I'd like to add my voice to the several others in this thread that have asked for the perpetually beta Encounter Builder to get some attention.

I understand that WOTC wants people to use their own VTT, and the fact that you're updating Maps is great -- for the people that use it. But when I read the title of this article "Welcome Back to the Table..."  I was hopeful for a second that maybe this would be an announcement about actually supporting those of us who still play around a real, actual table.  IMHO, updating the Encounter Builder to 2024 rules AT THE VERY LEAST, would give D&D Beyond some very much needed goodwill from an awful lot of people here.  

I'm sure they feel it's better for them to not include the relevant  info, in hopes that someone might be inclined to buy the Dungeon Master's Guide.  

Besides, if they did include it, there might not be enough room for them to advertise all of their other published adventures and winter contect -- again, in hopes that people would buy those.

Sigh...  I remember when these articles were actually value added services to D&D Beyond subscribers -- free one shots, short adventures, monster guides, class/subclass guides, etc.  Oh how I pine for the days before it all became about "monetization".

I'm sticking to the old version too.  Your god reaching their divine hand down to change things substantially SHOULD be something that rarely happens, but when it does, it should be a spectacular moment in the story.  The old Divine Invtervention accomplished that very well.  An extra 5th level spell is mundane at higher levels of play, and doesn't capture the awe that I believe Divine Intervention deserves.

Two of the most epic, memorable moments in my long-standing campaign happened when the cleric successfully cast Divine Intervention at a critical moment.  The low probability of success, but with a huge payout (that was appropriately controlled by myself as a DM) made for two of the greatest narrative moments --- where the party felt the power of a god reach down and change the course of events. A level 5th spell does not pack the same punch at all -- especially at higher levels of play.  A 9th level Mass Heal while fighting a pit fiend after wave after wave of devils had drained all their resources....  that was a moment to always remember.

I would love it if they'd gift a little one-shot - perhaps holiday themed.  Or some encounters -- like the ones that James Haeck used to write for the blog which were so wonderful.  And the best thing about them, is they would often have NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH PLUGGING A PRODUCT that WOTC wants us to buy.  They were stand alone pieces that were just for fun, and that made me think that D&D Beyond actually cared about their customers and supporters.  Not costly, and has the benefit of generating so much more goodwill than this "buy more stuff from us" garbage.

I loved those older style blog posts, and would sometimes go back to them for reference.  Sadly, they've removed the ability to even find those old posts from their menus, which is a shame - it's some of the best free content they've produced here imho.  What once seemed like a gift of appreciation now just feels like a constant stream of advertisements.  Icky.

Quote from nichm >>

Could this have had a different headline/deck for those of us planning to run the adventure? I had to tell my players not to look at DDB today because I want the glitchy nature of their characters to be a surprise, and I put a lot of effort into how to present the three-character creation to them in a way that didn't reveal why it was happening.

 I've thought the same thing for a while with the articles being put out in advance of a new product.  They're great advertising for the product, but I like my players to be surprised by what happens in an adventure.  There's been a whole lot of what I would consider to be spoilers for the last few products. :(

Remember that adventurers are an exception to the norm to begin with.  If you want all your half orcs to be strong and tanky in your world - do it.  These rules make it EASIER to play against type.  Just because a player character can now have more freedom, doesn't mean that you have to change the orcs/goblins/kobolds/whatever in the world you play in. 

The aim is to be more setting agnostic.  Many people here said they want to use the old racial bonuses because (and I'm paraphrasing).. 'That's just how orc's are supposed to be!".  But also people are upset because the old racial "suggestions" wont be there, and you'll have to go looking them up somewhere?  Really?  'Cause If you believe that strongly that that's how orcs or kobolds are "supposed to be" in your world, then it should be pretty darn easy to guess which of their stats should be increased.

What in the nine hells is this nonsense?

"The Frosted Hole"  That's the first time I've really laughed at one of these articles lol.

Now THAT'S funny, lol.

I am so grateful that the entries have "funny" names that identify them, so I know which ones to avoid.

Despite the fact that I play in the Forgotten Realms and don't plan on using Eberron, I certainly don't begrudge D&D Beyond the right to give a little Eberron love in this series.  It is a new official campaign setting after all, and quite unique. There's been a ton of high fantasy encounters of the week already, and I'm sure many more to come. I don't expect every blog post they put out to be for me necessarily.  I think they're doing a great job, and I consider all this stuff a bonus to my D&D Beyond Subscription - icing on the cake.  I bet the Eberron fans are super excited - well... when they're not making canonical correction checklists.... ;)

Thank you! What a wonderful article.  Very helpful!

I am really, really hoping that Jeremy Crawford and Mike Mearls will still be making more videos.  Their presentations exuded joy, humour and insight, and their love for what they were doing was obvious.  I'm crossing my fingers that they haven't handed off this responsibility for good....