D&D General DDB/WOTC Price Increases

AlViking said:

So you think they should make less profit or even potentially take a loss to keep you happy?

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they can do whatever they want, and I can complain about it when I want. Not sure why you feel the urge to defend them

AlViking said:

They aren't immune to inflation and at a certain point businesses have to pass on costs to the consumer.

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sure, but that point is not really reached when you have a 50% or so profit margin, probably considerably higher for DDB, is it…

mamba said:

they can do whatever they want, and I can complain about it when I want. Not sure why you feel the urge to defend them

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I'm not defending them but I'm a realist who accepts that inflation eventually affects the cost of most goods and you haven't given any reason anyone else should believe otherwise.

mamba said:

sure, but that point is not really reached when you have a 50% or so profit margin, probably considerably higher for DDB, is it…

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I have no clue what their profit margin is, I doubt you do either.

is one instance a trend, in this essay I will...

AlViking said:

There's always a risk, but there are plenty of risks with physical books as well. There are several books from previous editions I should still have but no longer do. No clue if they were loaned out and never returned, just lost in the shuffle of moving or accidentally tossed.

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Sure, but those things were ultimately of your own doing and thus completely under your control.

If, however, a company suddenly decides to yank content or shut down their server you have exactly zero control over that.

Blue said:

Lol okay. Have fun with your assumptions that the service has value to everyone since that's pretty trivially shown false. Especially if they ever do change editions, WotC historicially has never let the tools or forums for a previous edition stand, even when paid.

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I paid for DDI the whole run of 4e, and it was always worth it.

AlViking said:

I'm not defending them but I'm a realist who accepts that inflation eventually affects the cost of most goods and you haven't given any reason anyone else should believe otherwise.

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I have given plenty of reason, starting with the 50% profit margin and the fact that the price is based on the print price, not the DDB cost. The problem with the case as presented by you on the other hand is that it addresses none of my points and fails to be reflected in reality.

AlViking said:

I have no clue what their profit margin is, I doubt you do either.

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We know WotC's profit margin from their quarterly statements

Lanefan said:

Sure, but those things were ultimately of your own doing and thus completely under your control.

If, however, a company suddenly decides to yank content or shut down their server you have exactly zero control over that.

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I'm being generous when I say that I loaned out books because I don't remember ever doing it. I let people reference a book while at my house.

I can't imagine anyone taking any of my books home but I also can't explain how books have disappeared over the years. I have moved a lot but all my old books were always packed in the same boxes .

In any case I never "chose" to risk losing my books but I still lost several. There's no guarantee you will always have access to your books whether they are physical or digital.

mamba said:

I have given plenty of reason, starting with the 50% profit margin and the fact that the price is based on the print price, not the DDB cost. The problem with the case as presented by you on the other hand is that it addresses none of my points and fails to be reflected in reality.


We know WotC's profit margin from their quarterly statements

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And I've responded - all companies are affected by inflation. So I have no expectations that prices will never increase. I don't see what the issue if sometimes prices go up.

AlViking said:

And I've responded - all companies are affected by inflation. So I have no expectations that prices will never increase. I don't see what the issue if sometimes prices go up.

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as I said, that response completely misses to address any of the points I made… I too have no expectation that prices never go up, but inflation has zero to do with this increase, it is about maximizing profits

doctorbadwolf said:

I paid for DDI the whole run of 4e, and it was always worth it.

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Do you believe it was worth it for me when mid-campaign they discontinued it? Sure I had my last character sheet, but no way to level up, especially not owning the books because I had decided to pay the subscription. They literally could have left it up as is and continued collecting their income stream, but like they had done to 3.x before they killed all their digital parts from forums onward so as not to compete with their new edition. I don't discount that there's a value to the service of DnDBeyond if you want to use it, but there's also a value to PDF you can keep using regardless of WotC's later choices. And the DnDBeyond service degrades if you don't buy everything you have physical on it because you don't have those options in the character builder. It's lock-in.

BTW, I see that your statement that you weren't going to engage only lasted until you didn't have the last word.