Quote from DustinAshe >>

Quote from alficles >>

Quote from Aramalian >>

Set up ONE account for (for example) AlficlesGroupDM. Subscribe to the Master Tier with that account. Rotate that account between the DMs. Players don't have to subscribe at all. Books can be purchased and shared within a campaign with only one Master Tier subscription.

 Hrm. I had assumed that account sharing would be prohibited by the Terms of Service. I'm actually not seeing that prohibition though. So... what prevents me from creating a single group account and just letting everyone use it?

 Nothing. That's what the Master tier is for. Or did you mean everyone in the world?

Even if I thought the pricing for content I already have was reasonable (I don't), I won't be able to convince my players to buy into this, so I'm going to have to pass. Wish you guys had chosen a more flexible route for this.

Quote from Goatthief >>

Even if I thought the pricing for content I already have was reasonable (I don't), I won't be able to convince my players to buy into this, so I'm going to have to pass. Wish you guys had chosen a more flexible route for this.

Will you sell gift cards? Or should I tell my friends and family I want cash for birthdays and Christmas?

Quote from filcat >>

Quote from alficles >>

So... I've been really, really interested in this product. I've been looking for a solid spiritual successor to what 4e's Char Builder could have been.

That said... wow! This is insanely expensive. Our current campaign uses the 3 basic books, SCAG, and Volos. (As well as UA, but that's probably not even an option here.) The play group is about 9 people (of varying attendance), sharing books purchased by about 4 of us (though most players have the PHB). We rotate DMs, with about 4 of us in the rotation. So, if we switch over to this, here's what we have to pay:

When we rotate a DM in, they have to pay $150 immediately. The DMs have to pay $6/mo. The players all have to pay $3/mo. This product is really, really cool. It's not $600 of cool.

Yeah, we've easily spent $600 in books over the years. But that's exactly it... the cost was spread out over the years. If this product showed up from the get go, we'd've considered it. Digital purchases would have displaced book purchases. But the barrier to entry is too steep now.

Separate issue... we don't charge an entry fee to the game. That's on purpose. Lots of players eventually buy their own PHB eventually, but absolutely none of them do it on their first session. Requiring a fee for them to join the campaign just means people won't join the campaign.

I understand this is almost certainly the result of very long, very tense conversations with the WotC team. I understand there is probably almost nothing you can do about it. Unfortunately that means that unless some sort of sanity shows up here, I don't perceive a target market with deep enough pockets to pay the entry fee.

 Your gaming group can buy just 1 copy of each of the core book (PHB, MM, DMG and others) and then share all of them with a single Master Tier subscription.

Quote from Goatthief >>

Even if I thought the pricing for content I already have was reasonable (I don't), I won't be able to convince my players to buy into this, so I'm going to have to pass. Wish you guys had chosen a more flexible route for this.

The general answer to your question is because Curse has got to get paid.

A larger more thorough answer is that Curse and Wizards of the Coast are separate companies and companies don't play well together most of the time. WotC's business interest is in selling you books and getting people to buy more books.  I have no doubt that Curse pays a licensing fee for the books along with the License to use the DnD brand.  WotC has employees; writers, artists, staffers, etc. that they need to employ making books. Be they digital or print books.  As such they are unwilling to compromise on their licensing fees to Curse or the use cases that Curse must pay for.  Like wise Curse has employees; programmers, designers, transcribers, etc. that they need to pay.  Curse has to make a product that a large number of people will subscribe to so they make back the money for licensing and paying their staff.  The price point they have come up with is the combination of all these things. As is the choice to turn DnDB into what it is.

You're right, it really is designed to be a content distribution medium more than a tool set.  I have never wanted the books digitally.  That you "purchase" them through DnDB and get basically a webpage with all the text is stupid to me.  I just want the data functional to use in quick reference or character generators.  All that stuff you "buy" from Curse is not what I wanted so I agree that its not what I was hoping for but it is what some others wanted.

In the long run they really need an all in one product subscription to unlock the books without a purchase. Though they are likely going to do this with a bunch of micro-transactions.  They've already said you'll be able to "Buy" barbarians and other classes and all their options. Hopefully this is across books and at a reasonable (Read not double digit) fee.  I doubt these options will be any more affordable for me.  I'll continue to buy the real, physical, not digital, books. And I'll continue to tell WotC to combine physical book purchases with digital unlock codes. And I'll continue to tell Curse to add an all in one subscription Tier.

Quote from adas >>

Quote from filcat >>

Quote from alficles >>

So... I've been really, really interested in this product. I've been looking for a solid spiritual successor to what 4e's Char Builder could have been.

That said... wow! This is insanely expensive. Our current campaign uses the 3 basic books, SCAG, and Volos. (As well as UA, but that's probably not even an option here.) The play group is about 9 people (of varying attendance), sharing books purchased by about 4 of us (though most players have the PHB). We rotate DMs, with about 4 of us in the rotation. So, if we switch over to this, here's what we have to pay:

When we rotate a DM in, they have to pay $150 immediately. The DMs have to pay $6/mo. The players all have to pay $3/mo. This product is really, really cool. It's not $600 of cool.

Yeah, we've easily spent $600 in books over the years. But that's exactly it... the cost was spread out over the years. If this product showed up from the get go, we'd've considered it. Digital purchases would have displaced book purchases. But the barrier to entry is too steep now.

Separate issue... we don't charge an entry fee to the game. That's on purpose. Lots of players eventually buy their own PHB eventually, but absolutely none of them do it on their first session. Requiring a fee for them to join the campaign just means people won't join the campaign.

I understand this is almost certainly the result of very long, very tense conversations with the WotC team. I understand there is probably almost nothing you can do about it. Unfortunately that means that unless some sort of sanity shows up here, I don't perceive a target market with deep enough pockets to pay the entry fee.

 Your gaming group can buy just 1 copy of each of the core book (PHB, MM, DMG and others) and then share all of them with a single Master Tier subscription.

 

Ah. You mean that we just create one 'group twitch account' that we pass around?

AD

God I hate the design of these forums.  I want to reply to one guy so I naturally am bumped down to a new page.  Either format them like a comments section or format them like a forum. not this in between stuff.

Quote from durindanus >>

And I'll continue to tell Curse to add an all in one subscription Tier.

 

Quote from durindanus >>

God I hate the design of these forums.  I want to reply to one guy so I naturally am bumped down to a new page.  Either format them like a comments section or format them like a forum. not this in between stuff.

Quote from adas >>

Quote from filcat >>

Quote from alficles >>

So... I've been really, really interested in this product. I've been looking for a solid spiritual successor to what 4e's Char Builder could have been.

That said... wow! This is insanely expensive. Our current campaign uses the 3 basic books, SCAG, and Volos. (As well as UA, but that's probably not even an option here.) The play group is about 9 people (of varying attendance), sharing books purchased by about 4 of us (though most players have the PHB). We rotate DMs, with about 4 of us in the rotation. So, if we switch over to this, here's what we have to pay:

When we rotate a DM in, they have to pay $150 immediately. The DMs have to pay $6/mo. The players all have to pay $3/mo. This product is really, really cool. It's not $600 of cool.

Yeah, we've easily spent $600 in books over the years. But that's exactly it... the cost was spread out over the years. If this product showed up from the get go, we'd've considered it. Digital purchases would have displaced book purchases. But the barrier to entry is too steep now.

Separate issue... we don't charge an entry fee to the game. That's on purpose. Lots of players eventually buy their own PHB eventually, but absolutely none of them do it on their first session. Requiring a fee for them to join the campaign just means people won't join the campaign.

I understand this is almost certainly the result of very long, very tense conversations with the WotC team. I understand there is probably almost nothing you can do about it. Unfortunately that means that unless some sort of sanity shows up here, I don't perceive a target market with deep enough pockets to pay the entry fee.

 Your gaming group can buy just 1 copy of each of the core book (PHB, MM, DMG and others) and then share all of them with a single Master Tier subscription.

 

Ah. You mean that we just create one 'group twitch account' that we pass around?

AD

Quote from Thenuinn >>

Quote from Sedge >>

Quote from Locnar >>

 

Spot on Gwalxavad!  Shows Sedge has zero clue how things in the real world work and is trying to sound like a lawyer.  I paid for the intellectual property contained in the Players Hand Book, not the form in which it came.

When I buy a CD at the store, go home and insert it into my MAC, it instantly creates digital formats of the songs on the CD.  New format does NOT require a new license.  Same for movies purchased at the store, 99% have a digital download.   This is greed in its basic form and will come back to bite them.

I like the subscription rates and seem quite reasonable to me, however after spending $50 a book (i know they are cheaper on Amazon but i try to support my local gaming/comic store) and i purchased 3 PHB's, 1 DM and 1 MM.  The idea that I have to buy them again just to have online digital access to intellectual property i already paid for??  Yea that quite frankly stinks. had you said $10, I would not be offended as all this great programming that had to be done to make D&DBeyond work costs money and it needs to come from somewhere.  But i also expect that $250 i shelled out over a year ago helped to pay for this program as well......unless they simply banked all that revenue as profit without putting any into expanding.

 

 You seem to be under the impression that Wizards of the Coast develops D&D Beyond, which is not the case.  Curse has developed, transcribed, coded, and hyperlinked all book material.  Any money you shelled out over a year ago was not gifted to Curse to embark upon this project.  This is a separate venture, which you are debating not being worthy of compensation for the work they've put forth.  As a separate retailer than WotC, how do they recoup expenses during development by issuing free licenses to everyone whom owns a physical copy, purchased elsewhere?

It doesn't take a lawyer to see that this would be an awful business practice. If the $29.99 is too pricey, players are free to transcribe the entirety of the book's contents into their private homebrew for personal usage.  For some of us, the time in which that would take justifies the price to have them provide it for us.

 I have to say that I am more than a little disappointed in the amount of snark in one of the moderators replies. It more than a little off putting about your product.

Quote from durindanus >>

The general answer to your question is because Curse has got to get paid.

[...] 

I bought a BluRay the other day, it came with the DVD and a Digital copy of the film.  Please stop using this analogy.  A LOT of companies combine physical and digital goods because they realize it broadens their market appeal not narrows it.  This isn't entitlement, the easier it is for customers to adopt your product the easier it is to keep them BUYING your product.

Quote from filcat>>

 No, you do not share the account. The account is always personal. When you create a campaign with the Master Tier, you can share the books with yours free players. You choose the DM as well.

.

Quote from Mehetmet >>

This isn't "sharing the account" as in sharing your password, you are just designating another account holder (who doesn't need a subscription, just a free account) as the DM.  That DM can then use your materials in that campaign that you created, and the same as the players in that same campaign. 

It sounds like what a lot of people want is for Curse to:

• send a memo to Hasbro and find out how many copies of each D&D title has been sold
• give away that many free digital versions of each title
• THEN maybe they can start charging something for their services

Quote from Druuk_the_Powerful >>

Quote from Thenuinn >>

Quote from Sedge >>

Quote from Locnar >>

 

Spot on Gwalxavad!  Shows Sedge has zero clue how things in the real world work and is trying to sound like a lawyer.  I paid for the intellectual property contained in the Players Hand Book, not the form in which it came.

When I buy a CD at the store, go home and insert it into my MAC, it instantly creates digital formats of the songs on the CD.  New format does NOT require a new license.  Same for movies purchased at the store, 99% have a digital download.   This is greed in its basic form and will come back to bite them.

I like the subscription rates and seem quite reasonable to me, however after spending $50 a book (i know they are cheaper on Amazon but i try to support my local gaming/comic store) and i purchased 3 PHB's, 1 DM and 1 MM.  The idea that I have to buy them again just to have online digital access to intellectual property i already paid for??  Yea that quite frankly stinks. had you said $10, I would not be offended as all this great programming that had to be done to make D&DBeyond work costs money and it needs to come from somewhere.  But i also expect that $250 i shelled out over a year ago helped to pay for this program as well......unless they simply banked all that revenue as profit without putting any into expanding.

 

 You seem to be under the impression that Wizards of the Coast develops D&D Beyond, which is not the case.  Curse has developed, transcribed, coded, and hyperlinked all book material.  Any money you shelled out over a year ago was not gifted to Curse to embark upon this project.  This is a separate venture, which you are debating not being worthy of compensation for the work they've put forth.  As a separate retailer than WotC, how do they recoup expenses during development by issuing free licenses to everyone whom owns a physical copy, purchased elsewhere?

It doesn't take a lawyer to see that this would be an awful business practice. If the $29.99 is too pricey, players are free to transcribe the entirety of the book's contents into their private homebrew for personal usage.  For some of us, the time in which that would take justifies the price to have them provide it for us.

 I have to say that I am more than a little disappointed in the amount of snark in one of the moderators replies. It more than a little off putting about your product.

 That moderator has been posting rude replies throughout this thread. I know he doesn't work for Curse but he is a representative of the company and is incredibly condescending. 

Quote from alficles >>

Quote from Mehetmet >>

This isn't "sharing the account" as in sharing your password, you are just designating another account holder (who doesn't need a subscription, just a free account) as the DM.  That DM can then use your materials in that campaign that you created, and the same as the players in that same campaign. 

 I'm not sure I get the idea. So, one player pays $150 and 6/mo and creates a campaign. Then, they designate a second person as the actual DM of that campaign and the party gets to use the books from the first player, even though the second person (the DM) has no assets in his account? I'm not sure that's how the pricing they described works.