JoeGKushner
Adventurer
How does that arguement work then with the hard cover books? All of that content eventually winds up in the DDI so I'm thinking it'd be easy.
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DDI: What Would You Pay For?
- Thread starter JoeGKushner
- Start date
Slight difference though. Crunch gets in, not the fluff.
I personally don't find it worth it to pick up things like Divine power and Adventurer's Vault 2 but I did with Open Grave and the Campaign/Player guides.
I guess it depends on what type of material are you actually looking for.
Scribe Ineti
Explorer
Dragon's been really good these last few months. Lots of good articles with stuff to drop into a campaign, or just good idea-generators (and good idea generators for the freelancer in me).
I haven't used Dungeon as much, but that's more because I don't tend to use pre-generated delves or encounters in my games. I do glance at them to see how the designers are doing it (ties into the freelancer thing--if I know how they do it, it'll be easier to pitch an adventure to them).
As for the other tools, the character builder and the monster builder, I'd pay the sub fee if it was double or even triple what it is now. I am in an active 4e game, so it's getting plenty of use.
If there was one thing I'd want to opt out of if I could would be the insipid Confessions articles in Dragon. No value added at all for me; wasted pages. If I wanted to read a gamer's rambling comments, I can do that here or in any number of online gaming forums or blogs.
I'm looking forward to seeing the gradual shift to shorter, more numerous articles, and I'm looking forward to when they switch over to 5-day content. More articles = more content = more freelancers working on the magazines.
I haven't used Dungeon as much, but that's more because I don't tend to use pre-generated delves or encounters in my games. I do glance at them to see how the designers are doing it (ties into the freelancer thing--if I know how they do it, it'll be easier to pitch an adventure to them).
As for the other tools, the character builder and the monster builder, I'd pay the sub fee if it was double or even triple what it is now. I am in an active 4e game, so it's getting plenty of use.
If there was one thing I'd want to opt out of if I could would be the insipid Confessions articles in Dragon. No value added at all for me; wasted pages. If I wanted to read a gamer's rambling comments, I can do that here or in any number of online gaming forums or blogs.
I'm looking forward to seeing the gradual shift to shorter, more numerous articles, and I'm looking forward to when they switch over to 5-day content. More articles = more content = more freelancers working on the magazines.
Metus
First Post
And it really does remind me how poor I am when people consider 70 bucks to be cheap.
To be fair though, even if I did have money, I still wouldn't pay for DDI - in answer as to what I would pay for, I don't consider anything DDI offers to be worth any sort of currency. Dungeon and Dragon are underwhelming, and the idea of paying to access a database of information I (might) already own seems completely absurd to me, almost insulting even.
Jack99
Adventurer
CB and MM are not just databases.
Lord Mhoram
Hero
I love both the magazines. That is worth the price of admission right there.
I almost never use the character builder, and occasionally use the Compendium.
I almost never use the character builder, and occasionally use the Compendium.
wedgeski
Adventurer
I've said it a thousand times, and I'll say it once more for luck: the CB and the Compendium are worth the DDI subscription price *alone* for me.
Dragon is "fine" (I read and enjoy most of it), and getting the preview material straight into the CB is an excellent perk. Dungeon started strong but I think has waxed and waned a little lately. You can't argue with the volume of the content (those adventures, especially the adventure path ones, are massive), but I would find it easier to mine smaller adventures than larger ones. Thankfully it looks like they're heading in this direction. The overall quality varies but then, you could always say that about Dungeon through the years.
Like any subscription, you take what you want, and leave the rest. From my POV, the DDI is cheap enough that what I'm leaving (the on-line utilities, about a third of the adventures in Dungeon) hardly puts a dent in my value for money at all.
Dragon is "fine" (I read and enjoy most of it), and getting the preview material straight into the CB is an excellent perk. Dungeon started strong but I think has waxed and waned a little lately. You can't argue with the volume of the content (those adventures, especially the adventure path ones, are massive), but I would find it easier to mine smaller adventures than larger ones. Thankfully it looks like they're heading in this direction. The overall quality varies but then, you could always say that about Dungeon through the years.
Like any subscription, you take what you want, and leave the rest. From my POV, the DDI is cheap enough that what I'm leaving (the on-line utilities, about a third of the adventures in Dungeon) hardly puts a dent in my value for money at all.
The way I look at it is this...
Yeah, it'd be great if I could pay for cable TV a la carte, and just pay for the specific channels that have the programs I watch on it... but that ain't happening. The cable TV / satellite model doesn't work that way.
But I'm not gonna cut off my nose to spite my face by refusing to get cable TV at all... because I really wanna watch those programs I love. So I'll pay the higher price to get the cable package I need to get what I want, even though there's a lot of extra crap I could do without. Because the stuff I want is *more* than worth the price I have to pay to get it.
Now replace 'cable TV' with 'DDI'. Voila.
Yeah, it'd be great if I could pay for cable TV a la carte, and just pay for the specific channels that have the programs I watch on it... but that ain't happening. The cable TV / satellite model doesn't work that way.
But I'm not gonna cut off my nose to spite my face by refusing to get cable TV at all... because I really wanna watch those programs I love. So I'll pay the higher price to get the cable package I need to get what I want, even though there's a lot of extra crap I could do without. Because the stuff I want is *more* than worth the price I have to pay to get it.
Now replace 'cable TV' with 'DDI'. Voila.
As far as I'm concerned, the price is well worth it.
I think the contect Dragon has had has been very beneficial for the game. Dungeon, not so much. Paizo was way ahead in terms of design, Adventure Path planning and implementation of the mag when they ran it - WotC will improve, but it will take time.
The CB and MB are awesome and I use both almost every day.
I really do wish that WotC would lessen the "hard sell" they always do when pusing this or that in DDI. Bill's Ampersand column is cool this, awesome that and I'm tired of hearing it. DDI will sell or not sell based on content. Deliver fantastic content and it will sell itself, deliver crap and people will stop buying it. I think very few people are swayed to buy it based on "the pitch".
If WotC can improve their feedback mechanisms for it and honestly listen to the feedback objectively (which is difficult when you envision something and you think its cool and someone else is telling you to do it slightly different) I think they can make great strides!
Ultimately, it comes down to price for me. It seems to be costed correctly and that is why I use it. Up the cost too high and I'm out.
I think the contect Dragon has had has been very beneficial for the game. Dungeon, not so much. Paizo was way ahead in terms of design, Adventure Path planning and implementation of the mag when they ran it - WotC will improve, but it will take time.
The CB and MB are awesome and I use both almost every day.
I really do wish that WotC would lessen the "hard sell" they always do when pusing this or that in DDI. Bill's Ampersand column is cool this, awesome that and I'm tired of hearing it. DDI will sell or not sell based on content. Deliver fantastic content and it will sell itself, deliver crap and people will stop buying it. I think very few people are swayed to buy it based on "the pitch".
If WotC can improve their feedback mechanisms for it and honestly listen to the feedback objectively (which is difficult when you envision something and you think its cool and someone else is telling you to do it slightly different) I think they can make great strides!
Ultimately, it comes down to price for me. It seems to be costed correctly and that is why I use it. Up the cost too high and I'm out.
