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5 years ago ::
Oct 14, 2008 - 2:09PM
#41
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Date Joined:
Aug 24, 2005
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Just to back up WolfStar's previous comments, I'm getting the same response. I went straight to the horses mouth, and asked Solice what the situation was with the subscription, and whether the web-only subscription would remain an option. AsmodeusLore: Will Web-Only Subscriptions remain an option after the Full Package becomes available?
Wizo Solice: There is no answer on that yet, we are looking into our options. We wanted to see how the launch went before making a choice.
AsmodeusLore: for what its worth, my vote would be to keep the option. Seems like 90% of the forum users share that vote. The 90% number is completely made up, based on the fact that I haven't seen one person say they want to see the option go away.
Wizo Solice: *nod*
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5 years ago ::
Oct 14, 2008 - 2:09PM
#42
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Date Joined:
Jun 13, 2007
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What we WILL be getting is what we pay for. Subscribe to 12 months of "Web Content" insider - and you'll get your 12 months, with no cost increases - unless you choose to upgrade later (if they don't just give early subscribers the entire suite as a "thank you" of sorts).
And when it "auto-renews" as it said it will when I purchased, will it be fore the current price or the "then price"?
—fo diggity
Twitter: www.twitter.com/fodigg
Comic Books You Should Have Read: http://tinyurl.com/ycxe9l7
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5 years ago ::
Oct 14, 2008 - 2:11PM
#43
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- Senior Volunteer Community Lead
- Dragon Slayer
- D&DI News Guide
Date Joined:
Aug 31, 2005
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I'm all for choices, I just don't think you're going to find a package that's going to cost less than what's being offered right now.
Keep in mind that while there aren't printing costs, there are still costs associated with distribution (servers, bandwidth, drive space) and costs associated with merely accepting payment that put a floor on how low they can charge and still make any money (I imagine Digital River is getting a cut of each transation, and the Creidt card companies want a cut as well. . . ).
While I'm all for choices, I think this is the smallest you're going to see.
Wolf Star76 Community Advocate (SVCL) for D&D Organized Play, Avalon Hill, and the DCI/WPN LFR Community Manager DDi Guide  Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter
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5 years ago ::
Oct 14, 2008 - 2:11PM
#44
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Date Joined:
Jun 13, 2007
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There's never been any (official) talk of the magazine being printed. The move to digital has been about going all-digital since it was announced at GenCon in 2007.
What about the announced 'annual best of' dungeon/dragon books? I'm sure I saw something to that effect on amazon.
(I'm less sure I'm using the correct version of affect/effect in that sentence.)
—fo diggity
Twitter: www.twitter.com/fodigg
Comic Books You Should Have Read: http://tinyurl.com/ycxe9l7
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5 years ago ::
Oct 14, 2008 - 2:15PM
#45
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I was gonna sign up for a quickie, month-long "trial" but now I'm not so sure. This is from the DDI FAQ:
How do I turn off stop auto-renew on my subscription?
To stop auto-renew, you will need to fill out a form to contact our billing specialists.
First, make sure that you are logged into the Wizards of the Coast website. Once you have logged in, click here to open the form. You will need to provide your first name, last name, and the last five digits of the credit card used when you purchased your D&D Insider subscription.
In the subject and message fields please indicate that you want to stop the auto-renew feature of your subscription. You should recieve a response within two days of submitting the request.
I only want to buy the occasional issue. The way this is set up though, I'm automatically signed up each month (no way to avoid it that I can see). As I understand things, I'll have to fill out an online form and send it to the "billing specialists" . . . each and every time; a hassle, to say the least.
Plus, I'm not entirely confident that the cancelation message will always be recieved and/or acted upon in a timely manner. If it weren't for the "auto-renewal" feature (or if there was a way to avoid it even), I'd have no hesitation to speak of. Am I over-reacting, wrong to be concerned on this issue? Just curious how others feel about it.
/\ Art
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5 years ago ::
Oct 14, 2008 - 2:22PM
#46
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Also, a question:
If I do buy a subscription, do I have access to back issues of dragon from before I subscribed?
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5 years ago ::
Oct 14, 2008 - 2:27PM
#47
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- Senior Volunteer Community Lead
- Dragon Slayer
- D&DI News Guide
Date Joined:
Aug 31, 2005
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What about the announced 'annual best of' dungeon/dragon books? I'm sure I saw something to that effect on amazon.
(I'm less sure I'm using the correct version of affect/effect in that sentence.)
No official word has come from WotC (that I'm aware of) on those products.
They're not in the WotC Product Catalog, and they haven't been announced that I'm aware of.
Doesn't mean they don't/won't exist, but until I hear it from WotC I'm not going to tell others about it. 
Wolf Star76 Community Advocate (SVCL) for D&D Organized Play, Avalon Hill, and the DCI/WPN LFR Community Manager DDi Guide Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter
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5 years ago ::
Oct 14, 2008 - 3:03PM
#48
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Date Joined:
Aug 15, 2007
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One question that I have is what happens when my subscription ends. Do I continue to have access (can I download them again) to issues that were released when I was subscribing?
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I keep on debating with myself on what I want to do on this.
If I were to buy this, it would be purely for the content in Dragon.
I am less interested in the various tools that may come up. I like some of the tools and would enjoy being able to use them, but if I was going to pay money for them, I would just pay it at the beginning and not have to pay again for it. I don't want to subscribe to tools. The only way I would move on this point is if I was guaranteed that they would have content and capabilities added regularly, as in I would be paying for upgrades and not just for maintaining the service. I would want a guarantee that if they stop updating content for three months, that my account would be credited for the money I paid for tools those three months. That is not going to happen though, so I'll just move on.
While having more adventures from Dungeon is good, I am already getting a steady stream of adventures from other sources in addition to the many I already have. They may not be 4E adventures, but I think that I would be easy and enjoyable for me to convert them if I needed to. As well, it seems that the articles that I most enjoyed in Dungeon, the ones that I always went to first are no longer there. Overall, again I might enjoy having Dungeon I don't really feel the need to pay anything extra just to read it.
So once again, if I buy this it would only be for Dragon. No matter how much people say, "you get so much for what you are paying," it just doesn't matter. If all I want is a side onion rings and the restaurant will only sell them as part of a sampler, I'm going to look at the price of the sampler and compare to what I'm getting. I'm not going to listen to people who say that it is a good value because I'm getting lots of other things, because all I want are onion rings.
That is what I have. Five dollars a month, at best, for a subscription to Dragon. I will avoid my analysis (print vs. pdf, lack of ads, and so on) and just say that I think that is just about the most I would pay for this. It is not a obvious purchase for me. I do like what I get in Dragon (I really like have more options and material), but I'm not going to let that blind me to paying any amount to have access to it.
I can see myself buying a subscription for a year. However, when it goes to $10 per month for the similar subscription, I will have to just let it go. That is too much for myself for what I'm going to be using it for.
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5 years ago ::
Oct 14, 2008 - 3:57PM
#49
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These questions should have been answered prior to trying to charge people for the service. Right now I'm taking a pass, because there's no solid info on the following:
1. How do I get access to magazines from prior to my subscription?
2. What happens when I cancel my subscription, will I still have access to the magazines I did during my subscription?
3. The EULA. It's not even related to the magazine subscription. There are some fairly draconian clauses in there (they can cancel you for any reason and not refund) and there are still references to Gleemax. It's clear that no thought was given to the EULA before slapping it on the subscription page. This is a deal breaker. I just want a subscription to the pdfs. I'm not going to agree to some multi-page contract. At most I should have to agree to not re-distribute the pdfs.
4. What happened to the magazine only subscription? All I want is the magazines, it doesn't seem like this would be difficult to deliver. When they come out let me purchase them. I don't care about the incremental rollout of articles. The schedule hasn't been kept yet, so it's not as if I see any value there. Put them up on RPGNow for $3 each or something.
I'm sorry but this whole rollout appears extremely ill-thought out and sloppy. Maybe some of these answers are right there on the page but I didn't see them. There's no reason that the first two questions shouldn't have had answers prominently displayed somewhere on the DDI site. They're not from left field and should have been anticipated.
WotC if you want my money you're going to have to try a little harder. That's a shame, because I'd be willing to pay for the magazines, despite the lack of print versions but I'm going to have to say no until things get straightened out.
Additionally, the DDI FAQ isn't even updated.
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5 years ago ::
Oct 14, 2008 - 4:24PM
#50
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- Senior Volunteer Community Lead
- Dragon Slayer
- D&DI News Guide
Date Joined:
Aug 31, 2005
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We've been told that once you've subscribed and received an issue on your account, yes, you'll still be able to access that issue via your login, even if let your subscription lapse.
This "Web Content Only" package is likely to be as close as we get to a "Magazine Only" subscription - though the last official word we have on the subject is that we'll have the option to buy previous issues on an issue-by-issue basis.
Wolf Star76 Community Advocate (SVCL) for D&D Organized Play, Avalon Hill, and the DCI/WPN LFR Community Manager DDi Guide Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter
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