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)

 

[FrogReaver]

Yes? A microtransaction involves a digital add-on

I don’t really agree. But let’s go down this path. So you are good with restricting the term to digital only.

So can we restrict the add-on part to something more restrictive than all digital add-ons?

 

[Mistwell]

I don’t really agree. But let’s go down this path. So you are good with restricting the term to digital only.

So can we restrict the add-on part to something more restrictive than all digital add-ons?

Can you name anything described by people as a microtransaction which isn't a digital add-on? Wikipedia has it defined as "microtransactions is a business model where users can purchase virtual goods via micropayments." and the paper associated with that adds, "a microtransactions is anything a consumer pays extra for in a video game, excluding the purchase of that game."

That paper explains Microsoft used microtransactions as "The ability to buy digital add-ons for Xbox360 console games through the Xbox Live Marketplace, allowing players to purchase specific content they wanted at a low price of a couple of dollars rather than having to buy a more expensive complete expansion."

That is what WOTC was doing with these add-ons. That's the identical model they were using. They were microtransactions, just like Microsoft was doing. And I strongly suspect they just yanked them because people kept complaining about microtransactions and it just wasn't worth yet another PR hit. And here we are, with people saying essentially, "No wait not those microtransactions, we liked those so will call them something else!"

 

[mamba]

I strongly suspect they just yanked them because people kept complaining about microtransactions and it just wasn't worth yet another PR hit.

let's see what the VTT has to say about that, I'd be very surprised if online complaints about MTs had anything at all to do with it

 

[Zaukrie]

I think the issue is that WotC are in a damned if you do, damned if don't position. Some folks were framing the a la carte options as micro transactions, and claiming they were the thin edge of the wedge towards being able to pay to win, etc. I know, because I was involved in some of those discussions arguing that being able to buy a la carte was great and had nothing to do with pay to win.

And now that WotC is getting rid of the a la carte options, allegedly because they have been linked to micro transactions (though I've yet to see direct evidence of WotC's motives for this change), they are again being framed as the villains who are looking for another way to gouge us, I guess.

So having a la carte options makes WotC evil corporate jerks playing the long game to gouge us, and getting rid of the a la carte options makes WotC evil corporate jerks playing the short game to gouge us, I guess.

I very much agree with the point someone made earlier: there are a lot of folks on this forum with an axe to grind against WotC or 5e, and seem to look at everything that happens with an eye towards finding the way to spin it in the most negative way possible.

That last paragraph is 100% true. Every thread. Over and over.

 

[Shardstone]

I love the taste of boots.

 

[FrogReaver]

Can you name anything described by people as a microtransaction which isn't a digital add-on? Wikipedia has it defined as "microtransactions is a business model where users can purchase virtual goods via micropayments." and the paper associated with that adds, "a microtransactions is anything a consumer pays extra for in a video game, excluding the purchase of that game."

That paper explains Microsoft used microtransactions as "The ability to buy digital add-ons for Xbox360 console games through the Xbox Live Marketplace, allowing players to purchase specific content they wanted at a low price of a couple of dollars rather than having to buy a more expensive complete expansion."

That is what WOTC was doing with these add-ons. That's the identical model they were using. They were microtransactions, just like Microsoft was doing. And I strongly suspect they just yanked them because people kept complaining about microtransactions and it just wasn't worth yet another PR hit. And here we are, with people saying essentially, "No wait not those microtransactions, we liked those so will call them something else!"

The fundamental flaw is that most digital add-ons aren’t typically referred to as micro transactions either. Consider the common refrain - I want full fledged expansions not micro transactions. Using your semantics this sentiment has no meaning. Yet we all know precisely what is meant. (In case it’s not clear an expansion is a digital add-on)

Or consider steam, which is a free platform where you can make transactions to add digital content to your library - no one calls that microtransactions and any game added to your library is just a digital add-on. No one has ever heard that called a micro transaction because micro transaction has a more limited scope than any digital add-on.

 

[lkj]

I seem to recall, quite a long time ago, folks at DDB (before WotC bought them I think) saying that only a very small portion of their customer base used the ala carte options, and that this surprised them. I've been expecting DDB to stop offering ala carte options for a long time, as I suspect it adds work for minimal benefit for them. Sure, maybe they also think more people will now buy the whole book rather than not buy anything, but I suspect if it were a heavily used option, they'd have kept it. At any rate, I'm bummed to see it go, but I'm not surprised.

AD

 

[Mistwell]

The fundamental flaw is that most digital add-ons aren’t typically referred to as micro transactions either. Consider the common refrain - I want full fledged expansions not micro transactions. Using your semantics this sentiment has no meaning. Yet we all know precisely what is meant. (In case it’s not clear an expansion is a digital add-on)

Or consider steam, which is a free platform where you can make transactions to add digital content to your library - no one calls that microtransactions and any game added to your library is just a digital add-on. No one has ever heard that called a micro transaction because micro transaction has a more limited scope than any digital add-on.

It's not the only think microtransactions mean and I never said or implied it was the only thing. All I am saying is that is one generally excepted and well documented form of microtransactions, in addition to loot crates and all the other forms of microtransactions.

The quote about Microsoft is dead-on to what we're talking about, and it was explicitly called microtransactions and commonly accepted and referred to as that. It's accurate to call what WOTC was doing, and is directly, "allowing players to purchase specific content they wanted at a low price of a couple of dollars rather than having to buy a more expensive complete expansion." What more need be said? It wouldn't matter what Steam add-ons are referred to - this specific thing IS referred to as microtransactions in gaming contexts.

 

[FrogReaver]

It's not the only think microtransactions mean and I never said or implied it was the only thing. All I am saying is that is one generally excepted and well documented form of microtransactions, in addition to loot crates and all the other forms of microtransactions.

The quote about Microsoft is dead-on to what we're talking about, and it was explicitly called microtransactions and commonly accepted and referred to as that. It's accurate to call what WOTC was doing, and is directly, "allowing players to purchase specific content they wanted at a low price of a couple of dollars rather than having to buy a more expensive complete expansion."

Can you accept that no one concerned about micro transactions was concerned with this particular thing?

Don’t the people complaining get a say in what they are actually complaining about?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

This is only the beginning. I expect the whole site will be updated by the end of the year.