doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
I can't remember the exact math at the height of DDi subscribership, but at the point where 4e content was ghost, and next was being playtested, there were 80+k subs, at least. Not forum accounts who had at some point subscribed, but active subs.
Cheapest DDi got was a yearly sub for about 100$, IIRC. That is, bare minimum, 8 million a year. Wotc had the worst luck ever with that whole set of tools (guy running the company making them died, for a start, if I'm not mistaken).
If not for that, IMO, there would be digital tools right now. That DDi subscriber money was with the most divisive edition of DnD. 5e may be the most popular RPG ever released. I'm sorry, but even if the percentages were lower, the players base is so much larger it would still be huge money.
They would just just have to not sink so much money into a trainwreck of development, and I figure they're pretty gunshy about that now.
But yeah, we don't "need" a character builder, but we also don't "need" published adventures. Need isn't why they sell. Nor is the builder, as such, what sells. It's the package.
In 5e, it would be more about the monster, encounter, and adventure building tools, and tools for codifying and keeping track of optional rules and houserules and the like.
And the magazine content. I get a lot less out of following these people on twitter than I used to from subscribing to DDi. A LOT less. Doesn't have to be anywhere eat the amount of crunch. Shouldn't be, in fact. Tell us about the Realms, post Sundering. Throw us ideas about how to run Eberron or DL or DS in 5e, and let us provide feedback, in an ongoing dialogue. hell, convert stuff from older editions and showcase it there a month or two before putting it on DMSguild, so we can critique it.
Combine that with what is in D+ already, and the tools, and I'll subscribe again. And if even 1/2 the percentage of the player base as in the 4e era does as well, it will be profitable.
Cheapest DDi got was a yearly sub for about 100$, IIRC. That is, bare minimum, 8 million a year. Wotc had the worst luck ever with that whole set of tools (guy running the company making them died, for a start, if I'm not mistaken).
If not for that, IMO, there would be digital tools right now. That DDi subscriber money was with the most divisive edition of DnD. 5e may be the most popular RPG ever released. I'm sorry, but even if the percentages were lower, the players base is so much larger it would still be huge money.
They would just just have to not sink so much money into a trainwreck of development, and I figure they're pretty gunshy about that now.
But yeah, we don't "need" a character builder, but we also don't "need" published adventures. Need isn't why they sell. Nor is the builder, as such, what sells. It's the package.
In 5e, it would be more about the monster, encounter, and adventure building tools, and tools for codifying and keeping track of optional rules and houserules and the like.
And the magazine content. I get a lot less out of following these people on twitter than I used to from subscribing to DDi. A LOT less. Doesn't have to be anywhere eat the amount of crunch. Shouldn't be, in fact. Tell us about the Realms, post Sundering. Throw us ideas about how to run Eberron or DL or DS in 5e, and let us provide feedback, in an ongoing dialogue. hell, convert stuff from older editions and showcase it there a month or two before putting it on DMSguild, so we can critique it.
Combine that with what is in D+ already, and the tools, and I'll subscribe again. And if even 1/2 the percentage of the player base as in the 4e era does as well, it will be profitable.
