Hi guys. I make a lot of dnd characters. I like to share them with others. Previously I could simply get the shareable link from the character sheet, and anyone on the interwebs could check out the character. I also used this to play DnD online using tabletop simulator tablets (they couldnt edit the characters, but could look up features and all).
NOW: Whenever you attempt to go to such a page and you are not signed in, you get a lovely screen:
You are no longer signed into D&D Beyond. Go to the Sign In page to continue the adventure!
Believe it or not this has decreased functionality of this site. Not everyone on the internet wants to make an account. OR is able to sign in at a given time / location / device. I am sure someone in marketing said this requirement would get more accounts created. But I believe its the opposite, it drives potential customers away who WOULD have gotten to immediately see the potential of your product in an actual usable character sheet made on it in moments. Instead they are greeted with a "Make another random internet account you may never use" screen immediately
Please allow an option to create an ACTUAL publicly available link for viewing characters.
I think you might find that it comes down to the licensing side of the material within the character sheets which has them putting it now behind a sign-in requirement page. Not to mention giving access to any material which you yourself may have paid to have access within the site, which is anything above Basic Rules.
That being said, it doesnt stop you from creating a PDF of the character in question. You do this by going back into the Character Builder by editing that char, and under the "What's Next" link you will find the option there to create the PDF for it, it then gives you a link to the PDF file, which is stored on the servers and doesnt require login to retrieve.
Requiring an account doesn't change the fact you are gaining access to information you have not purchased. If you make a public character with say "Leomund's tiny hut" instead of Tiny hut, it still shows the full spell info.
Similarly, the PDF character sheets describe class features that are beyond the basic rules.
I don't really want these features disabled. I just don't think thats an argument that is equally applied.
This does indeed suck and I think that the product manager who made this decision should feel bad that they're going to put it on their quarterly accomplishments powerpoint deck.
Hi guys. I make a lot of dnd characters. I like to share them with others. Previously I could simply get the shareable link from the character sheet, and anyone on the interwebs could check out the character. I also used this to play DnD online using tabletop simulator tablets (they couldnt edit the characters, but could look up features and all).
NOW: Whenever you attempt to go to such a page and you are not signed in, you get a lovely screen:
Believe it or not this has decreased functionality of this site. Not everyone on the internet wants to make an account. OR is able to sign in at a given time / location / device. I am sure someone in marketing said this requirement would get more accounts created. But I believe its the opposite, it drives potential customers away who WOULD have gotten to immediately see the potential of your product in an actual usable character sheet made on it in moments. Instead they are greeted with a "Make another random internet account you may never use" screen immediately
Please allow an option to create an ACTUAL publicly available link for viewing characters.
I think you might find that it comes down to the licensing side of the material within the character sheets which has them putting it now behind a sign-in requirement page. Not to mention giving access to any material which you yourself may have paid to have access within the site, which is anything above Basic Rules.
That being said, it doesnt stop you from creating a PDF of the character in question. You do this by going back into the Character Builder by editing that char, and under the "What's Next" link you will find the option there to create the PDF for it, it then gives you a link to the PDF file, which is stored on the servers and doesnt require login to retrieve.
Requiring an account doesn't change the fact you are gaining access to information you have not purchased. If you make a public character with say "Leomund's tiny hut" instead of Tiny hut, it still shows the full spell info.
Similarly, the PDF character sheets describe class features that are beyond the basic rules.
I don't really want these features disabled. I just don't think thats an argument that is equally applied.
This does indeed suck and I think that the product manager who made this decision should feel bad that they're going to put it on their quarterly accomplishments powerpoint deck.