Today I canceled my DnD Insider subscription. I use the Character Creator and browse through the Dungeon/Dragon magazines. I find the articles interesting but the bulk of my value comes from the Character Creator.
At $8/mo I could just barely justify the usefulness of the Character Creator, it's a very good tool, you should all be proud of it. The Creator is by far the best Character management tool I've ever seen, however it's not worth $10/mo for me to use.
The tools that you showcased such as the Dungeon Creator and the Game table really had me foaming at the mouth, the possibility of using these tools and playing DnD with my friends spread out across the country was something I couldn't pass up.
As of now it seems that those tools are far off and the fact that you seem to be focusing on the Campaign Manager kind of solidifies that to be true. So, when you add some more tools to DnDI and it becomes more of a full featured "Swiss Army Knife" for DnD I will reactivate my subscription.
Until then keep working hard and good luck.
I work in customer service, I find feedback from customers very helpful in my business, so here is mine.
Today I canceled my DnD Insider subscription. I use the Character Creator and browse through the Dungeon/Dragon magazines. I find the articles interesting but the bulk of my value comes from the Character Creator.
At $8/mo I could just barely justify the usefulness of the Character Creator, it's a very good tool, you should all be proud of it. The Creator is by far the best Character management tool I've ever seen, however it's not worth $10/mo for me to use.
The tools that you showcased such as the Dungeon Creator and the Game table really had me foaming at the mouth, the possibility of using these tools and playing DnD with my friends spread out across the country was something I couldn't pass up.
As of now it seems that those tools are far off and the fact that you seem to be focusing on the Campaign Manager kind of solidifies that to be true. So, when you add some more tools to DnDI and it becomes more of a full featured "Swiss Army Knife" for DnD I will reactivate my subscription.
Until then keep working hard and good luck.
I for one am sorry that the DDI subscription is something that doesn't offer you the value you're looking for.
More importantly, I thank you for giving a frank, well-worded, and concise explanation of why you're choosing to discontinue your use of the service at this time.
I hope, given your level-headed attitude, that we'll still see you around these forums, and that as more tools are released, WotC might even win you back in the future.
I am sorry that you feel that what is offered is not going to be worth the new price, but as I said in another thread, it (value for your money) is a very subjective decision that is made, and no matter how wrong you are ( :P ), I don't have any right to say that you have made the wrong decision.
I hope that you stay involved in the DDI forums.
As with the OP, I too wanted the Virtual Tabletop and such for gaming with friends. As these have been shelved and other tools, that I really have no need for, are being developed, the expected value of the product has declined, for me.
My needs for the DDI services will be much better served by occasional subscriptions to get desired updates for the Character Builder, which is the primary tool I use.
For me to reconsider, I would have to see noticeable strides in actually turning out a tool in a timely manner. If these campaign tools take a similar amount of time as the VTT did, before being shelved, my good faith in WotC will be further damaged.
Did you cancel your current subscription, or just the auto-renewal thing? Because canceling the current lower priced subscription due to higher prices in the future seems illogical.
As with most subscriptions, they don't immediately 'close' when you cancel but rather remain open until the time you've paid for runs out. I bought a year and although I cancelled my account, I will still be able to get into the system until 3/2010. If I could cancel and get a rebate, I'd be happy about that.
That's why I paid for a year, even with the price increase it's less than the current monthly price per month (at rought 6/month instead of 8/month).
The yearly plan benefits both the company and the player. It may be more of an upfront cost but it saves the player money over the long term. It also puts that money into the company's hands so they can use it to fule further development.
I've had to cancel subscriptions before so I can understand the thought proccess for sure. It always comes down to two things for me: am I getting enough benefit for the cost and can I honestly afford to pay for it. DDi at this point I was able to pay for a year and feel I'll get my money's worth. I also see it as an investment to get the things I'd like to see that I know they can't produce if they don't have enough revenue to do so.
And I'd like to say that if an option is ever released to subscribe to just the character builder, or just Dungeon Magazine, at an appropriately reduced price, I'll take it in an instant.
The "package" model seems increasingly unsuited to the service. I'm not particularly interested in subsidising the (presumably expensive) development of a campaign tool application for everyone who's too lazy to learn how to use a wiki.
As a side note, the character builder really should be free. It's a tool that makes the game easier and more accessible for new players, and that's the sort of thing I would have thought Wizards would want out in the wild for promotional reasons.
I also cancelled my DDI.
And I'd like to say that if an option is ever released to subscribe to just the character builder, or just Dungeon Magazine, at an appropriately reduced price, I'll take it in an instant.
The "package" model seems increasingly unsuited to the service. I'm not particularly interested in subsidising the (presumably expensive) development of a campaign tool application for everyone who's too lazy to learn how to use a wiki.
As a side note, the character builder really should be free. It's a tool that makes the game easier and more accessible for new players, and that's the sort of thing I would have thought Wizards would want out in the wild for promotional reasons.
While the CB would be nice if it was free it also contains all a player needs to play in a game without owning a single book. That's why the demo version which is free only covers levels 1-3. That's there promotional version. I have only played one delve so far (well one small dungeon took us 3 sessions to go through it all since most never played D&D before at all). Only two of us (me and the DM) had any of the books but we had a full 5 players and DM play because the others used our CB to make their character, no books required. A couple of them liked the game and plan on at least subscribing to DDi because of the CB and have since also picked up some of the books.
If they'd had the full CB for free they'd have no incentive to buy the books or a DDi subscription so it wouldn't have gotten WotC anything at all, that's failed promotion really.
Currently the DM is running aonther delve with 5 new players and I know at least one of them has picked up the PH and PH2 so far because of it. The promotion of D&D seems to work better by playing than with a free tool that gives you all you need to play levels 1-30 with no investment.
I agree that a modular approach would be nice but considering all the crunch of dragon and dungeon make it into the CB already does it really matter if your paying for them as well. Honestly the CB alone justifies the cost to me considering I could choose not to buy another book and still be able to use all the new character options.
I still choose to buy the books though because then I can see the art, read the non-crunch and non-chargen content as well as having the book handy to look something up when I may not have my laptop handy (plus I can usually find something in the books faster than I can launch CB and make a char to see something as I don't always have an internet connection to look something up on the compendium). I even have an OCD inspired spreadsheet with a lot of the key information for everything from monsters to powers and feats with source and page so I can just do a find in there and see which book and what page to flip to. It's my own personal offline compendium search feature.
While the CB would be nice if it was free it also contains all a player needs to play in a game without owning a single book.
Which is to say, nothing. Players don't need to own a single book or supplement to play, providing that the DM has them. The DM's collection isn't replaced by the Character Builder (or anything else in DDI) as it doesn't contain the core rules, the keyword definitions, the flavour text, the example diagrams, or the other things that make D&D a game as opposed to a set of components.
But it's a minor point, you're largely right, and keep enjoying the game.
I'm sure this has been brought up discussed before; I just wanted to throw it out (again) and see what people think. The reason I bring it up is because sirflinn (the OP) can't justify the cost; for me however, the cost is a no-brainer. Each of us focuses on a differnt aspect of Insider though: sirflinn's focus is on the online tools, were my focus is on the magazines.
I'm not entirely sure if I've been able to bring out the jumbled thoughts in my head ;) but basically: One person subscribes based on the value of the online tools, and another subscribes based on the value of the magazines. Would it be a good idea (or even feesable) to seperate Insider into two distinct services?
Some people subscribe to Insider primarily for the online tools, others for the ezines (myself). Would it make sense to seperate these things into two distinct services, to be paid for seperately if desired?
That is something that was discussed many, many, many moons ago. If it can be resurrected, I will bump it. If not, I will start another Directed Discussion thread.
Since there's such a distinct division, I think its definitely worth discussing; I'll keep my eye open for the thread mudbunny. Thanks
!I still have around 8 months of my sub to go so I won't be making any rush decisions but having been buying most of the books for 4E so far as well I am not at the moment inclined to renew at the new pricing.
However 8 months is a fair amount of time so I will keep my fingers crossed and wait and see.:D
I am having fun until I think about the DDI debauchery.
I would not have the DDI if one of my had not purchased it for me.
Why did WOTC promise so much and STILL to this day have very little of the DDI Features?
Every time I see the DDI videos and all those promises...
I think If I were WOTC I would not make promises that I cannot keep.
What seems to be the delay?
And then they announce a price increase?
I am deeply disappointed.
It's a long story with no clear answers on what happened but it's pretty clear that someone in WotC made promises they shouldn't have, and never followed up with the development progress of the tools to see if they needed to revise their statements. The tools were being developed by an outside source so it's possible they promised something and didn't deliver. WotC did take the development back internally but not early enough before launch to get the tools out. Then the economy went down the toilet and there was a hiring freeze and lay-offs. DDi didn't escape it and from my understanding lost about half of their staff.
That's why things still aren't out and why it'll be a while before things do come out. Hopefully we'll see one more tool this summer, and maybe if we're really lucky two by the end of the year. I think the character visualizer is probably least likely to come out at all at this point. With all the models, meshes, and textures they'd need to make to just catch up with what's out currently it'd be a big investment (you know people would complain if race X wasn't in the initial release of the tool).