I've already bought PHB (twice) and DMG on Amazon. What should I do to access this information on the D&D Beyond?
Or D&D Beyound doesn't support prior D&D community players and I have to buy all content again?
Curse wasn't compensated for your previous purchases. Don't expect them to give you something you haven't paid for.
So sad. Their price for some Kbits is unreasonably high. I definetly won't pay for that. If printed books has a reason to their cost, digital version don't.
About 1 million PHBs have been sold on Amazon ALONE. That doesn't include retail, FLG stores or any other online stores. That also doesn't include any other books. So going off of the price on here and the amount sold, Curse would be giving away about $30,000,000, give or take about $3,000,000 assuming at least 1/3 of the members have bought the PHB on here, in product without being paid a single dollar. Now that doesn't seem like a good deal, does it?
Depends on what the projections are for revenues from yearly subscriptions along with the offsets from people purchasing their fresh content only on the DDB platform. Sometimes taking a hit early on to raise a user-base that pays out far more over the life-time of the product is a smart move.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
Curse (an innovator in it's field) a part of Twitch (an innovator in it's field) owned by Amazon (an innovator in it's field) are all very successful companies that make money in the digital market place hand over fist. They know all the options for making money and pricing structure, including several we've never thought of. They weighed the market elasticity, and this is the solution they settled on. From initial speculation, they were right (not a surprise) and they are, once again, making money hand over fist while offering an innovative, amazing product.
It is frustrating that people continue to arm-chair quarterback their decisions on public forums, the best way to complain about the pricing is to write letters (digital or physical) directly to the company itself, where they will evaluate them by comparing them to the equal or greater number of people happy with the pricing structure and watching profits soar because they have, once again, done things right for the majority of users, even if they can't make everyone happy (and who can).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The most memorable stories always begin with failure.
It's also interesting to note the fairly massive impact that the launch of D&D Beyond had on lowering the price of acquiring D&D digitally.
Whilst I daily see people complain that it's not possible to get everything for free, it's never been cheaper to officially purchase 5th edition digitally.
I fully realise though that wealth is relative to your own circumstance and yes, it sucks if you just spent your savings on D&D physical books, then discover D&D Beyond and either regret your decision or covet owning both.
I was about to say, the prices on here are cheaper than they were anywhere pre-launch. Both Roll20 and FG were charging full retail. The prices of everything here were more or less set by Wizards. Complain to them. Like I said in my previous comment, it’s pretty much impossible to determine ownership regardless. Complain to Wizards about that as well. That’s due to their printing process. This topic has been covered a ridiculous amount of times, because people can’t manage to search or read. Sure, there are some members who are actual customers and want to converse on the subject of the roadblocks. But then there’s the same day accounts that only come on here to complain about prices. People seem like they just can’t fathom that they aren’t getting things for free.
It's also interesting to note the fairly massive impact that the launch of D&D Beyond had on lowering the price of acquiring D&D digitally.
Whilst I daily see people complain that it's not possible to get everything for free, it's never been cheaper to officially purchase 5th edition digitally.
I fully realise though that wealth is relative to your own circumstance and yes, it sucks if you just spent your savings on D&D physical books, then discover D&D Beyond and either regret your decision or covet owning both.
Disappointed to see even Moderators joining the flame war here.
Does it occur to everyone here that when a product is offered for a price, that price is subject to criticism? Meeting that criticism with insulting people's intelligence and pointing them to information that does not in any way solve their problem only drives them away. These aren't people that are searching the internet for free stuff, they're people that are in love with the hobby and disappointed at the business model. People giving feedback like the original poster of this thread are literally telling DDB what they need to do to acquire them as a paying customer, and the community here just takes out their sledgehammers and gleefully swings it until the mean poster goes away.
Since WotC refused to make any of their own attempts to create their own digital tools, those of us steeped in the hobby had years to develop and use our own tools the no one got paid for and fueled by love of the game alone. The character builder and site in general is very well done. I really have no complaints about the functionality or aesthetic, I think it's quite good. That being said and at this time, even if DDB was completely free, it'd still have some stiff competition. Regardless of the details, people are going to perceive this as needing to re-buy something they already bought. You can say, "Well no, you see there's this license thing", "This is a totally different product", "Come off it you freeloader!", or just start calling them names, but the fact remains that if DDB wants widespread acceptance they need a real answer for this, and not just linking them to an FAQ that gives excuses for a very anti-consumer business model. Is it WotC's fault? Yeah, probably. But someone at Curse (or Twitch, whatever) had to think this licensing deal was good enough to build a digital platform on, so WotC doesn't get all the blame. If it's bad enough to point the finger you can't also pretend it's not bad in the first place.
I really admire the work that DDB put into the platform. I am looking forward to the app, which may snag me as a customer. I am excited to know that DDB isn't done yet, and we're going to see new tools that don't exist anywhere. I'm happy that we're finally seeing a WotC sanctioned tool after years into the edition. As a web developer, I am envious of those that got to work on such an awesome project. I want to suggest to everyone I know to go get DDB, but I personally can't because it is inhibitively expensive for the current feature set.
Disappointed to see even Moderators joining the flame war here.
We have a general rule of thumb, to not post a point-of-view in threads where there is a hot debate ongoing, purely because it's likely that somebody will deem that moderators opinion wrong, offensive or in some way out-of-line for a moderator.
All of the moderators here are massive D&D fans and long-time players or DMs who love the hobby, so sometimes that's hard.
My goal was to put a positive spin on the discussion about price - that due to D&D Beyond, the price of digitally owning D&D books has been reduced.
To the original poster, put yourself in our shoes for a while... in canada books do not sell for 45$ like they do in the US, they sell for 85$ because there is no translation made by canadian people they all come from US. the difference in dollars from Us to canadian dollars is about 35 cents per dollars. that literally means we pay 1/3rd more ont eh book. so from 45$ it goes up to... 60$ then we have to calculate transports and the likes, thats literally another 20$ per book that is added to it, so 80$. then once that is all done, we have to actually add taxes that we pay in stores, taxes total 15% of 80$, thats 92$... so to get your famous books, we already pay 90$+ per ******* book. sorry but i dont have the money to buy that kind of shit. and i doubt our players are willing to share buy one book and then have to move it around between themselves because they will all think its theirs because they paid for it.
when you consider all of this... sorry but DDB is a miracle come true ! each books costed me like 35$ including the change from USD to CAD. let me calculate this for you... 35$ each books, i bought... PHB, DMG, MM, VGTM and SCAG, thats 35 x 5 = 175$, here the rundown of how much it would of costed me in physical copies... PHB, DMG and MM = 90$ each... so 3x90=270, now lets add SCAG and VGTM which were 50 each... 270 + (2x50) = 370 !
Comparision for only 5 books... Physical in Canada = 370$ DDB all in one place info = 175$ that's almost 200$ that i saved literally for the next books thats coming.
sorry but the choice is quite already decisive !
Notes: Edited for talk of piracy - Please revisit the rules.
DM of two gaming groups. Likes to create stuff. Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games --> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
Comparision for only 5 books... Physical in Canada = 370$ DDB all in one place info = 175$
So you spent 545$. Because you've already bought printed books and then you have to buy digital version.
In our country it is 2-3 monthly salaries. I could hire programmer who would make for me my own Character Builder and fill it out with data from all Books for these money :D And it would be legal, because this is for private use only. I'm not even talking about existing illegal applications that have this functionality. Which were mostly created for free.
really you think i bought the physical copies ? i just told you in that very post that i didn't have 300$ to put on those 3 books.
i did keep collecting money each months, like 10$ to get the physical VTGM and SCAG because i wanted them badly... though i regretted buying SCAG after i bought it.
privately or not, it wouldn't be legal. why do you think WOTC actually removes things like orcpub and the likes even though they are free and costes you nothing !
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DM of two gaming groups. Likes to create stuff. Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games --> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
the fact remains that if DDB wants widespread acceptance they need a real answer for this
I absolutely agree that some clear explanation of pricing model is needed. IMO, two questions to focus on are, "what benefits does DDB offer to me compred to the physical books?" and "should I consider using DDB if I've already bought physical books?".
Some of the answers to the latter question include:
You can buy content piecewise, provided you already know what do you need (and you do since you have physical book). The discount favors customer: if I've purchased Arcane Trickster for $1.99, subclasses bundle would cost $8 instead of $9.99.
You can split the cost between members of your group if you have semi-regular group.
Convenience of sharing: a subscription as an alternative to lending your PHB to everyone.
Campaign tools and search (which I hadn't yet tried for myself. Having a free campaign would have helped)
Character builder (which is clunky at the moment, but I'm looking forward to revamp)
I absolutely agree that some clear explanation of pricing model is needed. IMO, two questions to focus on are, "what benefits does DDB offer to me compred to the physical books?" and "should I consider using DDB if I've already bought physical books?".
No, it would. Or do you have any proof that private using of this is illegal?
Moreover, I'm allowed to change an one word in each sentence and it won't a WoC content anymore (it's called rewriting). There are a lot of tricks to do that legal. And while it's easy, I don't think these costs are adequate.
Moreover, I'm allowed to change an one word in each sentence and it won't a WoC content anymore (it's called rewriting). There are a lot of tricks to do that legal. And while it's easy, I don't think these costs are adequate.
Rewriting a copyrighted text is only permissible to the extent that the new text restates material from the original text without copying any artistic expression. If the original text is merely rewritten with minor stylistic changes and creative elements are used from the original text, the author of the new text could potentially face a lawsuit for copyright infringement for usurping the rights of the original author.
A derivative work is a work based on an existing work. Because the right to make derivative works is reserved solely by the original copyright holder, any attempt to rewrite a copyrighted text must not fall within the purview of a derivative work. Therefore, a rewritten text of a copyrighted work cannot contain any portion of the original work other than facts or other aspects of the original work that are not protected under copyright law.
Rewriting would be pretty hard if you couldn't use copyright monsters/spells/items/world names. Lawyers get paid a pretty penny to make sure that "tricks" fail in court.
I have a phisical copy of PHB, DMG, and HotDQ. Is it in any way possible to count this as a digital copy to use its content in the D&D beyond application?
I have a phisical copy of PHB, DMG, and HotDQ. Is it in any way possible to count this as a digital copy to use its content in the D&D beyond application?
greetings,
Aridhro
Check the FAQ. This has been answered multiple times on the forums.
At this time, all purchases on D&D Beyond are for content on D&D Beyond only. Unfortunately, there is not a way to unlock the digital content if you have purchased the books. We realize and understand the concerns over re-purchasing content, but the material in D&D Beyond is in a different format and platform.
No, it would. Or do you have any proof that private using of this is illegal?
Moreover, I'm allowed to change an one word in each sentence and it won't a WoC content anymore (it's called rewriting). There are a lot of tricks to do that legal. And while it's easy, I don't think these costs are adequate.
You are completely wrong about "rewriting" because it isn't the words that is under protection, it is the system itself. Otherwise Orcpub would have gotten away with it.
Also having someone build you a system with the IP owned by someone else is not legal. However you could have them build a database for you and you could enter it all yourself assuming you owned the physical books.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The most memorable stories always begin with failure.
I absolutely agree that some clear explanation of pricing model is needed. IMO, two questions to focus on are, "what benefits does DDB offer to me compred to the physical books?" and "should I consider using DDB if I've already bought physical books?".
Oh, since you've answered me yourself, I want to thank you for this post. As I've said, it was your argument that convinced me to buy XGE on DDB. I believe it deserves further recognition. Maybe link in a official FAQ or something.
May I suggest expanding the section on pricing? Currently it is missing two factors which I consider very important.
1) The cost of international shipping could easily increase the price of physical book by 50%-100%.
2) You write: "Finally, any purchase you make is credited toward the full book and toward the legendary bundle as explained in the FAQ I mentioned above. So you’ll be able to slowly work your way up to the whole thing." However, the another important thing is that discount applies not only to the full book, but to the sub-bundles as well. For example, if I've purchased Arcane Trickster for $1.99, PHB subclasses bundle would cost $8 instead of $9.99.
The problem with the FAQ and the Marketplace descriptions is that they're misleading with regard to content sharing:
"It grants all the benefits of the Hero Tier, and also allows a DM to share all her unlocked official content with other players within a campaign - so content does not have to be unlocked by every player."
But the Master Tier allows anyone in the same campaign as the DM to share their unlocked content, while the description implies the person with the Master Tier subscription is the one that has to own the content. That's a huge difference, and is a source of many of the complaints and questions we get here.
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So sad. Their price for some Kbits is unreasonably high. I definetly won't pay for that. If printed books has a reason to their cost, digital version don't.
Curse (an innovator in it's field) a part of Twitch (an innovator in it's field) owned by Amazon (an innovator in it's field) are all very successful companies that make money in the digital market place hand over fist. They know all the options for making money and pricing structure, including several we've never thought of. They weighed the market elasticity, and this is the solution they settled on. From initial speculation, they were right (not a surprise) and they are, once again, making money hand over fist while offering an innovative, amazing product.
It is frustrating that people continue to arm-chair quarterback their decisions on public forums, the best way to complain about the pricing is to write letters (digital or physical) directly to the company itself, where they will evaluate them by comparing them to the equal or greater number of people happy with the pricing structure and watching profits soar because they have, once again, done things right for the majority of users, even if they can't make everyone happy (and who can).
The most memorable stories always begin with failure.
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D&D Beyond FoundersIt's also interesting to note the fairly massive impact that the launch of D&D Beyond had on lowering the price of acquiring D&D digitally.
Whilst I daily see people complain that it's not possible to get everything for free, it's never been cheaper to officially purchase 5th edition digitally.
I fully realise though that wealth is relative to your own circumstance and yes, it sucks if you just spent your savings on D&D physical books, then discover D&D Beyond and either regret your decision or covet owning both.
Pun-loving nerd | Faith Elisabeth Lilley | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
I was about to say, the prices on here are cheaper than they were anywhere pre-launch. Both Roll20 and FG were charging full retail. The prices of everything here were more or less set by Wizards. Complain to them. Like I said in my previous comment, it’s pretty much impossible to determine ownership regardless. Complain to Wizards about that as well. That’s due to their printing process. This topic has been covered a ridiculous amount of times, because people can’t manage to search or read. Sure, there are some members who are actual customers and want to converse on the subject of the roadblocks. But then there’s the same day accounts that only come on here to complain about prices. People seem like they just can’t fathom that they aren’t getting things for free.
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D&D Beyond FoundersPun-loving nerd | Faith Elisabeth Lilley | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
To the original poster, put yourself in our shoes for a while...
in canada books do not sell for 45$ like they do in the US, they sell for 85$ because there is no translation made by canadian people they all come from US. the difference in dollars from Us to canadian dollars is about 35 cents per dollars. that literally means we pay 1/3rd more ont eh book. so from 45$ it goes up to... 60$ then we have to calculate transports and the likes, thats literally another 20$ per book that is added to it, so 80$. then once that is all done, we have to actually add taxes that we pay in stores, taxes total 15% of 80$, thats 92$... so to get your famous books, we already pay 90$+ per ******* book. sorry but i dont have the money to buy that kind of shit. and i doubt our players are willing to share buy one book and then have to move it around between themselves because they will all think its theirs because they paid for it.
when you consider all of this... sorry but DDB is a miracle come true ! each books costed me like 35$ including the change from USD to CAD. let me calculate this for you...
35$ each books, i bought... PHB, DMG, MM, VGTM and SCAG, thats 35 x 5 = 175$, here the rundown of how much it would of costed me in physical copies... PHB, DMG and MM = 90$ each... so 3x90=270, now lets add SCAG and VGTM which were 50 each... 270 + (2x50) = 370 !
Comparision for only 5 books...
Physical in Canada = 370$
DDB all in one place info = 175$
that's almost 200$ that i saved literally for the next books thats coming.
sorry but the choice is quite already decisive !
DM of two gaming groups.
Likes to create stuff.
Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses
If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games
--> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
So you spent 545$. Because you've already bought printed books and then you have to buy digital version.
In our country it is 2-3 monthly salaries. I could hire programmer who would make for me my own Character Builder and fill it out with data from all Books for these money :D
And it would be legal, because this is for private use only. I'm not even talking about existing illegal applications that have this functionality. Which were mostly created for free.
really you think i bought the physical copies ? i just told you in that very post that i didn't have 300$ to put on those 3 books.
i did keep collecting money each months, like 10$ to get the physical VTGM and SCAG because i wanted them badly... though i regretted buying SCAG after i bought it.
privately or not, it wouldn't be legal. why do you think WOTC actually removes things like orcpub and the likes even though they are free and costes you nothing !
DM of two gaming groups.
Likes to create stuff.
Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses
If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games
--> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
I think this is a good time to link to a post named D&D Beyond vs Physical Books: An Explanation. This post has convinced me that peordering XGE on DDB was a good idea.
I absolutely agree that some clear explanation of pricing model is needed. IMO, two questions to focus on are, "what benefits does DDB offer to me compred to the physical books?" and "should I consider using DDB if I've already bought physical books?".
Some of the answers to the latter question include:
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Hello,
I have a phisical copy of PHB, DMG, and HotDQ. Is it in any way possible to count this as a digital copy to use its content in the D&D beyond application?
greetings,
Aridhro
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InsidersHi there, this question, and many others, are answered in the D&D Beyond site FAQ.
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
You are completely wrong about "rewriting" because it isn't the words that is under protection, it is the system itself. Otherwise Orcpub would have gotten away with it.
Also having someone build you a system with the IP owned by someone else is not legal. However you could have them build a database for you and you could enter it all yourself assuming you owned the physical books.
The most memorable stories always begin with failure.
The problem with the FAQ and the Marketplace descriptions is that they're misleading with regard to content sharing:
But the Master Tier allows anyone in the same campaign as the DM to share their unlocked content, while the description implies the person with the Master Tier subscription is the one that has to own the content. That's a huge difference, and is a source of many of the complaints and questions we get here.
The Forum Infestation (TM)