For people who use all of the DDi content, the current pricing/structure seems fine. But many of us only care about one or 2 things (Char Builder and to a lesser extent compendium in my case). Since the CB will no longer be something that we can keep, I no longer perceive the same value from subscribing at the current price1.
Let's be frank. The economy isn't doing so well right now. We are all real people and need to cut corners somewhere. $72 per year for one piece of entertainment software is pretty expensive. I could see it making sense for those that read all of the Dungeon and Dragon articles and use the CB and use the Encounter generator. But for those of us who simply want the CB as an aid to play a game that we've already spent additional money on for books, it's just a bit too much2. Yes there are other options that are free (such as doing everything by hand). But this option is more difficult for us and Hasbro doesn't make any additional money off of this. We can benefit mutually from a price that's low enough to not exclude ordinary players and make Hasbro money at the same time.
There are a few options available.
- Al a cart pricing: Rent only the content you want to use.
- Tiered pricing: Like al a cart pricing, but group tools into sets instead of individually. Ex: Basic, Player, DM
- Family Plan: Special group rate for multiple licenses (perhaps some of those licenses would only include limited functionality)
- Micro transactions: One time fee to allow access to the CB (or other tools) forever but sell new content on a piece by piece (sourcebook by sourcebook) basis, perhaps include access codes with the paper books. (This would be like DLC in the video game world and most closely mirrors buying books in the traditional pen and paper RPG world).
- Price cut everything: Keep DDi exactly the same just lower the price.
- ? : Maybe someone out there has additional ideas.
Thank you.
1While "subscribing forever while having the option to drop the sub and keep the software" and just "subscribing forever" is effectively the same thing, the "option" to keep the software (even without additional updates) does have value even if it is never exercised.
2This is indeed a personal opinion but I doubt I'm the only one who feels this way.
Whenever I make an entertainment purchase, I think it helps to compare it with other pricing.
So you are concerned with the price tag of $72/yr. Granted, thats a chunck of change all at once, but broken down it's only $6/mo
So what other things can you buy for entertainment
-a PS3/Xbox game is around $60, and with regular play you would beat it in well under a year.
-Going to the movies can cost $8-$15 (more if you buys snacks) for just a few hours.
-MMO's are around $15/mo (kinda guessing on that one) for varying times.
-a 6pk of good beer is around $9 and will last according to how thirsty you are
-a Large can of Monster is about $2.50
-Going out to eat can be anywhere from $5-$50 (I've always wanted to try Kobe Beef)
-A season pass to the Michigan State parks is $10
What else? Sporting events, put put golf, bowling :0
When you break it down, I don't really see $6/month as that prohibitive a price.
With MMO's, you play the game and are on the service for a fair amount of time. DDi, though, is more like a one stop, spending a day in a week, perhaps on for an hour or so, make a character or two and look up a particular rule.
The value for this service just isn't there, and the WEBCB change made it worth less than it was before.
Whenever I make an entertainment purchase, I think it helps to compare it with other pricing.
Yep. I agree with you. You have to compare value for value.
Let's say I only care about the Character Builder. What is the CB exactly? It is a tool that helps you set up your character sheet. It is not a game. D&D is the game.
Let's compare the new builder to what we already have.
Does it have more content? Yes, I'd say it does. But does it have/will it have enough additional content over the Classic CB (that, at least to most of us, is already paid for).
The current additional content is Dark Sun and the first Essentials book. Is that worth $72? Not for me. What about "future content". Well, as many of WotC defenders have stated in multiple threads, WotC isn't guaranteeing anything beyond the initial content and we shouldn't expect anything beyond what already exists ("it's in the license", "you still have "access" so stop complaining", etc...). So, baring outright lying by WotC reps, the only content we are guaranteed for resubscribing (beyond what we already own) is the first Dark Sun and Essentials book (and some spiffy enhancements).
Lets compare:
$72 for
A tool that will help you fill out a character sheet for Dark Sun and Essentials Book 1 (for one year).
8 Months of Netflix = Tons and tons of streaming movies and past season TV shows.
A ton of PC games off of Steam when they have their holiday Sale.
Starcraft 2.
Civ 5 + $12
Team Fortress 2 + $50 left over
(almost) 6 months of World of Warcraft
130 Tacos from Jack in the Box (including tax)
About 7 movies in the theator
Magazine Subscriptions
Books
72 MP3s
Other video games
D&D Books (that you can keep forever)
Whenever I make an entertainment purchase, I think it helps to compare it with other pricing.
Yep. I agree with you. You have to compare value for value.
Let's say I only care about the Character Builder. What is the CB exactly? It is a tool that helps you set up your character sheet. It is not a game. D&D is the game.
Let's compare the new builder to what we already have.
Does it have more content? Yes, I'd say it does. But does it have/will it have enough additional content over the Classic CB (that, at least to most of us, is already paid for).
The current additional content is Dark Sun and the first Essentials book. Is that worth $72? Not for me. What about "future content". Well, as many of WotC defenders have stated in multiple threads, WotC isn't guaranteeing anything beyond the initial content and we shouldn't expect anything beyond what already exists ("it's in the license", "you still have "access" so stop complaining", etc...). So, baring outright lying by WotC reps, the only content we are guaranteed for resubscribing (beyond what we already own) is the first Dark Sun and Essentials book (and some spiffy enhancements).
Lets compare:
$72 for
A tool that will help you fill out a character sheet for Dark Sun and Essentials Book 1 (for one year).
8 Months of Netflix = Tons and tons of streaming movies and past season TV shows.
A ton of PC games off of Steam when they have their holiday Sale.
Starcraft 2.
Civ 5 + $12
Team Fortress 2 + $50 left over
(almost) 6 months of World of Warcraft
130 Tacos from Jack in the Box (including tax)
About 7 movies in the theator
Magazine Subscriptions
Books
72 MP3s
Other video gamesD&D Books (that you can keep forever)
Stating the obvious but with most of the things you mentioned above you can use for years to come, after the initial cost. With the online CB after the year it is....................... Hey my dragon icon is finally gone...
Stating the obvious but with most of the things you mentioned above you can use for years to come, after the initial cost. With the online CB after the year it is....................... Hey my dragon icon is finally gone...
Stating the obvious, that's how services work.
There are a few options available.
- Al a cart pricing: Rent only the content you want to use.
- Tiered pricing: Like al a cart pricing, but group tools into sets instead of individually. Ex: Basic, Player, DM
- Family Plan: Special group rate for multiple licenses (perhaps some of those licenses would only include limited functionality)
- Micro transactions: One time fee to allow access to the CB (or other tools) forever but sell new content on a piece by piece (sourcebook by sourcebook) basis, perhaps include access codes with the paper books. (This would be like DLC in the video game world and most closely mirrors buying books in the traditional pen and paper RPG world).
- Price cut everything: Keep DDi exactly the same just lower the price.
- ? : Maybe someone out there has additional ideas.
Most, if not all, of this stuff is already being discussed here: community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...
Stating the obvious but with most of the things you mentioned above you can use for years to come, after the initial cost. With the online CB after the year it is....................... Hey my dragon icon is finally gone...
Stating the obvious, that's how services work.
So CB is now a service and not a product? Well color me fooled then.
So CB is now a service and not a product? Well color me fooled then.
Yes. It has always been a feature of the DDI service, never a stand-alone product that you could purchase. It's a common misconception of a very simple concept.
Stating the obvious, that's how services work.
Right... but we're comparing value.
Which offers more entertainment value, a $20 game that gives years of enjoyment (Team Fortress 2) with free updates that you can play for life... OR a $72 subscription to a "service" that helps you fill out a character sheet, that you could alternatively do for free by hand, for a game you play once a week and this "service" is gone after one year?
Right... but we're comparing value.
Which offers more entertainment value, a $20 game that gives years of enjoyment (Team Fortress 2) with free updates that you can play for life... OR a $72 subscription to a "service" that helps you fill out a character sheet, that you could alternatively do for free by hand, for a game you play once a week and this "service" is gone after one year?
The subscription offers more than a character builder. And the forms of entertainment are different. They are not directly relatable except for the dollar value. If you don't find value in it, don't pay for it.
This topic really has been discussed ad nauseum. Painting it a different color doesn't change the topic. Based on how you describe each of your scenarios, it is obvious that you don't want to discuss this seriously and openly, with your purpose being to bash the DDI service. It's completely disingenuous.
If you want to discuss the pricing, discuss the pricing. If you want to pile on the DDI service, there are plenty of other threads that already do. I already provided a link to a thread that is discussion other potential pricing and subscription plans, as well.
The subscription offers more than a character builder.
You didn't even read my original post did you? I already said it's a decent value if you actually use everything. But not everyone uses all of it. For those that only care about the CB this is not a good deal. I'm not even hating or saying the product is bad... I'm saying it's too expensive for us*.
*By us I mean not you, but people like me who simply want to play D&D and like the handy little tool that helps us make our characters so we can get on with playing the game without the inconvenience of copying and calculating stats and powers by hand.
The subscription offers more than a character builder.
You didn't even read my original post did you? I already said it's a decent value if you actually use everything. But not everyone uses all of it. For those that only care about the CB this is not a good deal. I'm not even hating or saying the product is bad... I'm saying it's too expensive for us*.
*By us I mean not you, but people like me who simply want to play D&D and like the handy little tool that helps us make our characters so we can get on with playing the game without the inconvenience of copying and calculating stats and powers by hand.
Of course I did. I even quoted a portion of it in a different response.
I responded to someone else's post to clarify something. You quoted my response to him, and you focused only on that response, essentially ignoring why I even responded to him.
My apologies for seeming snarky, but it is entirely frustrating when a thread starts, appears to be a genuine topic, is engaged in, and then the first point brought up is just a flame of what the service offers.
My apologies for seeming snarky, but it is entirely frustrating when a thread starts, appears to be a genuine topic, is engaged in, and then the first point brought up is just a flame of what the service offers.
Jharii, I didn't ask you to get angry about this thread. Relax, go find something fun to do then come back when you have something positive to contribute. If you think the topic has been discussed too much there's something you can do about it... that something is not hitting the reply button.
Which offers more entertainment value, a $20 game that gives years of enjoyment (Team Fortress 2) with free updates that you can play for life... OR a $72 subscription to a "service" that helps you fill out a character sheet, that you could alternatively do for free by hand, for a game you play once a week and this "service" is gone after one year?
To be fair, most people don'y play the games they purchase for life. They play for a few months until the next big game comes out. Every now and then they pull out a title for old time's sake and play it for a bit, then it's shelved for another couple of years. The actual shelf life, MMOs like WoW, Star Wars Galaxies, and DragonAge excluded, is about a year. Certainly there are exceptions, but many people buy new games every week, beat them, and never look at them again. So yes people have the game for life, but it is misleading to compare value on retention alone.
That said, I reserve judgment on the value of DDi until after the release of the CB, and probably until I see how the other "promised" web tools interact with it. My subscription ends Christmas day, and whether or not I renew it will be based on the new service's utility over the next month and a half.
(also DragonAge isn't an MMO)
That said, I think it would be fair to offer a different rate for DMs and players.
I see it working like this: The player rate would include just Dragon (and the art galleries from it) and the Character Builder, while the DM's rate would include everything, as it does now.
Thanks for contributing jfparmel. Just for my curiosity's sake, how much do you value the DDi content other than CB?
(also DragonAge isn't an MMO)
My bad on DragonAge
. I've only ever played SWG and spent the last couple of years in law school so haven't stayed up on games.To answer the question, I use the Compendium a great deal. Whether I'm looking to optimize a character for fun, or looking for options for the character I actually play, or even for answering questions here on the board sometimes I find it extremely useful.
I look at the magazines, but usually only read an article per week or so unless there's a hoopla about something here on the boards. Mostly I wait for the end of the month or for their addition to the CB because my DM requires at least the compilation before we can use anything in game.
I use the Monster Builder just once or twice a year, as I DM a session or two when our regular DM needs a break. However, I do love the artwork that is released. I love pictures that get my creative juices flowing, and some of the art is brilliant. Some of it is bullocks.
I haven't minded paying the $72 for this past year, even with the CB shenanigans because I have gotten my money's worth. I've learned the game much better by having access to the information...many more hours than I've spent watching movies (DVD or theater) in the last couple of years combined. I should note that I also have two young children, which has also impacted my entertainment habits over the last four years.
I do not know if I will pay for another year, because I want to see some additional functionality. Some of it has been revealed now (filters and such) and some of it has been promised. But for the hours I've been able to wile away, no complaints about the money I've spent so far.
Jharii, I didn't ask you to get angry about this thread. Relax, go find something fun to do then come back when you have something positive to contribute. If you think the topic has been discussed too much there's something you can do about it... that something is not hitting the reply button.
No one was angry, but thank you for your concerns. Please continue to ignore the contribution that I did make that addresses your original post directly. And you obviously have chosen to ignore the apology that I offered, since your additional condescension was truly unwarranted.
If you need a(nother) direct answer to appease your sense of posting etiquette, DDI supplements my entertainment. It is not a direct source of entertainment in and of itself, nor is it meant to be. It's no different than any other D&D book I own. Each book itself is not a source of entertainment. They simply all contribute to the entertainment I receive from D&D.
The $72 is worth it for me because of the Dragon and Dungeon content alone. The content inside those magazines alone are excellent sources of ideas and concepts for a DM. The monster builder falls into that category as well, considering that 90% of the monsters/npc's I use I create on my own. The character builder is a nice utility to have so I can see what the players' options are, but it does lend itself, again, to adding to the creativity process as a DM.
Currently the rate is $60 a year, with that I get the options of:
Game Demos
Game Trailers
Downloadable games
Online Play
Updates to my games
Last.FM
ESPN Programing
Numerous other options.
If I do not have a current subscription I have access to everything I have downloaded nothing more.
With DDI Subscription I get the option of
Character Builder
Monster Builder
Compendium
Dragon Articles
Dungeon Articles
Misc Subscription Articles
If I do not have a current subscription I have access to everything I have downloaded and nothing more.
While I admit I liked the Classic Character Builder, most places I play have internet access. In realization there are alot of things I do not utilize my subscription with on Xbox live, but its part of the service. Its my choice to not take advantage of them.
The $72 is worth it for me because of the Dragon and Dungeon content alone. The content inside those magazines alone are excellent sources of ideas and concepts for a DM. The monster builder falls into that category as well, considering that 90% of the monsters/npc's I use I create on my own. The character builder is a nice utility to have so I can see what the players' options are, but it does lend itself, again, to adding to the creativity process as a DM.
Okay, this is a point I can understand. You're a DM, you truely enjoy and use the magazines along with some of the other tools and it's worth $72 per year to you. If I were DMing I'd probably think it was worth it too. But do you also think this is a good price for non-DM players who don't read the magazines? Is there anything inherently wrong with moving to a tiered pricing structure?
Okay, this is a point I can understand. You're a DM, you truely enjoy and use the magazines along with some of the other tools and it's worth $72 per year to you. If I were DMing I'd probably think it was worth it too. But do you also think this is a good price for non-DM players who don't read the magazines? Is there anything inherently wrong with moving to a tiered pricing structure?
No, and I (as well as others) offered as much in the other thread I provided a link to. What I offered, many that responded seem to be like.
I think there should be the options for:
- a Standard account which grants access to all features.
- a Premium account which grants access to all features as well as provides 5 "player accounts" that the Premium account can hand out.
- a Player account (granted by the Premium account) which grants access to the Character Builder and Dragon magazine (as well as any future player utilities that may be created).
So CB is now a service and not a product? Well color me fooled then.
Yes. It has always been a feature of the DDI service, never a stand-alone product that you could purchase. It's a common misconception of a very simple concept.
I have to respectfully disagree; before, I could subscribe and have the CB for as long as I ran an OS that supported the program. So it was not a service, it was a product. The service portion, one could rationalize, was the updates. BTW, I still have the product running on my PC now. Thanks....
- a Premium account which grants access to all features as well as provides 5 "player accounts" that the Premium account can hand out.
The group subscriptions option in the OP was a direct reference to this idea of yours combinded with the idea of those calling for a family plan. Maybe I should have put your name next to it. That being said, even though I listed it as one of the options, I have some constructive criticism about that idea:
I don't think it's a particularly workable plan in real life. Some groups have 6 players for instance. How does the DM (assumed account purchaser) diplomatically decide who doesn't get the player account. Other groups have fewer players... which will lead to a secondary market for player accounts that isn't controlled by WotC, yet WotC customer service will still inevitably be contacted with problems (like "I paid some guy named Dr1z0t for my player account and I still don't have access, could you make sure everything is alright?").
I don't think it's a particularly workable plan in real life. Some groups have 6 players for instance. How does the DM (assumed account purchaser) diplomatically decide who doesn't get the player account. Other groups have fewer players... which will lead to a secondary market for player accounts that isn't controlled by WotC, yet WotC customer service will still inevitably be contacted with problems (like "I paid some guy named Dr1z0t for my player account and I still don't have access, could you make sure everything is alright?").
Part of this was covered in the thread, too. Premium accounts could be granted the ability to purchase additional player accounts for a fixed price, based upon the subscription length, to a maximum of 10 Player accounts (covers bigger groups and potentially covers DM's with 2 normal sized groups). Maybe $1 to $2 per account, per month, up to the end of the subscription. So an account with 8 months left would pay $8 to $16 for an additional Player account that he could distribute.
It could be set up so the Player account could not be "revoked" by a Premium account, however, a Player account can be switched off by a player so it could be handed back out.
People selling accounts on the side is all at the risk of the people involved. WotC cannot be held accountable, and it would break the terms of the agreement. Premium accounts could be suspended or terminated as a result.
I am sure that more details could be worked out, but it is a much better alternative than what is available now, and addresses many existing issues.
And I am not worried about taking any credit for anything. I am just helping to look for solutions. I only offered my name so you had an idea of which posts to look for when you referenced that thread.
What advantages would license granting have over just a straight lower price for the limited account? It seems to add a complexity layer that isn't strictly necessary.
Because Wizards does still have a service they want to sell. As of now, it's all inclusive. Separating this would be adding a layer that isn't necessary, either. The yearly price that is offered is already a fair price, and that value is only going to increase as more tools are introduced.
There just really is no sense in separating the standard service. The Player account is a method for the DM to introduct the more "casual" player to D&D and DDI while allowing them to have them make use of the most current and consistent rules without having to "rules lawyer" each character to ensure that they are all accurate.
Unless you are fortunate enough to be in the rare group that pitches in on books, DM's have always taken on the lion's share of cost and time. Awarding players a cheaper, more limited alternative is indirectly charging the DM's more than the players. If everyone is paying the same price, more revenue translates into more resources for Wizards, which translates into more utilities for everyone to make use of, thus increasing the value of the service altogether.
I am starting to look at the whole thing as my Subscription to XBox Live.
Currently the rate is $60 a year, with that I get the options of:
Game Demos
Game Trailers
Downloadable games
Online Play
Updates to my games
Last.FM
ESPN Programing
Numerous other options.
If I do not have a current subscription I have access to everything I have downloaded nothing more.
With DDI Subscription I get the option of
Character Builder
Monster Builder
Compendium
Dragon Articles
Dungeon Articles
Misc Subscription Articles
If I do not have a current subscription I have access to everything I have downloaded and nothing more.
While I admit I liked the Classic Character Builder, most places I play have internet access. In realization there are alot of things I do not utilize my subscription with on Xbox live, but its part of the service. Its my choice to not take advantage of them.
Yeah except with XBOX Live is only 60$ a year and most people use almost all the functions while DDi is 72$ a year and most people use the CB and nothing else...see the difference.
Also while Xbox NEEDS to be online to even function the CB does not (The Real CB is proof of this) especially since DnD itself is not an online game but since WotC got an idea and ran with it without doing any research (ie. asking the people who pay for their product) and refusing to admit that maybe they made a mistake we get the CB-Lite.
Note: I find it odd that even with a staggering number of people canceling subs and a general consensus of mostly "ONLINE ONLY = BAD" with a few "Meh, don't care either way" the just continue on with their plans oblivious to its effects.
as a player, i dont see why you dont read dragon magazine. there are tons of powers and feats in it each month. there are great ideas for characters, there are magic items.
there are nearly 1700 seperate articles. if each is only 4 pages long, thats nearly 7000 pages of content available. i find it rather doubtful, that of all that content, there is nothing useful. there are thousands of pictures available. i find it rather doubtful that there are no pictures you find useful.
4th ed is much easier to dm, if you havent been a dungeon master, should give it a try. ddi makes dming so easy.
i pay month to month (and have not lapsed since the begining). as far as "bad economy" goes, i am retired and a full time university student, i have 10 dollars a month to spend on entertainment, so i choose to spend my 10 dollars on ddi. it is dynamic, it is ever changing, it builds upon itself, it searches itself (compendium)it adds all the crunch from all official sources.
even if there wasnt a character builder, i could use the compendium to build characters from all source books.
i support wotc's desision to move the cb to a web based tool. if only to keep it out of the hands of those who pirate it. i cant wait for the mb to be a web based tool as well.
the world isnt this perfect little place where everything is what we want. the world is a dangerous place. if you have the time to complain about a GAME that isnt being presented in the exact way you want it to be instead of spending that time trying to survive, then on the planetary scale, you are doing pretty well.
it seems that you have two choices, pay it, or dont.
this is mostly aimed toward the op.
get together, drink beer, role dice.
Note: I find it odd that even with a staggering number of people canceling subs and a general consensus of mostly "ONLINE ONLY = BAD" with a few "Meh, don't care either way" the just continue on with their plans oblivious to its effects.
Where do you get your data, and are you sure it's accurate? I call shenanigans.
First I DM 2 games, one weekly and one bi-weekly. I find the content useful and make use of different parts almost every week. I read articles from dragon more than dungeon but make quite alot of use of both AT & CB for my games. Currently I am not a subscriber as I am laid off but I have played D&D since 1979 dec and have used various tools made by TSR, WOTC and Hasbro-WOTC. These tools are so far the most complete since Code-Monkeys E-tools. Now for the value as a DM I find that the price is fair but if you are just a player and don't make use of AT that is a personal choice. It is very useful for all sides of play. After my players encounter a creature I wouldn't mind if they went into it and reveiwed the monster for future reference. There are features I would like to see added to a future CB & AT-MB but that is for another post that I saw. Now I work in IT and make use of other online tools for my job that have similair costs to DDI. Now the value they add to me is their ease of use, access to qucik information and answers to problems that other IT personal have run into and the fixes. The value that DDI adds is access to quick information, ease of data management and new material(Dragon & Dungeon). That being said their is alot to say about the off-line and on-line versions of DDI; first I have rather enjoyed the freedom from the Internet with the off-line tools as both places I play at do not offer wireless access, there is Internet but I am not telling my buddies that they need to go buy new wireless routers, thats absurd. Thus as a priorty I think that Hasbro-WOTC should get the abilty to save your characters off-line in PDF done ASAP as this will be valuable to all involved and cool some people off. All in all I am was happy with my DDI subscription and will invest in another one once I have the funds. One last thing that needs working on is the speed between selections in the O-CB, I have worked with load balanced web servers & sites and they are a bit on the slow side also hard drives are cheap and i keep copies of all PCs and NPC from my games in the Off-line CB and this amounts to almost 180 characters. These files are 150 KB for the off-line CB. I mean I have gigs of free storage through various online places Hasbro-WOTC needs to step up to get me to sign up again and that is the one critical area that is my current weak point with the on-line DDI right now.
KSW
Which offers more entertainment value, a $20 game that gives years of enjoyment (Team Fortress 2) with free updates that you can play for life... OR a $72 subscription to a "service" that helps you fill out a character sheet, that you could alternatively do for free by hand, for a game you play once a week and this "service" is gone after one year?
To be fair, most people don'y play the games they purchase for life. They play for a few months until the next big game comes out. Every now and then they pull out a title for old time's sake and play it for a bit, then it's shelved for another couple of years. The actual shelf life, MMOs like WoW, Star Wars Galaxies, and DragonAge excluded, is about a year. Certainly there are exceptions, but many people buy new games every week, beat them, and never look at them again. So yes people have the game for life, but it is misleading to compare value on retention alone.
That said, I reserve judgment on the value of DDi until after the release of the CB, and probably until I see how the other "promised" web tools interact with it. My subscription ends Christmas day, and whether or not I renew it will be based on the new service's utility over the next month and a half.
@Darkwing_bmf: Sorry to mini-necro, but I said I would reserve judgment until I've used the new CB. At this point I will not be updating my DDi subscription. If they fix it before Christmas (when I would need to renew) then that may change, but given the freezing, crashing, and other glitches of the new program, things aren't looking promising.
.I can see both sides of this discussion. I'm a DM, and I'm on the only one in my group that has an DDi account and I've bought just about all of the 4E books. On the other hand, most of my players do not subscribe to DDi and don't have any of the books except maybe the PHB.
I have paid the yearly price for the past couple of years and it has recently renewed on it's own. I haven't canceled my sub even though I'm not particularly satisfied with current quality of the service. I've felt that the Dragon and Dungeon have been of limited use to me. Yes there are some articles that weren't bad, but there are a lot of semi-advertisements in the form of previews. Also, many of the feats and powers are "broken" compared to standard core material.
When they did the beta test of some of the PHB3 stuff was probably the best "insider" feature they did in terms of getting community feedback, wither or not they used that feedback, it gave the community the perception of inclusion in the process.
While the $72/yr isn't a problem for me, I can see it as expensive for a player who is only interested in the CB. For that person, I can see how DDI presents a relatively low value.
As for suggestions, I would suggest a "tools only" service for perhaps $40/yr, $5/mo, or $1/day.
Why offer a day long subscription? This would be an effective demo or occasional use level of service. You can try the product out for a day. Also, for those with a really low budget, can get the service for one day to create your character, or level up.
I'm with you jfparmel. I was actually hoping the only drawback would be price and that the program itself would work nicely. But it's so laggy, the interface needs work (especially for items) and once in a while it completely freezes. This can't be good for anyone.
And another possible reversal - VTT is announced and we'll see what happens. It might change the way my gaming group works, as one player just moved away and wanted to stay in the game if possible (work brings him back to town once in a while). Our group might be willing to try it out, which would probably necessitate continuing our subscriptions.
But yes, it would be nice if everything they sold you worked.
I see the compendium, MB and CB as time savers - yes I could do it using the books, but it's quicker. I value my time quite highly so if it saves me 1 hour per week that is worth a lot more than $1.5 to me.
Let's break it down:
Compendium - I use this probably once per day at work to look something up.
MB - I am running two different campaigns each week, plus our own "encounters" style adventures for the public once every three / four months. So I use this at least twice per week, when playing rather than Dming it would drop to once per week.
CB - When playing I'd update my character everytime I level, so say once / twice per month, but I often build characters just to see how they would turn out.
Dungeon & Dragon - Occasionally I catch up and read them but not more than once per month or so.
HOWEVER what WotC have to understand is that Dungeon / Dragon / old CB / MB can all be downloaded for nothing. If the price seemed unreasonable to me I could copy them for free, at the current price it is not worth the effort to even bother finding a copy to download.
$6 / month is nothing, seriously $1.5 / week - that's like a can of coke. So once per week drink a glass of water instead of a can of coke and you have paid for your subscription.
And don't forget that nice side-effect of losing 1d4 pounds.
