I still own 3.5 books and 2e books, and I have the option to run pencil and paper campaigns if I want, but as far as 5e content goes, I mostly own digital materials so I can use them with D&D beyond. I have spent a lot of money on digital content and I like being able to play with my group remotely, or even together using the digital resources. It is great!
But what happens when 6e comes out?
I am hoping that the future involves allowing people to play other editions on the site/app rather than screwing over anyone who has bought into what they are doing here, but Hasbro's recent actions aren't encouraging.
6e isn't about to come out; the 2024 books are really a point release. Even if they were putting out a new edition, that would probably just result in your existing products winding up in legacy support of some sort for an extended period (the digital tools for 4th edition were maintained until 2019, despite 4e being EOL in 2012).
When 2024e releases? Nah, you're safe. It'd be really bad business without much gain if they tried.
In the future at some point? Pretty much guaranteed. It'll happen one day. It'll get to the point where it's just not profitable to do it anymore. They'll weigh the cost of having to maintain the service for old users against annoying a few old users that aren't buying new books anymore (or aren't all that attached to 5e anymore anyway) and one day the balance will tip the wrong way for those users. It'll happen one day. Just...not in the next few years. Probably about the time when 7e comes out. Maybe.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
They killed the 4e digital platform when Microsoft discontinued Silverlight. In general there are three factors determining shutdown of a service like this:
What does it cost to maintain the service? This is often nonlinear -- it remains low for an extended period but eventually it requires some major upgrade.
What does the service make?
What are the costs (direct costs and goodwill) of shutting it down?
Eventually, it's cheaper to shut down a service than to keep it up, but depending on the core platform it may take quite a long time.
I believe that memory is so cheap as to be almost zero and web servers are going to follow the same trend. The only thing that is a concern is file format and there are formats which are nearly eternal (e.g. vanilla HTML)
I believe that memory is so cheap as to be almost zero and web servers are going to follow the same trend. The only thing that is a concern is file format and there are formats which are nearly eternal (e.g. vanilla HTML)
Account management is the most likely thing to cause problems.
I highly doubt there will be any changes. The new edititon will be new books, or possibly an updatge of the old ones. The most likely scenario is that there will be the new core books and the older ones will be legacy content (like Volo's guide)
I believe that memory is so cheap as to be almost zero and web servers are going to follow the same trend. The only thing that is a concern is file format and there are formats which are nearly eternal (e.g. vanilla HTML)
Account management is the most likely thing to cause problems.
I believe that memory is so cheap as to be almost zero and web servers are going to follow the same trend. The only thing that is a concern is file format and there are formats which are nearly eternal (e.g. vanilla HTML)
Account management is the most likely thing to cause problems.
The easiest way to handle that is to just make old editions freely available as a loss leader.
I highly doubt there will be any changes. The new edititon will be new books, or possibly an updatge of the old ones. The most likely scenario is that there will be the new core books and the older ones will be legacy content (like Volo's guide)
They're almost certainly going to be separate products, rather than hand the majority of their market their latest product at no charge.
If they slowly iterate from now on instead of releasing entire new editions, doing rules updates here and there etc I could see being able to stay with D&D beyond, but if my stuff all become legacy, and is therefore on a ticking clock, or is less and less compatible with the combat management system and maps then it will be a hard argument to make that anyone should stick with it. Given that D&D fans aren't just gamers for a few years, but instead are a subculture where people will play for decades, I hope they don't manage this as if they need to appeal to next year's crop of middle schoolers.
So far I honestly think Wizards has done fairly well. They messed up when they messed with content licensing, but then they fixed it right away because they listened to the users and creators. The problem is that Hasbro, the parent company, is not good. It is just a shot-term thinking money grubbing creature, doing massive layoffs on their most profitable products (D&D Beyond specifically and also the Team who worked on Baldur's Gate 3) simply to temporarily boost stock prices. It makes me worry that the incredible artists and content creators will all get shafted again and again, and on the consumer side we will find that no one cares about the quality of our experience.
Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I will be watching carefully for stupid AI art and other money grabs.
It would be great if they gave the option to "upgrade" everything that has been purchased from their site to the new rules. I'm sure they would want more money from people by having them purchase all new content but it would be nice. Maybe charge like half the price or something to make it at least feel like they care.
It would be great if they gave the option to "upgrade" everything that has been purchased from their site to the new rules. I'm sure they would want more money from people by having them purchase all new content but it would be nice. Maybe charge like half the price or something to make it at least feel like they care.
Failing that, it would be nice if they offered a button on character sheets and whatnot that would update them to the new ruleset once you purchased the new rules.
While this is inevitable as a business event at some point in the future, I hope they factor in the buying patterns of people who hold "legacy content" for prior game editions.
I'm already a buyer; if the 6th edition comes out in a decade and I've been buying the content all along, taking all prior content away may cause me to stop paying out of discouragement.
TL;DR: If I already buy just about everything, keeping old and unsupported content available may be the best way to keep me buying.
Ask yourself this question. What are the odds that the current Hasbro/Wotc leadership will score an own goal by doing something like sunsetting digital content early? Make digital purchase with the understanding that they can and likely will go away.
The real problem will be the security of the platform. If you can't move the format to the most up to date security features they'll end it because it becomes a liability as the easiest egress point.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."
The real problem will be the security of the platform. If you can't move the format to the most up to date security features they'll end it because it becomes a liability as the easiest egress point.
Yep.
But that’s assuming that they leave it on the existing hardware.
I still own 3.5 books and 2e books, and I have the option to run pencil and paper campaigns if I want, but as far as 5e content goes, I mostly own digital materials so I can use them with D&D beyond. I have spent a lot of money on digital content and I like being able to play with my group remotely, or even together using the digital resources. It is great!
But what happens when 6e comes out?
I am hoping that the future involves allowing people to play other editions on the site/app rather than screwing over anyone who has bought into what they are doing here, but Hasbro's recent actions aren't encouraging.
Thoughts?
6e isn't about to come out; the 2024 books are really a point release. Even if they were putting out a new edition, that would probably just result in your existing products winding up in legacy support of some sort for an extended period (the digital tools for 4th edition were maintained until 2019, despite 4e being EOL in 2012).
They’ve been emphasizing backwards compatibility too much to get away with taking content down en mass.
When 2024e releases? Nah, you're safe. It'd be really bad business without much gain if they tried.
In the future at some point? Pretty much guaranteed. It'll happen one day. It'll get to the point where it's just not profitable to do it anymore. They'll weigh the cost of having to maintain the service for old users against annoying a few old users that aren't buying new books anymore (or aren't all that attached to 5e anymore anyway) and one day the balance will tip the wrong way for those users. It'll happen one day. Just...not in the next few years. Probably about the time when 7e comes out. Maybe.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
They killed the 4e digital platform when Microsoft discontinued Silverlight. In general there are three factors determining shutdown of a service like this:
Eventually, it's cheaper to shut down a service than to keep it up, but depending on the core platform it may take quite a long time.
i do hope when they move it hope they put it in a different tag like 5e legacy otherwise the stuff in there already will just be confusing to explain
I believe that memory is so cheap as to be almost zero and web servers are going to follow the same trend. The only thing that is a concern is file format and there are formats which are nearly eternal (e.g. vanilla HTML)
I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.
Account management is the most likely thing to cause problems.
I highly doubt there will be any changes. The new edititon will be new books, or possibly an updatge of the old ones. The most likely scenario is that there will be the new core books and the older ones will be legacy content (like Volo's guide)
The easiest way to handle that is to just make old editions freely available as a loss leader.
They're almost certainly going to be separate products, rather than hand the majority of their market their latest product at no charge.
If they slowly iterate from now on instead of releasing entire new editions, doing rules updates here and there etc I could see being able to stay with D&D beyond, but if my stuff all become legacy, and is therefore on a ticking clock, or is less and less compatible with the combat management system and maps then it will be a hard argument to make that anyone should stick with it. Given that D&D fans aren't just gamers for a few years, but instead are a subculture where people will play for decades, I hope they don't manage this as if they need to appeal to next year's crop of middle schoolers.
So far I honestly think Wizards has done fairly well. They messed up when they messed with content licensing, but then they fixed it right away because they listened to the users and creators. The problem is that Hasbro, the parent company, is not good. It is just a shot-term thinking money grubbing creature, doing massive layoffs on their most profitable products (D&D Beyond specifically and also the Team who worked on Baldur's Gate 3) simply to temporarily boost stock prices. It makes me worry that the incredible artists and content creators will all get shafted again and again, and on the consumer side we will find that no one cares about the quality of our experience.
Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I will be watching carefully for stupid AI art and other money grabs.
It would be great if they gave the option to "upgrade" everything that has been purchased from their site to the new rules. I'm sure they would want more money from people by having them purchase all new content but it would be nice. Maybe charge like half the price or something to make it at least feel like they care.
It's not like it's a major rules change; from the look of things a good 90% of the core rules of play are staying the same.
Failing that, it would be nice if they offered a button on character sheets and whatnot that would update them to the new ruleset once you purchased the new rules.
While this is inevitable as a business event at some point in the future, I hope they factor in the buying patterns of people who hold "legacy content" for prior game editions.
I'm already a buyer; if the 6th edition comes out in a decade and I've been buying the content all along, taking all prior content away may cause me to stop paying out of discouragement.
TL;DR: If I already buy just about everything, keeping old and unsupported content available may be the best way to keep me buying.
Ask yourself this question. What are the odds that the current Hasbro/Wotc leadership will score an own goal by doing something like sunsetting digital content early? Make digital purchase with the understanding that they can and likely will go away.
The real problem will be the security of the platform. If you can't move the format to the most up to date security features they'll end it because it becomes a liability as the easiest egress point.
#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."
Yep.
But that’s assuming that they leave it on the existing hardware.
Just save the compendium and database pages as HTML files. Far easier that way, and you can convert them to PDF too.
Cannot really salvage the character builder and other tools though.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >