D&D (2024) Early access to 2024 books in DnDBeyond is tied to subscription tier.

[UngeheuerLich]

Company offers product - Fine.

Company offers product on a bespoke platform with perks such as early access despite everyone paying the same - Not Fine.

Now, thats for a given definition of 'fine'.

Nobody is saying "Wizards bad for charging for a book."

They have a platform where they offer free stuff. So that costs money. So they want to give an incentive to pay.
If you don't want to pay you get less perks. I see no problem there.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Not those words, but what is your problem with companies offering things pople want in exchange for money?

I feel like that's been explained in the thread.

This is an attempt to get more people to subscribe to D&D Beyond by leveraging FOMO. If you -- like me -- are already a Master tier subscriber, you and your players -- just like me and my players -- benefit from this.

But there are people on this board for whom a D&D Beyond subscription is out of reach -- we have unemployed posters who are saving up their pennies to get these new books at some point, others who have huge medical bills they're dealing with, etc. So they get to stand on the sidelines with the rest of the folks who can't or won't pay for D&D Beyond's most expensive tier and get to watch everyone else talk about the new game.

In addition, anyone with a streaming subscription -- or who's been within listening range of a radio station that has heard of Cory Doctrow -- knows that subscription fees start off reasonable, offering a lot of services, and then get more expensive and less robust over time. (Amazon Prime, already a pretty marginal streaming service, owned by one of the richest people in world history, now has ads, because why not?) So there's the concern that people are being herded into D&D Beyond so that they can get squeezed for increasing fees in the years to come.

These books aren't going to change in the two weeks between going on D&D Beyond and showing up in game stores -- there's just no time for that. So this isn't a "beta test" or anything of the sort. This is just a "pull out your wallet and pay an additional fee so that you can read the books early and participate in the conversation ahead of time" tax.

If this doesn't bother you, cool. There's no obligation to say "nuh uh" to each of these posts.

If you're someone who gets genuinely upset about people criticizing a corporation you have fond feelings for, use the ignore feature. The number of people making these complaints is relatively few in number. I've used ignore on people I view as completely unreasonable on both sides of the issue and it's made my ENWorld experience much better. I strongly endorse it, even if it means you put me on ignore as well.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

So that me a “no I didn’t read anything else” then.

Ok. Then don't hide fair points beyond those posts. I just took one example.

 

[Scribe]

I see no problem there.

Thats fine, as long as you now understand why others disagree, so you dont misstate the issue.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Other than getting some stuff a whole 14 days earlier (GASP!!!) is there any indication that they currently or have any plans to move access to anything significant behind a paywall? Or is this just speculation with no basis?

None. Other than fearmongering for years at this point.

Like I can see their new VTT being behind a subscription. But if you don't want to use than then you don't have to.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I feel like that's been explained in the thread.

This is an attempt to get more people to subscribe to D&D Beyond by leveraging FOMO. If you -- like me -- are already a Master tier subscriber, you (and your players, just like me, and my players) benefit from this.

But there are people on this board for whom a D&D Beyond subscription is out of reach -- we have unemployed posters who are saving up their pennies to get these new books at some point, others who have huge medical bills they're dealing with, etc. So they get to stand on the sidelines with the rest of the folks who can't or won't pay for D&D Beyond's most expensive tier and get to watch everyone else talk about the new game.

In addition, anyone with a streaming subscription -- or who's been within listening range of a radio station that has heard of Cory Doctrow -- knows that subscription fees start off reasonable, offering a lot of services, and then get more expensive and less robust over time. (Amazon Prime, already a pretty marginal streaming service, owned by one of the richest people in world history, now has ads, because why not?) So there's the concern that people are being herded into D&D Beyond so that they can get squeezed for increasing fees in the years to come.

These books aren't going to change in the two weeks between going on D&D Beyond and showing up in game stores -- there's just no time for that. So this isn't a "beta test" or anything of the sort. This is just a "pull out your wallet and pay an additional fee so that you can read the books early and participate in the conversation ahead of time" tax.

If this doesn't bother you, cool. There's no obligation to say "nuh uh" to each of these posts.

If you're someone who gets genuinely upset about people criticizing a corporation you have fond feelings for, use the ignore feature. The number of people making these complaints is relatively few in number. I've used ignore on people I view as completely unreasonable on both sides of the issue and it's made my ENWorld experience much better. I strongly endorse it, even if it means you put me on ignore as well.

I am really sorry that some posters are unemployed. I am employed and still can't buy anything I want.

But if you are prone to buy things because of FOMO, you have more serious problems.

Thanks for the explanation though.

But it is not that I get upset about the feelings of others. I get upset because every thread goes down into the "corporations are bad" hole.

If tge criticisms would be kept to the reasonable ones without posting "corporations are bad stickers", I would take them more seriously.

 

[Incenjucar]

Unfortunately FOMO is leveraged in a predatory way by many companies, and a good chunk of the population is subject to it and reinforce it, so it's going to be a constant presence even for those of us lucky enough to be largely immune to it.

 

[Oofta]

Unfortunately FOMO is leveraged in a predatory way by many companies, and a good chunk of the population is subject to it and reinforce it, so it's going to be a constant presence even for those of us lucky enough to be largely immune to it.

Getting a product 14 days earlier that is presumably the last major change to the rules for many years to come is pretty weak FOMO as far as I'm concerned. You aren't going to be missing out on something for very long. There will always be luxury items (and D&D is a luxury item) I wish I could afford, I don't blame companies for not providing those things at a price I can afford.

 

[Remathilis]

How exactly would you fix capitalism?

A conversation not appropriate to this forum. But if you're a capitalist, I suggest you corner the market on torches and pitchforks.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Unfortunately FOMO is leveraged in a predatory way by many companies, and a good chunk of the population is subject to it and reinforce it, so it's going to be a constant presence even for those of us lucky enough to be largely immune to it.

Having to subscribe to a free master tier subscription trial month sounds not too predatory.
Also a master tier subscription is quite affordable for a whole d&d group. With 1 dollar per month for 6 people and 5 free accounts you can play very cheap.

A cup of coffee to go is more expensive. I really feel for a those few people who can't afford any of it. But they probably have more serious problems than to not be able to access new rules 1 week ahead.
Luckily the profit from the basic rules/srd being offered for free.