So I decided to try and use DND Beyond for my current campaign. I was running a premade module for a change (RotFM), and figured that if the official toolset was going to be useful, it would be now. And it has been, somewhat.
I like the encounter builder, mostly, even though it's en beta it's a really nice tool to track initiative and monster statblocks, and if there is one thing I'll keep using, this is it. The on demand stat blocks and rolls of random funky monster dice is actually really good.
I like way the books work digitally, mostly. I wish there were more advanced features like pre-made encounters for the random encounter tables in the modules. I mean how awesome would that be? I click the option on the encounter table and boom! 3 yeti's have now rolled initiative against the party. So overall a positive, but there's still room for improvement.
I absolutely adore the inventory management. That is just dope compared to any other system of tracking inventory. 10/10.
But then there's the reason why I almost certainly won't stick with this toolset for my next campaign. There's just one really important thing that is supported like absolute ass on DND Beyond. And, maybe even more importantly, has been since 2017 judging from earlier forum posts, which makes me almost certain that it's not in the development pipeline.
That thing is homebrew. A massive part of the game whether it be something as simple as tweaking a monster slightly, or as complex as a new base class. Now it's not the options DND Beyond provide for homebrew that makes me dislike working with it so much, those are actually good to really good. I can make any race, sub-class, monster or whatever I feel like except base classes (which I actually get, and am mostly fine with), to a level that equals the ease of use of official options. That's awesome.
And yet despite that, I can't put my allowed races for a campaign in a folder specific to that campaign? Really? You know that most basic of features that is content management?
I don't want my players to see all the options I'm lining up for our next campaign.
I don't want to have to manually remove everything I make from my 'homebrew collection' and then manually put it back when I feel like it's ok for the players to see it.
I want to sort my monsters by terrain and CR, not just by whether or not they're monsters.
I want to make mundane items for my campaigns. I love mundane items, why the bloody hell, can I not make mundane items?
I want to have neat little folders for feats, monsters, spells, subclasses, races, and so on, that are specific to a campaign.
And maybe most of all. I want to be able to have different homebrew options for different campaigns at the same time. The Inuitesque Eladrin variant my Ranger is currently playing is not going to be on the allowed races list of my homebrew world, because Eladrin don't exist there. So obviously I don't want it showing up in my players character creator, them getting hyped about it, and then either having to retcon my world to somehow include this race that definately doesn't belong, or disappoint my player.
If anyone agrees that the above issues are pains in the ass that should have been fixed ages ago (mostly because they should be so bloody easy to implement, unless DND Beyond is built on a terrible foundation) then please up-vote. I hope you do, cause I actually mostly like the tool and would like to keep using it.
First off in general I agree. I would much rather have folders. With that said in the last dev update they mentioned they are planning to partition things into campaigns and hinted this would solve some of the organization issue your having.
Completely agree with all of your points. The pace of development of D&D Beyond has been one of my chief disappointments with this service. Thought we'd be further along at this point.
The pace of development of D&D Beyond has been one of my chief disappointments with this service. Thought we'd be further along at this point.
I've been working in the software industry since 1993. Nothing ever goes as fast as you expect. The magic frameworks never survive "this one weird feature we need". Nobody ever says "that's the end of the features we absolutely need, let's take time to work on other things".
With finite resources, you need to prioritize. D&D Beyond has prioritized building characters by the official rules. This leaves the VTT and homebrew in the "as time permits" category.
Maybe ending the UA support will free up some time. Maybe not.
Respectfully, I strongly disagree with your justifications.
I'm certainly sympathetic to the exigencies of making software (I happen to be in software development myself), but I've seen enough of D&D Beyond's dev cycle to be extremely skeptical.
It's shocking to me how people will come out to defend companies against any kind of criticism, usually citing how the one being critical "doesn't know how hard it is to do X and Y" (without proof), all while also not knowing anything about the internal workings of the company they defend.
Give it time? I'd argue four years is giving it time. Am I withdrawing my support? No, I do find value in D&D Beyond as it exists today. I'm just deeply pessimistic about its future.
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So I decided to try and use DND Beyond for my current campaign. I was running a premade module for a change (RotFM), and figured that if the official toolset was going to be useful, it would be now. And it has been, somewhat.
I like the encounter builder, mostly, even though it's en beta it's a really nice tool to track initiative and monster statblocks, and if there is one thing I'll keep using, this is it. The on demand stat blocks and rolls of random funky monster dice is actually really good.
I like way the books work digitally, mostly. I wish there were more advanced features like pre-made encounters for the random encounter tables in the modules. I mean how awesome would that be? I click the option on the encounter table and boom! 3 yeti's have now rolled initiative against the party. So overall a positive, but there's still room for improvement.
I absolutely adore the inventory management. That is just dope compared to any other system of tracking inventory. 10/10.
But then there's the reason why I almost certainly won't stick with this toolset for my next campaign. There's just one really important thing that is supported like absolute ass on DND Beyond. And, maybe even more importantly, has been since 2017 judging from earlier forum posts, which makes me almost certain that it's not in the development pipeline.
That thing is homebrew. A massive part of the game whether it be something as simple as tweaking a monster slightly, or as complex as a new base class. Now it's not the options DND Beyond provide for homebrew that makes me dislike working with it so much, those are actually good to really good. I can make any race, sub-class, monster or whatever I feel like except base classes (which I actually get, and am mostly fine with), to a level that equals the ease of use of official options. That's awesome.
And yet despite that, I can't put my allowed races for a campaign in a folder specific to that campaign? Really? You know that most basic of features that is content management?
I don't want my players to see all the options I'm lining up for our next campaign.
I don't want to have to manually remove everything I make from my 'homebrew collection' and then manually put it back when I feel like it's ok for the players to see it.
I want to sort my monsters by terrain and CR, not just by whether or not they're monsters.
I want to make mundane items for my campaigns. I love mundane items, why the bloody hell, can I not make mundane items?
I want to have neat little folders for feats, monsters, spells, subclasses, races, and so on, that are specific to a campaign.
And maybe most of all. I want to be able to have different homebrew options for different campaigns at the same time. The Inuitesque Eladrin variant my Ranger is currently playing is not going to be on the allowed races list of my homebrew world, because Eladrin don't exist there. So obviously I don't want it showing up in my players character creator, them getting hyped about it, and then either having to retcon my world to somehow include this race that definately doesn't belong, or disappoint my player.
If anyone agrees that the above issues are pains in the ass that should have been fixed ages ago (mostly because they should be so bloody easy to implement, unless DND Beyond is built on a terrible foundation) then please up-vote. I hope you do, cause I actually mostly like the tool and would like to keep using it.
First off in general I agree. I would much rather have folders. With that said in the last dev update they mentioned they are planning to partition things into campaigns and hinted this would solve some of the organization issue your having.
Completely agree with all of your points. The pace of development of D&D Beyond has been one of my chief disappointments with this service. Thought we'd be further along at this point.
I've been working in the software industry since 1993. Nothing ever goes as fast as you expect. The magic frameworks never survive "this one weird feature we need". Nobody ever says "that's the end of the features we absolutely need, let's take time to work on other things".
With finite resources, you need to prioritize. D&D Beyond has prioritized building characters by the official rules. This leaves the VTT and homebrew in the "as time permits" category.
Maybe ending the UA support will free up some time. Maybe not.
It's only 4 years old. Give it time.
Respectfully, I strongly disagree with your justifications.
I'm certainly sympathetic to the exigencies of making software (I happen to be in software development myself), but I've seen enough of D&D Beyond's dev cycle to be extremely skeptical.
It's shocking to me how people will come out to defend companies against any kind of criticism, usually citing how the one being critical "doesn't know how hard it is to do X and Y" (without proof), all while also not knowing anything about the internal workings of the company they defend.
Give it time? I'd argue four years is giving it time. Am I withdrawing my support? No, I do find value in D&D Beyond as it exists today. I'm just deeply pessimistic about its future.