Hero Lab Online FAQ
 

Here are the questions we've answered so far. https://www.wolflair.com/hero-lab-online-faq/.

By renaming the desktop version to Classic, it sounds like it is being retired (or support reduced). If the name had been "Desktop Hero Lab" then that would make it sound more like you will continue to support it as much as previously.

Thanks BJ, that clears a lot of issues up.

I, for one, am pretty excited about the online model. The FAQ definitely helped cement that.

Thanks! I don't believe I had any further questions after reading that.

And I'm stoked about the Restful API!

Thank you BJ. There is nothing in HLO that I can use or want to use. Have to hope that Classic continues the great support that its history has shown us.

In general, I'm pretty happy with RW right now. It has almost all the functionality I wanted when I bought it. Other people, however, have been waiting years for promised functionality like the content market and custom calendars. The understanding for these delays has always been that LWD is a small company with limited resources.

Now, without even a release date for the features that will make RW complete as promised, and with your same limited resources, you've started a major overhaul of your flagship product which you are planning to release as an incomplete product with promised features.

I think HL is a great product. I think RW is a great product. I want to see both of them succeed, and any reasonable chance I get, I spread the word about both products. I just brought you guys a new HL customer, and got him interested in RW. So I say make this next statement with love for both of your products.

You guys really need to find a good balance (a much better one than you have right now) between tightening up release schedules and managing customer expectations.

My question is how would Hero Lab Online help with group play. Can there be a sharing of portfolios between accounts similar to what is seen on Google Drive. This would allow players to share their portfolio with GMs, so he can run the games, and any changes to the players portfolios would propagate back to the players.

While I agree with the sentiment of this I'm pretty sure LWD maintain two separate groups of developers so my understanding it's a different group of people working on HL than it is on RW.

Even if they don't, HL has a much larger existing and potential customer base than RW. It makes complete sense that they would emphasize getting HLO out first, especially with the opportunity to release right after the release of Star Finder.

There are many features I would like to see in RW (*cough* custom calendars *cough*), but they need to be a profitable company to do so.

Thank you for understanding this. :)

How will the system work in a setting without regular (or spotty) internet access?

At home or in a local game store - I have no problem. But in larger convention situations, where the wireless signal is problematic or costs two-arms and a leg to purchase, I have relied on the fact that HL can be used offline without any issues.

Better question, how many would trust LWD for another kickstarter? Or even meeting expectation?

Realm Works has not even met its basic goal yet. Nice.

Now you hope we all forget that, and jump aboard yet another project?

Nope.

I trust they are doing the right thing for their business.

Hero Lab is the more popular and profitable software. It's the reason they can even make Realm Works.

Hopefully this month does good things for Realm Works once the Content Market starts selling stuff but at this stage I would be more concerned if LWD didn't prioritize Hero Lab. That would indicate poor management.

I could've sworn the reason they could make Realm Works was the Kickstarter that was done specifically so they could make it. Yet here it is, 5 years later, and Realm Works is still incomplete.

I certainly will never trust Lone Wolf to make good on their promises for features in software. Realm Works has proven that not only are they dishonest about the state of their software ("Realm Works is nearly complete" in their Kickstarter pitch), but also that they cannot project when software features will be available with any degree of accuracy whatsoever.

It's why when I look in the FAQ for HLO and see vague promises about features that are planned (offline mode, other game systems, custom content, etc), I have no faith in them providing these features at all. Realm Works has been a disaster for Lone Wolf's reputation in my view.

I suspect the Kickstarter helped for a while and certainly helped mature it into the product it is today (which is a very solid program) but I doubt there is anything left from the $170,748 Kickstarter fund thus the need to focus some energy on the program that does pay the bills.

I also don't doubt that LWD would agree that the Kickstarter caused damage. No one hates the delays more than them. But instead of pushing an inferior product or simply cancelling the project like so many other software Kickstarters do they have stayed the course, created a solid program and are on the verge of completing a significant milestone.

The journey has been far from perfect, but they are still working to met their promises despite the many challenges and have created easily one of the most power RPG tools on the market today.

It's why I have complete faith in them delivering on HLO.

Hey, if you want to trust a company that has proven itself incapable of completing promised software features in a timely matter, go ahead. For myself, while Realm Works is useful, it's not the what Lone Wolf promised would be ready in 2013.

Aside from the actual Kickstarter promises, the entire Pathfinder RPG package was promised to be released for Realm Works in early 2016, yet here we are moving close to the end of 2017 and still nothing. Hell, their attitude has changed from a backer reward that promised a monthly developer's blog to actively avoiding communication because they know they'll just end up lying to us again.

I can easily see something like Lone Wolf promising that custom content will come to HLO a few months after release, then it slipping to mid-2018 with promises it's coming soon. Before you know it, 2019 is here, still no custom content. 2020...nope. 2021? Who knows? It's not like Lone Wolf has a history of keeping their promises or schedules.

Will HLO still support custom user data sets? Will we still be able to author our own, campaign specific data files, and do we lose access to them if our subscription lapses?

I suspect if they had a do-over they would just have not developed Realm works at all (or skipped the kickstarter) $170k is pretty much the cost of 1 years salary for a senior dev. That means that HL has been funding the development for the last 5 years.

Yeah I doubt they will ever touch Kickstarter again. Software development is on my hard rule of things to never back. They always run over schedule and over budget.
A high percentage of software that is funded by Kickstartered gets abandoned and quite a few have made national news as a result permanently damaging their brand.

I don't fund Kickstarters expecting anything. If it doesn't get done, oh well no big deal. If it does, win win! But I usually don't back for over $100.

I back way too much. The biggest one I have backed so far came in just under a grand. But so far I've had positive returns on everything. Except one computer game that failed to reach it's target. I was willing to break my rule for a remake of Sim Ant.

https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/289462234

That's generally my rule, too. I invest in things I'd like to see, but I treat it as an investment. Sometimes, investments don't turn out. :-) That's why I don't invest more than I can lose. I think I've only gone past the $100 mark once. But, I think I've only ever had one (not the same one) investment totally fail. In that, I've been very lucky.

I'm not so sure about that. Who's going to buy HLO that doesn't already own Classic? The new features are not groundbreaking enough that people who were on the fence about Hero Lab are going to be convinced to buy it now. Nobody is comfortable with the risk of spotty internet and the chances of ALL players at the table owning HLO to even make use of the features is low.

People that want Starfinder would have spent the same money for the classic version.

People who already own HL "might" convert to HLO but the cost (and profit) is minimal.

I don't think its a terrible idea, its probably not going to lose money, but I don't think its going to get new customers.

Edit: and if I was a RW customer I'd be pretty upset. Finishing RW would get me to buy in and they'd get more money from me for that than converting to HLO.

Well as I do believe that the marketing for Realm Works should be further built up to increase revenue, there path to HLO with Star Finder just coming out is a business strategy to further strengthen there financial standing. Honestly though I have seen adverts for Herolab for some time, but rarely any adverts for Realm Works and getting more sales there needs to be given a boost. Although I don't really understand Realm Works interface well, mainly do to the fact I have no prior experience working with realm building software (if any others exist).

Plus any tutorial video I have seen on it makes me sleepy. Which sadly makes this difficult for me to gasp the software. Herolab though I get and have had time to code in it, even applying that knowledge to d20 and 5e. I am hoping for a better API and UI update to Realm Works (which I guess is in the works from what I have read thus far) and with HLO perhaps a possible Dynamic Map tool that uses Realm Works files and imports them for active use with HLO?! That would be a new thing that would get alot of customers, since that would allow for interesting convention events; let alone local play.

The proof will be in the pudding. When it is first released, I probably won't buy in as I'm only running and playing 5e and the new Paranoia (plus the occasional one-shot of highly obscure games that would not benefit from HL). But if they can offer the ability to have all my players' character sheets sync'd up with the tactical console on my tablet laptop and if they improved the tactical console to automate more of the condition tracking, and if it worked with the SRD, I would be all over that. I would buy for myself and my players and pay for the subscription. And that is after already plunking down a lot of money for DnD Beyond.

As for what I've spent on HL Classic, I don't mind the sunk cost if the new product is superior. It is easy for me to say that because, unlike many Pathfinder players/DMs here, I have not spent *that* much on HLC. That said, HLC will continue to be supported for some time and your content that you buy/bought for HLC will (eventually) be on HLO.

Of course, a lot of this isn't going to be ready at launch. I expect their focus is to take advantage of the popularity of Starfinder. If they offer a compelling platform for Starfinder, that should bring in a lot of new customers and convince many current customers to buy, which will fund further development.

As for upsetting RW customers, it is only really upsetting the KS backers. I bought RW for what it was and it serves me well. This is the risk with KS. If you don't have the appetite for scope and schedule changes, don't buy it until it is released and you can verify that it has the features you need.

I spend far too much money on KS. Most of my tabletop hobby spend is done through KS. I know the risk and I've been burned, but I get early access to some great products that may never see wide commercial release and often there are some amazing deals. I find it best to just ignore the comments, skim the updates when they come to my e-mail, and just wait for the backerkit or other fulfillment communication. If fulfillment never happens or the product isn't quite what I was hoping for? Ah well, a bad bet.

Any updates on a release schedule?

It's not that unique, you can easily make it for the classic version. PCGen put out a character generator with a print option in their spare time for free, For Free!!! And for an alpha release, it's pretty solid.

I like Hero Labs over PCGen because it is a better piece of software(also more expensive), but seeing if my internet goes out or whatever I can't use one but I can use the other, the other wins.

Make Starfinder for Hero Labs Classic or have some sort of Offline version and print option. You have lots of people willing to throw money at you, just read the posts and comments, it'll be worth your time.

Starfinder will be the killer app for Herolab Online.

If you want Herolab level support for the game, You'll sign on board because that will be your only option.

I would love Starfinder support. I would pay for Starginder for HLC.
I will not even consider HLO for many reasons.
I am fine with that decision.

I suspect people who require offline capability are now the minority in the greater RPG market.
I suspect HLC is stopping LWD from moving forward with technology and customer market share.
I suspect we will see alot of new happy customers around these parts once HLO launches.
I suspect quite a few people who are expressing significant concern now will still try HLO and find it to be useful enough to consider purchasing.

The same way DnDBeyond had pages upon pages of raging complaints about basically the same concerns, they also had significant success upon launch and now have a solid customer base.

This!

All the complaints about edge cases, like losing internet. In the last decade the only time my internet went out was when my modem died. Heck, had a severe storm and lost power for a week, still had cable tv and internet, luckily I had a generator.

LWD needs to move forward and unconnected desktop apps are becoming a relic of the past

Well, true. This is also a very short summary of Rob's long explanary post in the Q&A thread :)

Sometimes a tldr is required ;)

I am definitely in the "significantly concerned, but hope it works well" category. I think every customer should be in the "hope it works well category."

"I don't like this, so I won't even try it, and I want to see it fail out of spite" is just pointless.

I don't particularly want it to fail, but I don't need to try it to know its a nonstarter for me. The problems I have with it are entirely beyond the Wolves to do anything about and as such are not going to be anything I need to try another online application for me to know its problematic.

For myself, everyone that I know, and I can only assume a high percentage of customers, only use HeroLab for character creation. Meaning that the Online features give us nothing but a subscription costs.

I am bothered that they seem to intend to use the same data files which means the same scripting language. They have said they intend to improve the UI scripting but my issues with customizing HL were never with the UI and always with the scripting and the way the program handles data. The reason there are so many questions is to a great degree because HL does things in a weird way rather than in a way that makes sense to people used to using other programs with scripting and modding capabilities.

They should be using the opportunity to fix and improve this part of HL so that users and content producers can more easily use the product.

The inability to use the product offline will be a big deal. GenCon still has no WiFi. A lot of people will walk into GenCon next summer with HLO on their devices and suddenly not have access to their characters and havoc will reign.

Normally you have pretty smart ideas but this is just crazy talk.

So you want the several millions lines of scripts that are running under HL to be re-written? All the community packs all the files on home PCs and groups and all the 3PP addons and files. Not including all the lines of code that are written right now running all the games HL supports (d20, Pathfinder, 5e, MM, Shadowrun...) Its taken 10+ years for HL to have that code created by thousands of scripters. But you want that changed?

Sorry that is a plan that will sink LW. The scripting language works VERY well at what it does. If you actually spend time learning the language it has very good reasons for working the way it does. Its the VERY reason we all love HL is because of the very powerful language that Rob developed. Everyone here that likes HL needs to understand its because of the scripting language that you enjoy it. Its what drives 95% of what you see and get out of HL. You want to print a character sheet, or prepare a spell, or make something in the editor? Guess what you just touched something that was created with the HL scripting language.

They are correctly going to reuse all those millions lines of code already created as I guarantee that Starfinder started as a fork of Pathfinder. Then they made specific modifications for the UI and to improve some "legacy" ideas and features. But sense it started as a Fork of Pathfinder (as really Starfinder is only a little different from Pathfinder) and uses the HL scripting language means many will be able to jump right in and start coding Starfinder scripts. That is a positive and smart thing for LW to do.

Last point is the guys that are doing work for 3PP are paid on a very tight time schedule. Meaning you change the scripting language , all the time they have to re-learn, is time they will NOT make money. That is a bad thing as some are pretty dependent on the money they make from paid HL work.

One of my favorite movie quotes of all time, because it's so true: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Lo-d8AWL0#t=1m52s