The best value in gaming is gone...

[GlassJaw]

Per person. No more handing off an issue to someone else to read or run. Got a six person group, and you're looking at a $70/month for content and a character generator.

But what if the virtual tools are substantial enough that someone could play that otherwise couldn't? To them, that monthly fee might be worth its weight in gold.

Like everything else, I imagine DDI will be useful to some people and not to others. That's just the way of things, as is monthly fees. You can't really do anything anymore without paying some kind of monthly fee.

 

[JustKim]

Yeah, OP, your right. The best value in gaming is gone.

Pathfinder and GameMAstery are the next best things available!

Pathfinder is $20 per month for one adventure and some supplemental material.
GameMastery is $13 per month for another adventure.
D&D Insider is $10 per month for three adventures plus more supplemental material than anyone will know what to do with. We are also being given 8 months of it for free.

It's clear to me which is the better value.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Pathfinder is $20 per month for one adventure and some supplemental material.
GameMastery is $13 per month for another adventure.
D&D Insider is $10 per month for three adventures plus more supplemental material than anyone will know what to do with. We are also being given 8 months of it for free.

It's clear to me which is the better value.

I prefer quality over quantity. The first two are known, the last is not. Until then, there's no way to compare.

 

[JustKim]

D&D Insider is run by the same company who successfully ran Dungeon/Dragon before Paizo, and the adventures will be written by many of the same people who contributed to Dungeon/Dragon. I imagine the quality will be much of the same. Only the brand and format will be different.

 

[The_Gneech]

Pathfinder is $20 per month for one adventure and some supplemental material.

That you can put on your shelf, carry around, and have forever.

GameMastery is $13 per month for another adventure.

That you can put on your shelf, carry around, and have forever.

D&D Insider is $10 per month for three adventures plus more supplemental material than anyone will know what to do with.

That is only around as long as you have power, internet access, WotC's servers are up (often iffy), and they continue to support it when it's not the shiny new thing any more (very iffy).

It's clear to me which is the better value.

Me too, but I suspect we have a different answer. It's a matter of different priorities.

-The Gneech

 

[vongarr]

Yes, it all stinks. But it stinks of progress. Wizards is doing what they have to do to make the game appeal to more gamers. Will the amount they alienate be less than the new blood they bring in? I think so. Time will tell.

 

[vongarr]

That is only around as long as you have power, internet access, WotC's servers are up (often iffy), and they continue to support it when it's not the shiny new thing any more (very iffy).

-The Gneech

Something tells me the servers for the DI will be a bit beefier than what they use now. In addition to that, we know too little to say what's going to be supported or will not be, and if we need internet access to view the DI stuff. Not like you will be able to do an offline search for stuff you haven't downloaded, but it's not like you can do the same with a magazine either.

This seems like a strange crowd to have problems with internet access, doesn't it?

 

[The_Gneech]

Something tells me the servers for the DI will be a bit beefier than what they use now. In addition to that, we know too little to say what's going to be supported or will not be, and if we need internet access to view the DI stuff. Not like you will be able to do an offline search for stuff you haven't downloaded, but it's not like you can do the same with a magazine either.

This seems like a strange crowd to have problems with internet access, doesn't it?

Hey, I worked for a dot-com company and we had problems with internet access. That's nothing unusual.

I would certainly expect the DI servers to be beefier, but I would have expected that of their current servers when the 4E announcement went out, and when the Dragon / Dungeon deathknell rang out. For that matter, I would have expected them to do "MasterTools" right. This is why I say it's iffy -- their track record.

Support, same deal. Gaming companies generally, and WotC worst of all, seem to have very short attention spans these days. Maybe they're just following the market, or maybe it's the rate of churn in the industry, I can't say. But I will be surprised if in, say, three years, people aren't laughing as they recall the Digital Initiative the same way they laugh as they recall Menudo -- assuming they recall it at all.

And I can do an offline search through a magazine. In fact, I do it frequently! It involves my eyes and fingers instead of a keyboard, but it works just fine.

-The Gneech

 

[JustKim]

That you can put on your shelf, carry around, and have forever.

I have a different perspective.
I have bookshelves so laden with gaming books that the shelves bow. When I had to move quickly after a calamity last year, I had no choice but to leave books behind because the strong people required to move them were too tired to lift the hundred-pound boxes.

On the other hand, I can fit an entire bookshelf of books on a single DVD. That DVD will retain data for 50 years. If after 40 years I'm not senile and I decide I still want the information, I can burn another one. If the technology changes, I can upgrade it.

I like books. I preferred the print Dragon/Dungeon. But in light of recent events, I really think having a book for everything is overrated.

 

[The_Gneech]

Well, you have a valid point. What irks me about this whole thing is that if they had just continued Dragon / Dungeon magazines, you and I could both be happy.

-The Gneech