I love D&D Beyond. I have purchased every item they have put out and been a subscription member since the beginning. I love supporting the content. With the merger with WoTC, I loved the idea of the physical / digital bundles, BUT..... BUT, am I the only one who thinks this bundle is complete garbage? The idea of a physical / digital bundle is SO I DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR THE SAME CONTENT TWICE! The digital only is $25.49. The bundle is $59.94 + $12.99 shipping (if under $100). Why not just buy them separately and on sale when the price drops, if I want both? Again, the idea of a bundle is so I DON'T HAVE TO BUY THE SAME MATERIAL TWICE. Again, I love D&D & D&D Beyond, but please tell me I'm missing something.
I mean at the moment, the physical book is 44.96 on amazon for preorder. Normal books without the digital copy(such as Tashas and the like) are 49.95 regular price on amazon. They are on sale at the moment for between 30 and 40 dollars apiece, so im not sure what the complaint is right now.
You may be correct Ziggy12 - you do make a valid point. It depends on the price of the book. But, with shipping, that bundle still comes out at $72.93. If you are a Prime member, it's still cheaper to buy them separately, negating any advantage to buying their bundle. Better yet, buy the digital copy, and pick up the book (if you even want it) when it drops to $30. IDK, I was just hoping that you would simply be able to add the digital content for a small upcharge, with proof of purchase of physical book.
Remember, DNDB isn't just a digital copy of the book. It's an entire toolset and all the integration of official content into that toolset.
When Paizo sells you the digital copy, it's just a PDF. Print it, and you got a book. That's it. GURPS PDFs and again, just PDFs. DNDB is a lot more than that. You're not buying the same content twice, your buying a physical book and the digital integration into a toolset.
The synergy between WoTC physical products and DNDB are never going to quite perfectly meld, but they're trying. This is a first attempt at that. They have said numerous times this is a test run, so treat it as such. Provide quality feedback, not just all caps text as a response. Shipping costs outside the US an issue, you bet it is. Not quite the savings you're hoping for, sure. Why not wait until it's on sale? Well, that's the same choice you make with any new product, they release at full price. You either get it then because you want it, or you wait for a deal.
Remember, DNDB isn't just a digital copy of the book. It's an entire toolset and all the integration of official content into that toolset.
When Paizo sells you the digital copy, it's just a PDF. Print it, and you got a book. That's it. GURPS PDFs and again, just PDFs. DNDB is a lot more than that. You're not buying the same content twice, your buying a physical book and the digital integration into a toolset.
The synergy between WoTC physical products and DNDB are never going to quite perfectly meld, but they're trying. This is a first attempt at that. They have said numerous times this is a test run, so treat it as such. Provide quality feedback, not just all caps text as a response. Shipping costs outside the US an issue, you bet it is. Not quite the savings you're hoping for, sure. Why not wait until it's on sale? Well, that's the same choice you make with any new product, they release at full price. You either get it then because you want it, or you wait for a deal.
I think the issue here is that they're testing the waters to see if there's a real demand for the bundle and there is but this experiment will unfortunately be almost worthless because they are basically limiting themselves to US and some parts of Europe. Everywhere else simply see the shipping prices and go "Nope".
Canada, for example, regular bundle is 59.94 USD + 42.99 USD for shipping and I'm pretty sure I would get billed extra for duties, let's estimate this one at 15% (local sales taxes) + 20USD for brokers fee (this is based on my previous experience with buying directly from Wizards for the secret lair bundles). The total ends up at 138.37 USD or 179.79 CAD.
Typical book price at a LGS is around 55 CAD (+15% sales taxes to be fair) so 63.25 CAD or 48.67 USD.
Buying the physical book locally + digital copy ends up at 48.67USD + 29.99USD = 78.66USD which is 59.71 USD cheaper than the bundle...
There's simply no chance anybody outside the US would pay for that only to have the digital book 2 weeks early.
i mean, i literally listed that as a valid point of feedback.
but the OP is complaining about the US shipping cost, which is still cheaper than the two separately at full price.
Oh I'm not disagreeing with you at all and I noticed that you included it as a valid criticism. I simply wanted to point out how worthless the experiment becomes as a whole when you factor in this issue.
Personally I think the price point is fine, as long as they can find a way to distribute it properly. To be clear, I wasn't expecting free shipping or anything like that, I simply don't want to pay a 100% markup for the convenience of placing a single order instead of 2 and getting the digital copy 2 weeks early.
I wouldn't even mind if that became the new msrp but they always include the code inside the physical book itself. Those who don't want the digital tools could simply resell the digital code to recover the price difference if they really wanted to. Those who only wanted the digital copy could buy it directly or one of those extra codes. They wouldn't need to rely on their terribly inefficient distribution channels and simply let Amazon or LGS do their thing.
Thank you for the replies and some great points. I apologize for the earlier caps, I was simply trying to emphasize a point. As I said - I really love D&D Beyond and have purchased everything they have put out. Every year, the site has continued to improve. Although I will likely continue to buy everything they release, I will not be purchasing the bundle because the bottom line is I still see little advantage in doing so. Unless they change the pricing, I will continue to buy the digital version, but only buy the physical at a later point, at a better price, and only if it's a book I really want (pretty much the same as I have been doing).
For years people have been saying "the reason you have to pay fort 2 copies is because WotC dont own DnDBeyond.", which made perfect sense.... now they do and its "actually its a tool-set you're paying for". Just honestly... eughhhhh to that whole argument. I pay a yearly subscription to dnd beyond, as many of us do, i expect that top cover the toolset. Also overlooking how much DnDbeyond as a tool drives sales and overall popularity of the game.
Since WotC have taken over DnD Beyond, permanent pre-order perks have been scrapped (no 2 week early access doesnt count, as after 2 weeks... its gone) and the price points on the bundles are crazy.
I can buy the book referenced here for £40 at full price and the digital version at about £26; the bundle costs £60. So im saving a whopping 6 quid and thats with no deals applied at all. (for example, i have the legendary bundle discount which means i pay nearer £22 for the digital version - meaning the bundle saves me £2). Like why the hell even bother, I can just wait til its on sale at amazon, if i want the book and save myself the money.
This is clearly just WotC indulging in cash graberry like they always do.
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I love D&D Beyond. I have purchased every item they have put out and been a subscription member since the beginning. I love supporting the content. With the merger with WoTC, I loved the idea of the physical / digital bundles, BUT..... BUT, am I the only one who thinks this bundle is complete garbage? The idea of a physical / digital bundle is SO I DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR THE SAME CONTENT TWICE! The digital only is $25.49. The bundle is $59.94 + $12.99 shipping (if under $100). Why not just buy them separately and on sale when the price drops, if I want both? Again, the idea of a bundle is so I DON'T HAVE TO BUY THE SAME MATERIAL TWICE. Again, I love D&D & D&D Beyond, but please tell me I'm missing something.
Agreed, seems like there souls be some sort of financial advantage to purchasing a bundle
I mean at the moment, the physical book is 44.96 on amazon for preorder. Normal books without the digital copy(such as Tashas and the like) are 49.95 regular price on amazon. They are on sale at the moment for between 30 and 40 dollars apiece, so im not sure what the complaint is right now.
You may be correct Ziggy12 - you do make a valid point. It depends on the price of the book. But, with shipping, that bundle still comes out at $72.93. If you are a Prime member, it's still cheaper to buy them separately, negating any advantage to buying their bundle. Better yet, buy the digital copy, and pick up the book (if you even want it) when it drops to $30. IDK, I was just hoping that you would simply be able to add the digital content for a small upcharge, with proof of purchase of physical book.
Remember, DNDB isn't just a digital copy of the book. It's an entire toolset and all the integration of official content into that toolset.
When Paizo sells you the digital copy, it's just a PDF. Print it, and you got a book. That's it. GURPS PDFs and again, just PDFs. DNDB is a lot more than that. You're not buying the same content twice, your buying a physical book and the digital integration into a toolset.
The synergy between WoTC physical products and DNDB are never going to quite perfectly meld, but they're trying. This is a first attempt at that. They have said numerous times this is a test run, so treat it as such. Provide quality feedback, not just all caps text as a response. Shipping costs outside the US an issue, you bet it is. Not quite the savings you're hoping for, sure. Why not wait until it's on sale? Well, that's the same choice you make with any new product, they release at full price. You either get it then because you want it, or you wait for a deal.
I think the issue here is that they're testing the waters to see if there's a real demand for the bundle and there is but this experiment will unfortunately be almost worthless because they are basically limiting themselves to US and some parts of Europe. Everywhere else simply see the shipping prices and go "Nope".
Canada, for example, regular bundle is 59.94 USD + 42.99 USD for shipping and I'm pretty sure I would get billed extra for duties, let's estimate this one at 15% (local sales taxes) + 20USD for brokers fee (this is based on my previous experience with buying directly from Wizards for the secret lair bundles). The total ends up at 138.37 USD or 179.79 CAD.
Typical book price at a LGS is around 55 CAD (+15% sales taxes to be fair) so 63.25 CAD or 48.67 USD.
Buying the physical book locally + digital copy ends up at 48.67USD + 29.99USD = 78.66USD which is 59.71 USD cheaper than the bundle...
There's simply no chance anybody outside the US would pay for that only to have the digital book 2 weeks early.
i mean, i literally listed that as a valid point of feedback.
but the OP is complaining about the US shipping cost, which is still cheaper than the two separately at full price.
Oh I'm not disagreeing with you at all and I noticed that you included it as a valid criticism. I simply wanted to point out how worthless the experiment becomes as a whole when you factor in this issue.
Personally I think the price point is fine, as long as they can find a way to distribute it properly. To be clear, I wasn't expecting free shipping or anything like that, I simply don't want to pay a 100% markup for the convenience of placing a single order instead of 2 and getting the digital copy 2 weeks early.
I wouldn't even mind if that became the new msrp but they always include the code inside the physical book itself. Those who don't want the digital tools could simply resell the digital code to recover the price difference if they really wanted to. Those who only wanted the digital copy could buy it directly or one of those extra codes. They wouldn't need to rely on their terribly inefficient distribution channels and simply let Amazon or LGS do their thing.
Thank you for the replies and some great points. I apologize for the earlier caps, I was simply trying to emphasize a point. As I said - I really love D&D Beyond and have purchased everything they have put out. Every year, the site has continued to improve. Although I will likely continue to buy everything they release, I will not be purchasing the bundle because the bottom line is I still see little advantage in doing so. Unless they change the pricing, I will continue to buy the digital version, but only buy the physical at a later point, at a better price, and only if it's a book I really want (pretty much the same as I have been doing).
just read over this and honestly... eughhhhh
For years people have been saying "the reason you have to pay fort 2 copies is because WotC dont own DnDBeyond.", which made perfect sense.... now they do and its "actually its a tool-set you're paying for". Just honestly... eughhhhh to that whole argument. I pay a yearly subscription to dnd beyond, as many of us do, i expect that top cover the toolset. Also overlooking how much DnDbeyond as a tool drives sales and overall popularity of the game.
Since WotC have taken over DnD Beyond, permanent pre-order perks have been scrapped (no 2 week early access doesnt count, as after 2 weeks... its gone) and the price points on the bundles are crazy.
I can buy the book referenced here for £40 at full price and the digital version at about £26; the bundle costs £60. So im saving a whopping 6 quid and thats with no deals applied at all. (for example, i have the legendary bundle discount which means i pay nearer £22 for the digital version - meaning the bundle saves me £2). Like why the hell even bother, I can just wait til its on sale at amazon, if i want the book and save myself the money.
This is clearly just WotC indulging in cash graberry like they always do.