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[FONT="Arial Black"]Pros[/FONT]

• Most content for one set price
  

[FONT="Arial Black"]Cons[/FONT]

• One price regardless of content utilization
  
• Additional micropayments on top of monthly fee
  
• Still paying during periods of inactivity (some content not retroactive)
  

Forums freaking out on me so not gonna bother adding points right now

Pros:
Dragon and Dungeon: "Instant" errata when it was article based rather than PDF based parts releases.

Compendium: Proposed instant errata updates and new material inclusion.

Character Visualizer: Always adding new components as new races appear.

Dungeon Builder: Instant access to new maps/tiles as they are released in official product.

Game Table: Instant use of new material within games without having to worry about user input.

Character Builder: All rules ready for instant character sheet creation.

Cons:
Dragon and Dungeon: Online only. No poster sized maps professionally printed. Lack of content from former magazines and free content that was existed simultaneously.

Compendium: Instant is not instant. Doesn't contain the full rules so using in conjunction with the other tools will NOT allow you to play 4th edition online.

Character Visualizer: New races will be added, but may cause instability and downtime causing inability to create existing races prior to new releases.

Dungeon Builder: Already exists for free. The current model just won't be able to export or import to the Game Table.

Game Table: Limited use during the month. vMini microtransactions incurring greater costs for the DM mostly as players wouldn't need to buy them if they don't intend to run a game. Players must pay to play D&D. DM must pay to play D&D. Alternatives exist for free and a cheaper yearly price.

Well these are the pros and cons related to the pricing model. Overall the price is a bit more on a per month basis of $15 than the former magazine and you do get more than just the magazines and the overall PRO. For the overall CON, all that you get is less than an MMO in the amount of time you can play, the level of graphics quality and detail, and the fact you have to run the game yourself.

As a suggestion... a-la-carte items.

Reasons:
Non-D&D players could pay less to use the Game Table if they like it without having to pay for the dragn and Dungeon they may never want or need as it does not pertain to their game of choice or edition of D&D and would provide them nothing for the price.

People not wanting the online gaming can purchase or subscribe to the online Dragon and Dungeon without the overhead of maintenance and development for the Game Table that they may never use.

Nutshell:
Let people pay for what they want piece by piece since the overall benefits of DDI is not equal to but less than an MMO subscription as far as quality of content goes. This would give a better look at it when you can say the Dragon costs $3 a month, you have a greater chance of people wanting that. The less each component is and selling components will attract more potential buyers, and give others the chance to become potential buyers by not making it seem as though they are forced to buy the components they do not want.

Dralenan wrote:

I think WotC is fixed on the one-charge for everything, no ala-carte idea, however I agree that making cheaper access to the game table only is a good idea. As a DM who intends to run several games online, I am looking forward to the software, but it will be hard to recruit new players if they have to pay $15 just to join in and try something out. For those players, there's no reason they would need access to Dragon or Dungeon, and as a DM I would be overseeing their character creation, they wouldn't need access to the generator or anything other than the game table. There really would be no reason, nor would I feel right asking them, to pay $15 to play online.

But I have to ask are they really against letting us buy stuff ala-carte? It seems they have no issues with selling us graphics ala-carte.

It is my opinion that if they should either offer everything for a single price per month (including 3-d graphics), OR let the people pick and choose what they want.

I am currently interested only in Dragon and Dungeon (and thats only if they can keep up the release schedule and give me a full mag each month). I would be interested in the table, but to be honest I am not a fan of virtual ownership. If I buy a v-mini, it should be mine regardless of subscription status.

The cons with micro transaction on top of subscription is that the things I buy with the microtransactions are of no use to me if I decide I want to opt out. Its like a movie store selling me a movie and making me pay full price for it then threatening to take it away after I have already paid for it if I dont continue paying rental fees.

I am of the opinion that this hybrid subscription and micropayment system is very poorly thought through. Either go one way or the other, but don't do both.

I understand there are some development cost ascociated with 3-d graphics, but to be honest many other companies in the digital subscription business manage to deliver graphics in the price of the subscription. Regardless of the genre or playstyle of WOTCs game, I don't feel that they have shown me any graphical wonders that look like they shouldn't be paid for witht he subscription.

There are sites on the interent that sell 3-d models (good ones too) for around 100-200 bucks a piece. Even if they did 100 minatures at that price (instead of just hiring an artist in house) thats still only 10,000-20,000 dolars investment. 1,000 customers pays for that investment in one to two months time.(assuming they sign up for a year at the cheapest price, more than likely it will be many less customers) Leaving the other 10 months to pay for other things witht he other 100 thousand dollars they generate.

And im guessing that the 3-d meshes of most of the miniatures are already done for the D&D miniatures physical line. Leaving just skinning to be done.

The other tools in DDI really arent worth a subscription to me. There will be indexes on the interwebs for free. There alwyas have been. There will be character generators on the interwebs for free, there always have been. The stamp of officiality means nothing to me for my tools. I have already paid for my books, and I pay with my free time to make games and stories to share with others. I am not really interested in renting tools when I can get free ones.

That being said, if the rest of the suite is good enough to merit a subscription and the tools were the best out there, then I may use them.

Its cool though, I am beyond the point of being worried about the release. One of the folks in charge let me know very clearly that they were listening to the things I and others were saying on the issue of pricing. It is my belief that they are taking the pricing issue very seriously and I would not be surprised in the least if we see a revision of the model before paid release. So my hopes are very high that a change is forthcoming.

I am a long time D&D fan and a fan of 4e. I like a lot of the things it brought to the table. Its not the same beast as 3.x, but I have never been monogamous with my gaming systems, and I don't intend to start now
I think DDI is a step int he right direction. If WOTC actually watches where they are stepping, instead of stepping blindly with only the end destination in mind, then I think they will get there in good time, to everyones benefit.

But yeah for me pretty much the pricing model and a few other minor nitpicks are pretty much whats keeping me from singing praise about the things WOTC is trying to do with DDI.

love,

malkav

The format of these discussions is a good idea, Mudbunny. Here is my contribution:

Pros

• Honestly, I don't see any for the customer. Simplicity? I don't think the simplicity of the model is enough to sell it to me: I can understand the D&D rules. Surely, I can manage chosing pricing plan options and setting up payments for them. It's far, far from being rocket science.
  
  
• There are pros for Wizards though: unused services being paid for, and it's very easy to manage.
  

Cons

For me:

• The proposed pricing model is too expensive, not flexible at all, unfair, and borderline dishonest.
  
  
• It's the same price for PC and Mac users, even if the later can't use a large part of the services. I'm a PC user, but one of my players is a Mac user.
  
  
• It's inflexible. I'm not going to use the vTable. Since it is the crowning piece of DDI, I feel like a huge part of any subscription fee I'd pay would be for a service I'll never use. This is a showstopper for me.
  
  
• My interest in Dragon and Dungeon mags has always been circumstantial: this is why I never took a subscription. I don't see that changing. Some issues will interest me because they contain stuff I'll use, some others won't. I still want to have the choice to buy only issues I want. WIth the proposed model, I'll be able to do that only if I don't subscribe to the rest of DDI. More inflexibility.
  
  
• Finally, I really like the idea of an official character generator, as opposed to a 3rd party equivalent that only has the core rules data. This is the kind of tool that makes things faster for me as a DM. Our 3.5e Eberron game used a higher than normal proportion of NPCs as supporting cast and antagonists (I suspect many Eberron games are like that, it's the nature of the setting and it's not a bad thing at all), and I spent an awful lot of time creating them. A tool that has access to all the current official rules has a lot of appeal to me, but is it worth it if it is the only service I'll have a regular use for?
  

In the end, it's the renting model I can't stomach, and that I find dishonest. I just can't accept that when 5e is released, I'll have paid a grand or so, and I'll have nothing left of DDI save for tons of PDF mags of which I'll have used maybe 5% of the content.

Now, I can't pretend to be Wizards, but I'll pretend I am selling DDI, and here is what I'd be worried about:

• Losing customers who are only interested in gaming session preparation tools.
  
  
• vTable: I'd worry about losing entire gaming groups because they include even one single Mac user. Groups of PC users interested mainly in a remote playing app, prime customers for DDI, will not sign up if it exclude their Mac buddy. They'll buy another system that's multi-platform. But if they have the choice to not pay for the vTable, they still might subscribe to DDI for its other services.
  
  
• Mac users are a small part of the home computer market, but do we know the proportion of gaming groups that include at least one Mac user? It is obviously hard to know that, but thinking about it for a few minutes will convince you that it can only be a higher percentage than the Mac home computers market share. And that should have been considered when a pricing model was thought up, let alone technological choices (DirectX vs. OpenGL, for instance).
  

What would satisfy me:

I don't want it all for free. Well, I'd like to, but as a software developper myself, I understand that good software has value.

First, I want to be able to pay separately for each service. Second, I don't want to rent software. Here is what I'd like as a pricing plan:

• Character Visualizer: Not a separate product: include it with the price of the Character Builder (to illustrate the character on the record sheet) and the Game Table (to make vMinis of characters).
  
• Character Builder: One time price for the basic software and core rules, Additional micro-transactions for data upgrades. These upgrades would include new rules from books or from Dragon mag, all sold separately.
  
• Game Table: One time price with micro-transactions for vMinis and décor OR subscription that includes all graphics. No double-dipping.
  
• Dungeon Builder: Either included with the cost of the Gaming table, or separate product for a one time cost.
  
• Compendium: A subscription is fine for that, given that it's point is to be a complete reference.
  
• Dragon and Dungeon Mags: no change from the paper mags: subscription OR single issue pricing.
  

Come up with reasonable prices for the above, and I'm sold. By reasonable, I mean that the mags should have a comparable price (lower, as they are not printed) to their paper versions, and that any single piece of software should not cost more than $50 once, for example.

As it is now, it is very likely that I'll program my own DM tools. I know it is a fairly huge project, but interestingly enough, Wizards have helped me a lot already: 4e is much simpler than 3.5e, and that means simpler software. Data entry is a bore? I'll make the task simple enough that friends from my extended gaming network can do it for me, in exchange for use of my tools.

So, convince me it's not worth doing it and you'll have a paying customer. Several, in fact, as my gaming friends might follow me.

I'll pay $15.00/month if the micro-transactions disappear. My view is that the content covered by micro-transactions should be included in the price at $15.00/month. That's the only deal breaker for me. That gets fixed and I'll sub.