Are you buying a DDI subscription?

[Barcode]

I'll give it a try for a while, will probably re-evaluate after a year or so.

 

[el-remmen]

All signs point to no.

I don't play 4E and have not felt like I needed Dragon magazine for the last 6 or 7 years or so, and while Dungeon is something I used to always love to get, I don't want to have to convert 4E adventures, esp since I have access to nearly every issue from #1 to #100-and-something, and converting adventures from those will be much easier for me because I am most familiar with the "first" three editions.

Oh, and I don't need online tools.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I wouldn't mind a Dungeon subscription if it were a print magazine...

But since that's not an option, no.

-The Gneech

That's me.

I refuse to pay a rental fee without long-term ownership of dead trees.

I've downloaded the Dungeon adventures so far, but haven't read a single one, and have only read a few Dragon articles. I don't care for the medium -- this from a guy who had both Dungeon and Dragon subscriptions through the entire 3E/3.5E era. The other DDI "features" don't add value for me.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Yes, I will be subscribing. Dragon alone is worth the trivial subscription price.

 

[Khairn]

Nope.

If it was a print mag ... then I probably would even though I won't be switching over to 4E. Both with E-Dun being (at best) hit-or-miss, there really isn't anything that makes me want to to subscribe. Nothing I've seen so far is a "must have".

 

[mach1.9pants]

I'm on. Thankfully work has a full colour laser printer, and my 'boss' is one of my players I am not really a fan of digital books...how am I supposed to read them on the toilet? take my laptop but at least I can print them for perusal , ahem, where ever.

Also I have been using a PDF editor to do the PC's character sheets and it is time consuming. The character generator is a big draw for me. The time consuming bit is the making sure that all the damage rolls etc are right so having that built in is awesome.

 

[Jack Colby]

Nope. Nothing there so far has been worth paying for, in my opinion. Nothing promised interests me either.

 

[El Mahdi]

Wouldn't a poll like this be more interesting if you were asking the people who actually play (or want to play) 4e? I mean, it's not really a surprise that those who chose to stay with another edition aren't paying.

I understand your logic but you've based it on an incorrect assumption. Just because someone doesn't play 4E doesn't mean they won't have an use for the material. Fluff is fluff, doesn't matter what system you use it in. Articles about locations and characters (minus stat material), campaigns and magic, can all be used or adapted to other systems. Adventures are extremely usable in other systems, just change monster and NPC stat blocks. Story and plot are infinitely transportable from system to system (if you are willing to do the work of converting, not everyone is, but many do). As an example I've used a lot of 2E adventures, both from modules and Dungeon, in my 3E games. Some of the best D&D adventures are from other editions. DM's are always looking for good adventure material. I've even used adventures from completely different systems than D&D (any edition).

However, for me, the "fluff" in Dragon just isn't good enough for me to spend money on, and the adventures in Dungeon, although usable in any system, have just not been very good (or provide the "features" I feel should be a minimum). If the adventures were of a better quality, and they provided high res, full page artwork, and keyed and unkeyed maps, then I would probably purchase a subscription. Despite the fact I'm not switching to 4E.

 

[El Mahdi]

... they've decided to make people pay for "back issues" individually like it was still a physical magazine, rather than a months subscription also gaining access to archived material like just about every paysite on the internet does at this point. That's a barrier to people who might want a little taste now and then, but don't want to jump in for a regular month by month addiction because they wouldn't use it enough to justify the immediate rolling access to the latest updates.

I understand your feelings about this, and even feel it a bit myself, but I also understand it from their view. If they didn't require customers to pay for back issues, they'd just have a whole lot of people (not everyone, but a lot), just getting a one month subscription at whatever interval best worked for them (every 3 or 6 months, or even once a year). If most of their DDI customers did this, there'd be no way for DDI to make any money. They'd cancel it for lack of revenue and percieved lack of popularity with customers. In the long run, that would be bad for both WoTC and their customers/fans.

 

[justanobody]

In the long run, that would be bad for both WoTC and their customers/fans.

Groups don't even need separate subscriptions for just the magazines. One account and everyone download from it.

There is no way to make a PDF that cannot be shared, as that violates the concept of the portable document format. They could open protect it and make it unable to be saved, but there is little way of copying it between a group anyway.


That is no different than a subscription letting you get every back issue free. Technically that IS what the compendium is anyway. You get EVERYTHING in it crunchwiae.

So the actual eDragon and eDungeon are free for the old issues with just a single motnh subscription, but not the PDF format. The PDF back issues cost extra outside of the compendium low subscription fee.