D&D 5E (2024) Lorwyn: First Light has been released

[Remathilis]

no AI power consumption levels here, just dirt cheap storage. If that is an issue, WotC is more than welcome to offer PDFs instead

Beyond is a VTT, character generator, interactive character sheet, online database and e-commerce site. It's a little more complicated than hosting the SRD.

 

[Meech17]

This thread makes me sad. I was looking forward to this product but it seems like it's lack-luster.

Lorwyn is a largely beloved MTG plane because it had an interesting theme, and really wonderful art. I recently found a foil Spellstutter Sprite at a game store and it inspired me to put together a Faerie deck for Pauper because of how great the Rebecca Guay watercolor work is.

I was really hoping this would be a fully fleshed out setting book, but the fact that it's not, really curbs my interest. At $15 I might have still been tempted to just grab it, but being Beyond only makes it a definite pass.

 

[Echohawk]

I did not say uninteresting, I said overpriced, and at 2 to 3 times what any other publisher charges I do consider that a verifiable fact, not an opinion.

You are offering additional information that supports your opinion, not offering factual proof of overpricing. That most other publishers charge less does not magically turn an opinion into a fact. You could probably claim that something was factually overpriced if it was so expensive that almost nobody bought it, but you don't have any sales data to be able to do that. Neither does anyone else participating in this thread. And, absent any sales data, we all just have opinions on whether any D&D product is properly priced.

Then, consider: It is logically possible that all other publishers are, in fact, undercharging for RPG products (including digital ones). Indeed, that very hypothesis has been suggested on these forums multiple times, often coupled with the claim that other RPG companies are driven to underprice to compete with WotC's pricing for D&D products. If that hypothesis is true, then WotC's pricing for these digital products might not be overpriced after all. We could instead be seeing WotC starting to push industry prices up to a more reasonable level, at least from the point of view of RPG publishers, if not consumers.

 

[mamba]

If enough people will buy them to be successful, then by definition they are not overpriced.

not really, the definition of overpriced is something costing more than it is worth. That doesn’t mean that only things that do not find enough buyers to cover their cost are overpriced. Humans are not very rational actors, that is why the stock market creates huge bubbles every few years

 

[mamba]

Beyond is a VTT, character generator, interactive character sheet, online database and e-commerce site. It's a little more complicated than hosting the SRD.

and none of this has anything to do with the DLCs, they are not subsidizing the char generator. Nor does that take a lot of computing power either

 

[Clint_L]

Changing things on the back end so that Amazon isn't undercutting the game stores was one step. The early release window and exclusive covers are another. And not massively undercutting the game stores with digital releases is a third. Could WotC make a lot of players happy and some good short term profits if they marked down digital releases to an equal profit margin? Sure, but in the long term it'd kill the game stores, and that's eating the seed corn. They need the game stores to keep D&D healthy, so the game stores are protected.

I'm curious. I agree that WotC wants a healthy game store ecosystem, though I am skeptical that D&D sales in themselves, while significant, are a cornerstone of many, if any, stories. We are blessed to have quite a few in the Greater Victoria area, and from what I can see, in this region they seem to be mainly supported by collectible card games, board games, and Warhammer, with RPG-related stuff maybe a distant fourth. I'm curious as to what actual game store owners who post on this site see.

More to the point, I don't see much evidence that they are artificially keeping digital sales high to help out FLGS. Their price on digital sales seems to be around 40-50% of the price of physical sales. That's around the same as what Amazon charges for a Kindle title on new release (I recognize that there are all kinds of sales that happen, both on Amazon and DDB, especially of older titles, so these are very rough figures). But the given that WotC is not the middleman on sales, like Amazon is for Kindle, it strikes me that WotC is probably keeping digital prices relatively high because they can. Why charge less when the market will pay you more? Especially given that they have near control of the market, in this case.

TLDR I don't think WotC is keeping digital prices somewhat high out of altruism.

 

[mamba]

You are offering additional information that supports your opinion, not offering factual proof of overpricing

I am sorry, if one dealer offers the same car at three times the price as any other dealer, I’d say they are factually overpriced. This is not all that different

Then, consider: It is logically possible that all other publishers are, in fact, undercharging for RPG products (including digital ones). Indeed, that very hypothesis has been suggested on these forums multiple times, often coupled with the claim that other RPG companies are driven to underprice to compete with WotC's pricing for D&D products.

yeah, but the digital DLC still costs more per page than the FR book in print. Just because print may be underpriced (and they just increased those recently) does not mean the DLC isn’t overpriced

 

[Paul Farquhar]

not really, the definition of overpriced is something costing more than it is worth

By that definition, everything D&D is overpriced, because it has no intrinsic value. It is, quite literally, worthless.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Comics on Kindle from major publishers like Marvel and DC are pricey, the price of those has been rising and a typical book has about 20 pages of content. It was $7 CAD for a major title. And those are items where it's almost all art on every page. One could argue that those DLC might be on par with those prices.

 

[Parmandur]

not really, the definition of overpriced is something costing more than it is worth. That doesn’t mean that only things that do not find enough buyers to cover their cost are overpriced. Humans are not very rational actors, that is why the stock market creates huge bubbles every few years

Right, and what is a hobby item worth? What people are willing to pay. So if they are successful at that price point, thst means they did not overprice it.

and none of this has anything to do with the DLCs, they are not subsidizing the char generator. Nor does that take a lot of computing power either

These don't "subsidize" the character generator and Maps...they add to their coats, this is Vurtual Tabletop and character generator material. That integration costs money for WotC to setup and maintain.

TLDR I don't think WotC is keeping digital prices somewhat high out of altruism.

Nice, not a bit of altruism, pure self interest: WotC sells physical books, too, snd it is notable they ot very serious at preventing the price of physical.books from being undermined about the same time they started selling physical books directly.

I am sorry, if one dealer offers the same car at three times the price as any other dealer, I’d say they are factually overpriced. This is not all that different

Not if the car sells. And this isn't about the same car, a PDF doesn't have the features of Beyond integration. It's like a Lexus costing more than a Toyota, or an Accura than a Honda. In both cases, the difference is some leather seats and a few other doodads.