like the tile says i think it would be really cool if the older editions would be brought to dnd beyond (perhaps a tab in the home tab to change editions) this would help bring players who exclusively play the previous editions to the game for example 1st E. yo wizard it would also help u make more money as u could sell digital copies of the older books ;)
You can already buy digital copies of the older edition books on DriveThruRpg.
As for making the character creator and other site tools work for older editions, that isn't going to happen. There is nowhere near enough market for it.
5e is more popular than any other edition and its not even close. For a business to commit money towards funding something they need to expect some sort of return on investment.
Per Mike Mearls (the creative director of Dungeons and Dragons at WotC), 5e units sold in 2016 was already greater than lifetime sales of 3e, 3.5e and 4e (each edition individually). This is despite 5e having only been on the market for 2 years vs over a decade for 3e and 3.5e.
Per Roll20's quarterly reports, 5e has a full 55% market share for number of campaigns on their website. 3.5e is 0.8%, AD&D (1e and 2e) is 0.2%.
In 2014 when 5e first came out (and as far back as the reports go) 5e was 20% of games. 3.5e was 16% and AD&D was 2.67%. This shows an overwhelming shift of the player base that 5e is the future of D&D.
yes 5E is the future of dnd but the older editions still have a large player base and i believe with a centralized website to go to a lot more players would be shown the older editions and may at least have the option to check them out, additionally by adding the older editions to dndbeyound some of the players who still play the older editions may switch to using dnd beyond instead of pen and paper. if im honest buying the books was a secondary thought as the older editions have less variety in content (less races and classes) so really only 1-2 books are needed to play the game but money was never my focus i simply want to advocate for the addition of the older editions to dnd beyond to help centralize content so people dont have to go to different websites to play a different edition
This has been asked before, on top of the TTRPG market reasons Houligan mentioned, DDB staff, or maybe mod team who consulted staff, said it's technically unfeasible. "Conversions" across editions aren't simple tab shifts, so what you're asking for is WotC to basically create multiple separate D&D Beyonds ... for editions of the game that WotC is not actively developing anymore. As mentioned the fan communities of legacy editions have developed themselves robust support for their legacy editions on most of the major VTT players' platforms.
This question was asked recently in another, and the"it's technically unfeasible" response came from that thread. If you dig around through this forum's search bar, you should be able to find it and read over the specific technical problems that make DDB a one stop shop for legacy editions astronomically unlikely.
WotC wants to use DDB for D&D "now." For folks interested in maintaining D&D's legacy, DMsGuild is there to get the source materials. Why would WotC want to promote legacy games they don't develop anymore, when what they want to do is increase and drive participation in buying and playing the edition that's actually actively being developed? I'm not trying to be mean when I say at the end of the day D&D Beyond is a business not a museum or a historical appreciation society. I like legacy systems too, but it's abundantly clear what D&D Beyond is and what it won't be.
like the tile says i think it would be really cool if the older editions would be brought to dnd beyond (perhaps a tab in the home tab to change editions) this would help bring players who exclusively play the previous editions to the game for example 1st E.
yo wizard it would also help u make more money as u could sell digital copies of the older books ;)
You can already buy digital copies of the older edition books on DriveThruRpg.
As for making the character creator and other site tools work for older editions, that isn't going to happen. There is nowhere near enough market for it.
5e is more popular than any other edition and its not even close. For a business to commit money towards funding something they need to expect some sort of return on investment.
Per Mike Mearls (the creative director of Dungeons and Dragons at WotC), 5e units sold in 2016 was already greater than lifetime sales of 3e, 3.5e and 4e (each edition individually). This is despite 5e having only been on the market for 2 years vs over a decade for 3e and 3.5e.
Per Roll20's quarterly reports, 5e has a full 55% market share for number of campaigns on their website. 3.5e is 0.8%, AD&D (1e and 2e) is 0.2%.
In 2014 when 5e first came out (and as far back as the reports go) 5e was 20% of games. 3.5e was 16% and AD&D was 2.67%. This shows an overwhelming shift of the player base that 5e is the future of D&D.
References:
Mike Mearls Tweet: https://twitter.com/mikemearls/status/764241988128419840
Roll20 2014 Report: https://blog.roll20.net/posts/the-orr-group-industry-report-q4-2014/
Roll20 2021 Report: https://blog.roll20.net/posts/the-orr-report-q4-2021/
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yes 5E is the future of dnd but the older editions still have a large player base and i believe with a centralized website to go to a lot more players would be shown the older editions and may at least have the option to check them out, additionally by adding the older editions to dndbeyound some of the players who still play the older editions may switch to using dnd beyond instead of pen and paper. if im honest buying the books was a secondary thought as the older editions have less variety in content (less races and classes) so really only 1-2 books are needed to play the game but money was never my focus i simply want to advocate for the addition of the older editions to dnd beyond to help centralize content so people dont have to go to different websites to play a different edition
This has been asked before, on top of the TTRPG market reasons Houligan mentioned, DDB staff, or maybe mod team who consulted staff, said it's technically unfeasible. "Conversions" across editions aren't simple tab shifts, so what you're asking for is WotC to basically create multiple separate D&D Beyonds ... for editions of the game that WotC is not actively developing anymore. As mentioned the fan communities of legacy editions have developed themselves robust support for their legacy editions on most of the major VTT players' platforms.
This question was asked recently in another, and the"it's technically unfeasible" response came from that thread. If you dig around through this forum's search bar, you should be able to find it and read over the specific technical problems that make DDB a one stop shop for legacy editions astronomically unlikely.
WotC wants to use DDB for D&D "now." For folks interested in maintaining D&D's legacy, DMsGuild is there to get the source materials. Why would WotC want to promote legacy games they don't develop anymore, when what they want to do is increase and drive participation in buying and playing the edition that's actually actively being developed? I'm not trying to be mean when I say at the end of the day D&D Beyond is a business not a museum or a historical appreciation society. I like legacy systems too, but it's abundantly clear what D&D Beyond is and what it won't be.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.