Why Don't You Use the Mobile App Client?

Sylvance

Curious as to whether others don't use it for the same reason I don't, or, indeed, if others do use it.

Oceana

I miss the option: I have no smartphone.

Tecton

I use it all the time, but I don't need to worry about being stolen from :P

Hasar

There's a mobile client?

Tecton

Two actually, there's an android application, and the HTML5 client scales down for mobile devices.

Antonius

Are we talking about the HTML5 client on a mobile device (tablet/phone) or something else?

I don't use either, mostly because I've never needed to. If I'm not near a computer then I just don't play; if I want or need to I can check forums, messages, logs and news posts on my phone, plus keep in contact with anybody I have on Skype, Google Hangouts, etc.

Sylvance

Sorry, I am specifically talking about the app; I should have made that clearer. @Tecton, don't suppose you can magically change that in the title pwease?

Vastar

Nailed it.

I the forum BOSS.

Kellonius

I've used it once or twice, but basically I dont use it because it is not viable for me. My character is extremely well known so people want to fight me, rob me, etc, Its very difficult to defend against a lot of this when I'm fumbling around on a touch screen keyboard and my words are be auto corrected to other things. I can find out a lot of things about the game, such as news, messages,etc without logging in so its just not necessary.

Sena

Part of it is screen size. I have a good sized phone (much bigger than my last one), and I only have room to display 55 lines (at 92 characters per line) with the screen turned vertically, or 26 lines (176 characters each) horizontally. If I have the keyboard open (which is whenever I'm actually doing anything) that's reduced to 25 lines vertically or 2 lines horizontally. That makes it hard to keep up with anything more than casual chatting, bashing is very difficult and anything more complex/spammy is basically impossible.

Then there's the slowness. I'm not sure what the reason for it is, but the client slows to a crawl if the text is coming at even a moderate pace. Looking at a moderately long room description has a noticeable lag. Following someone as they walk around at ~2 moves per second can be enough for the client to hang and freeze up for a bit, until it has a chance to catch up when they stop. This, again, makes it hard to do anything with even the slightest bit of spam (which is pretty much everywhere in Achaea).

I can't type very quickly or easily on a phone. This is probably just because I don't do a lot of typing on my phone, I'm sure it could be passable with more practice, but as it is nearly everything I do takes forever. I also haven't found a way to disable things like autocorrect for a specific application, so I have to either change the keyboard settings every time I play Achaea or take the extra time to make sure that all my commands go through as intended. And holding the phone horizontally makes typing far, far easier, but then I can't really see anything that's happening. If the other problems didn't make it pointless, I could probably find a better keyboard to use specifically for Achaea, so some of these problems could be lessened.

Finally, there's the lack of scripting potential. If I could automate things better, I could try and compensate for some of these limitations, but there's no complex scripting, just very basic aliases/triggers/timers/buttons. It would also be nice to be able to log things (I have a different MUD client on my phone for that, but it has the same problems otherwise).

Hellen

Part screen size, part taking forever to type. Mostly the latter. Its nearly impossible to type anywhere near a decent speed on a phone, for me at least.

Amanu

-highfives @Tecton‌ -

Amanu

I usually just use it during work to check news, minor chitchat, and do errands I can use with WALKTO. Better than worrying about missing something important I might need to know.

Tharvis

I'd probably break my phone if the unstable university wifi crashed my connection midsession

Alcinae

Its just really difficult to type sometimes, and as others have mentioned, I don't want to be pickpocketted or afflicted with anything.For logs and such, I just browsed the Iron Realms website until I got an app for it.

Jonathin

lol mobile apps. I'm still running on the friggin Nokia Brick. It's so indestructible that I've never had an excuse to buy a new one.

Caoimhaen

I use an app to play on my phone like...all the time

Edit:also screwed up my vote. Ah well. What i get for trying to vote when i woke up from a nap. Lol

Wysteria

I'm with @Antonius‌ in that there's other means of keeping up to date with Achaea news (be it via website and Skype etc). I've only started to log in on my phone just recently to quickly writelog things or read some letters I've been expecting, then QQ'ing within 20seconds of my appearance. I do need that disconnect, so if no laptop, no Achaea.

That, and it's a pain to type thanks to screen size.

Cooper

Because playing Achaea from a phone is stupid.

Mannimar

I just tether my phone to my laptop when my home internet is down. No laptop, means short trips onto mobile, but I haven't fully decided if I like it. So far I'm more comfortable with Blowtorch, but my biggest problem is the formatting on mobile. Achaea's ASCII map looks like shit because it's not maintaining it's standard format. I think the standard format problems are what keep me from using as much as I could.

Sabah

My phone doesn't do that. Not to mention playing off Mudlet without a system just scares the bejeezus out of me.

Ruth

I use Pocket MUD instead of the HTML5 client to log in. I come around very often to Achaea using my mobile. Sometimes, I can only catch certain people who pop on while I'm on my way to work. At times, I can't make it to certain events but I promised I'll show up for a while.

Don't have triggers while on my phone so I cannot do anything combat-related unless I decide to risk it. I can type just fine on my smartphone. I can still use my in-game aliases to do stuff.

Minxx

I use it all the time. =^-^= (No option really as bills are tight and no pc/laptop.)

It takes a few tricks to run smoothly depending on weaker phones like mine. Pagelength 5. (Do not attempt anything close to 20 pages or you'll lag terribly after awhile.)

Aliases! Aliases are a best friend when it comes to shortening anything.

Pick the right spot and time to hunt/fight. Chances are something will interrupt your progress - incoming call (usually from a random number/telemarketing.) Etc. Impeding your actions and getting you killed. So, handling a mob is pretty risky.

Do not run other apps while playing. High end device or not it will slow things to a degree.

Journals! Journals help with little breaks. You have to answer a call, text, fold laundry, etc. (Letters work too.)

This is just how I play casually. I'm not sure how someone who pvp's a lot sets up their optimum playing capabilities.

Kyrra

I use Pocket MUD too when logging in on my phone. Little bit slow when people hit me up for runes since I have an alias in Mudlet but I can do a lot if I don't need to cure for anything.

Ellodin

Only time I connect to Achaea on my phone is using Blowtorch to emergency connect when my internet or power dies in the middle of bashing or fighting so I can quit or tumble away from whatever's killing me and quit.

Kresslack

It's just not very practical really. Not much you can do. Don't have you settings or anything, so whatever you do you're going to be pretty much standing around. Maybe just as a chat tool for when you're stuck at the dr's office and bored, but that's about it.

Sarapis

@Kresslack you do have your settings if you use html5!

Rohai

Is there an iPhone compatible mobile app? I don't think there is, so that's my reason for not using it. I tried to use the html client on my phone once and it crashed.

Kresslack

Sarapis said:

@Kresslack you do have your settings if you use html5!

I've never used the html5, but I may need to check that out. While we're on this, what about an IRC?

Ourania

I solved this problem. Never leave the house.

Orzaansyn

I have an iPhone so no android app for me.

For the HTML5 client, I was very excited about it at first, and still think it would be the best option for me. The scripting and options possibilities are simply awsome. I tried it on a PC and would totally use/recommand it.

Unfortunately, my issue is really with the GUI. There are still far too many useless things displayed, unfortunately. I once coded a lighter version using JQuery,  but it was still not satisfying enough.

My dream: The HTML5 client with the PocketMud Pro GUI.