I have no doubt WotC has seen the constant complaints on these boards and on other social media, and probably figured this would be a good alternative for people who only wanted the books in digital form but didn't want all of the extra features.
It seems that people really don't understand how this all works. WotC doesn't commission these things. A company like Dialect asks WotC for a license and they negotiate a deal. WotC basically only says yes or no and everything else is done by the developer.
That's one way it could work. The other way is for WoTC to pay someone to design an app for them.
Or they could do the smart thing and make a PDF the sell on dmsguild. Or they could make an ePub3 they could them sell on Kindle. nook, iPad, and Android tablets.
There are existing tools that do exactly what WoTC needs. There was no need to roll their own solution.
I will say that if this app is just a wrapper around a PDF file, I'm going to be a little pissed.
AND... had i known this was coming, I probably would have held off on buying the PHB on here, so I could properly compare the two products.
I'm interested to see how this works out... though I expect to hear numerous complaints from people because anything short of exactly what they asked for (PDF) won't be good enough, and because having bought a couch last winter doesn't entitle them to a lounge chair for free today
This is a poor analogy. A better analogy was that you bought a couch last winter and put in your living room, but decided you wanted to move it to your summer house, or your son's apartment. When you go to do that, you realize that the delivery guy glued and nailed it to your floor so that couch isn't going anywhere. If you want that couch somewhere else, you'll need to go buy the exact same couch again and have it delivered, so they can glue and nail it to the floor.
I'm interested to see how this works out... though I expect to hear numerous complaints from people because anything short of exactly what they asked for (PDF) won't be good enough, and because having bought a couch last winter doesn't entitle them to a lounge chair for free today
This is a poor analogy. A better analogy was that you bought a couch last winter and put in your living room, but decided you wanted to move it to your summer house, or your son's apartment. When you go to do that, you realize that the delivery guy glued and nailed it to your floor so that couch isn't going anywhere. If you want that couch somewhere else, you'll need to go buy the exact same couch again and have it delivered, so they can glue and nail it to the floor.
How about a couch that happens to match the color scheme of your old house and a couch that happens to match the color scheme of the house you're thinking of moving into?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
I agree with the guy that mentioned Dragon+, a crappy, buggy, rushed product. From the article, the reader sounds like something they want to rush out, seeing the popularity of DDB. I expect we'll have the offline app here, much better executed, before that new app is anywhere near useful.
I think this is great news. Hopefully the daily complaints about "having to rebuy" and other pricing complaints that show up here daily will move on to this reader.
I think this is great news. Hopefully the daily complaints about "having to rebuy" and other pricing complaints that show up here daily will move on to this reader.
Nah, no one cares enough about that to feel like they're being forced to buy it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Myself I am not going for the stated new thing, I am very happy with DDB I'm going to wait for the DDB app and i believe at the end of the month if my money is in order i will purchase that legendary bundle. Then just make sure everything is in the app for offline use.
This is a poor analogy. A better analogy was that you bought a couch last winter and put in your living room, but decided you wanted to move it to your summer house, or your son's apartment. When you go to do that, you realize that the delivery guy glued and nailed it to your floor so that couch isn't going anywhere. If you want that couch somewhere else, you'll need to go buy the exact same couch again and have it delivered, so they can glue and nail it to the floor.
I don't think I understand your analogy... who is the delivery guy gluing and nailing the couch to the floor? Is that supposed to be a description of my book (which I can take anywhere I want, so it's not analogous to being nailed to the floor by itself) not being able to be mashed up against my computer case as a means to get the information to become digital?
Because that is why I used a couch and a lounge chair in my analogy - they are both the same thing (a thing to sit upon, analogous to the game rules), and yet they are also different (a couch is less portable than a lounge chair, and usually doesn't have as many features like rocking or reclining that a lounge chair more commonly has - analogous to the book and D&D beyond respectively).
This point always seems to get lost somewhere. While I'm sure Curse gets a percentage (perhaps a large percentage) of the sale of the content like the PHB on their platform, they are in effect acting as a third party marketplace, selling that content FOR WotC. The price of digital content is set by WotC as part of the license. Curse worked hard from what they said to negotiate lower prices than what Roll20 and such sold for before, and now the VTTs have been able to sell for that same price.
Now I don't know the relationship between Dialect and WotC, whether it is an app commissioned by WotC so that WotC is getting 100% of the sale of that content, or whether Dialect is working under a license and taking a cut, it is hard to say. But if you think of these digital apps as Brick and Mortar stores where they get a percentage of the sale of the PHB and the rest goes to the publisher (WotC), it would be more accurate.
The Reader App makes no sense to me. If it costs the same to buy the PHB on D&D Reader as it does to buy on DDB, only a fool who hasn't heard of DDB will buy it? Eventually DDB's app will be out with offline access, so those of us who already bough the books here have no logical reason to spend the same money again somewhere else. Those who haven't already bought the books would do well to buy DDB and get the best of both worlds, including the PC builder, campaign manager, etc.
Mind = Boggled.
The key word there is eventually. The app isn't out yet, so Reader will be relevant until Beyond's app is out.
Except you have to pay $30 for it (for PHB) so if you've already paid for PHB on DDB, why woudl you bother? So, no, not relevant, unless you are rich enough to blow your money on buy the books again, and again, and again, etc.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing) 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?
The Reader App makes no sense to me. If it costs the same to buy the PHB on D&D Reader as it does to buy on DDB, only a fool who hasn't heard of DDB will buy it? Eventually DDB's app will be out with offline access, so those of us who already bough the books here have no logical reason to spend the same money again somewhere else. Those who haven't already bought the books would do well to buy DDB and get the best of both worlds, including the PC builder, campaign manager, etc.
Mind = Boggled.
The key word there is eventually. The app isn't out yet, so Reader will be relevant until Beyond's app is out.
Except you have to pay $30 for it (for PHB) so if you've already paid for PHB on DDB, why woudl you bother? So, no, not relevant, unless you are rich enough to blow your money on buy the books again, and again, and again, etc.
It will be relevant to people that haven't bought into DDB yet. If all they want is a digital book and don't care about the tool set then the other product could be appealing. Especially if the other product has a more book like experience like a Kindle and less of a website feel.
The Reader App makes no sense to me. If it costs the same to buy the PHB on D&D Reader as it does to buy on DDB, only a fool who hasn't heard of DDB will buy it? Eventually DDB's app will be out with offline access, so those of us who already bough the books here have no logical reason to spend the same money again somewhere else. Those who haven't already bought the books would do well to buy DDB and get the best of both worlds, including the PC builder, campaign manager, etc.
Mind = Boggled.
The key word there is eventually. The app isn't out yet, so Reader will be relevant until Beyond's app is out.
Except you have to pay $30 for it (for PHB) so if you've already paid for PHB on DDB, why woudl you bother? So, no, not relevant, unless you are rich enough to blow your money on buy the books again, and again, and again, etc.
It will be relevant to people that haven't bought into DDB yet. If all they want is a digital book and don't care about the tool set then the other product could be appealing. Especially if the other product has a more book like experience like a Kindle and less of a website feel.
If the DDR cost less than DDB I could understand, but if it's the same price why wouldn't anyone want to get more for the same cost?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing) 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?
You can see what it looks like there. It's looks terrible.
I fundamentally do not understand companies that take content and make as little possible show on the screen at one time. DDB, DO NOT DO THIS! Please learn from the character sheet mistake and what this company is doing. The compendium here is already too spaced out, and thankfully the character sheet is getting re-worked.
Mobile != dumbed down, swipe all day to read. If I cannot see as much as the book on the table, you've failed in the design. That's the min-bar: it has to be *at least* as usable at the book.
The Reader App makes no sense to me. If it costs the same to buy the PHB on D&D Reader as it does to buy on DDB, only a fool who hasn't heard of DDB will buy it? Eventually DDB's app will be out with offline access, so those of us who already bough the books here have no logical reason to spend the same money again somewhere else. Those who haven't already bought the books would do well to buy DDB and get the best of both worlds, including the PC builder, campaign manager, etc.
Mind = Boggled.
The key word there is eventually. The app isn't out yet, so Reader will be relevant until Beyond's app is out.
Except you have to pay $30 for it (for PHB) so if you've already paid for PHB on DDB, why woudl you bother? So, no, not relevant, unless you are rich enough to blow your money on buy the books again, and again, and again, etc.
It will be relevant to people that haven't bought into DDB yet. If all they want is a digital book and don't care about the tool set then the other product could be appealing. Especially if the other product has a more book like experience like a Kindle and less of a website feel.
If the DDR cost less than DDB I could understand, but if it's the same price why wouldn't anyone want to get more for the same cost?
If someone likes the look and feel of the reader better than the DDB app and doesn't care about the other features then it could have value for them.
You can see what it looks like there. It's looks terrible.
I fundamentally do not understand companies that take content and make as little possible show on the screen at one time. DDB, DO NOT DO THIS! Please learn from the character sheet mistake and what this company is doing. The compendium here is already too spaced out, and thankfully the character sheet is getting re-worked.
Mobile != dumbed down, swipe all day to read. If I cannot see as much as the book on the table, you've failed in the design. That's the min-bar: it has to be *at least* as usable at the book.
If ît is like the Kindle then each user can customize font size and decide for themselves how much should be on the screen.
You can see what it looks like there. It's looks terrible.
I fundamentally do not understand companies that take content and make as little possible show on the screen at one time. DDB, DO NOT DO THIS! Please learn from the character sheet mistake and what this company is doing. The compendium here is already too spaced out, and thankfully the character sheet is getting re-worked.
Mobile != dumbed down, swipe all day to read. If I cannot see as much as the book on the table, you've failed in the design. That's the min-bar: it has to be *at least* as usable at the book.
If ît is like the Kindle then each user can customize font size and decide for themselves how much should be on the screen.
The only question now is "do they know that?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
You can see what it looks like there. It's looks terrible.
I fundamentally do not understand companies that take content and make as little possible show on the screen at one time. DDB, DO NOT DO THIS! Please learn from the character sheet mistake and what this company is doing. The compendium here is already too spaced out, and thankfully the character sheet is getting re-worked.
Mobile != dumbed down, swipe all day to read. If I cannot see as much as the book on the table, you've failed in the design. That's the min-bar: it has to be *at least* as usable at the book.
If ît is like the Kindle then each user can customize font size and decide for themselves how much should be on the screen.
That's not how it works at all... you can't just magically flip a switch and have better layout. You have to design for it up-front.
The Kindle gets away with it because the vast majority of novels simple don't have any concerns for layout. However, try and read any book with actual layout or diagrams, and you quickly see that it doesn't work well.
You can see what it looks like there. It's looks terrible.
I fundamentally do not understand companies that take content and make as little possible show on the screen at one time. DDB, DO NOT DO THIS! Please learn from the character sheet mistake and what this company is doing. The compendium here is already too spaced out, and thankfully the character sheet is getting re-worked.
Mobile != dumbed down, swipe all day to read. If I cannot see as much as the book on the table, you've failed in the design. That's the min-bar: it has to be *at least* as usable at the book.
If ît is like the Kindle then each user can customize font size and decide for themselves how much should be on the screen.
That's not how it works at all... you can't just magically flip a switch and have better layout. You have to design for it up-front.
The Kindle gets away with it because the vast majority of novels simple don't have any concerns for layout. However, try and read any book with actual layout or diagrams, and you quickly see that it doesn't work well.
Just like DDB the layout isn't that important. It's mostly text with some pics and charts thrown in.
You can see what it looks like there. It's looks terrible.
I fundamentally do not understand companies that take content and make as little possible show on the screen at one time. DDB, DO NOT DO THIS! Please learn from the character sheet mistake and what this company is doing. The compendium here is already too spaced out, and thankfully the character sheet is getting re-worked.
Mobile != dumbed down, swipe all day to read. If I cannot see as much as the book on the table, you've failed in the design. That's the min-bar: it has to be *at least* as usable at the book.
If ît is like the Kindle then each user can customize font size and decide for themselves how much should be on the screen.
That's not how it works at all... you can't just magically flip a switch and have better layout. You have to design for it up-front.
The Kindle gets away with it because the vast majority of novels simple don't have any concerns for layout. However, try and read any book with actual layout or diagrams, and you quickly see that it doesn't work well.
Just like DDB the layout isn't that importsnt. It's just text with some pics and charts thrown in.
I strongly disagree with this. If the layout is not functional, I won't be a customer.
You can see what it looks like there. It's looks terrible.
I fundamentally do not understand companies that take content and make as little possible show on the screen at one time. DDB, DO NOT DO THIS! Please learn from the character sheet mistake and what this company is doing. The compendium here is already too spaced out, and thankfully the character sheet is getting re-worked.
Mobile != dumbed down, swipe all day to read. If I cannot see as much as the book on the table, you've failed in the design. That's the min-bar: it has to be *at least* as usable at the book.
If ît is like the Kindle then each user can customize font size and decide for themselves how much should be on the screen.
That's not how it works at all... you can't just magically flip a switch and have better layout. You have to design for it up-front.
The Kindle gets away with it because the vast majority of novels simple don't have any concerns for layout. However, try and read any book with actual layout or diagrams, and you quickly see that it doesn't work well.
Just like DDB the layout isn't that importsnt. It's just text with some pics and charts thrown in.
I strongly disagree with this. If the layout is not functional, I won't be a customer.
What do you mean by functional? Most of the books are text. Do you like the DDB layout?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
I agree with the guy that mentioned Dragon+, a crappy, buggy, rushed product. From the article, the reader sounds like something they want to rush out, seeing the popularity of DDB. I expect we'll have the offline app here, much better executed, before that new app is anywhere near useful.
I think this is great news.
Hopefully the daily complaints about "having to rebuy" and other pricing complaints that show up here daily will move on to this reader.
Legendary Bundle ~ Master Tier
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Myself I am not going for the stated new thing, I am very happy with DDB I'm going to wait for the DDB app and i believe at the end of the month if my money is in order i will purchase that legendary bundle. Then just make sure everything is in the app for offline use.
This point always seems to get lost somewhere. While I'm sure Curse gets a percentage (perhaps a large percentage) of the sale of the content like the PHB on their platform, they are in effect acting as a third party marketplace, selling that content FOR WotC. The price of digital content is set by WotC as part of the license. Curse worked hard from what they said to negotiate lower prices than what Roll20 and such sold for before, and now the VTTs have been able to sell for that same price.
Now I don't know the relationship between Dialect and WotC, whether it is an app commissioned by WotC so that WotC is getting 100% of the sale of that content, or whether Dialect is working under a license and taking a cut, it is hard to say. But if you think of these digital apps as Brick and Mortar stores where they get a percentage of the sale of the PHB and the rest goes to the publisher (WotC), it would be more accurate.
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing)
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?
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing)
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?
https://www.engadget.com/2017/09/21/dandd-reader-app-brings-paper-reference-books-to-your-tablet/#/
You can see what it looks like there. It's looks terrible.
I fundamentally do not understand companies that take content and make as little possible show on the screen at one time. DDB, DO NOT DO THIS! Please learn from the character sheet mistake and what this company is doing. The compendium here is already too spaced out, and thankfully the character sheet is getting re-worked.
Mobile != dumbed down, swipe all day to read. If I cannot see as much as the book on the table, you've failed in the design. That's the min-bar: it has to be *at least* as usable at the book.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)