I understand that a company must continue to advance and be innovative to stay viable. Smiteworks must do the same. Clearly the drive of this company and program is to make this '2.5D' system work for fantasy grounds. I can only pretend to understand the economics on deciding this is the direction to go vs. improving what personally drove many to fantasy grounds (great automation of systems, virtual environment to meet friends, 2d map improvements [lighting, los, animated maps, tokens], and not being web based platform).
I have been a faithful supporter of this program since before it was purchased by Doug Davison. (I don't post much and try to only post when it's important to me to do so or if I find issues with my games to try to help improve the program). That being said, I do show my support by purchasing many products from store and forge as well as talk up the program to anyone who is interested or talks about a competing program for VTT. I have done so for as long as I've used FG.
I also understand that I am only one opinion of an end user. But, that being said and I hope I am proven wrong, but in the visual aspect of this 2.5D look, is it really wanted by large percentage of your user-base? If WOTC's Project Sigil ever releases (again they've tried many VTT's in the past and failed on each one), if that 'video game' look is what users want, I would expect them to go to that platform as it will be much more refined and likely not return for a 2.5D look. Granted, they may not support other rule-sets, but we all know when it's been posted in the past by Doug, the vast majority of games here play D&D with PF following way behind in percentages.
Unless there is marked improvement, this 2.5D feature will only look as good as the 80's and 90's CRPG games I grew up on; "Descent into the Undermountain" is probably the best example (1998 MS-DOS/Windows from Interplay) that I am envisioning.
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Granted it won't be as pixelated, but essentially it is what I imagine it will look like from what I've seen so far. It may or not have animated actions (not even sure if that's planned). Unless there is something I am missing. I love retro, but is it worth making the great things about Fantasy Grounds less important or even not able to use due to the extreme demands onto the program already?
I love this program, I have poured thousands of hours into fantasy grounds, playing, building modules, trying to help troubleshoot things I find, and using multiple rule-sets in the process. I have had amazing adventures and still think it's the best VTT out there. But... if the drive is to only focus on this 2.5D and subsequently degrade the experiences with Fantasy Grounds that I've had for the past 15 years. It makes me wonder if there will come a time I will have to look for something better for my needs. I know someone will say, then go ahead a go. I get it, I'm one end user. But I can't imagine I'm alone in feeling this way.
These thoughts are from someone who really doesn't care about the 2.5D look and I don't believe anyone in my group uses it either (yep tried it a few times, seems like a novelty to me and have returned back to 2D), I really wish Smiteworks was more focused on making what defines this program better (improving rule-set automation, 2D map improvements, etc.). But still focusing on those microtransactions (dice, token packs, maps, etc) that keep the income flowing.