D&D Beyond executives explain why subscribers can't share Drops content

D&D Beyond executives claim that content sharing isn't enabled for their new Drops material because they want to make sure designers get paid. On Friday, D&D Beyond's executive producer Brian Perry and new head of Drops content Jay Jani answered questions on Reddit about D&D Beyond Drops, a new compendium of maps, images, and rules exclusive to D&D Beyond subscribers. Unsurprisingly, the biggest question on many users' minds were why Drops content wasn't sharable via the Master tier subscription like other material. In several posts, Perry stated that the reason was monetary in nature.

"We need to pay the great designers, artists, and developers working on D&D Beyond Drops," Perry said in a comment. "We also really think it's important to make the entire subscriber content library accessible to Hero Tier subscribers (as well as Master Tier). Not making Drops content eligible for content sharing was a necessary tradeoff to hit these goals."

However, given the amount of feedback among fans about making Drops content sharable among players, Perry said they were actively looking at alternative solutions. "With that said, I hear and really appreciate the feedback on being able to share Drops content with players in your group that don't have the disposable income for a Hero Tier subscription," Perry said. "The team is taking another look at the tradeoffs and considering other solutions."

 

[Shiroiken]

I totally get the move by WotC. They want to get people to buy into Beyond, and this is a good way to do it. I personally don't agree with the subscription model, where you don't "own" digital content, and would be much happier if we could buy PDFs. WotC has decided not to go that route, and that's their decision to make. Just like it's my decision to not purchase anything on Beyond. If they ever decide to go fully subscription model, like some doomsayers are arguing, then I'll simply move on to another game (or design my own).

They failed their diplomacy roll.

IMO, that's what this is all about. WotC burned some bridges last year, and a lot of people are still bitter. I don't necessarily blame them for being bitter, but everyone needs to understand and accept that WotC is a business. They're trying to make the maximum amount of money for their product, and they feel this is a way to do that. For people that want this serivce, this is a good thing; for the rest of us, it doesn't really impact us at all.

 

[Mecheon]

To be honest a whole lot of services should require monthly fees.

Sounds bloody miserable and I'd tell people suggesting for a forum to be like that by instead asking if its an out of season April Fools joke. Text files aren't heavy to host on servers

hey. know what didn't take things away and was a good choice model for this type of fun little thing? Dragon Magazine. May have heard of it. Just let folks subscribe to an online magazine that is in pdf format and won't vanish the moment the execs stop funneling money into this and it dies a long and painful death

You can make a screenshot.
Even easier than giving around books.

Frankly we shouldn't have to do that

IMO, that's what this is all about. WotC burned some bridges last year, and a lot of people are still bitter. I don't necessarily blame them for being bitter, but everyone needs to understand and accept that WotC is a business. They're trying to make the maximum amount of money for their product, and they feel this is a way to do that. For people that want this serivce, this is a good thing; for the rest of us, it doesn't really impact us at all.

Absolutely a business, sure, but folks are well in their power to call out anti consumer business tactics. It being labelled as a drop inherently has the risk factor of making people want to get in and do it now, because 'drop' implies to anyone who's done a video game thing that this is going to be limited time, and someone subscribing in a month's time is just going to not have access to it, ever.

Let's not pretend ourselves, as 2E preyed on the same factor, D&D fans will be completionists, and its absolutely something that's going to stab into archival focused folks

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

I totally get the move by WotC. They want to get people to buy into Beyond, and this is a good way to do it. I personally don't agree with the subscription model, where you don't "own" digital content, and would be much happier if we could buy PDFs. WotC has decided not to go that route, and that's their decision to make. Just like it's my decision to not purchase anything on Beyond. If they ever decide to go fully subscription model, like some doomsayers are arguing, then I'll simply move on to another game (or design my own).


IMO, that's what this is all about. WotC burned some bridges last year, and a lot of people are still bitter. I don't necessarily blame them for being bitter, but everyone needs to understand and accept that WotC is a business. They're trying to make the maximum amount of money for their product, and they feel this is a way to do that. For people that want this serivce, this is a good thing; for the rest of us, it doesn't really impact us at all.

Exactly! They answer to shareholders in the end, and will make choices based on what brings them the most profit. Which is why I don‘t complain about those things. I simply take my money elsewhere.

 

[Selas]

Absolutely a business, sure, but folks are well in their power to call out anti consumer business tactics. It being labelled as a drop inherently has the risk factor of making people want to get in and do it now, because 'drop' implies to anyone who's done a video game thing that this is going to be limited time, and someone subscribing in a month's time is just going to not have access to it, ever.

Except Drops are not marketed as Limited time (except for being sub locked), and anyone has access to all releases no matter when they join. Sure, you dont "own" it, but you can say the same thing for stuff bought on Roll20, FG and Foundry, since they're also digital stores licensing a product.

I just don't get why people are complaining of WotC doing the same thing that Roll20 or Foundry already does. Is it because it's WotC?

 

[SothFan]

FG

Is this the one that lets you downliad the book or Foundry?

One of those "F" companies let you have the books on your computer so they can never be taken from you. That makes a difference.

 

[Selas]

Fantasy Grounds, one of the early VTTs. And you can print to pdf the books on DDB, though the layout is not great since it's not pdf friendly

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

I think for me--and I don't really use the platform, so my insight isn't really worth much--the issue would come about when some people in a group have access to material that others don't have access to. With a book in physical space, you can just share the book, so everybody (in theory) has access to the material, but that's not the same if the material is locked into a platform.

Can't you just copy the text and of the feat or spell and show it to your friends? How is this any different from showing text in a book?

 

[Selas]

Can't you just copy the text and of the feat or spell and show it to your friends? How is this any different from showing text in a book?

Exactly. People are making an inch-deep puddle into a lake IMO.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Exactly. People are making an inch-deep puddle into a lake IMO.

People sometimes forget that when a system doesn't meet your ends you can just... Go outside the system.

 

[OB1]

While it doesn’t bother me that WotC is trying to get more hero level subscribers from PCs, I do think this is a poorly conceived product (the Master tier, on the other hand is excellent, even if the player facing mechanics go away, which I think they will).

The reason is that if you look out a year from now, there could be hundreds of spells and feats that are only available with the subscription, while at the same time no way to buy and permanently add them to your account. Essentially, there will be two versions of the game, one that you purchase and one that you subscribe to. I suspect that is why there has been so much negative feedback.

But I don’t think the solution is to allow DMs to share to PCs like they can their pay for content. Especially because this would likely raise the price for DMs. And it doesn’t address the fundamental problem of creating two versions of the game after enough drops have happened.

The solution is to drop the PC mechanic bits from this model entirely. If you need something else to entice players to the Hero tier, how about a set of maps that are player controlled and represent their Bastions, complete with tons of stickers and ‘reveal’ art. Give players a way to share those as part of a campaign, inviting other PCs over to hang out, etc.

Or, go all the way and provide a price point that while subscribed gives you access to everything (the whole library) as a second option.