Hero Lab Online

[AJC]

This is looking pretty intriguing. PC and mobile apps, supported by the cloud...very interesting. Assuming that they retain offline functionality, this will certainly raise the bar.

[s_gmusic]

As nice as this idea sounds (and looks), I'm wondering about two things for HLO:
1- Will there be some form of an "offline mode" for a just-in-case a user loses 'net access (signal dropped, power outage, etc.)?

2- Will there be some benefit for those of us who have paid for normal Hero Lab, whether that be purchases transferring over between the two or a discount on Hero Lab Online?

[Exmortis]

If it actually ever makes it to market, I mean we have been awaiting the content market feature of realm works for, well longer then most world leaders stay in power with out an election.

[Ulfberht]

So does this mean support for the iOS app will be dropped?

[Ruka]

Originally Posted by daplunk

I suspect it will be a whole lot more than that. I'm guessing it will be a fully online solution. All guesses here but:

You will open it in a web browser
It will be login / account based not license based
It will pull data from a server instead of your machine

But what about the people that bought multiple licenses for other devices, I have 5 licenses currently, laptop, IPad, wife's surface, my PC, and my son's PC. I paid for licenses, so I had availability to Hero labs on any one of those devices. sharing the .por via Dropbox.

What becomes of people like me that have hundreds of dollars invested over years, do all the monthly subs get the same access I paid for bit by bit as the releases came out or as a book had something I wanted in them? I saw that LWD had posted in the data sets a complete catch up for pathfinder for 375 bucks, over time that comes down to about 50 bucks a years since I bought HL but all at once is a pretty sizable chunk of change to drop, are people going to have to buy in for access on HLO?

Having it accessible is great but people paid good money over the last umpteen years to keep LWD alive and producing content that we wanted/needed.

I am checking in everyday to find out if something new has come out about Starfinder, or HLO, because I want to know what I can expect from them. I plan to add the Starfinder package, if I can just purchase the data set and use it with my already owned licenses. I guess I'll have to wait out the weekend to hear the skinny after GenCon

[Quintain]

^ This needs to be answered. As well as whether once HLO comes online will the Old HL stop being supported or not.

What I would prefer is not to have any sort of subscription cost associated with HLO, unless cloud server space is provided.

[Hargert]

I for one am not interested in a subscription model. I want to buy something and have it be mine to use. I have invested quite a bit in HL but if it was a sub I never would have.

[Toblakai]

Originally Posted by Hargert

I for one am not interested in a subscription model. I want to buy something and have it be mine to use. I have invested quite a bit in HL but if it was a sub I never would have.

I definitely would not want to subscribe now after owning hundreds of dollars in content. But for someone new coming in to Pathfinder a subscription would be very attractive.

[Blightana]

Online Direct.----Booooooo--- I say bad form. I think this would force a change to a subscription model. and us poor gamers are cheap. If it goes subscription, I guess I'm going back to formfill pdfs. Unless you can avoid the whole subscription thing, and still support the old purchase to own setup. and have offline access.

[AJC]

Most companies that convert from perpetual to subscription models typically offer a "conversion" to the new offering. Otherwise they risk alienating/losing their current install base. For LWD, there core model is selling data sets...no new data set, no incremental revenue. Converting to sub establishes a far more consistent revenue stream. I would not be surprised to see a model similar to the one DDB just released...a core sub fee w/ the option to purchase additional content. Personally, I have no issues with this model, subject to the actual prices involved.

My biggest question is how they'll handle offline access/utility. I would much rather have the data sync to device so that I don't need to be dependent on their server.