PSA: The marketplace got rid of individual purchases! (Contact support to get discount on prior individual purchases.)

Quote from Karmattack >>

As I've already said, the longer they wait to make a public response the worse this will get.

"Riding it out" is an admission of guilt.

Insisting that silence is an admission of guilt is a rather problematic concept. If nothing else, it implies there is some actual crime involved. 

Quote from Karmattack >>

As I've already said, the longer they wait to make a public response the worse this will get.

"Riding it out" is an admission of guilt.

"Admission of guilt"? They did it; everyone knows they did it. There is no statement they could make, aside from "we're putting it back", which ain't happening so quickly if it ever happens, that will make anybody angry or disappointed about this go "well, that's OK then". It's a business decision. It may be a stupid business decision, but that's another matter, and it's probably hard to judge it even with all their internal analytics.

I really don't understand what you're expecting of them.

They should've communicated better (or at all) beforehand, but that horse has flown.

Quote from jl8e >>

Quote from Karmattack >>

As I've already said, the longer they wait to make a public response the worse this will get.

"Riding it out" is an admission of guilt.

"Admission of guilt"? They did it; everyone knows they did it. There is no statement they could make, aside from "we're putting it back", which ain't happening so quickly if it ever happens, that will make anybody angry or disappointed about this go "well, that's OK then". It's a business decision. It may be a stupid business decision, but that's another matter, and it's probably hard to judge it even with all their internal analytics.

I really don't understand what you're expecting of them.

They should've communicated better (or at all) beforehand, but that horse has flown.

  they could admit to dropping the ball and roll out some bread and circus poll to position themselves as communication havers. it's not rationally enough but it is the correct tone. nobody there is even going through the motions to suggest the player has a say, unless I've missed it. as a customer who enjoys the thin veneer of community participation, i don't appreciate the silence.

Quote from JustaFarmer >>

Quote from rumloverum >>

Quote from jl8e >>

Quote from Karmattack >>

As I've already said, the longer they wait to make a public response the worse this will get.

"Riding it out" is an admission of guilt.

"Admission of guilt"? They did it; everyone knows they did it. There is no statement they could make, aside from "we're putting it back", which ain't happening so quickly if it ever happens, that will make anybody angry or disappointed about this go "well, that's OK then". It's a business decision. It may be a stupid business decision, but that's another matter, and it's probably hard to judge it even with all their internal analytics.

I really don't understand what you're expecting of them.

They should've communicated better (or at all) beforehand, but that horse has flown.

  they could admit to dropping the ball and roll out some bread and circus poll to position themselves as communication havers. it's not rationally enough but it is the correct tone. nobody there is even going through the motions to suggest the player has a say, unless I've missed it. as a customer who enjoys the thin veneer of community participation, i don't appreciate the silence.

 Look at wotc's past performance when it comes to PR. Look at the community manager's own statements, where she either was not informed of this change, or her complaints were ignored, and wotc still rolled it out without notice. Past behaviour predicts future behaviour. I would not be holding my breath on any official announcement on this topic.

 past behavior predicting future behavior is my entire worry.

I was going to give them 10 bucks, for a few backgrounds. Then later, I would give them another 10, for a few subclasses, then maybe another 20 for all the spells out of Tasha's.

Now I will not buy any of the books and have a harder time running my small-time campaign using D&D beyond, decreasing my all around experience with your game. And you will have no more money out of my wallet.

Everybody loses,

Good day.

What a stupid decision.

Quote from jl8e >>

Quote from Karmattack >>

As I've already said, the longer they wait to make a public response the worse this will get.

"Riding it out" is an admission of guilt.

"Admission of guilt"? They did it; everyone knows they did it. There is no statement they could make, aside from "we're putting it back", which ain't happening so quickly if it ever happens, that will make anybody angry or disappointed about this go "well, that's OK then". It's a business decision. It may be a stupid business decision, but that's another matter, and it's probably hard to judge it even with all their internal analytics.

I really don't understand what you're expecting of them.

They should've communicated better (or at all) beforehand, but that horse has flown.

Late communication is still better than no communication, and admission of fault from an actual human being will greatly restore some of Wizards' reputation. It might not restore it completely, but it certainly is better than silence. The lack of communication and transparency is not going to be the downfall of Wizards anytime soon, but if they keep piling up blunder after blunder, they are going to go down eventually. And in this case, lack of communication is hardly an expensive problem to fix.

If the higher up responsible for the removal à la carte purchases made an account and explained their decision, they will most likely still get crap thrown at them by the community, but at least we will understand why the decision was made. It does not change my calculus of continuing to stick with beyond personally, but it does affect how I interact with other members of the community. With the lack of communication, I literally have no idea where Beyond wants to go, and that silence also breeds paranoia that even I am not immune to. I am not worried about Beyond going down tomorrow or next month, but I cannot say I am confident in Beyond's future over the next several years. Who knows when are we going to lose the next core feature? While the removal of piecemeal purchases do not affect me directly, maybe the next change will affect me, and I probably will not even have the time to prepare. Why would I recommend Beyond if every step it takes foward, it takes two steps backward, and I do not even know the reason why?

And with the direction that I can see Beyond going, I honestly cannot recommend Beyond over other official tools. Competing in the VTT space is stupid in my opinion, especially when you consider that we have third party extensions that bridges the gap between Beyond and other VTTs. If anything, Beyond should be doubling down on its character sheets, not let it stagnate as it has for the past several years. Aesthetically speaking, I think Beyond still has the most pretty and intuitive character sheets, but I do not think it is so much more pretty and intuitive compared to its competition, and the competition is not slacking either. I have not actually used Roll20 nor Fantasy Grounds, but I do not think they are plagued by the strict rigidity of Beyond's system, and it is only a matter of time before Foundry catches up. For the casual player, Beyond is more than enough, but as players dive deeper into the hobby, Beyond's issues are going to be more apparent and less tolerable, and Beyond's aesthetics is going to be less important. There is no support for spell points; there is no support for feat-like sytems like epic boons, supernatural gifts, company positions, etc.; there is no support for sidekicks; lots of subclasses got features that do not work properly; many magic items need further homebrew to work properly, and some cannot work properly at all even with homebrew; homebrew is abysmally poor compared to the competition; and the list goes on. And without piecemeal purchases, I am not convinced aesthetics is enough to make people choose Beyond's character sheets over other VTTs.

Quote from JustaFarmer >>

Quote from PvtPer >>

I was going to give them 10 bucks, for a few backgrounds. Then later, I would give them another 10, for a few subclasses, then maybe another 20 for all the spells out of Tasha's.

Now I will not buy any of the books and have a harder time running my small-time campaign using D&D beyond, decreasing my all around experience with your game. And you will have no more money out of my wallet.

Everybody loses,

Good day.

 There are many many 3rd party creators who are actual stewards of D&D. Some are better than others, but most are committed to adding to the richness of the D&D universe in some manner. I would suggest giving your money to them. Hunt around on forums not controlled by wotc to gain ideas and information.

Preach!

Check out DriveThroughRPG and their sister sight DMsGuild, if you haven't already.   These are awesome sites that bring together some of the best creators out there.  Most of the content is very reasonably priced and some is even free.

Quote from XXXGammaRay >>

Late communication is still better than no communication, and admission of fault from an actual human being will greatly restore some of Wizards' reputation.

What admission of fault do you think is necessary or relevant? Wizards isn't denying that they removed the option. Wizards isn't denying that some people are unhappy about it. Sure, they could put out a statement explaining why they did it, but if they're not willing to rescind the decision, will anyone care?

Quote from Pantagruel666 >>

Quote from XXXGammaRay >>

Late communication is still better than no communication, and admission of fault from an actual human being will greatly restore some of Wizards' reputation.

What admission of fault do you think is necessary or relevant? Wizards isn't denying that they removed the option. Wizards isn't denying that some people are unhappy about it. Sure, they could put out a statement explaining why they did it, but if they're not willing to rescind the decision, will anyone care?

I might care depending on what the reason is.  For instance, if the plan was to include free, or reduced pricing on the digital book when you buy a hardcover in a book or game store, that would be a valid reason to remove a la carte purchases.  Personally, I would still be disappointed becasue I loved that feature, but I would understand why they did it and it would make sense. 

This is where the issue really is, though.  Maybe the plan was simply to offer digital/physical bundles on everything, as the new marketplace shows, and no longer offer a la carte.   That really seems to be the case at this point.  All they and to do was alerts us.  That can be done with a positive spin, something like...

"Hey all, look out for the new DDB Marketplace with a bold new look and easier bundle purchases.  No more fumbling through individual sale items, now all physical book purchases come with the full digital version for only $10 more."

OK, I'd have had to get a marketing copy writer to work that out better, but that was just 10 seconds of thought and 70 seconds of typing.   

Quote from kayakingpoodle >>

 The problem is wotc didn't/isn't saying anything other than yep we changed it.

What would be improved by "We changed it because it doesn't fit our current product strategy"?

Now, they could have an announcement of "here's the cool thing we have instead", and depending on what that thing was, people might be less upset, but that has nothing to do with admission of fault.

I don't want to quote the post since this isn't about what one person said - and I don't think it was even intended in that sense - but I don't think it's paranoia to be concerned about where DDB is going or what their intentions are at this point. Nearly six months ago, I pointed out the lack of piecemeal purchases and expressed the idea that it's possible that they would be withdrawing that feature (I didn't assert it with full conviction, but presented it as a possible explanation for odd decisions). In response, I was described as having "a conspiratorial mindset" amongst other things.

The fact is that DDB is no longer thinking in terms of "what can we do to provide a good product and get money in return?" but in terms of "what can we do to maximise profit for as little risk or cost as we can?" In theory, that's a fairly rigorous and reliable mindset to follow. The problem is, I've seen how short-term minded that mentality can be, and it can be quite unpredictable as to what they'll change. If you told me about this change seven months ago, I'd have dismissed it pretty much out of hand. Now I'm pondering whether it's worth investing more money here...and what the next quick buck scheme will be - and whether that will be something that will kill my desire to use this site.

It's not paranoia to wonder what's happening next when they're already killing a big chunk what made this site appealing.

Also, the only non-scummy reason I've heard so far for killing them is profit margins. You have to pay a fixed rate plus a certain rate for purchases by card, so they get a better return on $30 for a book than on $30 of various piecemeal purchases.

I have a better solution than killing. A prepaid credit scheme. You pay so much on to the account. You can then purchase bits from that amount. That means they get their bulk payment, so they don't lose out to the fixed charge of buying piecemeal, while I get to continue buying just the bits I need. Everyone's a winner. 

Two weeks now since the last staff post.

How many people here think DDB cares at all? They can't even be bothered to pretend to care.

Quote from Pantagruel666 >>

Quote from XXXGammaRay >>

Late communication is still better than no communication, and admission of fault from an actual human being will greatly restore some of Wizards' reputation.

What admission of fault do you think is necessary or relevant? Wizards isn't denying that they removed the option. Wizards isn't denying that some people are unhappy about it. Sure, they could put out a statement explaining why they did it, but if they're not willing to rescind the decision, will anyone care?

 Maybe try reading past the first sentence of the post you quoted.

Quote from Trekari >>

Two weeks now since the last staff post.

How many people here think DDB cares at all? They can't even be bothered to pretend to care.

 They could not care less. I said this elsewhere but I'll say it again:

There used to be a time here on the DDB forums when our feedback would at least be heard if not directly taken on board. These days I can't help but ask if there's any semblance of a point to our feedback anymore.

It's already been made crystal clear to us by a certain individual that our opinions are not even welcome here unless they align with Wizard's. I don't recognize this space anymore, not that the other official platforms are doing any better but that's expected at this point. It's truly so sad what this place has become under WotC.

Quote from LaTiaJacquise >>

Hey folks!

A small update for ya, though I wish I had more: I was told today that the marketplace has been updated to reflect any discounts you should receive from any previous individual purchases. You should no longer need to contact Customer Support to receive that discount.

 Nope. Discounts still not showing. I previously purchased the races off Mordenkanien.

Quote from LaTiaJacquise >>

Hey folks!

A small update for ya, though I wish I had more: I was told today that the marketplace has been updated to reflect any discounts you should receive from any previous individual purchases. You should no longer need to contact Customer Support to receive that discount.

I hope Wizards are FULLY informed about the feedback being provided by us the users regarding A la carte transactions, I know that this decision will have have come from way above you and I suspect as community manager it must be horrible for you to be expected to manage this backlash, I am just sorry that you are left having to try and control a fire by yourself.

Quote from Linklite >>

Also, the only non-scummy reason I've heard so far for killing them is profit margins. You have to pay a fixed rate plus a certain rate for purchases by card, so they get a better return on $30 for a book than on $30 of various piecemeal purchases.

I have a better solution than killing. A prepaid credit scheme. You pay so much on to the account. You can then purchase bits from that amount. That means they get their bulk payment, so they don't lose out to the fixed charge of buying piecemeal, while I get to continue buying just the bits I need. Everyone's a winner. 

 That's reasonable.
But we're not talking about a responsive reasonable service provider here. DDB is gone. We're talking oblivious suits whose only "customers" are shareholders, their only vision short-term profits. And they just think they will make the nerds buy all the full digital products.