I love the idea of this page and the access, but having to pay the full price despite owning many of these books already is goofy. There should be a discount based on our ability to prove we already paid for this material. "Different platform blah blah" Sure.  That attitude will drive people away from this resource, regardless of how cool it is.

I work for a software company. Making things easier for the end user opens the platform to a wider user base-  not just early adopters who like the complexity,  also but mainstream users and laggard adopters. And to do that you have to appeal to them by making things more approachable. Charging them again and again for updated features, cloud enablement etc would be corporate suicide. And then if we charged them once again when a new version came out? LOL Take note.

I'll pass.

You have every right to decide that what is offered here isn't worth the cost to you; I say that because I want to be clear that I'm not trying to change your mind about purchasing here.

I do have a question, for you, however.  Given that DDB must pay licensing fees to Wizards of the Coast to provide/offer their content, and given that converting that content for use on DDB and that the creation of the tools here take time and effort on the part of DDB staff, and that there are physical costs (servers, office space, etc.),  how do you expect DDB to have the money to pay their staff and pay other costs if they don't charge for their services?  This question always comes up for me any time someone suggests that DDB shouldn't charge people for access to content those folks have already purchased in physical form.

So when i purchase a book on this site am i paying for the contents of the books or just the access? What happens if Curse goes under? Are we just left empty handed? Granted that may not be likely but its something to think about. 

The price on here is not full MSRP. Paying a discounted price for the physical books does not automatically make it the new "full price". There is no legitimate way to prove you own the books. If you own so many, as you say, you would know that nothing about the books is unique. Not the S/N, not the print number, nothing. They'd have to contact every potential retailer, and if you bought the book second hand, you're still SOL. They'd also have to make sure every single receipt is unique if they decided to go that way. As for your software licensing argument, which you think for some reason is relevant here where we're crossing between two heavily different mediums, have you ever heard of this little company called Adobe? They charge you monthly or yearly, your choice, for you to keep using their software. You can look it up, it's not cheap. And you pay that amount over and over, for each new version, for each iteration until you decide to drop it. From what you say is a horrible business model, Adobe made over $9 billion in revenue in 2018. And on here, you only need to buy things once. I don't know what you were on about with "again and again". The only recurring cost is a subscription, which doesn't affect your access to the content you bought AT ALL. It's just for extra things such as more character slots and being able to share your content with your friends, for only $6/month. So you will be able to access all your content until DDB shuts down, and beyond that, if you have the books and your sheets on the app. 

Software seems like it would be worth the subscription costs. But the books seem a little steep seeing as its only access to use and not ownership of a copy. I wish pdfs were part of the deal... just a personal opinion tho

1. Yes you are purchasing a license. Yes, if curse goes under and DDB goes away, you lose your money. No, that's not likely any time soon.
2. There's no way to verify your ownership of the books, and even if there was, none of the money you handed over for the physical books has gone to DDB. It went elsewhere. DDB != WotC
3. PDFs are stupidly easy to pirate, which is why DDB doesn't offer them. In fact, WotC doesn't offer PDFs for any official print products. DDB does have the offline compendium app.
4. The books on DDB, even before the many discount codes, are below MSRP by a solid amount
5. I don't get where you got the idea that DDB charges you again for new versions of the books, they don't. Any updates and errata are automatically added to your books.
6. The fact people are actually flowing into DDB and not 'running away from' it (as shown by their growth, the expanding features and tools, and the fact they're hiring) would show that this model seems to be working.
7. That's all my opinions (plus a few facts)

Quote from Davedamon >>

1. Yes you are purchasing a license. Yes, if curse goes under and DDB goes away, you lose your money. No, that's not likely any time soon.
2. There's no way to verify your ownership of the books, and even if there was, none of the money you handed over for the physical books has gone to DDB. It went elsewhere. DDB != WotC
3. PDFs are stupidly easy to pirate, which is why DDB doesn't offer them. In fact, WotC doesn't offer PDFs for any official print products. DDB does have the offline compendium app.
4. The books on DDB, even before the many discount codes, are below MSRP by a solid amount
5. I don't get where you got the idea that DDB charges you again for new versions of the books, they don't. Any updates and errata are automatically added to your books.
6. The fact people are actually flowing into DDB and not 'running away from' it (as shown by their growth, the expanding features and tools, and the fact they're hiring) would show that this model seems to be working.
7. That's all my opinions (plus a few facts)

1. You seem to have covered my questions and concerns. While I may not think the price is right, I'll probably buy the bundle anyways lol.

2. Thank you for your response.

3. I felt like making a numbered list becuase you made it look so fun and professional.

4. I have no further legitimate responses bc you covered things well.

5. This line item only exists bc good lists should have at least 5 entries.

6. This line item exists bc even numbers feel better than odd.

I like you, you're a fun person

• Here's a bullet point for no reason

Quote from hydak >>

1. You seem to have covered my questions and concerns. While I may not think the price is right, I'll probably buy the bundle anyways lol.

 

If you are concerned about costs, remember that there are more purchasing options than the bundle, and anything you spend on individual books or even elements reduces the cost of the bundle. `

Sorry, was trying to end on a rare positive note because these topics usually devolve quite quickly. The OP was a good sport in this discussion

Quote from KellivMcClure >>

I love the idea of this page and the access, but having to pay the full price despite owning many of these books already is goofy. There should be a discount based on our ability to prove we already paid for this material. "Different platform blah blah" Sure.  That attitude will drive people away from this resource, regardless of how cool it is.

I work for a software company. Making things easier for the end user opens the platform to a wider user base-  not just early adopters who like the complexity,  also but mainstream users and laggard adopters. And to do that you have to appeal to them by making things more approachable. Charging them again and again for updated features, cloud enablement etc would be corporate suicide. And then if we charged them once again when a new version came out? LOL Take note.

 

 If your company isn't finding new streams of revenue I'd probably start looking for a new job.

D&DB is not charging you for updates. They have provided numerous free updates to their service, and they have many tools in the works that will be "free."
They require you to pay a license for a book to use it's contents, and it's a very reasonable way of doing things for a third party.

If WOTC were to provide their own digital service, then you could yell at them for not giving out digital codes with their books.

That being said, as others here are pointing out D&D Beyond is a service being offered by a third party, a pretty fantastic service I believe.

Quote from Stormknight >>

Quote from Davedamon >>

I like you, you're a fun person

• Here's a bullet point for no reason

Is this the part where a moderator turns up and admonishes people for going off-topic? 😉

 P.S. I like you all too - you're all fun people!

👍👍👍