VT Beta moving to DDI Subscriber phase in March

[mudbunny]

This broadcast was recently sent out about the VT Beta.

Hello Beta Participants,

In March, we will be reaching the next major milestone of the VT beta and making the shift from the “Friends & Family” phase into the “D&DI Subscriber” phase. Current participants who are D&DI subscribers will retain access to the beta and we look forward to utilizing the feedback we receive to develop a great foundation for the final version.

To kickoff this next phase, we will gradually introduce blocks of D&DI subscribers into the beta group. In time, the number of participants that are able to run sessions on the VT will increase dramatically. During this time, we expect the number of acting tables to rise which will make it easier to find a session to participate in.

Before we begin the D&DI subscriber phase, we will be implementing a week-long “blackout period” in which we will be making some changes to the Virtual Table. This period will begin on February 28th and run through March 6th.

Some examples of the changes we will be making include removing the ability to import and export adventure files. We know adventure sharing is something many DMs enjoy doing and we already have a few ideas on how we might reintroduce sharing in the future. We are also working hard on developing a feature that will allow you to save your adventures to the cloud. You can expect an update on that in the next few weeks.

During the blackout period, any adventures you have loaded into the campaign tables will be retained. We highly recommend you make sure to load up all adventures you would like to retain prior to the blackout so that you can continue to use all of the content you’ve created and entered into the VT.

We sincerely appreciate all of the testing and feedback we’ve received through the Friends & Family phase and hope you’ve all enjoyed participating in the beta. It’s an exciting time for the Virtual Table and with each step we take, we are that much closer to a public release. Thanks for all your support!!

edit to add - I haven't seen any note of what happens to non-DDI subscribers in this phase. As soon as I do, I will, of course, share the news.

Update #2 - According to WotC_Josh, as soon as the tool enters the DDI Subscribers phase of the beta, non-subscribers will be losing access to the beta.

 

[chitzk0i]

I'm not in the beta, so I don't know much about using the VTT, but this seems like a bonehead move. Disabling import/export? If I could import data for an LFR module, then that's something I'd be interesting in using. But if I've got to set it up myself, why use this instead of MapTools?

 

[Dannager]

I'm not in the beta, so I don't know much about using the VTT, but this seems like a bonehead move. Disabling import/export? If I could import data for an LFR module, then that's something I'd be interesting in using. But if I've got to set it up myself, why use this instead of MapTools?

They're clearly working on a way to implement a permanent solution to the module import/export feature - this is stated as something they want to do. It's probably just that they've discovered something they're not happy with regarding the way it currently works, and they're disabling it for right now so that they can find a better way to do it. When you're testing a product, you don't want to give your testers a version of the software that has features you're not planning on using; that could cause problems you don't need to deal with and soak up a lot of time hunting down bugs that won't exist in the final product anyway.

Don't fret.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

I'm not in the beta, so I don't know much about using the VTT, but this seems like a bonehead move. Disabling import/export? If I could import data for an LFR module, then that's something I'd be interesting in using. But if I've got to set it up myself, why use this instead of MapTools?

If you implement import/export, you work out a data format. It's not wise to do that before importing/exporting monsters and characters works ly, really works well. Otherwise you have to constantly fiddle around with the data files which will lead to incompatibilities. If you want to hear my guess as a beta-tester: importing monsters and chars was implemented not long ago, and i bet they realized that they could not finalize any exporting solution before it worked perfect. Just my opinion, though.

Just like it happens with Maptool now and then: there have been several revisions that forced you to rebuild certain campaigns.

 

[chitzk0i]

After they disable import/export, then you'll be able to save your adventures to the cloud! But if you can't import or export, will you be able to share content you create with others?

 

[Scribble]

After they disable import/export, then you'll be able to save your adventures to the cloud! But if you can't import or export, will you be able to share content you create with others?

To quote the broadcast:

We know adventure sharing is something many DMs enjoy doing and we already have a few ideas on how we might reintroduce sharing in the future.

So they have a few ideas on how to do it... Which probably means eventually yes.

 

[ScorpiusRisk]

This means a ton of people will have their hands on it before PAXEast. That, to me, is a great!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I really need to check out the Beta again. I haven't done much with it after some initial testing.