DDI vs. Dragon/Dungeon mags

[EATherrian]

I was a Dragon/Dungeon subscriber since the '80s for Dragon and since inception for Dungeon and I do not intend to subscribe to DDI. I just hate reading actual content on-line. Anything more than a small amount of text and I start getting bad headaches. I can't see me taking the excess cost of printing it plus the cost of subscription. I will miss the magazines greatly, I already miss seeing them in the mailbox.

 

[Incenjucar]

I really prefer paper magazines.

If I'm at the computer, I'm usually too horribly distracted to read things in depth, and if I'm stuck using a computer I have access to lots of free stuff that may be just as good for ideas anyways.

But I haven't been able to get deep into a Dragon magazine for quite awhile anyways, so I'm not sure how valuable my stance is.

 

[Agamon]

I've been buying/subscribing to Dragon for almost 20 years, and have every Dungeon since #19. But I'm happy to just keep giving the money I used for my subs to Paizo for PF and GM. Dragon was a decent read, but I hardly ever used the crunch in it. Adventures and setting specific fluff is more useful to me. Not that interested in DDI.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

For me, it will probably rise or fall based on how important I deem access to the virtual game table.

Ditto. I wouldn't pay $10-15 for the stuff we used to get for free from WotC. To be honest, I wouldn't even notice/miss it.

To be even more brutally honest, I have predicted and continue to predict the the D&D magazines will eventually make their way back to print. They'll die a pretty ignoble death online (they're dying right now as I type this) and eventually be resurrected.

DDI will live or die depending on how good the online gaming functionality is. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if it dies, b/c some crafty programmers will steal all the good ideas and make a free shareware version that will basically do the same thing (albeit without the trademarked/copyrighted stuff) for free.

 

[ObsidianCrane]

I really don't want to pay for a lot of stuff I'm never going to use, and DDI sounds like I'm going to use very little of it in reality. So its not even worth trying it out at the moment once they start charging. I would have considered trying it if my finances were not changing to make it impractical.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Ditto. I wouldn't pay $10-15 for the stuff we used to get for free from WotC. To be honest, I wouldn't even notice/miss it.

To be even more brutally honest, I have predicted and continue to predict the the D&D magazines will eventually make their way back to print. They'll die a pretty ignoble death online (they're dying right now as I type this) and eventually be resurrected.

DDI will live or die depending on how good the online gaming functionality is. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if it dies, b/c some crafty programmers will steal all the good ideas and make a free shareware version that will basically do the same thing (albeit without the trademarked/copyrighted stuff) for free.

Considering that there's little IP inherent in a VTT implementation besides virtual mini designs, I wouldn't be surprised if that did happen. Open source it, link a website for posting custom 3D models, etc. Since it's mainly a mapping tool, it probably won't be hard to duplicate.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Hmmh, where's the 'Other' option?

I regularly bought Dungeon and I'll think I'll give DDI a try, but ... I'm not very optimistic.

First, a purely elecronic version of Dungeon is of diminished value to me. I don't like reading long texts at the computer, especially when the typesetting has been done with prtinted pages in mind.

Second, the Character Creator, while possibly being very useful, might be nothing more than a form where you can select items from drop-down lists, regardless of rules, prerequisites, etc.

The DM Toolkit? Up to now only a name.

The Virtual Tabletop? Might be a chance for me to play instead of only DM'ming. I'm not thrilled that it is a rules-free application. Fiddling around with books, sheets and dice on my already cluttered desk doesn't sound too god.

But my greatest trepidation is a barrage of 'not yet', 'we're working on it' and 'we are planning to do this in the future'.

May be that DDI is a cool tool-suite in 2011, but why should I pay for a simplified basic version in 2008?

Test it, I will. Buth wether I'll be a subscriber one year from now remains to be seen.

---
Huldvoll

Jan van Leyden

 

[Hussar]

Ditto. I wouldn't pay $10-15 for the stuff we used to get for free from WotC. To be honest, I wouldn't even notice/miss it.

To be even more brutally honest, I have predicted and continue to predict the the D&D magazines will eventually make their way back to print. They'll die a pretty ignoble death online (they're dying right now as I type this) and eventually be resurrected.

DDI will live or die depending on how good the online gaming functionality is. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if it dies, b/c some crafty programmers will steal all the good ideas and make a free shareware version that will basically do the same thing (albeit without the trademarked/copyrighted stuff) for free.

Why do you claim that the online mag's are dying? We've got absolutely no idea how many eyeballs are looking at the articles. And, considering that EVERY article that comes out now gets its own thread here at EnWorld, I'm not sure that it's really hurting all that much.

Print Dragon once in a while got a thread for this or that article. Print Dungeon rarely saw anything more than a ripple here at Enworld. Both online versions are generating lots of online buzz. Isn't that part of what WOTC was hoping for?

As far as a shareware version, well, it's not 3d, but, OpenRPG does pretty much everything that the DDI VTT will do right now. Fantasy Grounds you have to pay for, but, it's prettier.

About the only thing the DDI VTT will have over OpenRPG or FG is the fact that the books you buy will be linked directly into your tabletop. THAT will be a nice deal.

Honestly, I won't be going for the DDI for quite a while. There's nothing there that I don't already get online. And, when I eventually move on to 4e, I'll likely wait a while to see what kind of adventures I can get.

 

[Echohawk]

Interesting poll. Summarising the results at the moment:

• About 30% of print magazine subscribers intend to subscribe to the DDI.
• About 40% of those who didn't subscribe to the print magazines intend to subscribe to the DDI.

So the DDI appears to be more attractive to those that weren't previously magazine subscribers. Assuming that this is representative of D&D players in general (a dangerous assumption, I know), it seems likely that the number of people getting the electronic magazines will be significantly higher than the number that were getting the print version (since the number of print subscribers was only ever a small fraction of the total number of D&D players out there).

Which, although I don't want it to, leads me to think that WotC could be entirely correct that electronic publishing is a more effective format for Dragon and Dungeon content.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Useless Poll. Thread Title will Self-Select for people still griping about Dragon Cancellation.