They have Admin privileges, we only have User privileges to the exact same toolset. Like, how Mods & Staffers can edit posts in forums. They are using the same forum, they just have higher level access. Or how a player or their DM can see an entire character sheet here, but the other players and the rest of us can only see certain parts of a character sheet. We use the same content builder they do, we just only have limited access. They let us borrow their tools basically.
Cool we agree then. They have access to more and replicated their backend for us to use for homebrew therefore near identical is still correct in the context of what I was saying.
Pedant victory, but you do you with your trophy. A home brewer is using the same tools to make subclasses, monsters, spells, magic items. No a home brewer doesn't have access to the developers tools to make an entire new class, nor integrate their homebrew into an official WotC product. Nor do they have access to the testing environment. But as far as the way one enters information into a new subclass, monster, spell, magic item, feat or background, it's the same interface.
And since that interface is actually tied into the creation of official content, no DDB can't simply take it all apart, or even take parts out and put them back in as easily as you'd like them too. If you think they could for reasons beyond "I'm a consumer and I think it should be so," then by all means lay out a proposal for tool migration.
They have Admin privileges, we only have User privileges to the exact same toolset. Like, how Mods & Staffers can edit posts in forums. They are using the same forum, they just have higher level access. Or how a player or their DM can see an entire character sheet here, but the other players and the rest of us can only see certain parts of a character sheet. We use the same content builder they do, we just only have limited access. They let us borrow their tools basically.
Cool we agree then. They have access to more and replicated their backend for us to use for homebrew therefore near identical is still correct in the context of what I was saying.
Pedant victory, but you do you with your trophy. A home brewer is using the same tools to make subclasses, monsters, spells, magic items. No a home brewer doesn't have access to the developers tools to make an entire new class, nor integrate their homebrew into an official WotC product. Nor do they have access to the testing environment. But as far as the way one enters information into a new subclass, monster, spell, magic item, feat or background, it's the same interface.
And since that interface is actually tied into the creation of official content, no DDB can't simply take it all apart, or even take parts out and put them back in as easily as you'd like them too. If you think they could for reasons beyond "I'm a consumer and I think it should be so," then by all means lay out a proposal for tool migration.
Did you read my original post Sposta commented on? I'm the one concerned with minor details (pedant victory)? I'm the one looking for a trophy?
I also didn't mention anything about doing it quickly/easily or anything in your second paragraph (I happen to agree with your second paragraph and thought that'd be clear from my post).
If you want heres a dev update saying there are minor differences (including fields we don't have) but basically the same and near identical I would think means the same thing. I was responding to Sposta saying my use of the words near identical was wrong and that was all. There was no need to attempt to correct what I said and I certainly wasn't the one worried about minor details. I was just explaining why I used "near identical" after Sposta tried to say I was wrong to use those words.
What's the difference then? Is the difference that "I'm being malicious"? Funny how you also previously made the assumption of my intentions to forward your own argument. That seems pretty malicious to me. Additionally, you don't have any evidence that they even make a profit. Maybe you should take your own advice and back your statements up? Your assumption is no more valid than my assumption, so if you're going to ridicule me for mine while making your own, then I'm going to call you out on your BS.
The most important difference is that I backed my statements up with the most banal of facts. - Beyond has been doing business for four years. - Fandom has not gotten rid of Beyond after acquiring Curse.
In the absence of evidence, we can assume at best that Beyond is probably making a profit since they have been doing business for four years now, and that Fandom has not gotten rid of them when they acquired Curse from Twitch. We cannot assume Beyond is making a lot of profit because we have absolutely no idea how much it costs to run the businesss, and we have only have a tiny glimpse of what some of their revenue numbers are from their subscription numbers.
Beyond as an operation has been around for four years, and Curse as a business entity has been around for about 15 years. According to US BLS, only 25% of new businesses make it to their 15th year. Since Curse is still around, although no longer an independent company, as a subsidiary, it is probably making some kind of profit for its parent company. Before, during, and after an acquisition, companies being absorbed generally get slimmed down. Redundant departments and personel are shed and unprofitable operations are cut. Since Beyond was kept and is still here, it is unlikely that it was or is in a position of losing money.
If Beyond is a monopoly in some far off fantasy land, then yeah, it may make sense in that case to intentionally have crappy tools to encourage people to pay since they have no one else to turn to. But back in reality, they cannot afford to lose customers to their two main offical rivals and common spreadsheet programs. Beyond has no choice but to leave homebrew as is right now until their other priorities are accomplished.
And yes, another difference is that I do not go around rudely accusing businesses of being greedy for wanting to make more money. It is just plain obnoxious. People running the business got bills to pay and families to feed, and they need money to do that just like you and me.
Buy one get one free does not give you a free product. You know the reason for sales right? It's to increase the likelyhood you even purchase the product. The "free" part is just a slogan. What you are doing is buying 2 products.
I know it is not free. From a person who is going to make the purchase regardless of whether or not the get any additional products, from their perspective, it is essentially free stuff since they did not have to pay extra for it.
I'm just starting to look at the homebrew capabilities and a few things that feel like either they are missing OR are so well hidden I can't find them.
1) Is there any way to see the MECHANICAL aspects of how a given (public, not my own) homebrew was implemented? I'm seeing a lot of homebrews that have great ideas but one or more things isn't implemented in a way that is working as expected in the Character Builder - but I can't find a way to either see how it was implemented and try to fix it OR to copy the public homebrew and make a private version that I can then modify/change (if that's even possible). I'd love to see how people are implementing some examples that are fairly complex (I'm mostly been looking at homebrew subclasses) but it would be really helpful when looking at homebrew exmaples in any category - especially if I see something that is well done and implements some good ideas that I want to do some variation upon. (for example I see a lot of homebrew Artificer specializations that have a high tech/anime/firearms theme - I'd love to borrow their mechanical implementations but change their flavor completely to better fit my game (non-high tech/limited to no firearms). And in many other cases I see someone has built a complex subclass that I would like to borrow heavily from. When I went to make my own homebrew it appears I can only start with the published subclasses - i can't, it seems, start with someone else's public homebrew as my starting point
2) It would be really helpful to be able to sort/search homebrew content by last updated - this would help find homebrews that are getting actual updates by their creators - which is a not unreasonable proxy for homebrew content that at least one other person is actively caring about. And when looking over a large collection of content seeing what has been added would be nice if you are looking for something that isn't there yet.
3) With subclasses specifically I've seen more than a few that when selected on a character and then unselected have an actual impact on the character - for example leaving the character sheet without any spells selected as spells known for that class. This is a bit annoying as a user when choices that were made in the past get overwritten without any clear way to restore them (or even any clear indication that they have now been overwritten - i.e. some note that you have spells left to learn/prepare etc)
No. We cannot crack open public homebrews and dissect them. Contact the authors and ask how they did ‘em.
No, that’s not possible currently.
If you add a subclass, select spells for that subclass on the character, and then remove the subclass, the spells selected for the character disappear because the character builder expects that it was a theorycrafting PC, or a rough draft, or possibly a Paladin who broke their oath and that is what is supposed to happen. In the normal course of play a subclass would otherwise not even change 99% of the time.
Sure, whatever.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Pedant victory, but you do you with your trophy. A home brewer is using the same tools to make subclasses, monsters, spells, magic items. No a home brewer doesn't have access to the developers tools to make an entire new class, nor integrate their homebrew into an official WotC product. Nor do they have access to the testing environment. But as far as the way one enters information into a new subclass, monster, spell, magic item, feat or background, it's the same interface.
And since that interface is actually tied into the creation of official content, no DDB can't simply take it all apart, or even take parts out and put them back in as easily as you'd like them too. If you think they could for reasons beyond "I'm a consumer and I think it should be so," then by all means lay out a proposal for tool migration.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Did you read my original post Sposta commented on? I'm the one concerned with minor details (pedant victory)? I'm the one looking for a trophy?
I also didn't mention anything about doing it quickly/easily or anything in your second paragraph (I happen to agree with your second paragraph and thought that'd be clear from my post).
If you want heres a dev update saying there are minor differences (including fields we don't have) but basically the same and near identical I would think means the same thing. I was responding to Sposta saying my use of the words near identical was wrong and that was all. There was no need to attempt to correct what I said and I certainly wasn't the one worried about minor details. I was just explaining why I used "near identical" after Sposta tried to say I was wrong to use those words.
The most important difference is that I backed my statements up with the most banal of facts.
- Beyond has been doing business for four years.
- Fandom has not gotten rid of Beyond after acquiring Curse.
Beyond as an operation has been around for four years, and Curse as a business entity has been around for about 15 years. According to US BLS, only 25% of new businesses make it to their 15th year. Since Curse is still around, although no longer an independent company, as a subsidiary, it is probably making some kind of profit for its parent company. Before, during, and after an acquisition, companies being absorbed generally get slimmed down. Redundant departments and personel are shed and unprofitable operations are cut. Since Beyond was kept and is still here, it is unlikely that it was or is in a position of losing money.
If Beyond is a monopoly in some far off fantasy land, then yeah, it may make sense in that case to intentionally have crappy tools to encourage people to pay since they have no one else to turn to. But back in reality, they cannot afford to lose customers to their two main offical rivals and common spreadsheet programs. Beyond has no choice but to leave homebrew as is right now until their other priorities are accomplished.
And yes, another difference is that I do not go around rudely accusing businesses of being greedy for wanting to make more money. It is just plain obnoxious. People running the business got bills to pay and families to feed, and they need money to do that just like you and me.
I know it is not free. From a person who is going to make the purchase regardless of whether or not the get any additional products, from their perspective, it is essentially free stuff since they did not have to pay extra for it.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
I'm just starting to look at the homebrew capabilities and a few things that feel like either they are missing OR are so well hidden I can't find them.
1) Is there any way to see the MECHANICAL aspects of how a given (public, not my own) homebrew was implemented? I'm seeing a lot of homebrews that have great ideas but one or more things isn't implemented in a way that is working as expected in the Character Builder - but I can't find a way to either see how it was implemented and try to fix it OR to copy the public homebrew and make a private version that I can then modify/change (if that's even possible). I'd love to see how people are implementing some examples that are fairly complex (I'm mostly been looking at homebrew subclasses) but it would be really helpful when looking at homebrew exmaples in any category - especially if I see something that is well done and implements some good ideas that I want to do some variation upon. (for example I see a lot of homebrew Artificer specializations that have a high tech/anime/firearms theme - I'd love to borrow their mechanical implementations but change their flavor completely to better fit my game (non-high tech/limited to no firearms). And in many other cases I see someone has built a complex subclass that I would like to borrow heavily from. When I went to make my own homebrew it appears I can only start with the published subclasses - i can't, it seems, start with someone else's public homebrew as my starting point
2) It would be really helpful to be able to sort/search homebrew content by last updated - this would help find homebrews that are getting actual updates by their creators - which is a not unreasonable proxy for homebrew content that at least one other person is actively caring about. And when looking over a large collection of content seeing what has been added would be nice if you are looking for something that isn't there yet.
3) With subclasses specifically I've seen more than a few that when selected on a character and then unselected have an actual impact on the character - for example leaving the character sheet without any spells selected as spells known for that class. This is a bit annoying as a user when choices that were made in the past get overwritten without any clear way to restore them (or even any clear indication that they have now been overwritten - i.e. some note that you have spells left to learn/prepare etc)
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting