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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pauper" data-source="post: 7710132" data-attributes="member: 17607">Color me cautiously optimistic.Here are the things I'll be keeping an eye on:- "D&D Beyond will work without an internet connection."What's the definition of 'work' here? I can tell you right off the top that you won't be able to buy or download content without an internet connection. With the app being described as 'web-based', it would seem that there's little need for a local repository -- except to facilitate 'offline' play, which wouldn't be possible without one. In other words, unless you can download and store data to your device in a way that the app can access without needing to 'phone home' to make sure you actually own the material you're using, your ability to 'use' the app without an internet connection will be limited at best.This also leads into the next point:"high quality tools available on any device"Again, sounds good. In practice, though, this is either a web portal of some kind (which would still require some massaging to work with the various mobile vs desktop browsers out there -- recall that the 4E Character Builder couldn't be used on mobile devices because of its reliance on Microsoft Silverlight), or a 'custom' shell for each OS -- one for iOS, one for Android, etc., downloadable from the various app stores.But if this is the route you're going, where is your local repository of data that allows you to do offline play? Perhaps the modules are implemented as JavaScript or similar 'plug-ins', similar to how Curse's existing apps work, but managing plug-ins written by other developers (and thus not being responsible for how those plug-ins interact with the OS or the original application they're written for) is a big difference from writing your own plug-ins that you are responsible for. Curse may have a dev team, but I don't know that they've ever tackled writing their own third-party plug ins rather than simply providing the 'shell' used to manage other devs' plug-ins.And if you do decide to go 'native', producing an iOS app, an Android app, etc., that increases the overhead and the dev staff you'll need to keep up with the underlying game system. Some posters seem excited at the possibility of new books coming out with more class/feat options and the like, but having to wait until weeks after the book release for the 'D&D Beyond' implementation of those releases would not be nearly as exciting."flexible purchase options"I guess 'microtransactions' is a dirty word now? If the purchase options are really going to be flexible enough so that you can buy just one class out of the PH, it doesn't seem like there's all that much difference between that and 'microtransactions'.I wouldn't be surprised if the subscription is offered as the 'simple' option -- as long as you're a subscriber, you get access to everything, and when your sub ends, you lose access to anything you haven't paid for in a separate transaction. Sounds like there's a fair amount of resistance to that idea, though, especially given..."A small monthly subscription will be needed to manage more than a handful of characters and to enable more advanced features"Do the 'flexible purchase options' include the ability to buy additional 'character slots'? The downside is obvious -- if the app only allows non-subscribers to create and track a limited number of characters (hopefully using the carrot of unlimited characters as a way of enticing more people to subscribe), that's going to seriously cramp some folks' styles, especially in Adventurer's League. (I've got nearly a dozen AL characters in my own stable, and mine isn't nearly the most extensive character collection I'm aware of.)There is a possible upside to this, though -- if the reason for limiting the number of trackable characters is that these characters are considered 'content' that's stored on Curse's servers as well as in a local repository, then that suggests it might be possible to implement a 'character vault' feature that would be very useful for AL play and similar campaigns that want to make use of data validation -- an AL vault that only allows for officially released additions to a character would make things much easier for AL DMs who don't have the time or resources to keep track of every magical item released in every AL-legal adventure.So much of what's written is basically speculation and promises, though, that I can't fault anybody for withholding judgment until we see an actual working version of the app. Cautiously optimistic seems the way to go, for now.--Pauper</blockquote>

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