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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 5706456" data-attributes="member: 3400">There are quite a few questions of format and usability bound up here. How many of you have found interesting game stuff on the internet, downloaded it, maybe even printed if off, and then let it kind of sit stashed away in a corner somewhere or found it was a hassle to actually use or maintain? I can think of several things I've done that with.Add to that the hassle of using the rules to begin with. I know more than a few people who find 4e cumbersome for building characters outside of using the character builder tools they got with DDI. Don't get me wrong, the character builder (at least the last stand alone version I tinkered with) was a pretty good tool. But how many people really relish building 4e characters without it?Now imagine the format of whatever info dump you're able to get off the online system. Is it a well formatted, bookmarked, easy to use PDF? Or is it some other hodge-podgy info dump in some other format that will require a few hours to punch into usable shape?It doesn't take much effort to think of several barriers to easy use of a subscription model table-top RPG that no longer has its main access tool. And the more barriers that exist, the fewer fans will continue on with the game, and the harder it will be to recruit new players. A few barriers can certainly be ameliorated by a company interested in providing good customer service, but can we be sure that's the company WotC will be when the day comes to pull the plug on 4e's online support? That's an unknown and I don't envy 4e fans who prefer to use the online tools. They'll eventually face an answer to these issues and it may not be satisfactory.</blockquote>

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