To all those who haven't heard, new unconfirmed rumours from Hos of Dungeon Scribe. Hasbro/WotC are planning to overhaul D&D Beyon in the following ways:
- increase higher tier subscription to $30 a month.
- Make homebrew creation tools inaccessible for lower tiers.
- Creating AI-DMs, that produce algorithm-based stories and judgements for Players.
The rumours state they are also continuing forward with de-authorising the OGL1.0a.
Let's just compare that subscription price for a moment. For $30/month, I can subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and access hundreds of games on Xbox and PC ($14.99/mo), and Amazon Prime ($14.99/mo) and access free shipping, movies, music, free gaming console on PC, select kindle books/audiobooks, and other perks. All I have to say is that they must have some good cocaine they are using over at WotC/Hasbro if their executives think that anyone is going to be willing to pay $30/mo to access 2-4 new books a year plus digital dice and the ability to put artwork from those books behind their character sheet.
"When truth presents itself, the wise person see the light, takes it in, and makes adjustments. The fool tries to adjust the truth so he does not have to adjust to it." ~ Henry Cloud #ORC #OpenDND
To all those who haven't heard, new unconfirmed rumours from Hos of Dungeon Scribe. Hasbro/WotC are planning to overhaul D&D Beyon in the following ways:
- increase higher tier subscription to $30 a month.
- Make homebrew creation tools inaccessible for lower tiers.
- Creating AI-DMs, that produce algorithm-based stories and judgements for Players.
The rumours state they are also continuing forward with de-authorising the OGL1.0a.
30$ a month is doable... But I want full and unrestricted access to the VTT and every monster, stat, spell and what have you that is published in the books I already own, I want to be able to host regular players in my campaigns like I can do now and they must have the full breath of the vtt content I have access to., For however many campaigns I decide to run. No faffing about with micro-transactions, for that price
Anything less than that is theft, and even that is bloody expensive.
That they are going to deauthorise the old ogl is by now painfully obvious.. They've over extended and they can't walk it back entirely, not without half the board losing their jobs... And it does make some sense that they would want to create a new ogl, updated to the current technology and distribution channels. (Not that I like it).
It also makes sense that they do not want to have a situation where 2 competing ogl exist within the same framework/company.
To all those who haven't heard, new unconfirmed rumours from Hos of Dungeon Scribe. Hasbro/WotC are planning to overhaul D&D Beyon in the following ways:
- increase higher tier subscription to $30 a month.
- Make homebrew creation tools inaccessible for lower tiers.
- Creating AI-DMs, that produce algorithm-based stories and judgements for Players.
The rumours state they are also continuing forward with de-authorising the OGL1.0a.
Well, there you go as to how they can monetize D&D. Loads of microtransactions coming your way. Want to use a Giant Spider in your next adventure? $3.99 for the VTT miniature. Playing in a group with the AI DM And want some magic items? $2.99 per loot box!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The age of OGL is over. The Time of the ORC has come!
The moment that WotC declares OGL 1.0a "de-authorized", "revoked" or any such nonsense is the moment I release as much content as possible under OGL 1.0a and say, "Sue me WotC". OGL1.0a cannot be revoked. If thousands of us do it, the countersuit will be a class action suit.
To all those who haven't heard, new unconfirmed rumours from Hos of Dungeon Scribe. Hasbro/WotC are planning to overhaul D&D Beyon in the following ways:
- increase higher tier subscription to $30 a month.
- Make homebrew creation tools inaccessible for lower tiers.
- Creating AI-DMs, that produce algorithm-based stories and judgements for Players.
The rumours state they are also continuing forward with de-authorising the OGL1.0a.
They truly cracked the code here - WotC realized the secret desire of all DnD gamers.
To turn DnD into an overpriced, cruddy, procedurally generated videogame.
Except an actual 'DnD' style videogame publisher could have also told them that a thriving 3rd party mod development community is critical to the success of a DnD style videogame.
Fantastic work-from-home opportunity for everyone…Work for three to eight hours a day and start getting paid in the range of 13,000 to 19,000 dollars a month…Weekly payments…And the best thing is...It’s so Easy…follow the details on this website.......https://www.profitguru7.com/
Pretty sure this was shared for the soon to be former Hasbro / WotC senior leadership….
Fantastic work-from-home opportunity for everyone…Work for three to eight hours a day and start getting paid in the range of 13,000 to 19,000 dollars a month…Weekly payments…And the best thing is...It’s so Easy…follow the details on this website.......https://www.profitguru7.com/
Pretty sure this was shared for the soon to be former Hasbro / WotC senior leadership….
It was probably shared BY the senior leadership. Never a scam too low for those up on high.
To all those who haven't heard, new unconfirmed rumours from Hos of Dungeon Scribe. Hasbro/WotC are planning to overhaul D&D Beyon in the following ways:
- increase higher tier subscription to $30 a month.
- Make homebrew creation tools inaccessible for lower tiers.
- Creating AI-DMs, that produce algorithm-based stories and judgements for Players.
The rumours state they are also continuing forward with de-authorising the OGL1.0a.
$30 a month is probably reaching a point where it's going to drive players away from digital and into PnP, or outright away. If anything it's going to push those who do stick with D&D into homebrew and 3pp.
AI DMs while I can see a need for this, I have a feeling, that things are going to be heavily railroaded as a result, or end up playing more like a wargame.
Deauthorizing of 1.0a we knew they were going to keep trying that, and I have a feeling outside of brute forcing, or trickery, they're just going to keep it up until the matter is taken to court, and that is still no gurantee if people voluntarily give up their rights.
$30 a month is probably reaching a point where it's going to drive players away from digital and into PnP, or outright away. If anything it's going to push those who do stick with D&D into homebrew and 3pp.
AI DMs while I can see a need for this, I have a feeling, that things are going to be heavily railroaded as a result, or end up playing more like a wargame.
Deauthorizing of 1.0a we knew they were going to keep trying that, and I have a feeling outside of brute forcing, or trickery, they're just going to keep it up until the matter is taken to court, and that is still no gurantee if people voluntarily give up their rights.
There are AI text based (i.e. no game mechanics) interactive story telling systems but yet to see one that can actually hold to a plot line or even hold any sort of context for even a couple lines
And think of how much more difficult it'll be for it to hold onto the plot when it's also trying to get you to play for magic item loot boxes and Tiamat NFTs XD
$30 a month is probably reaching a point where it's going to drive players away from digital and into PnP, or outright away. If anything it's going to push those who do stick with D&D into homebrew and 3pp.
AI DMs while I can see a need for this, I have a feeling, that things are going to be heavily railroaded as a result, or end up playing more like a wargame.
Deauthorizing of 1.0a we knew they were going to keep trying that, and I have a feeling outside of brute forcing, or trickery, they're just going to keep it up until the matter is taken to court, and that is still no gurantee if people voluntarily give up their rights.
There are AI text based (i.e. no game mechanics) interactive story telling systems but yet to see one that can actually hold to a plot line or even hold any sort of context for even a couple lines
I vaguely remember a Neverwinter Nights third party module (gasp... The horror!), that was pseudo-randomized. I figure that their AI efforts will probably be on par with that or Dungeon Hack. Here is this randomly generated dungeon/map to explore with the same recycled NPCs with a new random name giving out a randomized generic quest. So RPG-lite and heavy on the combat. Great if all you care about is being a murder hobo, not so great if you care about everything else that makes the game interesting.
"When truth presents itself, the wise person see the light, takes it in, and makes adjustments. The fool tries to adjust the truth so he does not have to adjust to it." ~ Henry Cloud #ORC #OpenDND
$30 a month is probably reaching a point where it's going to drive players away from digital and into PnP, or outright away. If anything it's going to push those who do stick with D&D into homebrew and 3pp.
AI DMs while I can see a need for this, I have a feeling, that things are going to be heavily railroaded as a result, or end up playing more like a wargame.
Deauthorizing of 1.0a we knew they were going to keep trying that, and I have a feeling outside of brute forcing, or trickery, they're just going to keep it up until the matter is taken to court, and that is still no gurantee if people voluntarily give up their rights.
There are AI text based (i.e. no game mechanics) interactive story telling systems but yet to see one that can actually hold to a plot line or even hold any sort of context for even a couple lines
And think of how much more difficult it'll be for it to hold onto the plot when it's also trying to get you to play for magic item loot boxes and Tiamat NFTs XD
Of course, with D&D's history of in-house digital projects, I bet we get a lot of super-hyped up screenshots and a promo video or three, but it never actually sees the light of day.
To all those who haven't heard, new unconfirmed rumours
Here's my problem with all of this UNCONFIRMED RUMOR garbage everyone keeps bringing up...
There are people who have financial incentives to spread lies and falsehoods to drum up views, add revenue, create ill will and hatred towards D&D to drive WoTC out of the market so players will buy into there systems, Paizo & Kobold are two confirmed contenders I know of. I am sure there are more.
I don't like people who drive hate based on unconfirmed rumors and given the outlandish and nonsensical nature of most of them, no people, WoTC is not trying to deliberately destroy there company, maybe start asking "does this sound like something a reasonable competent company that wants to stay in business would do or something an unscrupulous person/company might say they would do in order to hurt them?."
To all those who haven't heard, new unconfirmed rumours
Here's my problem with all of this UNCONFIRMED RUMOR garbage everyone keeps bringing up...
There are people who have financial incentives to spread lies and falsehoods to drum up views, add revenue, create ill will and hatred towards D&D to drive WoTC out of the market so players will buy into there systems, Paizo & Kobold are two confirmed contenders I know of. I am sure there are more.
I don't like people who drive hate based on unconfirmed rumors and given the outlandish and nonsensical nature of most of them, no people, WoTC is not trying to deliberately destroy there company, maybe start asking "does this sound like something a reasonable competent company that wants to stay in business would do or something an unscrupulous person/company might say they would do in order to hurt them?."
The problem is just looking at what we do know, it doesn't look good and using logic to see where they are headed. For example, from Wizards of the Coast CEO Cynthia Williams:
"D&D has never been more popular, and we have really great fans and engagement," Williams told investors. "But the brand is really under-monetized." Williams pointed to market data from the recently acquired D&D Beyond that showed that Dungeon Masters made the vast majority of purchases related to Dungeons & Dragons, despite making up only 20% of the game's user base. Williams also noted that D&D Beyond would be a critical part of Dungeons & Dragons' future, with the digital toolset powering the next iteration of Dungeons & Dragons. Williams also spoke about D&D Beyond being utilized to "unlock" recurrent purchases similar to add-ons in digital games. We'll note that D&D Beyond has long sold aesthetics and digital accessories, such as digital dice and avatars, and an upcoming Dungeons & Dragons virtual tabletop is expected to bring more ways to sell digital add-ons.
So part of their issue is that only Dungeon Masters purchase books and other materials, and their game plan moving forward centers around using D&D Beyond to "unlock" add-ons like DLC in video games. Given what they seem to be angling towards, this is more in line with the infamous "Horse Armor DLC" than anything else. It's also ignoring the fact that the majority of the books they sell are generally focused on Dungeon Masters!!! It would be pretty stupid for the entire group of players to purchase Curse of Strahd, as it would ruin the campaign. Yet, they are whining about the fact they created a book that only DM's should purchase being purchased by only DM's?!?
Reading into the article's statements, they are upset that I use heroforge.com to generate my avatar instead of being forced to pay dndbeyond.com a fee to get one. My friends should have to pay for all the Sources to unlock every sub-class they want to use instead of me using my Master Tier to share books (you know, how we do things with physical books) with the campaign I am part of. All of this points to them grossly misunderstanding how a TTRPG works, and putting their effort into gatekeeping/rent-seeking instead of building the franchise.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"When truth presents itself, the wise person see the light, takes it in, and makes adjustments. The fool tries to adjust the truth so he does not have to adjust to it." ~ Henry Cloud #ORC #OpenDND
But if WotC's intent was to kneecap any D&D-compatible growth in this hobby, make D&D devalued & toxic to everybody, & break everyone's trust in WotC all within mere days, then OGL 1.1 was genius!
It has revealed that WotC is now a threat to anything D&D-compatible instead of being a capable steward of it.
But the last straw for me was WotC's response to the inevitable backlash against this.
I mean, Ew! WotC's pretense in that response - that OGL 1.1 was just a 'draft' or a 'work in process' - was just a bunch of lies & gaslighting. It was so disingenuous that it made me cringe.
The silver lining: I was first exposed to D&D in 1974 & I started to GM it in 1977. So it was going to be difficult for me to let go of D&D after OGL 1.1 leaked.
But now WotC's lies & gaslighting about it has poisoned the brand to me. This makes it easy for me to let go of D&D. I can move on to something else.
As I mentioned on another thread, they won (following that one line) since they scared away all the other content creators; they got exclusivity on a desert to do whatever they wanted.
As I mentioned on another thread, they won (following that one line) since they scared away all the other content creators; they got exclusivity on a desert to do whatever they wanted.
I just wish I could sit in the daily status meeting to hear all the yes men telling Chris Cocks (great name for him) that its working great, it'll all blow over, we'll make billions.
So part of their issue is that only Dungeon Masters purchase books and other materials, and their game plan moving forward centers around using D&D Beyond to "unlock" add-ons like DLC in video games. Given what they seem to be angling towards, this is more in line with the infamous "Horse Armor DLC" than anything else. It's also ignoring the fact that the majority of the books they sell are generally focused on Dungeon Masters!!! It would be pretty stupid for the entire group of players to purchase Curse of Strahd, as it would ruin the campaign. Yet, they are whining about the fact they created a book that only DM's should purchase being purchased by only DM's?!?
For real.
Imagine though that instead of one book, they had written two. One for running it, and another smaller booklet that included special character options for the setting/adventure as well as general level knowledge and description, a sort of campaign primer for players. Everything you need to create the perfect character for the adventure: subrace, backgrounds, feats, equipment, maybe even some unique subclasses or spells.
Would that sell? You know it would. I know it would. How does WotC not know it would?
People want content for what they're doing in the game. For players, that's building and playing a character. They need content for that. Not for running a cool adventure.
Reading into the article's statements, they are upset that I use heroforge.com to generate my avatar instead of being forced to pay dndbeyond.com a fee to get one. My friends should have to pay for all the Sources to unlock every sub-class they want to use instead of me using my Master Tier to share books (you know, how we do things with physical books) with the campaign I am part of. All of this points to them grossly misunderstanding how a TTRPG works, and putting their effort into gatekeeping/rent-seeking instead of building the franchise.
They could special their books better to player vs DM. Many books strike a middle balance and are designed for either/or. If they wanted to monetize to players they'd simply need to change what content they're bundling up in a book. DMs might still pick them up, even if they're marketed to players, especially since most DMs are also players. But it'd be an easier sell to a non-DM if the book is smaller, and more targeted to their needs/interest and cheaper as a result.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
From Dec 21st 2022 to Jan 13th 2023, after a somewhat half-a$$ attempt to quell rumors of a god awful 'draft' change to the OGL, Wotc/Hasbro executives watched it burn. The Wotc/Hasbro corporate PR put out a statement equivalent to pi$$ing on the burning ashes in an attempt to quell the flames.
23 years of trust and respect torched in 23 days.
The old saying goes, "Trust and respect are not freely given, but must be earned though good deeds and acts."
At this point who knows what the hell will happen.[ 8 ball predictions say worst is yet ahead ] so forgive me if I morn for the future, for the skies are still dark and the way forward in fog and smoke.
I agree players want content that is useful to them, but selling a $30 book that has material a player shouldn't read is silly. I've yet to meet the player that listened when a book said, "Don't read this, it's only for the DM." It's easy to tell the Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide isn't for players, but what about Tasha's Cauldron of Everything or Xander's Guide to Everything? Both of those books have things that only a DM should be aware of, so WotC is wanting players to essentially purchase a $30 book and not read half of it. Mordekainen introduces a major revision to non-Player Handbook character races, but that is a scant fraction of the overall book primarily only needed by the Dungeon Master.
Honestly, WotC has failed to create a compelling reason for a player to want to purchase Sourcebooks, outside of those of us that just love tinkering with the setting/system. The DnD Basic Rules: DND Beyond Edition, unlike the PDF edition of DnD Basic Rules gives you the ability to play as all the classes in the game (although with only a single sub-class) along with the most important rules to the game. The Player's Handbook is useful if you want some variety to your classes, and you can somewhat make an argument for Tasha's and Xander's (which also add sub-classes and a new class). Outside of those books, I am not sure any of other WotC Sourcebook makes a strong case of value for a player purchase unless they are playing a specific setting or really want a specific sub-class.
"When truth presents itself, the wise person see the light, takes it in, and makes adjustments. The fool tries to adjust the truth so he does not have to adjust to it." ~ Henry Cloud #ORC #OpenDND
The more I think about last year's attempted board take over of Hasbro by an investment firm to spin off WotC from Hasbo control the more I think the investor voters were all duped and we could have avoided this shit fate
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Let's just compare that subscription price for a moment. For $30/month, I can subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and access hundreds of games on Xbox and PC ($14.99/mo), and Amazon Prime ($14.99/mo) and access free shipping, movies, music, free gaming console on PC, select kindle books/audiobooks, and other perks. All I have to say is that they must have some good cocaine they are using over at WotC/Hasbro if their executives think that anyone is going to be willing to pay $30/mo to access 2-4 new books a year plus digital dice and the ability to put artwork from those books behind their character sheet.
"When truth presents itself, the wise person see the light, takes it in, and makes adjustments. The fool tries to adjust the truth so he does not have to adjust to it." ~ Henry Cloud #ORC #OpenDND
30$ a month is doable... But I want full and unrestricted access to the VTT and every monster, stat, spell and what have you that is published in the books I already own, I want to be able to host regular players in my campaigns like I can do now and they must have the full breath of the vtt content I have access to., For however many campaigns I decide to run. No faffing about with micro-transactions, for that price
Anything less than that is theft, and even that is bloody expensive.
That they are going to deauthorise the old ogl is by now painfully obvious.. They've over extended and they can't walk it back entirely, not without half the board losing their jobs... And it does make some sense that they would want to create a new ogl, updated to the current technology and distribution channels. (Not that I like it).
It also makes sense that they do not want to have a situation where 2 competing ogl exist within the same framework/company.
No, I'm not justifying it or in favour of it.
Well, there you go as to how they can monetize D&D. Loads of microtransactions coming your way. Want to use a Giant Spider in your next adventure? $3.99 for the VTT miniature. Playing in a group with the AI DM And want some magic items? $2.99 per loot box!
The age of OGL is over. The Time of the ORC has come!
The moment that WotC declares OGL 1.0a "de-authorized", "revoked" or any such nonsense is the moment I release as much content as possible under OGL 1.0a and say, "Sue me WotC". OGL1.0a cannot be revoked. If thousands of us do it, the countersuit will be a class action suit.
They truly cracked the code here - WotC realized the secret desire of all DnD gamers.
To turn DnD into an overpriced, cruddy, procedurally generated videogame.
Except an actual 'DnD' style videogame publisher could have also told them that a thriving 3rd party mod development community is critical to the success of a DnD style videogame.
Pretty sure this was shared for the soon to be former Hasbro / WotC senior leadership….
It was probably shared BY the senior leadership. Never a scam too low for those up on high.
$30 a month is probably reaching a point where it's going to drive players away from digital and into PnP, or outright away. If anything it's going to push those who do stick with D&D into homebrew and 3pp.
AI DMs while I can see a need for this, I have a feeling, that things are going to be heavily railroaded as a result, or end up playing more like a wargame.
Deauthorizing of 1.0a we knew they were going to keep trying that, and I have a feeling outside of brute forcing, or trickery, they're just going to keep it up until the matter is taken to court, and that is still no gurantee if people voluntarily give up their rights.
And think of how much more difficult it'll be for it to hold onto the plot when it's also trying to get you to play for magic item loot boxes and Tiamat NFTs XD
I vaguely remember a Neverwinter Nights third party module (gasp... The horror!), that was pseudo-randomized. I figure that their AI efforts will probably be on par with that or Dungeon Hack. Here is this randomly generated dungeon/map to explore with the same recycled NPCs with a new random name giving out a randomized generic quest. So RPG-lite and heavy on the combat. Great if all you care about is being a murder hobo, not so great if you care about everything else that makes the game interesting.
"When truth presents itself, the wise person see the light, takes it in, and makes adjustments. The fool tries to adjust the truth so he does not have to adjust to it." ~ Henry Cloud #ORC #OpenDND
I remember Colossal Cave Adventure.
Pure text based fun.
Of course, with D&D's history of in-house digital projects, I bet we get a lot of super-hyped up screenshots and a promo video or three, but it never actually sees the light of day.
Here's my problem with all of this UNCONFIRMED RUMOR garbage everyone keeps bringing up...
There are people who have financial incentives to spread lies and falsehoods to drum up views, add revenue, create ill will and hatred towards D&D to drive WoTC out of the market so players will buy into there systems, Paizo & Kobold are two confirmed contenders I know of. I am sure there are more.
I don't like people who drive hate based on unconfirmed rumors and given the outlandish and nonsensical nature of most of them, no people, WoTC is not trying to deliberately destroy there company, maybe start asking "does this sound like something a reasonable competent company that wants to stay in business would do or something an unscrupulous person/company might say they would do in order to hurt them?."
The problem is just looking at what we do know, it doesn't look good and using logic to see where they are headed. For example, from Wizards of the Coast CEO Cynthia Williams:
So part of their issue is that only Dungeon Masters purchase books and other materials, and their game plan moving forward centers around using D&D Beyond to "unlock" add-ons like DLC in video games. Given what they seem to be angling towards, this is more in line with the infamous "Horse Armor DLC" than anything else. It's also ignoring the fact that the majority of the books they sell are generally focused on Dungeon Masters!!! It would be pretty stupid for the entire group of players to purchase Curse of Strahd, as it would ruin the campaign. Yet, they are whining about the fact they created a book that only DM's should purchase being purchased by only DM's?!?
Reading into the article's statements, they are upset that I use heroforge.com to generate my avatar instead of being forced to pay dndbeyond.com a fee to get one. My friends should have to pay for all the Sources to unlock every sub-class they want to use instead of me using my Master Tier to share books (you know, how we do things with physical books) with the campaign I am part of. All of this points to them grossly misunderstanding how a TTRPG works, and putting their effort into gatekeeping/rent-seeking instead of building the franchise.
"When truth presents itself, the wise person see the light, takes it in, and makes adjustments. The fool tries to adjust the truth so he does not have to adjust to it." ~ Henry Cloud #ORC #OpenDND
'Wizards'? They are apparently not.
But if WotC's intent was to kneecap any D&D-compatible growth in this hobby, make D&D devalued & toxic to everybody, & break everyone's trust in WotC all within mere days, then OGL 1.1 was genius!
It has revealed that WotC is now a threat to anything D&D-compatible instead of being a capable steward of it.
But the last straw for me was WotC's response to the inevitable backlash against this.
I mean, Ew! WotC's pretense in that response - that OGL 1.1 was just a 'draft' or a 'work in process' - was just a bunch of lies & gaslighting. It was so disingenuous that it made me cringe.
The silver lining: I was first exposed to D&D in 1974 & I started to GM it in 1977. So it was going to be difficult for me to let go of D&D after OGL 1.1 leaked.
But now WotC's lies & gaslighting about it has poisoned the brand to me. This makes it easy for me to let go of D&D. I can move on to something else.
As I mentioned on another thread, they won (following that one line) since they scared away all the other content creators; they got exclusivity on a desert to do whatever they wanted.
I just wish I could sit in the daily status meeting to hear all the yes men telling Chris Cocks (great name for him) that its working great, it'll all blow over, we'll make billions.
For real.
Imagine though that instead of one book, they had written two. One for running it, and another smaller booklet that included special character options for the setting/adventure as well as general level knowledge and description, a sort of campaign primer for players. Everything you need to create the perfect character for the adventure: subrace, backgrounds, feats, equipment, maybe even some unique subclasses or spells.
Would that sell? You know it would. I know it would. How does WotC not know it would?
People want content for what they're doing in the game. For players, that's building and playing a character. They need content for that. Not for running a cool adventure.
They could special their books better to player vs DM. Many books strike a middle balance and are designed for either/or. If they wanted to monetize to players they'd simply need to change what content they're bundling up in a book. DMs might still pick them up, even if they're marketed to players, especially since most DMs are also players. But it'd be an easier sell to a non-DM if the book is smaller, and more targeted to their needs/interest and cheaper as a result.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
23 days.
From Dec 21st 2022 to Jan 13th 2023, after a somewhat half-a$$ attempt to quell rumors of a god awful 'draft' change to the OGL, Wotc/Hasbro executives watched it burn. The Wotc/Hasbro corporate PR put out a statement equivalent to pi$$ing on the burning ashes in an attempt to quell the flames.
23 years of trust and respect torched in 23 days.
The old saying goes, "Trust and respect are not freely given, but must be earned though good deeds and acts."
At this point who knows what the hell will happen.[ 8 ball predictions say worst is yet ahead ] so forgive me if I morn for the future, for the skies are still dark and the way forward in fog and smoke.
23 years of trust, burned to ashes in 23 days.
I agree players want content that is useful to them, but selling a $30 book that has material a player shouldn't read is silly. I've yet to meet the player that listened when a book said, "Don't read this, it's only for the DM." It's easy to tell the Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide isn't for players, but what about Tasha's Cauldron of Everything or Xander's Guide to Everything? Both of those books have things that only a DM should be aware of, so WotC is wanting players to essentially purchase a $30 book and not read half of it. Mordekainen introduces a major revision to non-Player Handbook character races, but that is a scant fraction of the overall book primarily only needed by the Dungeon Master.
Honestly, WotC has failed to create a compelling reason for a player to want to purchase Sourcebooks, outside of those of us that just love tinkering with the setting/system. The DnD Basic Rules: DND Beyond Edition, unlike the PDF edition of DnD Basic Rules gives you the ability to play as all the classes in the game (although with only a single sub-class) along with the most important rules to the game. The Player's Handbook is useful if you want some variety to your classes, and you can somewhat make an argument for Tasha's and Xander's (which also add sub-classes and a new class). Outside of those books, I am not sure any of other WotC Sourcebook makes a strong case of value for a player purchase unless they are playing a specific setting or really want a specific sub-class.
"When truth presents itself, the wise person see the light, takes it in, and makes adjustments. The fool tries to adjust the truth so he does not have to adjust to it." ~ Henry Cloud #ORC #OpenDND
The more I think about last year's attempted board take over of Hasbro by an investment firm to spin off WotC from Hasbo control the more I think the investor voters were all duped and we could have avoided this shit fate