A Few More Tidbits About D&D Beyond From The Developer

Adam Bradford, the senior product manager of upcoming D&D digital toolset D&D Beyond has answered a few questions about the product over at the Tribality website. You can read the full interview at the link below, but here are the highlights. Nothing major, but a few bits like filtering content, roadmap features like initiative trackers, color-coded tabs, etc.

• Alpha testing is finished.
• Beta testing emails go out "very soon".
• The software has table with colour codes (see images above and below) to make it easy to tell where you are.
• Adam has played D&D for 20 years.
• Additional features later will include "encounter builder, combat/ initiative tracker, dice rolling and automation, stream integration, and much more".
• There will be easy ways to filter content - for example "Want to see every spell that requires a Charisma saving throw in the game? Or every healing spell? Every spell that does force damage?"
• Their license does not restrict them on delivery mechanisms. They "are fully aware of the offline capability concerns and are working to mitigate those concerns". A few days ago, WotC's Greg Tito confirmed "D&D Beyond will work without an internet connection. That's a big deal for the devs!"
• You an read the full interview here.

 

[Quickleaf]

Yeah, the first phase of beta starts Monday.

The beta will roll out in three major phases - we want to get focused use and feedback on each core feature. The first will include the Compendium with basic rules content and the three Listings (Spells, Magic Items, Monsters), as well as opening the Forums.

The second and third phases will introduce the Character Builder and Sheet, Homebrew, and the first pass of Campaign Management. We will push those live in the next several weeks ramping up to launch.

Hope to see you all there on Monday!

Good luck to you guys!

I've signed up for the Beta and passing the news onto my friends.

Hope you can escape the negative gravity of past attempts at implementing this sort of digital suite for D&D.

 

[Zaukrie]

Why do they do that?

Because it is one of the last things decided in business. Because they want to see how tests go. Because they don't want people to make decisions before they see the tool. Tons of reasons.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Brian Smith]

Because it is one of the last things decided in business. Because they want to see how tests go. Because they don't want people to make decisions before they see the tool. Tons of reasons.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Pricing is not the last thing decided. If they are releasing the beta Monday and haven't decided on a pricing model, they have a problem. Price will be a factor in my decision, regardless of how good the tool is. Why would how the testing go effect their pricing model?

They have to know already if they are charging a flat fee or a monthly subscription, even if the final price is not locked in stone, they could give us that info.

 

[DM Magic]

Pricing is not the last thing decided. If they are releasing the beta Monday and haven't decided on a pricing model, they have a problem. Price will be a factor in my decision, regardless of how good the tool is. Why would how the testing go effect their pricing model?

They have to know already if they are charging a flat fee or a monthly subscription, even if the final price is not locked in stone, they could give us that info.

Companies discuss pricing throughout the development. They don't have to finalize pricing until they begin to put together marketing materials for direct sales.

Source: My 20 years in web design and development.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Offline support is a good thing to hear about, our usual gaming area has terrible signal and I usually can't get a connection.

 

[basmith7]

Companies discuss pricing throughout the development. They don't have to finalize pricing until they begin to put together marketing materials for direct sales.

Source: My 20 years in web design and development.

A subscription model or a one time purchase model would have to be built into the application. They know more than they are telling us.

 

[DM Magic]

A subscription model or a one time purchase model would have to be built into the application. They know more than they are telling us.

Zaukrie said it best:

Because it is one of the last things decided in business. Because they want to see how tests go. Because they don't want people to make decisions before they see the tool. Tons of reasons.

 

[DnDBeyond]

Why is there no info on the pricing yet.

Can you at least give us a clue of the pricing model? One time purchase plus add-ons? Monthly subscription? 1 per group, or 1 per player?

Why do companies hide the pricing, but show off everything else? You're gonna have to tell me the price before I buy it. You're going to include lots of people in beta testing the product to see if it works like we want. Why is our opinion on the product valuable but our opinion on the pricing not wanted until its too late?

Trust me, we don't have nearly as much difficulty collecting community feedback on pricing as we do on how a specific feature works, hence a beta focused on product features.

And I assure you we are not hiding pricing - we are simply not able to divulge all the details yet. I can't go into all the reasons, and sharing partial details about pricing will create confusion and even more unfounded speculation.

I will reiterate that we are really on your side here...I know it's crazy talk, but I urge everyone to wait for the full picture before judging the partial.


Thanks!

 

[basmith7]

I will reiterate that we are really on your side here...I know it's crazy talk, but I urge everyone to wait for the full picture before judging the partial.


Thanks!

give us the full picture?

 

[lkj]

I have no expertise in business. But it seems to me that if your marketing goal is to get people hyped up, you want to show off the project and get people excited about it before you get into discussing pricing with your market. Just observing discussions on these boards-- even the vaguest hints about pricing leads to the entire discussion being dominated by people guessing what that means and then getting mad about it.

At the very least, I can see them wanting people to play with the beta and get a firm understanding of what the product offers. Then, with a real basis for judging value, you can start talking about costs and worry less about people jumping to conclusions. It's also possible you'll get people hooked who would have avoided it entirely otherwise. And remember, they have a couple to several months to roll all this out.

Just my 2 cents (oops. I told you the value of my comments too soon!).

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