You down with OCB?

[Dannyalcatraz]

I haven't seen any news lately: how is the debugging of the OCB (Online Character Builder) going?

I'm asking because at least one of the guys in my group is considering using it.

 

[Echohawk]

They seem to be dealing with the bugs quite quickly, perhaps even faster than they dealt with problems with the offline version. But the current focus seems to be on dealing with actual "bugs" rather than making any changes to the user interface or underlying functionality.

I think I still prefer the offline version from a usability point of view, but I think the online CB is now good enough to use. (Almost all of my players have now switched to it from the offline version.)

 

[DonAdam]

I was going to comment "Yeah you know me," until I realized you meant "online" builder instead of "original" builder.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I have witnessed very few bugs with it.

It is still missing a few features though, such as the simple ability to toggle Inherent Bonuses without resorting to loading an offline builder file with IB toggled on.

No houseruling (simple or otherwise) yet either.

 

[Lord Ernie]

The update from last month corrected a huge number of bugs, and it seems they are still going strong.

The speed has also improved to the point it's now workable, and I'm actually starting to enjoy building characters again (although a bit faster really wouldn't hurt).

I have witnessed very few bugs with it.

It is still missing a few features though, such as the simple ability to toggle Inherent Bonuses without resorting to loading an offline builder file with IB toggled on.

No houseruling (simple or otherwise) yet either.

If you're willing to fiddle with the CBC, there's a way to introduce bonus feats - I hand out the Expertise feats for free in my campaign, and I found this on the WotC forums: export the character from the OCB, load it into the CBC, add the bonus feats, save, and import them again into the OCB. I am not sure if this works for bonus skills, powers, or 'illegal' powers (like giving a warlock a wizard power), however.

 

[Piratecat]

It really is much better. I no longer want to punch a unicorn in the face after using it for three minutes. I'm up to maybe 18 to 20 minutes, usually about the point where a lack of customization frustrates me, but it's nice and stable nowadays with a number of good features.

 

[666Sinner666]

Overall it works very well. The load times when you click something still upset me, but thats most likely becuase I am on a netbook. No real customization options but I can only hope those will come soon.

P.S. Anyone notice the little greyed out button in the equiment management section? Looks like we may be getting the ability to create custom equipment again soon.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Still slow (but faster).

Still buggy (but less buggy).

Still an insufferable interface (though less offensive).

It's not miserable anymore, but it's still blah. It isn't at the point where pen-and-paper beat it anymore, but they're kind of tied.

 

[Lalato]

Ever since the last update, it's been working rather well for me. Then again, I don't have a need for houserules or inherent bonuses and whatnot. The one 4e game I play in uses the rules as written.

I can see how not having that other stuff would be annoying. I'm just glad it doesn't affect me right now.

 

[No Name]

P.S. Anyone notice the little greyed out button in the equiment management section? Looks like we may be getting the ability to create custom equipment again soon.

If you're talking about the Bonus Items button, it's usable now (albeit buggy). Pick a class that gets free stuff, and this button is where you go to choose that stuff.

For example, a bard gets free rituals. Once you choose the two rituals, the button turns green and has a check mark. The buggy part is when you have multiple characters saved with free stuff. They bleed over into each other. The bonus items on the first character you load show up on all subsequent characters that also get bonus items. So your wizard will show bard rituals if you loaded your bard first. Just have to refresh the browser to fix it.