Hello. Its just another player on this online DND website here to address why you can't buy individual races, spells, sub-classes, etc..
There isn't. In current news (which nobody really reads- lets be honest) D&D Beyond Marketplace Redesign, you will find that DND has stated,
"Can I still purchase subclasses, feats, and other game listings à la carte? À la carte purchases are no longer supported. However, any individual items you've previously purchased will continue to be available for use on D&D Beyond. If you've purchased à la carte items and would like to buy the digital book, your discounts are available to you at any time by contacting customer service. " This changed on April 30, 2024.
Nowhere does it state why. (If so, please correct me.) It's a 'that's rough buddy', period. Many players are already confused and annoyed by this new update that seemingly appears out of nowhere >>>> @Sparkson "Just saying... removing the ability to purchase individual items/portions from books isn't going to make me spend more money. I will never buy a $50 source book but I have spent $$$ multiple times buying the chunks of the book I actually use like races, subclasses, and spells." @FoxxUnknown "....I will likely purchase less now as I can't afford to buy the whole book every single time. I could afford buying thinks a few dollars at a time, even if it ended up technically costing my more to do that. This will be a financial hit for them rather than an increase if you ask me." @Clara_Windrunner "I was about to buy a bunch of various options across several books. (about £30) Now I can't.....congratz on actively hurting your community."
Now what do I think about this.. well lets take note in what the community has stated above. Financially unfair. Buying a digital bundle from anywhere else usually- if almost ALWAYS- allows individual choices. Microtransactions are the literal IV drip of most companies today. Not only is DNDBEYOND a DIGITAL platform but its also physical in a sense the the products they sell digitally can also be acquired physically. Prices clearly differentiate in real world situations between the two. Soooo.. Why buy a digital book when I can get it IRL? The main reason DNDBEYOND exists is for the ease of players having their stats calculated and everything being correctly in its place to fit rules. And maybe that's why the prices are what they are, to make up for the work of all the coding; sure. Yet taking away the freedom of creativity and budget from your community is broken.
In my humble opinion, buying a whole book doesn't make sense for those who aren't dungeon masters or don't have the funds. What am I supposed to do as a regular player? Or a rookie? Buy a 40 dollar book for one race or spell and NOT use any of the maps or adventure stuff?
On another note, even if you can keep what you bought individually- the price of the bundle is the same UNLESS you contact support for a discount. Yikes, isn't that more work on all yall?
Anyways, that just a bunch of two cents and news I piled together to fill everyone in... Players, feel free to discuss the future of what this means.
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Hello! You can call me Nomad. Early 20's - He/They - SpaceNomad247#8429
You've clearly seen the other threads on this already, stating the same as you, since you're quoting them, so why are you making a new thread?
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Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
In my humble opinion, buying a whole book doesn't make sense for those who aren't dungeon masters or don't have the funds. What am I supposed to do as a regular player? Or a rookie? Buy a 40 dollar book for one race or spell and NOT use any of the maps or adventure stuff?
if that player eventually decided they wanted to become a DM: wouldnt they then be faced with a massive initial financial burden to take that step, due to their previous piece-meal purchases?? potentially leading to less DMs... couldnt they alleviate that initial financial burden of transitioning to DM by buying the books while still being a player, unlike if they only bought piece-meal?? should the DM be expected to cover the cost of what the player wants for their character??
In my humble opinion, buying a whole book doesn't make sense for those who aren't dungeon masters or don't have the funds. What am I supposed to do as a regular player? Or a rookie? Buy a 40 dollar book for one race or spell and NOT use any of the maps or adventure stuff?
if that player eventually decided they wanted to become a DM: wouldnt they then be faced with a massive initial financial burden to take that step, due to their previous piece-meal purchases?? potentially leading to less DMs... couldnt they alleviate that initial financial burden of transitioning to DM by buying the books while still being a player, unlike if they only bought piece-meal?? should the DM be expected to cover the cost of what the player wants for their character??
Essentially, your questions boil down to "shouldn't players buy things now, just so they do not have to buy them later?" This question, however, makes little sense in light of the types of options players want to purchase and what is actually needed to run the game.
The simple reality is that a DM does not need all that much - they can get by with the Monster Manual and a DMG and have a fair number of bad guys and items from just those two books. This is the first reason your questions are fundamentally flawed - they presume that players will need to spend a lot of money when they switch to the DM chair. That simply is not the case--and likely is not how the overwhelming majority of DMs approach their transition to DMing.
Second, your post presumes that the players would even want the full book if they moved to DMing. This assumption, however, very often does not match with reality. D&D loves to publish player-facing options in all manner of different products - backgrounds, species, subclasses, etc. can be found spread across many different adventures and sourcebooks. This is why piecemeal purchasing was both player AND DM friendly. Whomever in the party was the one buying the product could ensure players had access to the thing they wanted, without having to buy the full book. For example, if someone wanted to play a Circle of Spores Druid in a Forgotten Realms campaign, they could buy just the subclass... and not an entire book based on a completely different card game they might have no interest in.
Third, your post ignores the fact that piecemeal options reduced the cost of books, so you got credit long term for any earlier-made purchases. Combined with elementary economics, it is actually cheaper to hold off on buying the books than it would be to buy them slowly over time. If you know you are going to make a big purchase, but you do not need it yet, you are financially better off buying the minimum of what you need now and putting aside money to get the rest when the time comes.
Fourth, you ignore the reality of how this game has been purchased for some time--and do so in a way that is internally inconsistent with your thesis. DMs have always born the greatest financial burden for the game--and fifty years of this game have created an expectation that DMs will provide the content for their players to use. Piecemeal purchasing helped with that - it gave players (who expect a lower investment) the option of buying what they want. With it removed, a subclass the player wants now comes bundled with a whole bunch of DM content they do not want. As polls and comments on the many threads on the subject have shown, players are simply not going to spend the full 100% on book when they only wanted 2% of the content... especially when the previous status quo was giving them the option to only spend the 2% on what they needed. What does that mean? Your hypothetical situation where a player slowly builds up a collection and is sitting on a pile of books ripe and ready for them to take the DM chair simply will not occur for many people. They simply will forgo the books and play with more basic options--leaving them even worse off than in your hypothetical. After all, the player-turned-DM in your question at least has piecemeal purchases and the associated discounts... the player who was priced out of buying a full book and no piecemeal option has absolutely nothing.
And, finally, your last flaw (at least of the ones I will list; there are others) was assuming that the way you think about purchasing must be universally true. Different people have different financial situations, different expectations within their groups, different views on what is or is not needed to play the game, etc. The main thing piecemeal options provided was flexibility - it gave folks options so they could structure their purchases how they--not you--saw fit.
Now, maybe there are financial reasons Wizards removed the piecemeal purchasing. But let us not pretend that taking away flexibility is somehow going to benefit the player-DM transition.
In my humble opinion, buying a whole book doesn't make sense for those who aren't dungeon masters or don't have the funds. What am I supposed to do as a regular player? Or a rookie? Buy a 40 dollar book for one race or spell and NOT use any of the maps or adventure stuff?
if that player eventually decided they wanted to become a DM: wouldnt they then be faced with a massive initial financial burden to take that step, due to their previous piece-meal purchases?? potentially leading to less DMs... couldnt they alleviate that initial financial burden of transitioning to DM by buying the books while still being a player, unlike if they only bought piece-meal?? should the DM be expected to cover the cost of what the player wants for their character??
Essentially, your questions boil down to "shouldn't players buy things now, just so they do not have to buy them later?" This question, however, makes little sense in light of the types of options players want to purchase and what is actually needed to run the game.
The simple reality is that a DM does not need all that much - they can get by with the Monster Manual and a DMG and have a fair number of bad guys and items from just those two books. This is the first reason your questions are fundamentally flawed - they presume that players will need to spend a lot of money when they switch to the DM chair. That simply is not the case--and likely is not how the overwhelming majority of DMs approach their transition to DMing.
keeping in mind the player was piece-meal purchasing player options (species, class, spell, feats, backgrounds etc...) why would the player have either of those books to begin with... so straight of there is a financial increase of 2 books just to transition, now since players already dont want to buy a full book with multiple player choices due to piece-meal purchases being a previous option to purchase only what they wanted - creates a little issue
due to that players piece-meal purchases, they then have less options to share with their players if/when they DM - if the player wants a specific species, class, spell, feats, background etc... but neither the DM or player own it, who makes the compromise?? do they go without?? does the DM or the player make the purchase?? however if they just bought the book (in full when a player) then this situation comes up less often, since they have more options at their disposal besides piece-meal purchases dont apply to books that a person didnt piece-meal from
Third, your post ignores the fact that piecemeal options reduced the cost of books, so you got credit long term for any earlier-made purchases. Combined with elementary economics, it is actually cheaper to hold off on buying the books than it would be to buy them slowly over time. If you know you are going to make a big purchase, but you do not need it yet, you are financially better off buying the minimum of what you need now and putting aside money to get the rest when the time comes.
""piece-meals reduced the cost of books" but "Combined with elementary economics, it is actually cheaper to hold off on buying the books than it would be to buy them slowly over time." this part confuses me especially the second part since it may contradict the first - if piece-meal is comparable to buying them slowly over time but then i cant tell if holding off on buying the books is the same as buying them slowly over time... besides after all that wouldnt the book still be the same overall price, whether someone purchased piece-meal or not?? otherwise wouldnt dndbeyond be losing money utilising piece-meal purchases even when people go on to buy the full book....
Fourth, you ignore the reality of how this game has been purchased for some time--and do so in a way that is internally inconsistent with your thesis. DMs have always born the greatest financial burden for the game--and fifty years of this game have created an expectation that DMs will provide the content for their players to use. Piecemeal purchasing helped with that - it gave players (who expect a lower investment) the option of buying what they want. With it removed, a subclass the player wants now comes bundled with a whole bunch of DM content they do not want. As polls and comments on the many threads on the subject have shown, players are simply not going to spend the full 100% on book when they only wanted 2% of the content... especially when the previous status quo was giving them the option to only spend the 2% on what they needed. What does that mean? Your hypothetical situation where a player slowly builds up a collection and is sitting on a pile of books ripe and ready for them to take the DM chair simply will not occur for many people. They simply will forgo the books and play with more basic options--leaving them even worse off than in your hypothetical. After all, the player-turned-DM in your question at least has piecemeal purchases and the associated discounts... the player who was priced out of buying a full book and no piecemeal option has absolutely nothing.
interpretations are a fascinating thing, reality is things change - in those 50years of dnd who else besides dndbeyond has offered piece-meal purchasing for their dnd content?? before the launch of dndbeyond (im led to believe in 2017, not even 10years of the 50years history) - did players not buy full books with content they may not of used or wanted??
my thesis is actually that people have been spoiled and want to continue to be spoiled since very few are approaching this from a financial perspective, its more "i want this but not that but expect the DM to give it to me or dnd to sell it to me cheap" despite them being apart of same product. hence why im asking questions, to understand their perspective and how they came to certain conclusions.
And, finally, your last flaw (at least of the ones I will list; there are others) was assuming that the way you think about purchasing must be universally true. Different people have different financial situations, different expectations within their groups, different views on what is or is not needed to play the game, etc. The main thing piecemeal options provided was flexibility - it gave folks options so they could structure their purchases how they--not you--saw fit.
Now, maybe there are financial reasons Wizards removed the piecemeal purchasing. But let us not pretend that taking away flexibility is somehow going to benefit the player-DM transition.
yes being a human with autism i have many flaws especially with this sort of thing and is one of the reasons why i try to understand others and how they see things, especially when there are opposing opinions. correct people do have different financial situations, so why is it assumed the DM is more financial then a player?? (personally dont think there was any piece-meal purchases solely DM related, rather it seems to be for the players use - could be wrong though) different expectations do exist within groups, but should those expectations be forced onto others when expectations dont influence an outcome?? the financial flexibility of piece-meal (essentially paying in instalments for the player or soon to be DM) was nice, but potentially becomes a financial burden for dnd if people are using piece-meal so they dont have to completely buy the book. which may then influence dnd to put out books with less overall content especially if people only piece-meal what they want.
why should dnd invest in their book products, when the player apparently doesnt want to invest in the books contents?? (couldnt that be a potential downward spiral best avoided)
Your entire thesis, such that it is, presumes a falsehood - that players are so desperate for the player-facing content they will spend ten times as much as they would. That is not how most folks operate - if they only want 5% of a product, most folks would rather round down to 0% of that product than pay a lot more and purchase the full 100%.
Once you accept the fact that many - and I expect most - players will forgo purchases rather than make larger ones, your entire understanding of the situation unravels. After all, your hypothetical presumes “if we remove piecemeal purchases, then players will buy the whole book - that means when they become DMs, they’ll have an entire book of content, instead of just some piecemeal items.”
In reality, a player-turned-DM is likely to have fewer options. Instead of also having a smattering of extra species and subclasses they picked up over time, they will have nothing, having previously decided “eh, it is not worth $30 for me to buy a single species I wanted to test out.” There will be exceptions to that - some players will spend the full book price for a single option - but, based on customer habits, that is going to be a small minority of overall purchases.
This is also why your question about piecemeal purchases losing Wizards money is failing to see the full picture. First, basic economic lesson - money is worth more the earlier you get it. A book purchased now will cost $30 - a book purchased over the course of a year or so through piecemeal purchases will also come out to $30. But that $30 in 2023 is more valuable than the $30 in 2024 - not only does inflation reduces the value of money, but you could have been investing that 2023 money and having it also grow for a full year.
This is one of the big draws for players - they can buy what they need now then hold off until that sticker price (which stays the same) decreases in value and when they might have a better financial situation due to annual raises and such.
You read this as sounding like Wizards loses out financially - and they do on players who purchase the full book. But where they come out ahead is on players who would never purchase the full book - then they at least receive something from that customer instead of nothing. And, while money might decrease in value over time, zero is always zero.
Regarding your complaint that players should pitch in more, that is a complaint which has existed in the game for fifty years. TSR knew about the problem of DMs disproportionately having to spend money on the game; Wizards knows about it. Neither was able to change this status quo.
Beyond did change the status quo by making it easier for players to invest in the campaign, without spending DM amounts of money. And we know this model was successful - D&D Beyond was the single biggest online marketplace for D&D 5e, which is why Wizards/Hasbro purchased it from Fandom. We do not have access to the finances of why it was the biggest platform - so we have to look at the features it has which set it apart. It has some shiny digital tools - but so do other platforms. It had no virtual table top (at the time of purchase - it does now, even if it is rudimentary). It has a laughably bad search system, worse even than the pretty clunky 4e digital tools. But it, for the first time in D&D’s history, had a purchasing model which actually addressed the Player-DM cost disparity. I expect that was a pretty major part of the reason it was the largest marketplace.
To sum, your entire post is predicated on the notion that a Player is going to spend $30 when they only want a small fraction of the content. Fifty years of D&D have shown us that is not the case. The more likely situation is that some players will spend the $30.00… but the rest are going to either forgo the character option or expect their DM to purchase the book (after all, they get the 5% of the content they will want, but the DM can use the 95% remaining, so the DM gets more value for the same purchase price).
Now, perhaps the numbers did not work out so well for Beyond - and there are lots of financial reasons they might make the switch. I am certain I can make a half dozen arguments as to why this is a better financial choice for Wizards. But, other than some ancillary questions, your thesis is that removing this option is better for players in the long run. While that might be true for a minority of players, under a cursory amount of scrutiny your thesis starts to fall apart for the majority of players.
You've clearly seen the other threads on this already, stating the same as you, since you're quoting them, so why are you making a new thread?
I think the more this is repeated the better chance there is to get this reversed. Sony recently backtracked on their PSN decision but their game was getting review bombed and they were going to lose a ton of money by have their game removed from almost 200 countries. DNDbeyond doesn't a review system and there no one to pull on their financial strings. So, to me, the next best thing is to flood forums with chatter about this.
except the community manager is only answering in the most prolific threads, 2 primarily (one in general and one in feedback). people here still want to discuss other things and contribute to other general discussions and it's off-putting having to see so many of the same conversation. 20 threads isn't getting WoTC's attention, it's just inconveniencing players.
This isnt just true for this forum either, countless video game and media forums operate the same way, consolidated feedback is better for parsing and tracking than a dozen headers all talking about the same thing. It's just white noise at some point and again just irritating players that don't want to partake in those discussions.
You've clearly seen the other threads on this already, stating the same as you, since you're quoting them, so why are you making a new thread?
I think the more this is repeated the better chance there is to get this reversed. Sony recently backtracked on their PSN decision but their game was getting review bombed and they were going to lose a ton of money by have their game removed from almost 200 countries. DNDbeyond doesn't a review system and there no one to pull on their financial strings. So, to me, the next best thing is to flood forums with chatter about this.
The Community Manager is already in some of the existing threads collating feedback, since by being in them they get notified of new posts. Having multiple threads just makes their job more difficult especially since they won't get notified about them and can miss them and will make it more difficult for them to update.
So flooding a forum would only have the opposite effect.
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Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
You've clearly seen the other threads on this already, stating the same as you, since you're quoting them, so why are you making a new thread?
I think the more this is repeated the better chance there is to get this reversed. Sony recently backtracked on their PSN decision but their game was getting review bombed and they were going to lose a ton of money by have their game removed from almost 200 countries. DNDbeyond doesn't a review system and there no one to pull on their financial strings. So, to me, the next best thing is to flood forums with chatter about this.
Exactly, sure it might seem 'annoying' to some people but for those that actually care shouldn't be afraid to cut their voices short. This is a community. Discussion is needed or else corporations will keep feeding us what they want- and that usually leaves the consumers starved of what they actually want. Besides Sony pulling their stunt, even further back the Sonic movie had its uprising. I could've added onto another forum but I believed that my long statement would just get lost along with the others, so heck why not make my own?
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Hello! You can call me Nomad. Early 20's - He/They - SpaceNomad247#8429
It's a really terrible decision. It'll certainly stop me from buying anything in the future. I have purchased a fair amount of individual things, such as spells, classes, feats and races etc over the years. I have no interest whatsoever in purchasing a full digital book that I can only read on this website. I purchase the actual books and then previously bought character creation items on here for my players to use. It seems like a greedy and unnecessary decision removing this ability.
DM subscriber since I joined this website. Ended my subscription June 2024 due to the removal of individual purchases. Was the only reason I ever bothered with this website. I use it for character building for my players and occasional referencing. I don't want digital books that can be removed whenever the company sees fit.
January 2025: seems it was a correct move. They're removing 2014 content that we paid for in lieu of their new version of the game. You only rent content on here, never own.
This is beyond ****ed. I recently bought a bunch of races, backgrounds, subclasses, and spells and I was just looking around today to buy more. This is insanely greedy. Also it says you have to contact customer service to get discounts if you want the whole book but already bought pieces of it. WHY? Before it did that automatically, it sounds like they took that away so service reps could just say "**** you pay the full price". This is so frustrating and it'll only make DnD feel more beginner-unfriendly. I'm a player I don't need maps and encounter shit I just wanted the races, classes, and backgrounds and some spells jfc.
This is beyond ****ed. I recently bought a bunch of races, backgrounds, subclasses, and spells and I was just looking around today to buy more. This is insanely greedy. Also it says you have to contact customer service to get discounts if you want the whole book but already bought pieces of it. WHY? Before it did that automatically, it sounds like they took that away so service reps could just say "**** you pay the full price". This is so frustrating and it'll only make DnD feel more beginner-unfriendly. I'm a player I don't need maps and encounter shit I just wanted the races, classes, and backgrounds and some spells jfc.
Exactly. For a game that is trying to get people interested into TTRPGs they are marketed it as a price knife. Another thing I noticed was the homebrewing surge..
Did.. did they not account for homebrew creation to bypass payment? Not ratting anyone out but its not that difficult to just.. make the exact race and for free. There's a huge influx in that right now lmao.
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Hello! You can call me Nomad. Early 20's - He/They - SpaceNomad247#8429
I like buying hard copy books for home reference. Then I will purchase what I use "a la carte" on D&D beyond for my portable devices so I don't have to lug tomes with me when I go somewhere to play. Please bring back "a la carte."
I have bought all the physical books, i therefore as a DM only bought the things needed for my campaign, and players could then buy the character class/race stuff they wanted for there character. i am probably going to be spending far less on DnD Beyond now because I refuse to buy a digital copy of an entire book that I have the hardback version of just for a couple of spells or a monster.
I’m a relatively new D&D player and this change has completely snuffed out my creativity. I’m much less interested in using D&D Beyond’s services if I’m limited to only 2 or 3 subclass options. I think I’ll switch to just homebrewing what I want because I don’t want to spend $30 on an entire sourcebook. I’m genuinely less excited about playing the game now that I have fewer options for character creation. PLEASE bring back the a la carte option!!!
Hello. Its just another player on this online DND website here to address why you can't buy individual races, spells, sub-classes, etc..
There isn't. In current news (which nobody really reads- lets be honest) D&D Beyond Marketplace Redesign, you will find that DND has stated,
"Can I still purchase subclasses, feats, and other game listings à la carte?
À la carte purchases are no longer supported. However, any individual items you've previously purchased will continue to be available for use on D&D Beyond. If you've purchased à la carte items and would like to buy the digital book, your discounts are available to you at any time by contacting customer service. " This changed on April 30, 2024.
Nowhere does it state why. (If so, please correct me.) It's a 'that's rough buddy', period.
Many players are already confused and annoyed by this new update that seemingly appears out of nowhere >>>>
@Sparkson "Just saying... removing the ability to purchase individual items/portions from books isn't going to make me spend more money.
I will never buy a $50 source book but I have spent $$$ multiple times buying the chunks of the book I actually use like races, subclasses, and spells."
@FoxxUnknown "....I will likely purchase less now as I can't afford to buy the whole book every single time. I could afford buying thinks a few dollars at a time, even if it ended up technically costing my more to do that. This will be a financial hit for them rather than an increase if you ask me."
@Clara_Windrunner "I was about to buy a bunch of various options across several books. (about £30) Now I can't.....congratz on actively hurting your community."
Now what do I think about this.. well lets take note in what the community has stated above. Financially unfair.
Buying a digital bundle from anywhere else usually- if almost ALWAYS- allows individual choices. Microtransactions are the literal IV drip of most companies today. Not only is DNDBEYOND a DIGITAL platform but its also physical in a sense the the products they sell digitally can also be acquired physically. Prices clearly differentiate in real world situations between the two. Soooo.. Why buy a digital book when I can get it IRL?
The main reason DNDBEYOND exists is for the ease of players having their stats calculated and everything being correctly in its place to fit rules. And maybe that's why the prices are what they are, to make up for the work of all the coding; sure. Yet taking away the freedom of creativity and budget from your community is broken.
In my humble opinion, buying a whole book doesn't make sense for those who aren't dungeon masters or don't have the funds.
What am I supposed to do as a regular player? Or a rookie? Buy a 40 dollar book for one race or spell and NOT use any of the maps or adventure stuff?
On another note, even if you can keep what you bought individually- the price of the bundle is the same UNLESS you contact support for a discount. Yikes, isn't that more work on all yall?
Anyways, that just a bunch of two cents and news I piled together to fill everyone in... Players, feel free to discuss the future of what this means.
You've clearly seen the other threads on this already, stating the same as you, since you're quoting them, so why are you making a new thread?
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
if that player eventually decided they wanted to become a DM:
wouldnt they then be faced with a massive initial financial burden to take that step, due to their previous piece-meal purchases?? potentially leading to less DMs...
couldnt they alleviate that initial financial burden of transitioning to DM by buying the books while still being a player, unlike if they only bought piece-meal??
should the DM be expected to cover the cost of what the player wants for their character??
Essentially, your questions boil down to "shouldn't players buy things now, just so they do not have to buy them later?" This question, however, makes little sense in light of the types of options players want to purchase and what is actually needed to run the game.
The simple reality is that a DM does not need all that much - they can get by with the Monster Manual and a DMG and have a fair number of bad guys and items from just those two books. This is the first reason your questions are fundamentally flawed - they presume that players will need to spend a lot of money when they switch to the DM chair. That simply is not the case--and likely is not how the overwhelming majority of DMs approach their transition to DMing.
Second, your post presumes that the players would even want the full book if they moved to DMing. This assumption, however, very often does not match with reality. D&D loves to publish player-facing options in all manner of different products - backgrounds, species, subclasses, etc. can be found spread across many different adventures and sourcebooks. This is why piecemeal purchasing was both player AND DM friendly. Whomever in the party was the one buying the product could ensure players had access to the thing they wanted, without having to buy the full book. For example, if someone wanted to play a Circle of Spores Druid in a Forgotten Realms campaign, they could buy just the subclass... and not an entire book based on a completely different card game they might have no interest in.
Third, your post ignores the fact that piecemeal options reduced the cost of books, so you got credit long term for any earlier-made purchases. Combined with elementary economics, it is actually cheaper to hold off on buying the books than it would be to buy them slowly over time. If you know you are going to make a big purchase, but you do not need it yet, you are financially better off buying the minimum of what you need now and putting aside money to get the rest when the time comes.
Fourth, you ignore the reality of how this game has been purchased for some time--and do so in a way that is internally inconsistent with your thesis. DMs have always born the greatest financial burden for the game--and fifty years of this game have created an expectation that DMs will provide the content for their players to use. Piecemeal purchasing helped with that - it gave players (who expect a lower investment) the option of buying what they want. With it removed, a subclass the player wants now comes bundled with a whole bunch of DM content they do not want. As polls and comments on the many threads on the subject have shown, players are simply not going to spend the full 100% on book when they only wanted 2% of the content... especially when the previous status quo was giving them the option to only spend the 2% on what they needed. What does that mean? Your hypothetical situation where a player slowly builds up a collection and is sitting on a pile of books ripe and ready for them to take the DM chair simply will not occur for many people. They simply will forgo the books and play with more basic options--leaving them even worse off than in your hypothetical. After all, the player-turned-DM in your question at least has piecemeal purchases and the associated discounts... the player who was priced out of buying a full book and no piecemeal option has absolutely nothing.
And, finally, your last flaw (at least of the ones I will list; there are others) was assuming that the way you think about purchasing must be universally true. Different people have different financial situations, different expectations within their groups, different views on what is or is not needed to play the game, etc. The main thing piecemeal options provided was flexibility - it gave folks options so they could structure their purchases how they--not you--saw fit.
Now, maybe there are financial reasons Wizards removed the piecemeal purchasing. But let us not pretend that taking away flexibility is somehow going to benefit the player-DM transition.
keeping in mind the player was piece-meal purchasing player options (species, class, spell, feats, backgrounds etc...) why would the player have either of those books to begin with...
so straight of there is a financial increase of 2 books just to transition, now since players already dont want to buy a full book with multiple player choices due to piece-meal purchases being a previous option to purchase only what they wanted - creates a little issue
due to that players piece-meal purchases, they then have less options to share with their players if/when they DM - if the player wants a specific species, class, spell, feats, background etc... but neither the DM or player own it, who makes the compromise?? do they go without?? does the DM or the player make the purchase??
however if they just bought the book (in full when a player) then this situation comes up less often, since they have more options at their disposal
besides piece-meal purchases dont apply to books that a person didnt piece-meal from
""piece-meals reduced the cost of books" but "Combined with elementary economics, it is actually cheaper to hold off on buying the books than it would be to buy them slowly over time."
this part confuses me especially the second part since it may contradict the first - if piece-meal is comparable to buying them slowly over time but then i cant tell if holding off on buying the books is the same as buying them slowly over time... besides after all that wouldnt the book still be the same overall price, whether someone purchased piece-meal or not?? otherwise wouldnt dndbeyond be losing money utilising piece-meal purchases even when people go on to buy the full book....
interpretations are a fascinating thing, reality is things change - in those 50years of dnd who else besides dndbeyond has offered piece-meal purchasing for their dnd content??
before the launch of dndbeyond (im led to believe in 2017, not even 10years of the 50years history) - did players not buy full books with content they may not of used or wanted??
my thesis is actually that people have been spoiled and want to continue to be spoiled since very few are approaching this from a financial perspective, its more "i want this but not that but expect the DM to give it to me or dnd to sell it to me cheap" despite them being apart of same product. hence why im asking questions, to understand their perspective and how they came to certain conclusions.
yes being a human with autism i have many flaws especially with this sort of thing and is one of the reasons why i try to understand others and how they see things, especially when there are opposing opinions.
correct people do have different financial situations, so why is it assumed the DM is more financial then a player?? (personally dont think there was any piece-meal purchases solely DM related, rather it seems to be for the players use - could be wrong though)
different expectations do exist within groups, but should those expectations be forced onto others when expectations dont influence an outcome??
the financial flexibility of piece-meal (essentially paying in instalments for the player or soon to be DM) was nice, but potentially becomes a financial burden for dnd if people are using piece-meal so they dont have to completely buy the book.
which may then influence dnd to put out books with less overall content especially if people only piece-meal what they want.
why should dnd invest in their book products, when the player apparently doesnt want to invest in the books contents?? (couldnt that be a potential downward spiral best avoided)
Your entire thesis, such that it is, presumes a falsehood - that players are so desperate for the player-facing content they will spend ten times as much as they would. That is not how most folks operate - if they only want 5% of a product, most folks would rather round down to 0% of that product than pay a lot more and purchase the full 100%.
Once you accept the fact that many - and I expect most - players will forgo purchases rather than make larger ones, your entire understanding of the situation unravels. After all, your hypothetical presumes “if we remove piecemeal purchases, then players will buy the whole book - that means when they become DMs, they’ll have an entire book of content, instead of just some piecemeal items.”
In reality, a player-turned-DM is likely to have fewer options. Instead of also having a smattering of extra species and subclasses they picked up over time, they will have nothing, having previously decided “eh, it is not worth $30 for me to buy a single species I wanted to test out.” There will be exceptions to that - some players will spend the full book price for a single option - but, based on customer habits, that is going to be a small minority of overall purchases.
This is also why your question about piecemeal purchases losing Wizards money is failing to see the full picture. First, basic economic lesson - money is worth more the earlier you get it. A book purchased now will cost $30 - a book purchased over the course of a year or so through piecemeal purchases will also come out to $30. But that $30 in 2023 is more valuable than the $30 in 2024 - not only does inflation reduces the value of money, but you could have been investing that 2023 money and having it also grow for a full year.
This is one of the big draws for players - they can buy what they need now then hold off until that sticker price (which stays the same) decreases in value and when they might have a better financial situation due to annual raises and such.
You read this as sounding like Wizards loses out financially - and they do on players who purchase the full book. But where they come out ahead is on players who would never purchase the full book - then they at least receive something from that customer instead of nothing. And, while money might decrease in value over time, zero is always zero.
Regarding your complaint that players should pitch in more, that is a complaint which has existed in the game for fifty years. TSR knew about the problem of DMs disproportionately having to spend money on the game; Wizards knows about it. Neither was able to change this status quo.
Beyond did change the status quo by making it easier for players to invest in the campaign, without spending DM amounts of money. And we know this model was successful - D&D Beyond was the single biggest online marketplace for D&D 5e, which is why Wizards/Hasbro purchased it from Fandom. We do not have access to the finances of why it was the biggest platform - so we have to look at the features it has which set it apart. It has some shiny digital tools - but so do other platforms. It had no virtual table top (at the time of purchase - it does now, even if it is rudimentary). It has a laughably bad search system, worse even than the pretty clunky 4e digital tools. But it, for the first time in D&D’s history, had a purchasing model which actually addressed the Player-DM cost disparity. I expect that was a pretty major part of the reason it was the largest marketplace.
To sum, your entire post is predicated on the notion that a Player is going to spend $30 when they only want a small fraction of the content. Fifty years of D&D have shown us that is not the case. The more likely situation is that some players will spend the $30.00… but the rest are going to either forgo the character option or expect their DM to purchase the book (after all, they get the 5% of the content they will want, but the DM can use the 95% remaining, so the DM gets more value for the same purchase price).
Now, perhaps the numbers did not work out so well for Beyond - and there are lots of financial reasons they might make the switch. I am certain I can make a half dozen arguments as to why this is a better financial choice for Wizards. But, other than some ancillary questions, your thesis is that removing this option is better for players in the long run. While that might be true for a minority of players, under a cursory amount of scrutiny your thesis starts to fall apart for the majority of players.
I think the more this is repeated the better chance there is to get this reversed. Sony recently backtracked on their PSN decision but their game was getting review bombed and they were going to lose a ton of money by have their game removed from almost 200 countries. DNDbeyond doesn't a review system and there no one to pull on their financial strings. So, to me, the next best thing is to flood forums with chatter about this.
except the community manager is only answering in the most prolific threads, 2 primarily (one in general and one in feedback). people here still want to discuss other things and contribute to other general discussions and it's off-putting having to see so many of the same conversation. 20 threads isn't getting WoTC's attention, it's just inconveniencing players.
This isnt just true for this forum either, countless video game and media forums operate the same way, consolidated feedback is better for parsing and tracking than a dozen headers all talking about the same thing. It's just white noise at some point and again just irritating players that don't want to partake in those discussions.
The Community Manager is already in some of the existing threads collating feedback, since by being in them they get notified of new posts. Having multiple threads just makes their job more difficult especially since they won't get notified about them and can miss them and will make it more difficult for them to update.
So flooding a forum would only have the opposite effect.
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mostly to compile everything. i'm adding to the numbers on a discussion based level that I want to have my opinion heard.
Exactly, sure it might seem 'annoying' to some people but for those that actually care shouldn't be afraid to cut their voices short. This is a community. Discussion is needed or else corporations will keep feeding us what they want- and that usually leaves the consumers starved of what they actually want. Besides Sony pulling their stunt, even further back the Sonic movie had its uprising. I could've added onto another forum but I believed that my long statement would just get lost along with the others, so heck why not make my own?
I really hope they reconsider, we will simply homebrew rather than buy books we aren't interested in. It is a loss/loss
It's a really terrible decision. It'll certainly stop me from buying anything in the future. I have purchased a fair amount of individual things, such as spells, classes, feats and races etc over the years. I have no interest whatsoever in purchasing a full digital book that I can only read on this website. I purchase the actual books and then previously bought character creation items on here for my players to use. It seems like a greedy and unnecessary decision removing this ability.
DM subscriber since I joined this website. Ended my subscription June 2024 due to the removal of individual purchases. Was the only reason I ever bothered with this website. I use it for character building for my players and occasional referencing. I don't want digital books that can be removed whenever the company sees fit.
January 2025: seems it was a correct move. They're removing 2014 content that we paid for in lieu of their new version of the game. You only rent content on here, never own.
This is beyond ****ed. I recently bought a bunch of races, backgrounds, subclasses, and spells and I was just looking around today to buy more. This is insanely greedy. Also it says you have to contact customer service to get discounts if you want the whole book but already bought pieces of it. WHY? Before it did that automatically, it sounds like they took that away so service reps could just say "**** you pay the full price". This is so frustrating and it'll only make DnD feel more beginner-unfriendly. I'm a player I don't need maps and encounter shit I just wanted the races, classes, and backgrounds and some spells jfc.
Exactly. For a game that is trying to get people interested into TTRPGs they are marketed it as a price knife. Another thing I noticed was the homebrewing surge..
Did.. did they not account for homebrew creation to bypass payment? Not ratting anyone out but its not that difficult to just.. make the exact race and for free. There's a huge influx in that right now lmao.
I like buying hard copy books for home reference. Then I will purchase what I use "a la carte" on D&D beyond for my portable devices so I don't have to lug tomes with me when I go somewhere to play. Please bring back "a la carte."
I have bought all the physical books, i therefore as a DM only bought the things needed for my campaign, and players could then buy the character class/race stuff they wanted for there character. i am probably going to be spending far less on DnD Beyond now because I refuse to buy a digital copy of an entire book that I have the hardback version of just for a couple of spells or a monster.
I’m a relatively new D&D player and this change has completely snuffed out my creativity. I’m much less interested in using D&D Beyond’s services if I’m limited to only 2 or 3 subclass options. I think I’ll switch to just homebrewing what I want because I don’t want to spend $30 on an entire sourcebook. I’m genuinely less excited about playing the game now that I have fewer options for character creation. PLEASE bring back the a la carte option!!!
What a terrible move. Bring this back pls
imo this is bullshit, i dont have the money to throw at a whole book! i rarely even make new characters. i just need this one specific subclass..
money hungry people smh.