Would you ever consider releasing a Player Options bundle? Races, Classes, Subclasses, Spells, Feats, Items, Backgrounds only. I don't need the DMG, except magic item descriptions. I don't need the monster stats, except maybe Beasts for Druid/Ranger. I don't need setting information. I only want to fully unlock the options for the Character Builder. I know a lot of players that are in a similar situation. They just want to unlock player options.
You sell individual options, would it be so hard to bundle them?
This is unlikely to happen because the number of people who purchase individual options is very small. Adam (general manager for DDB) has said that it’s not worth it for them to bundle individual options for that reason. I understand your interest—I’ve done some individual option purchasing myself and was surprised to learn I’m rare in that regard.
What they have done is create a “sourcebook bundle” that does not include the adventures. I’m afraid that may the closest we get to what you have requested, unless the tide turns and a lot more people purchase individual items.
I don't really understand this response. "People aren't buying things one particular way, so we won't offer a completely different option"
From the start of DDB, players were begging for a way to just unlock options in the character builder. So many people just want a good character builder. But instead, they have to rebuy whole books just to use the character builder. They don't want to buy individual options at the heavily marked up prices, who would? They want an unlocked character builder at a reasonable price.
It sound less like you want a bundle for convenience and more like you want a bundle for a discount.
This actually leads to my argument against this. It is cheaper to buy the whole book with a coupon than it is to buy just the player options piecemeal a lot of the time. The player options in ERftLW 23$ not counting monsters, PHB 26$, XGtE 26$ not counting monster. 20% off coupons weren't that uncommon, so you could get these books for 24$ each.
Piecemeal options aren't meant to be bought in bulk. They are meant to be able to get what you need cheaply, and buy the book in instalments.
It sound less like you want a bundle for convenience and more like you want a bundle for a discount.
This actually leads to my argument against this. It is cheaper to buy the whole book with a coupon than it is to buy just the player options piecemeal a lot of the time. The player options in ERftLW 23$ not counting monsters, PHB 26$, XGtE 26$ not counting monster. 20% off coupons weren't that uncommon, so you could get these books for 24$ each.
Piecemeal options aren't meant to be bought in bulk. They are meant to be able to get what you need cheaply, and buy the book in instalments.
I'm not sure why people keep referring to how it currently is priced piece meal as if that is somehow an argument against offering a discounted bundle for all player options.
I, and many others, since the start of DDB, have wanted ONLY the ability to use the full character builder at a reasonable price. At the current pricing, many don't see it as reasonable. I don't want to buy things piece meal at a massively jacked up rate. I don't want to pay for a whole book when I don't need 50-70% of it. I want a reasonably priced option to unlock all player options for the character builder.
It's like if I wanted to buy a big 2 lbs bag of M&M's, but the store offered only small 0.2 lbs packages or giant 5lbs bags of mixed candies which included 2 lbs of M&Ms. And when I asked for a big bag of M&M's, which would be trivial for them to offer, another customer said 'Well, most people just buy the big bag of mixed candies and you can get it cheaper than buying a bunch of small bags." That's not what I want, that's not what I'm asking for and you don't even work here.
I'm super not interested in DDB apologists trying to explain why I shouldn't want what I want. So feel free to explain why YOU don't want it. Feel free to agree and say you'd like something similar. But if all you have to offer is telling me why I shouldn't want something prepare for me to ignore it.
I’m sorry if it sounded as though I was saying you shouldn’t want what you want. I do understand wanting it, and I personally would support being able to buy cross-book bundles of character options. What I was trying to explain was the answer that Adam (the general manager for DDB) has given when this question has been asked on developer updates.
Since you’ve mentioned “massively jacked up prices” more than once, I’ll point out that anything spent on individual items (for example, a spell) counts toward the cost of the in-source bundle of that type. So, for example, the PHB Backgrounds bundle is $3.99 for all 10 feats. If I purchase 1 feat by itself from the PHB, the bundle costs drops to $2.00. If I purchase a second such feat, it drops to $0.01, meaning for 1¢ more than the cost of 2 individually purchased feats, I get all 10 of the feats. If I remember correctly, once you reach the point that a purchase of an additional single item would be more than the cost of the type bundle (for example, if I tried to purchase a third feat), it won’t let you pay the (greater) individual price, but will only allow you to purchase the (lower) remaining bundle price.
I spell all that out because I’ve run into a number of folks on this forum who didn’t realize it worked that way. Maybe you knew that already, and the bundle prices are still more than you want to spend for character options. That’s fine; you are the only one who can decide what the tools here are worth to you, and none of us have the right to suggest you ought to want to spend more money. The flip side of that is that DDB has the right (within the limits of its licensing agreement with WOTC) to charge whatever it chooses for its services.
You also have the option to homebrew the character options you want, or to do a combo of homebrew and individual or bundle purchases. Laura might decide, for example, that $4.99 for 57 spells is worth it because she doesn’t want to homebrew them all (or even all those she needs for her clerc), but that she would prefer to homebrew the Forest Gnome instead of paying $1.99 for it. Similarly, Bob might decide he’ll homebrew the feats and spells he needs, because they are relatively simple to do, but that he’ll pay for the subclasses he wants (or the subclass bundle), because those are more time consuming and complicated to homebrew, and he values the time it would take more that it would cost him to purchase them.
Right. How about if I phrase it this way. DDB sells books. They don't need to offer piecemeal at all. They sell piecemeal so that players can buy the options they need for their characters for much less than the cost of the book, but is not meant to be an alternative to buying the book. The amount spent discounts the book to make the book easier to buy later. All of this is because DDB sells books.
The piecemeal options are meant to help players who cant afford a whole book be able to player with the options they need and make instalments on the book. They are not meant to be bought in bulk as an alternative to buying a book.
DDB does a lot of things to make the game as affordable as possible while sticking to their business model (selling books).
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Would you ever consider releasing a Player Options bundle? Races, Classes, Subclasses, Spells, Feats, Items, Backgrounds only. I don't need the DMG, except magic item descriptions. I don't need the monster stats, except maybe Beasts for Druid/Ranger. I don't need setting information. I only want to fully unlock the options for the Character Builder. I know a lot of players that are in a similar situation. They just want to unlock player options.
You sell individual options, would it be so hard to bundle them?
This is unlikely to happen because the number of people who purchase individual options is very small. Adam (general manager for DDB) has said that it’s not worth it for them to bundle individual options for that reason. I understand your interest—I’ve done some individual option purchasing myself and was surprised to learn I’m rare in that regard.
What they have done is create a “sourcebook bundle” that does not include the adventures. I’m afraid that may the closest we get to what you have requested, unless the tide turns and a lot more people purchase individual items.
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;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
I don't really understand this response. "People aren't buying things one particular way, so we won't offer a completely different option"
From the start of DDB, players were begging for a way to just unlock options in the character builder. So many people just want a good character builder. But instead, they have to rebuy whole books just to use the character builder. They don't want to buy individual options at the heavily marked up prices, who would? They want an unlocked character builder at a reasonable price.
It sound less like you want a bundle for convenience and more like you want a bundle for a discount.
This actually leads to my argument against this. It is cheaper to buy the whole book with a coupon than it is to buy just the player options piecemeal a lot of the time. The player options in ERftLW 23$ not counting monsters, PHB 26$, XGtE 26$ not counting monster. 20% off coupons weren't that uncommon, so you could get these books for 24$ each.
Piecemeal options aren't meant to be bought in bulk. They are meant to be able to get what you need cheaply, and buy the book in instalments.
I'm not sure why people keep referring to how it currently is priced piece meal as if that is somehow an argument against offering a discounted bundle for all player options.
I, and many others, since the start of DDB, have wanted ONLY the ability to use the full character builder at a reasonable price. At the current pricing, many don't see it as reasonable. I don't want to buy things piece meal at a massively jacked up rate. I don't want to pay for a whole book when I don't need 50-70% of it. I want a reasonably priced option to unlock all player options for the character builder.
It's like if I wanted to buy a big 2 lbs bag of M&M's, but the store offered only small 0.2 lbs packages or giant 5lbs bags of mixed candies which included 2 lbs of M&Ms. And when I asked for a big bag of M&M's, which would be trivial for them to offer, another customer said 'Well, most people just buy the big bag of mixed candies and you can get it cheaper than buying a bunch of small bags." That's not what I want, that's not what I'm asking for and you don't even work here.
I'm super not interested in DDB apologists trying to explain why I shouldn't want what I want. So feel free to explain why YOU don't want it. Feel free to agree and say you'd like something similar. But if all you have to offer is telling me why I shouldn't want something prepare for me to ignore it.
I’m sorry if it sounded as though I was saying you shouldn’t want what you want. I do understand wanting it, and I personally would support being able to buy cross-book bundles of character options. What I was trying to explain was the answer that Adam (the general manager for DDB) has given when this question has been asked on developer updates.
Since you’ve mentioned “massively jacked up prices” more than once, I’ll point out that anything spent on individual items (for example, a spell) counts toward the cost of the in-source bundle of that type. So, for example, the PHB Backgrounds bundle is $3.99 for all 10 feats. If I purchase 1 feat by itself from the PHB, the bundle costs drops to $2.00. If I purchase a second such feat, it drops to $0.01, meaning for 1¢ more than the cost of 2 individually purchased feats, I get all 10 of the feats. If I remember correctly, once you reach the point that a purchase of an additional single item would be more than the cost of the type bundle (for example, if I tried to purchase a third feat), it won’t let you pay the (greater) individual price, but will only allow you to purchase the (lower) remaining bundle price.
I spell all that out because I’ve run into a number of folks on this forum who didn’t realize it worked that way. Maybe you knew that already, and the bundle prices are still more than you want to spend for character options. That’s fine; you are the only one who can decide what the tools here are worth to you, and none of us have the right to suggest you ought to want to spend more money. The flip side of that is that DDB has the right (within the limits of its licensing agreement with WOTC) to charge whatever it chooses for its services.
You also have the option to homebrew the character options you want, or to do a combo of homebrew and individual or bundle purchases. Laura might decide, for example, that $4.99 for 57 spells is worth it because she doesn’t want to homebrew them all (or even all those she needs for her clerc), but that she would prefer to homebrew the Forest Gnome instead of paying $1.99 for it. Similarly, Bob might decide he’ll homebrew the feats and spells he needs, because they are relatively simple to do, but that he’ll pay for the subclasses he wants (or the subclass bundle), because those are more time consuming and complicated to homebrew, and he values the time it would take more that it would cost him to purchase them.
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;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
Right. How about if I phrase it this way. DDB sells books. They don't need to offer piecemeal at all. They sell piecemeal so that players can buy the options they need for their characters for much less than the cost of the book, but is not meant to be an alternative to buying the book. The amount spent discounts the book to make the book easier to buy later. All of this is because DDB sells books.
The piecemeal options are meant to help players who cant afford a whole book be able to player with the options they need and make instalments on the book. They are not meant to be bought in bulk as an alternative to buying a book.
DDB does a lot of things to make the game as affordable as possible while sticking to their business model (selling books).