Hmm. If $30 / monthly subscribers get "exclusive drops," then maybe normal people could have a way cheaper subscription, similar to the $5.99 / monthly some of us are paying now. (At least one could hope.)
While this does seem to be the case, there was also mention of gating Homebrew out of the lower tiers.
@Wizards of the Coast, @Hasbro. I have been playing D&D for 30 years, have spent literal thousands of dollars and man hours on your licensed products ec, and am currently a subscribed to your master teir, and pay for my wife's hero subscription.
If the master tier subscription is in reased to $30 I will be cancelling all of that and you will never see another dime from this very loyal customer.
And I will be taking all of my players who also pay subscriptions with me.
Yes I'm in the same boat. I've cancelled my renewal, though I'm paid up thru May already. If they take things in this direction, I'm done with D&D and will just go find another TTRPG to suit my needs.
The only way I'd return to D&D Beyond's subscription is if WotC drops ALL proposed changes to OGL, makes the OGL permanently irrevocable and makes ZERO changes to D&D Beyond's subscription services models.
You know, if these ridiculous attempts to gouge and trap players don't work... we can all rest assured that the executives at the top that worked so hard to kill the biggest name in TTRPGs will be punished with millions of dollars and a better-paying job when they're fired.
Hasbro generally, and Chris Cao specifically need to apologize for this debacle. Not walk it back, flat out apologize and admit they made a mistake.
For those of you who are saying "my subscription doesn't end for another 10-11 months, its a waste for me to cancel now." No, its not a waste. It was apparently cancelled subscriptions on DnD Beyond that led to the walkback of the OGL.
They figure if you don't cancel now, you'll have forgotten your anger in 10 or 11 months and won't cancel then.
If you have a paid subscription, regardless of the level, cancel it now. That will send a very loud message to Hasbro.
Also, when a lot of the rumors started coming out about the OGL, I was one of the people calling for patience. I simply didn't believe that WotC would make the same mistake they did with 3.5 that led to the creation of Pathfinder. I was clearly wrong.
Hasbro has lost the benefit of doubt over this issue.
I don't think there is anything WotC can do to justify a price tag of 30$ a month when currently its like 5$ for the standard subscription or less than 30$ when buying for -a full year-
-DNDBeyond for character management is handy but its not a necessity. -Speculated AI DM sound very good. Go play a video game. AI will not be able to account for player creativity and react accordingly. There won't be 'rule of cool'. -DNDBeyond VTT is neat, but there are plenty of others already.-If they make all the books available for 30$ a month, that would be -something- but a lot of people already bought the books. So whats the point really? Plus at that price point. Just save up and buy the books? -Exclusive content drops? Like the fancy digital dice that I don't think anyone uses and are already included in the lowest subscription tier along with the background/borders/themes etc? Possibly books/adventurers that you could easily buy yourself? Not to mention the last few books having been a major let down except not you don't have any control of what you're paying for?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I cancelled my Hero Tier Subscription January 13th 2023 because of "OGL" 1.1
Fairly trustworthy sources have confirmed this change. It would be $30/month for the DM's. It isn't clear if players would also be paying something that are tied to that DM's account.
This would steer quite a few people away from dndbeyond.
The idea of the DM footing the bill for the group is foundational to playing remotely via a VTT. Asking the players to pay as well is a mistake as they usually buy the physical books as well. Double and triple charging the community isn't a good decision.
If, for $30/month (or some arbitrary number), it gave anyone access to all content without buying the books separately, that might be worth considering. Have the DMing license separate at the $5.99/month to share for their campaign. A flat fee for all content would also push WoTC to secure deals with 3rd party publishers to create additional content to make it worth the monthly fee. For people who already bought the content, grandfather them in at a much lower rate until enough new content comes out to justify the change. Alternately, just wait until One is released and start it there since nobody would have the new content (depending on how much prior content is still usable.)
The problem today is we are being asked to buy content (usually twice - print and virtual) then subscribe to use the same content. If you play Fortnite, you pay monthly to access everything. They don't make you pay a fee to be able to use each class and/or weapon then make you subscribe. It is either a SaaS model or it isn't. It would be like making people pay for Windows (like the old days) but also making them pay a monthly subscription fee to use Windows on a device connected to the Internet. The former Microsoft exec now heading WoTC is trying to apply the Minecraft model. The difference is for $35 you buy the base Minecraft game then you subscribe to special servers, etc.. Here, you pay $400 for a stack of books then subscribe to have a digital copy of the books and for integration into VTT's. You can't make the business model work at 10x Minecraft costs (and monthly fees for Minecraft servers are typically far less than $30/month.)
I will give WOTC a chance to address officially, but if a massive price hike is coming... I will also say a fond farewell to DNDbeyond and look for another platform or game altogether.
I am 100% in your shoes. I'm the whale for my party. If they want to charge me $360/year to use the content I already own, they can guarantee I'll permanently move to PF2 or SWRPG, Cypher, etc.
I can just about afford $30 a year, $30 a month and I'll have no choice but to cancel my sub... Greedy silly little men...
It was confirmed to be a hoax (strictly, it was a rehash of an old hoax, so no one should have fallen for it in the first place) - they’re not actually planning on doing this.
While this does seem to be the case, there was also mention of gating Homebrew out of the lower tiers.
@Wizards of the Coast, @Hasbro. I have been playing D&D for 30 years, have spent literal thousands of dollars and man hours on your licensed products ec, and am currently a subscribed to your master teir, and pay for my wife's hero subscription.
If the master tier subscription is in reased to $30 I will be cancelling all of that and you will never see another dime from this very loyal customer.
And I will be taking all of my players who also pay subscriptions with me.
Yes I'm in the same boat. I've cancelled my renewal, though I'm paid up thru May already. If they take things in this direction, I'm done with D&D and will just go find another TTRPG to suit my needs.
The only way I'd return to D&D Beyond's subscription is if WotC drops ALL proposed changes to OGL, makes the OGL permanently irrevocable and makes ZERO changes to D&D Beyond's subscription services models.
You know, if these ridiculous attempts to gouge and trap players don't work... we can all rest assured that the executives at the top that worked so hard to kill the biggest name in TTRPGs will be punished with millions of dollars and a better-paying job when they're fired.
im not paying 3$ sub so why do you think ill ever pay 30$? you gone bananas WOTC. im sorry but if this will continue ill go Captain Jack Sparrow root!
Hasbro generally, and Chris Cao specifically need to apologize for this debacle. Not walk it back, flat out apologize and admit they made a mistake.
For those of you who are saying "my subscription doesn't end for another 10-11 months, its a waste for me to cancel now." No, its not a waste. It was apparently cancelled subscriptions on DnD Beyond that led to the walkback of the OGL.
They figure if you don't cancel now, you'll have forgotten your anger in 10 or 11 months and won't cancel then.
If you have a paid subscription, regardless of the level, cancel it now. That will send a very loud message to Hasbro.
Also, when a lot of the rumors started coming out about the OGL, I was one of the people calling for patience. I simply didn't believe that WotC would make the same mistake they did with 3.5 that led to the creation of Pathfinder. I was clearly wrong.
Hasbro has lost the benefit of doubt over this issue.
Encounter builder is still in beta. Campaign builder could also use some improvements.
But sure, raise the price. Won't need to worry about the OGL if all the players seek out new games.
#OpenDnD #DnDBegone #StoptheSub
I don't think there is anything WotC can do to justify a price tag of 30$ a month when currently its like 5$ for the standard subscription or less than 30$ when buying for -a full year-
-DNDBeyond for character management is handy but its not a necessity.
-Speculated AI DM sound very good. Go play a video game. AI will not be able to account for player creativity and react accordingly. There won't be 'rule of cool'.
-DNDBeyond VTT is neat, but there are plenty of others already.-If they make all the books available for 30$ a month, that would be -something- but a lot of people already bought the books. So whats the point really? Plus at that price point. Just save up and buy the books?
-Exclusive content drops? Like the fancy digital dice that I don't think anyone uses and are already included in the lowest subscription tier along with the background/borders/themes etc? Possibly books/adventurers that you could easily buy yourself? Not to mention the last few books having been a major let down except not you don't have any control of what you're paying for?
I cancelled my Hero Tier Subscription January 13th 2023 because of "OGL" 1.1
Fairly trustworthy sources have confirmed this change. It would be $30/month for the DM's. It isn't clear if players would also be paying something that are tied to that DM's account.
This would steer quite a few people away from dndbeyond.
The idea of the DM footing the bill for the group is foundational to playing remotely via a VTT. Asking the players to pay as well is a mistake as they usually buy the physical books as well. Double and triple charging the community isn't a good decision.
If, for $30/month (or some arbitrary number), it gave anyone access to all content without buying the books separately, that might be worth considering. Have the DMing license separate at the $5.99/month to share for their campaign. A flat fee for all content would also push WoTC to secure deals with 3rd party publishers to create additional content to make it worth the monthly fee. For people who already bought the content, grandfather them in at a much lower rate until enough new content comes out to justify the change. Alternately, just wait until One is released and start it there since nobody would have the new content (depending on how much prior content is still usable.)
The problem today is we are being asked to buy content (usually twice - print and virtual) then subscribe to use the same content. If you play Fortnite, you pay monthly to access everything. They don't make you pay a fee to be able to use each class and/or weapon then make you subscribe. It is either a SaaS model or it isn't. It would be like making people pay for Windows (like the old days) but also making them pay a monthly subscription fee to use Windows on a device connected to the Internet. The former Microsoft exec now heading WoTC is trying to apply the Minecraft model. The difference is for $35 you buy the base Minecraft game then you subscribe to special servers, etc.. Here, you pay $400 for a stack of books then subscribe to have a digital copy of the books and for integration into VTT's. You can't make the business model work at 10x Minecraft costs (and monthly fees for Minecraft servers are typically far less than $30/month.)
I will give WOTC a chance to address officially, but if a massive price hike is coming... I will also say a fond farewell to DNDbeyond and look for another platform or game altogether.
I am 100% in your shoes. I'm the whale for my party. If they want to charge me $360/year to use the content I already own, they can guarantee I'll permanently move to PF2 or SWRPG, Cypher, etc.
https://twitter.com/DnDBeyond/status/1615879300414062593?s=20&t=BKylxlYecLWzH2gDRdkBNA
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
dang got to it first XD
Yup - was coming here to specifically link the $30 debuff. :)
https://twitter.com/DnDBeyond/status/1615879301684944898?s=20&t=02jZ_eSab1Me7SCUAOCA1A
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
I can just about afford $30 a year, $30 a month and I'll have no choice but to cancel my sub... Greedy silly little men...
Don't look up, cos I could be looking down :)
It was confirmed to be a hoax (strictly, it was a rehash of an old hoax, so no one should have fallen for it in the first place) - they’re not actually planning on doing this.
okay that was actually hilarious
If nothing else, you passed the Charisma check :')