D&D General Hey, are we all cool with having to buy the same book twice, or what?

[Oofta]

When comparing what other companies do with PDFs, it's kind of comparing apples to oranges. Maybe watermelons to grapes. WOTC is the 800 lb gorilla and simply has different needs and concerns.

As far as physical vs DndBeyond? I get the vast majority of my stuff on DndBeyond nowadays, in part because I can do partial book purchases of just what I need. I do like the physical books, but I really only buy them to support my local game store.

 

[prabe]

I have a strong preference for hard-copy. I do not have a subscription to D&D Beyond and I do not expect that to change. One of the things that drew me to 5E was that I don't need a computer to run it, let alone play it (VTTs and such aside). There's nothing wrong with going all-digital, it just clashes with much of the pleasure I derive from the hobby.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

grr company bad

 

[CleverNickName]

It's been three years since D&D Beyond launched and I see many people, here and elsewhere, gladly pay for the physical copy of a release and then again for the virtual copy.

Exactly. From the looks of it, plenty of people (if not most) are fine with the current business model.

Some people will only ever buy the physical format. Others will only buy the digital format. Some will buy both, and others won't buy either one. The only people who are complaining about this arrangement are the folks who buy only one format but want/need both--and I suspect that is a small portion of an already small group of buyers.

My question is this: is the consensus that this is fine and normal and the other publishers are wrong or should we be banging a drum about how this is a anti-consumer practice?

Since WotC is making a lot of money from their current model, I'd wager that the consensus is that this is completely fine and normal for them. Their model might not be suitable for other publishers, but it's working for them.

Bang that drum all you like, but I'm not convinced this is "anti-consumer." It seems legit to me.

 

[darjr]

Naw, dndbeyond is awesome.

Love my physical books, and I really appreciate DnDBeyond.

And your premise is wrong. A PDF would be fine, and I think they should provide it, but DNDBeyond is better than a PDF (for my needs) and is getting better.

 

[Dormammu]

It does kinda suck, though it would be awkward to fix now. Supposed they started including a code to redeem for a free PDF: all old purchasers just don’t get it? Selling through B&N, Amazon, etc also doesn’t seem as optimized for the physical plus PDF system. DriveThruRPG offers it, but Wizards isn’t selling there. Does Barnes & Noble have any incentive to develop an electronic delivery system? Does Wizards?

I could see them incorporating it into the business model for the next edition.

At least they provide value by way of the SRD, which enables not only all the third-party supplements, but integration into VTTs. That’s something...

 

[Shiroiken]

This is why I don't pay for D&D Beyond. It's a product that doesn't fit my needs, since I already bought the books.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I had physical copies. Now I have pdfs. I'm okay with that.

Would it have been nicer to get a free pdf with my physical copy? Sure, that would have been great. But the problem with that is other companies are trying to get the word out on their stuff, so offer free or discounted virtual books along with physical ones. WotC doesn't need to do this, so offers physical books for those who want them and virtual ones as well for that group. You want both, you pay for both.

I love just having pdfs now. Much happier with that.

 

[Charlaquin]

Nope, and I don’t buy books on dnd beyond. Maybe if I regularly ran games online I’d consider it, but I prefer in-person anyway, so physical books are sufficient for me.

 

[billd91]

Considering I think the people at DnDBeyond (and HeroLab for the games they provide digital access to) should be paid for the work they do, I do not consider it predatory.

I may not be thrilled with it due to the expense, but if I want to have the physical book and have the digital access with the bells and whistles of the character builder, then I should expect to pay for both and not demand one because I paid for the other.