The confusing world of DLCs, chapters, the crown store and ESO+.

CarrotDude · December 2023

After having ESO+ for a month, I was wondering, is it really worth it? I feel like I'm gonna sink a couple hundred more hours into the game, and bankrolling the subscription for the months to come, feels like way too much money. I'd still like to play with the expansion though, so I thought I'd buy all the chapters through Steam, but it's rather confusing. I ended up buying the wrong thing and had it refunded (thought there are some issues with it still), and now I'd like to do it right.
If I buy the collections, I'll have access to all chapters, but not the other DLC zones. This would mean, for example, I could play through the Season of the Dragon arc in Northern Elsweyr, but not in Southern Elsweyr. So I'd need to buy the DLC or the DLC pack which contains it in the Crown store, right? But then if I add up every other zone like this, minus the ones I completed while I had ESO+ (I also don't care much for dungeons and trials), I'd need to spend like 10k crowns, which is like 50 EUR.
Am I missing something, or ESO just this expensive?

Treeshka · December 2023

It is a costly game compared to other games in the same genre in my opinion. But in the end it is buy to play at least.

I think you can buy the latest Expansion that has all the previously released content as expansions. When you want to continue the story in Southern Elsweyr you have to buy that as well, or you need to buy plus.

Reverb · December 2023

You’ve got it exactly right. Buying the digital expansion of the newest chapter gives you all previous chapters but not the DLC zones. This does break up the year long story arcs.

There are 2-3 ESO+ free trial weeks throughout each year which you can use to complete the dlc zones for free, and grab the free momentos from entering the dlc dungeons. Don’t need to do the dungeon, just enter and then leave.

If you do prefer to own them and have the patience, the DLC bundles go on sale twice a year for pretty big discounts compared to the full crown store pricing.

calexus1986 · December 2023

ESO+ is quite good value for getting crowns as well. What I did was sub, then used the crowns from eso+ to buy the dlcs in the crown store. Then unsubbed once I had them all. It also means you can 'try' out some of the dlcs to see if you think they're worth buying

AlterBlika · December 2023

The only real value is the craft bag. I can play easily without it since I only craft for dailies. It gives a good chunk of crowns, although you may not need them at all. If you have all dlcs then it isn't worth it imo.

Tyrant_Tim · December 2023

If you thought ESO was expensive before…

There is no cross-save, meaning, if you want to play the game on another platform, even if you OWN every DLC after years of saving crowns, you will have to repurchase everything all over again, including things that should be base game by now, like the Guild’s and Glory pack, the Imperial Race, and Any Race Any Alliance.

Elsonso · December 2023

Tyrant_Tim wrote: »

If you thought ESO was expensive before…

There is no cross-save, meaning, if you want to play the game on another platform, even if you OWN every DLC after years of saving crowns, you will have to repurchase everything all over again, including things that should be base game by now, like the Guild’s and Glory pack, the Imperial Race, and Any Race Any Alliance.

To continue this thought, what you purchase in the Crown Store is only for that megaserver. If you purchase on NA, and want to play on EU, you have to decide if you want to purchase it again.

ESO Plus will span both NA and EU.

If you only ever intend to play on one platform megaserver, not an issue.

I subscribe for the DLC content and the Crafting Bag. I can live without the crafting bag. This just requires more attention to inventory and willingness to discard or sell what is not immediately needed. Being restricted from going into DLC zones is more annoying than the lack of a crafting bag.

reazea · December 2023

U35 is when I decided that ESO+ was no longer worth it. ZOS makes too many changes that I disagree with. The emphasis on companions and housing is/was not the right path to take. It makes it appear that the devs want ESO to be vanilla and like all other MMO's instead of focusing on ESO's unique and awesome combat mechanics and PvP.

...which begs the question I will ask in a new thread shortly.

Haenk · December 2023

Elsonso wrote: »

I subscribe for the DLC content and the Crafting Bag. I can live without the crafting bag. This just requires more attention to inventory and willingness to discard or sell what is not immediately needed. Being restricted from going into DLC zones is more annoying than the lack of a crafting bag.

If you are in for some crafting, I don't see a way to go along *without* the crafting bag.
There are so many different crafting-related items now, I doubt even the bank will be large enough to hold them all.

reazea · December 2023

Haenk wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

I subscribe for the DLC content and the Crafting Bag. I can live without the crafting bag. This just requires more attention to inventory and willingness to discard or sell what is not immediately needed. Being restricted from going into DLC zones is more annoying than the lack of a crafting bag.

If you are in for some crafting, I don't see a way to go along *without* the crafting bag.
There are so many different crafting-related items now, I doubt even the bank will be large enough to hold them all.

A personal guild bank holds all the crafting materials just fine without the need for ESO+. Then you can sub for one month 1 or 2 times/year and put the guild bank contents into the crafting bag.

ESO inundates the players with a glutton of crafting materials as part of their sales tactic for ESO+, but you can get around it using mules and a personal guild bank.

freespirit · December 2023

As someone who has many 1000's of hours in ESO, I'm wondering how deep you go into the stories in each zone? A "couple of hundred hours" seems a very, very small time frame to play all the chapter's and DLC zones.

I sub and it is my treat to myself, I buy three months at a time, so I get a small discount whilst not hitting my bank too hard!

The way I look at it is, it's way cheaper than a single takeaway and if compared to a night out, it costs pocket change, in return I get as many hours as I wish with complete access to something I enjoy(I do buy the chapters each year, mainly from birthday/xmas present money) .

Another way of looking at it is, if you indeed do only intend to spend another couple of hundred hours and then move on to a new game, is there any point in spending all those euros on owning the content outright?

CarrotDude · December 2023

freespirit wrote: »

As someone who has many 1000's of hours in ESO, I'm wondering how deep you go into the stories in each zone? A "couple of hundred hours" seems a very, very small time frame to play all the chapter's and DLC zones.

I try to take my time with each zone, I do every quest, visit every place, kill every boss and clear every delve and public dungeon before I move on to the next one. I do everything except fishing. I don't do trials and dungeons, I play for the lore and the world, and most players seem to just rush them and I haven't found a group that takes their time to experience it. I also don't play pvp, I just don't care much for it, thought I did explore as much as I could in Cyrodiil and the Imperial City. So far I completed everything up to Clockwork City and I have 500 hours in the game. Honestly I do feel like I rushed some of the zones I did not enjoy, such as Riften, so I plan on replaying them eventually.

freespirit wrote: »

I sub and it is my treat to myself, I buy three months at a time, so I get a small discount whilst not hitting my bank too hard!

The way I look at it is, it's way cheaper than a single takeaway and if compared to a night out, it costs pocket change, in return I get as many hours as I wish with complete access to something I enjoy(I do buy the chapters each year, mainly from birthday/xmas present money) .

Ah well I guess we don't live in the same part of the world, with a month of ESO+ I could buy like almost 3 Big Macs. I am willing to part with that money if it means I can play the game, tbut it feels like it's going to add up over time to an amount I could have spent on something more useful, you know? A plane ticket to Paris, PC parts... or many many Big Macs.

freespirit · December 2023

I'm in the UK a Big Mac is around £4.70 - £4.99, buying ESO+ for 3 months is just under £24.

However who just has a Big Mac on it's own??? Turn it into a Big Mac Meal for one person and that's pretty much one month's sub for me! 🤣

Edit:- I hate the afore mentioned snack too! My takeaway of choice would probably cost the whole 3 months in one go!

nesmewno · December 2023

3 big macs, that's one dinner for two. 1 month eso+ is worth one trip to burgershop.
But I agree, it's expensive, for example, my music + cinema subscription per month costs like 1 big mac.
A small plus it is crowns! You do not buy a close DLS, u buy subscription and buy need you dls.
In addition, now you can buy almost!! all the crown content for game gold

Danikat · December 2023

Haenk wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

I subscribe for the DLC content and the Crafting Bag. I can live without the crafting bag. This just requires more attention to inventory and willingness to discard or sell what is not immediately needed. Being restricted from going into DLC zones is more annoying than the lack of a crafting bag.

If you are in for some crafting, I don't see a way to go along *without* the crafting bag.
There are so many different crafting-related items now, I doubt even the bank will be large enough to hold them all.

You don't need to hold all of them, only the ones you've collected since the last ESO+ free trial (which moves them all to the craft bag) and then only the ones you're using, others can be sold.

I don't have ESO+ and I do craft regularly and don't have trouble storing everything. I think it helps that I only do crafting on 1 character so I can split stuff between his inventory and the bank, plus a storage chest for rarely used items. Even if I had ESO+ I wouldn't want to do daily writs on multiple characters, I don't even do them once every day because it's boring and sometimes I'd rather do other things with my free time, so that 'limitation' isn't a problem for me.

Beyond that it's just a matter of having a system so I know where stuff is stored (and don't end up with duplicate stacks) and being realistic about what I need to hold onto and what I can sell when I have space in a guild store.

AcadianPaladin · December 2023

I like ESO+ for the craftibag, unlimited free costume dying, bigger inventory and extra housing slots. I find the crowns that come with it are plenty to buy anything I might want from the crown store. Since ESO is my main game and I play it a lot, I feel I get my money's worth. If you play numerous games and split your time among them, I should think the value becomes harder to justify.

Elsonso · December 2023

Haenk wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

I subscribe for the DLC content and the Crafting Bag. I can live without the crafting bag. This just requires more attention to inventory and willingness to discard or sell what is not immediately needed. Being restricted from going into DLC zones is more annoying than the lack of a crafting bag.

If you are in for some crafting, I don't see a way to go along *without* the crafting bag.
There are so many different crafting-related items now, I doubt even the bank will be large enough to hold them all.

In cases where I do not have ESO Plus, I generally store crafting supplies that I will be using in the bank. It fits, mainly because I am picky about what I craft and don't just craft anything. I delete writs I don't like, for example. When ESO Plus comes along, I suck all that into the crafting bag, which I can withdraw from after ESO Plus free trial ends.

I want to add that I delete writs I don't want to do even when I do have ESO Plus.

SmellyUnlimited · December 2023

AlterBlika wrote: »

The only real value is the craft bag. I can play easily without it since I only craft for dailies. It gives a good chunk of crowns, although you may not need them at all. If you have all dlcs then it isn't worth it imo.

It’s sad but this is exactly what I use it for. Paying a sub for a feature that should already be in the game to begin with

ZOS_Hadeostry · December 2023

Greetings,

After further review we have decided to move this thread to a category we think is more appropriate for this topic, as it's about ESO+ .

Thank you for your understanding

SeaGtGruff · December 2023

I buy all of the chapters and DLCs so I'll have access to them without ESO Plus, but I also subscribe to ESO Plus-- mainly for the craft bag, double bank space, and double housing space, although the 10% increases on Archival Fortunes, Experience, Gold, Inspiration, and Trait Research speed are also nice, as well as the "free" Crowns and all of the Crown Store discounts. I'm on an annual subscription, because I prefer to pay the lowest cost per month. In my opinion, ESO Plus is definitely worth getting, although I fought against it for the first few years of playing because I'm generally against the idea of paying an extra fee to play a game that I already purchased. It wasn't until I nearly went insane trying to manage an ever-increasing inventory across multiple mule characters that I finally decided that the amount of time I was spending on playing the game justified investing a bit of money each year for a subscription.