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Gothyk
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Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 1

Old February 10th, 2020, 09:36 AM
I'm honestly 100% confused about this email stating that I would no longer be able to make changes to my account unless I renewed my subscription. I feel I'm getting thrown under the bus. When I bought this game it was fully under the impression that I would have access to it indefinitely. The gist of the matter to me is that I would've preferred Hero Labs Classic gotten updates for the new campaigns but obviously it didn't happen so I ended up paying for the online access (not happy about that to begin with). I have a couple of characters I have there with only the intent to level them up easily and keep track of my HP for our roll20 games.

If anyone has proof of this being a subscription service from many years ago, I'm fine with it but changing the TOS or things that I already paid for is not. I am not. Anyways, I just want to know what's going on and when and why this change happened.

Those that had paid for services before such decisions were made should be void of the changes (grandfathered).
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Ryan F
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 177

Old February 10th, 2020, 12:36 PM
Hello,

A great place to read up on this would be the following thread by our CEO which is stickied at the top of this forum explaining in quite a good bit of detail, as-it-were, the whys and wherefores of the Hero Lab Online model.

It does a great job going into some of the reasoning for why it works the way it does and where the plan has been since very early on in its conception and had a discussion on the matter with clarifications offered in reply to questions other users have had. Some of the information is a tad bit dated as it was written more than a year ago and very little of the final implementation or pricing had been agreed upon or finalized at the time. Regardless of that, it's a fantastic resource into the project goals and what we have be aiming for.

I think this can help illuminate things a bit. Thanks!

Last edited by Ryan F; February 10th, 2020 at 03:10 PM.
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Shadowfoot
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Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Wellington, NZ
Posts: 100

Old February 10th, 2020, 03:29 PM
I signed up with the playtest. It was clear then that there would be a charge for the data (same as classic) and an ongoing charge for online access. My group stopped playing during the playtest and I didn’t get to use Hero Lab much until 2e was released and I formed a new group.

SaaS (Software as a Service) needs ongoing subscriptions to stay viable, which is why many apps use this model. I’m just hoping the group licence has this as a viable charge.
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Toblakai
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 453

Old February 10th, 2020, 04:49 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadowfoot View Post
I signed up with the playtest. It was clear then that there would be a charge for the data (same as classic) and an ongoing charge for online access. My group stopped playing during the playtest and I didn’t get to use Hero Lab much until 2e was released and I formed a new group.

SaaS (Software as a Service) needs ongoing subscriptions to stay viable, which is why many apps use this model. I’m just hoping the group licence has this as a viable charge.
And as subscription prices go, this one is probably barely covering costs.
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Farling
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Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Greater London, UK
Posts: 2,623

Old February 11th, 2020, 12:42 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gothyk View Post
If anyone has proof of this being a subscription service from many years ago, I'm fine with it but changing the TOS or things that I already paid for is not. I am not. Anyways, I just want to know what's going on and when and why this change happened.
How far back do we need to search? Is January 2018 far enough?

http://forums.wolflair.com/showpost....52&postcount=3

Or maybe a report from the GenCon 2017 announcement (August 2017)?

https://opinionatedgamers.com/2017/0...-rundown-rpgs/

Farling

Author of the Realm Works Import tool, Realm Works Output tool and Realm Works to Foundry module

Donations gratefully received via Patreon, Ko-Fi or Paypal

Last edited by Farling; February 11th, 2020 at 12:52 AM.
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Parody
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Rochester, MN
Posts: 1,515

Old February 11th, 2020, 10:17 AM
The earliest version of the Hero Lab Online FAQ saved at archive.org is from September 2, 2017. It mentions that there will be a nominal fee of ~$2/month for continued access to character creation.

HLO FAQ from September 2017

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Dwayne
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 453

Old February 11th, 2020, 12:17 PM
I do not use HLO but even I remember that it was announced from the beginning that it would be a subscription service after it was ready.
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dacoobob
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Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 305

Old February 11th, 2020, 02:37 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dwayne View Post
I do not use HLO but even I remember that it was announced from the beginning that it would be a subscription service after it was ready.
Yeah, not sure what OP is smoking-- LW has been saying there would be an ongoing server fee ever since they announced HLO, before the beta even went live.

Last edited by dacoobob; February 13th, 2020 at 01:49 PM.
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Deathe25
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Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 15

Old February 11th, 2020, 03:21 PM
i got this email for lonewolf Lone Wolf Development Support support@wolflair.com via lonewolfdevel.com
Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 11:29 AM
to me

Hi Joe,

For now, we are actually extending all Server Access expiration dates until the service meets some of our internal benchmarks for feature completion and we are still very much pressing forward to try to deliver those features such as the ability for multiple users to coordinate and use Hero Lab Online to manage their games together in a live and connected manner, as well as to help manage combat, campaigns, and group/party loot.

We hope to have these goals met in the next few months, and following that we will be releasing a few Server Access products in the 6-month and 12-month varieties for $14.99 and $24.99 respectively.

Once these systems are up and operational, what the limitations on the service will include will be that you will not be able to appreciably level-up or alter existing Characters beyond 1st level, or create new Characters beyond that threshold. Additionally, you'll be limited in that you will be unable to coordinate via the Campaign Theater for live-play with other Users. If you wish to resume use of these functions you can purchase one of the Server Access products and get right back to doing those things, but even without Server Access time will still be able to login, view, and Print your Characters and the Content which is associated with the Account will always be there ready to return to for use, in other words, you won't ever have to repurchase Data Packages or RPG Systems just because you ran out of Server Access time.

There are some finer details we are still hammering out in regards to how this will work, but I described the broad strokes here. If you have other questions just let us know and I'll be happy to help answer them!

--
Ryan Furnas
Lone Wolf Development Support - support@wolflair.com
http://www.wolflair.com

Tip: Is Hero Lab / Army Builder regularly going into demo mode? Make sure each of your computers is using a *different* license number. Each computer needs its own license number to run properly - you can activate your free secondary license from the License menu, then use your new license number on your second computer to get up and running.
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