Online spell book builder?

[Halewijn]

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Of course, that isn't the only out-of-date info on the Arcane Wonders web site.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).

And this:
http://www.arcanewonders.com/the-mages-of-etheria

When I just started mage wars I loved reading those pages! (I haven't been there in ages)
But the Forged in Fire mages are still "coming soon" although it has been out for almost 2 years and nothing mentions the academy mages. Today the "coming soon"-part should be the Paladin and Siren. I don't want to be a nitpicker, and frankly I don't even care that much, but it does seem like iNano has a point.

[Sailor Vulcan]

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Of course, that isn't the only out-of-date info on the Arcane Wonders web site.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).

And this:
http://www.arcanewonders.com/the-mages-of-etheria

When I just started mage wars I loved reading those pages! (I haven't been there in ages)
But the Forged in Fire mages are still "coming soon" although it has been out for almost 2 years and nothing mentions the academy mages. Today the "coming soon"-part should be the Paladin and Siren. I don't want to be a nitpicker, and frankly I don't even care that much, but it does seem like iNano has a point.

Yes. What happened to pixlgeek? I don't think I've seen him on here in ages!

I'm not even sure I'm remembering his username correctly, it's been that long.

[iNano78]

Just here for my monthly rant.  And from what I read earlier this morning, fingers are crossed that this might be the last... but I won't hold my breath.

To recap, here's a list of known issues and omissions, plus a few "wishlist" requests.

Card database
- Missing all Academy cards (released 8 months ago at Gen Con).
- 4th printing card updates (e.g. errata and updated text and images); some have been done (e.g. [mwcard=MW1I02] Battle Fury[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1J08] Hand of Bim-Shalla[/mwcard]), but others are still out of date (e.g. [mwcard=MW1I28] Teleport[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1J06]Gate to Hell[/mwcard] and [mwcard=FWC04] Goblin Builder[/mwcard]).
- Would be nice to have promos, but that's an optional "wish list" entry, not a "why the frack wasn't this done like a year ago?!?!" sort of thing.

Spell book builder
- Missing the ability to include Domination on the "Spell Book Sets" list (so it doesn't give you errors regarding not owning copies of those cards unless you check the "Ignore Card Counts").
- None of the cards from Domination with the "Epic" keyword can be added to your book because they were entered incorrectly ("Mage type = Epic" is always unsatisfied).
- Would be nice to be able to choose format: Academy (e.g. only cards legal for Academy) or Arena/Domination (everything legal), with a secondary option of whether or not you can include promos (assuming promos are added to the card database).

Official Rules and Codex Supplement
- Doesn't have latest errata and updates to card text (like Gate to Hell and Goblin Builder).
- Needs and update or analogue for Academy cards (e.g. to state that the Genie's wish token ability is a Quick action, etc).

Web site
- Would be nice if the organized play section included kits 5 and 6, which were released a couple years ago.
- Would be nice if the "Mages of Etheria" information were updated to include the Anvil Throne Warlord and Adramelech Warlock (released a couple years ago).

Official App
- Others can speak to this as I don't own a tablet, but I am to understand the app is significantly out-of-date.

[Laddinfance]

As far as the card database, right now we have the "back end" stuff. It's being reviewed then it just needs to be implemented. Now, will this fix some of the bugs? I don't know, but when I pass this on to be updated, I'll be double checking that.

Just letting you know what is moving at the moment.

[wtcannonjr]

Official Rules and Codex Supplement
- Doesn't have latest errata and updates to card text (like Gate to Hell and Goblin Builder).
- Needs and update or analogue for Academy cards (e.g. to state that the Genie's wish token ability is a Quick action, etc).

I noticed that this document hasn't been updated since the new Core Set rules were printed. It appears that many of the items covered in the Supplement may be able to be removed since they have now been incorporated in the 4th edition rules. Using a Living Rules document is a nice way to manage many of the clarifications in one place rather than continue with separate documents.

[iNano78]

Just dropping by for my monthly rant.

Along with the usual requests (see a couple posts above), here are a couple of other "I can't believe how freaking long this is taking" cries:

- 4th edition printing updates are celebrating 1 year of "coming soon" status for the spell book builder and card database, as mentioned here: http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=15542.msg69803#msg69803.  It was also mentioned that it would be nice to get a Rules Supplement update for 2014's Forged in Fire before Paladin vs Siren gets released in the second half of 2016...

- While this page got an aesthetic upgrade, I recently noticed that the recommended beginner "Core Set Mage Spellbook Spell Lists" could stand to be updated with the Druid vs. Necromancer and Forged in Fire spell books (e.g. from 2013 and 2014, respectively).

Still, there are more important/urgent issues.  For instance, I've been holding off posting a few of my latest Arena and Domination spell books because a large fraction of the cards are from Academy - and hence don't exist in the official spell book builder and card database - and I don't want to have to track down card text and user-submitted card images (or upload my own) in order to explain what the cards do, how they interact, and how they work together in my spell book which has been possible to build since Gen Con 2015.  Hopefully we can discuss before the anniversary of the product at Gen Con 2016... but of course that will likely start a year of having to wait for the Academy Priestess, Academy Warlock and Lost Grimoire v1 cards to show up on in the card database...

[Laddinfance]

Hello again, iNano.

The project that was holding me up, recently got finished. So after a brief respite, I can tackle a lot of these issues. I've tried contacting the person who originally programmed our web spellbook builder, and I've gotten no response. Now, I'll be trying to decipher it and get things updated. On the plus side, hopefully I'll be able to understand it all to the point we won't need an external person to service it. The Rules Supplement is also getting updated, ideally to put it current with our releases. As for the Core Set Mage Spellbook Spell Lists, those are for the core set, the expansion mage spellbooks aren't for that document, and all of the rulebooks are online already. Those rulebooks have the spellbooks in them.

I'm really hopefull that I'll be able to chew through a lot of these issues before the next project begins.

[iNano78]

I took a brief hiatus from my monthly rants...  But I'm back!

To recap, here's a list of known issues and omissions, plus a few "wishlist" requests.

Card database
- 4th printing card updates (e.g. errata and updated text and images); many have been done (e.g. [mwcard=MW1I02] Battle Fury[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1J08] Hand of Bim-Shalla[/mwcard]), but others are still out of date (e.g. [mwcard=MW1I28] Teleport[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1J06]Gate to Hell[/mwcard] and [mwcard=FWC04] Goblin Builder[/mwcard]).
- Missing all Academy cards (released over a year ago at Gen Con 2015).
- Missing all Academy Priestess cards. Many of these are relevant to Arena, and many don't show up with a Google search (e.g. have to track them down in an unboxing video on YouTube).
- Missing all Academy Warlock cards. Many of these are relevant to Arena, and many don't show up with a Google search (e.g. have to track them down in an unboxing video on YouTube).
- Ditto for Paladin vs Siren, which has had a limited release at Gen Con 2016. It's more than a little annoying when people who have the set talk about cards and post spell books using them, while the rest of us don't even know what the cards do.
* Would be nice to have promos, but that's an optional "wish list" entry, not a "why the frack wasn't this done like a year ago?!?!" sort of thing.
* Speaking of promos, Lost Grimoire v1 should be available later this year, so if a SBB/database update is coming, it's probably a good idea to get ahead and be ready to update the database with those cards UPON RETAIL RELEASE (rather than several months or years later). This should go without saying, right?

Spell book builder
- Missing the ability to include Domination on the "Spell Book Sets" list (so it doesn't give you errors regarding not owning copies of those cards unless you check the "Ignore Card Counts").
- None of the cards from Domination with the "Epic" keyword can be added to your book because they were entered incorrectly ("Mage type = Epic" is always unsatisfied).
* Would be nice to be able to choose format: Academy (e.g. only cards legal for Academy) or Arena/Domination (everything legal), with a secondary option of whether or not you can include promos (assuming promos are added to the card database).

Official Rules and Codex Supplement
- Doesn't have latest errata and updates to card text (like Gate to Hell and Goblin Builder).
- Needs and update or separate Rules Supplement for Academy cards (e.g. to state that the Genie's wish token ability is a Quick action, etc).

Web site
- Would be nice if the organized play section included kits 5 and 6, which were released a couple years ago.
- Would be nice if the "Mages of Etheria" information were updated to include the Anvil Throne Warlord and Adramelech Warlock (released a couple years ago), and Paladin and Siren.

Official App
- Others can speak to this as I don't own a tablet, but I am to understand the app is significantly out-of-date.

[iNano78]

It's premature for my next monthly rant, but I thought I'd crosslink to a BGG post about how lack of SBB/card database is hurting Mage Wars. Yes, some would like a tablet/phablet-compatible builder, but right now there's such a large proportion of cards missing from the online card database that it's become next to useless for spell book building purposes (e.g. a large proportion of a spell book might be comprised of Academy and Siren vs Paladin cards, not to mention trying to build a book for a Siren or Paladin mage).

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1643450/lack-mobile-and-sbb-support-slowly-killing-my-favo

Not only that, looking up a card with Google is getting increasingly difficult, as many aren't pictured (or text typed out) anywhere on the web. Youtube "unboxing" videos are the only known source for some Academy, Academy expansion and PvS cards, but Youtube is data-intensive (e.g. expensive on a mobile network) or might be blocked from work, etc. Even a forum post with scanned card images for recently released sets (well, sets released since Gen Con 2015, if that's still "recent") would be a big improvement right now.

[littlenog]

Can you get me a complete card list by Set?

I can see about putting together an Excel based SpellBook Builder.

I'll try to design it so it can be used as a .csv file for a later database.

[wtcannonjr]

Can you get me a complete card list by Set?

I can see about putting together an Excel based SpellBook Builder.

I'll try to design it so it can be used as a .csv file for a later database.

You can find this on the BGG site for Mage Wars. Sorry link is not handy.

 There are also several Excel based SpellBook Builders to check out. However, I believe all of these are now out dated with expansions.

[iNano78]

Can you get me a complete card list by Set?

I can see about putting together an Excel based SpellBook Builder.

I'll try to design it so it can be used as a .csv file for a later database.

You can find this on the BGG site for Mage Wars. Sorry link is not handy.

 There are also several Excel based SpellBook Builders to check out. However, I believe all of these are now out dated with expansions.

http://www.arcanewonders.com/resources-and-downloads
(Scroll down for spell lists; missing Academy Priestess, Academy Warlock, and Paladin vs Siren)

http://forum.arcanewonders.com/sbb/database.php
(Missing all Academy product, Paladin vs Siren, some recent updates/errata from 4th printing, and some Domination cards (namely those with the Epic keyword) can't be added to spell books using the spell book builder)

[littlenog]

What kind of database was used for the 2nd link is it a SQL database or some other architecture?

[Rodge]

I miss iNano's persistence on this thread - I hope he hasn't given up hope on this!

Like many people, I would like to have the SBB functionality available while on a work PC - and it is rarely possible to access OCTGN at this time. Plus, I prefer the simplicity of the SpellBookBuilder here.

Would it be possible to open access to the DB to some of the senior members here (or following iNano's suggestion of paying a student in beer )? If it means improvements in our favorite game - then I've no doubt that people will easily give their time for no more than a "thank you" message.

I'm not trying to undermine anyone's efforts on the SBB, but I'd just like to see it function a lot better than it currently does.

The lack of a fully functioning, easily accessible, spellbook builder is a very annoying problem - especially when I try to introduce newer players to building their own decks (ie, saying something like "OK most of the cards in the DB work fine. Take a note of ones that don't work so well yourself. And also consider taking these useful Academy cards that aren't in the DB yet.")

[Coshade]

Hey man!
I know you do not like the octgn sbb for your work, but giving new players a chance on the octgn sbb may solve at least half your problem. Also if they wanted to learn to play online that might also get them more into the game!
I wish the main sbb was updated too.