D&D 5E What’s next for DDI

[ki11erDM]

What’s next for DDI

(This is a constructive thread, please if you want to complain take it to another thread)

What do we think they are working on for the other tools? Here is my list I am expecting to come out over the next 12 months.

Offline character viewer built in Silverlight that allows tracking of combat stats during games.
Online monster builder with offline viewer.
Online CAMPAIGN tools to share with your game group.
Mobile apps for iPhone and Windows Phone 7 (and I assume Android) to view characters.
Customization tools integrated into the different packages, so can change feats and make items.
Online mapping tool based around dungeon tiles that you can print off or project at the table.

Any other interesting ideas of what they might make next?

 

[Festivus]

(This is a constructive thread, please if you want to complain take it to another thread)

What do we think they are working on for the other tools? Here is my list I am expecting to come out over the next 12 months.

Offline character viewer built in Silverlight that allows tracking of combat stats during games.
Online monster builder with offline viewer.
Online complain tools to share with your game group.
Mobile apps for iPhone and Windows Phone 7 (and I assume Android) to view characters.
Customization tools integrated into the different packages, so can change feats and make items.
Online mapping tool based around dungeon tiles that you can print off or project at the table.

Any other interesting ideas of what they might make next?

You mean online CAMPAIGN tools I hope!

For the next 12 months... hmm, they never shared the results of that survey did they? Visualizer is coming, online vaulting, offline viewers (for smartphones too I bet), a campaign tool like Masterplan. That's the extent of what I predict. I doubt we will see mapping and VTT in 12 months, but I could be surprised.

 

[Nikosandros]

You mean online CAMPAIGN tools I hope!

Web forums already provide all the functionality for online complaining...

 

[Mengu]

Online complain tools to share with your game group.

Typo WIN!

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I think the next big thing will be an online only version of the monster builder/vault, followed by campaign tools.
Then offline character viewers for all major platforms. Silverlight for pc and iphone7 and native clients for iOS and android.

Then I would see a digital mapper using the WoTC tiles as the next thing, portrait imager following that.

Then after that they will upgrade the VTT to 3D graphics and offer prefabed maps for all adventures with 3D monster models on a micro-transaction basis.

 

[Festivus]

Or perhaps I was wrong... coming days may tell....

Whoops! Browser Settings Incompatible

My network of spies has uncovered some rather interesting information. Keep in mind that this is 4th hand information, but the original source is reportedly a member of the WotC dev team.

According to my sources, the WotC insider confirmed that the Web based tools are to allow integration of a VTT with map. There has already been some initial testing done with a revamped VTT.

Basically, a completely online version of the game is what the goal is (and why silverlight is being used).

Also, the cries for HTML5 have not gone unheard. The plan is to wait until MS finishes some tools to transition from Silverlight to HTML5, and then start making that shift.

So, there's some fuel to feed the rumor fire. Go nuts guys.
AsmodeusLore
D&D Insider News Guide

Rumor, yes, but I believe that AL's track record for this sort of stuff, it's something that is coming... sooner than I expected.

 

[surfarcher]

If they want me to subscribe again the bare minimum they'll need to supply is an offline monster viewer. And that will have me umming and aahing.

As a guy who exclusively DMs and isn't online when preparing I need prep tools I can use offline. I don't care if the tools need me to connect every day to synch or something. But I must be able to use them offline or they are useless to me.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Or perhaps I was wrong... coming days may tell....

Whoops! Browser Settings Incompatible



Rumor, yes, but I believe that AL's track record for this sort of stuff, it's something that is coming... sooner than I expected.

Well, that would all be very cool. I would HATE to be the guy trying to get something as complex as a VTT to work in HTML5 though, ugh is that stuff totally non-standardized, lol. Still, it is pretty much the only long-term hope for real total run-anywhere (aside from Java which still doesn't get you on the iPad yet).

 

[mudbunny]

I *wish* I could tell you about the cool stuff I know is coming down the pipe. I really, really wish I could. Unfortunately, I can't.

(And, because of a bunch of responses on the WotC forums the last time I posted something like this, I am forced to add the following.)

This is not intended as "taunting", "mocking" or any sort of "haha, I know something that you don't know". It is an attempt to reassure people (I hope that I haven't bunred up my currency in trust) that good stuff is on the way. Soon. (And not Valve-time soon, but real-world time soon.)

(Note - Soon is based on what I have been told. As I am not an employee of WotC, they may change things without telling me or informing.)

 

[RLBURNSIDE]

What's next for DDI

First your players got to have their character sheets locked away from them! But now, as a DM, you get that chance too!

As DMs, all the countless hours -- years even! -- that you spent developing your campaign stories, backgrounds, adventure logs, maps, and monsters, will all get to become virtually property of Wotc, so that you will need to pay into perpetuity (unless we decide to delete your account for some future unknown reason) to maintain access to your own campaign! Isn't Web 2.0 exciting! Who'd a thunk that online cloud hosting could be so great for web services companies and so <s>terrible</s> awesome for consumers!

Here's a simple pictogram of the brave new exciting world of "your campaign are now belong to us!" :

"Your ideas/maps/stories/villains/creatures/backgrounds"
-> "Upload to the cloud"
-> Organize and store for 9.99 or more! a month
-> Print out
-> Never be able to download to another, exportable, open format! Just keep paying us! Trust us, it'll be great. We promise to never let you down, to never lose your campaign notes you're worked on for 20 years already, to never share your data, read it, pilfer a few ideas from it, mine it for data to sell to third parties, use it to sell you stuff and junk...we swear!

-> Plus, when 5th edition comes out, we'll turn off the taps and possibly cut off development 1/2 way through your next campaign! And leave the builder in a state where you can't purchase magic items, for example.

-> Oh, and any new books that renders 1/2 your characters useless or "houseruled" i.e. double-plus ungood (unprintable), when we come out with new rules that change how barbarians attack, or rogues hit in melee, or whatnot, even if you don't like them -- we do! And we know better than you, or you wouldn't be subscribing to Dnd Insider, wouldn't you. We know what's more convenient for you, an offline product that worked well until we ruined it and pulled it off the shelves, or an online-only, subscription based product that doesn't allow you to own your own data. Trust us! You have nothing to fear.

Repeat the mantra of Web 2.0 ! Services -- and thoughts -- high up in the clouds.


MOD EDIT: Folks, personally I'm not exactly thrilled about the change in the Character Builder. But this is exactly the kind of snarky hyperbole that is going to result in greater tension on the boards, more work for the moderators and eventually people getting banned. How about we tone it down a bit?