Is it possible to somehow transfer books we purchased in real life to dnd beyond. I have a copy of all the handbooks so i dont want to but books like Volos guide to monsters.
No. D&D Beyond is NOT owned by Wizards of the Coast. D&D Beyond is owned by Curse, which is owned by Twitch. You did not buy your books from D&D Beyond (Curse/Twitch).
This is no different than Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds. They, and D&D Beyond (Curse) all pay licensing fees to Wizards of the Coast for the legal right to redistribute the content in a new form. You would not expect every online version of the D&D books to be given to you for free.
If you buy a ticket to a movie, you are not entitled to a DVD for free.
If you buy a DVD you are not entitled to a digital version for free.
And so on...
I'm not saying that the following argument is in any way correct, but I have to point it out because for some reason I love playing devil's advocate (I've bought literally almost all the books on here so far, so I obviously don't mind the model):
Twitch is owned by Amazon, my Amazon and Twitch accounts are linked. I bought all my books on Amazon, therefore it would be possible to verify I own them. They have a similar setup for Audible where there are discounts on Kindle books or Audible audio-books if you bought the opposite.
Now to stop being devil's advocate: The discount model works as a "gesture of good faith" thing, but it would be unfair to expect/demand Amazon does this, as they didn't take this into account when pricing and selling the books since 5e launched. Even if lets say this site was planned about a year before release. At most they could have had something planned for ToA, XGtE, & maybe MToF. Also even if Amazon owns Twitch which owns Curse, each is still their own company able to make decisions without the direct permission of their respective owners. There are numerous reasons why such a deal/promotion hasn't come to pass, and I won't begin to speculate, except for one: Wizards doesn't want to do it because it threatens small stores, as the purchases from Amazon would be infinitely more appealing due to frequent sales, and then the additional content of D&D
Is it possible to somehow transfer books we purchased in real life to dnd beyond. I have a copy of all the handbooks so i dont want to but books like Volos guide to monsters.
As others have said, buying the physical book does not give you access on DDB. What you can do if you have the books is create "homebrew" monsters, magic items, and character options from the books here on DDB. You can't publish those items for others to use, as they are copyrighted, but you can keep them "private" for your use and the use of any campaign you set up here on DDB. The one exception to that is that homebrew subclasses are not currently an option, but they will be eventually. (Sometime this year, maybe sometime in the next few months)
Is it possible to somehow transfer books we purchased in real life to dnd beyond. I have a copy of all the handbooks so i dont want to but books like Volos guide to monsters.
No. D&D Beyond is NOT owned by Wizards of the Coast. D&D Beyond is owned by Curse, which is owned by Twitch. You did not buy your books from D&D Beyond (Curse/Twitch).
This is no different than Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds. They, and D&D Beyond (Curse) all pay licensing fees to Wizards of the Coast for the legal right to redistribute the content in a new form. You would not expect every online version of the D&D books to be given to you for free.
If you buy a ticket to a movie, you are not entitled to a DVD for free.
If you buy a DVD you are not entitled to a digital version for free.
And so on...
I'm not saying that the following argument is in any way correct, but I have to point it out because for some reason I love playing devil's advocate (I've bought literally almost all the books on here so far, so I obviously don't mind the model):
Twitch is owned by Amazon, my Amazon and Twitch accounts are linked. I bought all my books on Amazon, therefore it would be possible to verify I own them. They have a similar setup for Audible where there are discounts on Kindle books or Audible audio-books if you bought the opposite.
Now to stop being devil's advocate: The discount model works as a "gesture of good faith" thing, but it would be unfair to expect/demand Amazon does this, as they didn't take this into account when pricing and selling the books since 5e launched. Even if lets say this site was planned about a year before release. At most they could have had something planned for ToA, XGtE, & maybe MToF. Also even if Amazon owns Twitch which owns Curse, each is still their own company able to make decisions without the direct permission of their respective owners. There are numerous reasons why such a deal/promotion hasn't come to pass, and I won't begin to speculate, except for one: Wizards doesn't want to do it because it threatens small stores, as the purchases from Amazon would be infinitely more appealing due to frequent sales, and then the additional content of D&D
As has been argued previously in this thread: If you want a discount for the books you bought from Amazon that were sold by Amazon and not through amazon you will need to talk to Amazon. Curse is arms length from Amazon. Not everything you buy on Amazon is sold by Amazon.
The other potential flaw to that argument is that only people who bought the books from Amazon (as opposed to from someone else on Amazon) would get that discount. You would instantly piss off everyone who bought their books from other online stores or from bricks and mortar stores. This would likely piss off the bricks & mortar store owners (ie FLGS) because it would drive more customers to purchase from Amazon for the multiple deep discounts. This would ultimately piss of WotC (and by extension Hasbro) because those brick & mortar stores would likely refuse to carry the product unless they get some sort of concession beyond first-to-market.
None of us are buying our books directly from WotC. Wizards sells in volume to distributors, and then WotC are done. We buy our books from the distributors, and what you are advocating would require every distributor to provide a means of discount.
I should also point out that the digital versions sold by DDB are discounted. The PHB on DDB is $29.99. The regular price is MRSP $49.99 USD.
Is it possible to somehow transfer books we purchased in real life to dnd beyond. I have a copy of all the handbooks so i dont want to but books like Volos guide to monsters.
No. D&D Beyond is NOT owned by Wizards of the Coast. D&D Beyond is owned by Curse, which is owned by Twitch. You did not buy your books from D&D Beyond (Curse/Twitch).
This is no different than Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds. They, and D&D Beyond (Curse) all pay licensing fees to Wizards of the Coast for the legal right to redistribute the content in a new form. You would not expect every online version of the D&D books to be given to you for free.
If you buy a ticket to a movie, you are not entitled to a DVD for free.
If you buy a DVD you are not entitled to a digital version for free.
And so on...
I'm not saying that the following argument is in any way correct, but I have to point it out because for some reason I love playing devil's advocate (I've bought literally almost all the books on here so far, so I obviously don't mind the model):
Twitch is owned by Amazon, my Amazon and Twitch accounts are linked. I bought all my books on Amazon, therefore it would be possible to verify I own them. They have a similar setup for Audible where there are discounts on Kindle books or Audible audio-books if you bought the opposite.
Now to stop being devil's advocate: The discount model works as a "gesture of good faith" thing, but it would be unfair to expect/demand Amazon does this, as they didn't take this into account when pricing and selling the books since 5e launched. Even if lets say this site was planned about a year before release. At most they could have had something planned for ToA, XGtE, & maybe MToF. Also even if Amazon owns Twitch which owns Curse, each is still their own company able to make decisions without the direct permission of their respective owners. There are numerous reasons why such a deal/promotion hasn't come to pass, and I won't begin to speculate, except for one: Wizards doesn't want to do it because it threatens small stores, as the purchases from Amazon would be infinitely more appealing due to frequent sales, and then the additional content of D&D
As has been argued previously in this thread: If you want a discount for the books you bought from Amazon that were sold by Amazon and not through amazon you will need to talk to Amazon. Curse is arms length from Amazon. Not everything you buy on Amazon is sold by Amazon.
The other potential flaw to that argument is that only people who bought the books from Amazon (as opposed to from someone else on Amazon) would get that discount. You would instantly piss off everyone who bought their books from other online stores or from bricks and mortar stores. This would likely piss off the bricks & mortar store owners (ie FLGS) because it would drive more customers to purchase from Amazon for the multiple deep discounts. This would ultimately piss of WotC (and by extension Hasbro) because those brick & mortar stores would likely refuse to carry the product unless they get some sort of concession beyond first-to-market.
None of us are buying our books directly from WotC. Wizards sells in volume to distributors, and then WotC are done. We buy our books from the distributors, and what you are advocating would require every distributor to provide a means of discount.
I should also point out that the digital versions sold by DDB are discounted. The PHB on DDB is $29.99. The regular price is MRSP $49.99 USD.
Note that I said I was playing devil's advocate, and made points counter to those I presented immediately after...
Also the Amazon marketplace seller thing is much less of an issue here in Canada as the option sold directly by Amazon is almost always the cheapest. I adamantly refuse to buy from 3rd party sellers unless I have no choice, and even then I avoid ones not fulfilled by Amazon so I can get Prime delivery.
My main counterpoint to the point I stated was exactly what you said, they'd be screwing over other stores by giving any sort of promotion to Amazon.
Also now I need to counter your points. I rarely see at Amazon (sold by Amazon) the books listed above $35 CAD. I feel like Canadian pricing and dollar values brings a different issue to this discussion. My PHB was $35 + federal tax (no provincial because Quebec doesn't tax books, yay!) But the same book on D&D Beyond is $29.99 USD, so currently $37.77, plus whatever dumb fee Visa will charge for currency conversion. So it actually costs more for the PHB I bought on D&D beyond than it cost for the physical copy I purchased.
For the adventures it's still a deal as those tend to sell for closer to their MSRP usually, and Beyond presents the better deal there.
Warning, ranty slightly off-topic section below, feel free to ignore
I understand that they're a US company, but the last almost 10 years or so Canadians have been extra concious of how often we get screwed over by pricing differences, most recently by Amazon actually, as the Prime discount on games was reduced to 10%, and on pre-orders of non-collector's editions only... In a country where games are now a bit over $80 when we used to pay $60 (and at this point that's almost 10 years ago but it still stings, as the transition happened in the middle of the last generation of consoles), so that 20% went a long way towards making gaming actually affordable.
PS Don't kill me Australians, I know you've had it way worse for way longer, it's just a recent-ish thing that's hit all aspects of purchasing and it really blows.
@PortalJacker: I am also Canadian, and I frequently compare the Amazon.ca vs .com prices to see from which I will order. I buy ALL my physical D&D books from Amazon because I refuse to subsidize gaming stores. Either WotC should enforce a standard higher price across the board, or reduce their MSRP. Of course that's unlikely to happen.
I don't debate that our CDN costs make the numbers a bit different for comparison of value, but we are the minority compared to the number of domestic customers Curse has for DDB.
It doesn't change the fact that the price on DDB for a "digital" copy is less than the MSRP for the physical copy. Curse negotiated a price with WotC. As I understand it, WotC was originally going to require that the DDB price be higher than it is, and Curse negotiated it down to the $29.99 we see now.
At the end of the day, neither WotC or DDB is obligated to give anyone anything "beyond" (see what I did there?) what they are offering. We either buy it or we don't. We are not owed a discounted or free version because we bought the physical copy, and when I see people argue the opposite I scratch my head.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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?
@PortalJacker: I am also Canadian, and I frequently compare the Amazon.ca vs .com prices to see from which I will order. I buy ALL my physical D&D books from Amazon because I refuse to subsidize gaming stores. Either WotC should enforce a standard higher price across the board, or reduce their MSRP. Of course that's unlikely to happen.
I don't debate that our CDN costs make the numbers a bit different for comparison of value, but we are the minority compared to the number of domestic customers Curse has for DDB.
It doesn't change the fact that the price on DDB for a "digital" copy is less than the MSRP for the physical copy. Curse negotiated a price with WotC. As I understand it, WotC was originally going to require that the DDB price be higher than it is, and Curse negotiated it down to the $29.99 we see now.
At the end of the day, neither WotC or DDB is obligated to give anyone anything "beyond" (see what I did there?) what they are offering. We either buy it or we don't. We are not owed a discounted or free version because we bought the physical copy, and when I see people argue the opposite I scratch my head.
That last point is exactly how I felt about the whole thing. So I ended up buying the stuff to help my players, then ended up buying a bunch else. >_>
The worst part is I like having both editions for different reasons. I actually find for the PHB I've read it enough I can flip to an answer faster than I could open the site and search, but for during sessions having a ton of tabs opens partially solves that, and the quick checks on my player's characters helps a ton. So I of course pay for both. It's nice to hold a book sometimes. I find I like reading in physical the 1st time, then the site is good for spot-checks and having open while I type notes, or the best use: while making monster tokens. I have it open on my next monitor as I make tokens in Photoshop and cross-reference my sheet of how many of which to print.
That just made me realize the #1 reason to buy from D&D Beyond: High-resolution art. I just printed a ton of tokens I made in photoshop with the art to use on our grid (still have to punch them out and glue them all tonight I have something like 60 to do all tonight T_T ). I also printed the maps of Sword Coast & Phandalin and got them laminated. I only printed them at 8.5x11, but it'll still be invaluable to my players as we get into part 3 which is much more open (hence the pile of tokens, need to account for every possibility!).
So, my feedback.... I think that the idea is a good one. Put all official DnD content in one consolidated location where it can be accessed by all who buy into the product. The subscription options are great... well actually the master tier is really the only subscription worth spending any money on due to the content sharing feature. The hero tier in my opinion is not worth spending any money on.
What I really have a problem with is that it kind isolates the players who have bought into WotC content before this tool became available. I am lucky enough to have only spent the bare minimum on books to this point. But i have friends who have bought all books that they found worth buying, and they can't find any logical reason to buy the books for a second time in order to use the tools (This is why the subscription works well with content sharing, but you have to hope that someone is willing to buy into the $55 yearly subscrption).
I think DnD Beyond should have an option for those who were fans of the game for a long time and have invested time and money in buying the hard copy of the books, 5th Edition is no longer that new, therefore most players who have been playing the game for a while already have most of the books that they need. As it stands... DnD Beyond is primarily only useful to newcomers and those who dont mind spending the extra money on "Re-buying" all of the content they already have.
At the VERY LEAST the three core books or even just Players Guide should be free with a yearly subscription of the master tier, this would bring in players who already have the books, but want to use the tools and then can share the content with their DnD party. The players guide should definitely be included so that the DM is able to share the book with the players, which will help a DM manage a game with player who are newcomers. *There's the incentive for a DM who has the books to subscribe*
That being said, i think the tool is very useful. I understand that DnD Beyond is not WotC but is in fact Curse, so us buying content from Curse is different, but Curse and WotC need to come to terms that their current plan is not the best possible plan to attract players of all experience levels to using the tools they are providing.
Adding a code on hardcovers to unlock the content on DND Beyond, albeit maybe at a higher price point, is also a good way to protect your B&M stores as players who are not subscribers will be able to use the hard-copy and digital tools in conjunction.
A lot of your suggestions have come up before and the debate can be found in this thread, but you have one new idea (at least to me) that I do find interesting.
My criticism of the subscription for book access is that it doesn't stop someone from paying for a single month, copying everything they need, and then cancelling. It just seems like a bad business move for Curse to offer that.
However, I hadn't considered the idea of only offering a yearly subscription. It would obviously be at a higher cost than the Master Tier, but I do think that would resolve the potential for abuse that I mentioned. It's a moot point to me, as I already have all of the purchased content I currently need, but it's not a bad starter point for a meaningful discussion on this issue.
A lot of your suggestions have come up before and the debate can be found in this thread, but you have one new idea (at least to me) that I do find interesting.
My criticism of the subscription for book access is that it doesn't stop someone from paying for a single month, copying everything they need, and then cancelling. It just seems like a bad business move for Curse to offer that.
However, I hadn't considered the idea of only offering a yearly subscription. It would obviously be at a higher cost than the Master Tier, but I do think that would resolve the potential for abuse that I mentioned. It's a moot point to me, as I already have all of the purchased content I currently need, but it's not a bad starter point for a meaningful discussion on this issue.
Except that if a yearly subscription gave access to ALL the books for less than the cost of buying those books combined and less than the cost of the Legendary Bundle, no one would be likely to buy the books or the bundle, and those of us who have bought them would be angry.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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?
My criticism of the subscription for book access is that it doesn't stop someone from paying for a single month, copying everything they need, and then cancelling. It just seems like a bad business move for Curse to offer that.
At $50 for the subscription, it shouldnt matter if they copy the book for their own use.. As $50 is more than the cost of the book in general... this would give Curse repeated transactions from a single customer if they decide that the tool and content sharing is worth keeping, which in my experience so far, it truly is worth it especially for DMing a party with a couple new players... If they only pay for one month, they still make their money that they would have from someone purchasing a digital book.
My criticism of the subscription for book access is that it doesn't stop someone from paying for a single month, copying everything they need, and then cancelling. It just seems like a bad business move for Curse to offer that.
At $50 for the subscription, it shouldnt matter if they copy the book for their own use.. As $50 is more than the cost of the book in general... this would give Curse repeated transactions from a single customer if they decide that the tool and content sharing is worth keeping, which in my experience so far, it truly is worth it especially for DMing a party with a couple new players... If they only pay for one month, they still make their money that they would have from someone purchasing a digital book.
This assumes the $50 only gives access to two books. If access is given to ALL books for $50, and someone scrapes all that content and leaves after one month, then no, DDB haven't made their money.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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?
A lot of your suggestions have come up before and the debate can be found in this thread, but you have one new idea (at least to me) that I do find interesting.
My criticism of the subscription for book access is that it doesn't stop someone from paying for a single month, copying everything they need, and then cancelling. It just seems like a bad business move for Curse to offer that.
However, I hadn't considered the idea of only offering a yearly subscription. It would obviously be at a higher cost than the Master Tier, but I do think that would resolve the potential for abuse that I mentioned. It's a moot point to me, as I already have all of the purchased content I currently need, but it's not a bad starter point for a meaningful discussion on this issue.
Except that if a yearly subscription gave access to ALL the books for less than the cost of buying those books combined and less than the cost of the Legendary Bundle, no one would be likely to buy the books or the bundle, and those of us who have bought them would be angry.
It just depends on what was offered for me to be upset or not. Like, a subscription would automatically have to be less to make sense, but as we've discussed, the subscriber still loses access when the payment lapses, whereas the purchaser does not. So no matter what, the subscriber is ultimately paying more for the same thing if they want long-term access. Maybe a whole year is a bit much, so maybe you would have to subscribe in 3-month or 6-month chunks. Maybe all it would offer would be the PHB, just so people have all of those options for character creation. Or maybe different tiers with different books provided. This does sound like a lot of trouble for the Curse team to have to implement just to appease a fringe group of potential customers, but like I said, this is more just to provide some useful feedback other than the same things we've seen rehashed a thousand times.
My criticism of the subscription for book access is that it doesn't stop someone from paying for a single month, copying everything they need, and then cancelling. It just seems like a bad business move for Curse to offer that.
At $50 for the subscription, it shouldnt matter if they copy the book for their own use.. As $50 is more than the cost of the book in general... this would give Curse repeated transactions from a single customer if they decide that the tool and content sharing is worth keeping, which in my experience so far, it truly is worth it especially for DMing a party with a couple new players... If they only pay for one month, they still make their money that they would have from someone purchasing a digital book.
I'm not sure I follow you. I don't think anyone would be okay with a $50/mo subscription. If that was offered, you could just permanently buy 1 book and several other features from other books for a way better deal. The monthly price that's been kicked around is ~$10. At that price, it becomes far more easy and tempting to abuse. But like you suggested with doing a yearly subscription, at that point piracy becomes pointless.
I mean, I already have. But much to my chagrin, this conversation isn't going to go away, so we might as well explore and exhaust every possibility lol.
While I don't see an all-access subscription as a viable option for the many reasons others have already stated/argued, the comment up above about having just the full PHB content included in some level of sub is interesting. It gives people many more options, without opening up everything. If they want any SCAG/Volo's/etc options, they'd still need to buy those. Priced appropriately, that doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
While I don't see an all-access subscription as a viable option for the many reasons others have already stated/argued, the comment up above about having just the full PHB content included in some level of sub is interesting. It gives people many more options, without opening up everything. If they want any SCAG/Volo's/etc options, they'd still need to buy those. Priced appropriately, that doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
The counter argument to that is, just buy the components you need a la cart to make the PC you want. Each time you make a new PC do that. Each payment goes towards the total cost of the book, and once you've spent the equivalent of $29.99 you unlock the whole book.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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?
While I don't see an all-access subscription as a viable option for the many reasons others have already stated/argued, the comment up above about having just the full PHB content included in some level of sub is interesting. It gives people many more options, without opening up everything. If they want any SCAG/Volo's/etc options, they'd still need to buy those. Priced appropriately, that doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
The counter argument to that is, just buy the components you need a la cart to make the PC you want. Each time you make a new PC do that. Each payment goes towards the total cost of the book, and once you've spent the equivalent of $29.99 you unlock the whole book.
This is exactly what I was doing when I first started using the site. Then I bought the bits my players needed, then got impulsive and bought all character options (race, sub-race, class, sub-class, backgrounds, feats, & spells) because I wanted to make sure they had all the options...then the coupons came out and i bought some books too...
While I don't see an all-access subscription as a viable option for the many reasons others have already stated/argued, the comment up above about having just the full PHB content included in some level of sub is interesting. It gives people many more options, without opening up everything. If they want any SCAG/Volo's/etc options, they'd still need to buy those. Priced appropriately, that doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
The counter argument to that is, just buy the components you need a la cart to make the PC you want. Each time you make a new PC do that. Each payment goes towards the total cost of the book, and once you've spent the equivalent of $29.99 you unlock the whole book.
Oh, I know that, but it's a nice bone to throw to the people arguing for a sub option. IMO that's just money wasted, but people want it anyway. <shrugs>
While I don't see an all-access subscription as a viable option for the many reasons others have already stated/argued, the comment up above about having just the full PHB content included in some level of sub is interesting. It gives people many more options, without opening up everything. If they want any SCAG/Volo's/etc options, they'd still need to buy those. Priced appropriately, that doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
The counter argument to that is, just buy the components you need a la cart to make the PC you want. Each time you make a new PC do that. Each payment goes towards the total cost of the book, and once you've spent the equivalent of $29.99 you unlock the whole book.
The last time I tried making that point (which I agree is the best one), the guy got all fussy and was like "HOW DARE YOU ASSUME HOW MANY CHARACTERS I NEED? MAYBE I NEED TO MAKE 4-5 NEW CHARACTERS EVERY SINGLE MONTH!" (I'm paraphrasing, but that's how I took it).
Like, I try to keep from flaming these boards, but any person making new characters THAT frequently HAS to recognize that they are an EXTREME OUTLIER and no company is going to create a new business model just to cater to maybe a dozen people. Don't get me wrong, I love me some D&D (obviously), but that starts to hit a point where I think a person may need an intervention rather than an easier way to play D&D.
Very small text to simulate whispering, but I think it all boils down to people actually trying to nickel and dime Curse/WotC and not the other way around.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
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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?
@PortalJacker: I am also Canadian, and I frequently compare the Amazon.ca vs .com prices to see from which I will order. I buy ALL my physical D&D books from Amazon because I refuse to subsidize gaming stores. Either WotC should enforce a standard higher price across the board, or reduce their MSRP. Of course that's unlikely to happen.
I don't debate that our CDN costs make the numbers a bit different for comparison of value, but we are the minority compared to the number of domestic customers Curse has for DDB.
It doesn't change the fact that the price on DDB for a "digital" copy is less than the MSRP for the physical copy. Curse negotiated a price with WotC. As I understand it, WotC was originally going to require that the DDB price be higher than it is, and Curse negotiated it down to the $29.99 we see now.
At the end of the day, neither WotC or DDB is obligated to give anyone anything "beyond" (see what I did there?) what they are offering. We either buy it or we don't. We are not owed a discounted or free version because we bought the physical copy, and when I see people argue the opposite I scratch my head.
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?
So, my feedback.... I think that the idea is a good one. Put all official DnD content in one consolidated location where it can be accessed by all who buy into the product. The subscription options are great... well actually the master tier is really the only subscription worth spending any money on due to the content sharing feature. The hero tier in my opinion is not worth spending any money on.
What I really have a problem with is that it kind isolates the players who have bought into WotC content before this tool became available. I am lucky enough to have only spent the bare minimum on books to this point. But i have friends who have bought all books that they found worth buying, and they can't find any logical reason to buy the books for a second time in order to use the tools (This is why the subscription works well with content sharing, but you have to hope that someone is willing to buy into the $55 yearly subscrption).
I think DnD Beyond should have an option for those who were fans of the game for a long time and have invested time and money in buying the hard copy of the books, 5th Edition is no longer that new, therefore most players who have been playing the game for a while already have most of the books that they need. As it stands... DnD Beyond is primarily only useful to newcomers and those who dont mind spending the extra money on "Re-buying" all of the content they already have.
At the VERY LEAST the three core books or even just Players Guide should be free with a yearly subscription of the master tier, this would bring in players who already have the books, but want to use the tools and then can share the content with their DnD party. The players guide should definitely be included so that the DM is able to share the book with the players, which will help a DM manage a game with player who are newcomers. *There's the incentive for a DM who has the books to subscribe*
That being said, i think the tool is very useful. I understand that DnD Beyond is not WotC but is in fact Curse, so us buying content from Curse is different, but Curse and WotC need to come to terms that their current plan is not the best possible plan to attract players of all experience levels to using the tools they are providing.
Adding a code on hardcovers to unlock the content on DND Beyond, albeit maybe at a higher price point, is also a good way to protect your B&M stores as players who are not subscribers will be able to use the hard-copy and digital tools in conjunction.
Anyways... these are my two cents.. Thought?
DM - Beyond the Veil
@Gseno56 Go to first post of this thread. Read through to here. It has already been debated ad nauseam.
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?
A lot of your suggestions have come up before and the debate can be found in this thread, but you have one new idea (at least to me) that I do find interesting.
My criticism of the subscription for book access is that it doesn't stop someone from paying for a single month, copying everything they need, and then cancelling. It just seems like a bad business move for Curse to offer that.
However, I hadn't considered the idea of only offering a yearly subscription. It would obviously be at a higher cost than the Master Tier, but I do think that would resolve the potential for abuse that I mentioned. It's a moot point to me, as I already have all of the purchased content I currently need, but it's not a bad starter point for a meaningful discussion on this issue.
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?
At $50 for the subscription, it shouldnt matter if they copy the book for their own use.. As $50 is more than the cost of the book in general... this would give Curse repeated transactions from a single customer if they decide that the tool and content sharing is worth keeping, which in my experience so far, it truly is worth it especially for DMing a party with a couple new players... If they only pay for one month, they still make their money that they would have from someone purchasing a digital book.
DM - Beyond the Veil
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?
I would argue that at that point a yearly subscription becomes pointless. Just buy the books. Three core books. $90.
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?
I mean, I already have. But much to my chagrin, this conversation isn't going to go away, so we might as well explore and exhaust every possibility lol.
While I don't see an all-access subscription as a viable option for the many reasons others have already stated/argued, the comment up above about having just the full PHB content included in some level of sub is interesting. It gives people many more options, without opening up everything. If they want any SCAG/Volo's/etc options, they'd still need to buy those. Priced appropriately, that doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
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?
Like, I try to keep from flaming these boards, but any person making new characters THAT frequently HAS to recognize that they are an EXTREME OUTLIER and no company is going to create a new business model just to cater to maybe a dozen people. Don't get me wrong, I love me some D&D (obviously), but that starts to hit a point where I think a person may need an intervention rather than an easier way to play D&D.
Very small text to simulate whispering, but I think it all boils down to people actually trying to nickel and dime Curse/WotC and not the other way around.