- Good, imaginitive well thought out and fun articles
- PHB 3 previews
- The Campaign Builder on its release,
- continued support of already released content, and the support of future content such as the Revenant
- Cake.
Just wandering if any other have locked in for another year at the cheap price before july, and what they are looking forward to.
I see the PH 3 previews as a bonus (not something I'm being charged for); in that respect, they're gonna be very nice. I think of 'em as sorta like movie trailers; not something I would pay for, just something to sit through and hopefully enjoy 'til the actual show starts ;).
News of the Campaign Builder isn't something I've looked into just yet. I can't use the Character Builder, so I may be out of luck.
Support of the Revenant and Assassin is something I'm hoping to see within the pages of the magazines themselves (at least until they are printed in a hardcover). An appearance in hardcover seems certain once Insider has moved on to the next 'exclusive' (or two). I think the Revenant and Assassin will have served their purpose by this point (i.e. getting people interested enough to actually subscribe); given that, it makes sense to print them in a D&D hardcover.
Oh, and I prefer pie ;).
Yeah, I upped for another year. I was a very big fan of the print mags and I'm also looking forward to (continued) imaginative and fun articles. I'm not a fan of the digital format but I still enjoy Dragon/Dungeon immensely.
I see the PH 3 previews as a bonus (not something I'm being charged for); in that respect, they're gonna be very nice. I think of 'em as sorta like movie trailers; not something I would pay for, just something to sit through and hopefully enjoy 'til the actual show starts ;).
News of the Campaign Builder isn't something I've looked into just yet. I can't use the Character Builder, so I may be out of luck.
Support of the Revenant and Assassin is something I'm hoping to see within the pages of the magazines themselves (at least until they are printed in a hardcover). An appearance in hardcover seems certain once Insider has moved on to the next 'exclusive' (or two). I think the Revenant and Assassin will have served their purpose by this point (i.e. getting people interested enough to actually subscribe); given that, it makes sense to print them in a D&D hardcover.
Oh, and I prefer pie ;).
It would not surprise me if the Revenant and Assassin make an appearance in the best of books.
I expect another year of false promises when they say something will be coming out, then totally changing direction and them dropping the campaign tools before it comes out and working on something else.
They did it with the viewer, VTT and dungeon builder.
Its not a ringing endorcement, but for now I'll stay on.
Its more than my X-Box Live Account and less than my Netflix account. Yet somehow, even with my broken promises, I think I've gotten more overall entertainment value from DDI.
Its not a ringing endorcement, but for now I'll stay on.
How much is an xbox live account?
The price didn't bother me much, compared to the price I use to pay for other magazine subscriptions and the entertainment I have got out of Dungeon and Dragon magazines, coupled with the usefulness of the character builder, makes it well worth it.
I know they have not said the campaign builder will be out in the second year, but I think it will be, Though I'll continue to subscribe if it isn't.
How much is an xbox live account?
Accually Xbox live has a plan that is like DDi. You can get a year for 49.99, 3 months for $25, or like 8 bucks for a monthly card.
But not the Character Builder. I think they're serious this time.
So its acceptable for a company to only bring out a quarter of what they promised? Everyone thought WOTC was serious when they first heavily promoted the 4thed tools, too.
So its acceptable for a company to only bring out a quarter of what they promised? Everyone thought WOTC was serious when they first heavily promoted the 4thed tools, too.
And things change, they had to bring everything in house remember and will probably have to re-write the entire VTT and CV. Sure they promised more but in the end your only paying for the magazine, builder, compendium and bonus tools plus access to any tools they release during your subscription.
I get far more use out of my Netflix account the DnDi, watching a movie (including streaming) about once every other day.
And only creating characters... y'know... ONCE per CAMPAIGN.
The first thing that I would like to see is an actual outline of what the Campaign Builder is going to include. Then over the next few months I would like to see updates on the progress of the product including screen shots and more in-depth explanations of the features.
I would also like to hear some planning for the next project to begin prior to the completion of the Campaign Builder. The time to do surveys about the next project for DDI is *while* you are developing the Campaign Builder, not after. That leaves everyone in Limbo and specualting wildly - not good.
So its acceptable for a company to only bring out a quarter of what they promised? Everyone thought WOTC was serious when they first heavily promoted the 4thed tools, too.
What do you mean by 'acceptable'? Is it a good business practice? Well, no - they will have less product to sell. Is it ethically or legally acceptable? Certainly - it is their company, and this is not product that anyone has actually purchased or entered into a contract for them to have released by a certain date.
In any case, I think it is pretty clear that the initial launch of DDI was marred by numerous factors, including outsourcing to contractors who could not deliver and a department undergoing significant employee shift following the new edition launch.
After that, the smaller department, working internally, seemed to focus on more manageable goals and one product at a time. They have had success in this approach thus far (with the Compendium and Character Builder), and so it does, indeed, seem a reasonable expectation to believe they will follow through on their next product (the Campaign Manager) over the course of the next year.
You don't have to believe they will deliver, of course. But there is no reason to claim that others shouldn't be able to do so, or don't have decent rational for doing so.
I think the comparison to X-Box live is fairly appropriate. If X-Box live had character creation but no online play... that'd be pretty comparable to DnDi.
I get far more use out of my Netflix account the DnDi, watching a movie (including streaming) about once every other day.
And only creating characters... y'know... ONCE per CAMPAIGN.
Did I say it wasn't?
Not every only uses the character builder for the games their playing in currently.
How much is an xbox live account?
The price didn't bother me much, compared to the price I use to pay for other magazine subscriptions and the entertainment I have got out of Dungeon and Dragon magazines, coupled with the usefulness of the character builder, makes it well worth it.
I know they have not said the campaign builder will be out in the second year, but I think it will be, Though I'll continue to subscribe if it isn't.
Without a deal, $50 for a year. You can find cards on sale all the time at various places like Best Buy and Amazon from $25-35 for the entire year.
I would like to see updates on the Campaign Tools. I'm comfortable that WotC is going to release them ASAP. This won't be another VTT situation. The future of DDi depends on the success of the Campaign Tools.
I'd like to see more in Dragon/Dungeon than the plethora of previews we've been seeing. Previews are nice, and I like them (except Eberron which I have no desire to see) but I want original content in the magazines that I will never be able to find anywhere else. I want Demonomicon, and/or Codex of Betrayal on a monthly basis. I want more adventures of various levels. I want more of what we found in the old print magazines. (Playtests are pretty cool, and I consider those to be adding value.)
That said, I'm waiting to see what happens when the magazines shift in focus. I can't very well complain I'm not getting what I want until after I know what they're going to give.
I'm not one of those who believes the cost of DDi is wholly covered by the Character Builder alone, or the magazines alone. The CB is awesome when it is actually useful (as mentioned, when you're building a character, or between levels.) The magazines are useful when the content is relevant to you (Eberron couldn't be more irrelevant to me.)
I look at the whole package when deciding whether DDi has enough value for my money. This month, the answer is no. I don't expect that answer to remain the same a few months from now, and especially a year out from here. My extension (which I still have yet to do) hinges upon my expectation that things will improve over the next few months and it will become a product I can't live without. I'm confident enough that Wizards has learned a lot over the past year-plus, and barring anything crazy over the next week or so, I'll be extending my subscription.
So, I just bought an additional year of DDI, here what I expect to get.
- Cake.
You will be baked. And then there will be cake.
You will be baked. And then there will be cake.
I've changed my mind, I want lolipops, D20 shaped lolipops.
I've changed my mind, I want lolipops, D20 shaped lolipops.
That's good. The cake was a lie.
That's good. The cake was a lie.
No good can come from this statement :P