Interesting thought on everything going on

[Dausuul]

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.)

It's less a question of whether DMs will pay for it as whether players thinking about becoming DMs will pay for it. If there's an extra cost to becoming a DM, that's a disincentive to take on a job that too few people are willing to do as it is.

In the old days, a player interested in trying her hand at DMing could borrow someone else's DMG and Monster Manual and have a go. People are less willing to share their accounts and passwords. Moreover, buying a subscription upgrade is more of a commitment than the one-time cost of buying a DMG.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

It's less a question of whether DMs will pay for it as whether players thinking about becoming DMs will pay for it. If there's an extra cost to becoming a DM, that's a disincentive to take on a job that too few people are willing to do as it is.

In the old days, a player interested in trying her hand at DMing could borrow someone else's DMG and Monster Manual and have a go. People are less willing to share their accounts and passwords. Moreover, buying a subscription upgrade is more of a commitment than the one-time cost of buying a DMG.

Yeah, it probably would make sense to do it that way. At least give potential DMs a taste of what they can expect and enough material to get them started on their way.

 

[Dice4Hire]

A good theory, but I'm not sure. I don't think the first Dragon Annual sold all that well. Problem is, once DDI subscribers already have that content, why bother to buy it again in book format?

Or who for those of us who do not DDI buy it at any time? I looked at the compilations, and man, t hey were thin on interesting stuff. Especially dragon. Full of fluff, but random beyond belief. And not the rcool, good random of youngsters now. It was a mess.

Same with Dungeon, which I was more interested in. If it had been all chaos scar stuff, for example, that would have been cool. If it had held together at all, it would have been nice. Instead, it was random.

I jsut cannot see me buying DDI stuff in book form. Maybe if there are no books, I will be mroe interested, but the books would have to be meaty, and well tied together. A book on all the Dragon god articles might be worth buying. Even one on a lot of monster articles might be good also.

But don't jsut put in random stuff.

 

[ArcaneSpringboard]

I actually think this would be a pretty great idea.

However, my concern is that it's such a great idea, and yet they're being so silent on what they're doing.

If they were doing this, why not just tell us all? It sure would restore/maintain some customer confidence.

Because DDXP is in a couple of weeks, and they've already said that there is where they'll be making their big announcements for the year.

 

[Dalamar]

However DDI numbers have not dropped, instead they actually increased from 42k to 45k

I think you're referring to the number of people in the D&D insider group on the forums? I remember somebody saying that it only updates when you actually go to the forums, not when you actually become a subscriber.
So it could just be that lots of old subscribers started getting on the forums and complaining.

Whether what I heard has any truth to it, of course, is another matter entirely.

 

[shamsael]

I'm hoping for ebook support. Kindle, Nook, Google Books, iBooks... either way it ends up on my iPad.