Is DDI Worthwhile in Your Opinion?

[dontremb]

I'm looking into getting a subscription to DDI. A lot of the things would be very helpful and interesting to use, but I was just wondering what you guys thought of it.

Is it worth the money? I used the demo for the Compendium, and it seemed very nice. For instance, I was disappointed about the low number of options for epic destinies in the PhB. So, I took a look at the Epic destinies in the compendium, and there are almost 100 to look at.

I'm just looking for opinions. A Yay/Nay would work, but any specific examples on why you like/dislike it would be even more helpful.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mort_Q]

Yay.


This would have made an excellent poll question.

 

[CovertOps]

Yay.


This would have made an excellent poll question.

Ditto.

Edit: Weird...where did the extra text come from?

 

[Colmarr]

DDI? Yes.

A subscription? Maybe.

The way things are structured, you can purchase a one-month subscription and download as much past content as your time and broadband limit will allow.

You could pay $12.99 (is that the current 1-month cost?) and download the full character builder, the full monster builder, all the digital Dragon magazines and all the digital Dungeon magazines. Which is pretty much all there is.

And in 3-6 months you could do it all again, getting the updates and magazines that were released in between.

A subscription isn't worth it to me because I don't have the spare time to look at all the new shinies as they come out. But this method of doing things is the best value-for-money I have ever seen from WotC.

(Maybe ever from anyone but i don't want to invite that discussion)

EDIT: I just noticed your request that we say why we like it. Dragon and Dungeon magazine are worth reading, often for the fluff as much as the mechanics. But for me, the character builder is the crown of DDI. It is amazing and I honestly can't imagine going back to creating characters from books or with pencil and paper. It makes the whole thing so easy. The monster builder seems excellent also, although it's obviously a DM tool (I'm currently a player) so I haven't explored it extensively.

 

[Obryn]

The Character Builder and Monster Builder are amazing tools. The Compendium is intensely useful, too.

I give it a big thumbs-up. Try it for a month, if nothing else!

-O

 

[Piratecat]

Colmarr has it right, I think. For a player, the best value for your money is buying a one month subscription 2-4 times a year. That'll give you Compendium access for a month to run through magic items, and gives you all the latest updates to the nifty character builder.

For a DM, on the other hand, a year's subscription is worth every penny I pay; I find it invaluable. It's slashed my DM prep time by more than half. I use the monster builder to customize my beasties and copy them to a Word doc for printing, and I use the Compendium to sort out alchemical gear and magic items. Knowing that it's just going to get better as more tools and information are added makes me even happier.

 

[ValhallaGH]

I'm looking into getting a subscription to DDI. A lot of the things would be very helpful and interesting to use, but I was just wondering what you guys thought of it.

If you are currently playing or DMing 4E then it it definitely worthwhile. Almost everything WotC has published for the game is available in one of the tools, the Character and Monster Builders are permanent downloads that you can always use (though you need a subscription to update them), and you've already seen how useful the Compendium can be.
Dungeon and Dragon are enjoyable, if you can sit down and read everything off a screen (I know a lot of folks that hate doing that). I'm not a big fan, but that's just a matter of personal taste and not a comment upon the quality or value of the work.

That said, Colmarr is correct that you don't need a subscription. A couple of months (especially if you're like me and only get to play in short-lived campaigns [~3 months]) is more than enough for most uses.
If you're in a long-term campaign, a full subscription may be worthwhile but not likely. Unless you need to see everything as it comes out, you'd be better served purchasing a membership every few months to update what you've already gotten.


Good luck.

 

[Zaran]

I have to say that I do not think the content we are getting is worth 10 dollars a month. I would like to know if my money is doing more than just bringing 2 half-sized online magazines every month.

When was the last time they added a new feature? The monster builder has been out awhile hasn't it?

That little monster builder circle sure is lonely by it self on the Tools title page.

I would like them to combine the monster builder with the encounter builder.

Most of all, I want the online game table!

 

[Dice4Hire]

Is it worth it? Your choice, of course.

I do not subscribe because I buy the books I want to use and not the rest. I can make up characters, encounters and modify monsters without DDI tools.

Plus, the ten dollars a month can be spent in beter ways, like on more books.

DDI jsut does not fit the way I play D&D, and thus, I do not need a subscription to it.

 

[Negflar2099]

Count me among those who say it's worth it, at least it's worth it if you're DMing. I mean the Monster Builder is almost worth it by itself (access to every monster, the ease of monster creation and customization it's pretty neat) but toss in the compendium (which I use every time I run a game now) and the Character Builder? Not to mention the articles in Dragon and Dungeon. It's quite a bundle in my opinion.

Now if I were a player and less likely to use some of the other features I might have a different opinion but as a DM it's almost a must have for me.