BTW, in the text of Tasha's (& in the website listing), the Lifewell Tattoo is categorized as "very rare," but in the listings in the iOS combined app, it says "rare." Probably just a mis-click on entry, but I was disappointed when creating a character for a 1-shot since "very rare" was 1 level too rare... 😾🤷♀️
I don't know how contacting app support works on the IOS platform, but on the Android OS, each application usually lists the software developer contact of each application. It may be more effective for you to make screenshots of these differences and then send an email to the developer contact listed. Due to the lack of updated information on this page, I have to question if anyone on the DDB staff is actually reading the posts we put here on this particular forum and creating corresponding tasks in their bucket list. I contacted the Android OS developer contact recently about something I found and received a quick response from a software developer. The identified glitch was fixed in a matter of days.
This sounds like a quick fix. It may be faster to contact the app developer contact listed in the IOS app store.
BTW, in the text of Tasha's (& in the website listing), the Lifewell Tattoo is categorized as "very rare," but in the listings in the iOS combined app, it says "rare." Probably just a mis-click on entry, but I was disappointed when creating a character for a 1-shot since "very rare" was 1 level too rare... 😾🤷♀️
I don't know how contacting app support works on the IOS platform, but on the Android OS, each application usually lists the software developer contact of each application. It may be more effective for you to make screenshots of these differences and then send an email to the developer contact listed. Due to the lack of updated information on this page, I have to question if anyone on the DDB staff is actually reading the posts we put here on this particular forum and creating corresponding tasks in their bucket list. I contacted the Android OS developer contact recently about something I found and received a quick response from a software developer. The identified glitch was fixed in a matter of days.
This sounds like a quick fix. It may be faster to contact the app developer contact listed in the IOS app store.
Thank you--I'll try this. BTW, as they suggested, I searched before posting & saw that someone else had pointed out this Issue for the website, which was fixed by the time I saw the error in the app...
Having worked within IT for something like 30 years or so, one thing I have learned is that communications is really important. If the staff read these boards and do pass things along, then we're really missing out on them communicating that information to us in some relatively concise manner. At present, depending upon the nature of the problem or project being worked on, finding where to look for status updates can be a daunting experience. ("which forum did I post that request on?") Maybe having a centralized, standardized, perhaps more intuitive UI where issues/problems/projects/status and news can be shared and located easily would help.
Or, maybe that already exists and I'm just missing it. If so, I'm not alone in not seeing it. I do appreciate the regular dev updates and those are informative! I also appreciate the fact that a number of key employees of DDB have left the organization since the start of the year, and it takes time to jump into new roles and responsibilities. When WotC provides DDB with their new material with a week of lead time to start working on the changes (especially a change like Tasha's), then yeah, it's going to take time to get changes implemented. So what am I saying? Hey, how about hiring a project/communications/PR person whose job is to work closely with project management team and then produce regular (weekly or even bi-weekly) updates for us paying customers? Or, maybe that person/position already exists, but we just don't know where to look.
Still comes back to having more frequent and effective communications, IMO.
As discussed in a recent Dev Update, that's all being worked on to improve the flow of information. And I do recommend watching them either live on Twitch over on YouTube. They air weekly.
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// I am Arenlor Developers should read This Changelog Moderator for D&D Beyond's YouTube, Twitch, and Discord.
As discussed in a recent Dev Update, that's all being worked on to improve the flow of information. And I do recommend watching them either live on Twitch over on YouTube. They air weekly.
Honestly I'm not watching developer video updates just to find out what's going on with the 2 or 3 features I'm missing. It shouldn't be on me to sift their vlogs for pertinent info.
Genuinely would struggle to decide if the communication or the issue resolution is the least impressive part of my paid sub.
Have any of the developer logs covered support for feats that grant spells that can be cast using slots as well? I recently added Shadow Touched to a character to gain Inflict Wounds but the character sheet only lets me use it once at 1st level, I can't cast it using spell slots at higher levels as I expect.
For that it should be a fairly easy fix as really the spell(s) just need to display as normal, except that when cast at their lowest level they'd have a Use button for the first use, then a normal Cast button thereafter.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Have any of the developer logs covered support for feats that grant spells that can be cast using slots as well? I recently added Shadow Touched to a character to gain Inflict Wounds but the character sheet only lets me use it once at 1st level, I can't cast it using spell slots at higher levels as I would expect.
For that it should be a fairly easy fix as really the spell(s) just need to display as normal, except that when cast at their lowest level they'd have a Use button for the first use, then a normal Cast button thereafter.
The problem is the "feat" system is not able to add spells that can be used with spell slots - the only thing that can is the Subclass system. One thing you can do is create a homebrew copy of the subclass and use a Hidden feature to add the Inflict Wounds spell. It will then be usable with spell slots.
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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.
Is there a place where I can find a concise list of what has not been implemented yet? Or even all of what has been from Tasha's? The post toward the start of the thread hasn't been updated in months.
Just because it hasn’t been updated recently doesn’t mean it isn’t accurate. They have addressed all the “low hanging fruit” that was easy/quick to fix. The other stuff will take major rewrites of the code base and/or the development of new systems. This is true of the unfinished stuff from several books, so there is also a question of priorities, even before you add in priorities for site functioning that is separate from the “books,” like the combat tracker. I do know that progress is being made on a “generic feature system” that will help address some of the backlog (blessings from Theros, for example, and reportedly it is one—but not the only—prerequisite for sidekicks to be possible).
The information re: the "generic feature" system would be heartening if the exact same "progress is being made on a generic feature system" claim hadn't been made regularly since late 2019 (so coming up on 18 months now). It seems to be one those places where progress is continually being made but no results are ever actually shown. Indeed it's been over 12 months since it was going to arrive "pretty soon".
The fact than an awful lot of Tashas actually got implemented somewhat renewed my faith in DDB and their devs, but that this still hasn't been implemented, despite it being pretty critical to actually using DDB for its intended purpose, is disappointing. That it's not even appearing in updates rather suggests we're going to end up looking at 2+ years between it being discussed and implemented. I'd love to know what the problem is here. It cannot be purely technical, at this point, so it has to be some sort of resourcing or priority issue. Is DDB really so unprofitable, when 5E allegedly has 50m players, that this can't be made to happen?
I'm certainly looking at dropping my sub and running a different RPG, one that doesn't really need a DDB-type product to support it, at this point. I hadn't actually checked up on stuff for several months, but AFAICT, between Tashas and VRGtR very little, if anything, that benefits users or is important to the goal of the site has been implemented, but a lot of dubious subscriber benefits and fancy dice have been. Different teams, sure, but again, there's no way the "generic feature system" remains unfinished for 18+ months unless there are priority and/or resourcing issues.
Is there a place where I can find a concise list of what has not been implemented yet? Or even all of what has been from Tasha's? The post toward the start of the thread hasn't been updated in months.
Just because it hasn’t been updated recently doesn’t mean it isn’t accurate. They have addressed all the “low hanging fruit” that was easy/quick to fix. The other stuff will take major rewrites of the code base and/or the development of new systems. This is true of the unfinished stuff from several books, so there is also a question of priorities, even before you add in priorities for site functioning that is separate from the “books,” like the combat tracker. I do know that progress is being made on a “generic feature system” that will help address some of the backlog (blessings from Theros, for example, and reportedly it is one—but not the only—prerequisite for sidekicks to be possible).
The information re: the "generic feature" system would be heartening if the exact same "progress is being made on a generic feature system" claim hadn't been made regularly since late 2019 (so coming up on 18 months now). It seems to be one those places where progress is continually being made but no results are ever actually shown. Indeed it's been over 12 months since it was going to arrive "pretty soon".
The fact than an awful lot of Tashas actually got implemented somewhat renewed my faith in DDB and their devs, but that this still hasn't been implemented, despite it being pretty critical to actually using DDB for its intended purpose, is disappointing. That it's not even appearing in updates rather suggests we're going to end up looking at 2+ years between it being discussed and implemented. I'd love to know what the problem is here. It cannot be purely technical, at this point, so it has to be some sort of resourcing or priority issue. Is DDB really so unprofitable, when 5E allegedly has 50m players, that this can't be made to happen?
I'm certainly looking at dropping my sub and running a different RPG, one that doesn't really need a DDB-type product to support it, at this point. I hadn't actually checked up on stuff for several months, but AFAICT, between Tashas and VRGtR very little, if anything, that benefits users or is important to the goal of the site has been implemented, but a lot of dubious subscriber benefits and fancy dice have been. Different teams, sure, but again, there's no way the "generic feature system" remains unfinished for 18+ months unless there are priority and/or resourcing issues.
I do not remember any claims that they were working on a generic feature system in 2019 or even 2020. I do remember them saying it was on the roadmap as something they wanted to do, and that would help them implement a lot of the things that are unfinished. But that is quite different than working on it. My memory is that they have only said they were actively working on it over the last few months. That said, I'm sorry that you are frustrated and disappointed.
The problem is the "feat" system is not able to add spells that can be used with spell slots - the only thing that can is the Subclass system. One thing you can do is create a homebrew copy of the subclass and use a Hidden feature to add the Inflict Wounds spell. It will then be usable with spell slots.
Thanks for the suggestion!
Even so, supporting this properly shouldn't really be too hard; whether a spell is known or not is just information passed on to the character sheet, they should be able to just add the same option to feats that's on sub-classes and make sure it passes through in the same way. I mean, ideally they'd eventually overhaul the system so that the spell sections of feats, races, sub-classes etc. are identical and have the same options, but that can come later, as these kinds of Tasha's Cauldron features are pretty overdue by this point.
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Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
As discussed in a recent Dev Update, that's all being worked on to improve the flow of information. And I do recommend watching them either live on Twitch over on YouTube. They air weekly.
Honestly I'm not watching developer video updates just to find out what's going on with the 2 or 3 features I'm missing. It shouldn't be on me to sift their vlogs for pertinent info.
Genuinely would struggle to decide if the communication or the issue resolution is the least impressive part of my paid sub.
I believe that it took them 5 years or more to fix the Life Cleric, so my expectations aren’t real high anymore. I just ran into a bug when creating a Dhampir character - it says +2/+1 to ability increases, but it applies +1 to the first ability you enter and +2 to the second, so my player got confused, but I sort of shrug my shoulders and just assume it’s another thing on a long list that might be fixed in another 5 years, so why bother to report it? Maybe it’s WOTC’s fault, maybe it’s DDB’s or maybe it’s both, but I do get a bit tired of feeling like a beta tester when I’ve been paying for the product for quite a while and have bought so much material for it. I’m just at the “tired resignation” stage right now.
Is there a place where I can find a concise list of what has not been implemented yet? Or even all of what has been from Tasha's? The post toward the start of the thread hasn't been updated in months.
Just because it hasn’t been updated recently doesn’t mean it isn’t accurate. They have addressed all the “low hanging fruit” that was easy/quick to fix. The other stuff will take major rewrites of the code base and/or the development of new systems. This is true of the unfinished stuff from several books, so there is also a question of priorities, even before you add in priorities for site functioning that is separate from the “books,” like the combat tracker. I do know that progress is being made on a “generic feature system” that will help address some of the backlog (blessings from Theros, for example, and reportedly it is one—but not the only—prerequisite for sidekicks to be possible).
The information re: the "generic feature" system would be heartening if the exact same "progress is being made on a generic feature system" claim hadn't been made regularly since late 2019 (so coming up on 18 months now). It seems to be one those places where progress is continually being made but no results are ever actually shown. Indeed it's been over 12 months since it was going to arrive "pretty soon".
The fact than an awful lot of Tashas actually got implemented somewhat renewed my faith in DDB and their devs, but that this still hasn't been implemented, despite it being pretty critical to actually using DDB for its intended purpose, is disappointing. That it's not even appearing in updates rather suggests we're going to end up looking at 2+ years between it being discussed and implemented. I'd love to know what the problem is here. It cannot be purely technical, at this point, so it has to be some sort of resourcing or priority issue. Is DDB really so unprofitable, when 5E allegedly has 50m players, that this can't be made to happen?
I'm certainly looking at dropping my sub and running a different RPG, one that doesn't really need a DDB-type product to support it, at this point. I hadn't actually checked up on stuff for several months, but AFAICT, between Tashas and VRGtR very little, if anything, that benefits users or is important to the goal of the site has been implemented, but a lot of dubious subscriber benefits and fancy dice have been. Different teams, sure, but again, there's no way the "generic feature system" remains unfinished for 18+ months unless there are priority and/or resourcing issues.
I do not remember any claims that they were working on a generic feature system in 2019 or even 2020. I do remember them saying it was on the roadmap as something they wanted to do, and that would help them implement a lot of the things that are unfinished. But that is quite different than working on it. My memory is that they have only said they were actively working on it over the last few months. That said, I'm sorry that you are frustrated and disappointed.
They absolutely did say they were working on in 2020. In 2019 I think it was just mooted. But they had discussed it long before Theros came out, and mentioned it to defend their failure to create Feats to replace the Theros Supernatural Gifts. They certainly directly implied that they were working on it - not as a future feature, but one soon upcoming. I can probably find quotes if it's vital. In 2021 they suddenly acted like it was a new feature, but that was, frankly "some bullshit" as they say.
They absolutely did say they were working on in 2020. In 2019 I think it was just mooted. But they had discussed it long before Theros came out, and mentioned it to defend their failure to create Feats to replace the Theros Supernatural Gifts. They certainly directly implied that they were working on it - not as a future feature, but one soon upcoming. I can probably find quotes if it's vital. In 2021 they suddenly acted like it was a new feature, but that was, frankly "some bullshit" as they say.
If it was listed as "upcoming," in 2020, that did not mean they were working on it. It meant that it was one of the things they would start working on when they got the "in progress" things done. That said, it is definitely the case that "upcoming" priorities kept (and probably keep) getting shifted around; something can stay on "upcoming" for a long time while other things that weren't publicly on the list get moved to "in progress." Although that whole set of nomenclature is no longer in use in the Dev Updates, at least not in the way that Adam used it.
They absolutely did say they were working on in 2020. In 2019 I think it was just mooted. But they had discussed it long before Theros came out, and mentioned it to defend their failure to create Feats to replace the Theros Supernatural Gifts. They certainly directly implied that they were working on it - not as a future feature, but one soon upcoming. I can probably find quotes if it's vital. In 2021 they suddenly acted like it was a new feature, but that was, frankly "some bullshit" as they say.
If it was listed as "upcoming," in 2020, that did not mean they were working on it. It meant that it was one of the things they would start working on when they got the "in progress" things done. That said, it is definitely the case that "upcoming" priorities kept (and probably keep) getting shifted around; something can stay on "upcoming" for a long time while other things that weren't publicly on the list get moved to "in progress." Although that whole set of nomenclature is no longer in use in the Dev Updates, at least not in the way that Adam used it.
I'm referring to people on the DDB team literally saying it was being worked on, not just reading about it in lists of blue-sky upcoming features or the like.
Honestly, despite the fact that DDB literally has to be making more money than it was in, say, 2018, given D&D has seen 33% year-on-year growth for several years (which is huge, it's like compounding interest), and more and more people I know who play D&D have a DDB account, I feel like they're moving into that mode that companies move into shortly before they fail or stop providing updates at all. It's extremely concerning. The got rid of the transparency of the Trello board and said they'd replace it, but didn't replace it. That's a classic bad sign. They got rid of the detailed information on upcoming and in-progress features. They even got rid of the summaries of the various dev updates and replaced them with extremely lengthy dev streams which they know few people will have the time or inclination to watch them (ironically on Twitch now they're no longer part of Twitch lol).
Normally when a company does this, it's because something bad to very bad is happening there. Usually significant downsizing. It also tends to happen alongside development basically stopping.
Now maybe nothing like that is happening here, but guess what, just before these changes started, DDB publicly lost a number of people and more have left since.
So my suspicions would be either one or both of the below:
1) DDB is being downsized for some reason.
or
2) DDB's profits aren't being reinvested at all, just drained off.
If either is the case, it's extremely bad news for subscribers. And the fact that instead of getting features made, we're getting encouragements to subscribe and/or more microtransactions really suggests that the current ownership just wants to see how much it can get out of DDB, rather than being interested in making a long-term high-quality product. Again, maybe this is all just an unfortunate coincidence, but it's extremely unfortunate if so.
EDIT - Hell, even if it isn't being downsized, it should be being upsized, it should be hiring, but that doesn't seem to be happening. This may well not be the DDB team's fault at all, but rather the fault of the owner, but the end result is the same. You don't instantly solve problems by hiring more people (as it usually takes weeks/months to fully onboard and train up people), that's true but you do improve the long-term situation.
The real problem here is that there are *certain sites* which are pirating WotC content and making it available in the same ways as DDB - character builders, adventures, sourcebooks, the lot.
The thing is, that those *certain sites* don't have the same technical issues as DDB. A bunch of dorky amateurs are doing a better job than the company I'm paying.
Gabe Newell said piracy is a distribution issue. And yeah, given DDB are failing to distribute accurate, functional content... I can see piracy growing as a serious problem for DDB. And WotC. This shit needs fixing, and it needs fixing now.
Exactly. This sort of problem is what pushes normal consumers into engaging with pirate content, whatever the media involved is. You see it over and over - TV/movies not available in certain regions, music not available at all, games that don't work right in the non-cracked version (this is probably meaningless to people under about 30, but in the late 1990s and early 2000s with PC gaming it was not uncommon for you to need to download a crack to make a PC game run correctly). DDB is perfectly positioned to provide content in such an easy way to consumers that there's no reason to even consider alternatives, but as problems build up, and issues stick around not just for a month or two, but literally years or more, you have to start wondering if someone is doing it better. And I'm starting to hear that they are. I don't want to engage with that stuff but when is DDB going to fix things, and not just supply pretty digital dice that I neither want nor need?
DDB is a for-profit organization paying royalties to the rights holders.
Those 'other sites' are almost certainly unlicensed and not paying any royalties. They may well be taking Covid less seriously (or ignoring it completely) and they may be working on a purely volunteer basis, which means no salary cost limitations.
This isn't plausible as a cause of DDB's problems. At all.
D&D 5E has seen 33% year-on-year growth for a very long time. Some estimates put it at 50m players and DMs right now, maybe even higher. This is insanely higher than when DDB launched.
DDB should be making several times the profit it was in say, 2017. DDB should be capable of maintaining a far larger staff than then. We know the payments that Roll20 and the like make to WotC haven't increased significantly, if at all, so it's implausible to think DDB's ones have. Staff costs haven't increased.
But it looks like, if anything, DDB is getting smaller and less active, not larger and more active. Why? I've speculated above - historically when this happens with subscription-model software companies (both games and productivity software) it's because new ownership has decided not to invest at all, and just pocket the profits.
They absolutely did say they were working on in 2020. In 2019 I think it was just mooted. But they had discussed it long before Theros came out, and mentioned it to defend their failure to create Feats to replace the Theros Supernatural Gifts. They certainly directly implied that they were working on it - not as a future feature, but one soon upcoming. I can probably find quotes if it's vital. In 2021 they suddenly acted like it was a new feature, but that was, frankly "some bullshit" as they say.
If it was listed as "upcoming," in 2020, that did not mean they were working on it. It meant that it was one of the things they would start working on when they got the "in progress" things done. That said, it is definitely the case that "upcoming" priorities kept (and probably keep) getting shifted around; something can stay on "upcoming" for a long time while other things that weren't publicly on the list get moved to "in progress." Although that whole set of nomenclature is no longer in use in the Dev Updates, at least not in the way that Adam used it.
I'm referring to people on the DDB team literally saying it was being worked on, not just reading about it in lists of blue-sky upcoming features or the like.
Honestly, despite the fact that DDB literally has to be making more money than it was in, say, 2018, given D&D has seen 33% year-on-year growth for several years (which is huge, it's like compounding interest), and more and more people I know who play D&D have a DDB account, I feel like they're moving into that mode that companies move into shortly before they fail or stop providing updates at all. It's extremely concerning. The got rid of the transparency of the Trello board and said they'd replace it, but didn't replace it. That's a classic bad sign. They got rid of the detailed information on upcoming and in-progress features. They even got rid of the summaries of the various dev updates and replaced them with extremely lengthy dev streams which they know few people will have the time or inclination to watch them (ironically on Twitch now they're no longer part of Twitch lol).
Normally when a company does this, it's because something bad to very bad is happening there. Usually significant downsizing. It also tends to happen alongside development basically stopping.
Now maybe nothing like that is happening here, but guess what, just before these changes started, DDB publicly lost a number of people and more have left since.
So my suspicions would be either one or both of the below:
1) DDB is being downsized for some reason.
or
2) DDB's profits aren't being reinvested at all, just drained off.
If either is the case, it's extremely bad news for subscribers. And the fact that instead of getting features made, we're getting encouragements to subscribe and/or more microtransactions really suggests that the current ownership just wants to see how much it can get out of DDB, rather than being interested in making a long-term high-quality product. Again, maybe this is all just an unfortunate coincidence, but it's extremely unfortunate if so.
EDIT - Hell, even if it isn't being downsized, it should be being upsized, it should be hiring, but that doesn't seem to be happening. This may well not be the DDB team's fault at all, but rather the fault of the owner, but the end result is the same. You don't instantly solve problems by hiring more people (as it usually takes weeks/months to fully onboard and train up people), that's true but you do improve the long-term situation.
There is another explanation - that 6e or 5.5e is being coded right now and the effots to provide the functional features system have been diverted into this new system, to be part of that featureset.
Either way, all this supposition and ire is stemming from the simple fact that nobody is here talking to us. There is no transparency. There is no Trello board.
Quick Reminder to everyone in this thread: This thread is for posting issues with the content, not discussing the relative merits of the perceived pace of development. Please try to keep this thread on topic.
Awesome.
Are we permitted to make a separate thread with a respectful request for an update on the issues we're experiencing please? Or is there a forum-wide veto on discussing undelivered features?
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I don't know how contacting app support works on the IOS platform, but on the Android OS, each application usually lists the software developer contact of each application. It may be more effective for you to make screenshots of these differences and then send an email to the developer contact listed. Due to the lack of updated information on this page, I have to question if anyone on the DDB staff is actually reading the posts we put here on this particular forum and creating corresponding tasks in their bucket list. I contacted the Android OS developer contact recently about something I found and received a quick response from a software developer. The identified glitch was fixed in a matter of days.
This sounds like a quick fix. It may be faster to contact the app developer contact listed in the IOS app store.
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Accessibility TesterThank you--I'll try this. BTW, as they suggested, I searched before posting & saw that someone else had pointed out this Issue for the website, which was fixed by the time I saw the error in the app...
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ModeratorThe staff and mods do read this, and things get passed along. Things get fixed when the correct team has time from future stuff to work on it.
// I am Arenlor
Developers should read This Changelog
Moderator for D&D Beyond's YouTube, Twitch, and Discord.
Having worked within IT for something like 30 years or so, one thing I have learned is that communications is really important. If the staff read these boards and do pass things along, then we're really missing out on them communicating that information to us in some relatively concise manner. At present, depending upon the nature of the problem or project being worked on, finding where to look for status updates can be a daunting experience. ("which forum did I post that request on?") Maybe having a centralized, standardized, perhaps more intuitive UI where issues/problems/projects/status and news can be shared and located easily would help.
Or, maybe that already exists and I'm just missing it. If so, I'm not alone in not seeing it. I do appreciate the regular dev updates and those are informative! I also appreciate the fact that a number of key employees of DDB have left the organization since the start of the year, and it takes time to jump into new roles and responsibilities. When WotC provides DDB with their new material with a week of lead time to start working on the changes (especially a change like Tasha's), then yeah, it's going to take time to get changes implemented. So what am I saying? Hey, how about hiring a project/communications/PR person whose job is to work closely with project management team and then produce regular (weekly or even bi-weekly) updates for us paying customers? Or, maybe that person/position already exists, but we just don't know where to look.
Still comes back to having more frequent and effective communications, IMO.
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ModeratorAs discussed in a recent Dev Update, that's all being worked on to improve the flow of information. And I do recommend watching them either live on Twitch over on YouTube. They air weekly.
// I am Arenlor
Developers should read This Changelog
Moderator for D&D Beyond's YouTube, Twitch, and Discord.
Honestly I'm not watching developer video updates just to find out what's going on with the 2 or 3 features I'm missing. It shouldn't be on me to sift their vlogs for pertinent info.
Genuinely would struggle to decide if the communication or the issue resolution is the least impressive part of my paid sub.
Have any of the developer logs covered support for feats that grant spells that can be cast using slots as well? I recently added Shadow Touched to a character to gain Inflict Wounds but the character sheet only lets me use it once at 1st level, I can't cast it using spell slots at higher levels as I expect.
For that it should be a fairly easy fix as really the spell(s) just need to display as normal, except that when cast at their lowest level they'd have a Use button for the first use, then a normal Cast button thereafter.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
The problem is the "feat" system is not able to add spells that can be used with spell slots - the only thing that can is the Subclass system. One thing you can do is create a homebrew copy of the subclass and use a Hidden feature to add the Inflict Wounds spell. It will then be usable with spell slots.
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The information re: the "generic feature" system would be heartening if the exact same "progress is being made on a generic feature system" claim hadn't been made regularly since late 2019 (so coming up on 18 months now). It seems to be one those places where progress is continually being made but no results are ever actually shown. Indeed it's been over 12 months since it was going to arrive "pretty soon".
The fact than an awful lot of Tashas actually got implemented somewhat renewed my faith in DDB and their devs, but that this still hasn't been implemented, despite it being pretty critical to actually using DDB for its intended purpose, is disappointing. That it's not even appearing in updates rather suggests we're going to end up looking at 2+ years between it being discussed and implemented. I'd love to know what the problem is here. It cannot be purely technical, at this point, so it has to be some sort of resourcing or priority issue. Is DDB really so unprofitable, when 5E allegedly has 50m players, that this can't be made to happen?
I'm certainly looking at dropping my sub and running a different RPG, one that doesn't really need a DDB-type product to support it, at this point. I hadn't actually checked up on stuff for several months, but AFAICT, between Tashas and VRGtR very little, if anything, that benefits users or is important to the goal of the site has been implemented, but a lot of dubious subscriber benefits and fancy dice have been. Different teams, sure, but again, there's no way the "generic feature system" remains unfinished for 18+ months unless there are priority and/or resourcing issues.
I do not remember any claims that they were working on a generic feature system in 2019 or even 2020. I do remember them saying it was on the roadmap as something they wanted to do, and that would help them implement a lot of the things that are unfinished. But that is quite different than working on it. My memory is that they have only said they were actively working on it over the last few months. That said, I'm sorry that you are frustrated and disappointed.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
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Thanks for the suggestion!
Even so, supporting this properly shouldn't really be too hard; whether a spell is known or not is just information passed on to the character sheet, they should be able to just add the same option to feats that's on sub-classes and make sure it passes through in the same way. I mean, ideally they'd eventually overhaul the system so that the spell sections of feats, races, sub-classes etc. are identical and have the same options, but that can come later, as these kinds of Tasha's Cauldron features are pretty overdue by this point.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
I believe that it took them 5 years or more to fix the Life Cleric, so my expectations aren’t real high anymore. I just ran into a bug when creating a Dhampir character - it says +2/+1 to ability increases, but it applies +1 to the first ability you enter and +2 to the second, so my player got confused, but I sort of shrug my shoulders and just assume it’s another thing on a long list that might be fixed in another 5 years, so why bother to report it? Maybe it’s WOTC’s fault, maybe it’s DDB’s or maybe it’s both, but I do get a bit tired of feeling like a beta tester when I’ve been paying for the product for quite a while and have bought so much material for it. I’m just at the “tired resignation” stage right now.
They absolutely did say they were working on in 2020. In 2019 I think it was just mooted. But they had discussed it long before Theros came out, and mentioned it to defend their failure to create Feats to replace the Theros Supernatural Gifts. They certainly directly implied that they were working on it - not as a future feature, but one soon upcoming. I can probably find quotes if it's vital. In 2021 they suddenly acted like it was a new feature, but that was, frankly "some bullshit" as they say.
If it was listed as "upcoming," in 2020, that did not mean they were working on it. It meant that it was one of the things they would start working on when they got the "in progress" things done. That said, it is definitely the case that "upcoming" priorities kept (and probably keep) getting shifted around; something can stay on "upcoming" for a long time while other things that weren't publicly on the list get moved to "in progress." Although that whole set of nomenclature is no longer in use in the Dev Updates, at least not in the way that Adam used it.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
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I'm referring to people on the DDB team literally saying it was being worked on, not just reading about it in lists of blue-sky upcoming features or the like.
Honestly, despite the fact that DDB literally has to be making more money than it was in, say, 2018, given D&D has seen 33% year-on-year growth for several years (which is huge, it's like compounding interest), and more and more people I know who play D&D have a DDB account, I feel like they're moving into that mode that companies move into shortly before they fail or stop providing updates at all. It's extremely concerning. The got rid of the transparency of the Trello board and said they'd replace it, but didn't replace it. That's a classic bad sign. They got rid of the detailed information on upcoming and in-progress features. They even got rid of the summaries of the various dev updates and replaced them with extremely lengthy dev streams which they know few people will have the time or inclination to watch them (ironically on Twitch now they're no longer part of Twitch lol).
Normally when a company does this, it's because something bad to very bad is happening there. Usually significant downsizing. It also tends to happen alongside development basically stopping.
Now maybe nothing like that is happening here, but guess what, just before these changes started, DDB publicly lost a number of people and more have left since.
So my suspicions would be either one or both of the below:
1) DDB is being downsized for some reason.
or
2) DDB's profits aren't being reinvested at all, just drained off.
If either is the case, it's extremely bad news for subscribers. And the fact that instead of getting features made, we're getting encouragements to subscribe and/or more microtransactions really suggests that the current ownership just wants to see how much it can get out of DDB, rather than being interested in making a long-term high-quality product. Again, maybe this is all just an unfortunate coincidence, but it's extremely unfortunate if so.
EDIT - Hell, even if it isn't being downsized, it should be being upsized, it should be hiring, but that doesn't seem to be happening. This may well not be the DDB team's fault at all, but rather the fault of the owner, but the end result is the same. You don't instantly solve problems by hiring more people (as it usually takes weeks/months to fully onboard and train up people), that's true but you do improve the long-term situation.
Exactly. This sort of problem is what pushes normal consumers into engaging with pirate content, whatever the media involved is. You see it over and over - TV/movies not available in certain regions, music not available at all, games that don't work right in the non-cracked version (this is probably meaningless to people under about 30, but in the late 1990s and early 2000s with PC gaming it was not uncommon for you to need to download a crack to make a PC game run correctly). DDB is perfectly positioned to provide content in such an easy way to consumers that there's no reason to even consider alternatives, but as problems build up, and issues stick around not just for a month or two, but literally years or more, you have to start wondering if someone is doing it better. And I'm starting to hear that they are. I don't want to engage with that stuff but when is DDB going to fix things, and not just supply pretty digital dice that I neither want nor need?
This isn't plausible as a cause of DDB's problems. At all.
D&D 5E has seen 33% year-on-year growth for a very long time. Some estimates put it at 50m players and DMs right now, maybe even higher. This is insanely higher than when DDB launched.
DDB should be making several times the profit it was in say, 2017. DDB should be capable of maintaining a far larger staff than then. We know the payments that Roll20 and the like make to WotC haven't increased significantly, if at all, so it's implausible to think DDB's ones have. Staff costs haven't increased.
But it looks like, if anything, DDB is getting smaller and less active, not larger and more active. Why? I've speculated above - historically when this happens with subscription-model software companies (both games and productivity software) it's because new ownership has decided not to invest at all, and just pocket the profits.
Apologies for mentioning (though not advocating) the P-word. I accept my post breached terms and I can understand why you deleted it.
I'm glad there are mods reading this thread though - maybe that suggests we might get an update on this problem?
There is another explanation - that 6e or 5.5e is being coded right now and the effots to provide the functional features system have been diverted into this new system, to be part of that featureset.
Either way, all this supposition and ire is stemming from the simple fact that nobody is here talking to us. There is no transparency. There is no Trello board.
Awesome.
Are we permitted to make a separate thread with a respectful request for an update on the issues we're experiencing please? Or is there a forum-wide veto on discussing undelivered features?