"Still feeling skeptical": D&D Beyond fans remain unconvinced after Wizards of the Coast deny $30 subscription fee

Over the past week, Wizards of the Coast and D&D Beyond have been a major talking point within the tabletop RPG community. After the recent OGL 1.1 leak, the company officially denied the rumored changes to the Open Gaming License. More recently, fans have gotten wind of yet another rumor from Wizards and Hasbro.

D&D Beyond is a companion app for the tabletop RPG that's extremely beneficial to players of all experience levels. It serves as a digital assistant, including rules and so much more. It is the official digital toolset and companion for D&D’s 5th Edition. With the recent word that Wizards of the Coast didn’t feel like Dungeons & Dragons was being monetized enough, rumors of a $30 dollar subscription for the service genuinely worried players.

Following the company’s previous statement, few were convinced by the statement put out by D&D Beyond on Twitter from Wizards of the Coast.

"Still feeling skeptical, but will keep on the lookout for more announcements and clarifications."

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Wizards of the Coast openly denies the $30 D&D Beyond subscription fee rumor; fans aren’t convinced

The usage of D&D Beyond has always been a free resource for fans of the tabletop game, but there was a worrying rumor spreading across the internet recently. According to DungeonScribe on Twitter, there were some major changes on the way to the system, which came from “verified sources.” The changes were reportedly from higher-ups in Hasbro, and DungeonScribe wasn’t the only person to report it.

According to DnD_Shorts on Twitter, the $30 subscription tier is the highest option available and would reportedly contain monthly content drops. Allegedly, it would also deauthorize OGL 1.0a. Homebrew would be banned at the baseline tiers and the gameplay mechanics of AI DMs were also discussed.

In response, Wizards of the Coast refuted all of these claims with their official D&D Beyond Twitter handle. At the time of writing this article, there are two tiers ($2.99 and $5.99 a month), but a potential third $30 dollar tier shocked fans. Thousands of gamers canceled their subscriptions to the service in retaliation, reportedly to the tune of 40,000 cancelations. This number could have grown since then, as fury over these rumors continues to spread.

The company openly refuted most of the changes, but, much like the response to OGL 1.1, fans weren’t impressed with their denial. There were some Twitter responses that said, were this a month ago, they would have believed Wizards of the Coast about the D&D Beyond rumors. Others simply highlighted the Wizard's history of giving falsehoods to their fanbase.

Some long-time fans would bring up TSR, the company that held Dungeons & Dragons before Wizards of the Coast bought them. In the early days of the internet, TSR’s lawyers were quick to halt any and all homebrew content. Veteran fans who remember those days aren't quick to trust Wizards now.

However, not everybody was against D&D Beyond’s post. Some considered it a transparent and quick response to the situation, but this kind of trust was in short supply on most social media platforms. Paizo, creators of Pathfinder, previously revealed that a newer, player-friendly license was on the way.

While Wizards of the Coast vehemently deny the rumors of the price hike and other changes, fans are just going to have to wait and see if D&D Beyond actually changes. Between this and OGL 1.1, fans have found themselves quite frustrated with the company and its responses to leaks and rumors.