Is Hero Lab worth buying

beltaur · July 15th, 2011, 10:53 AM

I'm new to the forums and for the last few weeks have been busy reading posts.
I just picked up Mutants and Masterminds 3 and just finished reading the books.
I was wondering if Hero Lab is worth getting. I read about the licensing issues and other stuff and I'm not sure if I should purchase it.

I would be installing on a lap top that doesn't get window updated (Windows 7 64 bit), and rarely is on the net. It is used for gaming at my house, but I'd also want to install at my friends because that is where we would be playing M&M 3. Problem with the machines at his house is we play lots of games and he upgrades hardware often, so not sure if it would have licensing issues.

Any comments would greatly be accepted.

chiefweasel · July 15th, 2011, 11:18 AM

Thats a tough one. the product is great in what it offer in the way of character creation, tracking, and use. as for an license issues. once you have installed it, its stable. there are updates from time to time, but you could just do an update just before you play your game and you would be fine.

as for installing it on a friends system, that would violate the license agreement, as it would for just about any software you buy. my suggestion would be to have them buy a license as well. as for swaping hardware alot, that could be a problem, but no more then with any software. if HL has to be re-installed, you can just shot LW an email and explain the hardware problem and they can help you out.

beltaur · July 15th, 2011, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiefweasel

as for installing it on a friends system, that would violate the license agreement, as it would for just about any software you buy.

The system at my friends house is mine. I keep it there for playing lan based games. Plus when you buy Hero Lab you get a secondary license to install on a second machine I thought..

EberronKnight · July 15th, 2011, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beltaur

The system at my friends house is mine. I keep it there for playing lan based games. Plus when you buy Hero Lab you get a secondary license to install on a second machine I thought..

Correct you get a secondary license.

EK

Lawful_g · July 15th, 2011, 06:20 PM

I think that'd be fine beltaur, the intent is to keep people from spreading it to all their friends, not to keep you form having it on your laptop and a desktop.

For what it's worth, Hero Lab has my endorsement, I'd encourage you to buy it.

chiefweasel · July 17th, 2011, 05:22 AM

Ditto.

Duggan · July 18th, 2011, 10:20 AM

I think that it's well worth buying. And your situation seems like it could work. You'll have to log on and update it periodically, and I would not recommend giving your password to your friend (necessary for license assignment/reassignment/etc) since it gives direct access to the ability to use your credit card to purchase more modules.

rob · July 18th, 2011, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beltaur

I was wondering if Hero Lab is worth getting. I read about the licensing issues and other stuff and I'm not sure if I should purchase it.

Is our system perfect? Definitely not. However, we have many tens of thousands of users actively using our products every day without any problems. The number of users who run into issues is tiny by comparison (well under 1%). Unfortunately, those few users also tend to be highly vocal about it here on the forums.

When problems do arise, we do our best to get those users up and running again as quickly as possible. The issue is usually tied to something unexpected (e.g. non-standard) with the user's computer, and we don't have access to the computer, so sometimes it can take us a bit to figure out what's actually going wrong.

We offer a 60-day money back guarantee on our products. So if you do decide to purchase Hero Lab and find that it's not working for you, we'll provide a refund.

Quote:

Originally Posted by beltaur

I would be installing on a lap top that doesn't get window updated (Windows 7 64 bit), and rarely is on the net. It is used for gaming at my house, but I'd also want to install at my friends because that is where we would be playing M&M 3. Problem with the machines at his house is we play lots of games and he upgrades hardware often, so not sure if it would have licensing issues.

Hardware upgrades are generally not going to cause problems with our licensing mechanism, although it depends on the specific upgrade being applied. Upgrades to the operating system *will* cause problems, but only full upgrades (like going from Windows Vista to Windows 7). Service packs should not cause problems.

So it's unlikely you'll run into problems with the computer at your friend's house.

Hope this helps...

rob · July 18th, 2011, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duggan

I would not recommend giving your password to your friend (necessary for license assignment/reassignment/etc) since it gives direct access to the ability to use your credit card to purchase more modules.

This is 100% WRONG information.

We do NOT preserve credit card information on our server that is tied to user accounts. In fact, we only have enough credit card information on our server to process refunds for orders. Even if our server was hacked, there would not be enough data for the hacker to place any new purchases. We do this as an extra safeguard against hackers.

Once someone logs in with your license info, the only thing they have access to is your license. If they want to purchase anything, they will have to enter all the credit card information from scratch. So unless you separately give them your credit card information, they sure won't be getting it from us.

Duggan · July 18th, 2011, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rob

This is 100% WRONG information.

We do NOT preserve credit card information on our server that is tied to user accounts. In fact, we only have enough credit card information on our server to process refunds for orders. Even if our server was hacked, there would not be enough data for the hacker to place any new purchases. We do this as an extra safeguard against hackers.

Once someone logs in with your license info, the only thing they have access to is your license. If they want to purchase anything, they will have to enter all the credit card information from scratch. So unless you separately give them your credit card information, they sure won't be getting it from us.

I may have misphrased myself. My understanding is that, with user name and password, one could purchase additional data packages for Hero Lab using that account, which has a credit card associated with it. That was my intention to indicate that additional data packages could be bought without additional input, not that the credit card information itself would be accessible. *wry grin* I could also be wrong. The last data package I bought was some years ago.

My apologies if I am indeed incorrect.

Lawful_g Senior Member Volunteer Data File Contributor Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 1,245 July 15th, 2011, 06:20 PM	I think that'd be fine beltaur, the intent is to keep people from spreading it to all their friends, not to keep you form having it on your laptop and a desktop. For what it's worth, Hero Lab has my endorsement, I'd encourage you to buy it.
#5

chiefweasel Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Miamisburg, OH Posts: 1,322 July 17th, 2011, 05:22 AM	Ditto. Web site - Cheese Weasel Logistics - www.cheeseweasel.net Twitter - @CheeseWeaselGMZ For user created content check out www.d20pfsrd.com and www.cheeseweasel.net For video demos of Hero Lab go to http://www.youtube.com/user/TheChiefweasel?blend=9&ob=5
#6

Duggan Senior Member Volunteer Data File Contributor Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 1,502 July 18th, 2011, 10:20 AM	I think that it's well worth buying. And your situation seems like it could work. You'll have to log on and update it periodically, and I would not recommend giving your password to your friend (necessary for license assignment/reassignment/etc) since it gives direct access to the ability to use your credit card to purchase more modules.
#7