VTT beta feedback?

[moxcamel]

I don't doubt what you saw, but so far the speed for me has been fine. And I am consistently playing with players from Europe and Australia (I'm in Canada) with no real lag issues.

Really slow performance has not been the norm in my experience.

Very good to know, thanks!

 

[Scribble]

I remember someone saying something about the frame rate of that YouTube video being off or something?

I finally got an invite last night- so I should be testing it out at some point.

 

[kaomera]

That is encouraging. I don't play any table-top games now, due to an incompatible schedule. BUt the VTT could change that, especially with a built-in network. All of my friends are far, far apart. So the Wizards community is probably my best best for playing at odd hours of the night in my PJs

When 4e came out I was hoping that the VTT (or whatever it was called then?) would replace MMOs for me. At this point I'm not actually playing MMOs anyway, and I'm a bit less excited by the prospect, but I'm hoping that when it's up that will change.

The real asset the VTT will have for me, as opposed to MapTools etc., would have to be the community. I want to form a "guild" and schedule "raid nights" when I or whoever's up to bat as DM next can run the group through "an instance". I don't really know how reasonable any/all of that will end up being, but that's how I expect to initially approach the issue. I want to have a group of people I can chat and have fun with on a social level, and also run through something like 3-6 hours of dungeon once or twice (or even thrice) a week.

 

[Scribble]

I think that's kind of what WoTC is pushing for... Since it'll be right there on the home page, and will have (ostensibly) people always ready to jump into a game, it will become the default engine for playing D&D online.

 

[OnlineDM]

Yes, I think WotC wants the Virtual Table to enable a community of pick-up games or raids or that sort of thing. I'm not into playing D&D that way, so I don't know too much about it, but I know that the lobby that they've set up lends itself to that sort of play. It has a similar feel to the lobbies for Magic: The Gathering games in Magic Online - a game is never more than a few clicks away.

As for MapTool issues, [MENTION=1809]Nathal[/MENTION], I'm not sure what issues you had, but it has worked fine for me. I use a Netgear router at my home, and I configured the router to forward MapTool's default port to my laptop. Once I set that up (and it wasn't hard to do - see this post - specifically the Gametable section - for the process, though with a different port number) I've never had any trouble hosting a game.

 

[samursus]

Interestingly enough, speaking of pick-up and "raid" games on certain nights, thats pretty much what is going on right now in beta. I am really seeing the VTT fulfilling a sizable niche of the 4e RPG community: those who REALLY want to play but can't get enough play in RL groups (or any, in some cases). Its already filling that niche for the dedicated (those willing to work with the basic tools) and once the integration is in, it would be very easy for anyone with a computer, internet, and microphone to play in a game of D&D with some cool people.

And let me just say, every person I have played with so far in the beta, are class acts. Patient with newbie players and DM's alike and all interested in making this thing awesome!

 

[Scribble]

What's awesome is it kind of sounds like a 24/7 convention.

Count me as someone who loves convention games. I also love my ongoing campaigns with the normal group- but there's something about interacting with other players, and other styles that keeps things fresh.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to make it to an actual con in a long while- so this seems awesome to me.

 

[Nathal]

The "jump right in and start playing" aspect is cool. Hopefully they will have an active game board, with both classic campaign-style, and one-shot games represented.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

Btw, monster import is up. Still a little clunky, you don't get the token on the board immediately but have to choose it from a drop-down list (understandable, though, if you want to slowly "collect" the monsters you need before placing them). I had one wierd error where damage was way too high, but couldn' reproduce it. Right now only custom monsters import, but all you have to do is copy one and call it "Kobold Slasher " and you're golden.
I can smell sweet, sweet potential.

 

[Nathal]

That is really cool! The kinks will get worked out in time.

Btw, monster import is up. Still a little clunky, you don't get the token on the board immediately but have to choose it from a drop-down list (understandable, though, if you want to slowly "collect" the monsters you need before placing them). I had one wierd error where damage was way too high, but couldn' reproduce it. Right now only custom monsters import, but all you have to do is copy one and call it "Kobold Slasher " and you're golden.
I can smell sweet, sweet potential.