Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast/Dungeons&Dragons I enjoy your products very much. And you do cool stuff to make it better, like making this D&D Compendium. At least I think it would be cool. A huge, comprehensive, searchable database of all things D&D. What a useful tool! Oh wait, it’s only useful for people who pay a monthly subscription. Boo!
I get that you’re a company and you want money, and I also understand that subscription gets you more than the D&D Compendium, but come on. You are doing yourselves a disservice. This compendium is exactly the sort of thing that when offered for free encourages interest in your products and ultimately makes you money.
If I knew whenever I had a spare moment or a stray thought about D&D I could plug in a quick search to the compendium and scratch an itch, I would be all over this compendium. And while I’m search for the exact wording of Feat X, I’d see there is another feat I didn’t know existed, and I’d find that it was in The Planes Below which would get me thinking about how it would be cool if my party did x y z. And I’d search for y or z and find more things in The Planes Below of interest to me. And then, what is your thinking? I just find everything from The Planes Below in the compendium and copy it down on note cards? NO! I go buy your book. And you get my money.
*sigh* I think that my scenerio is way more likely than someone going to your website and thinking, “Hey, neato, a compendium. Sure I’ll pay $7 a month for this.” Plus there’s general good will amongst your customer base.
Ok. Rant over. I do think they’re missing out. And I really want to use the thing, but I can’t justify paying for it when I don’t even have any 4e games going. /pout