The Future of D&D Beyond

Quote from DCTrekkie >>

The focus now is clearly in churning out as much 3rd party content as possible, whether it fully works or not.

They have been very slowly fixing minor bugs from the PHB/DMG, but there doesn't seem to be any intention of fixing larger issues or any of the 2014 content that was broken by the new releases.

This is my concern. It's a major plus that D&D Beyond are including so much Third Party content......but having to implement it as a priority over fixing other core features that still don't work isn't encouraging. Just take the Player's Handbook 2024 - look at how many features are still not implemented. That's not even mentioning the old Player's Handbook (still can't apply a Sacred Weapon to a Devotion Paladin, 8 years after D&D Beyond was created).

I would rather a fix be put in for applying Agonizing Blast for the 1,000's of Warlock Players than yet another piece of Third Party content that will release with other features and bugs that will need fixing. The Development Team is stretched enough with multiple bugs from already existing products and having to implement new official D&D content that releases over time. Anyone who remembers how long it took D&D Beyond to correctly label digital dice that applied Healing will know how long it takes for features to be implemented. Adding more and more buggy Third Party content slows done the already slow progress that the D&D Beyond team are in charge of.

No shade towards those that love Third Party content. Speaking as someone who loves the Critical Role content, I would honestly prefer attention be spent fixing broken features from its own Core Rulebooks and the Tools this website advertises like the Encounter Builder.

The big problem is that for a digital native, buying physical, unsearchable books is an annoying crutch.  And legally buying most of the books digitally is ONLY available here.  So either we go to other systems, or we buy digital copies on D&D Beyond.  We can't even buy PDFs any more.

Roll20 also has most if not all of the official books available for sale. Possibly other places as well.

Quote from Frachese >>

Roll20 also has most if not all of the official books available for sale. Possibly other places as well.

Repeats tying yourself to a platform with issues.  

PDFs were the old solution to this, and it's a real shame they stopped, but walking away from DnD Beyond to Roll20 is more likely a repeat of the same issues.  There's no real way to have an indelible permanent electronic copy of the books, independent of ongoing WOTC control.  Essentially we can never "own" an electronic copy.  Only a license to access.

Add in that there seems to be NO customer service.  I've had an ongoing problem with not receiving notifications.

Any request to Customer Service seems to fall on deaf ears

Exactly!

 Core functionality should come first. Supporting third-party content is great, but not at the expense of fixing long-standing issues that affect everyday gameplay.

I'm not sure in what manner you think table top players are being left behind... What features have you lost that you used to use that are tabletop focused?  None?  Ya none...

The issue is you have reached a point in your life you fear change which seems is natural... I'm not sure why it happens but when it does you have to rage against the change.

I see zero messages books won't be available in paper format... I see see messages VTTs will be mandatory.

The ONLY thing happening is that it is bring brought into the modern era... And for many of us it is better.

So you are old school like me you remember 2nd edition where you had a separate handbook for fighters etc and all these feats like 2 handed and ambidexterity etc etc?  You know how easy it is to make sure everything you selected has the pre-reqs met and the modifiers applied correct for a new player in the digital format?  You know why they simplified the game so much after 2nd ex?  The complaints about the complexity... You had to know what feats had what pre-reqs and existed in which books etc etc and have all those books open and in front of you it was RIDICULOUS... I was ok with it but new gamers were not.

Now you share your books on the interface they accept and make a character and it checks and applies everything so adding classes, sub classes and feats etc doesn't add much complexity for a newbie but adds all kinds of flavor for peeps like us... They can make it complicated again.

So we use maps on a TV with a touch frame so anyone can move their people around... We like minis and still paint them sometimes but this is so much easier for the people who won't... 

The is a part of me that misses rolling dice as doing it in the interface means one never rolls too far away and I never have to do the math...so it's very tempting to not roll physical dice... But I have the option to do so at any time in my group.

But I just don't feel like they have taken anything away from in person gaming... I think combat is speeding up and the game is becoming easier for newbies regardless of the number of options that exist.

I think many in my age bracket are over reacting to an issue that doesn't actually exist.

Quote from Lamoon01 >>

Quote from DCTrekkie >>

The focus now is clearly in churning out as much 3rd party content as possible, whether it fully works or not.

They have been very slowly fixing minor bugs from the PHB/DMG, but there doesn't seem to be any intention of fixing larger issues or any of the 2014 content that was broken by the new releases.

 

This is my concern. It's a major plus that D&D Beyond are including so much Third Party content......but having to implement it as a priority over fixing other core features that still don't work isn't encouraging. Just take the Player's Handbook 2024 - look at how many features are still not implemented. That's not even mentioning the old Player's Handbook (still can't apply a Sacred Weapon to a Devotion Paladin, 8 years after D&D Beyond was created).

I would rather a fix be put in for applying Agonizing Blast for the 1,000's of Warlock Players than yet another piece of Third Party content that will release with other features and bugs that will need fixing. The Development Team is stretched enough with multiple bugs from already existing products and having to implement new official D&D content that releases over time. Anyone who remembers how long it took D&D Beyond to correctly label digital dice that applied Healing will know how long it takes for features to be implemented. Adding more and more buggy Third Party content slows done the already slow progress that the D&D Beyond team are in charge of.

No shade towards those that love Third Party content. Speaking as someone who loves the Critical Role content, I would honestly prefer attention be spent fixing broken features from its own Core Rulebooks and the Tools this website advertises like the Encounter Builder.

 From what they are saying core features that arent supported cant be fixed using the old backend programming, which is why they are in the process of programming that anew. I see and hear about a lot of work on all areas of the plattform so I dont feel they are neglecting it. Still people buying 3rd party books expect to be able to use those on Beyond. As far as I can tell people working on that are not the same as those updating features which are again not the same as people working on the backend overhaul. They have also said they have been able to hire enough people to do those jobs. I think that many people underestimate what it takes to fix some of those core issues.

Quote from ChumSlinger >>

I returned to DNDBeyond after playing another game (that founded the ORC license) for a year and a half. I wanted to see how good the support was for the 2024 rules. I have to say I was rather shocked at the lack of 2024 specific adventures. I also found it hard to believe that the character builder didn't directly support something as simple as the 2024 Custom Backgrounds. Haven't the PHB and DMG been out for over six months? 

 I am not sure wether there is a lack of adventures. We have two starter sets, an anthology, a fully fleshed out and many more sketched out adventures in the Forgotten Realms book, adventure sketches in the DMG and quite a few little free adventures on Beyond for 2024. That is all just the official releases and ignoring all the 3rd party stuff. Did we really have much more in 2016/2017. You can do custom background in the homebrew section.