I personally think that the DDI was a great idea and probably contributes more profits than the book, though it does hurt book sales a bit. In my experience with roleplayers and other gamers who play D&D people belong in roughly three groups. Completionists who buy almost everything, people who buy most core or hyped products and on occasion may pick something else, and people who barely even bought the basic core and just get the books of their friends. Completionists will still buy everything and likely will get DDI as well, the second category will probably go for the DDI but skip some books they might have otherwise gotten (this is the most likely loss of income from print products) and the last group might actually get a DDI subscription because it is relatively cheap and probably because the Character Builder is nifty. I think this leads to a net gain of profit though it hurts book sales somewhat. But ofc this is just my general observation of the people I game with (and though they are many they are not a statistically representative sample by no mean).
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DDI Changes - PH3 Previews! New price
- Thread starter Verys Arkon
- Start date
WotC hikes prices, and folks are stoked, excited, thankful, and pleasantly surprised. Some folks thinks it indicates a sign of DDI's phenomenal success or failure. Given the dearth of negative reactions here, it's plain to see it's simply because they can.
The addition of PH3 previews doesn't seem like it's the kind of extra feature that represents an increased investment of resources. Indeed, the previews are just going to serve as the de facto centerpiece article that they'd have to come up with monthly anyway, so it's not "extra" at all. Thus, it feels like it's just "let's see if we can get away with charging more without really offering more".
What makes this a bitter pill for me is that I'm still waiting to see the website made over to look like the major asset it's supposed to be. Anyone else remember Michael's Sigler's review of the DDI website from about a year ago? And very little has changed. Still still lots of Web Design 101 technical and aestetic gaffes, such as incongruent elements using ugly and dingy colors (who out there loves the color of corroded metal?), features that are only identified by little lines of text crammed in different areas, and it's still hard to use the archive and search features. WotC houses a lot of great talent, so it's really a shame they can't together and give their portal a facelift.
Matter of fact, maybe you guys can help me out. I just went to the archives yesterday, and noticed that for 2009, they only go as far back as 04/27. You can look 2008 and before, but nothing from January throughout most of April. Or maybe I missed something?
I used the monster builder for the first time this weekend. I was surprised to find there was no way to save the output permanently. I guess I have to use the printable view, and then copy and paste into a Word file or something?
And this month's Dragon Mag was entirely fluff outside of the monk preview. It's padded pretty noticably with light fare such as DM advice design & development and ruminations.
I recall that before DDI was launched folks thought paying the subscription price of a typical MMO was reasonable. This was back when we thought the Virtual Tabletop was going to be included as a feature. Has the cancellation of that feature been made official?
Concerns aside, I'm delighted to see the cover features both minotaurs and gith. That's a big boo-yah for me.
The addition of PH3 previews doesn't seem like it's the kind of extra feature that represents an increased investment of resources. Indeed, the previews are just going to serve as the de facto centerpiece article that they'd have to come up with monthly anyway, so it's not "extra" at all. Thus, it feels like it's just "let's see if we can get away with charging more without really offering more".
What makes this a bitter pill for me is that I'm still waiting to see the website made over to look like the major asset it's supposed to be. Anyone else remember Michael's Sigler's review of the DDI website from about a year ago? And very little has changed. Still still lots of Web Design 101 technical and aestetic gaffes, such as incongruent elements using ugly and dingy colors (who out there loves the color of corroded metal?), features that are only identified by little lines of text crammed in different areas, and it's still hard to use the archive and search features. WotC houses a lot of great talent, so it's really a shame they can't together and give their portal a facelift.
Matter of fact, maybe you guys can help me out. I just went to the archives yesterday, and noticed that for 2009, they only go as far back as 04/27. You can look 2008 and before, but nothing from January throughout most of April. Or maybe I missed something?
I used the monster builder for the first time this weekend. I was surprised to find there was no way to save the output permanently. I guess I have to use the printable view, and then copy and paste into a Word file or something?
And this month's Dragon Mag was entirely fluff outside of the monk preview. It's padded pretty noticably with light fare such as DM advice design & development and ruminations.
I recall that before DDI was launched folks thought paying the subscription price of a typical MMO was reasonable. This was back when we thought the Virtual Tabletop was going to be included as a feature. Has the cancellation of that feature been made official?
Concerns aside, I'm delighted to see the cover features both minotaurs and gith. That's a big boo-yah for me.
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Actually, there has been upgraded content since its launch as a paid service Felon.
Remember, the character builder itself came out well after the subscription became official. Similarly, the compendium and character builder have been constantly updated with new content so there has been significant new content.
Remember, the character builder itself came out well after the subscription became official. Similarly, the compendium and character builder have been constantly updated with new content so there has been significant new content.
Well, I didn't say there hasn't been updated content. There certainly has been, don't get me wrong. The lack of changes I'm referring to have do with elements of presentation and navigation. Click the link and watch the review to get a better idea of what I'm talking about. Mike also has also posted his personal redesign of the DDI site and how he'd spruce it up.
Kez Darksun
Explorer
Not quite sure why there's complaints over the DDI price increase since from the very start of the paid DDI subscription they've said the current price would be a temporary introductory price.
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
I agree, Felon, that the design and presentation are kludgy and icky. Heck, I have to get a new randomized password practically every week because I can't change the password myself. It's a tremendous hassle.
But it's two bucks, and stuff like the Character Builder is probably worth about two bucks. I don't expect it to be substantially raised again before the DM tools or the VTT are introduced, even if they are raised then. $10 is a comfy price point, really close to what they already had. Anything bigger is going to enter new psychological consumer territory: they'll need something big to justify it.
But the difference between $8 and $10 isn't big. For the stuff that's been added, I can accept that.
I do hope they get around to improving the interface and the background, but those are minor complaints -- I'd rather have usable tools, even if they look like orc-spew.
But it's two bucks, and stuff like the Character Builder is probably worth about two bucks. I don't expect it to be substantially raised again before the DM tools or the VTT are introduced, even if they are raised then. $10 is a comfy price point, really close to what they already had. Anything bigger is going to enter new psychological consumer territory: they'll need something big to justify it.
But the difference between $8 and $10 isn't big. For the stuff that's been added, I can accept that.
I do hope they get around to improving the interface and the background, but those are minor complaints -- I'd rather have usable tools, even if they look like orc-spew.
w_earle_wheeler
First Post
Does anyone know if the gameday adventures are available for download on DDI?
I find the site very challenging to navigate.
I find the site very challenging to navigate.
I agree with everything that you said. It is becuase they can and there is a bunch of people extending their current sub to lock in the new price. While I don't really blame them, I am still unsure of what is actually going to happen with DDI in 1.5 years or so.
I consider the yearly sub that I have for the Character Builder. When they delivered it, I thought that the program itself and it's updates where worth the $60. I still think it is worth the $72.
Preview material has not and will never do it for me.
I also think $10 a month is too much money for their current offerings. I ALWAYS though $15 a month was too much way back when.
On the website - I have been posting as much on the DDI message forums, but no one seems to care.
Thank you very much! You are the man!!!!!
The virtual game table would have made it easily worth $10.
