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

[Grymar]

Anything that can make hte DM job's easier should be welcomed. Yes, I know there are many who like to spend 8 hours toiling with guard number 2 at the right gate, but what about the DM who would invite transferable monster stats and ready made NPCs

True, actual tools would be great. Exportable monsters where you can quickly add class levels...wonderful. The DMG2 standard fighters, clerics, etc would be a huge help.

But if it is going to be the current articles, a weak character generator and a paper doll, then I'll pass.

 

[DaveMage]

I have to second a couple of opinions here. I still think it's a bad idea (although I don't have much sympathy for the "it's morally wrong" arguments I've seen).

What they're proposing is a magazine, albeit online. What they're proposing, basically, is Dragon with a few tweaks.

Except Dragon is still out there. And they licensed it out.

I honestly think this won't work. I wish them luck with it - if they can make it work, I'll be the first person to congratulate them.

That was my first thought, and if the "extra content" was all this was about, I'd agree that this is a losing proposition since Dragon already fits the bill. However, if they do the character generator well (and by well, I mean a character generator that allows for a character using *all* D&D print sources), and combine it with some sort of DM electroic aide/toolkit, it suddenly becomes very appealing to me.

 

[Maggan]

Ah, I leave the boards for a couple days, and this is finally announced.

BTW, it hasn't been announced.Nothing has been announced. No price point set. No feature set decided upon.

The text on EN World's front page is from the WotC survey.

/M

 

[Banshee16]

Heaven forbid they actually want to not be losing money through the website. A site as large and complex as Wizards' takes money to develop and maintain. A not insignificant chunk of change. Now factor in the time spent by staff on pay to develop articles for the site, and it gets more expensive.

I'd be hesitant to completely write off the idea until I hear from them what they're actually intending. If this will mean losing access to the articles they've got, or not getting new ones at all, that would suck. But if we're talking about premium "extra" content, then that's different.

The idea of "pay for service" is not such a heretical idea. There sometimes seems to be a belief that everything on the web should be free. Working in the industry, I find that annoying. Premium level sites cost money. Sure, if you want garbage, it can be free, or cheap. But WotC aren't stupid. I don't think they'll shoot themselves in the foot by axing *all* the content on the public site. Some tools like a virtual table-top could be great, if done right.

At the moment, all of us are simply guessing as to what these changes would entail.

Banshee

 

[pawsplay]

The idea of "pay for service" is not such a heretical idea. There sometimes seems to be a belief that everything on the web should be free.

I'm not objecting to pay for service. I do have a MMO account, for instance. But I object to being charged on an ongoing basis for support. When I buy a vaccum cleaner, I don't pay Hoover $2 a month so that I can get a belt replacement when I need it. I also don't like to be charged to browse; I wouldn't pay JC Penny's $1 a month to wander around their store when I feel like shopping.

I don't have a continuous need for expansion material. I might like some of it. Therefore, to me, this idea reads like a "grab bag," or as I said before, "miniatures marketing" approach, where they are always selling you stuff which you are only some of the time benefitting from.

 

[Razz]

Maybe they're trying to appeal to people like myself. I always enjoy new material, whether or not I ever get the chance to use it. The principle of the matter is when I really do need it, I know where to get it.

I own almost all WotC books released (soon to get d20 Modern books next) for D&D and there have been books I never cracked open---BUT should the time come when I do need to build an adventure or campaign on illithids or freaky aberrations taking over, I can open up my Lords of Madness with a smile. Or if I need more dragon material (Draconomicon), want a more "horror" feel to the next quest (Heroes of Horror), staging the next huge adventure around Incarnum, or even if my players want to try something new, I have that material at my disposal when I am ready.

Who knows when I will need an NPC, or if one of my players ever chooses to play, to be a halfling whisperer or diamond dragon? I know if the inspiration ever hits me (or a player), I have that material available.

It's really about availability for me. And probably for others, too. I, for one, am a little excited about this D&D Insider, but I do need to know more information about this before I canonball into it.

Maybe 1 or 2 months free when you subscribe and you can cancel it if it's not to your liking? I think that'd be the smart way to go about this to please everyone.

Another thing people need to realize is there're gamers out there that would love to see a chunk of new material for their Spellthief, Ninja, or Hexblade. New feats specific for their Beguiler, new epic material (that we haven't seen in ages) for people that run epic games, incarnum material for those that use Magic of Incarnum heavily, and others. But would you rather see WotC do a book on material used by the minority, or would you rather them please the majority by placing the minor material on their website but for price while continuing to do their sourcebooks on more bigger topics?

That way, everyone gets what they want.

 

[Psion]

If they think they can make the game profitable without entertaining a 4e for a while, I'm all for it.

My main regret is that E-Tools and PCGen paid the price for some as-yet-unheard-of character generator being developed by parties unknown. New software does not go gold in the same shape that mature software with well developed capabilities does.

I fully expect it, by way of comparison, to suck.

 

[DonTadow]

If they think they can make the game profitable without entertaining a 4e for a while, I'm all for it.

My main regret is that E-Tools and PCGen paid the price for some as-yet-unheard-of character generator being developed by parties unknown. New software does not go gold in the same shape that mature software with well developed capabilities does.

I fully expect it, by way of comparison, to suck.

Now why? That just sounds like the animosity at the big corporate giant talking. But considering the money and backing behind this new "stuff" I doubt it will suck.

 

[Kapture]

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.

I think people might be missing the forest for the trees. They mention a lot of stuff as premium content, but I think what they'll really be selling is the online tools and play table. The rest is dressing.

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.

A lot of people have been saying that the websites current information and tools are thin, but if I were WOTC, I'd be stockpiling. I certainly wouldn't be releasing anything to compete with myself. It's not like they can't afford to hire good programmers.

I tried getting some of my out of town buddies to play online a while back. I might try again soon. Not many were interested, but we're fogies.

I think the up and coming generation, who use IM because "email is for old people" and who congregate online in MMPORGS and places like Gaia will look more kindly on an online DND.

Really, if WOTC could figure out a way to translate the feeling of tabletop play: interactive, friendly, off the cuff, fresh, original... It would go a long way towards fixing a lot of the problems people complain about in MMPORGS. Just because it hasn't happened before doesn't mean they can't do it. I'll probably subscribe just to see what the whole thing looks like.

 

[Klaus]

I heard that Dragon can no longer put Substitution Levels and variant abilities in their Class Acts articles. Maybe the new paid content is the reason.

And few people mentioned the new on-line novels and short fiction, by established authors. I wonder if the multi-part stories in the WotC website, like Oroon Rising and the Stormreach one by Keith Baker were test-drives for this.