While 4E has been fairly well received, Wizards of the Coast has been taking a beating over their inability to deliver on many of the digital components of the product set.  VP of digital gaming and all around nice guy, Randy Buehler has posted a lengthy commentary on the future direction of the line and made a few interesting announcements, including:

  • Subscriptions for Dungeon and Dragon will be ~$60/year ($4.95/month, but only with a 12 month commitment) and $7.95/month for the pay as you go model
  • Dragon will be home to rules that will not appear elsewhere (such as the rules for intelligent weapons in his month’s issue)
  • The artificer class will be officially released with the re-release of Eberron next year (I’m not sure which of those is actually the more important announcement…)
  • The Domains of Dread are being re-introduced into the core game (that’s Ravenloft for the uninitiated)
  • The D&D Compendium is online and ready for use
  • The D&D Bonus Tools are now available (which includes an encounter generator and ability score generator)
  • Access to both the Compendium and Bonus Tools will require purchase of Dungeon and Dragon (its unclear if pay as you go users will have access, but we assume they will)

Overall, its a pretty mixed bag – something to entertain and frustrate everyone!