D&D 5E D&D Beyond: No More À La Carte Purchases But US Customers Can Buy Physical Books

WotC has announced some changes to D&D Beyond's marketplace. These include physical products (for US customers), the removal of à la carte purchases, and various navigational changes.

You can no longer buy individual feats, subclasses, etc. -- you'll need to buy the whole book. The full list of changes includes:

• US shoppers can now buy physical books
• More info on product listings, including previews
• UI improvements to makee finding your purchased content and redeeming keys easier
• No more à la carte purchases (though your previous ones still count)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Why would I buy single pieces of rules when I can get them for free from a site supported by the publisher?

What WotC site is offering pieces of non-SRD/CC material for free?

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Unless they physically appear in the ads, they're not responsible for those. That's YouTube.

Isn't it your decision to include ads or not?

 

[Dire Bare]

Why would I buy single pieces of rules when I can get them for free from a site supported by the publisher?
WotC's relationship with the fans of its games is increasingly toxic, yet those fans keep crawling back, celebrating minor concessions as major victories. At this point people should just accept that they won't be able to fix WotC and just look for other companies to support.

I don't have a toxic relationship with WotC, I don't have much of a relationship with the corporation at all.

I have a relationship with D&D. I engage with the designers (well, some of them) online.

WotC has made several consumer unfriendly decisions over the past few years regarding D&D which has upset me and cooled my drive to purchase every single book they produce (which is my normal). But they have also made good decisions regarding D&D and produced some fantastic products. So I continue to be a customer.

Like any organization, WotC is not a singular entity . . . they are not a person who has wronged me. Some of the suits at the top push for consumer unfriendly practices to squeeze more profit from the game. The designers who actually make the game work hard within the constraints they are given to produce awesome, fun books to expand my game. How that back-and-forth plays out does influence how much money I'm willing to give the company for their next book. But if WotC corrects the most egregious of their bad decisions, and the next book looks super cool and gets good reviews . . .

Am I "crawling back" or "licking boots" as another poster put it? You can keep your condescending attitude to yourself and eat your own bitter cake. I'm going to continue to enjoy using WotC's D&D products and evaluating whether to purchase more as new products come out and WotC's treatment of the game evolves.

TLDR: Whatever.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Why would I buy single pieces of rules when I can get them for free from a site supported by the publisher?

Yes. Why would a publisher put everything free on their website? If tgey do, they need different ways to generate mones to pay their employees. Or cut costs.

WotC's relationship with the fans of its games is increasingly toxic, yet those fans keep crawling back, celebrating minor concessions as major victories.

Yeah. Or not everything is as black or white as some people want to make you believe. There are always several sides to consider. Just adressing people who do with toxicity yourself does not help either. You might not be content woth what is offered, that does not mean people who chose to give WotC money are "in a toxic realtionship" or "crawling to them" or just (not your words, but what is easily to read from it: "not able to think for themselves and make intelligent decisions".

At this point people should just accept that they won't be able to fix WotC and just look for other companies to support.

Maybe there is not too much to fix. It is a company. This is how all of ot works.

You can chose to make things yourself or put a lot of time in to find the perfect game from some indy producers.

Or you work elsewhere to earn money and trade it for (in my opinion) well enough developed rules so you can save time. Same for d&dbeyond. You pay for convenience. So you just need to balance time saved to earn money vs cost.

 

[Dire Bare]

I wouldn’t classify those as one. Maybe start here - do you consider dawnguard a micro transaction? If not why not? What is different about it and other digital add on content?

I mean . . . it doesn't matter what you or I decide to consider a "microtransaction". It's a word, with a well-established meaning in the video game industry. It includes DLC expansions to games, small cosmetic add-ons, and also small pay-to-win add-ons.

Wise folks realize microtransactions can and are used for both good and evil. And include that nuance when discussing what they don't like.

Others lump all microtransactions together as "bad" and fail to understand or acknowledge the different types. But hey, that's human conversation on the internet for ya.

Trying to parse the meaning of the term is kinda weird. Why not just be able to say, "I like this kind of microtransaction, and I don't like that kind of microtransaction"??

 

[Dire Bare]

Unless they physically appear in the ads, they're not responsible for those. That's YouTube.

Kinda.

As a "YouTuber" you can choose to monetize your videos and have YouTube play ads with your content. Or not. I mean, that's part of how these folks make money! They don't get to choose the specific ads YouTube shows, but they do get to opt-in or opt-out of the ads altogether.

 

[FrogReaver]

Trying to parse the meaning of the term is kinda weird. Why not just be able to say, "I like this kind of microtransaction, and I don't like that kind of microtransaction"??

One can do that while still not agreeing everything in question is a micro transaction - and the actual usage of the word indicates that not everything classified as one using the simplified definition is being called one in actual language - indicating a different meaning between the simplified definition and the actual meaning of the word.

 

[Stormonu]

I do wish buying the physical book gave you free access to the digital version (or the reverse!).

 

[Parmandur]

I do wish buying the physical book gave you free access to the digital version (or the reverse!).

They di sell them in a money saving bundle, but neither the Beyond integration nor the printing are free for WotC.

 

[FrogReaver]

I do wish buying the physical book gave you free access to the digital version (or the reverse!).

Yea, but the discounted bundle is fairly close to that now. You pay a little extra so not free but it’s not that much more. Assuming that stays true then I think that’s a win.