Digital Insider #14: Character Builder - As hinted last week, the Character Builder closed beta will begin early next week. It will be open to Insiders and folks who signed up at D&D Experience, with the general public becoming involved at some time in December. [Wizards of the Coast D&D]

So the beta will start next week. I'm interested to know how well it will work, but only having levels 1-3 isn't going to be a good judge of that really. To really judge the product I would need it to at least hit around lvl 16 or so. That way I can see how the paragon paths and the mult-class feats will work. Just about anyone can sneeze and put out a 1-3 level character with pen and paper. 

The one thing that the article mentions that really scares me is the following:

"We expect to open it to the general public at some point in December. Both the closed and open beta periods will be limited to content appropriate for character levels 1-3, while the other 27 levels are on track to be released as part of the Insider subscription package early next year."

Sounds to me like getting levesl 4-27 will cost me more than my existing subscription. That pretty much ensures that I won't be using it. In economic times like these, I would think that Wizards should be thinking more along the lines of this. $5 per month from 1 million people is better than $9.95 per month from 100,000 people. Do the math Wizards. You will not see a return on investment if you are planning on piling on more costs for dubious products that already come with huge trust issues from previous baggage.

There are maybe 2 people in the Lords of Tyr group that are even thinking about the basic D&DI subscription. You can't upsell people that won't even buy into it at your basic level. If you provide more value to the basic subscription, then maybe, just maybe, more people will jump on. 

Don't let the economy and your previous technological failures bring you down. Make your tools low cost and high value and then you will see the benefit. Of course this all still depends on a quality product. No one will pay for the pain that was eTools again.