Pre-Order DLC comes to D&D with Xanathar's Guide to Everything

Anyone who plays videos games knows pre-order bonuses for those willing to pay in advance of product launch. WotC's official toolset, D&D Beyond, is adopting this practice with 16 bonus feats exclusive to those who pre-order Xanathar's Guide to Everything on D&D Beyond.

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Here's what they're offering:

We're excited to announce the bonuses you will receive for pre-ordering Xanathar's Guide to Everything on D&D Beyond:
[h=4]Expanded Racial Feats[/h]You'll get access to 16 new racial feats for all the races available on D&D Beyond outside the Player's Handbook - from the aaracokra to the yuan-ti pureblood. Created by the D&D Beyond team, these feats can be used in your home games or as inspiration for your own upcoming homebrew racial feats.
[h=4]Digital Character Sheet Customization[/h]Get access to new digital character sheet image backgrounds and portrait frame options from artwork in Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
[h=4]Alpha Access to the D&D Beyond Mobile App[/h]Get early alpha access to the D&D Beyond mobile app release later this year, which will include compendium/reader offline access for all the sources you've unlocked on D&D Beyond. Be among the first to help us test an exciting part of D&D Beyond's future!

The book comes out on 10th November, 2017.
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[RevTurkey]

The problem is...stuff like this starts off as a bonus and that seems fairly reasonable but once people get used to that...it creeps...and sneaks...until we end up with content that should be standard put behind paywalls. It's a pretty neat business model for making cash but it isn't very nice if you ask me. Anyway... luckily the old fashioned rpg market should be a bit more difficult to corrupt with these types of tactics as we can play games from 30+ years ago happily without needing anything new, unlike videogames where improvements in technology drive the market more..

 

[ddaley]

I'll pre-order it... because options are (almost) always good. If you are not interested in having the feats as an option, then don't pre-order. It is really as simple as that. No need to complain about it.

 

[ddaley]

So you have to pay for the same thing twice, the physical book and the electronic data...What a ripoff!...and the price for the numeric bit is way to high ! again, a ripoff !

No one is requiring that you pay twice. You are not required to purchase either the physical book or the electronic version on D&D Beyond. However, if you find that content in another format to be worthwhile, then are you more than welcome to pay for that. Why do you expect Curse to give away their work for free?

 

[Evenglare]

I'm completely against this kind of crap. I like tabletop because it gets away from videogame stuff, but now we have DLC bonuses?! I don't care if its 3rd party or not. It's a BS practice punishing people who want to wait and make an informed decision after it comes out. And no, previews don't count as they aren't really for review or taking the entire book in as a whole. I hate this kind of and it saddens me that its bleeding into tabletop gaming.

 

[Ovinomancer]

I'm completely against this kind of crap. I like tabletop because it gets away from videogame stuff, but now we have DLC bonuses?! I don't care if its 3rd party or not. It's a BS practice punishing people who want to wait and make an informed decision after it comes out. And no, previews don't count as they aren't really for review or taking the entire book in as a whole. I hate this kind of and it saddens me that its bleeding into tabletop gaming.

Are you against bundle sales as well? Because that's what this is, Curse is bundlng some of their content if you buy the WotC content on their platform via a pre-order. If you don't care for the practice, don't buy Xanthar's on Curse's platform. This is incredibly simple stuff -- you aren't required to buy anything. If you like the product and service, you may buy it, if not, there are other services available for the same content, including print. If you really want Curse's product, ie the additional Curse developed feats, you have a way to get Curse's product on Curse's platform.

Don't blame Curse because you really want something they made but don't want to give them money or use their service to get it. That just makes you look childish.

 

[Ovinomancer]

The problem is...stuff like this starts off as a bonus and that seems fairly reasonable but once people get used to that...it creeps...and sneaks...until we end up with content that should be standard put behind paywalls. It's a pretty neat business model for making cash but it isn't very nice if you ask me. Anyway... luckily the old fashioned rpg market should be a bit more difficult to corrupt with these types of tactics as we can play games from 30+ years ago happily without needing anything new, unlike videogames where improvements in technology drive the market more..

Wait, where's the slippery slope again? Curse is offering Curse developed material as an incentive to use Curse's platform to access WotC content. That same WotC content is available via other services without having to participate in Curse's scheme. If Curse becomes enamored of this model for selling WotC content on Curse's service, it only ever affects Curse. The material you are claiming will become tainted by the practice is being made by someone 1) not profiting from Curse's practices, and 2) has a strong profit motive to continue to provide material on multiple sources. So, unless your postulate involves some future monopoly by Curse to sell WotC material, there's no slope to slide down.

 

[OB1]

This doesn't move the needle for me (I've already pre-ordered a physical copy for the discounted price) but I think it's a nice perk for those purchasing anyhow. If it was WoTC material being released this way, I might have an issue, but home-brew stuff from a third party, no problem.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Okay, I'm super not a fan of most video game pre-order bonuses. Because I'm a collector at heart and missing out on content because I can't buy two or three copies of the game is total BS. I have not puchased games because I couldn't get everything.

But... if the pre-order bonuses are just free access to the DLC I'm more okay with that. If I can snag the extra skin or costume pieces in a store for a couple bucks, that eases the annoyance.

The same applies here.
If the feats are *only* available for pre-order then that's crap. Screw D&D Beyond: I probably won't buy their services now or in the future for putting content behind a wall like that. Especially for people who might not financially be able to afford the content now, or were unware of the service/ content until too late. That's just a dick move. Period.
But... if those feats are available for purchase later, and this is just free access to bonus content for pre-ordering. I'm okay with that. Because it's not exclusive content, it's just a bonus. As long as people have access to that material at a later date I'm totally okay with this move.

1) I've always found the obsessive collector bug to be weird, but I have friends with it so I understand it's real and can cause problems.

2) that said, this isn't WotC material being offered, it's compatible material developed by and offered by a 3rd party. Does this trip your collector issue? That would, indeed, suck. How did you make it through 3e? Serious questions, not being a Richard. As I said, I don't get the collector thing, so I funny know how it works.

For the record, my friend has the bug for book series, had to have them all in the same format with special editions. It has a rider of preferring signed 1st 1sts to boot. He drops serious cash finishing a collection and will actively avoid new acquisitions unless he can grab it all at once. I love books, but I have no need to collect them.

 

[Jester David]

2) that said, this isn't WotC material being offered, it's compatible material developed by and offered by a 3rd party. Does this trip your collector issue? That would, indeed, suck. How did you make it through 3e? Serious questions, not being a Richard. As I said, I don't get the collector thing, so I funny know how it works.

Because it's officially licences, it feels more "official" than most other 3rd Party books.

A little like the Lost Tales of Myth Drannor or Cloud Giant's Bargain or Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle. But moreso as it's crunch and not an adventure, and support for races that are unlikely to get official support.

 

[Morrus]

Because it's officially licences, it feels more "official" than most other 3rd Party books.

Most third party books are licensed. Many use the Open Gaming License, officially provided by WotC.