This is still occurring, and seems more frequent. Also having issues with player character tokens suddenly resetting hit points to 1st
level for no reason. We are all guessing at what 'might' have caused it on different computers and connections, but the fact is that we are each experiencing these. These issues are not unique. Others are posting
about this in scattered fashion, and there is a lot of speculation, but no real response from R20
for months. Instead, we get an unannounced, poorly tested CSS style update that added more bugs to the anthill. I hope more people spot these token bugs and encourage R20 to aggregate these reports and address them. Searching the forums is (and has been) a pain in the rear due to poor search engine mechanics and lack of date indexing. Submitting another
bug report to find out that there were many others of similar nature
buried in the forums is disappointing. I did some testing above. It would be great if a Roll20 I.T. member would respond . Forum champs are great, but some are just dismissive because they have not yet experienced the problem or can't reproduce it. Four months ago, I wasn't experiencing this either, for what it is worth. The token bar issues occurred again for a GM in a game that I play in on Wednesday nights, and that resulted in a 15 min discussion of moving to other platforms, that I did not start. It is increasingly frustrating in my own games as DM. Pre-game prep is a big deal. It takes time, testing, and passion for DMs to create and run games for others to enjoy. Not being able to count on the base system being stable 2 days after you prepped and checked your content is maddening. Sadly, the platform seems to be moving toward an unpredictable buggy state . When I was running yesterday (Saturday, 20 Aug), we had tons of lag. Using the [SHIFT]-Z to illustrate tokens resulted in a permanent 'working symbol' in the map page forcing everyone to conduct webpage reloads. The ZOOM feature in handouts seems to have disappeared (magnifying glass) unless I enter huge graphic files (account eaters). I have players losing connections during games; MOST are on high-speed connections and are using game rigs so it is not a user resource issue. As a GM/DM, having to repeatedly reload your webpages mid-game (and then re-open the character/npc sheets/handouts which lag along each time ) to conduct combats is getting old. It was not happening a few weeks ago. The 'Link URL' tool in the handout text editor is still practically invisible , even after they fixed the Forum one. Add to that the on-going issues with using Jukebox leading to player lag, animated elements dragging the lag out further, etc. this is really beginning to disappoint, not just frustrate. I am tired of seeing some great Marketplace content offered (and paid for) that barely functions on the tabletop because it slows the game down for multiple players. Some of these issues were not occurring earlier this year in some of the same games I am running now with no changes to my system, internet provider, or Roll20 Marketplace assets and tool sets (APIs & macros) that worked just 4 months ago. Disabling the APIs and avoiding macro use to create 'vanilla' games does not seem to make difference to this issue. And, with respect, before a Forum Champ leaps to your rescue, I do my best (given the often murky code-lingo laden docs and tangled Forums) to test and update my macros and APIs between games when I detect a problem. Some of the champs trying to tell everyone how hard it is for Roll20 to manage changes given the old platform base or blaming issues on R20's agnostic game philosophy does not help. I know some of these folks are great contributors, but minimizing player's and GM's problems is not useful to the posters OR the longevity of R20 customer service. One of the frequent Sheet Creator posters is often just dismissive if the complaint does not bother him/her. There is no way for US to rate the good ones (e.g.: keithCurtis) from the bad. I know R20 relies on the 'free to play' model to draw customers from its increasing competitors, and I really appreciate that, having joined that way a while back. I also applaud the attempt to move developments forward (PDFs, transparent walls /windows, tool tips), etc. but when the basic functionality of a VTT begins to quake, it makes me want to lay down the GM role entirely or head to another platform. If that happens, I will take my assets elsewhere and drop my Pro account. A quick scan of the LFG channels shows there is an increasing loss of game masters. An agnostic game platform will fail when enough GMs get tired of the drain to play. Your platform increasingly forces a GM to become a Java coder, an I.T. tech, web-developer, end-user tech support, YouTube addict, and 8-armed octopus, to use recommended PAID Pro account functionality lures (lighting, process automations, etc.). If I pay a plumber to come and fix the faucets in my home rather than DIY'ing it, I would not expect them to walk through the door, hand me a mish-mash collection of tools (in varying condition), unorganized instruction manuals and spec sheets, and a desk reference of other DIY plumbers to contact if I have a problem. I want to be able to walk to my sink, turn it on, and wash my hands with hot water. Attempting to keep players engaged in the story , the whole point of a social RPG, is an increasing chore when a GM/DM is having to manage assets (shifting layers with clunky macros, bouncing constantly from map to token to character sheets (crawling to open), constantly re-sizing tokens that are accidentally misshaped when moving, guessing when your APIs crash and keeping a page open for restarting them, flipping back and forth with CTRL-L to attempt to see what a player is seeing (or often NOT seeing), digging to find the random tables stored in a long unordered list, dragging assets on the board that may or may not retain settings, and periodically refreshing pages and clearing caches just to get the bugs chased back under the cabinets. I can't tell you how many times I, and GMs I play with, get lost in Roll20 mechanics and can't follow what the players are doing ("Can you ping the one you want to hit again? I was still trying to adjust the HP one the last one, but it deleted its number and ...") It is starting to remind me of using a Word Processor in the early 1980's, where every style (italics) required 6 digit codes entered among the text and ASCI code charts to get anything done. Most of us returned to our typewriters until better user interfaces were developed. If it gets to the point where the only thing that I can count on here is a plain map and tokens, and perhaps a mostly functioning character sheet, I will head to D&D Beyond and some of the other systems that at least make that stable. The D&D 5e character sheet and Charactermancer are great tools (even if the spell portion lags out and badly accounts for class/level related spell slots in apportioning available spells). Pushing more games through the Marketplace with only poorly implemented
Compendiums (D&D 5e is still a spaghetti mess) and partially
functioning Character sheets is really dampening the 'New Game' feel and frustrating to those who bought games months back and are struggling to see basic help (i.e.: Starfinder ). Please spend some time before the next Roll20Con stabilizing what you have, before you continue to
push new content straight into production, creating even more Epimethean
problems. I was glad to hear you have new CEO and remember many of the promises made last Spring, but was disappointed to hear how some of the R20 leaders are so inexperienced in RPG s in general. In social RPGs (not video game driven engine MMORPGs), it is important to make the GM/DM tools and support as easy as possible if you want more players. And if you advertise bells and whistles for a price, they should play like a Stradivarius, not K-mart blue-light specials. We should not have to obtain I.T. certificates and follow YouTube gurus daily to L2P since many of the game systems we run already require a lot of mastery. We are the ones who buy the PRO accounts and Marketplace assets so a lot of players can 'play for free', so increasing our stress will cost you more. I would love to hear, though I know it is a huge capital investment, that some of the windfall from the Covid quarantines is being used to develop a new, modern platform, so that by the time D&D One releases, or Foundry/[Add VTT name here] change to a hosted model, there will be a reason to remain here. Adding spoilers, lifters, and a great sound system to a Model-T, that cannot even power them reliably, will leave you with nothing but a museum piece. Please assign some people to the Bug Exterminator Squad asap!
