Not Worth Buying
I finally tried this out. I'm sorry to say, it's not worth even $2 to download. As a character tracker, you'd have to create your character's build in the app. The UI makes it a real pain, and definitely not worth adding 50+ characters to the app. the UI is clunky and not easy to use. Functions that could simply be "touch to select", instead it requires going to a separate screen to select the powers, and then back again. It would be much better to simply touch to select the power and if desired tap a "Details" button to the right of the power to see its details, or better yet just long press or double tap). On top of that, the app is set to landscape mode, there is no way to switch it to portrait mode. This makes it much more difficult to type and select items on the screen. You have to reach to select them, and typing is much slower. When in the details view, the front facing camera on my iPhone 16 Pro Max obscures the first 2 characters of most lines in the text on the left.
There is no way to slot or add enhancements. There are no totals for combat stats, let alone set bonuses. No proc calculations. So really it's only half of a build PLANNER, and as a result not very useful. The app also enforces a kind of level requirement when selecting powers... which is OK, I guess if building a character from scratch, but if you set the level to 50 it still enforces the level requirements. Makes it more difficult to quickly select the powers for your characters quickly. It should act more like a RESPEC, especially if the character level is set to 50. It does appear to bring in some data from City of Data 2, but it's not any easier than simply viewing the information on the CoD2 website.
It's possible to email your build, but again not very useful. It doesn't format the data in the email into any that the game, or even Mids Reborn, can use (not that it matters since the app can't deal with slotting and enhancements). Worse, there is no way to import a build from the game (or from Mids) into the app. The app needs to be able to import builds from at least the game. Otherwise, it's just a waste of time. It really needs the ability to access the various cloud drives like iCloud, One Drive, Google Drive, DropBox, etc. Needs the ability to not only import builds, but also export them in file format.
Honestly, the app suffers from the lack of a single, clear vision. It purports to have 2 purposes:
1) It enables you to plan your builds for characters by choosing from all power sets and powers in the actual game, optimized for the Homecoming (HC) version of the game.
2) As a character tracker it enables you to enter a database of all your characters on any servers, their names, powersets, powers, a screenshot, bio, etc.
Actually, the app accomplishes neither of these goals well. Honestly, the developer should abandon any idea of it being a character planner, and instead focus entirely on being an easy to use archive or "tracker" for players' characters. Make it easy to input and store characters. That's it. Anything else, and the complexity will skyrocket. As a build planner, it can't have any capabilities less than Mids Reborn... and that would be a lot of work for a single person to code. The ability to select powers is a good thing to keep, and even being able to see the power's details is a nice bonus, but there should be no level requirements to selecting powers at all. In addition, the ability to list slots and enhancements should really be in the app. Just list them. Don't even try to be a build planner. Don't deal with numbers, buffs or debuffs. Fundamentally, it should simply store a list of powers and enhancements and that's it. Honestly, the ability for users to select enhancements doesn't even need to exist in the app if an import feature is added. It can simply list what's in the imported build file.
I don't see any reason why the app's user interface couldn't be redesigned to use in portrait mode. I think most would prefer that. Instead of presenting data side by side, stack it onto of each other. The ability to pinch and un-pinch to zoom in and out needs to be implemented for us with old eyes, and landscape mode could be used to increase the size of the text in addition to displaying the information in a slightly different format.
Again, details on power and enhancement data is a nice plus, but is secondary to the goal of archiving characters in my view. Do "tracking" or archiving well, and if you like then branch out to build planning. Right now, it really doesn't do either.
Sorry if this review was too harsh, but honestly if you see a half of an apple you have to report that there's only half of an apple. Besides, my hope is that the developer takes all this to heart and actually improves their app.
There is no way to slot or add enhancements. There are no totals for combat stats, let alone set bonuses. No proc calculations. So really it's only half of a build PLANNER, and as a result not very useful. The app also enforces a kind of level requirement when selecting powers... which is OK, I guess if building a character from scratch, but if you set the level to 50 it still enforces the level requirements. Makes it more difficult to quickly select the powers for your characters quickly. It should act more like a RESPEC, especially if the character level is set to 50. It does appear to bring in some data from City of Data 2, but it's not any easier than simply viewing the information on the CoD2 website.
It's possible to email your build, but again not very useful. It doesn't format the data in the email into any that the game, or even Mids Reborn, can use (not that it matters since the app can't deal with slotting and enhancements). Worse, there is no way to import a build from the game (or from Mids) into the app. The app needs to be able to import builds from at least the game. Otherwise, it's just a waste of time. It really needs the ability to access the various cloud drives like iCloud, One Drive, Google Drive, DropBox, etc. Needs the ability to not only import builds, but also export them in file format.
Honestly, the app suffers from the lack of a single, clear vision. It purports to have 2 purposes:
1) It enables you to plan your builds for characters by choosing from all power sets and powers in the actual game, optimized for the Homecoming (HC) version of the game.
2) As a character tracker it enables you to enter a database of all your characters on any servers, their names, powersets, powers, a screenshot, bio, etc.
Actually, the app accomplishes neither of these goals well. Honestly, the developer should abandon any idea of it being a character planner, and instead focus entirely on being an easy to use archive or "tracker" for players' characters. Make it easy to input and store characters. That's it. Anything else, and the complexity will skyrocket. As a build planner, it can't have any capabilities less than Mids Reborn... and that would be a lot of work for a single person to code. The ability to select powers is a good thing to keep, and even being able to see the power's details is a nice bonus, but there should be no level requirements to selecting powers at all. In addition, the ability to list slots and enhancements should really be in the app. Just list them. Don't even try to be a build planner. Don't deal with numbers, buffs or debuffs. Fundamentally, it should simply store a list of powers and enhancements and that's it. Honestly, the ability for users to select enhancements doesn't even need to exist in the app if an import feature is added. It can simply list what's in the imported build file.
I don't see any reason why the app's user interface couldn't be redesigned to use in portrait mode. I think most would prefer that. Instead of presenting data side by side, stack it onto of each other. The ability to pinch and un-pinch to zoom in and out needs to be implemented for us with old eyes, and landscape mode could be used to increase the size of the text in addition to displaying the information in a slightly different format.
Again, details on power and enhancement data is a nice plus, but is secondary to the goal of archiving characters in my view. Do "tracking" or archiving well, and if you like then branch out to build planning. Right now, it really doesn't do either.
Sorry if this review was too harsh, but honestly if you see a half of an apple you have to report that there's only half of an apple. Besides, my hope is that the developer takes all this to heart and actually improves their app.
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Great app
Like this app for COH, using on homecoming. Great to have on phone
Nothing like mids
You can create a toon and build but no slots or IOs. No real value. No way to see total data. Missing incarnates. Needs more information after build is complete to be viable and not just use MIDs on the computer
I like the concept
I like the concept.
This tracker app seems to be for organizing all your COH chars in one place. It’s good to have on one’s phone.
This tracker app seems to be for organizing all your COH chars in one place. It’s good to have on one’s phone.
DONT BUY!
I bought this for science. It is clunky and is extremely basic. 0 stats. Not worth the money. Not even worth a free download. Enjoy stealing my $2.
Paragon wiki is 10 times for useful.
Edit: His response says it all. I completely stand behind what I said.
Paragon wiki is 10 times for useful.
Edit: His response says it all. I completely stand behind what I said.
Response from developer
Well, that's pretty rude... but Paragon wiki has nothing to do with the app... There is an update 1.4 now out for I25/I26 Homecoming support. The next version 1.5 will fill in remaining power data, add dark mode, some other things.
