D&D 4E D&D 4E Presentation videos

[Asmor]

My biggest issue with the D&D insider thing is the limits; 10 characters and 3 games a month? WTF.

There's no good reason to place those kinds of limit, except greed. Disk space is dirt cheap and bandwidth costs are probably negligble... I'm sure the voice chat will be peer-to-peer, meaning Wizards' servers never even see it, and even if the "game table" does go through their servers it doesn't look like the sort of thing that would require much bandwidth anyways.

That said, I'll probably still subscribe, just because that's the way I am.

 

[Zulgyan]

All sounds horrible. 4ed won't be for me.

 

[Michael Tree]

My biggest issue with the D&D insider thing is the limits; 10 characters and 3 games a month? WTF.

There's no good reason to place those kinds of limit, except greed. Disk space is dirt cheap and bandwidth costs are probably negligble... I'm sure the voice chat will be peer-to-peer, meaning Wizards' servers never even see it, and even if the "game table" does go through their servers it doesn't look like the sort of thing that would require much bandwidth anyways.

I thought that those limits were for the free version, and the paid subscription had unlimited use.

 

[Friadoc]

$10?!!? If that is for each DM AND each player they can forget about it. It may not be as cool looking, but the free stuff is plenty good enough.

If its for the DM and up to 8 guests to play the DM's game, then thats a good price.

I think you're greatly exaggerating the impact of $9.95 a month, in fact I think a lot of the community is more inclined, now, to buy a DI subscription.

It is such a modest amount, that I doubt it'd be a turning away point for some, especially since it is cheaper than what it is, mostly, replacing.

 

[Toben the Many]

Well, I was excited about 4th Edition. But this has gone a long way in taking the wind out of my sails. The DI will be mainly about making online characters and an interactive dungeon? Hell, I can do that in Neverwinter Nights right now! And it looks prettier! This is what they are spending so much time and effort on?

I like what I hear about the system, but I am very underwhelmed by the DI. Count me out.

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

$10?!!? If that is for each DM AND each player they can forget about it. It may not be as cool looking, but the free stuff is plenty good enough.

If its for the DM and up to 8 guests to play the DM's game, then thats a good price.

I agree with this. My gaming group isn't going to give WotC $50 a month to store some character sheets on a remote server and access multiple copies of the same articles. It just doesn't make sense.

The DM tools seem a little iffy to me. Instead of designing a game that doesn't need software to make prep time reasonable, they just charge for the RPG version of tech support?

I could be wrong. I'll certainly take a look at it when it happens. But if I want to pay $10 a month, I'll play any number of MMORPGs.

 

[krissbeth]

Lame.

 

[Asmor]

I thought that those limits were for the free version, and the paid subscription had unlimited use.

Ah, I didn't realize there was a free version. If that's the case, then my criticism is entirely unwarranted.

Something that did occur to me, however... It's not uncommon for players to use options in books they don't have, either borrowing from other players or, more often, the DM (and I'm sure there's a fair amount who use pirated PDFs as well).

The DI keeps tracks of what books you own with unique serial numbers in each book, which you input to unlock the content. That means that, for example, if I purchase a hypothetical 4th edition Magic of Incarnum, and tell my players that they are free to create incarnates, they don't actually have the ability to make incarnates unless they purchase the book as well.

Also, I wonder what effect this will have on the secondary market... Actually, I don't even know if there is an appreciable secondary market (I know I've never even seen used D&D books, except for old 2nd edition stuff), but it does mean that you may not be able to use a book you buy second hand for online stuff if the code's already been used.

 

[Glyfair]

I agree with this. My gaming group isn't going to give WotC $50 a month to store some character sheets on a remote server and access multiple copies of the same articles. It just doesn't make sense.

I seem to remember some comments somewhere that there might be a cheaper rate just for the tabletop function. That assumes you don't want access to any of the other content.

 

[green slime]

I don't play MMORG's precisely because I don't believe in paying for something like that via a subscription. I'd rather pay a bigger fee up front. I detest subscriptions. Subscriptions are Evil I tell you! Look at all the services that are grabbing your money, before you have even earnt it! Phone, broadband, newspaper, electricity, water, sewage, tv "license", insurance... and now even my hobbies are leeching onto my wallet. I think I'll be taking up some other pasttime.