Say that I have everything irl. If I wanted to buy them here I'd have to pay over 600 money. Is their work actually worth over 600€,let's say that in general every person have paid about 90$ .is the developers' work worth 90 dollars for every single person that uses the site , potentially reaching millions of dollars
Say that I have everything irl. If I wanted to buy them here I'd have to pay over 600 money. Is their work actually worth over 600€,let's say that in general every person have paid about 90$ .is the developers' work worth 90 dollars for every single person that uses the site , potentially reaching millions of dollars
When D&D Beyond provide you access to non-free content they have to pay a license to WotC.
It is not unreasonable for them to want the cost of that back. They may also charge a bit more for hosting, admin of transactions, staff, legal expenses, advertising, and all the other costs that they incur in providing the service.
Physical PHB often retails between $40 to $50. On D&D the digital version (compendium only) is about $20. You can pay the full price of $30, which is still less than physical, which will include all the features being added and usable in the various site tools for your convenience.
You do have the alternative of the homebrew tools to recreate what you want for free for nearly everything.
If you disagree with the pricing, feel free to create your own toolset, or stick to pen and paper.
Say that I have everything irl. If I wanted to buy them here I'd have to pay over 600 money. Is their work actually worth over 600€,let's say that in general every person have paid about 90$ .is the developers' work worth 90 dollars for every single person that uses the site , potentially reaching millions of dollars
I have everything irl. I have everything on here as well. I haven't physically touched the books since I started using the toolset.
Say that I have everything irl. If I wanted to buy them here I'd have to pay over 600 money. Is their work actually worth over 600€,let's say that in general every person have paid about 90$ .is the developers' work worth 90 dollars for every single person that uses the site , potentially reaching millions of dollars
The value of the Devs’ work is the same regardless of if you have paper books or not because you don’t pay the Devs, DDB does. The question is if the value of the product DDB provides is worth it to the consumer. It is.
Say that I have everything irl. If I wanted to buy them here I'd have to pay over 600 money. Is their work actually worth over 600€,let's say that in general every person have paid about 90$ .is the developers' work worth 90 dollars for every single person that uses the site , potentially reaching millions of dollars
It's worth what people are willing to pay. Enough people seem to be willing to pay that much to make it a viable business. So...
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You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
If you buy the compendium version for $20 and later decide you want the searchable/non-clickable version, can you pay just the $10 upgrade cost? I am not sure if I need all the bells and whistles right just now. Also means I could get 3 to read for the cost of 2 clickable
If you buy the compendium version for $20 and later decide you want the searchable/non-clickable version, can you pay just the $10 upgrade cost? I am not sure if I need all the bells and whistles right just now. Also means I could get 3 to read for the cost of 2 clickable
Yeah, if you bought the compendium then the full version price gets discounted. In fact, if you buy sections of the book piecemeal, that also discounts the full books. DDB does everything they can to give you full value for your purchases.
The real value of DDB is being able to use those functions on the site. If you don’t build your characters here, then just get the free app and the compendiums so you can read them whenever offline on your devices (up to 3 devices at a time I believe). If you build them on this site, sooner or later you will end up buying some of them out of convenience. If you’re more a player, you might only want the bells and whistles for 2 or 3 books and maybe everything else on compendium will suite you fine.
I bit the bullet to purchase the PHB, and now I forget exactly how many sourcebooks I have as well as a subscription. But I DM a campaign and play in a few others so I found it worth the extra $10 for the ones I wanted to use.
And I totally think it's stupid I have to buy my CD on iTunes if I want to listen to it there. iTunes should give me a free copy of the CD I bought on itunes. Amazon should also give me a free copy of the movie I saw in a cinemark theater and a free kindle version of a book I bought at half price books.
That's lame. You shouldn't have to pay for the books twice to use them on here...
Same! i find it really dumb that we have to pay for the books twice
Using an example from another user: If you buy a physical game from PlayStation, would you go to Xbox, and ask for a digital copy? No, so why would you ask DDB to give you something for free? Wizards of the Coast doesn't own DDB, DDB is it's own company, so you buy the books from one company, and ask for free ones from another.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.
An intelligent man believes only half of what he hears, a wise man knows which half. (Even Esar)
Don't wait for the perfect moment to strike, strike in the current moment and make it perfect. (William Yeats)
STATUS: Personal Problems, will not be active for a few days.
I agree that there should be some kind of codes system seeing as say you buy the books then find out about d&d beyond and then prefer it, you then have to either spend days transferring it (which let’s be honest don’t bother arguing with that cos’ you wouldn’t be bothered either that’s why you buy online copies) or repurchase them all which looking at the website is £600+ which isn’t something everyone just has to spend on something. So the best solution would be to have WOTC team with DDB and have it so if you buy online you get sent a copy of the book and if you buy irl you get emailed a code to get the book online that way no one loses profit because your gonna then pay the same no matter what. I will GLADLY argue anyone who has any problems with this plan as I don’t see an issue with it
Think of the paper books as like X-Box copies of video games, and the digital books as like PlayStation versions of the same games. This website is like Amazon, and wherever you bought your books is like GameStop. If you buy an X-Box version of a game from GameStop, would you expect Amazon to give you a free PlayStation copy of the same game?
Im not sure where some of you are getting prices from. The players handbook can be had for far less then $49. In fact you can get it and pretty much of all the D&D books from Amazon for about $25-29. New at that. Third party stuff is a different story.
The only reliable comparison is to use the RRP which is $50
I agree that there should be some kind of codes system seeing as say you buy the books then find out about d&d beyond and then prefer it, you then have to either spend days transferring it (which let’s be honest don’t bother arguing with that cos’ you wouldn’t be bothered either that’s why you buy online copies) or repurchase them all which looking at the website is £600+ which isn’t something everyone just has to spend on something. So the best solution would be to have WOTC team with DDB and have it so if you buy online you get sent a copy of the book and if you buy irl you get emailed a code to get the book online that way no one loses profit because your gonna then pay the same no matter what. I will GLADLY argue anyone who has any problems with this plan as I don’t see an issue with it
but DDB and WotC are seperate companies and both need to make a profit. The only way your system would work is if WotC bumped their prices up by $30 to ensure DDB got the amount they wanted for it themselves.
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Wait, you can win them
Potentially. Of course you could potentially win the lottery too.
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Epic Boons on DDB
Say that I have everything irl. If I wanted to buy them here I'd have to pay over 600 money. Is their work actually worth over 600€,let's say that in general every person have paid about 90$ .is the developers' work worth 90 dollars for every single person that uses the site , potentially reaching millions of dollars
When D&D Beyond provide you access to non-free content they have to pay a license to WotC.
It is not unreasonable for them to want the cost of that back. They may also charge a bit more for hosting, admin of transactions, staff, legal expenses, advertising, and all the other costs that they incur in providing the service.
Physical PHB often retails between $40 to $50. On D&D the digital version (compendium only) is about $20. You can pay the full price of $30, which is still less than physical, which will include all the features being added and usable in the various site tools for your convenience.
You do have the alternative of the homebrew tools to recreate what you want for free for nearly everything.
If you disagree with the pricing, feel free to create your own toolset, or stick to pen and paper.
My Homebrew: Races | Subclasses | Backgrounds | Spells | Magic Items | Feats
Need help with Homebrew? Check out this FAQ/Guide thread by IamSposta
See My Youtube Videos for Tips & Tricks using D&D Beyond
I have everything irl. I have everything on here as well. I haven't physically touched the books since I started using the toolset.
The value of the Devs’ work is the same regardless of if you have paper books or not because you don’t pay the Devs, DDB does. The question is if the value of the product DDB provides is worth it to the consumer. It is.
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Epic Boons on DDB
It's worth what people are willing to pay. Enough people seem to be willing to pay that much to make it a viable business. So...
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
If you buy the compendium version for $20 and later decide you want the searchable/non-clickable version, can you pay just the $10 upgrade cost? I am not sure if I need all the bells and whistles right just now. Also means I could get 3 to read for the cost of 2 clickable
Yeah, if you bought the compendium then the full version price gets discounted. In fact, if you buy sections of the book piecemeal, that also discounts the full books. DDB does everything they can to give you full value for your purchases.
The real value of DDB is being able to use those functions on the site. If you don’t build your characters here, then just get the free app and the compendiums so you can read them whenever offline on your devices (up to 3 devices at a time I believe). If you build them on this site, sooner or later you will end up buying some of them out of convenience. If you’re more a player, you might only want the bells and whistles for 2 or 3 books and maybe everything else on compendium will suite you fine.
I bit the bullet to purchase the PHB, and now I forget exactly how many sourcebooks I have as well as a subscription. But I DM a campaign and play in a few others so I found it worth the extra $10 for the ones I wanted to use.
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Epic Boons on DDB
Great, I was hoping to buy a couple of books to read through and use a bit, and later I will upgrade them when I can afford to.
Thanks for the help that has completely answered it for me!
I appreciate the time you put in writing the answer to what is probably an obvious question.
It’s only obvious if you already know the answer. You can research more about the DDB pricing here:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/general-discussion/13989-a-buyers-guide-for-d-d-beyond
That’s actual advice from a user.
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Epic Boons on DDB
Same! i find it really dumb that we have to pay for the books twice
You can?
And I totally think it's stupid I have to buy my CD on iTunes if I want to listen to it there. iTunes should give me a free copy of the CD I bought on itunes. Amazon should also give me a free copy of the movie I saw in a cinemark theater and a free kindle version of a book I bought at half price books.
Using an example from another user: If you buy a physical game from PlayStation, would you go to Xbox, and ask for a digital copy? No, so why would you ask DDB to give you something for free? Wizards of the Coast doesn't own DDB, DDB is it's own company, so you buy the books from one company, and ask for free ones from another.
Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.
An intelligent man believes only half of what he hears, a wise man knows which half. (Even Esar)
Don't wait for the perfect moment to strike, strike in the current moment and make it perfect. (William Yeats)
STATUS: Personal Problems, will not be active for a few days.
Extended Signature
I am having the same issue and the only work around I have come up with is to use the home brew feature to add them in.
I agree that there should be some kind of codes system seeing as say you buy the books then find out about d&d beyond and then prefer it, you then have to either spend days transferring it (which let’s be honest don’t bother arguing with that cos’ you wouldn’t be bothered either that’s why you buy online copies) or repurchase them all which looking at the website is £600+ which isn’t something everyone just has to spend on something. So the best solution would be to have WOTC team with DDB and have it so if you buy online you get sent a copy of the book and if you buy irl you get emailed a code to get the book online that way no one loses profit because your gonna then pay the same no matter what. I will GLADLY argue anyone who has any problems with this plan as I don’t see an issue with it
Think of the paper books as like X-Box copies of video games, and the digital books as like PlayStation versions of the same games. This website is like Amazon, and wherever you bought your books is like GameStop. If you buy an X-Box version of a game from GameStop, would you expect Amazon to give you a free PlayStation copy of the same game?
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Epic Boons on DDB
The only reliable comparison is to use the RRP which is $50
but DDB and WotC are seperate companies and both need to make a profit. The only way your system would work is if WotC bumped their prices up by $30 to ensure DDB got the amount they wanted for it themselves.