Boons are part of the core rules. It just seems odd that they still haven't addressed this, and that we're all trying to create work arounds.
I mean, it would seem odd normally. But it's pretty much exactly what I would expect from DNDBeyond. How many things now do you see old posts from 2 years ago of mods saying 'It's currently being worked on!' and still nothing.
Don't get me wrong. I appreciate what they do offer, and I use the site a lot. But from the start, the things that are missing are glaring and the inability of the coding team or the lack of resources to hire a large enough coding team, has meant that they are constantly playing catch up to implement new rules from WOTC features and never catching up on things they never bothered to implement, or paying staff to mainly do money making features like digital dice.
Boons are part of the core rules. It just seems odd that they still haven't addressed this, and that we're all trying to create work arounds.
I mean, it would seem odd normally. But it's pretty much exactly what I would expect from DNDBeyond. How many things now do you see old posts from 2 years ago of mods saying 'It's currently being worked on!' and still nothing.
Don't get me wrong. I appreciate what they do offer, and I use the site a lot. But from the start, the things that are missing are glaring and the inability of the coding team or the lack of resources to hire a large enough coding team, has meant that they are constantly playing catch up to implement new rules from WOTC features and never catching up on things they never bothered to implement, or paying staff to mainly do money making features like digital dice.
We appreciate the feedback.
I'll jump in to hopefully provide some context. As always, I'm not "defending" our position on this or providing any excuses...you are absolutely right, we don't support some of these mechanics, and we have made prioritization and resource decisions that have made that the case. This is only intended to give some insight into why we are where we are with the two things you mentioned here (Epic Boons and digital dice).
You first said that "this would seem odd normally," but I'm not really sure what your standard for normal is...in comparison to what? There aren't that many shops doing what we do, so I'm not sure what that would mean. Would this be in comparison to video game studios? I think video games really highlight the tough prioritization/resource calls that companies have to make these days where it's hard to do all the things that fans want at the pace that fans want them. I get it too - I'm a huge fan of a whole lot of stuff. I was pretty upset with my Marvel Avengers video game beta experience and thought to myself "They've been working on this how many years and this is all they have?" But then I immediately thought about our experience here and had some professional empathy.
You end by saying that we haven't "bothered to implement" some mechanics (specifically Boons here) and by saying that we're staffing for "money making features like digital dice." To peel back the curtain a bit, here's how the decision to spend time implementing digital dice over Boons came. We have access to a staggering amount of data at this point, with about 40 million characters and the ability to receive and parse feedback from a variety of sources (including these forums of course!).
When we look into that data and feedback (quantitative and qualitative), we see that an incredibly small percentage of players are at a level to use or have a desire to use Epic Boons. On the other hand, being able to roll dice easily through the toolset has been highly-requested and impacts characters of any level.
So that alone would (likely) be enough for us to make that resource/priority call, but when you also consider that dice provide fans with customization options and gives us a starting point into virtualization that will end with a shared gamespace and virtual tabletop, it further solidifies the decision. It of course doesn't hurt that they can help us make money, as at the end of the day we are a business, and making money allows us to do bigger and better things.
So that's why we have chosen to work on digital dice before Epic Boons (or insert other smaller-impact rules mechanics we don't currently cover) - because one feature impacts far more users and provides a starting point for our path into a virtual gamespace.
I'll end by saying that while this has been our decision to this point, it is NOT okay to us that we don't cover those smaller-impact rules yet. We know that it could end up being a "death by a thousand paper cuts" situation. Our roadmap for the rest of this year has tackling many of those rules gap as priority because we don't like where we are with those gaps at current.
Whether your post was just an expression of frustration or not, it is helpful for us to see this feedback to help with these prioritization decisions. Thanks again!
I'm guessing that implementing Tasha's requires quite a rework; all the classes get various features that you may or may not want to activate at all and if you activate them per level. I think this requires a lot more work to implement than the regular books.
I think they will announce it soon enough, it will probably be before the release of the book so.. Just be patient, there's enough chaos going on in the world right now, let's be nice to those that have the same hobbies as we do :)
Are you asking whether we will have Tasha's on D&D Beyond?
If so, the answer is a definite yes, and we're working very hard to support that enormous update (and have been for a while).
We simply don't have it for pre-order, because WotC has not opened pre-orders for digital platforms yet. As soon as they give the green light, we'll have it available to pick up here.
Are you asking whether we will have Tasha's on D&D Beyond?
If so, the answer is a definite yes, and we're working very hard to support that enormous update (and have been for a while).
We simply don't have it for pre-order, because WotC has not opened pre-orders for digital platforms yet. As soon as they give the green light, we'll have it available to pick up here.
Why is that? Why is this the first book since D&D Beyond's inception that it hasn't been available for pre-order at the same time it was available everywhere else?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Grant K. Smith A+, Network+, MCP x 2, BSIT/VC, MIS
Software Engineer & Dungeon Master
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." - J. R. R. Tolkien "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup" - Anonymous
Are you asking whether we will have Tasha's on D&D Beyond?
If so, the answer is a definite yes, and we're working very hard to support that enormous update (and have been for a while).
We simply don't have it for pre-order, because WotC has not opened pre-orders for digital platforms yet. As soon as they give the green light, we'll have it available to pick up here.
Why is that? Why is this the first book since D&D Beyond's inception that it hasn't been available for pre-order at the same time it was available everywhere else?
It isn't available "everywhere else" - it is only available in hardcover format right now from Amazon and local stores. No digital distributors have it at the moment.
We will share it in all the places we post news as soon as we have it.
What I'm getting from that is, it's really a question for WotC why they haven't opened preorders up to digital resources- not a question for DnD Beyond. It is interesting that they've done so this time, though.
I'm not particularly concerned by it, more curious about WotC's motivations. But eh, I'd go ask them if I really thought it was worth the trouble.
Epic boons are a form of mystical, high level reward that characters usually earn at or around maximum level (20). They represent gifts from higher powers and can make your character incredibly powerful (hence the 'epic' part).
They can be found here in the Dungeon Master's Guide
Are you asking whether we will have Tasha's on D&D Beyond?
If so, the answer is a definite yes, and we're working very hard to support that enormous update (and have been for a while).
We simply don't have it for pre-order, because WotC has not opened pre-orders for digital platforms yet. As soon as they give the green light, we'll have it available to pick up here.
Why is that? Why is this the first book since D&D Beyond's inception that it hasn't been available for pre-order at the same time it was available everywhere else?
It isn't available "everywhere else" - it is only available in hardcover format right now from Amazon and local stores. No digital distributors have it at the moment.
We will share it in all the places we post news as soon as we have it.
Sorry, by everywhere else, I meant everywhere that sells hardcover books.... As far as I can remember this is the first time we haven't been able to preorder here at the same time the book was announced. Coupled with the recent survey questions regarding digital toolsets, I'm just feeling a bit paranoid that WotC isn't allowing digital distributors to open up preorders.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Grant K. Smith A+, Network+, MCP x 2, BSIT/VC, MIS
Software Engineer & Dungeon Master
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." - J. R. R. Tolkien "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup" - Anonymous
DDB currently has 4 open reqs for developers, not to mention the other devops and test positions. I am guessing they would like to be able to do more, but their team isn't big enough to do it.
Are you asking whether we will have Tasha's on D&D Beyond?
If so, the answer is a definite yes, and we're working very hard to support that enormous update (and have been for a while).
We simply don't have it for pre-order, because WotC has not opened pre-orders for digital platforms yet. As soon as they give the green light, we'll have it available to pick up here.
This! I can't begin to imagine the amount of code that has to be added and changed just to get the class features update working, let alone all the other stuff.
Are you asking whether we will have Tasha's on D&D Beyond?
If so, the answer is a definite yes, and we're working very hard to support that enormous update (and have been for a while).
We simply don't have it for pre-order, because WotC has not opened pre-orders for digital platforms yet. As soon as they give the green light, we'll have it available to pick up here.
Why is that? Why is this the first book since D&D Beyond's inception that it hasn't been available for pre-order at the same time it was available everywhere else?
It isn't available "everywhere else" - it is only available in hardcover format right now from Amazon and local stores. No digital distributors have it at the moment.
We will share it in all the places we post news as soon as we have it.
Sorry, by everywhere else, I meant everywhere that sells hardcover books.... As far as I can remember this is the first time we haven't been able to preorder here at the same time the book was announced. Coupled with the recent survey questions regarding digital toolsets, I'm just feeling a bit paranoid that WotC isn't allowing digital distributors to open up preorders.
Like I said, I think Tasha's will be VERY hard to implement since it rewrites a lot of the core mechanics of the game. No only do classes need to be rebuilt, but also subclasses. Races also need to be rebuilt.
I wouldn't be surprised if WotC was waiting for it's bigger digital distributors to have working prototypes before they are allowed to pre-sell.
Are you asking whether we will have Tasha's on D&D Beyond?
If so, the answer is a definite yes, and we're working very hard to support that enormous update (and have been for a while).
We simply don't have it for pre-order, because WotC has not opened pre-orders for digital platforms yet. As soon as they give the green light, we'll have it available to pick up here.
Why is that? Why is this the first book since D&D Beyond's inception that it hasn't been available for pre-order at the same time it was available everywhere else?
It isn't available "everywhere else" - it is only available in hardcover format right now from Amazon and local stores. No digital distributors have it at the moment.
We will share it in all the places we post news as soon as we have it.
Sorry, by everywhere else, I meant everywhere that sells hardcover books.... As far as I can remember this is the first time we haven't been able to preorder here at the same time the book was announced. Coupled with the recent survey questions regarding digital toolsets, I'm just feeling a bit paranoid that WotC isn't allowing digital distributors to open up preorders.
Like I said, I think Tasha's will be VERY hard to implement since it rewrites a lot of the core mechanics of the game. No only do classes need to be rebuilt, but also subclasses. Races also need to be rebuilt.
I wouldn't be surprised if WotC was waiting for it's bigger digital distributors to have working prototypes before they are allowed to pre-sell.
I'd love to hear that from an official source because, regardless of "working" I would like to have the compendium content available and, if it isn't releasing for another 2.5 months, there's not a good reason to force a vendor to have a working prototype this early.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Grant K. Smith A+, Network+, MCP x 2, BSIT/VC, MIS
Software Engineer & Dungeon Master
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." - J. R. R. Tolkien "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup" - Anonymous
I'd love to hear that from an official source because, regardless of "working" I would like to have the compendium content available and, if it isn't releasing for another 2.5 months, there's not a good reason to force a vendor to have a working prototype this early.
Then tweet Jeremy Crawford since it’s his decision.
I'd love to hear that from an official source because, regardless of "working" I would like to have the compendium content available and, if it isn't releasing for another 2.5 months, there's not a good reason to force a vendor to have a working prototype this early.
Then tweet Jeremy Crawford since it’s his decision.
How so? He's lead rules designer, he doesn't decide when things are available to one platform versus another, does he?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Grant K. Smith A+, Network+, MCP x 2, BSIT/VC, MIS
Software Engineer & Dungeon Master
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." - J. R. R. Tolkien "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup" - Anonymous
I mean, it would seem odd normally. But it's pretty much exactly what I would expect from DNDBeyond. How many things now do you see old posts from 2 years ago of mods saying 'It's currently being worked on!' and still nothing.
Don't get me wrong. I appreciate what they do offer, and I use the site a lot. But from the start, the things that are missing are glaring and the inability of the coding team or the lack of resources to hire a large enough coding team, has meant that they are constantly playing catch up to implement new rules from WOTC features and never catching up on things they never bothered to implement, or paying staff to mainly do money making features like digital dice.
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D&D Beyond FoundersWe appreciate the feedback.
I'll jump in to hopefully provide some context. As always, I'm not "defending" our position on this or providing any excuses...you are absolutely right, we don't support some of these mechanics, and we have made prioritization and resource decisions that have made that the case. This is only intended to give some insight into why we are where we are with the two things you mentioned here (Epic Boons and digital dice).
You first said that "this would seem odd normally," but I'm not really sure what your standard for normal is...in comparison to what? There aren't that many shops doing what we do, so I'm not sure what that would mean. Would this be in comparison to video game studios? I think video games really highlight the tough prioritization/resource calls that companies have to make these days where it's hard to do all the things that fans want at the pace that fans want them. I get it too - I'm a huge fan of a whole lot of stuff. I was pretty upset with my Marvel Avengers video game beta experience and thought to myself "They've been working on this how many years and this is all they have?" But then I immediately thought about our experience here and had some professional empathy.
You end by saying that we haven't "bothered to implement" some mechanics (specifically Boons here) and by saying that we're staffing for "money making features like digital dice." To peel back the curtain a bit, here's how the decision to spend time implementing digital dice over Boons came. We have access to a staggering amount of data at this point, with about 40 million characters and the ability to receive and parse feedback from a variety of sources (including these forums of course!).
When we look into that data and feedback (quantitative and qualitative), we see that an incredibly small percentage of players are at a level to use or have a desire to use Epic Boons. On the other hand, being able to roll dice easily through the toolset has been highly-requested and impacts characters of any level.
So that alone would (likely) be enough for us to make that resource/priority call, but when you also consider that dice provide fans with customization options and gives us a starting point into virtualization that will end with a shared gamespace and virtual tabletop, it further solidifies the decision. It of course doesn't hurt that they can help us make money, as at the end of the day we are a business, and making money allows us to do bigger and better things.
So that's why we have chosen to work on digital dice before Epic Boons (or insert other smaller-impact rules mechanics we don't currently cover) - because one feature impacts far more users and provides a starting point for our path into a virtual gamespace.
I'll end by saying that while this has been our decision to this point, it is NOT okay to us that we don't cover those smaller-impact rules yet. We know that it could end up being a "death by a thousand paper cuts" situation. Our roadmap for the rest of this year has tackling many of those rules gap as priority because we don't like where we are with those gaps at current.
Whether your post was just an expression of frustration or not, it is helpful for us to see this feedback to help with these prioritization decisions. Thanks again!
Yes, but... Tasha's?
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.
I'm guessing that implementing Tasha's requires quite a rework; all the classes get various features that you may or may not want to activate at all and if you activate them per level. I think this requires a lot more work to implement than the regular books.
I think they will announce it soon enough, it will probably be before the release of the book so.. Just be patient, there's enough chaos going on in the world right now, let's be nice to those that have the same hobbies as we do :)
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Monster template: Skeletal Creature
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D&D Beyond FoundersAre you asking whether we will have Tasha's on D&D Beyond?
If so, the answer is a definite yes, and we're working very hard to support that enormous update (and have been for a while).
We simply don't have it for pre-order, because WotC has not opened pre-orders for digital platforms yet. As soon as they give the green light, we'll have it available to pick up here.
Why is that? Why is this the first book since D&D Beyond's inception that it hasn't been available for pre-order at the same time it was available everywhere else?
Grant K. Smith
A+, Network+, MCP x 2, BSIT/VC, MIS
Software Engineer & Dungeon Master
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." - J. R. R. Tolkien
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup" - Anonymous
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D&D Beyond FoundersIt isn't available "everywhere else" - it is only available in hardcover format right now from Amazon and local stores. No digital distributors have it at the moment.
We will share it in all the places we post news as soon as we have it.
What I'm getting from that is, it's really a question for WotC why they haven't opened preorders up to digital resources- not a question for DnD Beyond. It is interesting that they've done so this time, though.
I'm not particularly concerned by it, more curious about WotC's motivations. But eh, I'd go ask them if I really thought it was worth the trouble.
-Dresden White
What are boons?
this acc is OLD HAHAHAHHAHA
Epic boons are a form of mystical, high level reward that characters usually earn at or around maximum level (20). They represent gifts from higher powers and can make your character incredibly powerful (hence the 'epic' part).
They can be found here in the Dungeon Master's Guide
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Sorry, by everywhere else, I meant everywhere that sells hardcover books.... As far as I can remember this is the first time we haven't been able to preorder here at the same time the book was announced. Coupled with the recent survey questions regarding digital toolsets, I'm just feeling a bit paranoid that WotC isn't allowing digital distributors to open up preorders.
Grant K. Smith
A+, Network+, MCP x 2, BSIT/VC, MIS
Software Engineer & Dungeon Master
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." - J. R. R. Tolkien
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup" - Anonymous
DDB currently has 4 open reqs for developers, not to mention the other devops and test positions. I am guessing they would like to be able to do more, but their team isn't big enough to do it.
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This! I can't begin to imagine the amount of code that has to be added and changed just to get the class features update working, let alone all the other stuff.
Keep it up, folks!!
Sincerely,
A Fan Boy
Like I said, I think Tasha's will be VERY hard to implement since it rewrites a lot of the core mechanics of the game. No only do classes need to be rebuilt, but also subclasses. Races also need to be rebuilt.
I wouldn't be surprised if WotC was waiting for it's bigger digital distributors to have working prototypes before they are allowed to pre-sell.
I'd love to hear that from an official source because, regardless of "working" I would like to have the compendium content available and, if it isn't releasing for another 2.5 months, there's not a good reason to force a vendor to have a working prototype this early.
Grant K. Smith
A+, Network+, MCP x 2, BSIT/VC, MIS
Software Engineer & Dungeon Master
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." - J. R. R. Tolkien
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup" - Anonymous
Then tweet Jeremy Crawford since it’s his decision.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
How so? He's lead rules designer, he doesn't decide when things are available to one platform versus another, does he?
Grant K. Smith
A+, Network+, MCP x 2, BSIT/VC, MIS
Software Engineer & Dungeon Master
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." - J. R. R. Tolkien
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup" - Anonymous
As far as I know he’s in charge of all things D&D. Besides, you can tweet him and he responds to tweets.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
How far are we on the revamp?