nerfherder
Explorer
Yeah, I was thinking exactly the same thing. Can't remember exactly, but I think I was paying close to $10 per issue for my Dungeon subscription, so DDI is good value for me.Bold or Stupid said:
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The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Sooo, that's my players certain not to be subscribing to DDI...
- Thread starter Ruin Explorer
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Keefe the Thief
Adventurer
I paid 8€ for the occasional Dungeon or Dragon i bought over here, so if me and my group plan a long-term D&D campaign, this is going to be of tremendous value for us. And were students. j
And getting the rules content of all books which are published? Count me in.
And getting the rules content of all books which are published? Count me in.
I'm really sad about DDI. WotC is really going on the way for easy bucks. a lot of bucks!
Now, I'm really interested in D&D 4E, and I do hope it will be a great game just like it seems. Even if I'm concerned about the direction the took with the game.
But wait, DDI is really just a way to steal your bucks while making you think you'r payng for good stuff. Yep, 10/15$ a month could seem a fair price, but hey! We are your community WotC, we are your beloved players. Do we really deserve such a thing? Basicly thei had thought "Man, thanks to the internet we can really make gold pieces rain on our heads! Let's do this!!"
So here's what D&DI will give to you
1) Dragon and Dungeon
Ok, two mags every month. It seems quite fair. But wait, they're giving you an e-version. No printing costs for WotC. No distribution costs. No income for the hobby store owners...yeah, you get the point.
2) Online database
This seems quite useful, but, don't think it will be all that great thing. Ok, you don't remember a rule? go search for it, usefull indeed (but nothing you couldn't do thanks to your books, witch at some point you will realize are far more usefull). Will the DB actually replace the books? No Way. Don't even try to hope you won't need to buy the books thanks to the DB, couse you know you would be wrong.
3)Character's Look and Sheet Editors
Ok, they could be fun. You fill in your Char sheet, you give him a cool look. Great, I can choose from undred of powers/races/classes. God, are you really willing to pay 120$/y for this stuff? Well, you don't really care about your money
4)VTT
Please, do you really need all my (and my gaming group's) bucks to make that work? Miniatures moving on the screen, Shocking lightining effects, amazing dungeon tiles? It seems you'r kind of joking me. And please, don't make me think about the whole V-minis thing.
5) Other Random Stuff
Encounter builders, Mad editors and a ton other things will pop up once in a while.
Now that's the point. All this stuff just could make you whant to give your bucks to WotC. Happly. It's what they're trying to do and, saddly, they will be able to get a lot of people subscribed, thousands and thousands, you can bet on it.
Is it fair? no. This is not supporting your customerbase in anyway, its just making a rain of gold pieces to fall onto your heads. Expecially if you think a lot of the stuff you will get through DDI used to be free.
A great number of articles that are going to appear on the mags used to be published for free on the site some months ago. And they cut all the printing costs and the like.
A lot of the tools supposed to speed up your games, should either be free or one time payed. I can't see any point on paying a monthly fee for those. The same goes for the rules db.
No, I just can't see any real good reason one should spend 120$ a year (plus the bucks you're going to pay for the books anyway).
The sad thing is DDI could really be a great value added to D&D, if only it was not intended as a way to steal people's bucks.
Now, I'm really interested in D&D 4E, and I do hope it will be a great game just like it seems. Even if I'm concerned about the direction the took with the game.
But wait, DDI is really just a way to steal your bucks while making you think you'r payng for good stuff. Yep, 10/15$ a month could seem a fair price, but hey! We are your community WotC, we are your beloved players. Do we really deserve such a thing? Basicly thei had thought "Man, thanks to the internet we can really make gold pieces rain on our heads! Let's do this!!"
So here's what D&DI will give to you
1) Dragon and Dungeon
Ok, two mags every month. It seems quite fair. But wait, they're giving you an e-version. No printing costs for WotC. No distribution costs. No income for the hobby store owners...yeah, you get the point.
2) Online database
This seems quite useful, but, don't think it will be all that great thing. Ok, you don't remember a rule? go search for it, usefull indeed (but nothing you couldn't do thanks to your books, witch at some point you will realize are far more usefull). Will the DB actually replace the books? No Way. Don't even try to hope you won't need to buy the books thanks to the DB, couse you know you would be wrong.
3)Character's Look and Sheet Editors
Ok, they could be fun. You fill in your Char sheet, you give him a cool look. Great, I can choose from undred of powers/races/classes. God, are you really willing to pay 120$/y for this stuff? Well, you don't really care about your money
4)VTT
Please, do you really need all my (and my gaming group's) bucks to make that work? Miniatures moving on the screen, Shocking lightining effects, amazing dungeon tiles? It seems you'r kind of joking me. And please, don't make me think about the whole V-minis thing.
5) Other Random Stuff
Encounter builders, Mad editors and a ton other things will pop up once in a while.
Now that's the point. All this stuff just could make you whant to give your bucks to WotC. Happly. It's what they're trying to do and, saddly, they will be able to get a lot of people subscribed, thousands and thousands, you can bet on it.
Is it fair? no. This is not supporting your customerbase in anyway, its just making a rain of gold pieces to fall onto your heads. Expecially if you think a lot of the stuff you will get through DDI used to be free.
A great number of articles that are going to appear on the mags used to be published for free on the site some months ago. And they cut all the printing costs and the like.
A lot of the tools supposed to speed up your games, should either be free or one time payed. I can't see any point on paying a monthly fee for those. The same goes for the rules db.
No, I just can't see any real good reason one should spend 120$ a year (plus the bucks you're going to pay for the books anyway).
The sad thing is DDI could really be a great value added to D&D, if only it was not intended as a way to steal people's bucks.
Crazy Jerome
First Post
If you were subscribing to both Dungeon and Dragon before, and they were sending a print version of those PDFs (through Lulu, perhaps), then it would be a decent deal. Otherwise, getting a PDF to read online or print at my own expense for the same cost as a magazine is not a good deal.
But it doesn't matter, because I expect the tools to be bug-ridden, poorly designed, and practically undocumented. With the pricing model, there will be a lag of people joining in, and thus a tremendous lag on the "network effect". (When you have a service that gains in value based on the number of users--like an online dating service, you want to get a lot of good users as quickly as you can, with aggressive pricing, to make the service attractive to a wider range of people--the network effect.)
I see absolutely no signs that the management of DDI have any clue how to manage, market, develop, price, or present such a system. Maybe it will get better eventually, but it has a lot of baggage to overcome out of the gate.
But it doesn't matter, because I expect the tools to be bug-ridden, poorly designed, and practically undocumented. With the pricing model, there will be a lag of people joining in, and thus a tremendous lag on the "network effect". (When you have a service that gains in value based on the number of users--like an online dating service, you want to get a lot of good users as quickly as you can, with aggressive pricing, to make the service attractive to a wider range of people--the network effect.)
I see absolutely no signs that the management of DDI have any clue how to manage, market, develop, price, or present such a system. Maybe it will get better eventually, but it has a lot of baggage to overcome out of the gate.
lukelightning
First Post
It's a moot point for me, since I'm a mac user...
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