D&D 5E Are You Planning on Subscribing to D&D Beyond

[ArwensDaughter]

Having used D&D Beyond in the beta I also find it fairly ridiculous that there is no search function for the rules compendium

There is a global search function, and once the search is run, you can filter to show only compendium results. If you are working on an iPad, the search field may not show up in landscape mode. It should in portrait mode. This is an apparent bug that was reported a while back. I just reported it again. I would expect it to be fixed soon.


Sent from my iPad using EN World mobile app

 

[Koren n'Rhys]

Well of course not yet, it's not live yet! But he's objecting to what's been proposed by them, and they've said what the plan is, and his objections for the most part are met. What else can they do other than say, "You asked for X so we're going to give you X"?

To Darjr's point, while they've said that the apps and their offline capability is a priority, it's something that won't be ready yet by launch, from what I've read so far. Ideally, that changes, but no dates have been announced for that feature.

 

[Koren n'Rhys]

Same here. I will buy books and use D&D Beyond regularly, but I haven't found a compelling argument yet why to pay for a subscription. I don't need more than 6 characters or other people's homebrew stuff. Why should I subscribe?

There isn't a compelling reason, that's the beauty of it. If you don't need the extra slots, don't need to share your content with anyone, adn don't care about other people's homebrew, then you are good to go with just the free account.

 

[Tobold]

There is a global search function, and once the search is run, you can filter to show only compendium results. If you are working on an iPad, the search field may not show up in landscape mode. It should in portrait mode. This is an apparent bug that was reported a while back. I just reported it again. I would expect it to be fixed soon.

[MENTION=6804968]ArwensDaughter[/MENTION] : Thank you very much for this useful bit of information! I turned my iPad and the search function appeared!

 

[ArwensDaughter]

[MENTION=6804968]ArwensDaughter[/MENTION] : Thank you very much for this useful bit of information! I turned my iPad and the search function appeared!

You're welcome. I knew I'd searched before, but when I checked my iPad before responding to your comment, I discovered the problem. Some experimenting on my part and checking DDBs forum thread on global search tracked the issue and solution down.


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[Guest 6801328]

Not a chance. I could possibly seeing myself buying the books a second time on roll20, in order to have all the data integrated, but even there I don't mind a little bit of typing. No way I'm paying for the books again AND paying a subscription (good grief!) to access rules I've already paid for.

No F-ing Way.

 

[fjw70]

There isn't a compelling reason, that's the beauty of it. If you don't need the extra slots, don't need to share your content with anyone, adn don't care about other people's homebrew, then you are good to go with just the free account.

Another conservative deration is that the free sub will have ads. I have no idea how instructive they will be so it might not be too bad.

I was considering not subscribing then I decided to get the master tier so my kids and my group can have access to my content.

 

[epithet]

I have been annoyed by the refusal to sell a physical+digital bundle, and therefore the need to buy the books twice if I want to have both a hardcover and the same content available on Fantasy Grounds. Now, they're talking about how DDB will work with Fantasy Grounds (and Roll20) but hey, guess what? You get to pay full price for the exact same content all over again!

They can go frolic themselves.

I would have no problem with the subscription--the service itself seems like it would be useful. It appears to be a well designed interface, full of useful tools. I've seen a number of Wizards apologists make the spurious argument that the content of the rulebooks isn't what you pay for, that the "full price" is worth it for the value added functionality of the digital medium. That's a load of manure. It's like stating that the hardcover is worth $30 for the paper and cardboard. I'd pay more for a physical/digital bundle, and I'd be willing to pay a modest price for a digital add-on, but this full price for each version policy is insulting.

Yes, Wizards and D&D are #1 right now, and they can get away with this. They don't have to develop a more reasonable pricing strategy, so they won't. It took them 5 minutes and a truckload of 5e cash to forget how Paizo kicked their butts during 4e, and they seem to think they their return to the top is somehow permanent this time. What they are doing, meanwhile, is creating a culture of tolerance for semi-pirated versions of their product. Downloading content modules for character creators, or a PDF of a rulebook because you don't want to spend a day scanning it yourself, are becoming commonplace and accepted among the rpg-playing community for D&D products, even when they aren't acceptable for the products of companies like Frog God that put some effort into putting better price policies into effect.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Not a chance. I could possibly seeing myself buying the books a second time on roll20, in order to have all the data integrated, but even there I don't mind a little bit of typing. No way I'm paying for the books again AND paying a subscription (good grief!) to access rules I've already paid for.

No F-ing Way.

You won't need a subscription to access rules you have already paid for. If you purchase the books on DDB, you can access them, subscription or not...

Sent from my VS987 using EN World mobile app

 

[MrHotter]

I have been annoyed by the refusal to sell a physical+digital bundle, and therefore the need to buy the books twice if I want to have both a hardcover and the same content available on Fantasy Grounds. Now, they're talking about how DDB will work with Fantasy Grounds (and Roll20) but hey, guess what? You get to pay full price for the exact same content all over again!

They can go frolic themselves.

I would have no problem with the subscription--the service itself seems like it would be useful. It appears to be a well designed interface, full of useful tools. I've seen a number of Wizards apologists make the spurious argument that the content of the rulebooks isn't what you pay for, that the "full price" is worth it for the value added functionality of the digital medium. That's a load of manure. It's like stating that the hardcover is worth $30 for the paper and cardboard. I'd pay more for a physical/digital bundle, and I'd be willing to pay a modest price for a digital add-on, but this full price for each version policy is insulting.

Yes, Wizards and D&D are #1 right now, and they can get away with this. They don't have to develop a more reasonable pricing strategy, so they won't. It took them 5 minutes and a truckload of 5e cash to forget how Paizo kicked their butts during 4e, and they seem to think they their return to the top is somehow permanent this time. What they are doing, meanwhile, is creating a culture of tolerance for semi-pirated versions of their product. Downloading content modules for character creators, or a PDF of a rulebook because you don't want to spend a day scanning it yourself, are becoming commonplace and accepted among the rpg-playing community for D&D products, even when they aren't acceptable for the products of companies like Frog God that put some effort into putting better price policies into effect.

Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, Twitch, and WotC are all seperate companies. If we go to the theatre to see a movie we don't expect to also get it free on iTunes and also be able to watch it on HBO without a subscription.

The Compendium and the virtual table top versions are not just PDFs of the books we've bought. They take programing time and other resources to produce and maintain.