D&D (2024) D&D Pre-orders; this is sad

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I was hoping for Neuromancer but all we got was Max Headroom.

Max Headroom at least had fun punks. And he was a better digital assistant than Siri or Alexa.

 

[TiQuinn]

You can now. In a couple of years you won't be able to.

Okay, what would you like me to do?

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Max Headroom at least had fun punks.

I tell ya, being a Blank sounds better and better every single day.

 

[occam]

As mentioned above, the current state is not so terrible. I certainly don't like it. There's no need for these tiers; the only reason they exist is so they can put candies in bigger bundles and get people to climb the stairway. Ubisoft is notorious for it in the video game industry. You could buy the base game. But you could buy the other edition that gives you a rebate on four undisclosed expansion to come. Now's the only time to get this deal. Also, if you spend 50$ more, you get all this extra content that could have, and should have been in the main game, but we've split it to make you spend more.

That is NOT what's going on here. As a customer, you have decisions to make. Do I want the digital version of a book, the physical version of a book, or both? Do I want to preorder the book or wait for it to come out? Do I want to preorder all three books, or just one? There are no tiers. There are no alternate editions, access to future DLCs, or whatever other imagined microtransaction-laden evils you have in mind. It's just books.

 

[Cadence]

Max Headroom at least had fun punks. And he was a better digital assistant than Siri or Alexa.

And he was on right after Moonlighting... (wow high school was a long time ago).

 

[Incenjucar]

My only concern is the delayed access; that's only reasonable if there are actual stock or shipping limitations, or if it goes early to FLGSs.

It's worth noting that WotC did try loot boxes with those card packs in 4E and Gamma World.

 

[Undrave]

the 'Virtual Gold Dragon Mini' for the 'upcoming virtual tabletop' is the most ridiculous bonus. This is like when Pokémon hands out a bundle of Revives as pre-order bonus!

 

[occam]

Having digital products is not the issue. Albeit I'd prefer if they moved in a more open environment (see my reply above).

Bundle pricing is not an issue. We see it all the time.

The artificial early access, the exclusive goods for the bundle, the number of frames and backdrop which immediately tells you how they intend to run the VTT and the integration with DBB. You'll pay for every little bit.

They do not want you to buy a book, own it and be able to ignore them and their new content. Their goal is to get you to have to be on their digital platform and have to pay monthly to play. To have to pay 1.99$ if you want a 3D model of a goblin, and you' don't have a choice because the game has moved entirely digitally.

If you think extra backdrops and picture frames on a DDB character sheet are driving people's purchasing decisions, I think you're vastly overvaluing those things.

And if WotC doesn't want people to buy books, then... why do they sell them, in stores even, where you're free to ignore any future new content if that's your desire?

I'd say something about mountains and molehills, but this is like seeing Mons Olympus where there's a grain of sand.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

This is the top of the slippery slope that adds to videogames being funded by microtransactions, to the point that otherwise good games (like Diablo Immortal) are basically rendered almost unplayable due to being choked with them.

You know what is cool. I got a few weeks of much fun with diablo immortal. For absolutely free.

And after having bought diablo4, i am even more happy about diablo immortal.
I don't have time to play those games at a level wher it is only grinding season after season.
And if that was not your intention, diablo immortal was fine.

I don't regret having bought d4. But after season 2, I just stopped.

I cam easily see that the people paying for useless things are more or less funding my cheaper (free) account. So they get something earlier. That's great for them.
If you look at everything around you, you always trade your time for money or vice versa.

Don't want to grow your own food? Go shopping. Don't want to cook? Order meals. Don't want to make your own coffee, or even learn how to make those cool cappucinos? Buy a cappucino to-go.
Don't have time to learn english? Hire a translator.
Don't have time to farm for endless hours in a stupid game? Buy the 10 dollars bundle that saves you 100 hours of playtime. And work for an hour delivering some pizzas for the guys who grinded the last 20 hours in that game...

 

[Umbran]

This is the top of the slippery slope that adds to videogames being funded by microtransactions

Uh, Whizbang? They recently removed the only real microtransactions in D&D Beyond worth the name - buying content from books a la carte. So, you are griping that they are moving to micro-transactions just as they are doing the opposite.

And, you yourself called this a "slippery slope" argument. You understand that to generally be an argument supported by fear, more than actual evidence, right?

None of the individual things happening right now are a problem. It's just that this exactly resembles the start of the path the videogame industry took.

So, it is basically an expression of fear.
It is okay to be afraid. And to express fear.
It is less okay to treat your fear as some sort of foundation of truth.