I say ESO is a Buy to Play Game with a lot of "Pay for Convenience" items.

If you would ask me "yes" or "no", binary 0 or 1 question: Is ESO P2W ? Then my answer would be.... Yes.

The reason why it would be "Yes" is because there are certain "things" in the game that are "best in slot" (for various activities), that you need to spend additional cash in order to obtain (example: Classes or dungeon DLC gear). As long as a class or gear is even 0.1% better than the stuff that is available in a base game or without additional cash payments, then it is imho a P2W.

Basically speaking: If there is a way to obtain better result in an end game PvP or PvE that require additional payments (and it is the only way to obtain that form of advantage) - then it is P2W. It does not matter that advantage you get is minimal - P2W is P2W.

On the other hand, if you would ask me again an open question: Do you think that ESO is P2W ? Then my answer would be: Probably not... not "much" at least. Imho if something about ESO is P2W, then it is within this "grey area" and you are not sure if 1% better is meaningful.

I also think it is important to ask ourselves: What is winning ? - Then the answer would be different, depending on who you ask. For me for example - winning is achieving better result than my competitor (Winning a PvP duel, or being on top of high score). But for someone else it might be creating best looking house or character (fashion is end game too ) or maybe winning a trading bid and having access to best trading spot.

So it is a matter of perspective. A trader would not consider OP DLC dungeon gear a P2W - because Dungeon gear is not tradable, so from a perspective of a guild trader (yes it is a form of end-game) - such gear is useless. But... from a perspective of a hard core PvP-er - OP gear means that if I buy that DLC Dungeon faster & get that gear, then I will have extra advantage & I will be able to win almost every fight.

Again, a matter of perspective. If you are a crafter - then even something like ESO+ Craft Bag can be um.... P2W, because you are way more efficient with it and you can craft gear for others & earn gold faster. I know that Craft Bag is more like "Pay for convenience" thing - but again - it is a matter of perspective. For a "crafter" end-game player, Craft Bag is a huge deal.

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

I also think it is important to ask ourselves: What is winning ? - Then the answer would be different, depending on who you ask. For me for example - winning is achieving better result than my competitor (Winning a PvP duel, or being on top of high score). But for someone else it might be creating best looking house or character (fashion is end game too ) or maybe winning a trading bid and having access to best trading spot.

Exactly this.