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I've previously been a subscriber to DDI obtaining year long subscriptions each time.

Unfortunately I let my subscription lapse - by accident. I had to get a new VISA card earlier this year when I lost my old one and I forgot to update a few places where the old card was registered as the payment method. DDI was one of them.

My subscription lapsed in April and I have only just noticed. 

I only just noticed for a few reasons. Mainly though it is because I have not been frequenting the D&D site much over the last few months. 

So before renewing my subscription I was wondering if it is still worth it?

Until very recently I would have said yes.

But they have stopped giving significant new content.  Dragon hardly has any good new stuff in it now.  They have not bothered to make any significant improvements or fixes on the online character builder for a while.

And now they have decided to drop the VT.

Wotc is making it pretty clear they want to focus on D&Dnext and current customers are not a major concern anymore.

Jul 10, 2012 -- 9:03AM, GelatinousOctahedron wrote:

Until very recently I would have said yes.

But they have stopped giving significant new content.  Dragon hardly has any good new stuff in it now.  They have not bothered to make any significant improvements or fixes on the online character builder for a while.

And now they have decided to drop the VT.

Wotc is making it pretty clear they want to focus on D&Dnext and current customers are not a major concern anymore.

I agree, and I most certainly won't be surprised when the 4E online tools simply disappear as well, like all the content.

WotC site is basically a big informercial for DnD Next and older edition reprints now. 

Even the feature rich Pie in the Sky version they teased us with back in 2008 was nothing but a MMORPG (complete with a monthly subscription fee) without the game engine to automate the mechanics of gameplay.  Consider that, and then look at just how far short they fell of even that.

It really depends on if you're interested in using the online tools like the Compendium and the Character and Monster Builders. If not, I wouldn't advise more than a month subscription every now and again to grab all the Dragon and Dungeon content.

Jul 10, 2012 -- 9:03AM, GelatinousOctahedron wrote:

..."window.parent.tinyMCE.get('post_content').onLoad.dispatch();" contenteditable="true" />And now they have decided to drop the VT.

GameTable Online is trying to pick up the VT ball, community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...

If you have managed to go 70+ days without noticing that your DDI account access has lapsed, that is a clear sign that it is not of much value to you lately -- and its value certainly will not improve at least until D&D Next comes out, if then.    
 

Jul 10, 2012 -- 9:03AM, GelatinousOctahedron wrote:

Until very recently I would have said yes.

But they have stopped giving significant new content.  Dragon hardly has any good new stuff in it now.  They have not bothered to make any significant improvements or fixes on the online character builder for a while.

And now they have decided to drop the VT.

Wotc is making it pretty clear they want to focus on D&Dnext and current customers are not a major concern anymore.

Wow, they dropped the VT. NOT SURPRISED!

Until very recently I would have said yes.

But they have stopped giving significant new content.  Dragon hardly has any good new stuff in it now.  They have not bothered to make any significant improvements or fixes on the online character builder for a while.

And now they have decided to drop the VT.

Wotc is making it pretty clear they want to focus on D&Dnext and current customers are not a major concern anymore.


just as i thought wizards wasn't one of those compagnies only in it for money. (yes i might be a tad naive XD)
sucks donkeyballs, i'm not comfortable with switching to next mid campaign 

My second year subscription ran out and I'm not renewing...

the content is SEVERELY lacking.
the tools should be free at this point....the game feels almost unplayable without the insider subscription to generate a character.  If they added a book each month then perhaps there would be value.


it feels like your buying a DVD that you need to pay a monthly fee for!      


originally you basicly felt like you were buying digital versions of their books....but when they stop making books then why keep charging the fee?
my Amazon e-books don't have a monthly fee...
dafug WOTC
dafuq WOTC
this kind of treatment has pushed away a customer of 15 years now.   I have bought over 90 of your books between 3rd and 4th edition.  You have lost a very good paying customer. 
I'm not a vocal minority and I promise you that as others subscriptions end they will feel the same way as I do...
ripped off!        

Jul 28, 2012 -- 11:54AM, shamurai7 wrote:

My second year subscription ran out and I'm not renewing...

the content is SEVERELY lacking.
the tools should be free at this point....the game feels almost unplayable without the insider subscription to generate a character.  If they added a book each month then perhaps there would be value.


it feels like your buying a DVD that you need to pay a monthly fee for!      


originally you basicly felt like you were buying digital versions of their books....but when they stop making books then why keep charging the fee?
my Amazon e-books don't have a monthly fee...
dafug WOTC
dafuq WOTC
this kind of treatment has pushed away a customer of 15 years now.   I have bought over 90 of your books between 3rd and 4th edition.  You have lost a very good paying customer. 
I'm not a vocal minority and I promise you that as others subscriptions end they will feel the same way as I do...
ripped off!        

and yet they continue this way.
why? i don't know.
but i'm getting the feeling that wizards never reads the forums or skipps these type of threads.

but if your not a vocal minority, why hasn;t wizards heard/responded to your cries?(i'm a new guy who just started playing half a year ago)    

Yes, DDi is still value for the money.  It always has been since day one and continues to be today. There's more content than you can shake ten sticks at and if you don't think it's enough I don't know what to say; you probably won't be satisfied by anything.

The CB is great, easy to use, and helps me check out all the options when I level up.  It gives my characters a big optimization advantage over people who don't use it and since it's fully up to date all the time, I don't miss out on updated game elements.  I get tons of use out of both the Compendium and the Monster Builder as a DM.  They save me lots of time.  I regularly borrow Dungeon magazine content for my adventures - especially some of the nicer maps.  The VT would have been nice to have and I tried it out but honestly I don't have much need for it so I don't miss it.  I also would have liked to see some sort of Dungeon Builder that generated maps for my adventures but even without that I still feel like DDi is worth the money.  I just hope they keep the main 4e tools going well past the advent of D&D Next because I will really miss them if they're gone.

Those who feel it's a ripoff or they aren't getting their value out of it or that WoTC is out to screw them over and doesn't care about its customers are indeed a vocal minority and I think most of the time they can't see the forest for the trees.  And that's okay, just don't expect WoTC to jump to accomodate that minority of customers because that doesn't make sense.

Jul 30, 2012 -- 12:08PM, RedSiegfried wrote:

Yes, DDi is still value for the money.  It always has been since day one and continues to be today. There's more content than you can shake ten sticks at and if you don't think it's enough I don't know what to say; you probably won't be satisfied by anything.

The CB is great, easy to use, and helps me check out all the options when I level up.  It gives my characters a big optimization advantage over people who don't use it and since it's fully up to date all the time, I don't miss out on updated game elements.  I get tons of use out of both the Compendium and the Monster Builder as a DM.  They save me lots of time.  I regularly borrow Dungeon magazine content for my adventures - especially some of the nicer maps.  The VT would have been nice to have and I tried it out but honestly I don't have much need for it so I don't miss it.  I also would have liked to see some sort of Dungeon Builder that generated maps for my adventures but even without that I still feel like DDi is worth the money.  I just hope they keep the main 4e tools going well past the advent of D&D Next because I will really miss them if they're gone.

Those who feel it's a ripoff or they aren't getting their value out of it or that WoTC is out to screw them over and doesn't care about its customers are indeed a vocal minority and I think most of the time they can't see the forest for the trees.  And that's okay, just don't expect WoTC to jump to accomodate that minority of customers because that doesn't make sense.

good point.
for me it's always been value for the money, when calculated it's 5 bucks a month for so much stuff.
the adventures the maps. and mostly the builder. it's a great source for magic items as well and has helped me and my players.
now let's hope they keep 4th edition builder once next comes out and it'll be more value for money    

Oh, I think that DDI is valuable to me -- but then I read every Dragon article as soon as it is uploaded and make frequent use of the Character Builder.  Even if it is not as full of crunchy bits as it used to be, it is still worth the monthly price of an annual subsription.  But I am not sure whether I would renew if I had no active 4E campaigns going.

But if you are like the original poster who just realized his subscription expired two months earlier, then I would say that it is not of value to you.  
 

Do I think that DDI is value for money?
Yes - I enjoy the articles, I use the character builder - those 2 things are allright.

Am I satisfied with DDI?
No - I think wizards does a horrible job of supporting players. Choosing Silverlight as Frontend, having a bugged "encounter builder" which crashes frequently and can't even show the monster stat blocks, mixing up item IDs (I did link to some of them for my campaign via the ID - the only thing that is allowed except querying the DB because they fear that player will steal their shinies)

Am I a bit afraid that it will be much harder to get our 4e games going when Wizards decides to drop 4e from DDI after the meager lifespan it had to force people over to DnD Next (one please) - defenitely.

If you accept that Wizards is a company that has Hasbro in the Neck to get more shareholder value, you are a $-cow to them and don't expect anything done "for the players" but "for the revenue" and still find DDI value for money (like I do) go for it. 

For me..  No, not anymore.

I signed up for a 3 month trial of DDI to see if the tools would help me with a Play by post 4e Darksun game..  I decided after a month of trying, that no, not really.  Then I was invited to the Friends & Family VT Beta, for about the last month of my 3 month trial.  So, I re-subbed for another 3 months to try out the VT.

With the VT, DDI was well worth the money to me, and after the first month, I re-subbed for a year.  I've been running and playing in Weekly VT games since Novemberish of 2010.  When my yearly was up earlier this year, I had no hesitation re-subbing for another year...  but now, WOTC is Dropping VT. DDI once again moved down to not being worth the money for me.  It adds a little convenience, but I can do without it.  

I will be taking that money, that WOTC could have kept receiving if they would have supported the Virtual Table, to Gametable Online, who is going to continue to support the VT through their own site. 

Am I a bit afraid that it will be much harder to get our 4e games going when Wizards decides to drop 4e from DDI

This. Very much truth.

Also, I'm more than a little pissed that the explanation for all the bugs and dropped features has been "we're working on Virtual Table" -- and now, that's a separate feature that we also have to pay for, and not really relevant to the in-person campaigns that are really what I'm in it for.

Sep 4, 2012 -- 9:22AM, jwatte wrote:

Am I a bit afraid that it will be much harder to get our 4e games going when Wizards decides to drop 4e from DDI

This. Very much truth.

Also, I'm more than a little pissed that the explanation for all the bugs and dropped features has been "we're working on Virtual Table" -- and now, that's a separate feature that we also have to pay for, and not really relevant to the in-person campaigns that are really what I'm in it for.

The Virtual Table is not "a separate feature that we also have to pay for"..  it is completely free to use and enjoy.  Just check out gametableonline.com or rpgtableonline.com

Everyone I know personally has cancelled their subscription already.
But I guess we're also all part of the vocal minority, however unvocal many of them are.  

Jul 10, 2012 -- 11:22AM, RobEng wrote:

Jul 10, 2012 -- 9:03AM, GelatinousOctahedron wrote:

..."window.parent.tinyMCE.get('post_content').onLoad.dispatch();" contenteditable="true" />And now they have decided to drop the VT.

GameTable Online is trying to pick up the VT ball, community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...

Yeah for more than double the DDI subscription cost plus buckets more for more than extremely basic content.  DDI promised a lot when it first came out and they should be ashamed of what they stuck us with.

Sep 7, 2012 -- 8:50PM, Agonar wrote:

Sep 4, 2012 -- 9:22AM, jwatte wrote:

Am I a bit afraid that it will be much harder to get our 4e games going when Wizards decides to drop 4e from DDI

This. Very much truth.

Also, I'm more than a little pissed that the explanation for all the bugs and dropped features has been "we're working on Virtual Table" -- and now, that's a separate feature that we also have to pay for, and not really relevant to the in-person campaigns that are really what I'm in it for.

The Virtual Table is not "a separate feature that we also have to pay for"..  it is completely free to use and enjoy.  Just check out gametableonline.com or rpgtableonline.com

It's completely free if you want to play a campaign in a small town with only basic races.  Anything else costs you money, and not a small amount.  Plus there are a bunch of features that are crippled unless you buy a premium subscription for $10 a month.

Sep 8, 2012 -- 7:33AM, Kayone wrote:

Everyone I know personally has cancelled their subscription already.
But I guess we're also all part of the vocal minority, however unvocal many of them are.  

All of my firends have also cancelled, including me as of today. 

Sep 8, 2012 -- 9:05AM, Kindredlord wrote:

It's completely free if you want to play a campaign in a small town with only basic races.  Anything else costs you money, and not a small amount.  Plus there are a bunch of features that are crippled unless you buy a premium subscription for $10 a month.

small town?  I mapped out nearly the entire Tomb of Horrors mega adventure using the Dungeon/City/Wilderness mastersets of tiles.  I've played tabletop games for years where PCs were represented by standups with Letters on them.  This isn't an MMO.  Roleplaying replies more on imagination than anything else.

I run a weekly Darksun game, and I did for a long time when wotc had the table, and we didn't have the option to buy new tiles or tokens.  I am doing just fine with a free, non-subscribed version of the table.  But, I played for many years with a vinyl mat, markers, and lettered cardboard stands to represent PCs and monsters...

With dnd insider they turned something that has been a cheap gamer hobby for DECADES into a monthly fee mmo ripoff scheme.


the game is nearly unplayable without DnDI and yet the content does not justify the price.  So good job wotc for charging a monthly fee for dnd and ruining my game.


If you wanted to charge a 1 time fee for the program I can deal with that but over the course of a few years your asking hundreds of dollars per person for some shabby content.  I just bought guild wars 2 for 60 dollars with no monthly fee and it has more programming and content in its pinky finger than all of dndInsider.


Do the right thing WOTC and make it free.....you have made your money already and at this point its robbery.  

I agree with this. We buy Books,Dice,Minis, and many more of your products and you expect people to pay for something the can do for free? I grew up playing AD&D and we would just Sit in the Store and do everything DDI does for free. I will never pay for something I can get for free its insane. I remember when it wasn't about the money D&D is a Table top game that you play with your friends, Its about having fun somewhere they forgot that.