D&D (2024) Wizards of the Coast Backtracks on D&D Beyond and 2014 Content

Wizards of the Coast posted an overnight update stating that they are not going forward with previously released plans to require those wishing to use some 2014 content on D&D Beyond to use the Homebrew function to manually enter it. Instead, all the content including spells and magic items will be included. From the update:

D&D (2024) - How D&D Beyond Will Handle Access To 2014 Rules

D&D Beyond has announced how the transition to the new 2024 edition will work on the platform, and how legacy access to the 2014 version of D&D will be implemented. You will still be able to access the 2014 Basic Rules and core rulebooks. You will still be able to make characters using the 2014...

www.enworld.org

Last week we released a Changelog detailing how players would experience the 2024 Core Rulebooks on D&D Beyond. We heard your feedback loud and clear and thank you for speaking up.

Our excitement around the 2024 Core Rulebooks led us to view these planned updates as welcome improvements and free upgrades to existing content. We misjudged the impact of this change, and we agree that you should be free to choose your own way to play. Taking your feedback to heart, here’s what we’re going to do:

Players who only have access to the 2014 Player’s Handbook will maintain their character options, spells, and magical items in their character sheets. Players with access to the 2024 and 2014 digital Player’s Handbooks can select from both sources when creating new characters. Players will not need to rely on Homebrew to use their 2014 player options, including spells and magic items, as recommended in previous changelogs.

Please Note:

Players will continue to have access to their free, shared, and purchased items on D&D Beyond, with the ability to use previously acquired player options when creating characters and using character sheets.

We are not changing players’ current character sheets, except for relabeling and renaming. Examples include Races to Species, Inspiration to Heroic Inspiration, and Cast Spell to Magic.

We’re dedicated to making D&D Beyond the ultimate digital toolset for Dungeons & Dragons, continuously enhancing the platform to ensure you can create, customize, and play your game just as you envision it. From your first one-shot to multi-year campaigns and everything in between, we're grateful to be on this journey with you.

- The D&D Studio

 

[mamba]

Almost every thread devolves into how the “OGL debacle”* destroyed modern civilization as we know it.

you must be reading different threads

fun fact: the change never went into affect.

fun fact, that does not mean people cannot still be upset about it, and there is nothing you can do to change that. You might be able to prolong it however

 

[mamba]

Remember how this wasn't a new Edition and we could use old materials seamlessly with the new? Well now that is more of a thing, but it seems obvious that it wasn't the initial plan.

we can use it seamlessly at our table, that does not mean there is no implementation effort involved in a VTT

 

[KYRON45]

you must be reading different threads


fun fact, that does not mean people cannot still be upset about it, and there is nothing you can do to change that. You might be able to prolong it however

We read the same threads.

 

[mamba]

We read the same threads.

and I barely see that happening, so… different level of tolerance / confirmation bias then

 

[Gammadoodler]

There is zero connection between any games and Hollywood endeavors. Because game players make barely any dent in the financial well-being of a movie project.

Say there are currently 100,000 people playing D&D right now. Even if every single one of them bought a ticket for the movie, at $20 a ticket that's merely $2 million dollars. A movie's success or failure does not hinge on 2 million dollars. It's the millions of times the movie gets seen by the entire world that its success hinges. D&D players pissed because of the OGL did nothing to affect the movie's success or failure.

On the one hand, sure, probably..

..On the other hand, completely made up numbers make for a poor argument. Anyone can do that. All you have to do is work backwards from the number you need to get to.

And it appears that your number isn't even in the right ballpark. A quick google search gives numbers like 13.7 million, and 50 million D&D players. Maybe those are wrong, but they're a helluva lot bigger than 100 thousand.

Multiply those by $20 and you have some box office relevant impact to talk about. Those numbers would also be wrong, since it's likely that a large chunk didn't know or care about the OGL hoopla. But let's at least start with some reasonable population instead of pulling numbers out of our ass.

 

[Minigiant]

Do they? It wouldn't surprise me, but I haven't heard detailed statements re: how those two run their own games. Do you have any specific examples?

That said, I think the issue is higher up than either of them

I think I've seen posted here on this forum of some executive explaining how they play the game and posters commenting that it was strange.

 

[Remathilis]

I said nice things about Paizo recently when they did something similar, so it's only fair to do so for WotC's quick reaction. I still wonder why this was even a thing in the first place. Remember how this wasn't a new Edition and we could use old materials seamlessly with the new? Well now that is more of a thing, but it seems obvious that it wasn't the initial plan.

They always assumed you would adopt the most recent version of the rules and only port forward stuff that didn't get converted. Even when they said you could run your 2014 character alongside the 2024 version, you'd still end up using the updated feats, spells and magic items. The intent was made clear by Jeremy and Todd. I don't think even though they said you could run a 2014 half-elf necromancer next to a 2024 aasimar abjurer that you'd be casting two different versions of the sleep spell...

 

[KYRON45]

and I barely see that happening, so… different level of tolerance / confirmation bias then

I’m too lazy to compile the data to prove this statement wrong so; you win I guess.

 

[mamba]

I’m too lazy to compile the data to prove this statement wrong so; you win I guess.

I am not sure it would have proven your point rather than mine anyway, but I am not going to go through that effort either

 

[DarkCrisis]

This black background to white text, "YOU CAN KEEP THINGS AS YOU LIKED, WE LISTENED TO YOUR FEEDBACK." message from D&D is starting to become too much of a regular thing. I'm starting to have the same Pavlovian "oh what did they mess up again?" reaction to it as CDPR's yellow background "whoopsie daisy, Cyberpunk 2077 got delayed again" messages.

Honestly shocking at this point. How many times do you have to stick a fork in the electrical socket? Just do it right the first time.

Can anyone with a head for business explain why they take the worst possible option first and then back track 2 days later every time?