Online spell book builder?

[Borg]

I respect and applaud all the work that has been done to update the OCTGN game and won't take anything away from it.

However, I'm of the same mind as many other posters here who think the lack of a functional, "one-click-away" SBB is hurting the game. I can't speak for others but I know the lack of a SBB is the main reason I'm not as active anymore as before.

Building Spellbooks with a SBB is fast, fun and stimulates creativeness. It allows you to develop and explore an idea in minutes.
Building Spellbooks without a SBB, while sorting through piles of cards, is tedious, boring, time consuming and fun killing imo.

I cannot comprehend how a company that produces such a well designed and intelligent game lacks the understanding of how vital a SBB is or can be to its success.
I cannot put it any other way because if they did realize how important a SBB is they would long since have updated it.

Bottomline : fantastic game but disappointed atm because the lack of a SBB means that an important and very enjoyable part of the game called "SpellBookBuilding" has been turned into a time consuming chore.

[iNano78]

I respect and applaud all the work that has been done to update the OCTGN game and won't take anything away from it.

However, I'm of the same mind as many other posters here who think the lack of a functional, "one-click-away" SBB is hurting the game. I can't speak for others but I know the lack of a SBB is the main reason I'm not as active anymore as before.

Building Spellbooks with a SBB is fast, fun and stimulates creativeness. It allows you to develop and explore an idea in minutes.
Building Spellbooks without a SBB, while sorting through piles of cards, is tedious, boring, time consuming and fun killing imo.

I cannot comprehend how a company that produces such a well designed and intelligent game lacks the understanding of how vital a SBB is or can be to its success.
I cannot put it any other way because if they did realize how important a SBB is they would long since have updated it.

Bottomline : fantastic game but disappointed atm because the lack of a SBB means that an important and very enjoyable part of the game called "SpellBookBuilding" has been turned into a time consuming chore.

^^ this.

And it's not just for building books, either. Sometimes I just want to look up a card, for instance to discuss it in a forum, and right now there are several cards (from Academy, Lost Grimoire and PvS) that I can't find anywhere on the interwebs. For example, I tend to get the ability text of Shallow Sea and Swamp mixed up. Or I want to check the legal targets of Demonic Bloodlust. Or the mana cost of Turghut.

I don't want to admit how long it took me to type out the spells in my Domination Siren book, which has a total of 11 spells that are in the database/sbb.

The lack of a builder/database is has really stunted my ability to think about Mage Wars when I'm away from my physical cards. It's really sad, especially when we just got so many new cards in 2016, and yet there's little to no evidence of them on the internet - unless you want to sift through Youtube videos by Arcane Duels, which really uses up your data plan in a hurry.

[Halewijn]

Yes.. I agree with every letter Rodge, Borg & iNano said. This issue is here for over a year and a half. Ever since domination came out, the spellbookbuilder is out of date. The academy core set was released in october 2015! I really don't understand how updating could even take more time than a couple of hours work.. I mean, Arcane duels updates the OCTGN builder AND the game itself, which is way more work, constantly and these guys do it in their free time.

Less of an issue, but it should also be possible to filter on keywords or text like in OCTGN. + choose a format (academy, arena, domination)

[bigfatchef]

Absolutely agree with all above!!!

I would add the Companion app here (that I bought and that is just garbage right now) since it was the best sbb for mobile use (or could have advanced to).
For me I completely quit spellbookbuilding in free time. It is only possible at home at my computer with enough time. I would love to think about a book and tweak it, look up cards, calculate openings and search for synergies at a trainstation, while traveling, while waiting for something or simply whenever I have an idea. Nothing of that is possible right now and that is disappointing.

[jacksmack]

I always found the sbb in OCTGN WAY better than both the web and app version. (Also compared to back when things were up to date.)

Just saying this to encourage people to try it out until we get an official (updated) product.

[bigfatchef]

I always found the sbb in OCTGN WAY better than both the web and app version. (Also compared to back when things were up to date.)

Just saying this to encourage people to try it out until we get an official (updated) product.

Absolutely true! Octgn is way more powerful than all others. But it's available just at home and that's the point that's the big issue

[Borg]

I always found the sbb in OCTGN WAY better than both the web and app version. (Also compared to back when things were up to date.)

Just saying this to encourage people to try it out until we get an official (updated) product.

I'd like to try it out ... but this is all such a "jungle"
( setting up octgn, setting up MW, setting up the image packs, setting up the SBB, registering here and there, verification codes and whatnot) .... really, I don't want to spend all day on this.

[Robert Geistlinger]

We are implementing plans for spellbook builder updates. I wanted to take a minute on here to address a couple of items as there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding concerning the spellbook builder.

• None of the coding is done in-house for our apps or spellbook builders
• There are currently 3 different spellbook builders being worked on (two fan-made that we're seeing how they progress, and one that is starting next week)
• Our major priority as a company is to produce and release new content --our focus is on continuing to release new sets and market said sets to the public to increase the Mage Wars player-base

It takes much more time than a couple hours to update the apps in their current states. We are working on solutions, but they take time.

As I mentioned in the previous BGG thread linked above, I expect there to be progress in 2017. We have a lot of work being done in the background with new products and are looking into ways to provide this tool for our fans.

[Borg]

Thank you for taking the time to respond to this thread, Tony.

• None of the coding is done in-house for our apps or spellbook builders

Most of the people here are aware of that but I think it's no longer accepted as a legitimate excuse because this situation is now dragging on for over a year.

• There are currently 3 different spellbook builders being worked on (two fan-made that we're seeing how they progress, and one that is starting next week)

The fact that different fans are now taking it upon themselves to create up-to-date spellbookbuilders should be a clear and loud sign to AW that this is something the community is desperately missing and is way over due.

• Our major priority as a company is to produce and release new content --our focus is on continuing to release new sets and market said sets to the public to increase the Mage Wars player-base

Totally agree there but given the lack of action with regard to this public plea for over a year, AW seems to heavily underestimate how important a SBB can be to the development of the game.
A functional SBB and increasing the player base go hand in hand imo, that's why I can't understand why this issue is taking so long.
I would even argue that at this point a SBB is more important than a new set of cards to grow the player base.

It takes much more time than a couple hours to update the apps in their current states. We are working on solutions, but they take time.

I understand the argument but I've read it too many times for it to still be taken seriously.
How can it possibly take more than a year to update a relatively simple and small database ?

Again, thanks for the reply, my criticism is nothing personal, I'd just wish this issue was taken care of sooner rather than later as I'm sure I'm not the only one who's interest and time investment in this game is dwindling due to the lack of a simple online tool.

[SirAndrew]

I think it's great that you guys provide a SBB at all and for free at that. I work with the dev team
at my company so I know how lengthy and expensive any amount of programming can be, especially when not done in house. It takes alot time, money, resources, planning, and approvals to get seemingly simple changes made. I for one feally appreciate the work the team does for the SBB and don't mind waiting as I think focusing in-house resources on the physical game itself it just a better business decision.

I'm quite surprised so many feel the game isn't interesting or worth playing without a SBB. I get that it's convenient but for me the main draw of the game is getting to manually build your SB. Maybe I'm just old school but I really like the physical aspects of the game and I started with Academy. If I wanted to have instant digital access to game components I would just play a video game. Maybe a thorough fan wiki could help? Having that said I do see the benefits if a SBB and look forward to seeing updates (offical or fan based). In the meantime I'll happily keep playing.

[Skra]

Bump.

[grga.curkovic]

One of the fan based spellbook builders mentioned above is the one I made and it is available at www.spellbookbuilder.com. To my knowledge it contains all published spells, including Academy and promo spells. I've been talking to AW for almost a year now trying to get them to support me by providing spell images and data, but as these guys sometimes find it hard to answer an email (in a correspondence they initiated) I don't think it is realistic to expect their help in any way. Anyways, you are all invited to use www.spellbookbuilder.com, there is a thread in Spellbook Builder subforum where you can report issues or ask for features.

[BigNic]

Im using the spellbookbuilder a lot. Thanks for this great tool. Does somebody know when the academy druid gets included? That would be awesome.
Thanks a lot!