Ipad first impressions

[Colen]

Originally Posted by ShadowChemosh

I agree with everything but this one as I want the exact opposite. Please just show ALL weapons on the list all the time. Its common for my group to carry multiple weapons which get used in combat and unless your TWF their is no reason to actually need to swap them.

For example:
Longsword.....
Heavy, Mace....
Greatsword...

Would all display the correct values without needing to be equipped. So now I would have to actually spend the time equipping the weapons which is takes time instead of just using them.

This is actually the way we modeled things for Shadowrun - the weapon equipped state really means "show me the stats for the weapon in this state", not "the weapon is actually equipped in this state".

Would you always want *all* of your weapons displayed, even a random dagger you just picked up? Or would you want many displayed but some hidden? Bear in mind that the list of weapons on the main sheet also shows any equipped armor and other items, so having a long list of weapons at the top makes the other items much less accessible.

[Colen]

Originally Posted by Globetrotter

It looks clean and easy to understand where everything on the main page is. So far, I think this is a great start. I want to write the things I would suggest adjusting, although please do not think I am not very happy with this app. So far, I love the work you guys do and own 100% of the pathfinder data packages.

I think it would be great if the community added to this as well.

1. Changing weapons is difficult and slow. A quick select would be great. I don't think it is necessary to have multiple weapons equipped at the same time, so selecting a weapon could auto deselect another weapon.

2. The dice rollers are great (although I get an unusual amount of 20's when I roll). Could we combine the attack and damage rolls? That speeds it up greatly. So, when I hit the dice roller for my longsword, the dice roller shows my hit and damage in the same screen, in stead of me having to back out and then go into damage.

3. Can we have a section that details the class as well? This might seem redundant, but I would be great to be able to press the class at the top of the page and have a pop-up detailing the information, like you can with all the other attributes and feats.

4. For the consumables, and daily use powers, could we had a + symbol next to the value adjustment? Then we can just this the + and move it forward once instead of hitting the value adjustment, scrolling to the next number and then closing the window. Having the window is great to make larger adjustments, or back adjustments, but usually they move in increments of 1 (or for arrows more), and I think that would be faster.

5. Can you add a reach section to the weapons? Then when you are enlarged, the correct threatened area is shown.

6. A status window would be great too. So when you add a condition, you remember you added it. Maybe as simple as the condition button showing how many status effects are in [conditions (1)]. You could do the same things for adjustment to remind you that you have X amount of spell effects in place. - sometimes we forget such things

That's all that I can think about now. I know shadowchemosh mentioned the saving wait times, and a response already addressed you are working on it. of course, everyone has commented on being able to delete in the app.

I don't know how to sync this with my desktop yet, but I haven't read the instructions yet either.

I am looking forward to using this at my next session. I will have more comments after that. I really like all the information that is included; i don't even need to have my books at the table with this!!

Very happy so far.

1. Having multiple weapons equipped at once is a critical requirement for characters that use two-weapon fighting. Have you tried using the "Quick Equip" button at the bottom of the screen?

2. Would it be OK if it always rolled damage, even if you missed or rolled a 1?

3. Can you tell me more about what sort of information you'd want to see here? Class abilities are already listed under the "All Special Abilities" button at the bottom of the screen, if that helps.

4. This is funny because incrementers used to work like this, but I switched to the spinning wheel view because it was a complete pain to adjust it by more than one. We probably need a button to go up one and a button to go down one, right?

5. This would just be "reach of character" + "reach of weapon" for each weapon, right?

6. Any conditions are actually shown at the bottom of the screen right now, but it's not that visible. I'll try to find somewhere that's more prominent for this, I just don't want it being a huge thing, as many characters will have adjustments toggled semi-permanently.

Thanks for your feedback!

[Globetrotter]

I have yet to figure out how to update. Granted, I haven't played with it much, but it wasn't addressed in the help pages.

So, when I play with the character, use equipment, buy equipment, etc.... how to I get these modifications back to my desktop? Do I have to just manually do the adjustments?

Do the files move back and forth using itunes (which I don't like to use - sounds like others don't as well - is this a restriction that Apple forced?)?

It would be great to have the option to email or export the porfolio, then you can just email it back, or use dropbox, and have the desktop app open the same portfolio to level up and do other between game adjustments.

tl;dr.... Once it is on the ipad... is the portfolio stuck there?

[ShadowChemosh]

Originally Posted by Colen

Would you always want *all* of your weapons displayed, even a random dagger you just picked up?

A random item kept for loot would get recorded in the Journal or my players put a "Custom Gear Item" in and mark it as Dagger and set the weight. But that would only be for a special custom dagger that they think is plot related.

Originally Posted by Colen

Or would you want many displayed but some hidden?

Remember this is how my group does it but we would not want/need things hidden. If we really did for some strange reason I have an adjustment in my addon that allows me to do that. I have not tested it in the app but I assume it works. Hmm need to test adjustment that allows weapons to be re-sorted in the list to see if they work still on the iPad.

Originally Posted by Colen

Bear in mind that the list of weapons on the main sheet also shows any equipped armor and other items, so having a long list of weapons at the top makes the other items much less accessible.

True but usually on a paper sheet these are shown on a different/2nd page so its not that bad to scroll down as they don't seem to be referenced as much as weapons.

I will have in-game feedback after this weekend hopefully.

Originally Posted by Colen

2. Would it be OK if it always rolled damage, even if you missed or rolled a 1?

My thought is yes. This matches exactly how many players roll the dice. My group learned awhile go to do anything they can to speed up combat and one method is to roll attacks and damage at the same time. If the attack misses you just ignore the damage.

Now here is where a GUI interface can help and match the dice as you will need to get it eventually roll Multiple Attacks as this is very important for higher level play. Have each attack and damage be a different color. So say your first attack is always Red, 2nd is Green, 3rd is Blue, etc as this is the same method most gamers use at the table. Matching the color of the d20 with their damage dice so it can all be rolled at once.

One other note here for programmer/DM's like me is before I would allow this App to actually replace dice I would want to see a proof of 10,000 d20 rolls to make sure it really comes out to about 5%. Without this feature I don't let software dice at my table. My DM tool I use has this built in and I am happy to show players any time they want even show it roll 100 d20, 1,000 d20, 10,000 d20 and 100,000 d20.

Originally Posted by Colen

4. This is funny because incrementers used to work like this, but I switched to the spinning wheel view because it was a complete pain to adjust it by more than one. We probably need a button to go up one and a button to go down one, right?

Yea I am back and forth on which of these is nice. But most things are being done in a single increment. I could see "Adjustments" wanting the wheel but a spell you cast once a round. A special ability is mostly used once per round or per day. So a simple "+" makes more sense for those.

Again will see what its like at the game table.

Originally Posted by Colen

6. Any conditions are actually shown at the bottom of the screen right now, but it's not that visible. I'll try to find somewhere that's more prominent for this, I just don't want it being a huge thing, as many characters will have adjustments toggled semi-permanently.

See the adjustments/conditions is very important as its very easy to forget right now in HL. I have made a habit to remind players at the start of the game to Look and make sure all the adjustments/conditions are set correctly before we start or some spell or effect that ran out last session is left on.

[ShadowChemosh]

Originally Posted by Globetrotter

Do the files move back and forth using itunes (which I don't like to use - sounds like others don't as well - is this a restriction that Apple forced?)?

It would be great to have the option to email or export the porfolio, then you can just email it back, or use dropbox, and have the desktop app open the same portfolio to level up and do other between game adjustments.

For now you have to use iTunes but I am sure this is something they are going to add in the future. They wanted to get what they had out and why iTunes file sharing is sucky it does work and for a initial release of software is more important than not getting the software out.

[mirtos]

AC: its pretty important to show the AC, Touch and Flatfooted AC always. I know you can click on AC, but i think its important to always show all three. The less clicks the better. I would rather scroll than click.

[Globetrotter]

Originally Posted by Colen

1. Having multiple weapons equipped at once is a critical requirement for characters that use two-weapon fighting. Have you tried using the "Quick Equip" button at the bottom of the screen?

The quick equip screen is helpful, but not easy to use. Let me try to illustrate, something I am terribly at... I click on quick equip, select the weapon I have equipped, select not equipped. Select the weapon I now want equipped, selected both hands. For me and my uncoordinated hands, that is about 6 seconds to change a weapon. This goes up longer if I am fighting Two-weapon because I have to either deselect two different weapons to select my bow, or god forbid I am changing to two other weapons for DR bypass. That goes up to 10-15 seconds of people at the table just watching me play a mini-game to find out what my bonuses are to hit.

Maybe a small time, but if I am doing it often, it gets irritating.

2. Would it be OK if it always rolled damage, even if you missed or rolled a 1?

Yes. You could have the damage appear under the attack roll so it's not confusing. For crits, you can just roll again. It would be great if it took account for threat ranges and auto rolled, but that might be too difficult to pull off.

I think this is probably a minor thing since most people will just roll their dice anyway. Like I think i said earlier, I get a high amount of 20's rolling on the app than in real life. Maybe I am a terrible roller, but it seems to not be completely random.

3. Can you tell me more about what sort of information you'd want to see here? Class abilities are already listed under the "All Special Abilities" button at the bottom of the screen, if that helps.

One thing I really like about hero lab is I can go to the class tab and select the attack button at the top and it will show my progression. Same with saves and abilities. I really love being able to see what I can do later, and sometimes people ask me. It would be great to have a class tap that mimicked this. Sometimes the GM asked me if I have a power, and I would like to be able to say, not until two levels later. I do have all the books on my ipad, so it's also not a big deal, but it was one of the first things I went looking for, lol.

4. This is funny because incrementers used to work like this, but I switched to the spinning wheel view because it was a complete pain to adjust it by more than one. We probably need a button to go up one and a button to go down one, right?

Yes, a button would be great. I think there is enough space, you could through a - to the left and a + to the right.

5. This would just be "reach of character" + "reach of weapon" for each weapon, right?

Right, so if I am using a long sword, under the weapon it would show 10' reach when enlarged. This is a nice reminder to new players who don't know or forget. I have a bunch at the table I play at.

6. Any conditions are actually shown at the bottom of the screen right now, but it's not that visible. I'll try to find somewhere that's more prominent for this, I just don't want it being a huge thing, as many characters will have adjustments toggled semi-permanently.

Wow, I didn't even see that. The font is small and kind of hidden, like you said. Can you add the spell adjustments to this?

Thanks for your feedback!

Thank you!!!

[Globetrotter]

Originally Posted by ShadowChemosh

For now you have to use iTunes but I am sure this is something they are going to add in the future. They wanted to get what they had out and why iTunes file sharing is sucky it does work and for a initial release of software is more important than not getting the software out.

At least there is a way. I will fire up my itunes and start using it until there is a better way.

I am thinking they could add the option in the character screen. They have options for emailing, copying and view stat blocks. Adding email portfolio should be pretty easy... at least from a non-programming perspective.

[mirtos]

Another AC issue - if im in a condition that requires me to be in one of the three AC conditions, then it should make that very clear. For example, in the main hero lab, if i check the "Running" Condition, then flatfooted is the primary AC condition, and it greys out the other two. In the iPad, it still shows you your primary AC, but if you click on the AC, it shows you your three AC conditions and places a note that you are flatfooted. My point is the quick view is wrong, or confusing, and you have to know to click on the Armor Class text to see what your armor class is. This is confusing, and users will forget this.

[Globetrotter]

I had a similar AC issue with my paladin.

When I activate the smite evil class feature it increases my AC, however, this is a situational increase. Following how hero lab normally operations, situational increases should not show, but maybe an astrict appears.

This is the same level of frustration I have with the furious focus feat, I have to either make an adjustment and forget I have the adjustment and use it on AoO, or remove it and forget I have the + to hit.

6 of one, half dozen of another.