Will Dnd next be in the online tools? Has there been any official word? If so, when. If not, why?
Thanks
I'll echo this! I've tried doing a search, but only found comments that mention 4th is not being developed while D&D Next is looked at. Without any comment about D&D Next having a Character Builder or other online tools (like I hope)
Even though my group went back to 3.5 and then to Pathfinder over a year ago, I've kept my account current. I keep holding out hope that 5E will bring back the sexy back and we can be happy with D&D again.
5e tools will have an online option and is being developed under Project: Morningstar by Trapdoor. Their website and FB and Twitter feeds have more information though they're just starting up beta testing. It will not be offered through DDI subscription from all the information available currently.
Mike Mearls has officially stated in his Twitter feed that DDI and Morningstar will be entirely separate. In http://community.wizards.com/forum/product-and-general-dd-discussions/threads/4106881?page=6:
@MisterDaedalus : So are you guys doing a different subscription service for D&D 5e? Want to know whether I should keep paying DDI.
@mikemearls : it's separate - follow @DnDMorningstar for more info
Skedrix, what it means is that they are going to charge for Project Morningstar (subscription based) AND DDI as well. So that they get the best of both worlds instead of charging one fee for both. Or ofering the DDI tools for free because it is no longer a supported edition going forward. Am I bit cynical, you bet... Part of their excuse is that they are going with a different company instead of doing it themselves. Which is a good thing as they have never done software very well. But Mroningstar is already kind of discluding people. As their software is either Web Based or tablet iOS/Android. So if you do not have a tablet you HAVE to be on the internet to be able to use their software. To me this is a bit assumptive and will cost them in the long run. Just like using Silverlight for the DDI tools. It did NOT allow tablets to use thier tools!. So again they are going with a set of tools that will disclude a certain market. We all know every where we game there is always internet service. 
TSRO_Kip wrote:
We will not even discuss the Dungeon Mags and the Dragon Mags.. they went completely downhill once they went away from hardcopy
As far as the Codename: Morningstar Project goes and them having an offline cache... it is not the same. It is just a work-around hack and that is ONLY if you remember to do it before you log off of the internet. Not to mention no changes can be made to the sheet. Considering this is also supposed to be a campaign manager with managment tools and the like.. how is a GM to operate it when there is NO internet? To me that is just not a feasable solution, internet caching is one thing but they SHOULD have made sure it was made for all operating systems both online AND offline.
To me what makes this absolutely funny to me is that WotC has again discluded part of it's market yet again. Once with Silverlight and now with having an internet only based software for Mac OS and Windows based platforms (Basically any computer that is not a tablet). To me this is a HUGE mistake!
TSRO_Kip wrote: