D&D General Interview with D&D VP Jess Lanzillo on Comicbook.com

[Oofta]

This is an interesting take, because for me, the former, for proprietary-format/online-only/app-only books, which I thus can't back up, is obviously vastly more likely to become a real issue than the latter or with digital PDFs or similar. But we all assess risk differently.

And sometimes positive things happen too - if WotC are doing well when 6E rolls around, and want to transition people away from 5E, I'd be unsurprised if they sunsetted 5E support on Beyond, but provided all the books we'd bought to us as PDFs!

Personally, I'm a bit vexed because if I blew what, like £140 on the three new rulebooks in digital and then say, Sigil goes live and rapidly starts showing enshittification (which I think is actually more quantifiable than you're allowing, it's not all airy-fairy stuff - specific examples have been provided - it's fine for those to not matter to you, but that's different from them being not quantifiable), because that'd be a huge proportion of TT RPG entertainment budget (and very noticeable portion of my entertainment budget) gone for that year. Like I actually would regret it kind of money. Hopefully friends will buy them and the relatively generous design of the DDB will let me piggyback off them until Sigil releases and we get a better picture of how much Sigil and DDB will actually interact, and just how shark-like the monetization on Sigil is.

I had a friend lose all of his books because his car was broken into. We hear all the time about people losing everything to floods and fires. If I was paranoid I could spend a few hours and download the books to PDF.

I mean, if the worst happens of course I'd be miffed. But there are no guarantees in life and stuff happens.

 

[TiQuinn]

There will never be loot boxes for sale. And no, I don't buy "but there could be".

Dungeons & Dragons - Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures Mystery Box

The Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures Mystery Box features a full value box of surprise miniatures, waiting to be painted. This mystery box contains: Four 'single' pack unpainted minis Four 'double' pack unpainted minis Three 'tall' pack unpainted minis One Chimera (with included paint brushes)

shop.wizkids.com

Yes, loot boxes are unpossible in D&D!

 

[Oofta]

Dungeons & Dragons - Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures Mystery Box

The Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures Mystery Box features a full value box of surprise miniatures, waiting to be painted. This mystery box contains: Four 'single' pack unpainted minis Four 'double' pack unpainted minis Three 'tall' pack unpainted minis One Chimera (with included paint brushes)

shop.wizkids.com

Yes, loot boxes are unpossible in D&D!

Not in the sense that it will give a PC any advantage in play which is what people typically complain about. On the other hand, this is just another example of why I don't think the dreaded microtransactions are anything new.

 

[TiQuinn]

Not in the sense that it will give a PC any advantage in play which is what people typically complain about. On the other hand, this is just another example of why I don't think the dreaded microtransactions are anything new.

I guess I’m confused by the shifting position you’re taking. You said loot crates don’t / can’t exist. They’ve already done them. Heck, you could argue WotC’s most popular product is a loot crate where lucky purchasers get certain cards that are more valuable or useful than others.

 

[Hussar]

Meh.

Every VTT on the market has exactly this sort of thing - extras you can buy. Tokens, maps, funky dice, etc.

Have had them for years.

But if WotC does it it will destroy the hobby?

 

[Daztur]

I'm not worried about micro-transactions. I'm more worried about WotC prioritizing digital tools over pen and paper play because:

1. Even if you don't use any digital tools, if the rules are written with digital tools in mind you'll end up them prioritizing rules that are easier for their digital tools to use. That means rolling back, "rulings not rules," more open-ended abilities more generally (see how 5.5e Command has gotten gutted), and McGyvering and off-label use of abilities in general.

2. Having the rules more locked down. I've seen some people in this forum talk about the possibility that the 5.5e background rules will be hard-coded enough that they won't be able to customize backgrounds. I don't think particular concern will come to pass but I could see more and more instances of the rules getting locked down and harder to homebrew as DM fiat gets reinged in and limited by hard-coded naughty word in the digital tools.

 

[Oofta]

I guess I’m confused by the shifting position you’re taking. You said loot crates don’t / can’t exist. They’ve already done them. Heck, you could argue WotC’s most popular product is a loot crate where lucky purchasers get certain cards that are more valuable or useful than others.

I don't play MMOs so maybe I misunderstand the term. But to me, a loot crate in the negative sense for D&D would mean bonus gold, magic weapons, XP, something that would actually give the PC an edge that they could use during the game.

I'm sure they plan on selling custom avatars, monsters, terrain and colorful dice. If it's randomized monster minis, we already have them so it's not a new concern. On the other hand I don't ever buy minis that way so I kind of forgot they exist.

 

[Hussar]

I gotta admit - randomized packs = Loot Crates is a definition I'm not sure I buy into. That means that the old D&D miniatures game was 100% loot crates. And Magic the Gathering, which predates MMO's by several years, has always been "loot crates".

 

[Mistwell]

Yeah, I'm sure it was because of my blog article, which, by the way, I wrote after they took away their individual purchases. They do have those Doctor Who Magic cards. Maybe they used one of them to go back in time, read my blog, and remove microtransactions...(SARCASM ALERT!)

I did talk about the removal of individual mechanic purchases on my talk show. If you want to quote me on this topic specifically, however, I talked about it on my talk show shortly after it happened.

I thought I had seen you complain about microtransactions for years now but if I am wrong you let me know. I am not sure why complaining after is meaningful here. I am not literally saying you personally are the reason they pulled the microtransactions - just that people making that argument, which is something you've also done, probably didn't help with their view on whether they should do them.

And, let's be real for a minute. You and I both know they did this because of money one way or the other. Maybe they didn't like the percentage of credit card fees they had to pay per item. Maybe it wasn't popular enough to keep maintaining. Maybe they thought they'd get more money from people buying whole books even if it was fewer people overall since the full books cost so much more.

Oh I am being very real. I absolutely think people ceaselessly complaining about things WOTC does has an impact on the employees at WOTC who make these decisions. I don't think the whining moaning and complaining happens in a vacuum. We saw how quickly they heard the complaints about the OGL for instance.

My point is, Hasbro can change the monetization scheme for D&D Beyond however they want and, if D&D Beyond is your central hub for D&D, you're going along for the ride. If your good with that, go with the gods!

And my point is people who complain if the do X, and then complain when they stop doing X, are not helping and are probably hurting. The endless claims "WOTC will do micro transactions and that's bad!!!!!" is a bad message if you actually like some micro transactions and are upset when they are taken away. It's not asking too much to say people need to express the nuance in what they want from WOTC rather than just latching on to any old issue to stir up complaints for clicks.

 

[TiQuinn]

I gotta admit - randomized packs = Loot Crates is a definition I'm not sure I buy into. That means that the old D&D miniatures game was 100% loot crates. And Magic the Gathering, which predates MMO's by several years, has always been "loot crates".

Why not? The only difference is one’s typically virtual but the aspect of gambling is still present. Some items are more valuable than others and you don’t know what you’re getting til you open the pack, therefore reinforcing the need to buy more. It’s predicated on the same concept.