Hi folks. I'm yet another 4e player who, due to the fact that I'm starting to think that maybe I kinda can't cope with WotC's new version of their Character Builder, ended up wandering over here in my frustration, looking for more information to chew on.
I'm here, of course, because I'm considering getting a Hero Lab license to use with D&D 4e.
Gathering what I can by nosing around on the Lone Wolf forums a bit and reading feature requests and bug reports, it looks like the downside of Hero Lab is that it
currently may be buggy to a degree that is a bit better than the new CB WotC has put out, though not as trouble-free as the Character Builder "Classic"
(1), but with the compound upside of:
1) ...being far more full-featured, particularly in regard to house-ruling and custom item creation...
2) ...having a hard-working staff who are Johnny-on-the-spot about ironing out bugs.
The bug thing is of prime importance to a lazy user like me because the main reason I purchase and use a service like my DDI account and a piece of software such as the Character Builder or Hero Lab is that I have no interest/time/inclination to actually do the math and audit it myself to make sure that my character is legit, bonuses/adjustments are calculated correctly and these bonuses and adjustments are being taken advantage of properly. To boil it down, the core reason I buy the service/app is to benefit from it doing everything correctly so I don't have to: I pretty much operate as if the software I'm using is the final word on such stuff and use it as my referee.
While assessing whether or not I will be making a purchase, I think the two most important pieces of information I want to obtain about Hero Lab for D&D 4e are:
1) Is my assessment of Hero Lab's current accuracy and feature-completeness reasonably fair and accurate? By "accuracy and feature-completeness" I mean "does it allow me to do everything the current rulebooks say I can and calculate this stuff correctly?" Or is it more/less tight than I'm gathering?
For the sake of comparison and reference
(2), my impression of the old WotC Character Builder Classic is that it's "pretty good", letting me accurately create most of the stuff the game says I should be able to and with few exceptions, while the new online-only CB is a large step backwards; inaccurate, buggy and incomplete to a degree where it's pretty hard to make a case for using it. Where is the latest version of Hero Lab on this continuum, currently?
(3)
2) How often do updates to Hero Lab appear? This is a biggie for me because, though I have read through quite a few listed bugs on these forums (posted by people more observant than me), the response from Lone Wolf representatives regarding fixing any particular list of issues in "the next update" is very impressive. If these updates happen fairly often, that goes a long way toward selling me on the product.
I've heard a few people say that the new WotC CB is a big opportunity to companies like Lone Wolf, and I guess I'm further proof that it's true!
(1) I am very interested in any and all input and viewpoints anyone has to offer on this admittedly minimally-researched assessment/question, particularly from users of both apps.
(2) ...and that only - I'm not trying to hijack this forum into a WotC gripe-fest, I'm trying to gather info.
(3) Let me state, before anyone suggests that I download the demo to test it myself, that I know this and that I definitely will do so. The reason I ask other people this accuracy question is because, I'm sorry to say, I can test the app all I want and I'm not going to notice the lion's share of any existing math errors or incorrectly-applied rules mechanics. 