Interesting thought on everything going on
- Thread starter Ahrimon
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AbdulAlhazred
Legend
Yup, if a book like CC: Heroes of Sword and Spell was going to be AT BEST a marginal success and probably had a pretty high risk of being a money loser then it seems MUCH smarter to just turn it into DDI content and keep getting people in there. I mean even at a few bucks a month it doesn't take long to make more off that than off a book that might barely make a profit at all and doesn't provide any kind of strategic benefit. Plus it is a LOT easier to put content on DDI, it can be in a somewhat less polished form and if you need to make some minor updates to it later on it isn't yet another big fat errata document to a printed book that people will complain about. Instead it is just a "Oh, BTW we changed feats X, Y, and Z so they work better, you might want to check that out".
Same goes for the MME book. They can just put the items into Compendium and release the fluffy parts on DDI and if it turns out that these 20 items should be common instead of uncommon then it gets done once in one place and it rolls out to CB and Compendium instantly and everyone can be happy.
A year from now they can always take the most popular parts of all that stuff and release some sort of Annual or whatever with the now nice shiny polished version that never needs to be updated again. Or they can go ahead and sell it in PDF form, maybe as a full DDI compilation for $30 for all the people that don't subscribe. They end up with a lot of options down the road, but the least possible up-front cost.
Same goes for the MME book. They can just put the items into Compendium and release the fluffy parts on DDI and if it turns out that these 20 items should be common instead of uncommon then it gets done once in one place and it rolls out to CB and Compendium instantly and everyone can be happy.
A year from now they can always take the most popular parts of all that stuff and release some sort of Annual or whatever with the now nice shiny polished version that never needs to be updated again. Or they can go ahead and sell it in PDF form, maybe as a full DDI compilation for $30 for all the people that don't subscribe. They end up with a lot of options down the road, but the least possible up-front cost.
Then they lucked out to certain extent then. However if they still had a larger-than-normal cancelling this past fall (even if they were able to make up the difference with new people coming in) it would still be enough to throw up a warning flag that they can't make that much of a faux-pas with their DDI offerings in the future.
If they really want DDI to be the focal point (which all signs seem to point to), then exchanging marginal print sales for better magazine material to keep up subscriptions is possibly a better way to go.
Prestidigitalis
First Post
It makes sense for WotC to adopt a two-pronged strategy: 1) Essentials books in stores to attract attention and bring in new players or lapsed players of earlier editions, and 2) advanced material on DDI where there is no such thing as a book that gets deeply discounted and remaindered to the point where it doesn't even cover printing and shipping costs.
Once they go full out with this strategy, they can look into having differential pricing for DDI subscriptions, though I have no idea how they would structure the pricing.
AbdulAlhazred
Legend
Well, that and just plain making sure that when they release some tool for DDI (like say if and when they release an online MB) that it has feature parity, or with new tools that they make very sure to beta test them or whatever it takes to make sure they're nice and shiny on day one. I mean a bug or two in a new tool is not a huge big deal, they WILL exist, but the more they rely on DDI as their main product the better it has to be.
It really wouldn't surprise me at all if they start to differentiate levels of DDI either. I know other people have speculated on that too. If ALL your content is going on there pretty much then it would make sense to say have a "Dungeon Master" level subscription that gives access to stuff most players aren't going to care about or need and a cheaper player account. On top of which some sort of free intro level seems like it would be logical. That or they'll have to consider 'pay as you go' for some stuff. I suppose the two could easily work together. It hardly seems likely they WON'T experiment with that kind of thing at some point.
It really wouldn't surprise me at all if they start to differentiate levels of DDI either. I know other people have speculated on that too. If ALL your content is going on there pretty much then it would make sense to say have a "Dungeon Master" level subscription that gives access to stuff most players aren't going to care about or need and a cheaper player account. On top of which some sort of free intro level seems like it would be logical. That or they'll have to consider 'pay as you go' for some stuff. I suppose the two could easily work together. It hardly seems likely they WON'T experiment with that kind of thing at some point.
Let's hope they had.
I canceled auto-rebill upon their first "don't worry because of the update delays to the CB, we have something exited coming up" speech from WotC. I immediately suspected the worst (aka online CB) and was proven right. However I still have 2 or three month left even now, so maybe I was not the only one and there will be a huge drop in subscribers once everyone's current period runs out.
I just noted that they 42k upon me canceling and now watching whether this number starts to drop or not.
Let's see how long it takes for them to announce that the single article also can no longer be downloaded
Ironically true, and here we are, one of the very forums that goes into spasms!
On the side of whats going on, I would put my two cents against a digital evolution of D&D.
When you think about it, D&D was born in the "pre internet" (well, before internet became a household name anyway) age, and back then, big source books about fantastic worlds (note : we hadnt been saturated on fantasy at this stage either) definitely had its niche.
Communication wasnt as instantaneous, and for any group to get together...well, we didnt have software to do it : you really did have to physically gather.
Question is, in this modern age, is there still space for this? To a degree, yes, but its a much diminished degree. I really get the feeling that D&D is going to become a stronger digital offering over time, with less "physical" merchandise. Hell, even the essentials book formats remind me more of computer game manuals or guides than of an old school RPG hard back.
My two cents, but again, who knows
While differentiated levels makes a lot of sense, I'm skeptical that the distinction will be "player" versus "Dungeon Master." The hardest part of D&D has always been finding someone to run the game; players just have to show up, but DMing takes a serious time and energy commitment, and not a little skill. Given that, does it really make sense to put another barrier in the way of someone who wants to step behind the screen? You don't want DMs burning out and quitting because nobody else in their group can afford an upgraded subscription.
If I were in charge, I would have free access to a subset of both player and DM content; probably levels 1 through 3. Then have a low-cost basic subscription which gives access to all 30 levels, but only certain content... say, the material in the Essentials books. (There could also be a "classic" subscription that gives access to the original PHB, MM, and DMG instead.) Finally, the advanced subscription would be what we have right now--access to absolutely everything.
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Prestidigitalis
First Post
Cost is a barrier, but time and interest are much bigger ones. Are there really that many DMs who won't be willing to pay $10 or so per month to get access to all the material on DDI? (Assuming it's high quality material) Those who aren't willing can always stick with Essentials. And I don't know about everyone else, but if my DM told me that he needed $10 per month to keep up with DDI, I would pay it myself. (Don't get any ideas, DM Dearest -- I know better.)
Given the oncoming online desktop, that really makes sense.
As a player, for instance, I dont need crap loads of material such as adventures, articles on DM'ing techniques, backgrounds for worlds yada yada. Its just plumb unnecessary, and paying for it is aggravating.
But as a player, I want to be able to participate in online games, so I will need access to the desktop, and be able to maintain a stable of maybe 5 characters, and not much else.
At the moment our group uses 1 account, but if the price were to come down to an acceptable level for players, we would probably expand upon that
Actually a promising concept...
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