Arcane Wonders Forum
General Category => Website Support and Feedback => Topic started by: V10lentray on January 19, 2017, 09:40:01 AM
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Any update on if Spell Book Builder will ever be worth using again?
It's still missing -
Domination
Paladin Vs Siren
Lost Grimore
Academy Beastmastrer
Academy Priestess
Academy Warlock
Academy Wizard
This lack of updating just leads more to the effect of AW, losing interest in supporting MW.
It makes it seem like AW is forcing people to use 3rd party software (OCTGN) to play the game. To me this is us acceptable. While Wizards of the cost is an infinitely larger company, when a new magic set is released, it is uploaded into their card database. We are currently over a year behind on cards being added to spell book builder.
A set is completed 4-5 months before it is released to the public. there is no excuse that those cards can not be created for upload into SBB in that time frame, and have them uploaded into the builder the same week the cards are released to game stores.
Lost Grimore final file was released to playtesters in late April and released to the public in November. That was 6 months, from final Digital version to printed product, yet those cards are still not in SBB. Battlegrounds: Domination was released well over a year ago.
Has AW given up on supporting MW other than releasing card sets?
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Thankfully, your pleas have been voiced and answered already in this thread here:
http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=1420.msg80429#new
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Yeah, lots of discussion concerning the Spellbook builder today :P
In all seriousness, we do understand the frustration. Arcane Wonders has experienced a lot of changes in the past couple months, and the SBB is definitely on the list of projects we are actively working on. We're not trying to be vague with the details, we're just trying to work through how to efficiently get the updates done to the current tools and also allow the fans to build their own SBBs if desired --we're watching those with interest.
Additionally, I'll be rolling out an updated website soon, so resources for all the individual product pages are being pulled together so there isn't any missing information, Rulebooks etc.
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For the sake of accuracy, Battlegrounds Domination is in the SBB/Database. Well, at least the cards from that set are there, although you can't choose it as a set that you own, so you have to disable card counts in order to add any Domination cards to your book. And on top of that, any of the Domination cards with the "Epic" trait can't be added, even with card counts ignored, because that trait was accidentally listed under "Mage type" in the database, and since you can't have "Mage type = Epic", it will always give an error when adding it to your book.
But aside from that, yes, it's hopelessly out of date.
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I discovered Tony's post shortly after posting my question. I have always loved this game and bring it every week to my massive 100+ player gaming group yet can't get people willing to play, not only because of it's complexity, but because of lack of support from the company. The last time I played MW was at GenCon.
Yet last week, out of the blue an old friend I haven't talked to in about 5 years appeared at my gaming group with a friend. they asked what I was playing and I hadn't decided on anything yet, as I had just finished a game of Boss monster. I mentioned that I bought my favorite game ever, but can't ever get people to play it with me. when I told him it was mage wars, his face totally lit up. He owns every expansion except for PvS, and also never gets to play and loves it.
So I ran them both through a game, and not the other guy is going to get it, so I have a few people to play with, yet no real easy way to build new books. I look forward to next week playing the one guy who is going to bring a book of his own, (he watches tons of the Arcane duels streams), and crushing him with playtest cards that aren't released yet!
But getting a functional SBB is incredibly important. And you are even smaller of a company then you were since letting Aaron go. The fact that players are growing on OCTGN shows that the game is loved, but it appears that AW does not support the players.
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I discovered Tony's post shortly after posting my question. I have always loved this game and bring it every week to my massive 100+ player gaming group yet can't get people willing to play, not only because of it's complexity, but because of lack of support from the company. The last time I played MW was at GenCon.
Yet last week, out of the blue an old friend I haven't talked to in about 5 years appeared at my gaming group with a friend. they asked what I was playing and I hadn't decided on anything yet, as I had just finished a game of Boss monster. I mentioned that I bought my favorite game ever, but can't ever get people to play it with me. when I told him it was mage wars, his face totally lit up. He owns every expansion except for PvS, and also never gets to play and loves it.
So I ran them both through a game, and not the other guy is going to get it, so I have a few people to play with, yet no real easy way to build new books. I look forward to next week playing the one guy who is going to bring a book of his own, (he watches tons of the Arcane duels streams), and crushing him with playtest cards that aren't released yet!
But getting a functional SBB is incredibly important. And you are even smaller of a company then you were since letting Aaron go. The fact that players are growing on OCTGN shows that the game is loved, but it appears that AW does not support the players.
I am actually working with the players who update OCTGN to attempt to make it better, as well as fixing the sbb on our website. Improvements are coming and they are high on my priority list.
We are increasing our effort on MW at the moment, and you should see even more improvements (that I haven't mentioned) in the near future.
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I'm the owner of one of the two fan based spellbook builders Tony mentioned.
I just posted an update that includes PvS and LG, read more at http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=17116.30 (http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=17116.30)
Cheers
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And you are even smaller of a company then you were since letting Aaron go.
Is there an announcement of this somewhere? This is my first time hearing this. I really liked Aaron.
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They have announced this to the playtesters.
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Um, without Aaron, who is left?
My limited understanding of AW is:
- Bryan P. (Founder, head game designer and pres, but mostly working on non-MW stuff these days)
- Tony G. (Mostly business/marketing; replaced Scott "Toxiq" M.)
- Aaron B. (Lead designer of MW expansions since forever; pretty much the only person working on MW)
- Alfiya P. (customer service and making sure stuff gets done)
Without Aaron, who is left to develop future Mage Wars product?
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I think they hired someone else for Mage Wars Academy design at some point, they'll probably just have him working on both Academy and Arena
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I have noticed more and more that card previews are not working for the spell builder code in the forums. I understand that the website is being reworked and that this includes the SBB, however it is very frustrating to look at another's book and then have to have octgn open to fully understand the nuisances they have built. Without maintenance this issue will compound as new sets are released. I know this is happening, but can the interfacing code also be looked to ensure that the two assets align.
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I have noticed more and more that card previews are not working for the spell builder code in the forums. I understand that the website is being reworked and that this includes the SBB, however it is very frustrating to look at another's book and then have to have octgn open to fully understand the nuisances they have built. Without maintenance this issue will compound as new sets are released. I know this is happening, but can the interfacing code also be looked to ensure that the two assets align.
The forum card previews won't be fixed until the official SBB/database is updated (if ever). Meanwhile, if you can't/don't want to use OCTGN )(like me), use THIS (https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/spell-book-builder/sbb.html).
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...it is very frustrating to look at another's book and then have to have octgn open to fully understand the nuisances they have built.
Funny slip of the tongue
I'm sure you meant "nuances". :)
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...it is very frustrating to look at another's book and then have to have octgn open to fully understand the nuisances they have built.
Funny slip of the tongue
I'm sure you meant "nuances". :)
HAHAHAHAHAHA best auto-correct fail ever. It depends if they are my opponent or not. ;)
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I am actually working with the players who update OCTGN to attempt to make it better, as well as fixing the sbb on our website. Improvements are coming and they are high on my priority list.
We are increasing our effort on MW at the moment, and you should see even more improvements (that I haven't mentioned) in the near future.
Good that we have grga's excellent SBB by now because the "official" SBB is probably as dead as dead can be.
Another quarter of a year has gone by and I have no idea anymore what "high on my priority list" and "in the near future" mean.
It's all relative, I guess.
On a universal timescale, the extinction of the dinosaurs was not that long ago either so I guess if the official SBB is done before the start of the 22nd century that would still qualify as "in the near future" ... I guess :(
I'm trying to visualise what it means "increasing our effort on MW at the moment" but my mind draws a blank.
Although, considering they did ... nothing ... before.
If they now do twice as much, thus ... twice nothing ... that would qualify as "increasing our effort".
That argument would probably hold in court.
Seriously.
Not a yota of progress has been made on this issue for about three years now.
You can't just keep saying we're "working on it" and expect to still be taken seriously.
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Even if the spellbookbuilder can't be updated soon, it would be nice to have all the new cards in the spell list on this site (including all promos if posible). It would be handy to quickly reference cards and to be have the oportunity to insert the pop-up card previews when posting on the forums. Completing that list would be a huge step forward and it's surely something that needs to be done anyway when the spellbookbuilder gets its update.
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I am actually working with the players who update OCTGN to attempt to make it better, as well as fixing the sbb on our website. Improvements are coming and they are high on my priority list.
We are increasing our effort on MW at the moment, and you should see even more improvements (that I haven't mentioned) in the near future.
Good that we have grga's excellent SBB by now because the "official" SBB is probably as dead as dead can be.
Another quarter of a year has gone by and I have no idea anymore what "high on my priority list" and "in the near future" mean.
It's all relative, I guess.
On a universal timescale, the extinction of the dinosaurs was not that long ago either so I guess if the official SBB is done before the start of the 22nd century that would still qualify as "in the near future" ... I guess :(
I'm trying to visualise what it means "increasing our effort on MW at the moment" but my mind draws a blank.
Although, considering they did ... nothing ... before.
If they now do twice as much, thus ... twice nothing ... that would qualify as "increasing our effort".
That argument would probably hold in court.
Not a yota of progress has been made on this issue for about three years now.
You can't just keep saying we're "working on it" and expect to still be taken seriously.
By now, I have as much faith in this official MW project as I have in Project Trump. Zero.
Bro, keep the politics to the political threads. Other than that, you make a valid point. Fortunately, we do have other options and the game doesn't require a sbb to play.
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Thank you for your kind words Borg.
My initial idea was to get AW to support my spellbook builder and at some point that almost happened (from what I was told they were drafting an agreement for me to sign), but then it didn't (with no explanation)...
I believe having an up-to-date functional spellbook builder is something we absolutely must have so I decided to put my time into building one instead of calculating spellbook points manually. Browsing spells and building books is half of the game and it needs to be fun and easy, not something cumbersome that "needs to be done" in order to be able to play the game.
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I agree building and adjusting my books is a large part of my enjoyment.
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Thank you for your kind words Borg.
My initial idea was to get AW to support my spellbook builder and at some point that almost happened (from what I was told they were drafting an agreement for me to sign), but then it didn't (with no explanation)...
Why would they support you and pay you for something you're already doing willingly for free. Just saying.
It's totally a dick move, but you did create it, and keep it up to date with the help of the community. I would just be weary that somehow, they got someone to steal the code and logic behind it and are doing it themselves.
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I was not asking for any compensation, I wanted them to provide quality images of spells missing from official builder and help with future expansions in order to have them supported as soon as they launch them.
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I don't care if they take the code, I even offered to transfer ownership of the code to them (for free).
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Thank you for your kind words Borg.
My initial idea was to get AW to support my spellbook builder and at some point that almost happened (from what I was told they were drafting an agreement for me to sign), but then it didn't (with no explanation)...
Why would they support you and pay you for something you're already doing willingly for free. Just saying.
It's totally a dick move, but you did create it, and keep it up to date with the help of the community. I would just be weary that somehow, they got someone to steal the code and logic behind it and are doing it themselves.
Dude, Ray, this is blatant Defamation. Arcane Wonders is a 3-employee company that's doing some seriously awesome work and all of this delay can be explained through Commitment to Quality and Lack of Personnel. If you have ever actually talked to anyone at Arcane Wonders face to face you'd know that they are wonderful people that do their best to help, encourage and applaud when someone has done something worthy of recognition. They just don't have a lot of time.
Reign in the bile, man.
grga, I applaud your work and your response. Keep being awesome.
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I have personally found the entire Arcane Wonders staff, both past and present, to be the personification of professional and courteous. I can personally attest to having worked with every member of their staff at various points as an ambassador, Gen Con volunteer, event organizer, and in some cases even friend. Every time I've ever dealt with any employee of Arcane Wonders the service I've been provided with can only be described by any rational person as "above and beyond."
While it is true the spell book builder provided in the forums is not up to snuff compared to the one presented by our friend Grga here I strongly believe that will change and most likely by AW taking his spell book builder to heart. I applaud the work done on his builder and consider Grga one of the reasons the Mage Wars fan base is so phenomenal.
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I have personally found the entire Arcane Wonders staff, both past and present, to be the personification of professional and courteous. I can personally attest to having worked with every member of their staff at various points as an ambassador, Gen Con volunteer, event organizer, and in some cases even friend. Every time I've ever dealt with any employee of Arcane Wonders the service I've been provided with can only be described by any rational person as "above and beyond."
While it is true the spell book builder provided in the forums is not up to snuff compared to the one presented by our friend Grga here I strongly believe that will change and most likely by AW taking his spell book builder to heart. I applaud the work done on his builder and consider Grga one of the reasons the Mage Wars fan base is so phenomenal.
^this. Also as pointed out already, they used to have five staff members, now they only have 3. Honestly this game already depends on the fanbase in order to thrive. All the playtesters and ambassadors are volunteers. They are happy to do the work for free. Arcane Duels provides event coverage--also happily for free. Sometimes I wonder why AW doesn't enlist the help of the fanbase to do more stuff. They should have asked for a volunteer to work on the spellbook builder instead of waiting so long that somebody took it upon themselves to make a different one.
Now we have a link to an unnecessary extra spellbook builder on the forums which arcane wonders will now have to work on themselves anyways when they are already short on time and personnel, because they promised to and some people on the forums will get mad if they don't not because they actually need another spellbook builder but because it's the principle of the matter or something.
Hey AW you guys are awesome, but there is such a thing as biting off more than you can chew. You have a nicely sized portion of the fanbase that is wiling and able to help out more by volunteering their time to work on stuff to help the game, and they have already demonstrated that some of them will do so whether or not you specifically ask them to. Mage Wars is already fanbase driven to a large extent already. Maybe don't be afraid to ask us for help more often?
:D
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I want to point out that I thgink grga is doing the Mage Wars Community a very great favor by creating a working and up-do-date spellbookbuilder! By this he is doing AW a very great favor.
The lack of one tool like this for incredibly long has for sure been an issue that made people stop playing the game.
So: I think this work deserves a bundle of banana stickers!!!
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I want to point out that I thgink grga is doing the Mage Wars Community a very great favor by creating a working and up-do-date spellbookbuilder! By this he is doing AW a very great favor.
The lack of one tool like this for incredibly long has for sure been an issue that made people stop playing the game.
So: I think this work deserves a bundle of banana stickers!!!
+1
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I want to point out that I thgink grga is doing the Mage Wars Community a very great favor by creating a working and up-do-date spellbookbuilder! By this he is doing AW a very great favor.
The lack of one tool like this for incredibly long has for sure been an issue that made people stop playing the game.
So: I think this work deserves a bundle of banana stickers!!!
+1
I think you mean a *bunch* not a bundle.
*+5
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