I, and many others on the forums, often find bugs that have been "on the roadmap" for many years. It certainly looks to many of us like a lot of these have fallen off the map.
Given that the core of your service is providing a user interface that accurately tracks the game rules, I don't think it's unreasonable for us to expect that fixing non functional or partially functional rule elements is a high priority. It is quite literally, the core of what we are paying for with a monthly subscription.
We understand that there are limits to your ability to make these fixes, particularly while keeping up with new rules releases, but we also understand that the biggest limitation on this is how much money you are willing to spend on programmers.
You often refer to your roadmap and that items are on the road map. So, I think it is not unreasonable for you to share your progress on that map. A list of bugs, along with the dates those bugs were first reported should exist. I suggest that on a weekly basis you simply publish, on the forums the average length of time that reported bugs have existed.
It won't be a perfect measure, but it's easy to implement, and straightforward.
As long as that number trends downward, then huzzah! Measurable progress! Many bugs I am sure are fixed within minutes or hours, such as links that do not point to the right page, and typographic errors. Those should average well against hard to fix items that have been "being worked on" for 4 or more years and involve deeper, more complicated features.
Right now, what it looks like to many of us is that there are a lot of important game features that you decided it was too expensive to fix, and instead of being honest about that, you covered it up by saying that it is "on the roadmap". I would like to think that you are better than that, and I would love to see some evidence of it.
So, a modicum of transparency and accountability such as a measure showing that you are at least tracking the old bugs and haven't forgotten them, is not unreasonable and would go a long way to user retention. Your users are not mushrooms. Kept in the dark we will look for other avenues like Roll20. If you can give us hope that Dndbeyond cares not only about new problems but on fixing existing problems, we are much more likely to be willing to stay and look at it.
We all know that Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro are focusing more on the video game space with their new leadership and Tim Fields taking over. Competition for digital access to d&d content is only going to increase. I do not want to leave Dndbeyond, but if you can't show that you are consistently working on improving your core service, then I will leave the minute that a better option becomes available, and a lot of other users will as well.
You often refer to your roadmap and that items are on the road map. So, I think it is not unreasonable for you to share your progress on that map. A list of bugs, along with the dates those bugs were first reported should exist. I suggest that on a weekly basis you simply publish, on the forums the average length of time that reported bugs have existed.
It won't be a perfect measure, but it's easy to implement, and straightforward.
From what I can tell, Beyond seems like they have a staffing issue and simply cannot muster enough manpower.
While it may seem easy to implement and straight forward, writing and updating reports takes time and manpower, and labor is not cheap. It also seems like they are already having issues with making monthly dev updates on YouTube, and they have cancelled a few already, so I personally do not think a weekly written update is realistically feasible. What customers do not realize is that from the customer side, while one suggestion or demand might not seem like much, from the business side, it is not just one suggestion or demand from one customer, it is the overwhelming amount of customers with competing demands, and often times, customers have more than just one suggestion/demand.
I want more communication and transparency too, and I think hiring a dedicated PR person or two would immediately solve most the of communication issues, similar to how it was when Adam, Lauren, and Todd were here. However, hiring a new person is not cheap, and we have no idea how much Beyond have control over their own budget and hiring process to get a new person in. But yeah, I do agree that they need more communication and transparency, I just do not see how they can do it without throwing more manpower at the problem.
I, and many others on the forums, often find bugs that have been "on the roadmap" for many years. It certainly looks to many of us like a lot of these have fallen off the map.
Given that the core of your service is providing a user interface that accurately tracks the game rules, I don't think it's unreasonable for us to expect that fixing non functional or partially functional rule elements is a high priority. It is quite literally, the core of what we are paying for with a monthly subscription.
We understand that there are limits to your ability to make these fixes, particularly while keeping up with new rules releases, but we also understand that the biggest limitation on this is how much money you are willing to spend on programmers.
You often refer to your roadmap and that items are on the road map. So, I think it is not unreasonable for you to share your progress on that map. A list of bugs, along with the dates those bugs were first reported should exist. I suggest that on a weekly basis you simply publish, on the forums the average length of time that reported bugs have existed.
It won't be a perfect measure, but it's easy to implement, and straightforward.
As long as that number trends downward, then huzzah! Measurable progress! Many bugs I am sure are fixed within minutes or hours, such as links that do not point to the right page, and typographic errors. Those should average well against hard to fix items that have been "being worked on" for 4 or more years and involve deeper, more complicated features.
Right now, what it looks like to many of us is that there are a lot of important game features that you decided it was too expensive to fix, and instead of being honest about that, you covered it up by saying that it is "on the roadmap". I would like to think that you are better than that, and I would love to see some evidence of it.
So, a modicum of transparency and accountability such as a measure showing that you are at least tracking the old bugs and haven't forgotten them, is not unreasonable and would go a long way to user retention. Your users are not mushrooms. Kept in the dark we will look for other avenues like Roll20. If you can give us hope that Dndbeyond cares not only about new problems but on fixing existing problems, we are much more likely to be willing to stay and look at it.
We all know that Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro are focusing more on the video game space with their new leadership and Tim Fields taking over. Competition for digital access to d&d content is only going to increase. I do not want to leave Dndbeyond, but if you can't show that you are consistently working on improving your core service, then I will leave the minute that a better option becomes available, and a lot of other users will as well.
From what I can tell, Beyond seems like they have a staffing issue and simply cannot muster enough manpower.
While it may seem easy to implement and straight forward, writing and updating reports takes time and manpower, and labor is not cheap. It also seems like they are already having issues with making monthly dev updates on YouTube, and they have cancelled a few already, so I personally do not think a weekly written update is realistically feasible. What customers do not realize is that from the customer side, while one suggestion or demand might not seem like much, from the business side, it is not just one suggestion or demand from one customer, it is the overwhelming amount of customers with competing demands, and often times, customers have more than just one suggestion/demand.
I want more communication and transparency too, and I think hiring a dedicated PR person or two would immediately solve most the of communication issues, similar to how it was when Adam, Lauren, and Todd were here. However, hiring a new person is not cheap, and we have no idea how much Beyond have control over their own budget and hiring process to get a new person in. But yeah, I do agree that they need more communication and transparency, I just do not see how they can do it without throwing more manpower at the problem.
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 hear you. They really shouldn't be spending money on a lot of things they are and should be focusing on their core business if they want to survive.
If they can't make money and provide their service during the biggest boom in D&D history, then their business model is 100% unsustainable.