D&D Beyond Changes

[Psyren]

My father uses Herolab and swears by it, I wonder how it compares if anyone has experience with both?

I used Herolab for PF1 and enjoyed it well enough there, but did not try using it for 5e. For me at least, DDB is much simpler (I don't have to preload "packages" for instance, DDB has a mobile app, etc.)

If that's the case, then they'll want to encourage "party accounts," because that way they're not depending on each gaming group having a "whale."

That's more or less how it works now though. Sure you might have some groups where everyone has their own PHB, but I would guess groups where one person doesn't bring most of the books to share with everyone else are pretty rare. And even if it's a group where everybody has their own copy of the player books, WotC themselves have said that DM-focused things like the adventure paths are usually only bought by one person per table.

(Maybe I'm biased on this front by usually being the designated "whale" for my groups, but still.)

We will have to wait and see. Also, though, this structure (as you describe it) only encourages additional purchases of the "big" subscription level if the other players branch out to recruit still more for different games, and thus need their own high-sub account. Whereas traditional gaming encourages buying one's own dice and books as a matter of personal convenience and interest.

I think the idea behind the big sub is that one person is subsidizing the rest of the table anyway, so they can come up with extra value-add targeted at that individual for a premium price, and they will naturally cover the rest.

For example, DnDBeyond makes it so that the "whale" and the "DM" don't have to be the same person, and the DM, despite not being the owner of the content in question, can still restrict it from that player for that campaign.