Our priority at Armory is security. We do understand the need for better user experience but not at the cost of our utmost priority. If you reread my post you'll see we have a long term solution, but it will come in due time, because other features have to get there first to allow this solution to implemented. It isn't stand alone solution that we could implement over night or we would have done so obviously.
You're talking about using paper wallets, but they too are inconvenient, until the point when BIP32 is widely implemented. There are also a lot more clients out there that choose user experience over security. We have a role to fulfill before we can get the user experience up to acceptable levels. By far Armory is not considered the easiest nor the most welcoming wallet, but some people think this is an acceptable trade off for the added features, and here we are today. What you are trully experiencing is a software niche that hasn't just matured yet.
Obviously we would like to get rid of all these quirks. As a matter of fact my work for the past 4 months has been towards implementing long term scalability and stability fixes. The problem you describe cannot be dubbed as a "leveldb" error. This is a symptom of your local copy of the blockchain. Simply put, while the you appear to be running a full node, you actually aren't, as you are missing block data.
Let's put aside the consequence that has on the network, and focus on Armory. Armory requires a full node to function. Implementing a long term solution to this issue would require a shift in paradigm. That can't be addressed lightly nor quickly.
Also consider that most of the codebase is still etotheipi's work: about 100k lines of code over 2 years. He had to make some choices to ensure Armory functions overall. You can't just spend 6 month to fix scanning issues that can be effectively decentralized. Consider that the earlier versions of Armory didn't even have a DB: you had to fully scan the blockchain at every load. Now that 5 developers work full time on Armory, we have the resources and talent required to implement long lasting solutions to all the bugs and quirks, while adding new features.
Have you thought of maybe packaging offline transaction feature as a separate product? It does look like the only unique and useful feature that the other apps don't do better than armory
You can copy the signed Tx and broadcast it with another service, sure.
sorry to revive an old post but iv'e been using armory for two years now and goatpig your reply to the same bug im having now in 08/2015 proves to me this program is unusable, unstable and not worth the headache anymore. i know its free to use and probably bleeding edge technology...i understand this but jesus man...this program makes me want to slash my wrists in frustration.
i'm sitting here trying to come to grips with the inevitable reality that i'm probably going to have to re-download the entire blockchain for the fifth time since iv'e had armory installed just to verify my cold storage funds even still exist.
Iv'e mainly used armory for cold storage but i would estimate...in the few dozen or so times iv'e actually had to use armory over the past two years it has failed to work for probably 1/3 to 1/2 of those times and has resulted in probably a couple hundred hours of my time trying to get your product to work properly. i cant even imagine people who try and use it on a day to day basis.
there are very...very few products i truly hate and i'm sorry but my frustration has reached such a high level i honestly and sadly admit i truly hate armory. i just cant wait to get it working one final time just so i can get my coins out of cold storage.
goatpig you mention security as such a priority and i agree it is....but my user experience has been so annoying with armory i realy dont care anymore. i would rather risk putting my coins in a less secure form of cold storage having quick access to them, even at the risk of losing them, rather than go through one more attempt at having to download 50 gigs of blockchain.
im sorry i dont mean to outright bash armory without being constructive but my patience (and i am a very patient person) is completely gone. i wish you luck in the future but i will leave that future to newer users or the few lucky ones who have managed to dodge the worst of armory's bugs...
