Senior Member
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 135
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#251 |
Member
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 61
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I sent a message to via Hero Lab via Facebook, and haven't heard anything. I posted to this thread on October 16, several days after I applied for Beta, and still haven't had any word if I have been accepted or not.
I have used my Realm Works login details, get told this morning that my account has already applied for Beta Access, and am at a loss of why I haven't at least been included. With applications closing todayish, am I simply out of the running to join? GayKiwi (Realm Works ID name) |
#252 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 1,458
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#253 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 135
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#254 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 2
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Hello all!
Just registered on these forums to toss my 0.02 CR in on the whole thing. While I understand the decision to do an online only product, I find that while it does offer a lot of what I need, it offers much more that I do not and at a monthly cost that I do not feel is in my interests to pay. I can understand the desire to go to online cloud based systems. It has a lot of power, makes updating manageable, and since it's not a life-requirement (no matter how much some of us addicts say otherwise), net access isn't the end of the world. And of course I understand that infrastructure costs money to maintain. And if you're running a group, what's better than having a single repository to manage things? Except for the fact that not everyone has a desire or a need for it. I'm certainly in that pile. My groups don't need online management. I don't need it. I don't need it anywhere near regularly enough to justify a subscription model to the data sets (Even though it's more just a maintenance fee for keeping the online stuff, well, online. Let's not kid ourselves. That is what it is). I don't think I'll be getting the 2-5-whatever it is dollars value per month out of it. I had asked you guys back at Gencon 2017 about when it would be coming out for Herolab, and from the quick 30 second conversation it sounded like it was coming, but not for a while. So I started looking in late December, and found this thread that seems to indicate a lot differently. That was a bit of a kick in sub-chestular area, I will admit. But then it is Gencon. Perhaps I was misunderstood. Or something was just said wrong. It was pretty busy. So anyhow. I'm looking at other options for supporting my Starfinder work, which is a damnned shame. Hopefully you'll figure out how to actually roll it out on Hero Lab, in which case I'll probably throw money at it. Unless the other options end up being superior. First to market, I suppose. Anyhow, look forward to seeing you at Gencon 2019 (not making it this year). I'll make a note to swing by your booth and congratulate/excoriate you appropriately, depending on how things go. |
#255 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 135
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#256 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 2
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It's a set of solid business decisions. I can't fault you for them. I just lament that you're not giving me a reason to buy your product. |
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#257 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Beaverton, OR
Posts: 267
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I am coming to the party a bit late. Until; recently I just did not play Starfinder.
I purchaced Hero lab in 2010. Since then I have purchased 97+ data sets for the pathfinder game alone. It is the only program I use for my characters. I recommend this software to anyone who asks. I purchased Realmworks in 2014. At first I was extremely excited about this product. When I purchased the product LDW was in licencing negotiations with Paizo. LDW was showing "Rise of the Runelords" as prof of concept at PaizoCon2014. We were told we could see Paizo content in a matter of weeks. Unfortunately that has not happened and weeks became months and months became years. I do not hold LWD solely responsible for the delays. I do NOT recommend this software to anyone. I tell them it is incomplete and to wait and see. Now we come to Hero Lab Online. I am all for innovating HL and keeping it relevant. I am even willing to pay LWD for the right to use the data, as LWD is not a charitable organization, nor are they doing this for altruistic reasons. I do have a HUGE reservation about the subscription fee. Rob IF I give you $34.99 for Starfinder on HLO what am I getting for my money? With HLC for $34.99 I get the core rulebook for one game system, once purchaced I own it. What do I get if I purchase Starfinder Alien Archive for $12.99? HLC and HLO seem to have the exact same price schedule. If I understood your comments earlier in this thread HLO is significantly easier to program that HLC is. If I understood you correctly that is why Starfinder is not available on HLC. So why the recurring fee? To put this in a different perspective....I love watching movies. I love it so much that I watch them on three different platforms....Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. The first two are subscription based plans. I pay a month fee to access EVERYTHING on their site. If I don't pay the fee I loss access, it is a all or nothing. Amazon is a little trickier. With Amazon I have an annual fee, but it is not to access content I have purchased, but instead to get free shipping and access to "free" content they are offering. I have no say in what content is available for free or when they will take it away. On top of that I can rent/purchase content. If I rent I get the content for a specific amount of time. If I purchase it, it is mine. If I choose to not renew my prime subscription, I do not loss access to my purchased movies. If you implemented the subscription in HLC from the beginning I would have already paid $192.00 in subscription fees to access the $500++ worth the data sets I have purchased. If I choose to not pay the fee I loss $500+. This feels Wrong. Please help me understand. |
#258 |
Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 32
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The subscription is a problem, not because of the subscription itself, but because it is a paywall for other paid content. Usually with subscription models you get the full deal, all content in one package (or different tiers), here you only get allowance to use what you already own.
There is a plus side to it, though: Ongoing subscription prices are relatively low, so that you don't pay higher subscription prices for content when you don't have time to play anyway. What I miss from the main web-page is more comprehensive information: - Do all players of a gaming group have to pay subscription? - Do all players of a gaming group have to buy packages? Can they display character sheets created with packages they don't own themselves? - Is subscription monthly or yearly? Is there a discount when you pay yearly? Can you easily pause/cancel subscription if you don't play for one/some month(s). - What parts are fully implemented yet, which are not? - Will there be adventure path packages? - Will there be "backup" servers that users can login to when the main site is down (maintenance or otherwise)? - Is the local browser cache made full use of to keep data transfers to a minimum (important for mobile use)? - What is a "Lone Wolf account"? It neither seems to be my forum account here nor my Hero Lab Classic license account. How does HLO know about my already licensed packages once Pathfinder is supported? |
#259 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Adelaide, Australia
Posts: 2,294
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The recurring fee is to maintain the service. Pay for the power to keep the servers on and the air-conditioning in the DC, pay for space required to maintain the data requirements as everyone needs to store their data on the service also. Pay for the retention service that id wager they have in place. Pay for the floor space in what ever data center they are using.
In my last role I was an IT Infrastructure PM and this stuff is not generally cheap and it's certainly ongoing. So if you break the cost down. The $$ to purchase the content covers the license fee that LWD pay back to the content owner. It covers the time and effort for the LWD employee to do the data entry. The $$ for the ongoing subscription covers everything above and the support for the tool. This is the cost of accessibility. The cost of going online. The cost of supporting as many platforms as possible with the least resourcing requirements. Realm Works - Community Links Realm Work and Hero Lab Videos Ream Works Facebook User Group CC3+ Facebook User Group D&D 5e Community Pack - Contributor General Hero Lab Support & Community Resources D&D 5e Community Pack - Install Instructions / D&D 5e Community Pack - Log Fault / D&D 5e Community Pack - Editor Knowledge Base Obsidian Obsidian TTRPG Tutorials |
#260 |
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