D&D 5E Are You Planning on Subscribing to D&D Beyond

[dropbear8mybaby]

Success is not defined by how much money you make but what the customer feels they have gotten out of it.

Are you sure you want to stand by that statement? DDB is making a product that is not a necessity for anyone. If they are making money from it, then, guess what? People are happy with it... because they're willing to pay for it, and enough people are willing to do that in order for the company to be successful.

 

[epithet]

If WotC wanted to release their books on PDF, then they could be sold seperately or as a bundle directly from WotC. WotC has given their reasons why they won't release their books on PDF.

It seems that you are still not understanding that seperate companies are providing products for 5E and that you only need to buy the ones you need. The Fantasy Grounds/Roll20/Twitch products are licensed and developed seperately. They are not just PDFs of the books. WotC can't just give them to you if you buy a book from them.

I understand the situation perfectly well. Wizards provides Smiteworks with the printer's proof of the book in question, and Doug and his guys pull out the text and graphics and build a module out of it, sometimes adding extra stuff like linked tables for random generation. They also scale the maps, parse the stat blocks into Fantasy Grounds npcs, put those into encounters, and link them on the maps. I know the effort involved because I've done it for my own campaigns.

Wizards also retains a great deal of price control and gets a certain amount per sale, meaning that Smiteworks can't sell the product for the Amazon price, but must instead charge MSRP (usually about $15 more.)

All of that means only that Doug should absolutely get his cut, but there is no reason Wizards can't generate a coupon to waive theirs. I have nothing against paying Smiteworks or Curse or any other digital content provider for their value added, but I am underwhelmed with the need to pay Wizards multiple times for no value added on their end.

But hey, this is the internet, right? If I post in opposition to dysentery, there will inevitably be an amoeba apologist along presently to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.

 

[Satyrn]

But hey, this is the internet, right? If I post in opposition to dysentery, there will inevitably be an amoeba apologist along presently to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.

Well of course. But the amoeba apologists are just more Skynet alts.

 

[LordEntrails]

...
but there is no reason Wizards can't generate a coupon to waive theirs.... but I am underwhelmed with the need to pay Wizards multiple times for no value added on their end....

To me, this is a reasonable idea. Of course you would have to allow WotC to cover their costs of such a system (coupon creation, administration, loss, forgeries, etc) and a markup for providing a profit for the resources they would have to invest in creating and administering such a system. i.e. a company should not be expected to invest their money and resources into a program that does not provide a return on investment (financially or otherwise). For a public company to do so would be negligent to their shareholders.

 

[Demetrios1453]

But hey, this is the internet, right? If I post in opposition to dysentery, there will inevitably be an amoeba apologist along presently to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.

If only Ebeneezer Scrooge and Thomas Malthus were around to advocate killing off the surplus population...

 

[Dausuul]

Edit: My complaints about equipment and spell selection have just been addressed, as of July 31st. The new interface is much, much, much better. The swipe-swipe-swipe thing remains a problem, but I am now hopeful that it will be taken care of. Curse has not gotten their hands on my money quite yet, but I can feel their fingers digging around in my pocket.

I see that picking equipment and spells is still just as clunky as before. And they still have a bazillion cards on a character sheet, with no way to switch between them except swipe-swipe-swipe in search of what you want. And it's two weeks to official launch. If they've fixed these things, they ought to be testing the fixes in beta by now.

Sorry. Your app is more cumbersome than my books, a pencil, and a piece of note paper. That's the absolute minimum standard for me. I'll keep checking back every so often to see if things have improved, but so far I am not on board.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

Wizards also retains a great deal of price control and gets a certain amount per sale, meaning that Smiteworks can't sell the product for the Amazon price, but must instead charge MSRP (usually about $15 more.)

If that's the case, then how are D&D Beyond selling the Monster Manual for cheaper than Amazon price? $37.46 versus $29.99, and $19.99 as a special launch sale.

All of that means only that Doug should absolutely get his cut, but there is no reason Wizards can't generate a coupon to waive theirs. I have nothing against paying Smiteworks or Curse or any other digital content provider for their value added, but I am underwhelmed with the need to pay Wizards multiple times for no value added on their end.

Wait, what? Seriously, what? Wizards shouldn't get money from you so that you can use their IP? So from now on, because you've bought a PHB, you should get free PHB's whenever you want, in any format, for eternity? What reality do you live in because it certainly isn't this one?

I understand the situation perfectly well.

You quite clearly don't.

But hey, this is the internet, right? If I post in opposition to dysentery, there will inevitably be an amoeba apologist along presently to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.

I guess that makes me an amoeba then?

 

[Shasarak]

So from now on you should get free PHB's whenever you want, in any format, for eternity?

Exactly, you have met my players!

 

[Jester David]

All of that means only that Doug should absolutely get his cut, but there is no reason Wizards can't generate a coupon to waive theirs.

Why?
Seriously, why should WotC waive their share of the profits?

They made the rules. They paid people to playtest and design for two years, accruing debt the whole time on the chance the rules sold. They continue to have D&D related expenses, with staffing and office space. They have staff that handles the licensing deals, working with Smiteworks, and Ord Group, and Curse who need to get paid.

They're not letting Curse or Smiteworks make money for charity or to earn "good will" with gamers. After all, someone can play the game with just Fantasy Grounds or D&D Beyond and not pay WotC anything. That's money from 20,000 games they'd be losing.

WotC is a business. They're in this to make money. That's always been their goal. Heck, that's always been a goal with D&D from the start, or the White Box D&D rules would have been given away.

 

[clearstream]

Pricing has been announced.
We finally have the long anticipated and oft demanded digital tools for D&D 5e.

Free if your DM has a more expensive subscription. One time payment for each book. Monthly subscription for more character slots and homebrew.

Are you planning on paying?

The blocker for me right now is needing to buy material I already own in both hardback book form and as digital content on Fantasy Grounds. I don't bear any umbrage against WotC about that. I just don't think I can bring myself to pay to sustain a third format.