It seems that the Dungeons & Dragons Insider (DDI) is living up to my wildest expectations. In his recent Apersand column (subscription required), Bill Slavicsek provided a lot more detail regarding the new content that Wizards of the Coast will make available during the next year through the DDI.
For those of you who haven’t shelled out for a DDI subscription yet, I’m going to summarize the high points of what’s on the horizon. Hopefully by the time you finish reading this you’ll want to become a DDI subscriber.
DDI subscribers will be rewarded with a new class option not available anywhere else. Coming in September (just in time for my birthday) is the Assassin. Thanks WotC! Along with the new class is a new race option, the Reverant which has an undead template. Imagine the role-playing opportunities opened up with the addition of just these two new options.
I’m excited to see how the new class and race match up with what we already have. There are two Assassin-based paragon paths already available to the Rogue, so it will be interesting to see how a class dedicated to the Assassin will work. Did I mention that the assassin has a new power source? Could this be the introduction to the shadow power source? We’ll find out together in September.
The article also outlines Wizard’s plan for releasing PHB3 content.
“This isn’t playtest material. It isn’t half-finished, partially formed, sneak peeks. Nope. It’s just like what appears in every physical product we produce.”
This is exactly what I asked for in the article Changes Are Coming to the DDI that we ran last week. I must tip my hat to the fine folks at WotC for coming through on this. It’s really starting to look like the DDI is a must have for anyone playing 4e D&D, in my opinion. I look forward to seeing the new PHB3 content beginning in July.
As great as all of this is on its own, it doesn’t end there. There will be more exclusive content made available to DDI subscribers in 2010. The article doesn’t specify which sourcebook it will be from, but my money’s on Martial Power 2. Or perhaps we’ll get an advance look at the 2010 campaign setting which will be announced at Gen Con in August. And speaking of GenCon, the article finished off by listing the highlights we can expect to see during the Wizards of the Coast seminars taking place in Indianapolis this summer.
Are you as excited about what’s to come as I am? Let us know what you think in light of this new information. If you’re not a DDI subscriber are you more inclined to sign up after hearing about all of these great things coming over the next year?
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1 2 Next »So DDI will be filled basically with material from upcoming books? I get to pay for DDI and then the books when they come out? What a deal!
I'm really excited about this. I've been very satisfied with what i'm paying for D&Di; now with this stuff, who couldn't be happy?? It really brings back the value of subscribing to the magazine, the value that was lost by not having said magazines in print and the ability to cut out photos or photocopy them at will to show to your players. I can't wait to get my hands on the assassin. I'm sure i'll be thinking of how to powergame that mfer as soon as i get my hands on it.
The one thing i wonder about though is how playing a class that is exclusive to D&Di will work out for players in RPGA and other games. What kind of proof will you need to show, if any, in order to put an assassin into play in one of those games; since it is official material, they won't be able to just cut that class out of those systems and now i wonder if they will make some form of electronic verification a necessity when it comes to playing in the living Eberron and living Greyhawk games. Just my thoughts.
Shinobicow’s last blog post..XDMC #10 - The Power of Magnetism
I am liking what I'm seeing so far with DDI.
The character builder, the magazines, it's all worth it if everyone in your party coughs up 10 bucks a year for the $70 subscription .
After all, the entire party benefits from the material I get from DDI. Why shouldn't they pay and share the cost?
newbiedm’s last blog post..Fire tokens
@Anthony Roberson
I've heard a few people complain about paying for the DDI and then the books. It's a fair arguement, why pay for content twice or just the priviledge of having it early. For myself, I didn't buy the PHB2 and won't be buying books that have 80% or more of their content in the Character Builder. I will be buying sourcebooks like the Eberron campaign settings. Of course there is also the advantage of having exclusive content of which the revenant and assassin are just the tip of the iceberg.
@ Shinobicow
You raise a good point about proving whether you're a subscriber and whether you have the right to use the class. One of the down sides (or upsides depending on your perspective) is that you could subscribe to the DDI for 1 month and get all content to that point through the Character Builder. I'm not sure what, if anything, WotC will do to correct this. I think that by offering new content on a monthly basis they will largely avoid this issue.
As for the assassin, I'm eagerly waiting for it. I currently play a rogue in our main game who is walking the path of the assassin. So I'm interested in seeing what feats are also released alongside the character class.
@ NewbieDM
You raise some good points about a group sharing a DDI subscription. The character builder allows 5 updates a month so that is certainly an option. Every member of my group has a subscription and thoroughly enjoys it. I know Ameron was using the character builder last night to research various characters that he hopes to use at Gen Con.
I am digging DDI. But in response to A. Roberson, to be honest DDI has prevented me from going out and purchasing the books. I wonder if, to some small degree, if this is their intent.
Basically, DDI offers the books minus the fluff and artwork (though the galleries are often posted; I wonder then if they had a large enough subscribing base if they would stop publishing books (an expensive endeavor) and rely solely on internet output.
As I write, this I tend to think the idea may be a bit far-fetched, but if they wanted to the groundwork is certainly there.
The Last Rogue’s last blog post..Session 5.3 – Punchdrunk Wizard
being able to really make unique characters (via the material in DDI) is a bonus for those who are in to DnD to subscribe. That works for me (I've always chosen what books to buy beyond the core stuff.) a DM doesn't have to allow it in her game, but since much of the content is modular I think it'll be pretty easy to decide.
I appreciate the effort being made to find ways to add value to DDI considering the components that haven't appeared.
@Anthony Robinson & The Last Rogue: I haven't bought a single 4E book since preordering the core rulebook set. Why? I don't play the Forgotten Realms setting, and all of the crunchy parts of the other books they've released I get from my DDI subscription. Hardback RPG rulebooks run $30-40 US; I can either pay $70/year for two books - which I'll only use for the rules, not the generic fluff that has no bearing on my campaign - or I can pay $70/year for the crunch from all the books, plus Dungeon and Dragon "magazine" material.
I do plan to buy the Eberron setting books when they're released this summer, but that's because I want the non-crunchy parts of those books: The artwork, the campaign ideas, the descriptions, etc.
@ Shinobicow
The proof will be a fully printed character using the character builder. As only subscribers have that material, then if you have a character builder printed Monk or Assassin, you're good. Is that an easy thing to fake? Well, I suppose you could, but I remember WotC saying they aren't really interested in being subscription police. I think they are out in front of the herd by offering us lots of good reasons to subscribe and stay current.
@ The Last Rogue
I wonder the same thing. Is the DDI the beginning of a solely digital offering from WotC? I don't think so, or at least no time soon. However, I do think that as the various tools that WotC has offered are released we will see more unique DDI only content made available.
@ Anarkeith
The character builder is fantastic for trying out different builds really quickly. It's very easy to change stats, powers, feats, and even the race to see how the character will end up.
@ Saragon
I'm with you!
@ TMan
I think you're correct that WotC aren't going to worry about enforcing current DDI subscriptions. They'll keep people subscribed by offering solid content on a consistent basis.
I agree with Anthony Roberson in the sense that I wish DDI and the books they release would not overlap. I've already posted a comment about this, sorry to repeat.
But I would like to mention that I have since signed up for DDI. Although I stand by my statement above, I needed to get in there and see what all the buzz was about.
I'm still not sure if I'm satisfied with the amount of exclusive content in the DDI. But I'm definitly sure that I'm not pleased with any overlapping content.....but that could change, I'm not that excited for the ph3 anyway.
My fingers are crossed for 2010 and whatever exclusive content they have at that time.
I'm more curious to see what will be in the DM2 frankly.