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]

You know what's sure to generate intelligent, rational discussion? Refer to participants in said discussion (on either side) as "whiners".

keep adding to their data, so far it apparently was inconclusive

 

[Alzrius]

So what have they done? I asked above because I don't pay that much attention and thought maybe I had forgotten something. Other than the reversed OGL proposal and now this, what "crap" have they pulled over the past two years?

I mean, setting aside whether or not it's been precisely twenty-four months, there have been several instances of WotC shooting themselves in the foot in recent memory. Consider:

• The recent mixed messages about what Youtubers could show of the new PHB (which resulted in one reviewer getting a copyright strike on their channel).
• Sending the Pinkertons to someone's house to intimidate them into giving back Magic cards that had been legally acquired.
• The controversial decision to eliminate half-races (e.g. the half-elf and half-orc) because they were "inherently racist".
• Removing Jeff Easley's signature from the promo image he drew for D&D:HAT (though that one might have been Paramount's fault; we're still not sure).
• Removing the a la carte purchase options from D&D beyond.
• The Orion Black controversy.
• More than one controversy regarding AI-generated art.
• Trying to weasel out of their contract for new Dragonlance books with Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, to the point where the pair filed suit against WotC (which was eventually resolved, but still made WotC look bad).

That's just off the top of my head.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Well it's a subscription service... not a purchase of ownership and contrary to how people feel about it that's how they work... there is no agreement into perpetuity for any of this... WotC keeping the old stuff around is actually out of the ordinary for the vast majority of sub services...

But they also clearly have no problem letting people believe that what they spend money on in D&DB is a purchase, regardless of reality. Otherwise they could have just told people the T&Cs let them do almost whatever they want. But being that honest isn't good for the bottom line.

 

[KYRON45]

You know what's sure to generate intelligent, rational discussion? Refer to participants in said discussion (on either side) as "whiners".

It's a cold cruel world.

 

[Micah Sweet]

People not trusting the OGL doesn't mean it's any more "dead" than it always was.

It kinda does. They've they feel they have a right to shut it down whenever they want, but simply decided not to this time. They never backed down on that belief. So why trust that they'll never pull that trigger?

It's not just what you do that matters. What you try to do matters too.

 

[Scribe]

People not trusting the OGL doesn't mean it's any more "dead" than it always was.

Sure.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It was what you were asking... it's manpower that at any cost is too much because the work doesn't generate revenue. Never said it was your problem... what is though, is not understanding how subscription services work if you believe any of this is owed to you or you own what you bought.

Who on this thread has actually said such things?

 

[Minigiant]

Who on this thread has actually said such things?

People are discounting the manpower and work it would take to keep both 2014 and 2020 in the char builder and automatically chocking it up to malice.

 

[cranberry]

Late to the thread, but I've seen a number of comments that amount to: "They listen to the customer and reversed course, so what's the problem".

The fact that they reversed course is a good thing, but that's a really low bar to judge them by.

What people should be asking is WHY does WoTC do these things?

I think we all know why, and the question then becomes -

Why do you want to continue supporting such a company?

 

[Umbran]

Why do you apologize for wizards?

Mod Note:
Enough.

WotC doing stuff we don't like is not a reason to put other gamers on trial.
You will stop making this personal, now, or you will find yourself recused from the discussion.

This goes for everyone - EN World does not support you prosecuting your fellow gamers. Don't go there.