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Paragon
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Join Date: Feb 2010
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Old September 14th, 2017, 09:35 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by EightBitz View Post
Some vendors have poor security. Hell, the news just broke that Equifax got hacked. I think debit cards have also historically suffered from a lack of the types of fraud protections that credit cards have had. I think that's been changing, though.
This. Its generally easy to get bogus credit charges blocked. Debit transfers--not so much. And while in-store purchases are not perfectly secure, the history of online scamming and interception does not suggest the two are comparable.
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Douglhotka
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Old September 14th, 2017, 04:48 PM
Thought I'd chime in here, as I do this kind of thing for a living.





First time poster here, coming after looking for starfinder content for HL.

For the credit card questions, I do cyber security for a living, and there is a lot of incorrect information floating around, confusing common practice and legal requirements or liability limits and timing. It's complicated and can vary by state to state. Suffice it to say that you're always safer with a credit card than a debit card, which is why I recommend against carrying or using one.

More to the point, Folks should assume that their credit card will be compromised at some point, and it's highly unlikely you'll know where it was stolen from. Monitoring transactions on a weekly basis and immediately reporting it generally results in no cost to the consumer (even though the law allows for it). The annoyance is having to get a new card and update all the automatic payment sites. Non trivial for sure. These guys have run ecommerce for a while, and I'll bet they use a third party payment service. I'd love to see an ApplePay option, but I've no hesitation to subscribe using a credit card if necessary.

For folks interested in some thoughts on staying safe online, you can check out this post: https://douglhotka.com/2017/08/21/ar...-cyber-safety/

Specifically for the recent breach, I strongly recommend a security freeze (a real one, not the app based service some of the agencies are offering). Credit monitoring is largely useless.

Now back to the topic at hand.

Cloud and subscription services are the future. But it takes a lot of work to get them right, scalable and stable. They allow new features (which my group won't use as we don't all use HL but some will)and in their case, definitely reduces development costs. Price of progress.

My concerns for HLO are much more to do with availaibility than anything else. Between application defects, typical server outages, potential for a DDOS attack, I'd always want to have a printed copy in hand. That's disappointing to have to do, as I really like the automatic changes when I buff or nerf the character. It'd be fair to say that it's made me a lazy player because I no longer really know how to calculate all that quickly. If there's lots of outages, then the company will lose subscribers and be at risk of failure. If it's rare, then the printed copies won't be used much outside of conventions and other locations without internet service. That's common in hotels, less so elsewhere if you don't mind using cellular data.

They have every incentive to get it right.
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EightBitz
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Old September 15th, 2017, 11:48 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglhotka View Post
My concerns for HLO are much more to do with availaibility than anything else. Between application defects, typical server outages, potential for a DDOS attack, I'd always want to have a printed copy in hand. That's disappointing to have to do, as I really like the automatic changes when I buff or nerf the character. It'd be fair to say that it's made me a lazy player because I no longer really know how to calculate all that quickly. If there's lots of outages, then the company will lose subscribers and be at risk of failure. If it's rare, then the printed copies won't be used much outside of conventions and other locations without internet service. That's common in hotels, less so elsewhere if you don't mind using cellular data.

They have every incentive to get it right.
You forgot power outages. We had one here a few weeks ago that lasted for six hours. In that situation, you're going to want to conserve your cell phone battery rather than using it for data.
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Sir_Scott_A_Lot
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Old September 15th, 2017, 12:40 PM
I would like to second the comment(s?) about keeping WIFI off for all-day gaming at conventions, for the sake of maximizing battery power, as well as point out that many (few/some/most?) small local gaming stores frequently do not have robust public WIFI to support multiple tables of players. I have, on many occasions, fed my computer WIFI off my phone, but that's a very drain on the phone's battery, phone's data plan, on top of laptop battery, because the laptop has no idea that it's on a limited connection, so it's just as likely to try to download giant Windows updates as it is to just talk to LWD's servers. There won't be a perfect solution for everyone, but even in our weekly home-game, we have a tendency to overload the WIFI router, preventing players from getting online, so having some sort of offline functionality would be really appreciated, even if it doesn't happen with the initial releases.

Additionally, from a bill-paying and tracking perspective, I, for one, would like to see some sort of bulk billing, to be able to buy one or even two or more years of subscription at a time, rather than having either a manual or recurring minimal charge. Since that would reduce LWD's credit card operating cost, I hope this has already been contemplated.

I am very excited to see the public beta, and what LWD has in store for us for Starfinder. Since it's being touted as system-agnostic, and sounds like it will be based in a web browser(?), or similar interface, I'm hopeful that I'll be able to bypass the laptop completely, and reference and/or run my characters directly from my phone.

Sending positive vibes to the LWD team, and trying to wait patiently until I can throw money at HL/Starfinder
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jimthegray
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Old September 15th, 2017, 01:32 PM
cant wait for HConline
hoping it is out soon, running my 1st starfinder game is Wednesday
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DeltaMasterMind
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Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 412

Old September 15th, 2017, 06:07 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir_Scott_A_Lot View Post
I would like to second the comment(s?) about keeping WIFI off for all-day gaming at conventions, for the sake of maximizing battery power, as well as point out that many (few/some/most?) small local gaming stores frequently do not have robust public WIFI to support multiple tables of players. I have, on many occasions, fed my computer WIFI off my phone, but that's a very drain on the phone's battery, phone's data plan, on top of laptop battery, because the laptop has no idea that it's on a limited connection, so it's just as likely to try to download giant Windows updates as it is to just talk to LWD's servers. There won't be a perfect solution for everyone, but even in our weekly home-game, we have a tendency to overload the WIFI router, preventing players from getting online, so having some sort of offline functionality would be really appreciated, even if it doesn't happen with the initial releases.

Additionally, from a bill-paying and tracking perspective, I, for one, would like to see some sort of bulk billing, to be able to buy one or even two or more years of subscription at a time, rather than having either a manual or recurring minimal charge. Since that would reduce LWD's credit card operating cost, I hope this has already been contemplated.

I am very excited to see the public beta, and what LWD has in store for us for Starfinder. Since it's being touted as system-agnostic, and sounds like it will be based in a web browser(?), or similar interface, I'm hopeful that I'll be able to bypass the laptop completely, and reference and/or run my characters directly from my phone.

Sending positive vibes to the LWD team, and trying to wait patiently until I can throw money at HL/Starfinder
1. Yes you can run HLO from the browser and yes from ANY device, in the FAQ.
2. I agree with the billing option to buy bulk. I hate recurring monthly charges.
3. If carrying a laptop to a convention hall: A. Bring a usb charging cord for phone/tablet, B. bring an extension cord and a power strip so you can be the hero/heroine for all the people who are huddling around the scarce outlets, C. If you happen to be using windows 8 thru 10 just set the wifi to your phone as a metered connection and no more heavy data use will occur in fact metering blocks windows update entirely even on windows 10.

I am now looking forward to them getting this up as I have plans to get all the software they offer as I am seeing a need for it in my games. Darn my players and their plans!

Forum link for my content work:
Pathfinder Thread
Forum link for SU 5e content work:
5e Steven Universe Thread
This link is for my group, but feel free to play it with:
DMM 5e | "https://www.dropbox.com/s/vsd9w1eodlnwjq0/updatesDMM.xml?dl=1" Copy this link to your update manager to get updates when available.
This adds the Pisky subrace to elves from Berserk! and additional subraces for the Gem Race.
Please post comments in the provided threads above.
DeltaMasterMind is offline   #116 Reply With Quote
Geodragon
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 46

Old September 16th, 2017, 07:26 AM
Any ETA on the beta? Looking forward to give it a spin. And, faq really doesn't answer this: In HLC, if you had multiple devices paid for, will the additional devices be converted to unique logins with their own passwords? Or will it be one account that can have simaltaneous logins?
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EightBitz
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Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 1,458

Old September 16th, 2017, 07:58 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geodragon View Post
Any ETA on the beta? Looking forward to give it a spin. And, faq really doesn't answer this: In HLC, if you had multiple devices paid for, will the additional devices be converted to unique logins with their own passwords? Or will it be one account that can have simaltaneous logins?
From the FAQ:

Q: How will my Hero Lab Classic secondary licenses transfer to Hero Lab Online?
A: In Hero Lab Classic, secondary licenses allow users to access their content on multiple devices. Hero Lab Online will employ a similar concept, allowing simultaneous access to your account from multiple devices (e.g. multiple family members). Migration from Classic to Online will convert your secondary licenses to simultaneous devices in the new environment.
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Geodragon
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Old September 17th, 2017, 10:59 AM
Yes,i saw the FAQ, still doesn't answer my question.
Current model: each device has it's own key/password.
HLO - one account, but, will it be single login with one password, or will each license have it's own username/password?
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eruvanna
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Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 21

Old September 17th, 2017, 07:35 PM
Do we have an update on the timeline yet? "Late September" is kind of here. 2 weeks remain. Do we know if we're looking at this week, next week or pushed a bit into October?
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