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I personally think that it's pretty useful during play to be able to type in "Beacon of Hope" or whatever a power name is... And suddenly I know everything about that power. Looking for spell effects was half of what used to slow 3.x down. This is much faster than flipping through the PHB.

However, it's not nearly as useful as, say, a properly OCR'ed PDF file, which is what the original plan was before it had to be scrapped. I'd pay a significant amount (though not above half the paper book price) for a searchable PDF of any given book, because it would be invaluable in my game play and planning - moreso for the planning, but still useful at a table for many players. On the other hand, a database of race/feat/skill/power tables is not nearly as useful as if, say, I wanted to look up what blinded does on a moment's notice, or I wanted to read the entire text of order of actions in a combat round in order to clear up a rules point that my players and I were screwing up.

Given the quality of the recent Dragon and Dungeon previews, DDI would still give me some money's worth, but that D&D compendium without significant additions I find VERY subpar right now, and the sad part is that no one can make up a tool that can pick up the slack without a small fear of getting sued by WotC.

Heck, until that fan site policy comes out, every single character sheet, character generator, house rule, and crib sheet on ENWorld right now is possibly litigious. I wouldn't normally worry (heck, I didn't worry when years ago WotC asked us to remove those module conversions, despite the gloom and doom of some people) but the language of the released GSL even leaves that with a "wait and see" attitude from me.
 

I had not thought about the RPGA, and maybe that's their saving grace.

Listen, I know that the fan stuff may go bye-bye with DDI, and they may try to do everything they can to shut it down, but I suspect some people will go underground. I still think DDI has to show its products are better than what is out there, or could be made. Even if they had nothing running against them, poorly made stuff will drive people away from it. And that remains to be seen. (Okay, so I'm skeptical.)

And I know it's very early in the cycle. Unfortunately Wizards isn't doing themselves a favor by having a beta preview before everything is ready. I hope they allow a preview after they're past beta for it to work.

Seriously, though, a thousand players for, what nine Living campaigns? That's what, $135,000 a month, or perhaps upwards to $1,620,000 a year total streaming in to Wizards of the Coast just on RPGA interest alone?

Why aren't they trying to advertise as much about the RPGA as they can then? And will Hasbro be satisfied with at least a $1.62 mil bump in the revenue stream if it's assumed they'll keep that base satisfied?
 

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