Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Ravidell_the_Black Sep 08, 2010 19:00:33	My DDI subscription expired a few months ago, and I am reluctant to renew it due to the (appearant) lack of support or progress on the Adventure Tools.  Content addition aside, I have seen or heard nothing regarding upcoming modules, bug fixes, add ons or otherwise. Is the program dead?  Is this the best it will ever be? Come on WotC, you have a good thing going with the PC Bulder and Adventure Tools!  Give us some new functions!! Can anyone give some insight into the fate of the Tools program?  Gencon rumours?  Anything....
#2 ingenwulf Jan 09, 2011 12:39:18	Also interested, any official comment?
#3 kyremi Jan 11, 2011 16:45:37	As far as I know, the monster builder is going the same way as the character builder and is going web-based. So basically, no, no improvements anywhere. It'll remain worse than beta on the web just like the CB. Then again, I'm not sure... this is just rumours afaik.
#4 zombie_babies Jan 14, 2011 9:40:23	It seems WotC has taken a 'See you next Tuesday' approach to the online MB.  No real dates, just keep on watchin' for updates. ;)
#5 Damon_Tor Jan 30, 2011 22:14:14	The online Monster Builder is currently in Beta. You can no longer create your own monsters or powers: you can rename existing monsters, change their levels, and rename their powers. Enjoy your new and improved Monster Builder.
#6 atrociousDM Jan 31, 2011 5:21:59	The online Monster Builder is currently in Beta. You can no longer create your own monsters or powers: you can rename existing monsters, change their levels, and rename their powers. Enjoy your new and improved Monster Builder. I have to say it feels odd defending WotC, but... When the Online Character Builder was launched, the outcry from the fans could be summarised into two main points: There should have been a wide beta for ironing out all the niggly bugs. While the bugs were ironed out, the original application should have been available to their customer. With the rollout of the Online Monster Builder, WotC has listened to their fans regarding how the application was pushed out, and I think they deserve some kudos for that. I don't think it is appropriate to harangue them for features missing in the Beta of the Online Monster Builder, when the decision to even give a large portion of their fanbase access to it, was very much what we asked for after the OCB debacle. It shows that they, as a company, are learning from their mistakes, and that they are receptive to their fans. Let's wait until after  the Online Monster Builder is released officially, and then we can complain about the missing features.
#7 Damon_Tor Jan 31, 2011 7:22:59	A: They are calling it a beta.  A beta, by definition, has all the release features included, albeing not necessarily working. B: The problem, as you note, wasn't so much that the new CB hadn't been beta tested (it was being beta tested, they just happened to call the start of the beta test "release") the problem was that they left their customers for threee months without one of the products they were paying for, and then for going on two months now, gave them a beta-level program.  What they should have done is release the OCB for beta while still maintaining the old program. They've done nothing different.  The first Monster Builder was broken past the point of being useful for most customers by an official patch, and left unfixed for months.  The fact that they are doing a proper beta test doesn't change the fact that every ddi customer is paying for a service they are not recieving. They've changed their PR, not their ethics.
#8 atrociousDM Jan 31, 2011 9:51:39	I completely agree with many of your points. The way that WotC handled and to a certain extent, still is handling, the migration from offline to online silverlight tools is incredibly unwise and is likely to have lost them a lot of paying customers. I myself have turned off my autorenew, and I am currently leaning towards not rescubscribing when my subscription period is over. I also think that they have realised that they have messed up. Unfortunately, I don't think that they are willing to spend the resources and time needed to improve their soon-to-be-phased-out offline Monsterbuilder(and to be honest, I am not sure that I would want them to). Because of this, my decision to resubscribe will be based on the functionality of the CB and the Adventure tools at that point. I have to say though, that both the Character Builder and the Adventure tools will have to be A LOT better than they are at the moment, for me to even consider renewing my subscription.
#9 Agonar Jan 31, 2011 23:57:18	The Monster Builder is in Beta, yes..  though, Alpha is probably more accurate.  It is currently a viewer.  However, the plan is to get it out there and work on it's compatibility with VT, along with the CB etc.  It was just put out last week, so hopefully in the next couple weeks, we should see the ability to "build" monsters, or at least edit more than the level and power names of the current ones. They have also announced that they are planning on altering the items/gear section of the OCB to make it more user friendly like the offline CB was.  The equipment section is one of my pet peeves with it, another is the Character sheet sleection.  They have Essentials, and another limited one..  I like the Classic Style, aka, the one printed in the back of the PHB.  It gives places for the calculations and modifiers of numbers.  The new sheets show you an AC of 18, or an attack of +7.  The old sheets show you a +3 armor bonus, +4 stat bonus, +1 class bonus..  to AC, or a +2 proficiency, +1 (half your level), +4 stat modifier to  your Melee Basic Attack. They have already added the ability to "export" characters, and save them on your PC back into the mix, so  you can once again work on dozens or hundreds of characters if you want, though you can still only have 20 saved on their server at any given time to work with.  But now it is easy to export a bunch to your PC, and delete them from the list.  Overall, I am happy with the workings of the CB I am not currently happy with the Online Monster Viewer. . . just stick with the Compendium for now till the OMB has more content/functionality. Other than that, yeah, a lot still needs work.  Still working on the VT beta, and that seems to have hit a stalling point till they can hammer out importing data directly from the Online CB/MB, etc.
#10 VaultDweller Feb 01, 2011 9:10:45	Okay, so I've been taking some time off from DM'ing, and it seems I'm now out of the loop here.  Can someone give me a rundown on the current state of affairs? What I gather is: Monster Builder is no longer supported.  Seems that Monster Vault isn't in, and it never will be?  What content is it missing? There's a web-based MB coming... when? Web-based MB will be (or already is?) available as beta?  How does one get access to this beta? Is there currently any way for me to access Monster Vault creatures other than through the Compendium?  Last week I was caught off guard when I realized at the last minute before a session that none of the monsters I was using for the night's encounters were in the MB, and so I ended up running the encounters with the Compendium open in half a dozen browser tabs to keep track of monster stats.
#11 doug_lampert Feb 01, 2011 17:12:20	Okay, so I've been taking some time off from DM'ing, and it seems I'm now out of the loop here.  Can someone give me a rundown on the current state of affairs? What I gather is: Monster Builder is no longer supported.  Seems that Monster Vault isn't in, and it never will be?  What content is it missing? Allegedly the final next to last update put in the MM3 material. It also broke editing monsters. If you edit a monster recharge powers lose their recharge condition, resist values go away, triggers all go away, movement speeds other than the default land speed subtract 6 (if this makes them 0 or less they go away completely). I've read multiple posters claim that MM3/the errata monster damage and to hit were implemented in the update, but to access them you need to errase completely the current damage and reset. AFAICT this is incorrect and there's nothing you can do to make it use the MM3/errata to hit and damage numbers other than to hand enter them for every power. There's a web-based MB coming... when? Web-based MB will be (or already is?) available as beta?  How does one get access to this beta? There's a closed beta-test going on for the VTT. I gather that beta testers who are also insiders have access to a beta of the online MB. You can request membership in the beta test group at: wizards.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wizards.cfg... You may or may not get it. Is there currently any way for me to access Monster Vault creatures other than through the Compendium?  Last week I was caught off guard when I realized at the last minute before a session that none of the monsters I was using for the night's encounters were in the MB, and so I ended up running the encounters with the Compendium open in half a dozen browser tabs to keep track of monster stats. Just be greatful you had internet access where you were playing. As far as I know there is no other source. You can copy and paste from the Compendium into a document.
#12 Agonar Feb 01, 2011 17:33:51	Is there currently any way for me to access Monster Vault creatures other than through the Compendium?  Last week I was caught off guard when I realized at the last minute before a session that none of the monsters I was using for the night's encounters were in the MB, and so I ended up running the encounters with the Compendium open in half a dozen browser tabs to keep track of monster stats. Currently, the compendium is the only way.  Even if you had the Online Monster Builder, a lot of the monsters that are in the MV are wrong.  Dragons and Beholders are missing damages, the Gray Wolf is wrong. .   example.  MM Gray Wolf bite 1d6+2..  MV (and compendium) Gray Wolf bite 1d6+5.. Online MOnster builder Gray Wolf bite 1d6+4. . . . ??  Not sure how that number came to be, but there you go. For now, use the compendium, copy and paste the stuff you need into text pages, and go with it.