What game time payment option is your preferred ESO payment option?

Elsonso

Since the removal of the 180-day subscription option in December, a number of people have said that they are either using, or would prefer to use, the 180-day subscription. I am wondering how popular the various subscription options actually are.

I decided a poll in a new thread was needed in order to separate this query from the other discussions that are consumed with speculation regarding why it was removed, or what it means that it was removed.

Given the current requirement that players must pay for game time in order to continue playing, and ignoring all speculation about how this may, or may not, change in the future, what is your preferred plan for purchasing game time?

You may, or may not, be using your preferred plan at this time to actually pay for the game.

I have included the two recurring subscription plans currently offered, as well as two plans not currently offered, a 6-month plan and a 1-year plan. I have also included the time cards as an option.

For the people who prefer something other than one of those recurring subscriptions or a time card, I have left one option at the bottom and lumped them all together. There are other polls that cover the specifics of the free plans. This poll is not intended to brainstorm new ideas.

Samadhi

60 day cards.
Do not have a credit card for a subscription; if that were the case, would have chosen 1-year recurring.

ers101284b14_ESO

I was doing the recurring 30 but I kind of like the game time cards now.

whiteshadow711jppreub18_ESO

Well it used to be 6 Months (because they didn't have yearly), then I went Monthly when ZOS pissed me off for a month or two (Reason- Sneak Attack damage Nerf in PvP), Now, I am every 3 months because they don't have 6 month Sub's anymore..

Ourorboros

Very clever poll. Don't know why someone didn't think of it sooner. Kudos!!!

Elsonso

whiteshadow711jppreub18_ESO wrote: »

Well it used to be 6 Months (because they didn't have yearly), then I went Monthly when ZOS pissed me off for a month or two (Reason- Sneak Attack damage Nerf in PvP), Now, I am every 3 months because they don't have 6 month Sub's anymore..

Statements like this make me wonder if a short term pessimism among what would otherwise be long term players results in unusually frequency of short term time options.

I admit that I ran the last 6 months on game cards while I decided whether Zenimax had it in them to make a decent MMO after Update 3 rolled out. I know that a lot of people are still reeling from whatever changes they made that caused Cyrodiil lag.

I looked at Update 4 and Update 5 with not a small amount of pessimism and decided that each of them was an improvement in execution over the previous one. They were not perfect, but they showed improvement.

So, my decision to switch from 60-day time cards to a subscription was originally gated on the quality of Update 6. When they delayed Update 6, and further limited patches prior to and during the holidays, in the interest of stability, I considered it quite possible that they had matured enough to warrant a subscription.

If they removed the 180-day subscription due to people taking shorter term options, I admit that I contributed to it. I am not certain I am happy about that.

This made me wonder how many people like me there are. We would use the longer term if it was an option, but were using the shorter term while waiting for some indication from Zenimax to reward the commitment.

Digiman

I was fine with 6 months. Yearly seemed too much time and money unless I was getting far better savings from it.

Furious about 6 month removal, insulted they didn't email me then change or announce it that I had to find out from a third party news site.

Jaxsun

I just switched to 30 day from 90 day tonight after hearing about the Rkund Grind being nerfed. They really want people to quit playing, it's amazing behavior. If 1.6 doesn't suck maybe I'll go back to 90.

like1tiger

12 months would be defiantly what I would prefer. I would probably never leave the game haha

Elsonso

like1tiger wrote: »

12 months would be defiantly what I would prefer. I would probably never leave the game haha

I would easily take this, if it was offered. I would much rather have a "one and done" (where have I heard that phrase before...) subscription where I pay just one time for the entire year.

I don't like "lifetime" subscriptions. They are great for the consumer, not so great for the company.

TehMagnus

People just gonna vote 6 months because it was removed

Elsonso

My hope is that people vote what they prefer.

HBK

180-day is a good compromise between "savings" and not committing to a super long term engagement. Also keeps the fee under 100 eurobucks, which always helps on a psychological level

Edit: I used to be a 30-day I-don't-want-to-engage kind of guy. For quite a long time. Then I realised I always played for much longer periods than that, even if I wasn't active every day or even every week. Still, the idea that I can play whenever I want without bothering about canceling and re-subbing appeals to me. But then again I like the idea that one day, I won't pay anymore. Because I always stop playing. No game is good enough so that I would play it for the rest of my life.

Nestor

I like the 6 Month. It's less than $80 and I have spent that on dinner with my Girlfriend. So, for the same price as a lovely evening with my partner and some food I could have probably cooked better, I can get 6 months of gaming.

I also like the 6 month option as I have to deal with this less. It's not so much the recurring scheme as that makes it automatic. Its that I have had to replace my credit cards twice due to corporate hacks or losing them. If you don't enter the information correctly (or the website glitches) I have had my account lock out trying to enter a new card number. Last time it took 10 days to sort this out. I don't want to go through that every 1 to 3 months.

Falmari

I am currently on the 180 day sub but voted year as that's what I would prefer

Divinius

For any game I intend to keep playing, I'll choose whichever option costs the least in the long run. This is usually the longest sub term. I had chosen the 6-month sub for ESO, because it was the least expensive per month. If they had a 1-year sub that was less expensive (based on per-month cost) I would have chosen that.

That said, I did take the 30-day sub the last time I resubscribed, as I had actually quit the game after my 6-month was up. When I chose to re-sub, I didn't want to lock myself into a long term sub, since I felt there was a very good chance I wouldn't want to play that long. Depending on how well update 1.6 goes, I'd consider changing to the 90-day option (or longer, if the 6-month option were to return).

lathbury

Yeah I subbed twice for 6 months. The second one I took some time to decide about as I was pissed about them messing up sneaking and cloak. However as stated it was the cheapest of the ones offered which is why I think it's gone.

KiriX

Lifetime is interesting variant, if I understood this correct
But my vote for 30-day recurring.

Elsonso

I view lifetime like an expensive Buy 2 Play.

Ganacampo

180 days. I've chosen this 2 times now, and as long as it continues I will keep it.

Drasn

lordrichter wrote: »

I decided a poll in a new thread was needed in order to separate this query from the other discussions that are consumed with speculation regarding why it was removed, or what it means that it was removed.

A new poll is never needed.

grimsfield

only 133 votes so far but it looks like ZOS is lying to us given their stated reason for eliminating the 180 day option.

Elsonso

Ganacampo wrote: »

180 days. I've chosen this 2 times now, and as long as it continues I will keep it.

@Ganacampo‌ : Question, were you notified by ZeniMax that the 180-day subscription option was going away?

Ganacampo

lordrichter wrote: »

@Ganacampo‌ : Question, were you notified by ZeniMax that the 180-day subscription option was going away?

No, I wasn't.

In my account it is still listed as a 180-day-subscription and as far as I know i will continue, you just can't get a new 180-day-subscription.

Elsonso

grimsfield wrote: »

only 133 votes so far but it looks like ZOS is lying to us given their stated reason for eliminating the 180 day option.

"Lying" is a risky conclusion. As has been noted, some people could be voting for 180-day simply because it isn't available. The poll asked preferred, not actual, so people who prefer 180-day might be running 30-day right now.

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO

lordrichter wrote: »

grimsfield wrote: »

only 133 votes so far but it looks like ZOS is lying to us given their stated reason for eliminating the 180 day option.

"Lying" is a risky conclusion. As has been noted, some people could be voting for 180-day simply because it isn't available. The poll asked preferred, not actual, so people who prefer 180-day might be running 30-day right now.

Hmm 133 votes. 1.2 million or so subs. Ya I think his numbers are a bit off dont you? lol

ers101284b14_ESO

lordrichter wrote: »

grimsfield wrote: »

only 133 votes so far but it looks like ZOS is lying to us given their stated reason for eliminating the 180 day option.

"Lying" is a risky conclusion. As has been noted, some people could be voting for 180-day simply because it isn't available. The poll asked preferred, not actual, so people who prefer 180-day might be running 30-day right now.

It should have been "Which sub are you using?" The 1 year and F2P never existed so they don't even count. But the people who chose those are still playing and using one of the sub options. So if you take a 147 (number of people who voted so far) by 36 (number of people who voted 6 month) so far its 24% which is obviously not the majority but since we will never get accurate numbers it does not matter.


So who would like some tea?

Elsonso

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

grimsfield wrote: »

only 133 votes so far but it looks like ZOS is lying to us given their stated reason for eliminating the 180 day option.

"Lying" is a risky conclusion. As has been noted, some people could be voting for 180-day simply because it isn't available. The poll asked preferred, not actual, so people who prefer 180-day might be running 30-day right now.

It should have been "Which sub are you using?" The 1 year and F2P never existed so they don't even count. But the people who chose those are still playing and using one of the sub options. So if you take a 147 (number of people who voted so far) by 36 (number of people who voted 6 month) so far its 24% which is obviously not the majority but since we will never get accurate numbers it does not matter.


So who would like some tea?

I have seen a number of people say that they like 1-year and a few MMOs offer that option.

Adding F2P as part of Other allows people who prefer that "payment" option to have a say.

The purpose of the poll is not to ask what people currently use, and is not intended to be extrapolated to the entire subscription population. It is not intended to prove that ZOS is lying. It is not intended to be a petition. The poll is to quantify the people in the forum who have stated in various threads that they prefer or would use the 180-day subscription.

suycyco

60 days gamecard for me since it's cheaper and flexible if I have to make a pause for some reason.

Tandor

This is one of the few MMOs for which I would currently jump at the chance of a lifetime membership. It worked well for me with LoTRO and I plan on being here a long time.

Aaron0887

I use the 30 day sub option at the moment just for flexibility, with work, family etc. Though before it was removed I was toying with the idea of a longer commitment with 6 months.