No notable updates or feature enhancements to the main product for around 5 months and counting now.
I just signed in today for the first time in a few months since I'm about to start up a new campaign. I saw nothing in the way of new meaningful features to the main web app since I was last online. I went and checked YouTube and saw the dev update has been cancelled. At this point I don't know what my subscription is funding so I just cancelled my Master-Tier. Maybe a shot to recurring revenue will help.
It's now been many months without a dev update. Why? Well what is there to update? It seems no work has been done to DnDBeyond except for the inclusion of new books. I haven't seen any work on any of the issues we were told before the acquisition. Rage for Barbarians? Sharpshooter? Spell swapping for the new sorcerers like clockwork exchanges? Nothing new.... and I'm very disappointed.
They are probably killing DnDBeyond services off in favor of their own VTT. Everyone scraps the DnDBeyond content to use else where. Why allow that to continue if you want to mass murder all other 3rd party companies that they feel takes their D&D revenues.
Besides, what you want isn't important. You just need to shut up and give WotC your money and accept whatever they decide to give you.
The Dev Update was the thing that convinced me to subscribe in the first place. Just canceled my subscription from future renewals today partly due to this; just don't feel connected anymore.
I've been concerned about this since WoTC took over. I remember back in May of 2022 before the takeover I would tune in for every episode of the Dev update just hoping the generic features system would be DONE so they could move on to some form of effect tracker. Then... Silence.
Now that the changelog is getting weekly updates, I think it's POSSIBLE that WoTC doesn't intend to completely dismantle this site. I'm still not buying any books and have cancelled my subscription until they guarantee me that the content I've already purchased won't be locked behind a paywall, be unusable on character sheets after One D&D comes out, or be altered retroactively to promote some sort of bizarre inclusivity standard (ie. the removal of Devils from Monster's of the Multiverse). I don't want One D&D, I don't want the VTT, and I don't want censored content forced on me.
That said, I must admit that the Avrae bot is working VERY well right now and I'm not at all opposed to the idea of it replacing the combat tracker in some official capacity. It does all the things I want it to do, it's just hard to use and automation heavy. I'd like them to invest more in it and make it more intuitive. Seeing updates for Avrae in the changelog is literally the only thing that has me feeling even a slight tinge of optimism when considering the future of DDB.
I've been concerned about this since WoTC took over. I remember back in May of 2022 before the takeover I would tune in for every episode of the Dev update just hoping the generic features system would be DONE so they could move on to some form of effect tracker. Then... Silence.
Now that the changelog is getting weekly updates, I think it's POSSIBLE that WoTC doesn't intend to completely dismantle this site. I'm still not buying any books and have cancelled my subscription until they guarantee me that the content I've already purchased won't be locked behind a paywall, be unusable on character sheets after One D&D comes out, or be altered retroactively to promote some sort of bizarre inclusivity standard (ie. the removal of Devils from Monster's of the Multiverse). I don't want One D&D, I don't want the VTT, and I don't want censored content forced on me.
That said, I must admit that the Avrae bot is working VERY well right now and I'm not at all opposed to the idea of it replacing the combat tracker in some official capacity. It does all the things I want it to do, it's just hard to use and automation heavy. I'd like them to invest more in it and make it more intuitive. Seeing updates for Avrae in the changelog is literally the only thing that has me feeling even a slight tinge of optimism when considering the future of DDB.
Couple of things.
You don't want censored content forced; D&D Beyond has always presented the newest version of any book. If Wizards decides to name Orcs "Friendly big people with varying tusk lengths", D&D Beyond is gonna do the same. If you don't want censored content, buy a first edition book.
I don't think Wizards is gonna dismantle Beyond, but at the same time I don't think they knew what Beyond was truly capable of until well after the purchase. Facts are the teams working on it now by and large are not the teams who started it, and even the teams who were working very close to acquisition are somewhat not there anymore.
Final note, we're not gonna know how One D&D works until very close to release I'd imagine. We can pontificate, but we just don't know.
At the end of the day it doesn't make financial sense to support 2 different systems for playing D&D if a VTT is the end goal for WotC. In this scenario I'm guessing they would freeze the production schedule and start cutting features while committing to maintenance and minimal new features that are already in development. They would also cut costs by either firing developers or moving them to the new VTT. They would also likely want radio silence until they are ready to announce things, so no more developer videos or interviews with designers.
Basically gut DnDBeyond in favor of new VTT, but keep just enough staff to maintiain the status quo with minimal updates. But no way they will support 2 different systems for managing your games, characters and content, at least not for long. It's a waste of resources. So once the VTT goes live I figure we'll see DnDBeyond tools be phased out in favor of the VTT system over 1-2 years.
I just watched the video with Nerd Immersion. Starting up the Dev report would be one of those ways you can communicate with the community. Just throwing out the idea.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Discord: MasterWitch#2965
My World Anvil account if you're interested. Work in progress.
I just signed in today for the first time in a few months since I'm about to start up a new campaign. I saw nothing in the way of new meaningful features to the main web app since I was last online. I went and checked YouTube and saw the dev update has been cancelled. At this point I don't know what my subscription is funding so I just cancelled my Master-Tier. Maybe a shot to recurring revenue will help.
I miss them...
It's now been many months without a dev update. Why? Well what is there to update? It seems no work has been done to DnDBeyond except for the inclusion of new books. I haven't seen any work on any of the issues we were told before the acquisition. Rage for Barbarians? Sharpshooter? Spell swapping for the new sorcerers like clockwork exchanges? Nothing new.... and I'm very disappointed.
They are probably killing DnDBeyond services off in favor of their own VTT. Everyone scraps the DnDBeyond content to use else where. Why allow that to continue if you want to mass murder all other 3rd party companies that they feel takes their D&D revenues.
Besides, what you want isn't important. You just need to shut up and give WotC your money and accept whatever they decide to give you.
Info, Inflow, Overload. Knowledge Black Hole Imminent!
The Dev Update was the thing that convinced me to subscribe in the first place. Just canceled my subscription from future renewals today partly due to this; just don't feel connected anymore.
I've been concerned about this since WoTC took over. I remember back in May of 2022 before the takeover I would tune in for every episode of the Dev update just hoping the generic features system would be DONE so they could move on to some form of effect tracker. Then... Silence.
Now that the changelog is getting weekly updates, I think it's POSSIBLE that WoTC doesn't intend to completely dismantle this site. I'm still not buying any books and have cancelled my subscription until they guarantee me that the content I've already purchased won't be locked behind a paywall, be unusable on character sheets after One D&D comes out, or be altered retroactively to promote some sort of bizarre inclusivity standard (ie. the removal of Devils from Monster's of the Multiverse). I don't want One D&D, I don't want the VTT, and I don't want censored content forced on me.
That said, I must admit that the Avrae bot is working VERY well right now and I'm not at all opposed to the idea of it replacing the combat tracker in some official capacity. It does all the things I want it to do, it's just hard to use and automation heavy. I'd like them to invest more in it and make it more intuitive. Seeing updates for Avrae in the changelog is literally the only thing that has me feeling even a slight tinge of optimism when considering the future of DDB.
Couple of things.
You don't want censored content forced; D&D Beyond has always presented the newest version of any book. If Wizards decides to name Orcs "Friendly big people with varying tusk lengths", D&D Beyond is gonna do the same. If you don't want censored content, buy a first edition book.
I don't think Wizards is gonna dismantle Beyond, but at the same time I don't think they knew what Beyond was truly capable of until well after the purchase. Facts are the teams working on it now by and large are not the teams who started it, and even the teams who were working very close to acquisition are somewhat not there anymore.
Final note, we're not gonna know how One D&D works until very close to release I'd imagine. We can pontificate, but we just don't know.
At the end of the day it doesn't make financial sense to support 2 different systems for playing D&D if a VTT is the end goal for WotC. In this scenario I'm guessing they would freeze the production schedule and start cutting features while committing to maintenance and minimal new features that are already in development. They would also cut costs by either firing developers or moving them to the new VTT. They would also likely want radio silence until they are ready to announce things, so no more developer videos or interviews with designers.
Basically gut DnDBeyond in favor of new VTT, but keep just enough staff to maintiain the status quo with minimal updates. But no way they will support 2 different systems for managing your games, characters and content, at least not for long. It's a waste of resources. So once the VTT goes live I figure we'll see DnDBeyond tools be phased out in favor of the VTT system over 1-2 years.
Adam took the OG dev update with him... and keeps it going on another plane...
I just watched the video with Nerd Immersion. Starting up the Dev report would be one of those ways you can communicate with the community. Just throwing out the idea.
Discord: MasterWitch#2965
My World Anvil account if you're interested. Work in progress.
https://www.worldanvil.com/w/land-of-the-fallen-7Blandfall7D-masterwitch