D&D Beyond Stops A La Carte Purchases in Shop Redesign – You Have to Buy the Whole Book
Wizards of the Coast made a major update to D&D Beyond yesterday, quietly removing one of the site’s most popular features.
Yesterday, WotC released a new version of the D&D Beyond marketplace, making changes to the way books are displayed on the store, making it easier to see what accounts have unlocked, and removing the ability to buy subclasses, feats, and other “game listings” without having to purchase the book that the items are found in.
In other words, D&D Beyond’s “a la carte” purchasing options are gone. The community reaction to the news is, as one might expect, predominantly negative. For many, it seems one of the unique draws of D&D Beyond was the ability to only pick the parts of a book needed. Like purchasing the Spores Druid subclass from the Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica, for instance.
With the dust yet to settle, here’s a look at D&D Beyond’s announcement.
D&D Beyond Market Place Redesign
On April 30th, D&D Beyond released a new version of its marketplace, with a few major changes. The first change highlighted, and perhaps the one most important to WotC is that users in the US can now use D&D Beyond to purchase physical books:
D&D Beyond shoppers shipping to the U.S. can now purchase physical books. They can also purchase physical and digital bundles at a discount! We continue to support all customers purchasing digital content only. If you want to purchase physical and digital content bundles and ship outside of the U.S., you can purchase on our partner site.
The site has also seen a significant redesign. Adventures will preview the “stunning artwork” a player can find within. It feels like this “feature” is just WotC’s way of making it easier for them to try to sell users the book rather than something that adds to the site’s actual usability. But hey, to each their own.
The more incendiary component of the announcement, though, is the removal of a la carte purchases:
À la carte purchases are no longer supported. However, any individual items you’ve previously purchased will continue to be available for use on D&D Beyond, and those purchases will still be credited toward the cost of the books they originally came from.
This has struck a chord within the community, and not necessarily one WotC was hoping to strike:
On Twitter and Reddit, users are voicing their opinions. Some are dismayed that one of the few features D&D Beyond had that other, more established virtual tabletop platforms didn’t, is gone. While others have expressed concerns about what this might mean for the future of D&D Beyond.
The sentiment goes something like, “If they’re willing to remove a la carte prices, what else will they remove?” echoing the whirlwind of rumors and leaked decisions from 2023’s OGL saga. As a reminder, then, D&D Beyond promised to keep Homebrew an integral part of their platform.
It’s not an easy or especially functional part of the platform, but it’s there and essential, at least according to D&D Beyond.
And here’s the thing: As the industry becomes increasingly digital, this is something we all have to face. Companies change. We’re increasingly owning less and licensing more. The video game industry is going through similar things. And it all comes down to convenience. It’s so much easier to click download than to go out and buy a book. It’s better, too, because it saves on shelf space.
But, at the end of the day, your digital shelf only ever exists at the whim of someone else.
What do you think about the D&D Beyond Marketplace changes? Let us know in the comments!
