D&D Compendium Feedback - February

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

mdonais

Feb 24, 2009 14:30:02
The last incarnation of this thread worked out great so I am starting a new one for the new shiny version of the compendium that just came out today.

Feel free to post specific suggestions for things you would like added or adjusted.

Thanks a lot for the feedback.
#2

jlaurhughes_dup

Feb 24, 2009 14:36:52
I looked at the compendium and one thing I found already is that its going to Page not Found errors when I try to get the Shifter races brought up. They're literally missing pages.

I do have a suggestion too, can we get a way to put things in alphabetical order again, I liked that feature of the first incarnation, and already miss it with the new incarnation.
#3

morvannon

Feb 24, 2009 14:47:17
Here's one -- when I type "Sorceror" in the search field, I get no results back in any category. However, when I type "Barbarian" in the search field, I get two results under "Classes" -- and one of them is "Sorceror".

#4

Drammattex

Feb 24, 2009 14:51:56
Love the update so far (thanks for not logging me out so quickly).

I'm still trying to get a list of the Humans from the Monster Manual by either typing "Human" or entering the keyword "Human," but no such luck.
#5

jlaurhughes_dup

Feb 24, 2009 14:57:04
Love the update so far (thanks for not logging me out so quickly).

I'm still trying to get a list of the Humans from the Monster Manual by either typing "Human" or entering the keyword "Human," but no such luck.

That could be because of the script, for me it runs slow, and almost kills my computer - but that's probably because my computer hasn't received its upgrade to higher ram and a better graphics card. :rolleye2:
#6

mdonais

Feb 24, 2009 14:58:38
Here's one -- when I type "Sorceror" in the search field, I get no results back in any category. However, when I type "Barbarian" in the search field, I get two results under "Classes" -- and one of them is "Sorceror".


I think you might be spelling sorcerer wrong.
#7

mdonais

Feb 24, 2009 14:59:54
I looked at the compendium and one thing I found already is that its going to Page not Found errors when I try to get the Shifter races brought up. They're literally missing pages.

I do have a suggestion too, can we get a way to put things in alphabetical order again, I liked that feature of the first incarnation, and already miss it with the new incarnation.

We have a bug with comma that we are fixing this afternoon.
#8

whitebaron

Feb 24, 2009 15:00:46
@morv: the compendium searches not only names, but also the whole fluff text.


@mdonais:
feature requests:
a) "exact search"
b) "search names only"

the first one is pretty self-explanatory, however not as needed.
the second one is indeed needed. it's not as obvious now, but with more and more content available, more and more search results will be seen. e.g. i put in shifting, because i want to see longtooth or razorclaw (or whatever will be in eberron setting) and i get many many monsters that have shifting powers. (like the goblin blackblade)

c) page numbers for dungeon/dragon, or links to the articles instead of the full issue.
#9

morvannon

Feb 24, 2009 16:18:35
I think you might be spelling sorcerer wrong.

I have apparently been spelling it wrong my entire life.

*sheepish*
#10

Myztek

Feb 24, 2009 16:30:55
* I want to be able to refine a search - Perform one search, and then narrow that search by a second parameter. Example: I can search for all orcs, then search amongst all the things containing orc for the word chieftain.

* I want operators like NOT, AND, OR or NEAR. This type of thing is most useful in combination with #1 above. As we get more and more options for things, this type of functionality will become more and more useful.

* I want to see this thing tied to a glossary. I'd like to be able to hover over a word and get a glossary definition of it - especially for some things like the Brutal weapon property that is not otherwise in this tool.

* I want the encounter generator folded into the compendium. I'd like to be able to search for good monsters to add to a combat in the compendium, and then design the encounter while perusing the compendium.

* I want alternate presentations of information. I'd like to see an option to get a compressed view of a monster stat block that would be easier to import into a word doc that I am using to write an adventure.

* I want to get a preview of the text of an entry when I scroll over it on the search results page.
#11

Shiftkitty

Feb 24, 2009 18:42:46
I have apparently been spelling it wrong my entire life.

*sheepish*

You and me both, and I'm a spelling nazi!:embarrass

I agree with all of the search requests so far, especially whitebaron's one where we can search by name only.
#12

dugan7f

Feb 24, 2009 19:04:07
Is anyone able to work tabbed browsing now? Stuff only now opens in the weird 'pop up' thingy, which is annoying.

The only solutions I can think of are to open multiple copies of the compendium (which means multiple searches and is probably slower then copy and pasting everything into word) or using the encounter builder (which only works for monsters).

I'm no web developer, but it seems that the new compendium is more complicated and less functional, which seems like a strange design choice to me.
#13

whitebaron

Feb 24, 2009 19:18:05
I'm no web developer, but it seems that the new compendium is more complicated and less functional, which seems like a strange design choice to me.

but it has more eye candy!
#14

zackrob

Feb 24, 2009 19:40:45
Umm.. seems that i may be the only one affected here... but... a large portion of the compendium screen on the left is cut off against the window its in. and i cant seem to figure out how to center it so i can see the whole thing. can any one help?
#15

jlaurhughes_dup

Feb 24, 2009 19:49:36
* I want to be able to refine a search - Perform one search, and then narrow that search by a second parameter. Example: I can search for all orcs, then search amongst all the things containing orc for the word chieftain.

You already can refine the search. For Items, Monsters, And Powers, with or without entering a word.
* I want operators like NOT, AND, OR or NEAR. This type of thing is most useful in combination with #1 above. As we get more and more options for things, this type of functionality will become more and more useful.

This would definitely be helpful when searching for something to suit specific needs.
* I want to see this thing tied to a glossary. I'd like to be able to hover over a word and get a glossary definition of it - especially for some things like the Brutal weapon property that is not otherwise in this tool.

The definition of the property is right in the weapons description.
Quotes
Kukri: Brutal 1 (A brutal weapon’s minimum damage is higher than that of a normal weapon. When rolling the weapon’s damage, reroll any die that displays a value equal to or lower than the brutal value given for the weapon. Reroll the die until the value shown exceeds the weapon’s brutal value, and then use the new value.).
Craighammer: Brutal 2 (A brutal weapon’s minimum damage is higher than that of a normal weapon. When rolling the weapon’s damage, reroll any die that displays a value equal to or lower than the brutal value given for the weapon. Reroll the die until the value shown exceeds the weapon’s brutal value, and then use the new value.).

#16

Kentinal

Feb 24, 2009 21:30:02
Umm.. seems that i may be the only one affected here... but... a large portion of the compendium screen on the left is cut off against the window its in. and i cant seem to figure out how to center it so i can see the whole thing. can any one help?

Well I can not see what you see, however can offer one guess.
I ran into this type of issue with the D&D website. The problem was finally addressed. The problem was the website was not fully backward compatible, it now is.

If you are using an older browser FireFox 2 for example, the answer might be backward compatibility. Please advise what browser and OS you are using, I might not be able to help much more, however more data certainly allows for better guesses.
#17

thalmin

Feb 24, 2009 21:43:18
Umm.. seems that i may be the only one affected here... but... a large portion of the compendium screen on the left is cut off against the window its in. and i cant seem to figure out how to center it so i can see the whole thing. can any one help?

I have the same problem on 2 different computers, both Vista and IE 7. Using Safari on said computers, no problems.
#18

Mock

Feb 24, 2009 22:11:23
Is anyone able to work tabbed browsing now? Stuff only now opens in the weird 'pop up' thingy, which is annoying.

The only solutions I can think of are to open multiple copies of the compendium (which means multiple searches and is probably slower then copy and pasting everything into word) or using the encounter builder (which only works for monsters).

I'm no web developer, but it seems that the new compendium is more complicated and less functional, which seems like a strange design choice to me.

Yeah, I think the lightbox thing is ungood. I mean, I love the lightbox trick...for image galleries. But not for this. The tabs were much easier to use.
#19

KeefetheThief

Feb 25, 2009 0:01:33
- No tabbed browsing means that the Compendium just became 50% less useful for me.
- Buttons like "show all" crash Firefox again and again.
#20

joby

Feb 25, 2009 0:12:06
Yeah, I think the lightbox thing is ungood. I mean, I love the lightbox trick...for image galleries. But not for this. The tabs were much easier to use.

It would be very nice if we had the option to open in a new tab...

WOTC_DM posted on another thread that in Firefox at least you can open the data in a new tab (via a fairly roundabout method) because they use an iframe to display the data. Once opened in the lightbox, right click -> this frame -> open in new tab. Inferior but works.
#21

joby

Feb 25, 2009 0:21:58
My issue with the new interface is the massive amounts of wasted "black space" and UI chrome. I don't see results until 2/3 down the page (YMMV depending on display resolution). This chrome/blank space could easily be reduced significantly -- am considering developing a stylesheet to do this.

But the Compendium is much more responsive! Thanks. By going AJAX we are avoiding dozens of HTTP requests per click...
#22

cadfan

Feb 25, 2009 0:22:07
Bring back tabbed browsing. I don't care what fancy additions the new format permits, if you can't have them AND tabbed browsing, they're not worth it.

Seriously. Losing tabbed browsing is like falling into a timewarp back to the year 2000. Its as if a book publisher decided to give up on pages, and just write everything on a scroll.
#23

ecla

Feb 25, 2009 1:15:15
Umm.. seems that i may be the only one affected here... but... a large portion of the compendium screen on the left is cut off against the window its in. and i cant seem to figure out how to center it so i can see the whole thing. can any one help?

I have the same problem, the left hand side of the screen is cut off.

Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.13
#24

Cailte

Feb 25, 2009 3:56:28
I like the ability to select Item etc and then search just that category, but there is still a lot of wasted real estate on the screen and the functionality of some aspects of the screen are not immediately apparent. Clearly labeled drop down lists may not be as "pretty" but they offer smaller screen real estate (not everyone has a 20"+ monitor you know, and allowing for pda's etc means less = more), and clearer functionality when set correctly.

The Character Builder successfully seperates Magic Armor from all other items, and so we can search through just the magic armor for a specific thing; this still cannot be done in the Compendium.
#25

zexsudel

Feb 25, 2009 5:47:46
This may be in the errata hidden somewhere but I can't seem to find it..
The lamia entry has:
{insert name here} (Standard, recharge ) Psychic

Close burst 5; something vs Will; 3d8+5 the target is stunned (save ends).

Yet the monster manaual it doesn't have the damage on that power. This happens again with the Vine Horror Spellfiend:

{insert name here} (Standard, recharge ) Acid

Area burst 1 within 10; +x vs Fortitude; 3d8+5 acid damage, and the target takes ongoing 5 acid damage and is blinded (save ends both).

The MM has it 1d6+5. That is a bit different in damage. Not sure which entry is right though. Niether monster is in the latest MM errata.
#26

ocin

Feb 25, 2009 9:02:58
- No tabbed browsing means that the Compendium just became 50% less useful for me.

Totally agree!

Please let us as users decide if we want links to open in the same tab, new tab or new window. Result should just contain good old html-links.
#27

VerysArkon

Feb 25, 2009 9:47:47
I like the ability to select Item etc and then search just that category, but there is still a lot of wasted real estate on the screen and the functionality of some aspects of the screen are not immediately apparent. Clearly labeled drop down lists may not be as "pretty" but they offer smaller screen real estate (not everyone has a 20"+ monitor you know, and allowing for pda's etc means less = more), and clearer functionality when set correctly.

The Character Builder successfully seperates Magic Armor from all other items, and so we can search through just the magic armor for a specific thing; this still cannot be done in the Compendium.

Choose the Item radio button, type 'armor' in the search box, select Magic Item from the filter window, and hit applyfilterl. Tada! You may get a few extra hits, but it works well. Try 'Neck' in the search box too.
#28

wotc_dm

Feb 25, 2009 10:38:50
I have the same problem, the left hand side of the screen is cut off.

Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.13

We have become aware of this issue. It seems to occur with IE when you are trying to open the compendium on a window that is already open but with a smaller size than the default 1024 width. Once the compendium is in that state, increasing the window size does not help, the left part gets truncated.
We will be looking into this, and a solution for now is to close the smaller window then reopen IE and maximize your window before opening the compendium, provided your screen size is at least 1024 pixels wide. Hitting F5 after increasing the window's size will also fix the issue.
#29

ashrem_bayle_02

Feb 25, 2009 13:23:31
Has there been any talk of making a version of the Compendium available off line? As in, a download like the Character Builder? I ask because there are times when it'd be nice to have the Compendium at hand, but I might not have net access.

For instance, my work filter blocks the main WOTC site, so I can't use it here. Also, if we game at a friends house who doesn't have wi-fi, I can't access it from my laptop.
#30

asmodeuslore

Feb 25, 2009 18:48:14
Yeah, I think the lightbox thing is ungood. I mean, I love the lightbox trick...for image galleries. But not for this. The tabs were much easier to use.

Seconded!
#31

mdonais

Feb 25, 2009 19:56:39
Thanks for the feedback on Tabbed Browsing.
Seeing the same feedback from multiple users definitely makes it high priority for us.
#32

drconfoundo

Feb 25, 2009 20:08:28
We have become aware of this issue. It seems to occur with IE when you are trying to open the compendium on a window that is already open but with a smaller size than the default 1024 width. Once the compendium is in that state, increasing the window size does not help, the left part gets truncated.
We will be looking into this, and a solution for now is to close the smaller window then reopen IE and maximize your window before opening the compendium, provided your screen size is at least 1024 pixels wide. Hitting F5 after increasing the window's size will also fix the issue.

I'm another person who is encountering this problem. I've already filed a bug report, and the F5 info is a good enough work around for now.
#33

mshea_dup

Feb 25, 2009 22:33:43
The format for printing seems really wonky. It doesn't look anything like a normal stat block.
#34

frederyck

Feb 26, 2009 4:07:19
The new compendium consistently crashes the latest version of the Opera browser. This is obviously a problem with Opera, and I'm reporting it to them as well.
#35

lurkalot

Feb 26, 2009 13:26:39
It would be very nice if we had the option to open in a new tab...

WOTC_DM posted on another thread that in Firefox at least you can open the data in a new tab (via a fairly roundabout method) because they use an iframe to display the data. Once opened in the lightbox, right click -> this frame -> open in new tab. Inferior but works.

THANK YOU! I think you just about stopped me cancelling my DDI subscription (or at least not renewing it).

We HAVE to have tabbed browsing back. The new system looks good and is quick and responsive, but what I use the compendium for is to bring up a quick list of the monsters I need to reference (usually four or five) and put one in each tab. That way I can quickly jump between them. Having to open and close each monster, particularly as I may have to re-search for each one, is frustrating. VERY frustrating.

Give us basic HTML links. We like those and we can choose what to do with them. And you can still have them pop up as a new layer on a normal left-click by default if you want them to.

Other than that, I'll just say because I've never commented on the Compendium online before, that it's a great resource when prepping for a game and my frustration above is born from how much I like it otherwise.

Lurkalot.
#36

zaukrie

Feb 26, 2009 14:12:49
That's a lot of wasted space with fancy art at the top. At least I don't have to print it like the wasted ink hog in Dungeon....but still, there is plenty of room to move more of the actual content onto my (pretty large, actually) screen.

I'll add my vote for tabs being back.
#37

Negflar2099

Feb 26, 2009 14:31:50
Love the new look for the Compendium and oh my god I can't tell you how happy that it doesn't log me out as often and when it did log me out (because we were roleplaying and I didn't use it for hours) I was able to very quickly log back in. It is a great resource. Really amazing.

I did notice that I can't search for spellscar powers but I think you are already aware of this problem and are on it. That's the only problem I found.

But since someone else mentioned a wish list well it I have a suggestion (I know we geeks are never satisfied) but here goes. It would be nice if you could somehow save an encounter in the encounter builder, possibly using a code seed that you put back in to load the monsters you had. That way you don't have to the monsters up again. Or barring that if you could search the encounter builder so you can recreate your encounter without having to go through the whole list of monsters. Either one of those options would be great.

Good work. Really awesome.
#38

WotC_Trevor

Feb 26, 2009 16:07:58
Hey all. I know that Mike and Didier have already popped in, but I wanted to let you know that we are listening, and that we're looking into re-enabling tabbed browsing as soon as possible.
#39

Shiftkitty

Feb 26, 2009 16:50:38
We have become aware of this issue. It seems to occur with IE when you are trying to open the compendium on a window that is already open but with a smaller size than the default 1024 width. Once the compendium is in that state, increasing the window size does not help, the left part gets truncated.
We will be looking into this, and a solution for now is to close the smaller window then reopen IE and maximize your window before opening the compendium, provided your screen size is at least 1024 pixels wide. Hitting F5 after increasing the window's size will also fix the issue.

My display is at 1028x768 and it still gets chopped.

Like the new look, though!
#40

scanfield

Feb 26, 2009 18:21:32
Any way i can control the font that the stat block is printed in? I'd like a slightly thicker font for my cut & paste routine, so i don't have to blow up my monster stat blocks so large in my word documents.
#41

belac

Feb 26, 2009 21:48:49
Thank you for the info on pushing F5 to fix the cropped image! I think it might help to put that somewhere in the compendium screen (until it gets fixed) and put that in the Technical Issues forum where I first looked for an answer.

Also, here's another strong vote to bring back tabbed browsing. The Compendium is mostly useful to me because I don't want to flip back and forth between pages in the Monster Manual when running fights. If the Compendium is actually slower than flipping pages, that's not very helpful at all. But the quick response that you guys are actually paying attention to us on this issue is amazingly helpful and much better than most companies.

Oh, it's not majorly important, but it would be nice if the monster portion of the Compendium had an option to filter by Origin (Natural/Aberrant/etc) and/or Type (Humanoid, Beast, etc).
#42

blackplauge

Feb 27, 2009 11:44:46
THANK YOU! I think you just about stopped me cancelling my DDI subscription (or at least not renewing it).

We HAVE to have tabbed browsing back. The new system looks good and is quick and responsive, but what I use the compendium for is to bring up a quick list of the monsters I need to reference (usually four or five) and put one in each tab. That way I can quickly jump between them. Having to open and close each monster, particularly as I may have to re-search for each one, is frustrating. VERY frustrating.

Give us basic HTML links. We like those and we can choose what to do with them. And you can still have them pop up as a new layer on a normal left-click by default if you want them to.

Other than that, I'll just say because I've never commented on the Compendium online before, that it's a great resource when prepping for a game and my frustration above is born from how much I like it otherwise.

Lurkalot.

You can also right-click on the link and the select "Open in New Tab".

The frustrating thing is that for most links this normally can be done via Cmd-click (Ctr-click on windows) but that functionality seems to have been disabled in the Compendium. Advice: Don't mess with the normal functioning of the browser for any feature.
#43

whitebaron

Feb 27, 2009 11:58:00
they did not mess with the browser. they are just using a bit more of javascript than is considered good for such an application.

ajax is nice, as are callbacks. but you should give users the option to open links in new tabs, so they themselves can decide whether or not to have one thick client or various smaller windows.
#44

wotc_dm

Feb 27, 2009 12:02:08
We have just rolled out a fix on the compendium that addresses the following issues:
1/ Links to the items in the compendium are now fixed and working properly
2/ the resizing issue appearing with IE browsers when the initial window is too small is fixed
3/ From the list view you can right click to open the detailed entries into a separate tab, to support tabbed browsing.
#45

whitebaron

Feb 27, 2009 12:49:16
having just completed a 25 second search, i have another feature request: a load screen/button/whatever. because it just sucks if your browser hangs and does nothing you can see.
#46

VerysArkon

Feb 27, 2009 13:15:10
We have just rolled out a fix on the compendium that addresses the following issues:
1/ Links to the items in the compendium are now fixed and working properly
2/ the resizing issue appearing with IE browsers when the initial window is to small is fixed
3/ From the list view you can right click to open the detailed entry into a separate tab, to support tabbed browsing.

Fantastic turn-around guys.
Have a couple
#47

_radagast__dup

Feb 27, 2009 15:49:51
Fantastic turn-around guys.
Have a couple

Agreed. Very awesome guys. Thanks!
#48

Mock

Feb 27, 2009 16:01:10
3/ From the list view you can right click to open the detailed entries into a separate tab, to support tabbed browsing.

Couldn't we already do that (that is, that's part of Firefox, not the Compendium)? I never tried before this update; I didn't like the lightboxed thing, so I didn't mess with it much.
#49

dugan7f

Feb 27, 2009 16:15:15
Mock - we couldn't do that, and hence all the complaining.


Thanks Wizards!

Also thanks to joby for posting that work around here as well.
#50

Mock

Feb 27, 2009 16:26:32
Mock - we couldn't do that, and hence all the complaining.


Thanks Wizards!

Also thanks to joby for posting that work around here as well.

Ah. Well, that's interesting. I stopped before I tried any workarounds. I think after exploring both new options, I'd rather have it behave the old old way, and just open the item right there, but this is usable.

I think I was actually thinking about the actual UI tabs that were there, not tabbed browsing in Firefox (I never realized the original facelift disabled the browser's functionality).
#51

lurkalot

Feb 28, 2009 4:54:10
We have just rolled out a fix on the compendium that addresses the following issues:
1/ Links to the items in the compendium are now fixed and working properly
2/ the resizing issue appearing with IE browsers when the initial window is too small is fixed
3/ From the list view you can right click to open the detailed entries into a separate tab, to support tabbed browsing.

I just logged in this morning and without even thinking I went and middle-clicked a search result to get a new tab and it had already opened before I remembered that it wasn't going to!

You people get serious respect for the rapid response to our requests for tabbed browsing back. I never really considered how useful the Compendium would be. I subscribed because I wanted to see a few of the Dragon articles (Bane for one), but I have found the character builder and the compendium to be far more useful than I expected them to be. They are both excellent products.

If you want a complaint, the Encounter Builder doesn't seem to have all the monsters or the ability to filter through them that I would like, but don't take that to mean I'm being down on DDI. Your credit levels are currently v. high and I'm happy to recommend it to others.

THANK YOU!

Sir Lurkalot.
#52

ocin

Feb 28, 2009 7:05:29
We have just rolled out a fix on the compendium that addresses the following issues:
1/ Links to the items in the compendium are now fixed and working properly
2/ the resizing issue appearing with IE browsers when the initial window is too small is fixed
3/ From the list view you can right click to open the detailed entries into a separate tab, to support tabbed browsing.

Thank you for listening and creating a fix in such a short time.
#53

ruffian

Feb 28, 2009 7:14:19
I can't seem to copy/paste the formatted stat blocks into Word any more. Am I doing something wrong or is this no longer possible?

Love the new look & thanks for the quick fixes.
#54

VerysArkon

Feb 28, 2009 15:57:24
I can't seem to copy/paste the formatted stat blocks into Word any more. Am I doing something wrong or is this no longer possible?

Love the new look & thanks for the quick fixes.

What browser are you using and which version of Word? I can paste the formatted stat blocks from Chrome to Word2007 without any problems (just choose Keep original formating after a paste, instead of keeping destination formating).
#55

ElricLikesFighting

Feb 28, 2009 17:34:33
While I can understand the desire to make some of these changes, it is really frustrating that it doesn't work in Opera. Opera is a wonderful desktop browser, not just a mobile browser. And while I also understand that it's share of the browser market is much smaller than the big two, it is standards compliant, and those standards were designed to allow people to access the web in many different ways in many different browsers. Sometimes with a web site, simpler is better, because it allows for greater accessibility of the data you are trying to present.

Consider this a vote for a quick resolution or implementation of a simpler more mobile friendly (I hope that means Opera friendly) browser, and thank you for the quick reimplementation of tabbed browsing.
#56

xatharas

Mar 01, 2009 3:40:26
First of all I am a new member as of yesterday and love the char builder.
I tried out the compendium today and as I'm currently leading a campaign that will eventually lead to Tiamat I typed in "Tiamat" and to my surprise she wasn't there!

I tried to search for all monsters level 30+ and vecna is there and Mual Tar is there and Orcus is there but no tiamat?
#57

lurkalot

Mar 01, 2009 4:45:33
First of all I am a new member as of yesterday and love the char builder.
I tried out the compendium today and as I'm currently leading a campaign that will eventually lead to Tiamat I typed in "Tiamat" and to my surprise she wasn't there!

I tried to search for all monsters level 30+ and vecna is there and Mual Tar is there and Orcus is there but no tiamat?

Bizarre - you're right! The aspect of tiamat is in there, but not the lady herself. Vecna is included (in full deity form). Lots of other Hall of Fame dragons from Draconomicon are in there.
#58

Cailte

Mar 01, 2009 6:12:49
Choose the Item radio button, type 'armor' in the search box, select Magic Item from the filter window, and hit applyfilterl. Tada! You may get a few extra hits, but it works well. Try 'Neck' in the search box too.

Aye that works...

But if I want Armor with Fire Resistance its a little harder, or Armor with Encounter or At-Will powers and so on.

Yes there are arguments that can be entered to get these to show, but seeing how the database is searchable by armor, and I can seperate by specific type (eg Drakescale) in the Character Builder it would be good if the same could be done on the compendium.
#59

Paulon

Mar 01, 2009 7:39:10
Bizarre - you're right! The aspect of tiamat is in there, but not the lady herself. Vecna is included (in full deity form). Lots of other Hall of Fame dragons from Draconomicon are in there.

Apparently Tiamat breaks the rules in a way that they can't get the Compendium to handle yet, so her entry isn't included.
#60

jonnyatlas

Mar 01, 2009 15:20:17
I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but I am disappointed that traps are not in the compendium.

If they are in there, I keep missing them (and believe me, I have tried to find them). I really feel like it's something that should be included, preferably with its own category.
#61

ikkleste

Mar 01, 2009 15:39:29
When i bring up a monsters stats, there is no information in the stat block about what a monster actually is.

I appreciate that all the flavour can't be put in, but it's be handy to see what race a voldini cultist or a fist of bane actually is rather than simply medium fey humanoid, or medium natural humanoid. Often this is included in the name but sometimes it isn't.

It'd be nice to know is all.
#62

Karunake

Mar 06, 2009 18:19:10
I second the Traps suggestion, and the one concerning at least the very bare-bones of the three core books rules: actions, effects and terrain features.

Also, as my predecessor said, at least include a single sentence with the monster stats that detail what it represents. You know, like the four or five words at the beggining of a monster entry that are put in small caps because they summarize the creature so well?
#63

tiornys

Mar 07, 2009 18:23:05
Speaking of things that are missing, as best I can tell, the Amulet of Elusive Prey from Adventurer's Vault, p. 148, is completely missing from both the Compendium and the Character Builder.

Overall, great job on the both apps, and keep up the improvements!

t~
#64

zaque

Mar 08, 2009 11:47:21
I'd like the ability to apply filters to all the categories, not just items, creatures, and powers. I'd also like the ability to use multiple sourcebook filters, like "both PHB and Martial Power" or "All Dragon Magazine".
#65

Dark_Kain

Mar 08, 2009 12:16:56
The "Illusionary Wall" power (wizard utility 10) is shown as an encounter power, while it was a daily in Dragon 364, final compilation
#66

the1darklord

Mar 10, 2009 12:07:24
A search for human is currently 1337! :D

Daniel.

IMAGE(http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/996/1337humans.jpg)
#67

kewlpack

Mar 13, 2009 18:22:24
It's been mentioned briefly in this thread a couple of times - and I'd like to know if you guys can do this...

It would be WONDERFUL if we could print out the stat/detail blocks as they appear (neatly formatted, color scheme, etc.). Right now, if you select print, the output is crude at best and not all that useful if we want to keep a compact adventure footprint.

You could display a button to print a formatted version of the current stat/detail block. On clicking the button, open a new tab with a complete, HTML rendered version (table with colored cells instead of CSS definitions perhaps) that would print WYSIWYG... OR could be copied directly into MS Word 2003/2007, etc.

Many of us use the Compendium as a quick reference/planning tool - but it would be 100x more useful if there was a way to grab that stat/detail block and drop it into our notes without having to take screenshots.

So Devs - what can you do for us on this one issue? It wouldn't take that much to render a printable version on demand in .NET (I develop web apps all day long in it myself).

Waiting for some positive feedback on this!
#68

VerysArkon

Mar 13, 2009 23:22:42
I don't know about you, but when I copy/paste from the Compendium, stat blocks come out nearly perfect. Going from Chrome to Word2007. I just select 'format same as source' when I paste, and it helps to use two columns.
#69

ocin

Mar 14, 2009 7:03:33
If you do Copy/Paste Special from firefox to OpenOffice, you get images in front of the attacks and some sort of formating, but it's nothing like a normal stat block

If this worked it would be very useful for quickly creating stats for custom encounters. What would be really useful were I you could create some sort of connection between the encounter builder and the compendium to be able to print all the stats for the monsters in an encounter.
#70

keithp

Mar 14, 2009 9:41:32
If you do Copy/Paste Special from firefox to OpenOffice, you get images in front of the attacks and some sort of formating, but it's nothing like a normal stat block ...

I did this for a while and took the images for granted. Then, after I upgraded my Ubuntu operating system, Open Office crashed whenever a document encountered one of these symbols. Now, I edit out the symbols.
#71

kewlpack

Mar 14, 2009 12:38:46
I don't know about you, but when I copy/paste from the Compendium, stat blocks come out nearly perfect. Going from Chrome to Word2007. I just select 'format same as source' when I paste, and it helps to use two columns.

I'll give that a shot. Thanks.
#72

fredrik_svanberg

Mar 16, 2009 10:37:25
I want to be able to filter monsters on type and origin, so I can look for "fey humanoid" or just any kind of "fey" creature, for example. This would make it easier to create themed dungeons or encounter tables or whatever I need.

It would certainly be a lot more useful than being able to filter on certain keywords. I mean, how often do you have to find all the "blind" creatures between level 4 and 8?
#73

asmodeuslore

Mar 17, 2009 22:26:40
Fredrik, the Encounter Builder, in the Bonus Tools section does have a limited ability to filter monsters by keyword, such as 'fey'. Have you checked there?

Additionally, if you search for 'Fey' or 'Blind' in the compendium, you will be given a list of every creature that has that keyword in its entry.
#74

MGKetjak

Apr 12, 2009 9:53:59
Fail in Firefox 3.0.8:

IMAGE(http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/6301/daggers.gif)

http://yfrog.com/0jdaggersg

Search for "daggers."
Click on "Items."
Select "Weapons" from category drop-down.
Enter price range from 1 to 10 GP.

Et voila, le fail.
#75

mudbunny

Apr 12, 2009 10:38:09
It works for me:

#76

MGKetjak

Apr 12, 2009 12:26:02
Wacky. I just tested it again. I should test in IE and Chrome (I see you did Chrome).
#77

mudbunny

Apr 12, 2009 13:46:32
Firefox, actually.
#78

morvannon

Apr 12, 2009 20:56:23
Mudbunny, you had "Select All" selected under "Category:", he had "Weapon" selected.
#79

Shiftkitty

Apr 12, 2009 21:16:33
Odd that weapons wouldn't show up with the "Weapons" category checked...
#80

mudbunny

Apr 12, 2009 21:24:19
Ahh. I see now. They didn't place the Weapon Keyword on the various daggers.

No big deal.

Dagger
Parrying Dagger
Kukri

They all need to have the Weapon keyword added.
#81

MGKetjak

Apr 13, 2009 0:45:55
Rinse and repeat: mace.

I reported that one about three weeks ago, I just saw an automated note the contents of which I ignored.
#82

MGKetjak

Apr 13, 2009 0:49:04
Rinse and repeat... again: longsword (this and "mace" use 1 to 99 GP value, rather than 1 to 10).

No big deal, indeed, when the most common weapons will not appear when searched for using common criteria. I know this symptom - little to no quality control in the form of process or testing.
#83

MGKetjak

Apr 13, 2009 0:56:12
Rather than be snarky I went back through my records and found their response. In short, they responded a week after my report and the CS rep says no maces will appear that cost less than 520 GP (because that is the lowest price of an item with a weapon keyword):

Response (Support Agent) 04/06/2009 09:12 AM
Ketjak, (name changed to my handle to protect my family from oil elementals)

The reason you do not see anything when you select the "Weapon" drop-down is because you still have the filter set for prices for 1-99 gp and the cheapest weapon is 520. If you remove the price filter you can see all of the items that have mace in the item and the cheapest items that has a category of weapon is 520...this is also something we need to look into.

I doubt they will change how it searches, but I will definitely send in a suggestion to add another filter so that it only searches information about the item and not any flavor text for the item. I will also submit to have the base items setup as Weapons, as that is what they are and should be.

Please let me know if you need anymore help!

We would appreciate your feedback on the service we are providing you. Please click here to fill out a short questionnaire.

To login to your account, or update your question please click here.

Aaron
Online Response Crew
Wizards of the Coast
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Monday-Friday 9am-6pm PST / 12pm-9pm EST
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Response (Support Agent) 03/31/2009 08:05 AM
Hello Ketjak,

Thank you for reporting this bug. We appreciate your help in improving our product.

We will submit your issue to our developers for review. I can not guarantee any further follow up with you about this bug but we may contact you for further information. .

We would appreciate your feedback on the service we are providing you. Please click here to fill out a short questionnaire.

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Marc
Online Response Crew
Wizards of the Coast
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425-204-8069 (From all other countries)
Monday-Friday 9am-6pm PST / 12pm-9pm EST
Saturday-Sunday 10am-4pm PST / 1pm-7pm EST
Customer (Ketjak) 03/30/2009 08:16 AM
The problem is that the search is searching the text rather than a search of the properties of the weapon. This is inefficient from the perspectives of the customer and the database. Worse, even though I have already selected items as the primary search criteria, it returns non-items (anything with the word "mace" in it). Even worse, when I restrict the filters to "weapon" in the CATEGORY drop-down, *no* entries appear under my search for MACE.

********************
How Often?: Always Happens
Operating System: Windows XP
Steps: Step 1: click on "items"
Step 2: enter "mace" in the search field
Step 3: click SEARCH button
Step 4: enter 1 and 99 in the filter fields for cost
Observed Results: The weapons that appear are not restricted to maces.
#84

arkady_v

Apr 13, 2009 18:59:40
I don't know about you, but when I copy/paste from the Compendium, stat blocks come out nearly perfect. Going from Chrome to Word2007. I just select 'format same as source' when I paste, and it helps to use two columns.

"format same as source"? Is that an option in "Paste Special" or something in Word2007?

I have not had any luck copying from Firefox or IE6 into Word 2003. I will try it from Firefox into Word 2007 on my home computer.
#85

samasboy

Apr 14, 2009 0:07:40
I was hoping the rules for Ranger Animal Companions could be added somewhere. Right now, I can find the Beast Mastery Ranger class feature, which notes the companion's stats are based off of type and level, but not those rules themselves (what the creature's stats are by type and level).
#86

greysector

Apr 16, 2009 0:28:11
When I search for 'half-orc' I get seven race results (half-elf, tiefling, warforged, halfling, bladeling, gnome and deva).

When I search for 'half orc' I get only one race result (half-orc).

WTF? Please fix this.
#87

mudbunny

Apr 16, 2009 8:07:57
Weird, 'cause it shows up when you do a search for orc...
#88

Mr_Rose

May 12, 2009 10:54:41
OK, so first: Why does the "talk about the compendium" link go to the old, locked thread still? Please fix that.

Second, a suggested feature: I would dearly love the option to combine items with the same name into one entry and then be able to click through the various levels of each independently.

So if I click on "Magic Weapon" it shows me the first level version then there's a separate "level adjust" drop-down to select whichever version of the item I want.

This should be a check-box in the search filters ("combine levels" or something) that makes it so that you only get one entry for each item in the search results.
#89

jgants

May 23, 2009 7:54:27
OK, after playing with the compendium for a while, I have two major complaints.


First, the search needs to be modified to allow for exact terms and with the option to only search in names vs. names and descriptions. For example, this morning I couldn't remember out of all the books how many types of bats there are. I search on "bat". I get 110 entries, only two of which (I think) are actually what I am looking for. This makes the compendium far less useful for me if I have to search through hundreds of entries and manually filter them myself because the search is overly broad.

I know people have complained about this since the compendium first came out last August or whatever. With more and more books coming out all the time, the problem keeps getting worse. When is this going to be addressed??? (to be honest, this one kind of annoys me because it's been such an industry standard for 20 years or more, I don't understand why it didn't work this way on day 1)


The second thing would be to add my voice to the list of people requesting traps/hazards to be added as a category. More and more of them come out all the time, and I'd really like to be able to search for them in the Compendium rather than have to manually search through the books all the time.
#90

ruroshin

May 25, 2009 4:48:48
Another vote here for exact match search. Why this was not implemented, I don't know as its pretty much one of the basic of search.

Here's some wierd quirks I've found trying to use the search.

Search 1: bonus to attack rolls
Result: 2 feats, which is clearly wrong.
#91

keithp

May 25, 2009 7:58:05
I just repeated that experiment. I noticed that you have change "rolls" to "roll" you get a few more hits, both with and without the "to". However, the "to" has a much bigger effect.
#92

resel

Jun 21, 2009 6:50:39
OK, so first: Why does the "talk about the compendium" link go to the old, locked thread still? Please fix that.

Feedback link at then bottom of the compendium page is still going to the old thread. More than a month since Mr Rose reported it and no fix...
#93

jonnyatlas

Jun 22, 2009 18:23:32
I will once again plead for traps and hazards to be added to the Compendium. Everything else in the D&D world is included, so why are they left out? Soooo frustrating.

I'll say it again:

Add traps and hazards, please!
#94

paulharries

Jun 29, 2009 0:45:55
Hi

Two problems:

1) Display is aligned too far to left, so can't see enough info. Not sure what I'm checking/reading.

2) Just received email from DDI saying account cancelled since payment not received.
Payment sent via PayPal, with receipt available. Also I can stil access stuff, so 'cancelled' probably not correct term!
#95

Shiftkitty

Jun 29, 2009 8:41:28
I can probably help you with the first one. Refresh your screen. I can't remember why the display comes up like that, but when I hit 'Refresh' (F5 on my computer) it comes up aligned correctly.
#96

mudbunny

Jul 08, 2009 11:51:48
I will be getting the comments on the latest compendium update moved to the July Compendium update thread and locking this thread.
#97

josep

Sep 01, 2009 20:46:57

The Compendium forum link still links to here, which in turn links to this thread.


As a separate issue, there are a number of compendium issues (such as incomplete entries). Given the number of errors, it'd be nice to be able to flag an entry while browsing (and even view if others have already flagged the issue to avoid multiple reports).

#98

hvg3akaek

Nov 03, 2009 21:30:13

I'm wondering if this has been mentioned anywhere else before, but -


 


Why does the compendium links continuosly change? 


I've grabbed a few items of interest for my capaign, put links to the item in the compendium for easy reference and then just about every update, the links change, pointing to other items!


Can they not just add new items / monsters / powers to the list, instead of mucking around with the current adresses?


 


(For example, this link used to point to the level 10 whetstone of combustion.  Now, it points to a level 30 Tempest Whetstone.)