So the way it's been done, users that purchased pieces of content to share with their campaigns are no longer able to share that material - only use it themselves.
This is not correct. Anything purchased, even by a la carte method before the marketplace change, can still be shared through Content Sharing.
Then, in order to unlock the sharing for other users, they have to purchase the correct digital book, which doesn't apply any sort of discounts, even if you already own half the material in said book!
Half-right, half-wrong. The marketplace won't automatically apply a discount automatically for previous a la carte purchases but you can obtain such discount by contacting Customer Support first. They are looking into a way to make the process easier.
I say "the correct digital book" because if you try to purchase a book with certain material in it you want to unlock, you better first make sure you search the forums, or reddit to verify it's the book that will actually unlock it. Apparently, just because the material is in the book you purchase, doesn't mean it'll actually unlock it's use and sharing on DnD Beyond. For example: if you buy Tashas CoE because you want the Spore druid subclass you will soon find that despite that subclass CLEARLY being in the book - it won't actually give you access to it. Instead, you have to buy Ravnica. This is not posted clearly -ANYWHERE- in the market place.
Not correct. If you purchased a book you unlock everything in that book even if it was originally printed in a different book. The need to get something from a different book was only applicable to a la carte purchasing - where you could only buy something on its own from the book it was first printed in. Buying a whole book unlocks everything in it. You still have to use the original source toggle for the character which can be confusing, but the whole content should be unlocked. If it hasn't for you then first check licenses are in sync (Account > Licenses) and if that doesn't work, contact Customer Support.
In fact the market place has been made more difficult to navigate and determine what each item actually unlocks. instead of a detailed list, you just get a blurb like "x number of new items!" or "a new class!"
Sort of. The blurb is there but if you go to Sources and then go to the book you want, you can read the Table of Contents which will detail classes and such. It's not a full list, but does give a decent enough view of what you can expect from it. The Table of Contents can be viewed for any book, even if you have not purchased it and don't have it shared with you. The reason is precisely for this purpose: so you can get an idea of what you'll get so you can see if you want to get the book.
The way this is being handle feels like it's class action lawsuit worthy.
It's not. The way they have handled this is, no doubt, shitty and shady and definitely breaks trust and faith in the company. However, it is 100% legal.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
So the way it's been done, users that purchased pieces of content to share with their campaigns are no longer able to share that material - only use it themselves.
This is not correct. Anything purchased, even by a la carte method before the marketplace change, can still be shared through Content Sharing.
No, I didn't just come in here ranting for no reason. I and 7 other friends have confirmed that not all a la carte materials are shareable. We've tested it in multiple different campaigns and verified that it's simply not working. Some does, some does not. If the campaign existed prior to the changes it seems the materials are still available. But if you start a new campaign and try to share things you're going to run into multiple pieces that just are not available to others in that campaign.
Half-right, half-wrong. The marketplace won't automatically apply a discount automatically for previous a la carte purchases but you can obtain such discount by contacting Customer Support first. They are looking into a way to make the process easier.
You should have just ended your statement after "The marketplace won't automatically apply a discount" and agreed. First of all they haven't clearly indicated the "contact customer support" -anywhere- in the marketplace. They don't have notifications in checkout. They did absolutely -nothing- to make sure people weren't getting ripped off. Contacting customer support for a discount and waiting for days, or weeks, to see if they'll honor the discount they told you you'd get is utter BS. As is them claiming to look into a way to make the process easier. They knew before they made the changes that this issue would exist, and they did nothing about it. This is a deceptive practice if there ever was one. They're banking on people either A) not knowing that they have to contact them for the discount, or B) Not having time to wait for said discount before purchasing the material they very likely need for their gaming session. I will never understand why people like you defend shitty business practices that are designed or implemented in ways that screw over the consumer.
I say "the correct digital book" because if you try to purchase a book with certain material in it you want to unlock, you better first make sure you search the forums, or reddit to verify it's the book that will actually unlock it. Apparently, just because the material is in the book you purchase, doesn't mean it'll actually unlock it's use and sharing on DnD Beyond. For example: if you buy Tashas CoE because you want the Spore druid subclass you will soon find that despite that subclass CLEARLY being in the book - it won't actually give you access to it. Instead, you have to buy Ravnica. This is not posted clearly -ANYWHERE- in the market place.
Not correct. If you purchased a book you unlock everything in that book even if it was originally printed in a different book. The need to get something from a different book was only applicable to a la carte purchasing - where you could only buy something on its own from the book it was first printed in. Buying a whole book unlocks everything in it. You still have to use the original source toggle for the character which can be confusing, but the whole content should be unlocked. If it hasn't for you then first check licenses are in sync (Account > Licenses) and if that doesn't work, contact Customer Support.
It's like you think I'm an idiot or just making stuff up. I am quite literally in discussions with their customer support over the very issue I described. There are multiple other people on these forums and reddit discussing the exact same problem with other materials. These issues began when they made the changes that everyone is discussing in this thread. So... No, it is not unlocking everything in the book as it should.
In fact the market place has been made more difficult to navigate and determine what each item actually unlocks. instead of a detailed list, you just get a blurb like "x number of new items!" or "a new class!"
Sort of. The blurb is there but if you go to Sources and then go to the book you want, you can read the Table of Contents which will detail classes and such. It's not a full list, but does give a decent enough view of what you can expect from it. The Table of Contents can be viewed for any book, even if you have not purchased it and don't have it shared with you. The reason is precisely for this purpose: so you can get an idea of what you'll get so you can see if you want to get the book.
Which, as established already in my previous statement, does not actually confirm that the content will actually be unlocked and usable currently. Again, I didn't come in here and just start flailing my arms around whilst senselessly babbling word vomit. These are actual problems I and others are experiencing. You defending them or saying otherwise does not change that they are factually an issue for some people.
The way this is being handle feels like it's class action lawsuit worthy.
It's not. The way they have handled this is, no doubt, shitty and shady and definitely breaks trust and faith in the company. However, it is 100% legal.
Shitty, shady, and completely destructive of trust and faith in the company we agree on. I'm not so sure about the legal part. Removing access to the discounts that they advertised when people agreed to the purchases very much sounds like they're reneging on their part of the deal. Additionally, the other issues I've explained are also a breach of contract on their part - they sold those a la carte contents with the understanding that they would be usable and shareable. In many cases this is proving to no longer be true, and discussions with them in support tickets has thus far not proven otherwise.
They may have TOS that we agreed to, but there are still consumer protection laws in place around the world and I'm willing to bet that these shady dealings fly in the face of at least a few.
Nesting quotes requires too much editing, so I'mma just copy-paste. This is a reply to Thaeric.
"No, I didn't just come in here ranting for no reason."
Never said you did.
"I and 7 other friends have confirmed that not all a la carte materials are shareable. We've tested it in multiple different campaigns and verified that it's simply not working. Some does, some does not. If the campaign existed prior to the changes it seems the materials are still available. But if you start a new campaign and try to share things you're going to run into multiple pieces that just are not available to others in that campaign."
What you have is a bug. All my sharing tests show I can share everything just fine, including piecemeal. The article on the marketplace changes also state piecemeal purchases are still honoured. You have a bug, not some evil nefarious conspiracy. Raise support ticket, and they'll assist.
"You should have just ended your statement after "The marketplace won't automatically apply a discount" and agreed. First of all they haven't clearly indicated the "contact customer support" -anywhere- in the marketplace. They don't have notifications in checkout. They did absolutely -nothing- to make sure people weren't getting ripped off. Contacting customer support for a discount and waiting for days, or weeks, to see if they'll honor the discount they told you you'd get is utter BS. As is them claiming to look into a way to make the process easier. They knew before they made the changes that this issue would exist, and they did nothing about it. This is a deceptive practice if there ever was one. They're banking on people either A) not knowing that they have to contact them for the discount, or B) Not having time to wait for said discount before purchasing the material they very likely need for their gaming session."
I agree. But your previous statement was half-wrong because discounts are being given. I also said you were half-right, because discounts are not being automatically applied and they should be. I also agree this is a shitty way of doing things and they should put notifications or a system in place, but this wasn't the statement you made nor relevant to the correction I was giving.
"I will never understand why people like you defend shitty business practices that are designed or implemented in ways that screw over the consumer. "
I am not defending their shitty practices and have been vocal against them - I've even made youtube videos and been in another openly against their recent practices, some are even worse than the removal of a la carte purchasing. I was not defending WotC, I was correcting you. There's a big difference.
"It's like you think I'm an idiot or just making stuff up. "
No, to both. I am responding only to the statements you present, and have no other thoughts about you at all. I prefer not to make assumptions about people.
" I am quite literally in discussions with their customer support over the very issue I described. There are multiple other people on these forums and reddit discussing the exact same problem with other materials. These issues began when they made the changes that everyone is discussing in this thread. So... No, it is not unlocking everything in the book as it should. "
I am aware some people are having problems accessing certain content. I am also aware this has been noticed by the community manager and by moderators and has been raised for investigation by the site staff. My point is not that it doesn't happen, my point is that it is not intentional behaviour - which your previous statements seemed to indicate. You presented your statements as if this was all the way WotC wanted it. And while that could be a possibility, it is unlikely to be so since your issues do not affect everyone, is not intended design, and has been confirmed as a bug by site staff who are investigating.
The marketplace change wasn't a bit of appearance redesign - it was a complete overhaul, which means a lot of the background system in how the site operates licenses, order history, and more was being changed and moved around. Any such changes will cause errors and unforeseen bugs.
You presented an obvious bug that was not affecting everyone, as if it was the new intended behaviour when nothing indicates such, which is disingenuous. That was the reason for the correction.
"I'm not so sure about the legal part. Removing access to the discounts that they advertised when people agreed to the purchases very much sounds like they're reneging on their part of the deal. Additionally, the other issues I've explained are also a breach of contract on their part - they sold those a la carte contents with the understanding that they would be usable and shareable. In many cases this is proving to no longer be true, and discussions with them in support tickets has thus far not proven otherwise.
They may have TOS that we agreed to, but there are still consumer protection laws in place around the world and I'm willing to bet that these shady dealings fly in the face of at least a few."
The law is not clear cut and does permit mistakes by businesses within reason. Now if WotC made some statement saying they were not going to honour previous a la carte purchases and would deliberately remove access on those grounds - you might have a case. But since they have actually made a statement to the opposite in both article and forum posts by site staff, and are actively honouring discounts (albeit in a very inconvenient manner) and investigating access issues and the fact it is not a rule being enforced since some (you should be careful of "many" until you have outright checked the hundreds of thousands of users) aren't having problems. No, you don't have a case. At least not yet. If there has been zero improvement after a set time (I can't remember specifically what that time frame is, but 30 days is often the standard) then there is possibility of legal concern. Until then, no, there is no ground for a lawsuit at this stage.
However, I am not a lawyer. So while my advice is based on my study of law and commerce and limited professional experience dealing with such for 20 years: it is personal advice, not professional advice. If you disagree, you are free to take any legal action you want. Your money, after all. Godspeed. I'm not being sarcastic either. I hate what they are doing and what they have become, and the only way to truly make such a company aware is to affect their bottom line. So, if you did take up such action I genuinely wish you well. I just know you don't have a case so I'm mentioning it. Or, more specifically, you don't have a case yet.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
So the way it's been done, users that purchased pieces of content to share with their campaigns are no longer able to share that material - only use it themselves.
This is not correct. Anything purchased, even by a la carte method before the marketplace change, can still be shared through Content Sharing.
No, I didn't just come in here ranting for no reason. I and 7 other friends have confirmed that not all a la carte materials are shareable. We've tested it in multiple different campaigns and verified that it's simply not working. Some does, some does not. If the campaign existed prior to the changes it seems the materials are still available. But if you start a new campaign and try to share things you're going to run into multiple pieces that just are not available to others in that campaign.
Half-right, half-wrong. The marketplace won't automatically apply a discount automatically for previous a la carte purchases but you can obtain such discount by contacting Customer Support first. They are looking into a way to make the process easier.
You should have just ended your statement after "The marketplace won't automatically apply a discount" and agreed. First of all they haven't clearly indicated the "contact customer support" -anywhere- in the marketplace. They don't have notifications in checkout. They did absolutely -nothing- to make sure people weren't getting ripped off. Contacting customer support for a discount and waiting for days, or weeks, to see if they'll honor the discount they told you you'd get is utter BS. As is them claiming to look into a way to make the process easier. They knew before they made the changes that this issue would exist, and they did nothing about it. This is a deceptive practice if there ever was one. They're banking on people either A) not knowing that they have to contact them for the discount, or B) Not having time to wait for said discount before purchasing the material they very likely need for their gaming session. I will never understand why people like you defend shitty business practices that are designed or implemented in ways that screw over the consumer.
I say "the correct digital book" because if you try to purchase a book with certain material in it you want to unlock, you better first make sure you search the forums, or reddit to verify it's the book that will actually unlock it. Apparently, just because the material is in the book you purchase, doesn't mean it'll actually unlock it's use and sharing on DnD Beyond. For example: if you buy Tashas CoE because you want the Spore druid subclass you will soon find that despite that subclass CLEARLY being in the book - it won't actually give you access to it. Instead, you have to buy Ravnica. This is not posted clearly -ANYWHERE- in the market place.
Not correct. If you purchased a book you unlock everything in that book even if it was originally printed in a different book. The need to get something from a different book was only applicable to a la carte purchasing - where you could only buy something on its own from the book it was first printed in. Buying a whole book unlocks everything in it. You still have to use the original source toggle for the character which can be confusing, but the whole content should be unlocked. If it hasn't for you then first check licenses are in sync (Account > Licenses) and if that doesn't work, contact Customer Support.
It's like you think I'm an idiot or just making stuff up. I am quite literally in discussions with their customer support over the very issue I described. There are multiple other people on these forums and reddit discussing the exact same problem with other materials. These issues began when they made the changes that everyone is discussing in this thread. So... No, it is not unlocking everything in the book as it should.
In fact the market place has been made more difficult to navigate and determine what each item actually unlocks. instead of a detailed list, you just get a blurb like "x number of new items!" or "a new class!"
Sort of. The blurb is there but if you go to Sources and then go to the book you want, you can read the Table of Contents which will detail classes and such. It's not a full list, but does give a decent enough view of what you can expect from it. The Table of Contents can be viewed for any book, even if you have not purchased it and don't have it shared with you. The reason is precisely for this purpose: so you can get an idea of what you'll get so you can see if you want to get the book.
Which, as established already in my previous statement, does not actually confirm that the content will actually be unlocked and usable currently. Again, I didn't come in here and just start flailing my arms around whilst senselessly babbling word vomit. These are actual problems I and others are experiencing. You defending them or saying otherwise does not change that they are factually an issue for some people.
The way this is being handle feels like it's class action lawsuit worthy.
It's not. The way they have handled this is, no doubt, shitty and shady and definitely breaks trust and faith in the company. However, it is 100% legal.
Shitty, shady, and completely destructive of trust and faith in the company we agree on. I'm not so sure about the legal part. Removing access to the discounts that they advertised when people agreed to the purchases very much sounds like they're reneging on their part of the deal. Additionally, the other issues I've explained are also a breach of contract on their part - they sold those a la carte contents with the understanding that they would be usable and shareable. In many cases this is proving to no longer be true, and discussions with them in support tickets has thus far not proven otherwise.
They may have TOS that we agreed to, but there are still consumer protection laws in place around the world and I'm willing to bet that these shady dealings fly in the face of at least a few.
There are plenty of valid things to beat wizbro up about, bugs are not one of them, also there are many valid issues/complaints that have not been addressed since this site went live long before it changed hands, just read through this subforum if you want a list. As frustrated as I am with wizbro currently and even though I am protesting the most recent changes as others on the site, I/we still offer help and insite when we can. I promise you Cyb3rM1nd is not defending any of the recent changes, but as he stated there are some bugs, but they are not affecting everyone like the one you are currently experiencing. I am not having any issues with sharing or using any of the piece meal content I have bought, but I have seen posts from others experiencing one or the other and some with both. When I come across these posts I try to confirm the issue and report my findings just like Cyb3rM1nd and many others on both sides of this controversial change have and do. Hell even some of the people I have the most polar opposite opinions/disagreements with are always trying to help sometimes we just need to let them help. I get your frustration as I am very frustrated with the current situation as well, but friendly fire is anything but.
Nesting quotes requires too much editing, so I'mma just copy-paste. This is a reply to Thaeric.
"No, I didn't just come in here ranting for no reason."
Never said you did.
"I and 7 other friends have confirmed that not all a la carte materials are shareable. We've tested it in multiple different campaigns and verified that it's simply not working. Some does, some does not. If the campaign existed prior to the changes it seems the materials are still available. But if you start a new campaign and try to share things you're going to run into multiple pieces that just are not available to others in that campaign."
What you have is a bug. All my sharing tests show I can share everything just fine, including piecemeal. The article on the marketplace changes also state piecemeal purchases are still honoured. You have a bug, not some evil nefarious conspiracy. Raise support ticket, and they'll assist.
"You should have just ended your statement after "The marketplace won't automatically apply a discount" and agreed. First of all they haven't clearly indicated the "contact customer support" -anywhere- in the marketplace. They don't have notifications in checkout. They did absolutely -nothing- to make sure people weren't getting ripped off. Contacting customer support for a discount and waiting for days, or weeks, to see if they'll honor the discount they told you you'd get is utter BS. As is them claiming to look into a way to make the process easier. They knew before they made the changes that this issue would exist, and they did nothing about it. This is a deceptive practice if there ever was one. They're banking on people either A) not knowing that they have to contact them for the discount, or B) Not having time to wait for said discount before purchasing the material they very likely need for their gaming session."
I agree. But your previous statement was half-wrong because discounts are being given. I also said you were half-right, because discounts are not being automatically applied and they should be. I also agree this is a shitty way of doing things and they should put notifications or a system in place, but this wasn't the statement you made nor relevant to the correction I was giving.
"I will never understand why people like you defend shitty business practices that are designed or implemented in ways that screw over the consumer. "
I am not defending their shitty practices and have been vocal against them - I've even made youtube videos and been in another openly against their recent practices, some are even worse than the removal of a la carte purchasing. I was not defending WotC, I was correcting you. There's a big difference.
"It's like you think I'm an idiot or just making stuff up. "
No, to both. I am responding only to the statements you present, and have no other thoughts about you at all. I prefer not to make assumptions about people.
" I am quite literally in discussions with their customer support over the very issue I described. There are multiple other people on these forums and reddit discussing the exact same problem with other materials. These issues began when they made the changes that everyone is discussing in this thread. So... No, it is not unlocking everything in the book as it should. "
I am aware some people are having problems accessing certain content. I am also aware this has been noticed by the community manager and by moderators and has been raised for investigation by the site staff. My point is not that it doesn't happen, my point is that it is not intentional behaviour - which your previous statements seemed to indicate. You presented your statements as if this was all the way WotC wanted it. And while that could be a possibility, it is unlikely to be so since your issues do not affect everyone, is not intended design, and has been confirmed as a bug by site staff who are investigating.
The marketplace change wasn't a bit of appearance redesign - it was a complete overhaul, which means a lot of the background system in how the site operates licenses, order history, and more was being changed and moved around. Any such changes will cause errors and unforeseen bugs.
You presented an obvious bug that was not affecting everyone, as if it was the new intended behaviour when nothing indicates such, which is disingenuous. That was the reason for the correction.
"I'm not so sure about the legal part. Removing access to the discounts that they advertised when people agreed to the purchases very much sounds like they're reneging on their part of the deal. Additionally, the other issues I've explained are also a breach of contract on their part - they sold those a la carte contents with the understanding that they would be usable and shareable. In many cases this is proving to no longer be true, and discussions with them in support tickets has thus far not proven otherwise.
They may have TOS that we agreed to, but there are still consumer protection laws in place around the world and I'm willing to bet that these shady dealings fly in the face of at least a few."
The law is not clear cut and does permit mistakes by businesses within reason. Now if WotC made some statement saying they were not going to honour previous a la carte purchases and would deliberately remove access on those grounds - you might have a case. But since they have actually made a statement to the opposite in both article and forum posts by site staff, and are actively honouring discounts (albeit in a very inconvenient manner) and investigating access issues and the fact it is not a rule being enforced since some (you should be careful of "many" until you have outright checked the hundreds of thousands of users) aren't having problems. No, you don't have a case. At least not yet. If there has been zero improvement after a set time (I can't remember specifically what that time frame is, but 30 days is often the standard) then there is possibility of legal concern. Until then, no, there is no ground for a lawsuit at this stage.
However, I am not a lawyer. So while my advice is based on my study of law and commerce and limited professional experience dealing with such for 20 years: it is personal advice, not professional advice. If you disagree, you are free to take any legal action you want. Your money, after all. Godspeed. I'm not being sarcastic either. I hate what they are doing and what they have become, and the only way to truly make such a company aware is to affect their bottom line. So, if you did take up such action I genuinely wish you well. I just know you don't have a case so I'm mentioning it. Or, more specifically, you don't have a case yet.
Yes on the nesting! everytime I think I have it sorted I seem to roll a nat 1 on my next turn lol!
I don't even care if they are continuing the book discounts from previous a la carte purchases. I don't want the whole dang book, not going to happen, now I just won't purchase anything. At all. Was actually kinda looking forward to the new updated version of DnD but fine, I won't get it now, so be it.
I was saying to a friend the other day how awesome dndbeyond because you could make the character you want and you don't have to buy every book to do so. When he came to make his character for his first campaign he told me there was no way to purchase individual subclasses and traits and has decided not to bother playing because he couldn't make the charter he wanted to play without dropping £60 on books. Terrible decision, bring back a la carte.
I was saying to a friend the other day how awesome dndbeyond because you could make the character you want and you don't have to buy every book to do so. When he came to make his character for his first campaign he told me there was no way to purchase individual subclasses and traits and has decided not to bother playing because he couldn't make the charter he wanted to play without dropping £60 on books. Terrible decision, bring back a la carte.
Right? I've sold so many people on DDB because of that exactly. I enticed all my players to pick whatever race or class option from any source they would like because I would specifically buy just what they need when they need it. Now when I talk about DDB I just say they've lost their way and turned against their core audience. I was a walking DDB ad, often referencing Sam Riegal's sponsorship skits by saying in his voice " on the D&D Beyond app!"
Imagine being a new user to this platform and seeing that just to have one of the non-basic rules feat from the PHB, a subclass from Tasha's, and a race from MMotM would run you $90. Even those with the disposable income to buy it would be put off by the price tag and go the route of pencil & paper. It's like they want people to just find the PDF's of these books online. It's easy to do so with a few well worded google searches (note to mods and for legal purposes, I do not condone piracy or partake in the practice). When people see $30-$90 plus a subscription to have more than 6 characters, the free option will be much more enticing.
It's like they want people to just find the PDF's of these books online. It's easy to do so with a few well worded google searches (note to mods and for legal purposes, I do not condone piracy or partake in the practice).
Exactly right, and it's even easier than that. You can find most any rule on dnd5e.*******.com but I usually just Google what I want to find, like a magic item or subclass preceded by 5e (EG; 5e path of the giants). To make matters worse for WotC you can then create a homebrew of that thing you just found online and still use your DDB character sheet. Thing is, I'd rather pay the two bucks to support the site and save time.
It's like they want people to just find the PDF's of these books online. It's easy to do so with a few well worded google searches (note to mods and for legal purposes, I do not condone piracy or partake in the practice).
Exactly right, and it's even easier than that. You can find most any rule on dnd5e.*******.com but I usually just Google what I want to find, like a magic item or subclass preceded by 5e (EG; 5e path of the giants). To make matters worse for WotC you can then create a homebrew of that thing you just found online and still use your DDB character sheet. Thing is, I'd rather pay the two bucks to support the site and save time.
The sad thing is just going to turn into an "arms race" and those rarely build anything but walls, this one will likely build paywalls.
You could make a one time 10 dollar payment. You get to pick a race a feat and a class from any source. If you do not like them you can switch them out at will but only have one of each at a time. Or a yearly subscription for access to more content.
Just an idea for something they could try in the future.
They could also try communicating with the community in a clear and consistent manner so that people have a better understanding what to expect moving forward. I am what is often referred to as "a whale" for WotC (I own all of the official content here as well as several third party books), and while I haven't bought anything a la cart since I first joined and started dipping my toe in the water, the manner in which this has all been handled has left me feeling very uneasy. I love this game and I truly want to support its ongoing development, but my growing fear of them suddenly ripping the carpet out from under me in some way I couldn't have seen coming is giving me serious pause about continuing to make purchases here.
I'm not quite ready to cancel my subscription as I have several groups of players who count on my content sharing, but at some point the radio silence from WotC might push me to move on. I just feel like professional, timely and ongoing communication with their user base [paying customers] really isn't too much to ask.
They could also try communicating with the community in a clear and consistent manner so that people have a better understanding what to expect moving forward. I am what is often referred to as "a whale" for WotC (I own all of the official content here as well as several third party books), and while I haven't bought anything a la cart since I first joined and started dipping my toe in the water, the manner in which this has all been handled has left me feeling very uneasy. I love this game and I truly want to support its ongoing development, but my growing fear of them suddenly ripping the carpet out from under me in some way I couldn't have seen coming is giving me serious pause about continuing to make purchases here.
I'm not quite ready to cancel my subscription as I have several groups of players who count on my content sharing, but at some point the radio silence from WotC might push me to move on. I just feel like professional, timely and ongoing communication with their user base [paying customers] really isn't too much to ask.
Same here, but I am at about 90% of the content both physical and digital official and 1 or 2 3rd party.
FYI, if you have an annual subscription and cancel you still get to use the sub until the renewal date, so voting by canceling may not cost you anything and you can always renew if you want to continue it that is where I am mine runs out in October and I canceled. It is one of the benefits of the no refunds policy.
This is all as disappointing as the Monthly Freebies you get for subscribing.
While I wouldn't miss the sub perks, they are free and they are better than a cracker jack prize. The character sheet perks are really only seen by the player and the DM, I have fun changing them up since they are there, I rarely use digital dice so again not much use for myself though many I play with do use them and seem to really enjoy them, they are fun and the art is pretty sweet too.
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CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
Half-right, half-wrong. The marketplace won't automatically apply a discount automatically for previous a la carte purchases but you can obtain such discount by contacting Customer Support first. They are looking into a way to make the process easier.
Where have they said they're looking to make the process easier? I've not seen anything to suggest that they're working on a better system, and when I asked on the discord they were unaware of any plans to change things. The only change I'm aware of is a back-end change that makes things easier for customer support to grant the discount (which was mistakenly reported as an front-end improvement for customers to use). As far as I can tell contacting support will be the only way to get the discount going forward.
You should have just ended your statement after "The marketplace won't automatically apply a discount" and agreed. First of all they haven't clearly indicated the "contact customer support" -anywhere- in the marketplace. They don't have notifications in checkout. They did absolutely -nothing- to make sure people weren't getting ripped off.
I asked about this on the discord too, they consider the one line hidden in the middle of the Marketplace FAQ to be adequate advertisement of the discounts. The fact that the FAQ is only linked in the site footer, rather than somewhere more prominent on the store page itself is apparently fine. Of course, everyone stops to find & read through store FAQ's before making a purchase so I'm sure this is fine 🙄.
Given how much they've tried to hide away the information I can only assume it's a deliberate attempt to get unsuspecting customers to pay full price, while avoiding any legal issues by still technically having the discounts available. Pretty shitty behaviour, but hardly out of character for them.
They could also try communicating with the community in a clear and consistent manner so that people have a better understanding what to expect moving forward.
Or, you know, communicating at all. It's over a month and there's been nothing from DnDBeyond/WotC (other than the Community Support team saying they've passed feedback on, but even then they don't know or can't say whether anything's happening with it), they're clearly hoping that people will eventually give up an move on.
I typically don't buy extra books. Yet.... I have purchased individual add-ons for both Character play and as a DM.
Not sure what executive thought this was a good decision, but now I will just make do with what limited books I buy. You basically lost some revenue from me, and I'm sure there has to be THOUSANDS of players and DMs that are similar to me. Why in the world would you not want ala carte. Every major game in PC/Console has this and generate millions of dollars in revenue. Serious fail. Even today, I was like... maybe I'll finally pick up Vortex Warp. Nope. Not available. I'm not buying the book, yet you lost out on a simple easy transaction from me just now. Now I'll just custom create a spell and you get nothing. I feel like Gene Wilder.
The best part about owning physical books is that one can avoid being forced to upgrade to new editions, avoid having their content deprecated, and tell DDB to go pound sand.
If you own the physical books, just walk away from DDB for good. They don't care about us or our frustrations, so there's no reason to continue doing business with them.
By the way ,for any WOTC people watching this thread. My price point for a digital book from here is 15 bucks. I never bought piecemeal since I want everything. So in the future it would be nice if the digital copy of all books was about 15 bucks. I would start buying them all as soon as they came out, or at least think about it.
I mean, you can see before you even add it to your cart that most of the stuff is only about 10-20% off. The only things off by 50% were maybe PHB and DMG something most people already have anyway. This and the marketplace changes are why I didn't buy anything. It's just not worth it.
I'd rather homebrew feats, classes and items myself before paying anything anymore. Especially after their mess with the a-la-carte discounts... I'm definitely not looking through all my stuff to find out which book it is from and then contact support to wait for them to send me a discount... I mean, they aren't even able to hide bought content on the marketplace anymore it seems, or I'm just too blind to find this option.
As long as they don't fix this, buying anything here isn't worth it at all....
I'm not quite ready to cancel my subscription as I have several groups of players who count on my content sharing, but at some point the radio silence from WotC might push me to move on. I just feel like professional, timely and ongoing communication with their user base [paying customers] really isn't too much to ask.
If I recall, when you cancel your subscription remains open until its renewal date. Cancelling now sends the point even if they already have your money for the year.
I'm not quite ready to cancel my subscription as I have several groups of players who count on my content sharing, but at some point the radio silence from WotC might push me to move on. I just feel like professional, timely and ongoing communication with their user base [paying customers] really isn't too much to ask.
If I recall, when you cancel your subscription remains open until its renewal date. Cancelling now sends the point even if they already have your money for the year.
That's what I did, my sub doesn't run out until March 2025 but I made sure to cancel and put in the reasoning was a la carte. IF they don't ever make it right then my sub runs out and my players will just have to switch to pen/paper. I will use what I bought for me but they aren't getting another dime.
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This is not correct. Anything purchased, even by a la carte method before the marketplace change, can still be shared through Content Sharing.
Half-right, half-wrong. The marketplace won't automatically apply a discount automatically for previous a la carte purchases but you can obtain such discount by contacting Customer Support first. They are looking into a way to make the process easier.
Not correct. If you purchased a book you unlock everything in that book even if it was originally printed in a different book. The need to get something from a different book was only applicable to a la carte purchasing - where you could only buy something on its own from the book it was first printed in. Buying a whole book unlocks everything in it. You still have to use the original source toggle for the character which can be confusing, but the whole content should be unlocked. If it hasn't for you then first check licenses are in sync (Account > Licenses) and if that doesn't work, contact Customer Support.
Sort of. The blurb is there but if you go to Sources and then go to the book you want, you can read the Table of Contents which will detail classes and such. It's not a full list, but does give a decent enough view of what you can expect from it. The Table of Contents can be viewed for any book, even if you have not purchased it and don't have it shared with you. The reason is precisely for this purpose: so you can get an idea of what you'll get so you can see if you want to get the book.
It's not. The way they have handled this is, no doubt, shitty and shady and definitely breaks trust and faith in the company. However, it is 100% legal.
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No, I didn't just come in here ranting for no reason. I and 7 other friends have confirmed that not all a la carte materials are shareable. We've tested it in multiple different campaigns and verified that it's simply not working. Some does, some does not. If the campaign existed prior to the changes it seems the materials are still available. But if you start a new campaign and try to share things you're going to run into multiple pieces that just are not available to others in that campaign.
You should have just ended your statement after "The marketplace won't automatically apply a discount" and agreed. First of all they haven't clearly indicated the "contact customer support" -anywhere- in the marketplace. They don't have notifications in checkout. They did absolutely -nothing- to make sure people weren't getting ripped off. Contacting customer support for a discount and waiting for days, or weeks, to see if they'll honor the discount they told you you'd get is utter BS. As is them claiming to look into a way to make the process easier. They knew before they made the changes that this issue would exist, and they did nothing about it. This is a deceptive practice if there ever was one. They're banking on people either A) not knowing that they have to contact them for the discount, or B) Not having time to wait for said discount before purchasing the material they very likely need for their gaming session.
I will never understand why people like you defend shitty business practices that are designed or implemented in ways that screw over the consumer.
It's like you think I'm an idiot or just making stuff up. I am quite literally in discussions with their customer support over the very issue I described. There are multiple other people on these forums and reddit discussing the exact same problem with other materials. These issues began when they made the changes that everyone is discussing in this thread.
So... No, it is not unlocking everything in the book as it should.
Which, as established already in my previous statement, does not actually confirm that the content will actually be unlocked and usable currently. Again, I didn't come in here and just start flailing my arms around whilst senselessly babbling word vomit. These are actual problems I and others are experiencing. You defending them or saying otherwise does not change that they are factually an issue for some people.
Shitty, shady, and completely destructive of trust and faith in the company we agree on.
I'm not so sure about the legal part. Removing access to the discounts that they advertised when people agreed to the purchases very much sounds like they're reneging on their part of the deal. Additionally, the other issues I've explained are also a breach of contract on their part - they sold those a la carte contents with the understanding that they would be usable and shareable. In many cases this is proving to no longer be true, and discussions with them in support tickets has thus far not proven otherwise.
They may have TOS that we agreed to, but there are still consumer protection laws in place around the world and I'm willing to bet that these shady dealings fly in the face of at least a few.
Nesting quotes requires too much editing, so I'mma just copy-paste. This is a reply to Thaeric.
"No, I didn't just come in here ranting for no reason."
Never said you did.
"I and 7 other friends have confirmed that not all a la carte materials are shareable. We've tested it in multiple different campaigns and verified that it's simply not working. Some does, some does not. If the campaign existed prior to the changes it seems the materials are still available. But if you start a new campaign and try to share things you're going to run into multiple pieces that just are not available to others in that campaign."
What you have is a bug. All my sharing tests show I can share everything just fine, including piecemeal. The article on the marketplace changes also state piecemeal purchases are still honoured. You have a bug, not some evil nefarious conspiracy. Raise support ticket, and they'll assist.
"You should have just ended your statement after "The marketplace won't automatically apply a discount" and agreed. First of all they haven't clearly indicated the "contact customer support" -anywhere- in the marketplace. They don't have notifications in checkout. They did absolutely -nothing- to make sure people weren't getting ripped off. Contacting customer support for a discount and waiting for days, or weeks, to see if they'll honor the discount they told you you'd get is utter BS. As is them claiming to look into a way to make the process easier. They knew before they made the changes that this issue would exist, and they did nothing about it. This is a deceptive practice if there ever was one. They're banking on people either A) not knowing that they have to contact them for the discount, or B) Not having time to wait for said discount before purchasing the material they very likely need for their gaming session."
I agree. But your previous statement was half-wrong because discounts are being given. I also said you were half-right, because discounts are not being automatically applied and they should be. I also agree this is a shitty way of doing things and they should put notifications or a system in place, but this wasn't the statement you made nor relevant to the correction I was giving.
"I will never understand why people like you defend shitty business practices that are designed or implemented in ways that screw over the consumer. "
I am not defending their shitty practices and have been vocal against them - I've even made youtube videos and been in another openly against their recent practices, some are even worse than the removal of a la carte purchasing. I was not defending WotC, I was correcting you. There's a big difference.
"It's like you think I'm an idiot or just making stuff up. "
No, to both. I am responding only to the statements you present, and have no other thoughts about you at all. I prefer not to make assumptions about people.
" I am quite literally in discussions with their customer support over the very issue I described. There are multiple other people on these forums and reddit discussing the exact same problem with other materials. These issues began when they made the changes that everyone is discussing in this thread.
So... No, it is not unlocking everything in the book as it should. "
I am aware some people are having problems accessing certain content. I am also aware this has been noticed by the community manager and by moderators and has been raised for investigation by the site staff. My point is not that it doesn't happen, my point is that it is not intentional behaviour - which your previous statements seemed to indicate. You presented your statements as if this was all the way WotC wanted it. And while that could be a possibility, it is unlikely to be so since your issues do not affect everyone, is not intended design, and has been confirmed as a bug by site staff who are investigating.
The marketplace change wasn't a bit of appearance redesign - it was a complete overhaul, which means a lot of the background system in how the site operates licenses, order history, and more was being changed and moved around. Any such changes will cause errors and unforeseen bugs.
You presented an obvious bug that was not affecting everyone, as if it was the new intended behaviour when nothing indicates such, which is disingenuous. That was the reason for the correction.
"I'm not so sure about the legal part. Removing access to the discounts that they advertised when people agreed to the purchases very much sounds like they're reneging on their part of the deal. Additionally, the other issues I've explained are also a breach of contract on their part - they sold those a la carte contents with the understanding that they would be usable and shareable. In many cases this is proving to no longer be true, and discussions with them in support tickets has thus far not proven otherwise.
They may have TOS that we agreed to, but there are still consumer protection laws in place around the world and I'm willing to bet that these shady dealings fly in the face of at least a few."
The law is not clear cut and does permit mistakes by businesses within reason. Now if WotC made some statement saying they were not going to honour previous a la carte purchases and would deliberately remove access on those grounds - you might have a case. But since they have actually made a statement to the opposite in both article and forum posts by site staff, and are actively honouring discounts (albeit in a very inconvenient manner) and investigating access issues and the fact it is not a rule being enforced since some (you should be careful of "many" until you have outright checked the hundreds of thousands of users) aren't having problems. No, you don't have a case. At least not yet. If there has been zero improvement after a set time (I can't remember specifically what that time frame is, but 30 days is often the standard) then there is possibility of legal concern. Until then, no, there is no ground for a lawsuit at this stage.
However, I am not a lawyer. So while my advice is based on my study of law and commerce and limited professional experience dealing with such for 20 years: it is personal advice, not professional advice. If you disagree, you are free to take any legal action you want. Your money, after all. Godspeed. I'm not being sarcastic either. I hate what they are doing and what they have become, and the only way to truly make such a company aware is to affect their bottom line. So, if you did take up such action I genuinely wish you well. I just know you don't have a case so I'm mentioning it. Or, more specifically, you don't have a case yet.
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There are plenty of valid things to beat wizbro up about, bugs are not one of them, also there are many valid issues/complaints that have not been addressed since this site went live long before it changed hands, just read through this subforum if you want a list. As frustrated as I am with wizbro currently and even though I am protesting the most recent changes as others on the site, I/we still offer help and insite when we can. I promise you Cyb3rM1nd is not defending any of the recent changes, but as he stated there are some bugs, but they are not affecting everyone like the one you are currently experiencing. I am not having any issues with sharing or using any of the piece meal content I have bought, but I have seen posts from others experiencing one or the other and some with both. When I come across these posts I try to confirm the issue and report my findings just like Cyb3rM1nd and many others on both sides of this controversial change have and do. Hell even some of the people I have the most polar opposite opinions/disagreements with are always trying to help sometimes we just need to let them help. I get your frustration as I am very frustrated with the current situation as well, but friendly fire is anything but.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
I don't even care if they are continuing the book discounts from previous a la carte purchases. I don't want the whole dang book, not going to happen, now I just won't purchase anything. At all. Was actually kinda looking forward to the new updated version of DnD but fine, I won't get it now, so be it.
I was saying to a friend the other day how awesome dndbeyond because you could make the character you want and you don't have to buy every book to do so. When he came to make his character for his first campaign he told me there was no way to purchase individual subclasses and traits and has decided not to bother playing because he couldn't make the charter he wanted to play without dropping £60 on books. Terrible decision, bring back a la carte.
Right? I've sold so many people on DDB because of that exactly. I enticed all my players to pick whatever race or class option from any source they would like because I would specifically buy just what they need when they need it. Now when I talk about DDB I just say they've lost their way and turned against their core audience. I was a walking DDB ad, often referencing Sam Riegal's sponsorship skits by saying in his voice " on the D&D Beyond app!"
Imagine being a new user to this platform and seeing that just to have one of the non-basic rules feat from the PHB, a subclass from Tasha's, and a race from MMotM would run you $90. Even those with the disposable income to buy it would be put off by the price tag and go the route of pencil & paper. It's like they want people to just find the PDF's of these books online. It's easy to do so with a few well worded google searches (note to mods and for legal purposes, I do not condone piracy or partake in the practice). When people see $30-$90 plus a subscription to have more than 6 characters, the free option will be much more enticing.
Exactly right, and it's even easier than that. You can find most any rule on dnd5e.*******.com but I usually just Google what I want to find, like a magic item or subclass preceded by 5e (EG; 5e path of the giants). To make matters worse for WotC you can then create a homebrew of that thing you just found online and still use your DDB character sheet. Thing is, I'd rather pay the two bucks to support the site and save time.
The sad thing is just going to turn into an "arms race" and those rarely build anything but walls, this one will likely build paywalls.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
You know what they could try.
You could make a one time 10 dollar payment. You get to pick a race a feat and a class from any source. If you do not like them you can switch them out at will but only have one of each at a time.
Or a yearly subscription for access to more content.
Just an idea for something they could try in the future.
They could also try communicating with the community in a clear and consistent manner so that people have a better understanding what to expect moving forward. I am what is often referred to as "a whale" for WotC (I own all of the official content here as well as several third party books), and while I haven't bought anything a la cart since I first joined and started dipping my toe in the water, the manner in which this has all been handled has left me feeling very uneasy. I love this game and I truly want to support its ongoing development, but my growing fear of them suddenly ripping the carpet out from under me in some way I couldn't have seen coming is giving me serious pause about continuing to make purchases here.
I'm not quite ready to cancel my subscription as I have several groups of players who count on my content sharing, but at some point the radio silence from WotC might push me to move on. I just feel like professional, timely and ongoing communication with their user base [paying customers] really isn't too much to ask.
Same here, but I am at about 90% of the content both physical and digital official and 1 or 2 3rd party.
FYI, if you have an annual subscription and cancel you still get to use the sub until the renewal date, so voting by canceling may not cost you anything and you can always renew if you want to continue it that is where I am mine runs out in October and I canceled. It is one of the benefits of the no refunds policy.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
This is all as disappointing as the Monthly Freebies you get for subscribing.
While I wouldn't miss the sub perks, they are free and they are better than a cracker jack prize. The character sheet perks are really only seen by the player and the DM, I have fun changing them up since they are there, I rarely use digital dice so again not much use for myself though many I play with do use them and seem to really enjoy them, they are fun and the art is pretty sweet too.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
Where have they said they're looking to make the process easier? I've not seen anything to suggest that they're working on a better system, and when I asked on the discord they were unaware of any plans to change things. The only change I'm aware of is a back-end change that makes things easier for customer support to grant the discount (which was mistakenly reported as an front-end improvement for customers to use). As far as I can tell contacting support will be the only way to get the discount going forward.
I asked about this on the discord too, they consider the one line hidden in the middle of the Marketplace FAQ to be adequate advertisement of the discounts. The fact that the FAQ is only linked in the site footer, rather than somewhere more prominent on the store page itself is apparently fine. Of course, everyone stops to find & read through store FAQ's before making a purchase so I'm sure this is fine 🙄.
Given how much they've tried to hide away the information I can only assume it's a deliberate attempt to get unsuspecting customers to pay full price, while avoiding any legal issues by still technically having the discounts available. Pretty shitty behaviour, but hardly out of character for them.
Or, you know, communicating at all. It's over a month and there's been nothing from DnDBeyond/WotC (other than the Community Support team saying they've passed feedback on, but even then they don't know or can't say whether anything's happening with it), they're clearly hoping that people will eventually give up an move on.
New to the party here....
Seriously disappointed in this decision.
I typically don't buy extra books. Yet.... I have purchased individual add-ons for both Character play and as a DM.
Not sure what executive thought this was a good decision, but now I will just make do with what limited books I buy. You basically lost some revenue from me, and I'm sure there has to be THOUSANDS of players and DMs that are similar to me. Why in the world would you not want ala carte. Every major game in PC/Console has this and generate millions of dollars in revenue. Serious fail. Even today, I was like... maybe I'll finally pick up Vortex Warp. Nope. Not available. I'm not buying the book, yet you lost out on a simple easy transaction from me just now. Now I'll just custom create a spell and you get nothing. I feel like Gene Wilder.
The best part about owning physical books is that one can avoid being forced to upgrade to new editions, avoid having their content deprecated, and tell DDB to go pound sand.
If you own the physical books, just walk away from DDB for good. They don't care about us or our frustrations, so there's no reason to continue doing business with them.
I mean, you can see before you even add it to your cart that most of the stuff is only about 10-20% off. The only things off by 50% were maybe PHB and DMG something most people already have anyway. This and the marketplace changes are why I didn't buy anything. It's just not worth it.
I'd rather homebrew feats, classes and items myself before paying anything anymore.
Especially after their mess with the a-la-carte discounts... I'm definitely not looking through all my stuff to find out which book it is from and then contact support to wait for them to send me a discount... I mean, they aren't even able to hide bought content on the marketplace anymore it seems, or I'm just too blind to find this option.
As long as they don't fix this, buying anything here isn't worth it at all....
If I recall, when you cancel your subscription remains open until its renewal date. Cancelling now sends the point even if they already have your money for the year.
That's what I did, my sub doesn't run out until March 2025 but I made sure to cancel and put in the reasoning was a la carte. IF they don't ever make it right then my sub runs out and my players will just have to switch to pen/paper. I will use what I bought for me but they aren't getting another dime.