Will the WOTC Gametable return or is it dead forever?

[JackSmithIV]

Frankly, I wouldn't mind it they cut the game table and visualizer and kept the D&DI price the same. I am absolutely fine for paying $60 a year for the bonus tools and the magazines. That comes down to $5 a month. That's awesome.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Frankly, I wouldn't mind it they cut the game table and visualizer and kept the D&DI price the same. I am absolutely fine for paying $60 a year for the bonus tools and the magazines. That comes down to $5 a month. That's awesome.

Absolutely correct! If the old pricing model (just one type of subscription covering everything) would be still valid, I'd have to pay much more without getting any additional feature I' use.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I think they bit off WAY more than they could chew.

Bah. In terms of how much they could handle, yes. I saw the demo for it at DDXP last year and it was coming along great. I think they did the smart thing. The put everything behind the scenes and they'll give us an update when its available. Doesn't anyone give them the benefit of the doubt after the great job they did with the Character Builder? Cut them some slack.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

hm, just I've heard folk saying it had been nixxed.
As a DM (who also wants ot get to play for a change now and then) whos hours (UK) and health (limitations) gets in way of play, I'd really love ot have something like this!

it did look from demos liek it would be superb, long as they gave it VOIP, it would be amazing.

 

[Squizzle]

Frankly, I wouldn't mind it they cut the game table and visualizer and kept the D&DI price the same. I am absolutely fine for paying $60 a year for the bonus tools and the magazines. That comes down to $5 a month. That's awesome.

If you're feeling very strapped for cash, you could do a one-month subscription every other month. Since they update the compendium toward the end of the month anyway, you'd only be about a week or two behind the rest of the subscribing world in content on your skip months. Total annual cost is $48, for a $1/month savings.

 

[jdrakeh]

The inclusion of a virtual game table always puzzled me given that there are already several available programs that do the same thing (albeit with a bit less flair than the proposed WotC model). I think, from a practicality standpoint, they'd be better off simply licensing a pack of offical D&D 4x expansions for an existing virtual tabletop that hundreds (if not thousands) of people already use.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The inclusion of a virtual game table always puzzled me given that there are already several available programs that do the same thing (albeit with a bit less flair than the proposed WotC model). I think, from a practicality standpoint, they'd be better off simply licensing a pack of offical D&D 4x expansions for an existing virtual tabletop that hundreds (if not thousands) of people already use.

Did you see the screen shots (and videos?) They didn't look like anything I had seen before. I can see the point of trying to make a kick-ass fully fledged 3E Virtual Game Table.

But of course, GameTable does work fine, too.

 

[jdrakeh]

Did you see the screen shots (and videos?) They didn't look like anything I had seen before.

Yeah, I saw them and I agree that they don't look like anything that is out there now (it's the 3D that does it, really). That said, I'm not sure that what I saw was more functional than what's out there now. It also looked pretty resource-intensive, which also makes it inferior to many already available programs for people who don't have a PC dedicated to gaming.

But of course, GameTable does work fine, too.

That's what I prefer, but I'm cheap.

 

[Drkfathr1]

I think they fully intend on producing it, but the logistics involved may be far more than they ever anticipated. By the time they actually get the dang thing up and running it'll be time for 5E, and thus, time to start all over.

I have a feeling that it'll ultimately be abandoned.

 

[knifie_sp00nie]

I think they'll pull it off. I'm just curious why it's so hard for them. Look at all the 3D engine games we have right now. They handle lots of people running and gunning in real time. Why not grab an older, and now free, Quake engine and write on top of that? I'm sure there's plenty of VOIP libraries they could license.

As evidence of what could be done, I offer the open source game UFO AI: UFO: Alien Invasion