I really don't like the current DDI model as a player/DM and I don't think it's the most profitable in the long run. This is because the model is quite greedy. If you have stopped subscribing, you loose all access to the game and there is little chance of you ever subscribing again.
If you start subscribing now, everything is online and not reachable as soon as you unsubscribe. I can understand why they would want to have it online (to avoid people copying it without paying), but you should be able to "buy" the features, not just "rent" them like now.I briefly subscribed back in 2009. Just fired up the Character Builder a few weeks ago to see if it would delete all my stuff. Apparently, the software was so old, it told me it just couldn't update it, but feel free to keep using it. So I have 4e material going past PHB 2 but not yet to PHB3. Of course, I don't know if I ever intend to use it again, but it's funny that I still have it because I stopped subscribing, while those who kept subscribing get no such courtesy.
If you start subscribing now, everything is online and not reachable as soon as you unsubscribe. I can understand why they would want to have it online (to avoid people copying it without paying), but you should be able to "buy" the features, not just "rent" them like now.
In my experience, it's better if every player has free and open access to the rulebook. Things get very awkward if people are passing a singular copy of the book around the table, especially but not only during character creation. Do people really shell out hard cash for copies of the book when they can access all of the content online for free?
Do people really shell out hard cash for copies of the book when they can access all of the content online for free?