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)

 

[kenmarable]

re: This change being made solely for software architecture reasons

As I have banged on about since January, they never sold Book of Many Things content a la carte, while it was still available through the old store. It was five months before the switchover came, and despite repeated requests and questions on the forum, they never made that option available, nor even meaningfully addressed it.

This was a strategic decision. Maybe it'll get them a bunch more money, maybe not. I'd bet not. But if all that was holding them back was having to build/adapt the feature to the new platform, that didn't stop them from offering the Book of Many Things content in the interim.

I was checking regularly, because I wanted to purchase the player-facing content for my players. so that's a few bucks they're out as a result.

Unless that was a trial run for Clint_L's #4 - How much of a PR hit would it be? Pretty easy to not include that option on an earlier book while the new Marketplace is being developed and see if the PR hit is bad enough while there is still time to alter course. Apparently, the complaints were within a tolerable threshold, which, sadly, would be a very MBA way of looking at it.

I'm a fan of always offering more choices for customers to get what they want how they want it, but also I'd be terrible at running an important brand of a publicly traded corporation.

 

[mamba]

I disagree with the assumption that it wasn’t being used a whole lot. Every forum and thread I’ve seen on this subject is full of people posting “this is how I made most of my purchases.”

that is because these are exactly the people who are most likely to complain about WotC removing it.

So what if there were 10,000 people doing it out of 15M users, that is still not a large number, even though it is a lot more people than are now posting about it

The proof that it was not used much is that it got removed in the first place…

 

[Clint_L]

I disagree with the assumption that it wasn’t being used a whole lot. Every forum and thread I’ve seen on this subject is full of people posting “this is how I made most of my purchases.”

Yeah, well forums are full of people claiming that everything that happens is the end of the world. If WotC was making good money off it, they'd keep doing it.

I liked that it was an option. I'd prefer they kept it. I'm not going to say that they were wrong to get rid of it, because I don't know any of the relevant numbers. But I am confident that it wasn't done for malicious reasons.

 

[Tonguez]

Sounds like a great way to deter new players joining in and losing current customers too - especially with the proliferation of alternatives - really dumb idea

 

[Zarithar]

that is because these are exactly the people who are most likely to complain about WotC removing it.

So what if there were 10,000 people doing it out of 15M users, that is still not a large number, even though it is a lot more people than are now posting about it

The proof that it was not used much is that it got removed in the first place…

So you are speculating. Got it.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I prefer a free resource site containing all the rules that I can refer potential players to,

Which is nice. A bit more than a free srd. Which you also get on dndbeyond. But this site is ugly... and something different than dndbeyond which is way more user friendly.

combined with a continuously updated character editor that offers most of each features for free with some requiring a one-time purchase to unlock. Both legal without any fear of legal actions against them.
Sed suum cuique.

Which brings me to a site where it tells me that I need to do purchases for android...

Edit: I guess I should mention EN Publishing being similarly generous: Home | Level Up

So while free things are cool, those are different types of products.
There are a lot of things where you can have a free version and a paid version. And you often get what you pay for.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

That's a sad notion.

Actually that is not always WotC's fault.
I know two types of (F)LGS, those with the F and those without.
I have been in game stores where I have felt welcomed when I was young, and I have been in game stores where I felt that I bothered the owner by just being there.
Game store owners need to be friendly and actually make young people wanting to enter their store. This is why I buy my books there (and not Amazon). Because I want the Game Stores to stay. I have a personal interest in it.

 

[mamba]

So you are speculating. Got it.

a lot less / on a better basis than the post I replied to

 

[Parmandur]

I disagree with the assumption that it wasn’t being used a whole lot. Every forum and thread I’ve seen on this subject is full of people posting “this is how I made most of my purchases.”

But we have heard from Beyond devs over the years that the option is not used much: that's not an assumption, that's information. The assu.ption is seeing a few dozen posters in onloke forums and assuming that is representative of anything

 

[Parmandur]

So you are speculating. Got it.

No, there is no speculation that the option wasn't particularly widely used: Beyond devs habe been saying so for years