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D&DI: The Price is Right

Yesterday, Randy Buehler posted some news about the D&D Insider, which included their pricing structure.

Almost immediately afterwards, the rpgblogosphere was atwitter with opinions of D&DI and their prices. For the most part, people were questioning why Wizards was charging what they were charging with some even going as far as stating that “Wizards will never see a penny from me.”

Well you know what? Forget that. I will gladly buy a subscription to D&DI in a month. Let me tell you why.

What will it have right off the bat?

Dragon and Dungeon magazine.
The D&D Compendium, which will include data from the Player’s Handbook, Dragon, and Dungeon, as well as any errata to these items.
Tools such as the Ability Generator and Encounter Generator.

What won’t it have to start?

The Character Builder.
The Character Visualizer.
The Dungeon Builder.
The Game Table.

How much do they want for this?

Web-Content Only Subscription Package:
12 Months = $59.40 ($4.95 per month)
3 Months = $19.95 ($6.65 per month)
1 Month = $7.95 ($7.95 per month)

So, um, why do you think the price is right?

One of the complaints I am reading, and one I completely agree with, is that Wizards is asking telling you to shell out money for an incomplete product. They promised a lot but are not delivering what they’ve promised. They want us to pay a monthly fee and hope that the Character Builder, Character Visualizer, etc will come out in the near future.

Yeah, you’re not really selling me on this

To be honest, I wouldn’t buy it either until I read this: Dragon and Dungeon magazine. When those magazines were in print, I paid a total of $77.90 per year. That’s $18.50 more than what I’d pay for content in D&DI. To me, everything else I get with the D&DI subscription is just icing on the cake.

I see what you did there.

So if you were one of those folks who bought Dragon and Dungeon magazines when they were in print, you really have no room to complain. You’re actually getting more for your money with D&DI. Now if you didn’t get the magazines, I can understand being wary about spending money for promises that may never be fulfilled. But as I’ve said, the content from Dragon and Dungeon more than makes up for it and I think you’ll be really happy with your purchase.

7 days to GenCon!

Woot.

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27 Responses to “D&DI: The Price is Right”

Tom Cadorette August 7th, 2008 at 9:14 AM

Hmmm. I sorta agree with you here, when you factor in the mags, and the pricing is cheaper than what they were originally talking about, BUT you did get a PHYSICAL print copy and that makes ALL the difference (to me at least) when it comes to maps and posters and such.

Plus, right now, I’m not convinced that the writing and offerings in the WotC version is on par with what Paizo/Erik Mona was producing. It’s good, but not great.

Time will tell.

Shaylon August 7th, 2008 at 9:27 AM

I might be misunderstanding what Randy stated but I took it to mean that the pricing scheme was for what you get now as in what is available now. I think that price model goes up when the other features are made available.

‘That means the initial Insider subscription package will include exactly those parts that are currently in free trial mode”

That line, especially the word INITIAL, makes me think that the price model will change when they get the other features online.

By the way, I am loving the blog. Keep up the good work.

reveal August 7th, 2008 at 9:42 AM

@Tom – 1) You can always print stuff out and 2) the proliferation of new phones like the iPhone and the AT&T Tilt and mini-laptops like the EEE PC make taking this stuff with you easier. Yes, it would be great to have full size maps and posters but I’m willing to trade off on that. And right now, Wizards is asking folks to submit articles and content, so hopefully the writing will eventually meet your expectations.

@shaylon – Thanks! I see what you’re saying about the costs, and how he mentions the medium-term and long-term pricing structures but, honestly, even if it goes up another $20 per year, which is a large jump, that’s still less than $2/year more than the magazine subs plus you get a lot more with it.

Joshua Randall August 7th, 2008 at 10:57 AM

Consider how much you pay for other things:

* cable TV (basic): $30-$40 / month
* high speed internet: $20-$40 / month (at least)
* movie ticket: $8-$10 for one person for one movie

D&DI is dirt cheap in comparison.

I probably only watch 10-12 hours of cable TV a month. I guarantee that I play way more D&D than that.

Svelt August 7th, 2008 at 11:15 AM

I’ve been thoroughly disappointed with the Dungeon content out so far. Compare the Paizo adventure paths to the one offered up online – the online content is very shallow. Paizo offered up an engaging world, with epic story arcs and plot lines, memorable npcs and villians, event based encounters, etc, etc…

The WOTC adventure is a series of rooms with monsters in them, all of which manage to somehow live happily together in a kind of status until the players arrive to kill them.

I love the fourth edition ruleset, but if WOTC doesn’t get it’s third party license set up in a way that makes Paizo and other content producers happy I’m afraid it will languish from lack of support.

reveal August 7th, 2008 at 11:26 AM

@Svelt – I like the adventure path but I agree it is devoid of content. I wish they had put out more about the area instead of waiting until the next month’s Dungeon. I guess they assumed folks would know about it because of the Red Hand of Doom. Putting info into my wiki, I’ve been gathering bits of info from here and there, trying to flesh it out more for my players. We’ll see how the licensing goes. It’s only been a couple of months since 4E came out. I’m willing to give it a bit more time.

ghendar August 7th, 2008 at 12:06 PM

From the article above..
[quote]
So if you were one of those folks who bought Dragon and Dungeon magazines when they were in print, you really have no room to complain.
[/quote]

No? Kind of hard to haul my computer with me when I’m taking a crap. However, I could read the paper mag there.

Micah August 7th, 2008 at 12:10 PM

Too little for too much. The right way to do a magazine like Dragon & Dungeon is to do both print and online. It’s nice to be able to bookmark and mark up the physical copy, plus having the ability to store and archive easily from a digital standpoint.

Online publishing is vastly cheaper than print mailings, so the fact that you get a slight savings over the print version is pretty shady. They’re passing the savings directly into their own pockets. I have no problems with charging for stuff, but I really hope that low demand will show them that they’re providing too little and asking too much.

reveal August 7th, 2008 at 12:14 PM

@ghendar – 1) You can always print it out and 2) I, personally, have two devices that will allow me to do that (my AT&T Tilt phone and my EEE PC laptop).

@Micah – What do you think is a fair price for the content they currently provide?

Sandie Law August 7th, 2008 at 1:08 PM

So…you’re saying you use your phone and/or mini laptop thingy on the can? Heh.

reveal August 7th, 2008 at 1:10 PM

@Sandie – Been there. Done that.

ghendar August 7th, 2008 at 1:10 PM

@reveal – Yes, I could and then add the cost of color printer ink and have to deal with lesser quality than a print magazine such as Paizo could produce.

reveal August 7th, 2008 at 1:17 PM

@ghendar – How often, when reading either magazine, in the past did you sit down and think “the quality of this print is really, really well done” on anything other than maps and other pullouts?

Shaylon August 7th, 2008 at 1:29 PM

reveal,

I agree that the price isn’t too bad for what you get. I am curious what the final totals will be.

Just wanted to mention it as I thought the way things were worded were curious.

See you in a week or so!

-Shay

reveal August 7th, 2008 at 1:41 PM

@shay – Oh it was definitely worth mentioning. If they’re smart, they’ll roll out the price increase as they roll out the new content. See ya next week, muchacho!

Jay August 7th, 2008 at 2:02 PM

Nice article. I’m weary of the price at this point compared to the content, especially since they somehow forgot they don’t own the digital rights to their game and can’t do all they originally said they would.

What I’d really like to see is tiered pricing. If I only want this initial offering, or if I want the taco supreme package with everything I want to be able to pay for what I use and take the sting out of it.

reveal August 7th, 2008 at 2:09 PM

@Jay – Thanks. I think a tiered package would be nice. Maybe pay a set price per feature and then combine some for a discount.

ghendar August 7th, 2008 at 2:37 PM

reveal said…
@ghendar – How often, when reading either magazine, in the past did you sit down and think “the quality of this print is really, really well done” on anything other than maps and other pullouts?

Not really the point. The point is that a preprinted magazine will always be of higher quality than one I could produce by printing out PDFs on my own. Perhaps I could if I bought a color laser printer and used slick/glossy paper stock. Maybe

Another point is that I don’t want the hassle of having to print it out on my own.

The fact is that us ‘luddites’ would prefer a pre-printed magazine to e-content and in many cases, always will.

ghendar August 7th, 2008 at 2:40 PM

And even if they decide to do print compilations of e-content at some point in the future, it won’t be everything. It will be what they consider to be the ‘best of…’ type of material.

For those that like DDI, I hope you get the best out of it. Some of us are still cheesed that WotC killed the print mags.

reveal August 7th, 2008 at 3:25 PM

@ghendar – Actually, it is the point. If the quality of the printing is not as important to you as the content, why is it so important that it be in print format? You are still viewing the same content and have the ability to search through it quickly, copy and paste info into other documents, and print it out. Not wanted to be “bothered” by having to print it out seems, no offense, really lazy to me. It takes very little effort to click a print button. I’m really having a hard time understanding why you are so against the digital format.

CrazyMike August 7th, 2008 at 5:56 PM

If they keep the price at the same or lower as it would be if someone went down to purchase a magazine they should be ok. I don’t care what they end up offering in the end, if they get greedy and drive up the price then I won’t be on board.

MadBrewLabs August 7th, 2008 at 8:20 PM

I’d have to agree with Ghendar here. There is something to be said about have a nicely bound, glossy print magazine to hold in your hand. It’s the same reason I buy the physical books when I could just as easily download a cheaper (or free) PDF.

Oh sure, I could print it. But I prefer the quality of bound, professional books. By the time I’d finish printing 100-150 pages front & back on quality paper in full color, I’d have to then spend another $80 dollars in ink and it still wouldn’t be the same as a professional version. I would rather have the physical, then if I wanted the portability, scan it at no cost (other than the initial scanner purchase, which I already have). I don’t want to be bothered with printing either, but it is related to cost and quality not laziness.

As for the actual quality of the writing in Dragon and Dungeon magazines, the jury is still out (for me). And this current pricing structure isn’t going to last, I would wager a few dollars that when ALL the tools are available, DDI will have a double digit monthly fee. It might be interesting if they allow a la carte pricing, say if I only want Dragon and I could get it for $15 a year. I might go for that.

All the bitchin’ aside, I do like your blog and by no means is my irritation directed at fans of DDI. If it fits your ideal, use it.

reveal August 7th, 2008 at 8:52 PM

@MadBrewLabs – Thanks for commenting. I know everyone has different opinions of whether or not bound print is for them. For me, I see no difference in me printing it out and the bound magazine. But, obviously, some folks want it the way it used to be.

Bagpuss August 14th, 2008 at 6:17 AM

The quality and care that has gone into these PDF is considerably less than under Paizo as well. Take the Scales of War adventure path, there are a host of errors with it massive gaps in the information given to DM’s. Compare that to the support given to the adventure paths by Paizo. They are recycled art from the MM, and maps from old adventures. Didn’t even bother to show the location of the dungeon crawl on the area map, or map the ground level of the castle.

You might be paying half of what you would have for the magazines, but Dungeon at least isn’t even a quarter of the quality.

They have also got worse at correcting there errors in the latest compiled edition of Dragon, not bothering to fix a load of problems people spotted with powers and items. At least for the first compiled edition of 4th Ed Dragon they made that effort, now it looks like they can’t even keep that up.

They still haven’t added the new powers and items from Dragon to the D&D Compendium, even though the deadline they original announced was it would go live at the same time as the compiled editions.

I’m not paying for it because they constantly fail to deliver on their tragets. They ask for feedback, but then ignore it. They can’t even provide basic stuff that Paizo did (like decent scale maps, without the DM information). The editing and writing of Dungeon is not of the quality I’ve come to expect, and Dragon isn’t much better.

Tiny Adventures: Wizards continues to lag behind in the electronic age | RPGCentric » One gamer's opinion of everything RPG August 24th, 2008 at 4:49 PM

[...] read my review here. Recently, a new pricing structured was announced. While I do think that the price is fair, they are asking people to pay for what is essentially an incomplete product. While Wizards [...]

Jesusfreak444 August 26th, 2008 at 7:41 PM

I agree with you sorta. I never got the mags, but what you say about the lower price is cool. But the thing is, it’s not organized in any apparent(at least to me) fashion on the D&DI website. As for the game table, even though its not out yet, I wil GLADLY pay 8 bucks for it. I NEED the game table, cause gaming here in Chicago sucks. Just think about it this way:

I used to play Wold of Warcraft, and it sucked up my life, and for nothing!= 15 bucks a month.

I’ll be playing with people all over the world, and have complete fun.= 8 bucks a month!

See what I mean?

reveal August 26th, 2008 at 7:49 PM

@Jesusfreak444 – Thanks for commenting! I know what you mean. With your WoW scenario, DDI is a much better deal.