way to go. After the VTT was scrapped, they did an poll of their customer base and figured out that a working character builder and monster builder should be their first priority. They announced that, then announced the CB, then delivered.

By doing this, shortening the time between announcement and delivery, they started to repair the breach. They then repeated this with the Monster Builder. Then they preformed monthly updates.

The problem, IMHO, wasn't the lack of communication, it was the monthly updates to the CB and MB. Ironically, they failed to learn form (of all people) Code Monkey Publishing. CMP, if you don't remember or otherwise don't know, took over development of E-Tools after Fluid botched the job up. CMP did two things: 1) Improved the E-Tools over time, adding more functionality that should have been in the 1.0 release; and 2) sold data sets of published books for both E-Tools and PCGen.

Had they sold data sets from the beginning, there wouldn't have been a sudden move to online applications, and no communication problem from lack of warning.

"But", I hear someone say, "what about a continuous income stream? Isn't that what Wizards really wants?" Well, there are plenty of way wizards can get a steady income from players. Online periodicals and continuous compendium access are probably the most obvious.

The silence while 4e was being developed and tested was the wrong way to go.

Again, I disagree. Once you announce something to the public, you make a commitment to it. It would have derailed the other books they were publishing pre-anouncment. As it was, it was many, many, long months between the announcement and the release. Frankly, I think they should have announced it the day it was released. "Hey guys, new edition! Have fun!"

See mudbunny's actions during this whole thing. More of WotC should be like that. In the midst of the storm he's doing yeoman's work.

Mudbunny runs around the forums saying he either doesn't know what's going on and is speculating like the rest of us, or saying his NDA prohibits him from saying anything. That's pretty much what Wizard's employees do. No offense, he's a good guy, but so are WotC_Trevor and Mike Mearls.

 

[Xris Robin]

Given that I'm using Maptool right now, and it's free... WotC would have to make the most awesome VTT ever to get me to pay for it.

I mean, nice GUI is nice, but it'll take more than that to impress me. And I'm not certain anything could get me to subscribe to DDI for it.