Some D&D Insider bits (Update 9/13: Lots of new info)

[Kae'Yoss]

My guess... $2.50 a session would be the low end... $5 a session would be the high end... that's per player.

Cut those in half and you have my guesses.

Remember that they only get a small portion of what the subscriber gets.

I'd like to see an option for just the gaming table... $5 a month, or even $6.99 a month.

I'd guess that if you do nothing but participate in, say, 4 games per month, it will cost you about that much. And that's already much if you think that for about twice that amount, you get unlimited access, the ability to host sessions, the magazines and all those other tools.

If WotC expects to get MMORPG fees from the average player that might want to game at a Virtual table they need to realize there are cheaper alternatives that they are in completion with. Cheaper because they are either free or one time purchases.

Right now, it's all speculation. We don't know yet how much a one-time admission fee for a virtual game will be. Could be as low as a dollar.

The thing is: If you want to host a game as DM, you must be a subscriber. So they have the DM's money in their pocket already.

If they can get, something like 5 bucks out of players who will only be using the virtual table as players, that might be enough for them. That will get some players who want nothing but play.

I'm not sure whether those are that many: A lot of people might want to use the other tools, like full text information in the character builder, and many groups have several DMs who take turns running campaigns (in our group, all but two players have run games in the past, and right now, we have two campaigns running side by side once a fortnight each), so those will probably want to run their own virtual games, and thus subscribe.

DM's are used to footing the gaming bill... most players are not. If the cost for the players is significant many (most?) will not pony up.

Bunch of cheap bastards!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I wonder how the subscription fee is supposed to be payed?

I still haven't gotten around to acquire a credit card (not really needed in Germany), and I hope there are more options available...

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I wonder how the subscription fee is supposed to be payed?

I still haven't gotten around to acquire a credit card (not really needed in Germany), and I hope there are more options available...

I'm sure they'll use PayPal in addition to credit cards. You can use that with a normal bank account.

Or just get a CC. I find mine quite useful, even though I mostly use it to pay for gasoline.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I'm sure they'll use PayPal in addition to credit cards. You can use that with a normal bank account.

Or just get a CC. I find mine quite useful, even though I mostly use it to pay for gasoline.

I am considering that, too. But you know, in Germany, you can do all the things you can do with a credit card in the US with your regular bank account card (debit card)?. I can pay with that in stores, I could pay my gasoline (which I did, when I still had my parents second car around) and so on. I thin the only place where I wouldn't try it is in restaurant, but even that might work - I just never did it so far.

Therefore, the only reason it is handy is for the "world-wide" stuff. It would have been very handy on my recent business trip to the US (Tacoma), but 2 weeks of forewarning was to short to acquire a credit card (at least if I wanted to make an informed choice) (I was happy I could get a travel passport in that timeframe!)

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Therefore, the only reason it is handy is for the "world-wide" stuff.

I found it extremely useful for that purpose. Sure, you can use the card that comes with your bank account to pay in most places, but you can't, say, subscribe to Pathfinder with that card (or with PayPal).

 

[tenkar]

I'm not optimistic that the fees for single time usage of the game table will be negligible... DI will succeed or fail on the subscription fees. WotC sees the successes of MMORPGs and wants a slice of that very lucrative pie.

Hopefully they will have tiered subscription fees for those that don't want all the bells and whistles and just want the VT... time will tell.