Critical Role’s Beacon Streaming Service: A Review

Is Critical Role's new streaming channel Beacon worth your money? I've been checking it out since release, and I have some thoughts. Let's discuss.

[@fuzzborne]

Completely agree with you regarding abridged. I imagine a lot more people would get into the series if they cut out the chaff and made the backlog less intimidating to new viewers.

[@GhostWriter520]

Honestly, the lore/behind the DM screen stuff they just casually talk about in the Cooldown episodes is with that dollar difference for anyone on the fence. Like, Matt outright tells details about stuff they didn't get to stick around for or didn't fully see the extent of or scenarios they could've taken. It's fantastic

[@kyj6283]

Abridged is being released on YT. Just there is a head start on Beacon it looks like.

[@galyndean]

As someone who's been subscribing to their Twitch channels since their very early days on Geek & Sundry and then when they moved over to their own channel, it really is a no brainer to switch over to Beacon. The only downside is that I'm going to lose all of my Twitch emotes to use on other Twitch channels, but that's really the only 'thing' Twitch has that Beacon doesn't at this point. Not having to deal with the pre-roll and midway break has been a delight and the bonus discount on merch I'd be buying anyway is great. With Twitch's price increase, it's also the same cost for a year now, so if you're already supporting them separately from a Twitch prime subscription, then you're just getting more content for the same price, and CR gets more of the money. (Understandably, a lot of folks sub with Prime and that is not going to be an Apples to Apples comparison).

[@dittrich04]

I appreciate you making this. Heard about Beacon, but had no idea what it was.

[@probablythedm1669]

Thank you for making this! I'm only caught up of Critical Role content up to episode 21 of campaign 3 (including side-shows and other content) so Beacon does not seem like something for me. I'm over 2 years behind on what they're up to! 😂

[@SummerOtaku]

I love the cool down too

[@franziska1007]

I think one point that might have been mentioned, is that if one pays for the Twitch sub for early VOD access right now, switching over to Beacon instead is just a buck more, but you'll get additional content as well and if you order some merch anyway, that 10% will give you that buck a month back. That said, Cooldown is really awesome and basically what I wanted to see from them for years and especially now that with four sided dive instead of a weekly talks format, there is less after talk about it in general (quiet a lot other live actual plays do have an after talk of some kind). I sometimes wish that Cooldown would be longer but I can understand that they wanna get home at some point 😂

[@user-jt1js5mr3f]

Not to mention that they don't lose money to Twitch or KZbin, it's a more direct way to support them and get way more for it. Honestly, it's just wins all around.

[@galyndean]

Starting July 11th (which is when I'm posing this comment actually), a Twitch subscription is going to be $5.99/mo. So it's just the same price, but with less content than Beacon.

[@BMHume]

TIL there are abridged versions 🤷‍♂ I remember starting with Season 1 at some point early in the pandemic and giving up when a semblance of regular everyday life returned and time became scarce again. Recaps/summaries felt too short, but 60-90 minutes sound perfect. You just might have gotten me back into CR 👍

[@DrCaliban]

One nice thing about the abridged is that they are putting out two a week until they catch up with the campaign.

[@Thinkingmakesitso.]

I would love to watch their cool down conversations..

[@PeterBondeVillain]

Jim! What a great and honest review of Beacon! Thank you for spreading the word and letting people know what happens "behind the scenes". If you ever should decide to join the Beacon, say hi! I'm Beacon Bit Peter on there :-)

[@wizardsling]

thanks! I'm technically in the beacon discord, I just rarely look at it. Afraid I just don't have time.

[@probablythedm1669]

Thank you for making this! I'm 2 years behind on C3 and CR shows so this does not seem for me (I'm on episode 21) 😂

[@nycityboy1160]

I just wanna say i found your channel a couple of days ago and i love your content! You really deserve more views/subs for your content and your commentary. Keep it up!

[@wizardsling]

Thank you so much! You know, as they say, true genius is never appreciated in its time ;)

[@pwog]

A cable tv bill in in 200$ plus and loaded with commercials

[@sherbert1321]

Does beacon have their entire backlog? I caught up to bells hells and started watching mighty nein on KZbin, and I wouldn’t mind consolidating to one location for beacon if it really is worth my time

[@wizardsling]

I believe it has everything except for the geek & sundry stuff. So no campaign 1

[@37brc652865]

What episodes do the cool down start? That's the only thing i think I'm really interested in and I'm behind in the recent campaign and don't want to waste my free trial if the cool down is only for recent episodes. Thanks for the informative video!

[@lexoliveira90]

They start on C3 Episode 83

[@mayapplesauce1396]

it starts at C3E83 !

[@direden]

The abridged version might get me to watch. I don't have the attention span to watch 4 hour episodes

[@wizardsling]

yeah, i hear that. it's a big commitment. i usually break it up into chunks over a few days

[@user-jt1js5mr3f]

I couldn't watch it all, so I just listen while I work, or do housework, or drive, or paint. I'd watch for big stuff, but otherwise listening was the way to go.