D&D (2024) Digital Only Edition

[Mark Craddock]

I actually prefer digital products but I'm in the minority within my group. If it were digital only I'd just stick with the material I own for 5E on DnD Beyond and be perfectly happy.

 

[Shiroiken]

A subscription service means you don't actually own anything. Even a full digital version of the game could be downloaded for use after the edition ends.

 

[Hex08]

A subscription service means you don't actually own anything. Even a full digital version of the game could be downloaded for use after the edition ends.

And therein lies the problem. If, for whatever reason, I have no interest in new material I would still have to keep my subscription going to access the game material I already purchased. If all of a sudden I lost my job, for example, and couldn't pay for the subscription my ability to play that game is ruined.

 

[DEFCON 1]

A subscription service means you don't actually own anything. Even a full digital version of the game could be downloaded for use after the edition ends.

That is very true and understandable for all those of you on your side of the field.

I will say though for myself (and maybe others, who knows) who's more on the other side of it... I fully expect my time with a particular RPG or edition of D&D is only going to last a set amount of time before another version comes along. At which point the odds of me playing those previous versions ever again are exceedingly long. And thus for me, I don't need any permanent thing or something to "own" necessarily, because once the edition ends and a new one arrives, I'll move onto the new one and thus retaining anything from the older one isn't necessary. So a subscription is fine for the time I play it, and goes away when I don't.

Same way that retaining any of my World of Warcraft characters won't be necessary if/when WoW shutters their servers some time down the line. The WoW stuff I subscribed to was wonderful when I played it... but no record or physical copy of it was needed to "keep" after I stopped.

 

[Vaalingrade]

That is very true and understandable for all those of you on your side of the field.

I will say though for myself (and maybe others, who knows) who's more on the other side of it... I fully expect my time with a particular RPG or edition of D&D is only going to last a set amount of time before another version comes along. At which point the odds of me playing those previous versions ever again are exceedingly long. And thus for me, I don't need any permanent thing or something to "own" necessarily, because once the edition ends and a new one arrives, I'll move onto the new one and thus retaining anything from the older one isn't necessary. So a subscription is fine for the time I play it, and goes away when I don't.

Same way that retaining any of my World of Warcraft characters won't be necessary if/when WoW shutters their servers some time down the line. The WoW stuff I subscribed to was wonderful when I played it... but no record or physical copy of it was needed to "keep" after I stopped.

I feel like the extra money they'll drain out of you over a one-time book or ebook purchase compounded by the inevitable difficulty of cancelation plus the encouraging of moving things you actually do care about to a Pay Forever model will be something that matters to you.

 

[Hex08]

I will say though for myself (and maybe others, who knows) who's more on the other side of it... I fully expect my time with a particular RPG or edition of D&D is only going to last a set amount of time before another version comes along.

As an example, the last version of D&D that I played, not counting Pathfinder (D&D 3.75) was 3.0/3.5 and that had about a seven-year life span. Fifth edition is already there and will surpass the longevity of 3.x. That's a long time to be forking out a monthly subscription fee, especially considering that if some life altering event happens (not uncommon for many people) and your income changes you lose access to your game. I still have the rules for 3.5 and tons of Pathfinder 1e material in physical format so as long as I have players I have all I need to run a game. A subscription model destroys that. Couple that with the fact that some people, like myself, stop buying adventures, rules and supplements after a while because it just becomes more than I will ever use. If you think it is a working model for you then that's fine but there are far more drawbacks, as near as I can tell, than upsides (unless you are the company selling the subscription).

​

 

[Helldritch]

A very very hard no.
The subscription model is the reason evil is still in this world.

 

[Hussar]

Depends though. Look at the Ddi subscription. What was it, like 10 bucks a month and you got access to the ENTIRE 4e library. Plus the character tools and the VTT (eventually).

Considering they were adding more material to it every month, that was a steal. I get access to about forty, or fifty hard cover books, years of Dragon and Dungeon Magazine, plus the online tools for 10 bucks a month? Giddyup!

With D&D Beyond, you buy the books which means you can use them offline. 6 bucks a month and you can share the material with others and it integrates with Roll20. 72 dollars a year is like 1 book. It's not exactly out of line.

 

[wedgeski]

Depends though. Look at the Ddi subscription. What was it, like 10 bucks a month and you got access to the ENTIRE 4e library. Plus the character tools and the VTT (eventually).

This is exactly the model I'm thinking of when I say "value for money". There are caveats--the quality, for example, of many 4E books was low compared to 5E--but the DDI tool-set and having the entire game at my fingertips was amazing. All that said, even though I really liked the edition and bought many of its releases prior to the DDI sub being available, as soon as 5E came into view, 95% of my 4E collection went on eBay. The same might happen with 5E--although my physical purchases have tailed off significantly compared to my DNDB purchases. I'm not an "ownership is king" kind of guy. I understand the value of the art and I will pay to have access to it, but I don't require it to be on my shelf.

 

[Hussar]

I’m very much in the same boat. The only physical 5e books I own are the core three.

When the rerelease comes the year after next will probably be my next physical product.

So yeah, an all digital DnD would not faze me in the slightest.