Time for the Character Builder to be free?

[OpsKT]

Actually, I think the character builder should be free. It's designed to get players into the game, right? Make it free. However, it only makes you a character sheet. No power cards. No explanations of each feat. It just does the math for your feats, class features, and what you have equipped and that is it. Why?

That gets people to buy books to find out what their stuff does.

The Character Builder is killing the retail book sales, to a point. It DID kill the power cards line (which I actually liked, and wish was still around. Rules Compendium + Power card of favored class = New player for $30). Most people I know like to bring characters with all sorts of stuff they have no idea what it does or where it is from because they made them on the Character Builder. Get that junk off the sheets and get those people to buy books and fraking read something!

Another reason for this, how much of the "Pathfinder is outselling D&D' is because the metrics don't take into account the DDI sales in place of the fraking books? Sorry, Pathfinder is the best (non d20 Modern IMHO) iteration of the v3.5 rule set, but there is no way it is outselling D&D in total. Game Books maybe, but all related merchandise, novels, and digital offerings? Not a chance.

And that is because Wizards is killing their book sales with a Character Builder that makes the books pointless. Make the character builder just MAKE A SHEET, make it free, and watch the book sales go back up as people buy the books to play the game, like in the old days.

 

[OnlineDM]

Sorry, but I strongly disagree. WotC has done a GOOD thing with the Character Builder. You're proposing making it a piece of software that forces you to run to your books and your separately-purchased power cards in order to use it. That sounds like a terrible idea.

Now, if you mean the full-featured Character Builder should remain as-is but there should also be a free one that doesn't print out power cards, I suppose that could work. The much better idea in my opinion, though, is to come out with what they formerly had with the offline Character Builder - a free version that only let you make characters up to level 3 or so.

Specifically, I think there should be a free version of the Character Builder that allows you to build characters from Heroes of the Fallen Lands and Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms up to level 3, but also lets you see the greyed-out other race and class options out there along with their descriptions (but not all of the feats and equipment and non-Heroes powers - that would get confusing). This should let players build usable characters up to a point and whet their appetite for more - whether via books or, more likely, a DDI subscription.

And if your issue is "DDI makes buying the books optional" I have no problem with that. I'm a huge D&D supporter, but I didn't buy Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale or the Neverwinter Campaign Setting because all I really want from those books is already in DDI.

My DDI subscription is fantastic and I love it and I encourage new players to get one, too, as soon as they know they're going to keep playing the game. Making it less useful is a terrible, terrible idea, in my view.

 

[OpsKT]

Sorry, but I strongly disagree.

{snip}

Now, if you mean the full-featured Character Builder should remain as-is but there should also be a free one that doesn't print out power cards, I suppose that could work.

{snip}

This should let players build usable characters up to a point and whet their appetite for more - whether via books or, more likely, a DDI subscription.

While not what I was originally thinking, this would be an option that worked for both sides of the fence, and would work for me.

My point is, all the Pathfinder freaks are going on about 'Pathfinder is selling more books' completely ignoring the DDI side of it, but they ARE right, in that D&D is selling less books, in part because of less in the pipeline, but part of it is the fact that DDI makes it so players don't have to buy the books or really (as I've seen at Encounters and Cons) actually learn the basics of the game. The Builder Tells All. And that's sad, to me, because back in the day, I know many kids who ONLY took an interest in reading because of D&D.

 

[OnlineDM]

I see where you're coming from, but I'm not moved by nostalgia. There will still be D&D books, but it's possible we'll get to the point that they're secondary. With new players right now, I advise them to get one of the Heroes of the F... books, and if they like it, get a DDI subscription.

As for Pathfinder, who cares which product is selling more books? I certainly don't. (And yes, I know that lots of people get very excited about this; I'm not one of them.) Pathfinder is a fine game, and good for them selling lots of books. I hope WotC does very well, too, whether by selling books and board games and new minis or by selling DDI subscriptions (or all of the above).

 

[jimmifett]

There is already a version of the CB available for free:

Character Sheets

Works with all 4e existing and upcoming printed materials.

 

[Matt James]

I'm a huge D&D supporter, but I didn't buy Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale or the Neverwinter Campaign Setting because all I really want from those books is already in DDI.

That's a shame. You're missing out on all of the flavor of each entry. Unless I misunderstood, and you are only interested in static stat-blocks.

 

[Dannager]

My point is, all the Pathfinder freaks are going on about 'Pathfinder is selling more books' completely ignoring the DDI side of it, but they ARE right, in that D&D is selling less books, in part because of less in the pipeline, but part of it is the fact that DDI makes it so players don't have to buy the books

Let them gloat. They're reveling in the imagined downfall of D&D because they are, taken as a whole, insecure in their choice of game, bitter at being "left behind" by D&D (even though that too was their choice), and desperately seeking validation. Meanwhile, D&D is doing fine. There's no need to make such a massive change to the structure (and, indeed, vision) of DDI for the sake of trying to shut up a group of people who will refuse to be shut up anyway. Removing a tremendous amount of utility from the Character Builder for the sake of shifting revenue around a little isn't going to improve the game or the hobby. Efforts should be focused on increasing the utility of the Character Builder, not decreasing it.

 

[Dannager]

I see where you're coming from, but I'm not moved by nostalgia.

I'm also a little tired of seeing D&D hobbled by short-sighted nostalgia. I've been playing D&D for most of my life, but I'd much rather focus on what can make the game more exciting in the future than what used to make it exciting in the past.

 

[Dannager]

That's a shame. You're missing out on all of the flavor of each entry. Unless I misunderstood, and you are only interested in static stat-blocks.

Also, the totally awesome monster tokens.

 

[Matt James]

Also, the totally awesome monster tokens.

And four new maps to use.