DDI: What Would You Pay For?

[JoeGKushner]

On another thread I mention that I'm less than impressed with Dragon.

Dungeon's been pretty medicore as well.

If I could chop those out of my subscription and get the DDI at a lesser price year round, I'd probably do it.

How about other people?

Are there things on the DDI that you generally find of great use and couldn't live without and things that just make you scratch your head?

 

[Jack99]

Dungeon has so far been a waste of money for me. But me being a player in the SoW has nothing to do with that. Doesn't leave me with much reading, since I can't read the SoW adventures, obviously.

Aside from that, it seems fine. I use the CB quite a bit, the Monster Maker enormously and Dragon articles more than I have ever before.

 

[Shroomy]

Personally, I don't think that WotC will ever decouple the individual components of the DDI (integration seems to be the guiding philosophy and besides you'd probably see an option of e-magazines and e-magazines + software anyways), and even if they did separate the magazines, I don't think it would have an appreciable impact on the pricing (even if you don't get the magazines, if you use the CB and MB, you're still benefiting from the content).

 

[drothgery]

If I could chop those out of my subscription and get the DDI at a lesser price year round, I'd probably do it.

Pretty much, yeah. But unless I'm broke, D&Di is worth the $70.

 

[Derulbaskul]

It's so cheap I don't care.

I think Dungeon has gone backwards since the Paizo days. But I don't care. I think Dragon has some good things and I really don't mind smaller articles and whatnot. But I also don't care.

The two electronic utilities are so good, and the compendium is so useful, that I still think the whole thing is cheap and I am a happy customer.

Sure, I would like the WotC designers to learn that an Adventure Path requires a plot/story/narrative. I would also like the WotC designers to learn than designing an adventure doesn't mean sorting the monsters by level and then choosing by role regardless of whether the monsters are thematically suited to being in an encounter together. But DDi is so cheap and so useful anyway that I just don't care.

As for poor people... let them eat cake!

 

[El Mahdi]

Both Dungeon and Dragon are fine for my purposes (or at least they were up until I cancelled my subscription). I don't play 4E, but I still find interesting ideas to mine in Dragon, whether fluff articles or mechanical ideas that I can bend or apply to my games. And I can use any adventure, regardless of system, so Dungeon works for me also.

I only cancelled my subscription after the pdf decision (the final straw for me).

But, if WotC started offering pdf's again, which would probably get me to subscribe again then this is what I'd pay for:

Dungeon and Dragon - they are just fine, IMO, but there's always room for improvement.

Character Builder and Compendium are completely useless to me since I don't play 4E.

But, I would pay for a Character Visualizer, a Dungeon Builder, and a Virtual Game Table - if they ever actually see the light of day.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I'd pay for Mac compatibility equal to Windows compatibility.

 

[esparkhu]

It's so cheap I don't care.
Sure, I would like the WotC designers to learn that an Adventure Path requires a plot/story/narrative. I would also like the WotC designers to learn than designing an adventure doesn't mean sorting the monsters by level and then choosing by role regardless of whether the monsters are thematically suited to being in an encounter together.

Amen. That adventure path needs some serious help.

I do enjoy two monthly columns: Confessions of a Full Time Wizard in Dragon and Save my Game in Dungeon.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

Whatever the differences in quality between new and old Dragon, the new Dragon is more integrated with the core game, both from a promotional standpoint and from a popular acceptance standpoint. This alone makes it more useful. Things like the Star Pact Warlock powers, Son of Mercy, Orc and Kobold monster expansions, and race articles see heavy use in the games I play and run. I don't recall ever using anything from 3.5E Dragon.

I make my own adventures, so Dungeon I've never used. Now their putting the DM type stuff in it, so I might use it more. They're also putting more delves and one-shots in it, which is more along the lines of something I might use on an off week.

The Character Builder is something that at this point I don't think I can exist without. Creating characters the hard way is like spraying myself with bear mace at this point, and I find myself waiting to tinker with things like Divine Power until it becomes integrated with the builder.

My laptop crapped out on me two weeks ago, and I've had to go to work without it. This means I can't use Compendium and Monster Builder to build encounters during the slow times at work(I manage the family business, has its benefits). I'm finding I'm almost as dependent on those as I am on the Builder.


DDI is a no-brainer at this point.

 

[AllisterH]

The problem with separating DRAGON from everything else is that it's so integrated as others have mentioned.

How do you set a separate cost for both DRAGON and DUNGEON when all of the crunch that you want is available in the compendium/character builder/monster builder?

That artifact you saw was cool in Dungeon - it's in the compendium.

That new feat that you want to try out from Dragon - it's in the character builder at the end of the month

That updated monster that premiered in a DUNGEON adventure - it's in the monster builder update

(As an aside, any ideas as to what the update for the BETA Monster Builder will contain?)