I have to get this off my chest because the recent layout changes to D&D Beyond have turned what used to be a vibrant, immersive digital home for D&D into something that feels depressingly plain and boring. The old site had personality—those rich backgrounds, the thematic flourishes, the way the navigation felt like stepping into a wizard's library or a tavern notice board. It drew you in, made you excited to browse rules, build characters, or flip through sourcebooks. Everything had that classic D&D magic: evocative art, clever organization that rewarded exploration, and a sense that the site itself was part of the fantasy world.
Now? It's like someone decided to "modernize" it by sanding off every bit of charm and replacing it with sterile, minimalist corporate blandness. The homepage feels empty and corporate—big empty spaces, generic blocks, less focus on content and more on pushing whatever the algorithm wants. Navigation is flatter and less intuitive in practice; things that used to be one or two clicks away now feel buried or hidden behind vague menus. The color palette is washed out, the typography is safe and soulless, and the whole thing looks like it could be any random productivity app or e-commerce site instead of the official digital heart of Dungeons & Dragons.
Where's the wonder? Where's the flavor? D&D is supposed to be about epic adventures, mysterious tomes, and larger-than-life imagination—yet the site now feels like a spreadsheet with a dragon logo slapped on it. The old design invited you to linger, discover hidden gems in the rules, get inspired by the art and layout. This new one makes me want to log out as soon as possible. It prioritizes "clean" over character, "fast" over feeling, and in the process it lost what made D&D Beyond special.
Please, Wizards/ D&D Beyond team—roll back to the original layout (or at least bring back the core elements that gave it soul). We don't need another generic web 3.0 experience; we need the site that felt like it belonged in the Forgotten Realms, not a Silicon Valley startup dashboard. This change isn't progress; it's a downgrade that makes the platform feel cheaper and less magical.
Who's with me? Anyone else mourning the old D&D Beyond aesthetic and functionality? Let's get them to hear us—bring back the classic!
I totally agree with you. I use my cell phone to access the mobile app and when rolling dice my little screen is filled with dice that hang around way too long.
New interface is lacking imo, was fine before but now im struggling to find where they put everything. At least being able to see the books I own under library is a nice change
I have yet to find a single point of improvement. Not everything is worse, but most of the notable changes are, and the ones that aren't worst are simply different and bring nothing more to the table.
It makes me think this is just one step in a new path WoTC is paving to control the player-base and lead us as cattle. Seems to me they just looking to have easy, predictable income generation through limiting where and how we can play.
Well, if anyone from WoTC sees this - you are NEVER going to get away with it. You can't own our imagination! Dndbeyond is merely the easiest platform for me to use with my friends, but it's not my only option. I, for one, am not going to pay in to any of their bs. I am not paying a dime to WoTC, whether it's through dndb sub or any official releases. There are plety of 3rd party companies I'd rather give my money to...
Sorry to go off on a rant, but we've seen this behavior before. Its not looking good. But whatever... Let these mofos burn themselves again
I have yet to find a single point of improvement. Not everything is worse, but most of the notable changes are, and the ones that aren't worst are simply different and bring nothing more to the table.
Like most UI revisions, it's likely a minor improvement at best for the average user, and there's an inevitable period of annoyance for people who are used to the old one, until they get used to the new.
Is it worth doing? Maybe. That's a question that can only be answered by people with analytics, which isn't us. We just get annoyed when it gets in the way of our usage patterns, which are not necessarily anything like the average user's. (For instance, I'm mildly irritated by having to go into a menu to get at the forums, but most users don't ever use the forums. I'm also happy about menus not dropping down when my cursor goes near them. Is it an improvement for me? Time will tell, or a least, I'll get used to it.)
It makes me think this is just one step in a new path WoTC is paving to control the player-base and lead us as cattle. Seems to me they just looking to have easy, predictable income generation through limiting where and how we can play.
Well, if anyone from WoTC sees this - you are NEVER going to get away with it. You can't own our imagination! Dndbeyond is merely the easiest platform for me to use with my friends, but it's not my only option. I, for one, am not going to pay in to any of their bs. I am not paying a dime to WoTC, whether it's through dndb sub or any official releases. There are plety of 3rd party companies I'd rather give my money to...
Sorry to go off on a rant, but we've seen this behavior before. Its not looking good. But whatever... Let these mofos burn themselves again
This feels very much like part of the general trend of designing everything around people using phones or other small devices. Which inevitably means simplifying things to fit on a much smaller screen. As someone who only accesses dndbeyond from my PC, it makes the experience worse for me.
Is it worth doing? Maybe. That's a question that can only be answered by people with analytics, which isn't us. We just get annoyed when it gets in the way of our usage patterns, which are not necessarily anything like the average user's. (For instance, I'm mildly irritated by having to go into a menu to get at the forums, but most users don't ever use the forums. I'm also happy about menus not dropping down when my cursor goes near them. Is it an improvement for me? Time will tell, or a least, I'll get used to it.)
you still have to go through menus to to get to the forums
...
Dude, it's a UI reorganization.
its not JUST a UI reorganization they GOT RID OF THE PARTY WIZARD EASTER EGG. they literally took all the charm out of the site and replaced it with minimalistic bullshit NO ONE ASKED FOR like if they kept the old easter egg then it would be ok but they sucked the life out of it just like when Hasbro first bought out WoTC and only by the community banding together did they listen. i mean why get rid of a harmless, inoffensive easter egg that THE COMMUNITY LOVED?
Is this the "life" they apparently sucked out of the menus?
It's the same grey/grey/white colour scheme with a few more images. Those images weren't even that special or even very visible. The new menu (IMO) makes better use of the space and uses images more effectively.
And as for the party wizard, honestly I couldn't care less and the amount people harp on about it makes me hope they never bring it back purely out of spite. Petty I know, but it just feels like such a nothingburger.
As someone who has used the site since the menus looked like this:
(Sorry for the quality, the original is hosted on Imgur and I can't access that in the UK, so the thumbnail will have to do)
I find this latest iteration to be the best (not perfect, just best) to date. I can navigate this menu structure more intuitively than the previous iteration thanks to more logical names. I'm no longer causing menus to pop in and out with my cursor wandering. And I can access books quicker thanks to it displaying favours and recent rather than a random selection of stuff, most of which I don't use.
I have to get this off my chest because the recent layout changes to D&D Beyond have turned what used to be a vibrant, immersive digital home for D&D into something that feels depressingly plain and boring. The old site had personality—those rich backgrounds, the thematic flourishes, the way the navigation felt like stepping into a wizard's library or a tavern notice board. It drew you in, made you excited to browse rules, build characters, or flip through sourcebooks. Everything had that classic D&D magic: evocative art, clever organization that rewarded exploration, and a sense that the site itself was part of the fantasy world.
Now? It's like someone decided to "modernize" it by sanding off every bit of charm and replacing it with sterile, minimalist corporate blandness. The homepage feels empty and corporate—big empty spaces, generic blocks, less focus on content and more on pushing whatever the algorithm wants. Navigation is flatter and less intuitive in practice; things that used to be one or two clicks away now feel buried or hidden behind vague menus. The color palette is washed out, the typography is safe and soulless, and the whole thing looks like it could be any random productivity app or e-commerce site instead of the official digital heart of Dungeons & Dragons.
Where's the wonder? Where's the flavor? D&D is supposed to be about epic adventures, mysterious tomes, and larger-than-life imagination—yet the site now feels like a spreadsheet with a dragon logo slapped on it. The old design invited you to linger, discover hidden gems in the rules, get inspired by the art and layout. This new one makes me want to log out as soon as possible. It prioritizes "clean" over character, "fast" over feeling, and in the process it lost what made D&D Beyond special.
Please, Wizards/ D&D Beyond team—roll back to the original layout (or at least bring back the core elements that gave it soul). We don't need another generic web 3.0 experience; we need the site that felt like it belonged in the Forgotten Realms, not a Silicon Valley startup dashboard. This change isn't progress; it's a downgrade that makes the platform feel cheaper and less magical.
Who's with me? Anyone else mourning the old D&D Beyond aesthetic and functionality? Let's get them to hear us—bring back the classic!
I totally agree with you. I use my cell phone to access the mobile app and when rolling dice my little screen is filled with dice that hang around way too long.
New interface is lacking imo, was fine before but now im struggling to find where they put everything. At least being able to see the books I own under library is a nice change
I have yet to find a single point of improvement. Not everything is worse, but most of the notable changes are, and the ones that aren't worst are simply different and bring nothing more to the table.
It makes me think this is just one step in a new path WoTC is paving to control the player-base and lead us as cattle. Seems to me they just looking to have easy, predictable income generation through limiting where and how we can play.
Well, if anyone from WoTC sees this - you are NEVER going to get away with it. You can't own our imagination! Dndbeyond is merely the easiest platform for me to use with my friends, but it's not my only option. I, for one, am not going to pay in to any of their bs. I am not paying a dime to WoTC, whether it's through dndb sub or any official releases. There are plety of 3rd party companies I'd rather give my money to...
Sorry to go off on a rant, but we've seen this behavior before. Its not looking good. But whatever... Let these mofos burn themselves again
Like most UI revisions, it's likely a minor improvement at best for the average user, and there's an inevitable period of annoyance for people who are used to the old one, until they get used to the new.
Is it worth doing? Maybe. That's a question that can only be answered by people with analytics, which isn't us. We just get annoyed when it gets in the way of our usage patterns, which are not necessarily anything like the average user's. (For instance, I'm mildly irritated by having to go into a menu to get at the forums, but most users don't ever use the forums. I'm also happy about menus not dropping down when my cursor goes near them. Is it an improvement for me? Time will tell, or a least, I'll get used to it.)
...
Dude, it's a UI reorganization.
This feels very much like part of the general trend of designing everything around people using phones or other small devices. Which inevitably means simplifying things to fit on a much smaller screen. As someone who only accesses dndbeyond from my PC, it makes the experience worse for me.
you still have to go through menus to to get to the forums
its not JUST a UI reorganization they GOT RID OF THE PARTY WIZARD EASTER EGG. they literally took all the charm out of the site and replaced it with minimalistic bullshit NO ONE ASKED FOR like if they kept the old easter egg then it would be ok but they sucked the life out of it just like when Hasbro first bought out WoTC and only by the community banding together did they listen. i mean why get rid of a harmless, inoffensive easter egg that THE COMMUNITY LOVED?
Is this the "life" they apparently sucked out of the menus?
It's the same grey/grey/white colour scheme with a few more images. Those images weren't even that special or even very visible. The new menu (IMO) makes better use of the space and uses images more effectively.
And as for the party wizard, honestly I couldn't care less and the amount people harp on about it makes me hope they never bring it back purely out of spite. Petty I know, but it just feels like such a nothingburger.
As someone who has used the site since the menus looked like this:
(Sorry for the quality, the original is hosted on Imgur and I can't access that in the UK, so the thumbnail will have to do)
I find this latest iteration to be the best (not perfect, just best) to date. I can navigate this menu structure more intuitively than the previous iteration thanks to more logical names. I'm no longer causing menus to pop in and out with my cursor wandering. And I can access books quicker thanks to it displaying favours and recent rather than a random selection of stuff, most of which I don't use.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here