D&D Insider - Pay tomorrow for what you get today for free?

[Davelozzi]

But we're already paying money to get previews, albeit in magazine form. Many gaming magazines have previews, often as a main feature when they've run them, and we pay money for that.

Previews are an astoundingly small part of Dragon, and are certainly not the reason I subscribe. You might notice that Dragon (as well as Dungeon) are very well regarded right now, but a few years back, when Dragon was reading more like support for the current months product, people were not nearly as positive.

 

[pawsplay]

Here's what my intution says. The new paid service won't be chock full o' content, because, frankly, how much stuff can they come up with? Dragon and Dungeon are already not what you would call heavy duty material. What you can expect, I imagine, is a paid version of what hobby sites already provide for free... neat ideas here and there, some originality, some variant rules and new material.

So logically, they must already have a backlog of "juicy stuff" ready to roll out, and some plan for pulling in more content, just to make this thing fly.

My thoughts are that they will roll this out, milk it for 2-3 years until business starts falling off, then reduce the subscription rate, and then not long after, maybe a year or so, they will announce D&D 4.0. Then they'll anounce they're making the site "free" again and start offering lots of 4.0 teasers and such along with the usual content.

 

[masshysteria]

It would either have to be that, or 4E is a ways off.

I'm going to play devil's advocate here.

Or 4E could be closer that we think. This could be a test platform. If the online subscription model works, great, build it into the way 4E is marketed and played (like 3.5E and minis). If it doesn't work, scrap it or revamp it. Launch 4E and just use the failed model as a way of showing how superior 4E is.

The move of making their own official D&D character builder and digital gaming table, makes sense due to the prevalence of electronic gaming aids. However, the subscription model with exclusive content has yet to be proved.

 

[Alaric_Prympax]

From the News page-

"D&D Insider Magazine, online magazine with new content updated daily, including:

-Product Previews (articles showcasing upcoming D&D products)
-Class Features (articles expanding existing character class options and debuting new character and prestige classes)
-Strategy and Tactics (articles relating to D&D roleplaying combat and spellcasting, and to D&D Miniatures Skirmish play)
-Design and Development (articles and columns exploring the many facets of the D&D experience, written by game designers in D&D R&D)
-D&D Humor (comic strips devoted to the D&D experience)"

Further down the page...

"-Real-World D&D Search Engines (find D&D gamers, game stores, tournaments, and events in your area)"


Could someone explain to me what of the above Dragon doesn't cover? I've seen all of this material in Dragon over the years in one form or another:

-Product Previews- in every issue of Dragon, though not in article format
-Class Features- in every issue of Dragon
-Strategy and Tactics- covered in articles in Dragon
-Design and Development- the editorals in every issue of Dragon and an article every once in a while
-D&D Humor- in every issue of Dragon
-Real-World D&D Search Engines- anyone else remember Dragon having a list of conventions or am I just showing my age?


Hasbro through WotC already did this in their magazine Dragon, but they sold them and now after a few years they decide to get back into the role playing magazine business. Will this lead to Dragon being no longer 100% offical in a couple of years? It seems that Hasb... ah WotC already prevents Paizo from publishing products that would sell well- AoW Hardback to name just one. So far the only difference I see between Dragon and the D&D Insider Magazine is one is printed and the other is on a computer moniter. Or is Hasb... ah WotC really planning to hunt Dragon into extinction.

I don't know but somehow this just feels wrong to me that they had a magazine then sold it and now they plan on competing against what they didn't want (otherwise they would not have sold it). Why don't they just buy back Dragon and then just make it avalible on-line? Maybe I'm being too critical, but I don't plan on subscribing till I hear some feedback on this which I'm confident that I'll be able to read somewhere here.

 

[pawsplay]

Well, if they're competing against themselves, either way, they win. I imagine someone at Hasbro is wondering if print, truly, is dead.

D&D 4.0.... now on CD-ROM!

 

[Jedi_Solo]

I'm in the wait and see camp. Mostly to see what the price would be.

There are a couple of things listed that sound cool so the question becomes will the price be worth the one or two aspects of this that I would actually use.

I'm guessing 'no' but... we'll wait and see.

 

[Alaric_Prympax]

Wow, I missed a lot of posting while writing my own.

 

[Maggan]

Previews are an astoundingly small part of Dragon, and are certainly not the reason I subscribe. You might notice that Dragon (as well as Dungeon) are very well regarded right now, but a few years back, when Dragon was reading more like support for the current months product, people were not nearly as positive.

Right. I was thinking mainly of White Dwarf, InQuest and No Quarter, but as you say, Dragon and Dungeon have cut down on the previewing.

/M

 

[Davelozzi]

Will this lead to Dragon being no longer 100% offical in a couple of years?

I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure that WotC's deal with Paizo lets Paizo produce the magazine but that they have not actually sold it to them. Rather than make Dragon unofficial, if they want to get back into the magazine game themselves, I think they would take it back rather than farming it out to Paizo.

Right. I was thinking mainly of White Dwarf, InQuest and No Quarter, but as you say, Dragon and Dungeon have cut down on the previewing.

Ah, I wondered if you may have been talking about another magazine but then figured not since we were talking about actual D&D content rather than RPGs in general. At any rate, here in the US, none of those magazines seem to have as much of a presence as either Paizo rag. Regardless, I certainly can't argue with you as I don't read any of them.

 

[Festivus]

Can someone point me to the sales pitch for this? I can't seem to find it on the WoTC site anywhere... or is this just conjecture and I am still too stuffed with turkey to realize it?