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

 

[Incenjucar]

To be fair: They discovered that they were WRONG on that score.

For now. Money and power are forever sought. It's just not a profitable fight at the moment.

 

[Imaro]

I'm not sure that anyone truly thinks that they "own" anything on a digital subscription, regardless of whether they read the ToS or not. It won't stop them from complaining when/if they get "their" stuff taken away!

This, so much this. It's not like this whole digital or subscription thing just started...

 

[Micah Sweet]

To be fair: They discovered that they were WRONG on that score.

They never backed down on their belief that they could do it. They backed down on actually doing it.

 

[mamba]

So we would have to go with the 13.7 million "current" tabletop D&D players number

where do you get that number from, that is maybe half…

 

[Micah Sweet]

Both sides make mountains out of molehills.... See I can do it too... still not seeing a difference, except you assumed I wasn't talking about WotC... it has nothing to do with having stated it as a fact or not.

Who on your side do you believe is making mountains out of molehills?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

It is certainly presented as if you own the content, IMO.

You're doing that thing that people do, where they assume that other, imaginary people are out there, not understanding the things that are basic common knowledge, and then you're acting as if it's a big thing.

I understand the urge - people are fools - and it's certainly true that the business model we're discussing is designed to take advantage of that fact.

BUT... c'mon. How many people do you really think there are that actually think that they own their DDB not-actually-a-real-book? That not only didn't read the ToS, but also simply *don't know how digital anythings actually work, but yet are there, on their computer, buying digital things?

I don't think you'll find that it's very many people. People may be fools, but their not that sort of fool. They're the kind of fool that KNOWS THOSE THINGS, BUT BUYS THEM ANYWAY.

And then complains when they get taken away.

Or in other words: The "trick" is much deeper than you're thinking, and WotC is hardly the one who invented it, nor are they particularly taking advantage of it in any meaningful way.

 

[Micah Sweet]

This, so much this. It's not like this whole digital or subscription thing just started...

If enough people have an issue with something, even if you disagree on the validity of said issue, it matters and needs to be addressed.

 

[Incenjucar]

Whole careers are built on mitigating the impacts of the banal ignorance of others. We have to put warnings on bleach for a reason.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You're doing that thing that people do, where they assume that other, imaginary people are out there, not understanding the things that are basic common knowledge, and then you're acting as if it's a big thing.

I understand the urge - people are fools - and it's certainly true that the business model we're discussing is designed to take advantage of that fact.

BUT... c'mon. How many people do you really think there are that actually think that they own their DDB not-actually-a-real-book? That not only didn't read the ToS, but also simply *don't know how digital anythings actually work, but yet are there, on their computer, buying digital things?

I don't think you'll find that it's very many people. People may be fools, but their not that sort of fool. They're the kind of fool that KNOWS THOSE THINGS, BUT BUYS THEM ANYWAY.

And then complains when they get taken away.

Or in other words: The "trick" is much deeper than you're thinking, and WotC is hardly the one who invented it, nor are they particularly taking advantage of it in any meaningful way.

If your point is that people are irrational, I can't disagree with you. I will say, however, that no matter how irrational they may be, if enough people get mad about something it needs to be addressed, and how humans react to things is largely foreseeable.

 

[Dire Bare]

People should know that they can't just show the entire book. Admittedly I don't know who is to blame.



A MtG issue and also not all that straightforward. From what I've heard he knew he should not have had the cards and WotC replaced the item with a comparable item.



A decision and rule change you disagree with is nothing new.



Paramount is not WotC.



A choice I hope they change in the future, but again it's just a policy change. I still have the things I bought a la carte.



Someone complaining about a former employer is not proof of bad behavior on part of the employer. Other ex employees have said they would be happy to work for WotC again.



They have a no AI art policy, someone in marketing f'ed up on a MtG promotion. Every company is struggling with this issue and it can be difficult to detect AI generated images.



To be honest I don't know the details of this one. It was also 2020, not within the past 2 years.




So IMHO maybe the issue with copyright (again, you should know you can't legally share that much content) and the Dragonlance books which I simply don't know much about. The rest? We don't know the whole story and I much of it is overblown.

I'm mostly riding the same train as you are @Oofta, but . . .

The MtG Pinkerton issue was pretty lousy on WotC's part. Different division of the company from the D&D guys, but relevant still. A MtG YouTuber got some product from a retailer early, a product WotC wasn't ready to have spoiled on the intertubes. A reasonable mistake on the retailer's part, and the YouTuber felt that since he was sold the product, there would not be a problem showcasing it in a video. Plus, the product the YouTuber actually ordered vs the one he got had very similar, confusing names. WotC's solution? Send the Pinkertons to pressure the guy into giving up the product he paid for legally, which in a matter of a month or so, everybody else would have as well. The Pinkertons are a security agency with a long, sordid history of strong-arming folks for corporations.

WotC eventually did make it right with the YouTuber in question, without really apologizing for the issue. And it was a while ago.

But the rest of that long laundry list of WotC complaints? Yeah, overblown. Many are true mistakes or at least concerning, but overall very minor, in the past, and often corrected by WotC. Some aren't mistakes, but simply choices made that some folks don't like. But hey, if you are a gamer with an axe to grind, keep stoking the forge with all of that!

It's beginning to make me rethink my own frustrations with WotC. When their "crimes" get listed out like that, and I realize that most of them don't bother me in the slightest, I realize that the cranky gamers have infected my thoughts! It's a lot like my reaction to "The Phantom Menace" back in the day. When I first saw the film in theaters, I cheered out loud and whooped! I never do that! But then the loud and cranky fan faction started complaining about the film, and I drank the kool-aid and "hated" the prequels. I've since come back to normalcy. They're good, if not great movies! Not that they hold a candle to the original trilogy, of course!