[UPDATED] Dragon+: An Official D&D iOS App

Dragon Magazine on iOS

apparently some folks are finding this in the iOS news stand app...I'm still investigating so in the meantime...I'm just going to put this here

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[Kramodlog]

So, I read through the entire thing today and I'm not very impressed... Lot of advertorial content.

Full review here:
http://ragingowlbear.blogspot.com/2015/05/dragon-issue-1-exactly-what-were-not.html

Aside from the magazine content, it has a "news feed" that links out to social media content. Some of it is interesting, but we already get this through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, G+, etc... I guess it's nice to have a central feed for all that content, but isn't that just duplicating what social apps already do for us?

Somehow, I thought about Gleemax.

 

[ehenning]

Very well done. But since I'm never satisfied, I now want back issues of Dragon magazine published in this format! Hehe

 

[MartyW]

People have been asking for more digital content, and yes I know this is not quite what people asked for, but here is digital content support from WotC. And so the haters, of course just give negative comments. But give it time people this is a step in the right dirrection for WotC.

It's not digital content at all. It's all digital advertising. There isn't a single article that's useful for DM's or players in the entire issue.

It's not about being a hater. It's about being handed a turd (a polished one, but still a turd). A free turd is still a turd.

Given that it was their first issue, you would think they would want to come out swinging strong. Instead they came out with a piece of crap. It's not being a hater to tell the truth and say, "This is crap."

Full review here:
http://ragingowlbear.blogspot.com/2015/05/dragon-issue-1-exactly-what-were-not.html

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Does it have links to all the new stuff that gets published in the Wotc site? 'Cause if it does it would be really useful rather than visiting the wizards site daily or wating until something get the crowd here stirred up.

 

[MartyW]

Am I the only one who remembers Dragon Magazine circa 3.5 also being a collection of advertisements?

I have several hundred paper issues that prove that statement inaccurate.

While Dragon has always had advertisement to help pay for printing and distribution, it always had many, many articles useful for players and DMs.

This new entity is nothing but advertising from front to back.

 

[MartyW]

Does it have links to all the new stuff that gets published in the Wotc site? 'Cause if it does it would be really useful rather than visiting the wizards site daily or wating until something get the crowd here stirred up.

The magazine itself had one article that linked to an article on the Wizards.com site. The app has a news feed that links to WotC Facebook and Tumblr posts, but I didn't see a link specifically to the Wizards.com site (but that does not mean it can't or won't).

 

[Henry]

Yeah, not to be too much of a downer, but the first "issue" is tons of adverts and interviews but no RPG-useful content. However, it does leave me optimistic that future issues will contain some content, now that they have their vehicle created. If they are down a person with the Jury trial, once things get to normal for them maybe we'll see some change in format.

However, offerings like EN5ider and the new Spire e-mag have nothing to worry about for right now.

 

[HobbitFan]

After reading Marty's review I am much less excited. It sounds like I was expecting too much from this.
If its little more than advertising, that's a massive missed opportunity.

 

[Kramodlog]

After reading Marty's review I am much less excited. It sounds like I was expecting too much from this.
If its little more than advertising, that's a massive missed opportunity.

It is a good opportunity for WotC. The app is a marketing tool. It lets them reach people who do not frequent their website or places like ENworld. They can reach people anywhere anytime. It also lets them mine data from the people who are interested in D&D. Promotion of products and market research are good opportunities for a corporation. Less for content starved fans.

Calling it Dragon was probably what let some people to think it was the old mag being brought back to life. Sure, it is early and maybe in a few months it will be gorged with original playtested content, but I'm pretty sure what we'll see are links to articles we already find on D&D's website. The rest will be ads and promotion. I wonder if it qualifies as native advertising?

It should be clear by now. We are not going to see the past level of content, and probably not more than what we are getting now (APs and random articles on website). WotC has moved away from the RPG business. "D&D isn't a RPG" to paraphrase Nathan Stewart. I think it will take some time for people to realize this. Get expectations down.

 

[Zaran]

Ok, I've read through the entire mag. I don't hate it. I don't love it either.

Here are my thoughts.

It's free and it's primary job is to point everyone to all the stuff that has the name Dungeons and Dragons on it. I now know everything that I need to know about the Sword Coast game (which I'm going to buy), Neverwinter Online (which I can't stand), and the Temple of Elemental Evil board game (which I will not buy but am not opposed to playing). Also, it has actual stuff on the tabletop game!

It's secondary job seems to be to give us information on Forgotten Realms. This is what I asked for. I am not fond of it. The fluff is ok but I can tell that it's free. There is a great map that points out the location of each entry but no maps of the locations themselves. But the biggest thing I see with the way the information is given to me is how it's going to be hell trying to find anything I'm looking for about a particular subject. Hopefully, this isn't the ONLY source of setting material that we are going to get. I'd gladly pay for something more GM friendly (and worth paying for).

Bi-monthly sucks. It makes me feel like they don't have the manpower (which I know they don't) nor do they have a lot of content to give us. Also, in two months are we going to see more advertisement for the same products? They already say that we will see more info on the Sword Coast. Yay... I've already bought into that. That's kind of thing I guess. It doesn't seem to be a product for me because I've already bought into the brand all I am going to. This would have been an excellent opportunity to let us know what else was coming for the actual tabletop game but there is a complete lack of advertisement on that. Maybe in two months we will have something more to talk about that subject.

Is it so terrible to actually want free content that is worth paying for? Maybe Dungeon+ will have stuff like modules and maps that I can use as GM. Would it have been so terrible to let us know if such a thing was coming?

Which reminds me. Am I the only one that is annoyed that we didn't hear about this until it's out? Why not let us know what's coming ? Is the whiplash from something being cancelled that bad that we can't get information on what to look forward to anymore? There has to be a middle ground between "we have nothing to talk about" and "We cancelled that thing we told you about last year."