The Very Real Possibility and Impact of Microtransactions in One D&D

[UngeheuerLich]

Creating 'too micro' a transaction (e.g. $2/feat) is a turn off (from a marketing/consumer happiness perspective) for sure. The concept is sound; don't ruin it by making me feel like I'm being nickeled and dimed. I'd be happy with being able to purchase sections of a book. For example, if I see a setting book with races I find interesting but the setting itself doesn't light my fire, I might consider buying the 'crunchy' race segment of that publication at a discount.

I have bought the aasimar from Volo's guide for 2 dollars, because I saw no point buying the whole book, because I already own it in paper form. But I wanted to create thr character....

now the book is no more and i got no discount on MpMotM. I feel totally ripped off...

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Want your d20 to roll a 20? Microtransaction.

 

[SkidAce]

Want your d20 to roll a 20? Microtransaction.

$5 gets you 5 Inspiration.*



*its funny, I don't believe they would do it though.

 

[cbwjm]

Well, going by the Dragonlance example that was linked, they're already charging $2 for a single feat, or $9 for all the feats; $2 for a background of $3 for both; the one archetype for $2, $2 for each monster or $15 for all of them.

And $2 for the kender race, which in all honesty they should be paying us to take the kender off their hands. Like, you ever bought a D&D book in your life, they give you $2.

One thing to bear in mind though, each of those smaller transaction lead to discounted book. Spend 10$ on feats, races, etc and then the full book will be 10$ cheaper.

 

[Faolyn]

One thing to bear in mind though, each of those smaller transaction lead to discounted book. Spend 10$ on feats, races, etc and then the full book will be 10$ cheaper.

Does it say that somewhere? Because I didn't see anything on that page that said that the cost of individual materials brings the whole thing down. I could have missed it though.

 

[Malmuria]

Well, going by the Dragonlance example that was linked, they're already charging $2 for a single feat, or $9 for all the feats; $2 for a background of $3 for both; the one archetype for $2, $2 for each monster or $15 for all of them.

It's not pay to win, but I can see this being annoying for some tables. As in, a player spends $2 or $5 on a feat, and thus feels entitled to use the feat at a table that is not generally using that book. Of course, having access to more books always meant that you could create a more powerful character

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Does it say that somewhere? Because I didn't see anything on that page that said that the cost of individual materials brings the whole thing down. I could have missed it though.

Cause that is how Beyond works. If you buy more individual pieces than the price of the book you also get the book free as you can’t spend more time than the book is worth.

 

[Hussar]

In this particular case, I more or less agree--personally, I would rather the old stuff remain available but perhaps with a big ol' content warning attached, but that's just me, and I understand and accept why they did it.

But, it also means they could decide to remove material for other, less acceptable reasons. Which is why I prefer actual books or pdfs to begin with.

But, if you didn't buy the book, then the book was reprinted with a change, and the older version is now OOP and not available, what's the difference? I suppose you could go trawling through the used book stores, but, at the end of the day, there isn't any real difference.

 

[cbwjm]

Does it say that somewhere? Because I didn't see anything on that page that said that the cost of individual materials brings the whole thing down. I could have missed it though.

They probably have an FAQ somewhere, the previous content credit does exist though.

 

[Clint_L]

It's not pay to win, but I can see this being annoying for some tables. As in, a player spends $2 or $5 on a feat, and thus feels entitled to use the feat at a table that is not generally using that book. Of course, having access to more books always meant that you could create a more powerful character

DM has final say. You can also go to the FLGS, buy a deck of magic item cards, and then write "holy avenger" down under equipment on your character sheet because, hey, you paid for the cards. But the DM isn't going to give it to you.

 

[Faolyn]

But, if you didn't buy the book, then the book was reprinted with a change, and the older version is now OOP and not available, what's the difference? I suppose you could go trawling through the used book stores, but, at the end of the day, there isn't any real difference.

It's more for the people who did buy the book, who wake up one day and find out it's been changed.

 

[Hussar]

It's more for the people who did buy the book, who wake up one day and find out it's been changed.

But, you just got told that it didn't. If you bought the digital form of a book, then your book isn't changed at all. You can still read the original all you like. I'm still kinda at a loss as to how this is different.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

Exactly. But not all that "micro".

This will be a real inflection point for D&D. Official D&D will spin off into this digital "walled garden" that WotC has complete control over while the rest of the hobby keeps on trucking with it's "old-fashioned" paper books. With the release of the 5.1 SRD into CC-BY, this will also be an inflection point for official vs folk D&D. Official D&D will be an increasingly insular group with its walled garden and digital-first approach, customers will be increasingly tied to WotC's exclusive ecosystem, and be hit hard with the sunk-cost fallacy if they ever think of jumping ship. While folk D&D will get a massive shot in the arm with the CC release. I see a bright future ahead for folk D&D and I care less and less about what WotC says or does with their IP.

"This is the Second Great Digitization of The Game. Contemplate this upon the Tree of Woe." --Doom

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I know why all this happened:

Someone at WotC read all the complains about 5e, that there are not enough things to spend money on. And what to do with all that money and so on.
That was quoted out of context...

and now we are here...

 

[Micah Sweet]

Sourced, including copies of the text that's said to have been excised:

Dungeons & Dragons: Wizards of the Coast Removes Problematic Lore

WotC excises problematic content from D&D books.

screenrant.com

That's a lot of material. Very glad I have a physical copy, and have never really cottoned to DDB.