I quite liked the UA, I still have some character sheets with archived UA concepts etc, it's sad that they want to take it down but they do what they must.
Maybe we will get them back on bored later but I doubt it and we just all have to individually reinvent the wheel to make up for subpar developers
Ok if you have 1000 jobs and only 10 people to do them then you look at what the important jobs are. Improving the user experience and adding new features like the encounter builder are important. Allowing players easy access to experimental rules is not. I don’t think you have a clue about development and exactly what is involved in updating or changing a web app. Every new rule will probably require database updates, which will then require testing to ensure those updates don’t break other functionality. They will require UI updates and they will probably require API updates as well depending on the change. That could be anything up to several weeks worth of work for a set of rules that in 2 weeks time gets ripped
I've worked with webapps primarily with startup companies as I find the smaller teams more enjoyable. Yes it can take time to do thorough testing of new things. As someone who has used primarily node, express, angular, and rethinkdb in place of mongo. I'm not saying it doesn't take time or effort. I'm saying that I'm disappointed with the drop of UA support and that it makes DDB a worse service for me.
I would be understanding if it was less of UA is no longer supported and more "we are making UA a lower priority for development but we are looking into fleshing out homebrew tools to allow users to make their own classes and do more advanced homebrew with the UA features we have already added."
I'm curious how many devs they have on rules, apis, features vs dice designers
I'm curious how many devs they have on rules, apis, features vs dice designers
Dice hating is frequent refrain and scapegoat by folks alleging DDB's work priorities are misuguided
So the functionality of the dice is already developed. Unless WotC decides to abandon polyhedrals for card decks or something, it's established and not going to change. The only thing dice designers do is skinning those mechanisms with dynamic graphics. Do you think the folks with that skill set are anywhere near the organizational or workflow chart to the folks actually working on rules, apis, and features are really that equivalent. DDB is not Kracken, if they really wanted dice as their primary revenue and business driver, you'd see a lot more than 1-2 sets released per book. Besides, some people evidently like dice. I'm not much of a dice goblin myself and virtually collecting them isn't something I commit bandwidth to pursue, but people do and find it enhances part of their player experience. I'd even reckon that core tools and dice are prioritized in user use of DDB over UA, so both are priorities over the free UA content which I actually can't recall whether they were explicitly advertised as a feature of DDB in the first place.
No, DDB has never been obligated to host UA, nor have they advertised it as a feature. They do did it to be nice, it was a curtesy. Complaining that someone decided to stop going out of their way to do a favor they didn’t need to do in the first place is kinda 💩. Being disappointed is one thing. Complaining about it is another.
They are not obligated to my money, and I have the right to refused to renew my sub without UA.
I'm just being honest in my opinion. Having easy integrated access to UA was part of my decision to get a subscription regardless of it being advertised, I wanted to support having access to UA. I don't feel making that information transparent is a bad thing. Honestly in my opinion things would be better overall if more people were transparent about both good and bad.
I could have used many different techniques to present my criticism of this decision but many can be taken as a show of support in the decision or even praise and make it easier to avoid acknowledgment of the criticism.
My main complaint is it is only a week's notice to make copies
Now I don't support their decision to drop UA and that shouldn't seem be a thing that makes people mad at me for.
Now I don't support their decision to drop UA and that shouldn't seem be a thing that makes people mad at me for.
Who's mad at you? I think everybody's ok with you expressing you're disappointed. The implication about the dice, eh, that wasn't a very nice thing to say. But nobody's obligated to be happy with this decision. That said, I think the reason given is perfectly valid. It may not be one that you like, but that doesn't make it an incorrect or bad reason. If no longer getting UA content means paying for a subscription is no longer worth it to you, then by all means stop subscribing - everybody gets to make up their mind about DDB's products' value for their situation. I just want to say that for a lot of us, getting the actual official content as well as quality of life improvements for the tools DDB offers is more important than getting that UA content in DDB.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I am sad to see it go, but I always have considered it a nice, little extra they put up for free when they could. I playtest a lot of the UA stuff, both in person and online, and it was convenient being able to play around with the options in the character builder. I really should just learn how to use the homebrew tools anyway, since the few attempts I made over the years were hot garbage.
I just want to say that for a lot of us, getting the actual official content as well as quality of life improvements for the tools DDB offers is more important than getting that UA content in DDB.
This here is my view. Sad for those who do depend on UA for their games, but I would much rather see development be focused on quality of life and tool improvements (e.g. Monster Spell Slot Tracking in the Combat Tracker)
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
Yeah, presenting a perspective different from your assertions isn't anger, it's contrast. You can do what you want with your money, but you clearly were not just announcing your decision to part DDB from your subscription. You're also proffering your impressions of DDB's workflow as analysis, concluding on dice design. You are right, there are many ways you could have expressed yourself, but your chosen technique punctuated your statement with a note on what I feel is an iteration of the inaccurate and oft repeated complain about DDB's "prioritization" of dice (which again, output wise doesn't seem accurate). Maybe you're right, I and others don't think so. It was a pretty dispassionate post on my end. But if I somehow provoked feelings instead of understanding on your end, I'm sorry responses to your thinking was outside your consideration when you were selecting techniques.
They are not obligated to my money, and I have the right to refused to renew my sub without UA.
I'm just being honest in my opinion. Having easy integrated access to UA was part of my decision to get a subscription regardless of it being advertised, I wanted to support having access to UA. I don't feel making that information transparent is a bad thing. Honestly in my opinion things would be better overall if more people were transparent about both good and bad.
I could have used many different techniques to present my criticism of this decision but many can be taken as a show of support in the decision or even praise and make it easier to avoid acknowledgment of the criticism.
My main complaint is it is only a week's notice to make copies
Now I don't support their decision to drop UA and that shouldn't seem be a thing that makes people mad at me for.
I’m not mad at you about anything. You do you neighbor, makes no nevermind to me if you subscribe or don’t. (I don’t work here, I just live here.)
It literally takes less than a minute per UA race/subclass to smag copies for yourself. Make a character, pick a UA lineage, grab any class, hit “point buy” and leave them all 8s. Done. Next…. There are 4 Draconic lineages, and 4 fey lineages. Even if you want to grab the feats & spells too, maybe another 10 additional minutes total. There’s also a Ranger and a Monk and some more spells there. And you could even double up a subclass on a lineage to save yourself time and effort. (Frankly, I don’t worry about the spells and feats since they’re easy enough to recreate with little work and saving copies is little help since you can’t transfer them anyway.) But once you have your rabbitfolk rogue (or whatever) with all 8s, if you want a rabbitfolk barbarian it’s as easy as copying the rogue character and changing the class and stats and Bob’s your uncle, a rabbitfolk Barbarian is born. It’ll take 10 minutes total to save copies for yourself, and half of that time will be waiting for the next screen to load. I have a whole vault full of archived UA going back quite a while. (I even have the Runtara stuff.) A week is enough time for the 10 minutes it’ll take. I could have done three of them in the time it took me to type this response.
So again, I’m not mad. If you are that’s on you. And you got enough time to make 87 copies of each before going to bed tonight. You’re Golden.
It's kind of strange. I thought I'd made a post in this thread. A couple things to keep in mind. I don't think they said they would close the UA forum, they just said they weren't going to support the stuff that has so far come out of it.
There's nothing to stop you from taking a bunch of your friends, and testing things yourself as a DM. Pick anything. Once you have it all straight, post it somewhere. If they do actually remove the UA forum, Homebrew and House Rules would probably be the next best place.
Some restrictions may apply. May not be available in all States. Consult with a local Doctor, Physician, or Therapist if symptoms of disappointment persist for more than three weeks.
I do not understand why they had to take down the existing UA, and couldn't just leave it up until the next sourcebook releases.
I particularly loved the revised Dragonborn and the Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk, and now they are gone from dnd beyond until that sourcebook releases... Why couldn't it have been kept until release like normal?
I do not understand why they had to take down the existing UA, and couldn't just leave it up until the next sourcebook releases.
I particularly loved the revised Dragonborn and the Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk, and now they are gone from dnd beyond until that sourcebook releases... Why couldn't it have been kept until release like normal?
Did you make a Dragonborn or Dragon Monk in the months they had been on the site? Then they're still workable for you in the less than a month and a half between now and the book release. Just copy the sheet and customize it to whatever new character you want. Change is a switch from what was normal to a new normal.
I do not understand why they had to take down the existing UA, and couldn't just leave it up until the next sourcebook releases.
I particularly loved the revised Dragonborn and the Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk, and now they are gone from dnd beyond until that sourcebook releases... Why couldn't it have been kept until release like normal?
If I'm not mistaken, in the past it's WotC that determines when the UA gets taken down, not DDB.
I do not understand why they had to take down the existing UA, and couldn't just leave it up until the next sourcebook releases.
I particularly loved the revised Dragonborn and the Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk, and now they are gone from dnd beyond until that sourcebook releases... Why couldn't it have been kept until release like normal?
If I'm not mistaken, in the past it's WotC that determines when the UA gets taken down, not DDB.
Presumably, since it's certainly not when something is published - otherwise all the rejects would still be up.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I do not understand why they had to take down the existing UA, and couldn't just leave it up until the next sourcebook releases.
I particularly loved the revised Dragonborn and the Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk, and now they are gone from dnd beyond until that sourcebook releases... Why couldn't it have been kept until release like normal?
If I'm not mistaken, in the past it's WotC that determines when the UA gets taken down, not DDB.
Presumably, since it's certainly not when something is published - otherwise all the rejects would still be up.
I recall Adam talking about it in a Dev Update (obviously quite a while ago), that Wizards mandates that UA is removed and they are the ones that dictate when it gets taken down.
I do not understand why they had to take down the existing UA, and couldn't just leave it up until the next sourcebook releases.
I particularly loved the revised Dragonborn and the Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk, and now they are gone from dnd beyond until that sourcebook releases... Why couldn't it have been kept until release like normal?
If I'm not mistaken, in the past it's WotC that determines when the UA gets taken down, not DDB.
Presumably, since it's certainly not when something is published - otherwise all the rejects would still be up.
I recall Adam talking about it in a Dev Update (obviously quite a while ago), that Wizards mandates that UA is removed and they are the ones that dictate when it gets taken down.
All of that changed a few weeks ago when DDB said it will archive all the UA and no longer support UA on the site.
I quite liked the UA, I still have some character sheets with archived UA concepts etc,
it's sad that they want to take it down but they do what they must.
I've worked with webapps primarily with startup companies as I find the smaller teams more enjoyable. Yes it can take time to do thorough testing of new things. As someone who has used primarily node, express, angular, and rethinkdb in place of mongo. I'm not saying it doesn't take time or effort. I'm saying that I'm disappointed with the drop of UA support and that it makes DDB a worse service for me.
I would be understanding if it was less of UA is no longer supported and more "we are making UA a lower priority for development but we are looking into fleshing out homebrew tools to allow users to make their own classes and do more advanced homebrew with the UA features we have already added."
I'm curious how many devs they have on rules, apis, features vs dice designers
PR style responses are considered hostile intent.
Dice hating is frequent refrain and scapegoat by folks alleging DDB's work priorities are misuguided
So the functionality of the dice is already developed. Unless WotC decides to abandon polyhedrals for card decks or something, it's established and not going to change. The only thing dice designers do is skinning those mechanisms with dynamic graphics. Do you think the folks with that skill set are anywhere near the organizational or workflow chart to the folks actually working on rules, apis, and features are really that equivalent. DDB is not Kracken, if they really wanted dice as their primary revenue and business driver, you'd see a lot more than 1-2 sets released per book. Besides, some people evidently like dice. I'm not much of a dice goblin myself and virtually collecting them isn't something I commit bandwidth to pursue, but people do and find it enhances part of their player experience. I'd even reckon that core tools and dice are prioritized in user use of DDB over UA, so both are priorities over the free UA content which I actually can't recall whether they were explicitly advertised as a feature of DDB in the first place.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
No, DDB has never been obligated to host UA, nor have they advertised it as a feature. They
dodid it to be nice, it was a curtesy. Complaining that someone decided to stop going out of their way to do a favor they didn’t need to do in the first place is kinda 💩. Being disappointed is one thing. Complaining about it is another.Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Glad you let this one go, anything to boost the glacial pace of development is a boon.
They are not obligated to my money, and I have the right to refused to renew my sub without UA.
I'm just being honest in my opinion. Having easy integrated access to UA was part of my decision to get a subscription regardless of it being advertised, I wanted to support having access to UA. I don't feel making that information transparent is a bad thing. Honestly in my opinion things would be better overall if more people were transparent about both good and bad.
I could have used many different techniques to present my criticism of this decision but many can be taken as a show of support in the decision or even praise and make it easier to avoid acknowledgment of the criticism.
My main complaint is it is only a week's notice to make copies
Now I don't support their decision to drop UA and that shouldn't seem be a thing that makes people mad at me for.
PR style responses are considered hostile intent.
Who's mad at you? I think everybody's ok with you expressing you're disappointed. The implication about the dice, eh, that wasn't a very nice thing to say. But nobody's obligated to be happy with this decision. That said, I think the reason given is perfectly valid. It may not be one that you like, but that doesn't make it an incorrect or bad reason. If no longer getting UA content means paying for a subscription is no longer worth it to you, then by all means stop subscribing - everybody gets to make up their mind about DDB's products' value for their situation. I just want to say that for a lot of us, getting the actual official content as well as quality of life improvements for the tools DDB offers is more important than getting that UA content in DDB.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I am sad to see it go, but I always have considered it a nice, little extra they put up for free when they could. I playtest a lot of the UA stuff, both in person and online, and it was convenient being able to play around with the options in the character builder. I really should just learn how to use the homebrew tools anyway, since the few attempts I made over the years were hot garbage.
This here is my view. Sad for those who do depend on UA for their games, but I would much rather see development be focused on quality of life and tool improvements (e.g. Monster Spell Slot Tracking in the Combat Tracker)
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
Yeah, presenting a perspective different from your assertions isn't anger, it's contrast. You can do what you want with your money, but you clearly were not just announcing your decision to part DDB from your subscription. You're also proffering your impressions of DDB's workflow as analysis, concluding on dice design. You are right, there are many ways you could have expressed yourself, but your chosen technique punctuated your statement with a note on what I feel is an iteration of the inaccurate and oft repeated complain about DDB's "prioritization" of dice (which again, output wise doesn't seem accurate). Maybe you're right, I and others don't think so. It was a pretty dispassionate post on my end. But if I somehow provoked feelings instead of understanding on your end, I'm sorry responses to your thinking was outside your consideration when you were selecting techniques.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I’m not mad at you about anything. You do you neighbor, makes no nevermind to me if you subscribe or don’t. (I don’t work here, I just live here.)
It literally takes less than a minute per UA race/subclass to smag copies for yourself. Make a character, pick a UA lineage, grab any class, hit “point buy” and leave them all 8s. Done. Next…. There are 4 Draconic lineages, and 4 fey lineages. Even if you want to grab the feats & spells too, maybe another 10 additional minutes total. There’s also a Ranger and a Monk and some more spells there. And you could even double up a subclass on a lineage to save yourself time and effort. (Frankly, I don’t worry about the spells and feats since they’re easy enough to recreate with little work and saving copies is little help since you can’t transfer them anyway.) But once you have your rabbitfolk rogue (or whatever) with all 8s, if you want a rabbitfolk barbarian it’s as easy as copying the rogue character and changing the class and stats and Bob’s your uncle, a rabbitfolk Barbarian is born. It’ll take 10 minutes total to save copies for yourself, and half of that time will be waiting for the next screen to load. I have a whole vault full of archived UA going back quite a while. (I even have the Runtara stuff.) A week is enough time for the 10 minutes it’ll take. I could have done three of them in the time it took me to type this response.
So again, I’m not mad. If you are that’s on you. And you got enough time to make 87 copies of each before going to bed tonight. You’re Golden.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
It's kind of strange. I thought I'd made a post in this thread. A couple things to keep in mind. I don't think they said they would close the UA forum, they just said they weren't going to support the stuff that has so far come out of it.
There's nothing to stop you from taking a bunch of your friends, and testing things yourself as a DM. Pick anything. Once you have it all straight, post it somewhere. If they do actually remove the UA forum, Homebrew and House Rules would probably be the next best place.
Some restrictions may apply. May not be available in all States. Consult with a local Doctor, Physician, or Therapist if symptoms of disappointment persist for more than three weeks.
<Insert clever signature here>
I do not understand why they had to take down the existing UA, and couldn't just leave it up until the next sourcebook releases.
I particularly loved the revised Dragonborn and the Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk, and now they are gone from dnd beyond until that sourcebook releases... Why couldn't it have been kept until release like normal?
#OpenDnD
Did you make a Dragonborn or Dragon Monk in the months they had been on the site? Then they're still workable for you in the less than a month and a half between now and the book release. Just copy the sheet and customize it to whatever new character you want. Change is a switch from what was normal to a new normal.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
If I'm not mistaken, in the past it's WotC that determines when the UA gets taken down, not DDB.
Presumably, since it's certainly not when something is published - otherwise all the rejects would still be up.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I recall Adam talking about it in a Dev Update (obviously quite a while ago), that Wizards mandates that UA is removed and they are the ones that dictate when it gets taken down.
All of that changed a few weeks ago when DDB said it will archive all the UA and no longer support UA on the site.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Right, I was responding to JCDenton2187 asking why they had to take down existing UA and couldn't leave it up until the next sourcebook releases.
Ah, got it
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master