My criticism of the subscription for book access is that it doesn't stop someone from paying for a single month, copying everything they need, and then cancelling. It just seems like a bad business move for Curse to offer that.
At $50 for the subscription, it shouldnt matter if they copy the book for their own use.. As $50 is more than the cost of the book in general... this would give Curse repeated transactions from a single customer if they decide that the tool and content sharing is worth keeping, which in my experience so far, it truly is worth it especially for DMing a party with a couple new players... If they only pay for one month, they still make their money that they would have from someone purchasing a digital book.
This assumes the $50 only gives access to two books. If access is given to ALL books for $50, and someone scrapes all that content and leaves after one month, then no, DDB haven't made their money.
No, i dont believe that the sub should give access to all books.... that would be bad business, and i dont think anyone would expect them to do that at $50/year
as to free content and building a character, I am unable to build a Dragonborn Eldritch knight why is that as Dragonborn is a standard race and Eldritch Knight is a Standard Character subclass of fighter I purchased the Master level for this purpose and as to being unable to credit purchases of hard copy to this site that is all contractual between Curse and WoTC as it is very doable by having a code in the hardcopy books to allow the source material available, just stating a fact as a Sr Sys Admin with over 24yrs experience working in IT and with marketing.
as to free content and building a character, I am unable to build a Dragonborn Eldritch knight why is that as Dragonborn is a standard race and Eldritch Knight is a Standard Character subclass of fighter I purchased the Master level for this purpose and as to being unable to credit purchases of hard copy to this site that is all contractual between Curse and WoTC as it is very doable by having a code in the hardcopy books to allow the source material available, just stating a fact as a Sr Sys Admin with over 24yrs experience working in IT and with marketing.
This is all fully explained within this thread. For the sake of Brevity though:
Eldritch Knight is NOT in the Basic Rules or SRD (those are the rules given away free by WotC). It is in the Player's Handbook. Check the marketplace - you can pick up both for just a few dollars! That spend also reduces the price of the Player's Handbook, should you wish to upgrade later :)
Yes, a code could be put in books. Doing so would mean that instead of buying a physical book for $50 and D&D Beyond version for $30, you would instead buy a physical book for around $80 (probably more like $85 actually) with a code in. There isn't any world in which this is a sensible move.
edit: oops, Dragonborn is free as it's in the Basic Rules. Thanks for the catch Lek. :)
as to free content and building a character, I am unable to build a Dragonborn Eldritch knight why is that as Dragonborn is a standard race and Eldritch Knight is a Standard Character subclass of fighter I purchased the Master level for this purpose and as to being unable to credit purchases of hard copy to this site that is all contractual between Curse and WoTC as it is very doable by having a code in the hardcopy books to allow the source material available, just stating a fact as a Sr Sys Admin with over 24yrs experience working in IT and with marketing.
Dragonborn are part of the Basic Rules, which are all that is available for free of the official content, Eldritch Knight is not as the only Fighter Subclass available in the Basic Rules is the Champion, if I am not mistaken.
As to how to credit purchase, that is basically the only way a physical copy can be validated, and I believe everyone would be happy to see that coming, as stated in several other posts and threads. That being said, it doesn't seem something WoTC is interested into atm.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
as to being unable to credit purchases of hard copy to this site that is all contractual between Curse and WoTC as it is very doable by having a code in the hardcopy books to allow the source material available, just stating a fact as a Sr Sys Admin with over 24yrs experience working in IT and with marketing.
I agree - if WotC had any interest in doing so, it could be done. However:
1) DDB isn't the only third-party site that has paid licensing fees to be able to offer D&D content digitally. There is also Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds. While I'd love to be able to access content from the printed books I've already purchased (paying my FLGS for), I'm not sure how much I'd have needed to pay for those books for it to be in any way feasible to allow me to access the content in all those places for "free". 2) While WotC could theoretically start adding some sort of codes to any new printings, that doesn't really help anyone who's already bought those books over the last 4 years. Implementing such a system now is horribly unfair to everyone who already owns the books.
How about a starter bundle? Provides just the core books (DM Guide, Monster Manual, and Player’s Handbook). Could pull in people that want to start a campaign.
No, i dont believe that the sub should give access to all books.... that would be bad business, and i dont think anyone would expect them to do that at $50/year
A factor that hasn't really been hit onto as a perk for this kind of thing (presuming the PH and maybe the DMG and MM only would be accessible). Is that is over the first years subscription it gets groups used to using D&D Beyond (could even be over the fist 6 month subscription). As it stands currently the typical cost of entry for a group is some of the core books that are wanted and a subscription to share the campaign/options within the group (as it stands you can't just get a sub or just the books and try it all out).
Most established groups would see that a year subscription is likely going the be wanted for their core game (and there isn't much of a chance they wont use it at all once they have one). So to try out D&D Beyond they could get that sub and go for the time using the features and getting used to them begin an integral part of the way they do play D&D, for what amounts to a lower entry cost. Over that year the value they see in D&D Beyond is increasing the more they use it (for some it may decrease but the general path I've seen so far is D&D Beyond becoming more useful as it grows not less useful). The hard part is getting people to buy in initially, in most cases once someone has "bought in" they are more likely to spend more money investing in further books and options offered, even having made a bunch of their own homebrew stuff along with it.
As it stands If you have yet to use D&D Beyond, that is a big cost to just step into D&D Beyond and always up against "I can already do all that" in whatever form existing groups have been doing things for no additional costs. Sure a basic entry cost is 'free' but for any established game the SRD is likely to be very lacking on the player character side of things as they could be using sub-classes or other features the SRD doesn't offer. Likewise having features spread out across the various players that each have bought adds more chances of needing to re-buy those features.
As it is the SRD rules are something that likely doesn't register as an option to use for those buying/owning the physical core rules. However in D&D Beyond it would count as a factor as it is right there to use before you even buy a book (even in the limited form). Thus at least for the players handbook you already are getting a good percentage of the rules without paying for them.
Some people could just jump in make a bunch of characters and leave, but are they really likely to be the ones that would buy much anyway and not go look for other cheaper options wherever they cant get it.
A change will impact those already invested in D&D Beyond in the short term, just like the addition of D&D Beyond has had an impact for existing players. Not that I expect to see a change just expressing as a food for thought.
You can get the app for free and use any of the free content - SRD, basic rules - if you want to try it out. Please note that it's limited at the moment, it's just an ereader with limited functionality. Character builder and so on is planned, but no timeline and DDB won't give us one to avoid disappointment.
I have bought separate items from Volo's Guide and the discount is appearing on the item but when I add it to my cart it is full price (Specifically race bundle).
I have bought separate items from Volo's Guide and the discount is appearing on the item but when I add it to my cart it is full price (Specifically race bundle).
Contact Support. They should be able to help you. (They handle all marketplace, billing, and account issues. This forum is great for support on just about anything else DDB related)
Sure would have been nice to know you expect us to PAY $360(?!?!?!) to be able to actually make your character without prohibitively restrictive, minimal options. Wouldn't have wasted the last hour and half of my life building a character. Interesting how you see nothing about the ridiculous prices to access some digital content until you are just about done and already invested in the process. It's a dirty trick. If you are gonna charge for a digital book that people have probably already purchased IRL, don't charge full price. If you actually want to be a good resource for this large and dedicated group of individuals, don't make us pay full price twice. We were truly excited to use this resource for our campaign but we can barely afford to fill our gas tanks, let alone BUY ALL THE BOOKS AGAIN so, obviously, this resource just doesn't make sense for us to utilize. Hopefully, someday, someone will create a tool like this with the players first in mind, not the profits they can hopefully squeeze out of us.
Sure would have been nice to know you expect us to PAY $360(?!?!?!) to be able to actually make your character without prohibitively restrictive, minimal options. Wouldn't have wasted the last hour and half of my life building a character. Interesting how you see nothing about the ridiculous prices to access some digital content until you are just about done and already invested in the process. It's a dirty trick. If you are gonna charge for a digital book that people have probably already purchased IRL, don't charge full price. If you actually want to be a good resource for this large and dedicated group of individuals, don't make us pay full price twice. We were truly excited to use this resource for our campaign but we can barely afford to fill our gas tanks, let alone BUY ALL THE BOOKS AGAIN so, obviously, this resource just doesn't make sense for us to utilize. Hopefully, someday, someone will create a tool like this with the players first in mind, not the profits they can hopefully squeeze out of us.
We have been using DDB for the past month for free and it seems to do a lot. We will probably end up doing the subscriptions to contribute back to the community and developers working hard on this. One of our DMs invested in the Legendary bundle so the rest of us didn't have to since you can share the compendiums for up to 12 players within your campaign (Great feature for the broke ass players you speak of.)
The compendiums and the DDB tools are not just digital copies of the books we already own. (Trust me... we own a shit load of books all together.) You are paying for the database and how it integrates everything into your character sheet.
Our group spent money on many different apps like Lions Den's Fight Club and Game Master 5th Ed. It's no different than paying those guys for their apps they worked hard on. DDB is a software as a service and they are investing a lot in designers and developers to make this one cohesive platform to manage all your campaigns and characters (Many more features coming as shown in their developer live streams.)
DDB has to make money some way or another and the features will just get better. And just to clarify again. I am still using the FREE membership but definitely plan to upgrade later to support the community.
Sure would have been nice to know you expect us to PAY $360(?!?!?!) to be able to actually make your character without prohibitively restrictive, minimal options. Wouldn't have wasted the last hour and half of my life building a character. Interesting how you see nothing about the ridiculous prices to access some digital content until you are just about done and already invested in the process. It's a dirty trick. If you are gonna charge for a digital book that people have probably already purchased IRL, don't charge full price. If you actually want to be a good resource for this large and dedicated group of individuals, don't make us pay full price twice. We were truly excited to use this resource for our campaign but we can barely afford to fill our gas tanks, let alone BUY ALL THE BOOKS AGAIN so, obviously, this resource just doesn't make sense for us to utilize. Hopefully, someday, someone will create a tool like this with the players first in mind, not the profits they can hopefully squeeze out of us.
If you mostly want to use DDB for character creation, you don't need to spend anywhere close to $360 to do so. WIth enough time, you can do it all for free (by homebrewing what you need). Or, you can buy piecemeal for what you want, or some combination of the two. This buyer's guide lays out a lot of different scenarios at a variety of price points, including completely free.
... If you are gonna charge for a digital book that people have probably already purchased IRL, don't charge full price...
...Hopefully, someday, someone will create a tool like this with the players first in mind, not the profits they can hopefully squeeze out of us.
Just to throw in my two coppers, as much as I can understand the disappointment, no, DDB does not charge "full price". The content is actually quite nicely discounted in comparison with the base price from WotC, which is the only real full price.
Secondly, Curse, DDB's developer, works on License by WotC, they are not owned by WotC. That means that they themselves have to pay WotC for the "privilege" of providing D&D content here. None of us obviously have the numbers, but I suspect they are not overcharging ludicrously in relation to how much they pay their license.
Lastly, there is no way to validate a purchase of a physical copy of the books, if you ever considered that, for the simple fact that there is no single exclusive code associated with each single copy. As long as WotC doesn't decide to include dough a code in their physical copies, that is something that just can't happen.
Could the content cost less? Sure, everything could, but then they would most probably not cover the costs (and there are a lot, especially on developing) and they will die out very quickly.
WotC tried the "access all subscription" route with 4e, it didntd go well, so I suspect that's a way they are not confident pursuing again themselves or through a third party.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Sure would have been nice to know you expect us to PAY $360(?!?!?!) to be able to actually make your character without prohibitively restrictive, minimal options. Wouldn't have wasted the last hour and half of my life building a character. Interesting how you see nothing about the ridiculous prices to access some digital content until you are just about done and already invested in the process. It's a dirty trick. If you are gonna charge for a digital book that people have probably already purchased IRL, don't charge full price. If you actually want to be a good resource for this large and dedicated group of individuals, don't make us pay full price twice. We were truly excited to use this resource for our campaign but we can barely afford to fill our gas tanks, let alone BUY ALL THE BOOKS AGAIN so, obviously, this resource just doesn't make sense for us to utilize. Hopefully, someday, someone will create a tool like this with the players first in mind, not the profits they can hopefully squeeze out of us.
Somehow I doubt this user will be coming back, and is unlikely to see these responses. Not sure how the user came to the conclusion that the entirety of the books would be available for free?
Again: D&D Beyond is NOT owned by WotC. DDB is owned by Curse, which is owned by Twitch. NO ONE is owed free digital copies of anything just because they bought a physical copy. (SMH)
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You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
Sure would have been nice to know you expect us to PAY $360(?!?!?!) to be able to actually make your character without prohibitively restrictive, minimal options. Wouldn't have wasted the last hour and half of my life building a character. Interesting how you see nothing about the ridiculous prices to access some digital content until you are just about done and already invested in the process. It's a dirty trick. If you are gonna charge for a digital book that people have probably already purchased IRL, don't charge full price. If you actually want to be a good resource for this large and dedicated group of individuals, don't make us pay full price twice. We were truly excited to use this resource for our campaign but we can barely afford to fill our gas tanks, let alone BUY ALL THE BOOKS AGAIN so, obviously, this resource just doesn't make sense for us to utilize. Hopefully, someday, someone will create a tool like this with the players first in mind, not the profits they can hopefully squeeze out of us.
You can homebrew all the official content for free for private use, so it doesn't need to cost you a dime. And you don't need to spend $360 to be able to create any character you like. I suggest you read this post to get an idea of what will work for you. You might also want to go through this thread as well as this one before accusing the good people at Curse of dirty tricks. They've done an amazing job getting costs down and providing an excellent value added and highly accessible service to the D&D community.
With the current discount code I spent about $80 and I can create almost any character I want. I could have spent a little less or a little more, but I still thought it was very reasonable. (PHB, SCAG, XGTE, plus race package from Volo's and Tortle race package)
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DM - Beyond the Veil
as to free content and building a character, I am unable to build a Dragonborn Eldritch knight why is that as Dragonborn is a standard race and Eldritch Knight is a Standard Character subclass of fighter I purchased the Master level for this purpose and as to being unable to credit purchases of hard copy to this site that is all contractual between Curse and WoTC as it is very doable by having a code in the hardcopy books to allow the source material available, just stating a fact as a Sr Sys Admin with over 24yrs experience working in IT and with marketing.
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If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
2) While WotC could theoretically start adding some sort of codes to any new printings, that doesn't really help anyone who's already bought those books over the last 4 years. Implementing such a system now is horribly unfair to everyone who already owns the books.
How about a starter bundle? Provides just the core books (DM Guide, Monster Manual, and Player’s Handbook). Could pull in people that want to start a campaign.
As it stands currently the typical cost of entry for a group is some of the core books that are wanted and a subscription to share the campaign/options within the group (as it stands you can't just get a sub or just the books and try it all out).
The hard part is getting people to buy in initially, in most cases once someone has "bought in" they are more likely to spend more money investing in further books and options offered, even having made a bunch of their own homebrew stuff along with it.
Sure a basic entry cost is 'free' but for any established game the SRD is likely to be very lacking on the player character side of things as they could be using sub-classes or other features the SRD doesn't offer.
Likewise having features spread out across the various players that each have bought adds more chances of needing to re-buy those features.
- Loswaith
Will I be able to download the books i purchased for offline usage if not is this feature being planned?
Literally only thing holding me back from buying the books from here is fear of them disappearing in the case the servers are down.
You can with the app. More features are coming soon.
You can get the app for free and use any of the free content - SRD, basic rules - if you want to try it out. Please note that it's limited at the moment, it's just an ereader with limited functionality. Character builder and so on is planned, but no timeline and DDB won't give us one to avoid disappointment.
I have bought separate items from Volo's Guide and the discount is appearing on the item but when I add it to my cart it is full price (Specifically race bundle).
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
Sure would have been nice to know you expect us to PAY $360(?!?!?!) to be able to actually make your character without prohibitively restrictive, minimal options. Wouldn't have wasted the last hour and half of my life building a character. Interesting how you see nothing about the ridiculous prices to access some digital content until you are just about done and already invested in the process. It's a dirty trick. If you are gonna charge for a digital book that people have probably already purchased IRL, don't charge full price. If you actually want to be a good resource for this large and dedicated group of individuals, don't make us pay full price twice. We were truly excited to use this resource for our campaign but we can barely afford to fill our gas tanks, let alone BUY ALL THE BOOKS AGAIN so, obviously, this resource just doesn't make sense for us to utilize. Hopefully, someday, someone will create a tool like this with the players first in mind, not the profits they can hopefully squeeze out of us.
We have been using DDB for the past month for free and it seems to do a lot. We will probably end up doing the subscriptions to contribute back to the community and developers working hard on this. One of our DMs invested in the Legendary bundle so the rest of us didn't have to since you can share the compendiums for up to 12 players within your campaign (Great feature for the broke ass players you speak of.)
The compendiums and the DDB tools are not just digital copies of the books we already own. (Trust me... we own a shit load of books all together.) You are paying for the database and how it integrates everything into your character sheet.
Our group spent money on many different apps like Lions Den's Fight Club and Game Master 5th Ed. It's no different than paying those guys for their apps they worked hard on. DDB is a software as a service and they are investing a lot in designers and developers to make this one cohesive platform to manage all your campaigns and characters (Many more features coming as shown in their developer live streams.)
DDB has to make money some way or another and the features will just get better. And just to clarify again. I am still using the FREE membership but definitely plan to upgrade later to support the community.
Also, there is a 25% off coupon for legendary bundle right now:
https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/8cnt9l/25_off_dd_beyond_legendary_bundle/
So it's a little cheaper. :)
"Lawful Good does not always mean Lawful Nice."
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I really would like to see a company creating this tool for free and still pay license money to WotC.
I dont think they would live for long.
So until then i will continue to pay for a program i like and use almost daily.
I'm not stupid. I'm just unlucky when I'm thinking.
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
With the current discount code I spent about $80 and I can create almost any character I want. I could have spent a little less or a little more, but I still thought it was very reasonable. (PHB, SCAG, XGTE, plus race package from Volo's and Tortle race package)