Why Do You Subscribe?

[wedgeski]

Yes nothing new to see from me either:

- Cheap as chips
- Old Character Builder was excellent, new CB is a step down but still satisfies 95% of our needs, and will soon be back up to par with the old one I'm sure
- Monster builder takes all the pain out of re-levelling the villains and provides a solid framework for building stuff from scratch
- Compendium can be a life-saver when the party does something unexpected
- Compendium is a huge time saver during prep
- Dungeon provides excellent fodder for ripping out and putting in the game, even if I have rarely found an adventure I can just use out of the box
- Dragon occasionally provides inspiration, but I was never much of a Dragon person anyway

Wizards are in no danger of losing my sub at the moment but I would like to see:

- Progress on addressing the new CB issues (which we are actually seeing these days, so that's good)
- An up-to-date on-line monster builder that is at least as good as the old one and, preferably, a bit easier to use
- Inclusion of artwork in the compendium, or links to the relevant piece behind the paywall. I like to hang prints of the monsters the party is fighting over the top of the DM screen, and though most of the galleries exist, it's a pain trying to find the picture I want.

I can certainly see why the VTT is going in and I hope it's a big hit for them (if they get it even mostly right, it should be), but it won't be a selling point for me and I won't appreciate a price hike if it comes bundled with the rest of the DDI. Wizards, you have been warned!

 

[cpendlet]

Its not that expensive and I find the Character builder much faster to use than doing it by hand. I also use iPlay4e during games (when I am a player) so I need the Compendium and Character builder (very glad they got the export in the new CB) for that.

I also have 1 players that only come every once in awhile (as in you know they are comming when they show up and oftain only bringing beer (no dice, etc) so the character builder is helpful for quickly updating his old character to current level.
He can be rather entertaining at times so one one really care

 

[MrMyth]

1) Compendium is invaluable for planning games/characters. The one time I let my subscription lapse, the need for the Compendium dragged me back within a week.

2) I usually like the content in Dragon and Dungeon.

3) The CB is occasionally useful.

 

[TerraDave]

The Compendium.

 

[Ourph]

Why do you subscribe to ye old DDI?

The character builder is great. I wouldn't want to play 4e without it.

The monster builder is also pretty good. I could run 4e without it, but it's a nice tool to have.

The Compendium is very hand, although I use it a lot less now that I have the Essentials RC.

Dragon has occasionally had good content over the last two years and seems to be getting better.

Dungeon has had some great and a lot of good content and seems to be getting better.

It is extremely inexpensive.

I was considering letting my subscription lapse because of the move to the online CB, the screw-ups to the latest update of the MB and declining interest in both the Compendium and Dragon. But since Dragon seems to be making a comeback of sorts, I'm thinking about extending my subscription.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

I subscribe because I like having Compendium access and I like seeing the latest D&D content as soon as it's released. The rest (CB, AT, etc.) is pretty much gravy for me.

 

[DEFCON 1]

The cover price of PH2 (34.95) & PH3 (34.95) plus tax @6.25% = $74.27

A year's subscription of DDI: $71.40

The entire DDI suite of products for the year versus what I'd get in two hardcover books? Easy choice.

 

[UnknownAtThisTime]

The cover price of PH2 (34.95) & PH3 (34.95) plus tax @6.25% = $74.27

A year's subscription of DDI: $71.40

The entire DDI suite of products for the year versus what I'd get in two hardcover books? Easy choice.

And then, dummies like me do both.

 

[Blue]

Why I subscribe... Well, I just renewed in the beginning of January. I guess why is best summed in two words: Lock in.

The first year of 4e, I purchased all the books and didn't have DDI. I had gotten out of two MMOs and was against a monthly subscription fee. However, I felt I was missing out on a lot of character-building content in Dragon. After checking with a friend with a subscription, most of it could be done offline (I often won't have internet access when I want to use stuff), and I went for it.

And found I got a better value than I thought. The Compendium, which I figured as "nice" or "cute" turned out to be really useful, in games as well as prepping. The CB was good. Lots of stuff in Dragon and Dungeon, though I wasn't running so the latter was more ideas to pluck for planning my next campaign.

I found that I almost never used my books. For character creation it was much clunkier than the CB, especially all the content in one place. For reference during we slowly migrated towards the compendium with all of the errata that came out.

Over time, that value has slipped. Compendium is still great (and thank you for changing search to stay on category). CB is catching up to where it was but I still can't use it for multiple active characters. Dragon and Dungeon content are hit and miss, with some good stuff and some dry spells. But at this point with all of the content across so many sources and all of the errata making the physical books obsolete, I wouldn't want to try to build a character without something, and if I stopped subscribing I'd loose access to a lot of content, probably enough to put a death knell to me running 4e.

 

[DEFCON 1]

And then, dummies like me do both.

To be honest, I did buy PHII myself as well. But PHIII and MMIII I just waited for DDI.