Online spell book builder?

[Drefan]

Would be cool if you could add the option of linking your Arcane Wonders forum account with the spellbook builder. And asoon you're online you can access decks that you've save and make new one or just polish the ones you've.

[iNano78]

So, it's great that Domination cards have been added to the spell book builder... but any chance it can get Domination added to the spell book sets so I can actually include Domination spells in my books?

[Coshade]

Seems like quite a problem! I would recommend in the mean time checking the drop box that says ignore card counts. At least then you can calculate the points out.

[iNano78]

Seems like quite a problem! I would recommend in the mean time checking the drop box that says ignore card counts. At least then you can calculate the points out.

Tried that.  Didn't fix the problem.  Still gives the same error.

I also noticed that some cards (seemingly at random) won't preview when clicking their names, and can't have their counts changed by clicking +/- once in your book (e.g. so can't be removed from a book).  I noticed this happened with Guardian Angel, Wall of Thorns and a couple others, but didn't notice a pattern (e.g. why most worked but a few didn't). *edit* Preview works for those cards when clicked in the lower panel ("card list"), but not in the upper panel ("spellbook").

P.S.  Using Internet Explorer 10.0.9200.something.

[Kaarin]

P.S.  Using Internet Explorer 10.0.9200.something.

It seems that's the problem. I'm currently on Opera 12.17 (released in 2012, I think) and don't have such issues. Also I've added Guard dog and Wall of Force without problems after checking 'ignore card counts'.

[iNano78]

P.S.  Using Internet Explorer 10.0.9200.something.

It seems that's the problem. I'm currently on Opera 12.17 (released in 2012, I think) and don't have such issues. Also I've added Guard dog and Wall of Force without problems after checking 'ignore card counts'.

Tried it in Google Chrome version 45.0.2454.101 m.  Using +/- and preview of, for instance, Guardian Angel or Wall of Thorns now works, but I still can't add Galaxxus, even with "Ignore card counts," for a new reason:

"You can't add this card as you need to be the following type of Mage: Epic"

[Laddinfance]

iNano, I'm sorry I didn't catch this sooner. I'll be looking into this problem.

[iNano78]

So... I don't mean to be rude, but I really can't comprehend why fixes/updates to the online card database and spell book builder take so long.  It seems like it should just be a matter of adding entries to an existing data base. Seems like an hour or two of work for someone familiar with the code, assuming the data base code itself remains unchanged (just adding more entries).

Domination has been in the wild for about 6 months, and while cards have been added, there are still bugs that prevent some of them from being added to spell books - most notably that you can't select Domination as a product you own (it isn't listed under Spell Books Sets), and even if you click "Ignore Spell Counts" you still can't select some cards (like Galaxxus) using some browsers because they have the property Mage Type = Epic.

Second, Academy has also been available since Gen Con and has been available retail in many countries for at least a month, and Academy cards aren't listed at all yet.  I think that should be a high priority given that Academy is getting mostly good reviews and could bring a lot of new players to Mage Wars - but it would be a LOT better if the format was supported in the spell book builder ... not to mention that it would allow Arena/Domination players a convenient way to build spell books with Academy cards without painstakingly adding up spell book points manually.  You definitely want to get support for Academy before the "new shiny" appeal of Academy wears off...

Third, some updated card text, art, etc for 4th printing core and expansions (namely FvW) isn't reflected in the builder.  For instance, Goblin Builder doesn't have the new text allowing him to repair walls... although I did just notice that Hand of Bim-Shallah, Battle Fury, Temple of Light, etc, have been updated with the new art/text versions; and Skeletal Sentry is now a soldier, Malacoda is now poison immune and deals poison damage, etc.

Fourth, and this is more selfish and a little off topic, but it would be nice if Academy were available in the Ambassador Rewards section of the Arcane Wonders online store.  Despite my personal misgivings about Academy (and overall preference for Arena/Domination), it is a great tool for introducing new players to Mage Wars, which is really what the Ambassador Program is all about.

[Laddinfance]

I understand your frustration because I share it. Anytime I think that some task for the Spellbook Builder or the App should be simple and easy to accomplish, it never seems to happen that way. Now I recognize that part of that is my lack of knowledge on this particular subject.

I'm not going to blame others for why this has not been finished. But I do know that we have tons that goes on behind the scenes that often times grabs our attention. Thank you for your patience and your reminder.

[iNano78]

Just here to post my monthly request for fixes/updates to the online spell book builder:

** Domination expansion set still isn't listed under the "Spellbook Sets" tab (e.g. cards you own)

** Even if you check "Ignore Card Counts", many Domination spells still can't be added to spell books, including Galaxxus, V'tar Suppression, Gravikor, etc, as there is a data entry error that requires the mage type to be "Epic" (which of course doesn't exist).  In other words, it seems that the "Epic" keyword was entered in the "Mage Type only" field rather than a field related to how many you can legally include in your spell book.

** Academy cards still aren't listed in the spell book builder, making it difficult/annoying to build Arena/Domination books with Kajarah or Tarraki or Packleader's Cowl or Mana Worm or Rajah or Slavorg or Wychwood Ironvine or Joined Strength or Wolf Fury or... well, many Academy spells.  Similarly, no support for building Academy spell books exists... which I'm sure would be appreciated by Academy players.  It's tough to get new players hooked when tools they could really use don't exist.

* It would also be nice to have a button to include promos as a Spellbook Set or simply hide them or include them in the list of available spells... but this is a much less urgent/important feature.  Fix the broken stuff and add the available cards first.

[iNano78]

My monthly request/rant is posted in this other thread this month.

To the guys at Arcane Wonders, please, PLEASE, for the love of Asyra, offer a college student a case of beer to update your card database.  If you do, it will probably be up-to-date in 2 days: 1 for the student to drink the beer, plus a morning and afternoon to recover from the hangover, then about 2 hours in the early evening to enter the data.  There is neither an excuse nor a conceivable reason why this couldn't have been done upon the release of Mage Wars Academy (and Domination).  Oh, and while the student is at it, please get her or him to fix the entry errors from the Domination update (e.g. remove "Epic" from the mage type field for Gravikor, Galaxxus, V'tar Suppression, etc, so we can put it in our saved spell books).  It's basically an issue of find & replace / copy & paste.  Oh, and add Battlegrounds Domination to the "Spellbook Sets" list so we don't have to check off "Ignore card counts" anymore.  So... maybe 2.5 hours total on the evening after drinking the beer. 

In other words, support your product so it isn't a pain in the butt for your player base to enjoy your flagship game.

[/rant]

[Skra]

For those of you who want a spellbook builder that includes the Battlegrounds and Academy expansions, why not just build your spellbook in Octgn and use the Validate Mage Wars Spellbook plugin?

[Boocheck]

Well, sometimes i just want to build on a work computer where instaling OCTGN is not that optimal and also, for some users, OCTGN seems too complicated (for them, not for me, i love it)

[Laddinfance]

Tony and I are working on it. Obviously we want this be a good resource.

[iNano78]

Well, sometimes i just want to build on a work computer where instaling OCTGN is not that optimal and also, for some users, OCTGN seems too complicated (for them, not for me, i love it)

^^ this. 

Something that works in a web browser is far more convenient on a mobile device or a work computer, for instance.  And OCTGN's builder isn't terribly user-friendly (although maybe I'm using it wrong).  Besides, the vast majority of Mage Wars players (e.g. casual board gamers) are likely unaware of OCTGN's existence, but might check out the Mage Wars web site (since it's mentioned in the rule book) and would probably be surprised to find that the existing official card database/spell book builder is 6+ months out of date and full of data entry errors from the last time it was updated.  Kind of makes it look like the company is no longer supporting Mage Wars and is letting it die [mwcard=MW1E19]a slow death[/mwcard].

Of course, that isn't the only out-of-date info on the Arcane Wonders web site.  There's also the organized play section, which hasn't been updated in a couple years and only goes as far as OP Kit #4 (using this link) or OP KIt #5 (prologue only - and only if you know of this super-secret link).  OP Kit #6 exists in physical form ("Menace of Ruination" was released in fall 2014) but never made it to the web site (at least as far as I can tell).