Sacklunch wrote: »

With the push back of the console release date I am actually hopeful that Zenimax and Bethesda just might actually fix all(and there are a ton of them) of the problems with this game. From playing the beta and seeing the PC release date I knew this game was going to be s**t on release. Even in beta the grouping function was sooo clunky, all the skill and animation problems, not to mention the major game glitches; all of this was far to much to overcome in the time they had. Then I saw the console release date and I was like a week after the console version hits the shelves this game is sooo going free to play. However now I feel that Zenimax has realized that in the state of gaming today no one is going to stick around for a game this riddled with problems and they may actually be trying to fix all the stuff they half-as*ed to begin with. Of course I could be wrong and Sony/Microsoft just said we don't want your game and they are simply squeezing every penny they can out of us before they announce the death of ESO hard to say. Any who I want to know what the other forum members think about the games future IE fixed/successful, fail, free to play, what do you predict?

The lack of communication and the slow releases of any fixes on the pvp side (the current end game) will leave most people assuming the worst and you nailed some of the points. They need to focus all their man hours on the PC client and stop shifting the whole team to do dev work on their console porting at the cost of our subscription fee. It's like we are funding the console port which I tell you will cost them us in the end...That's what I feel like is happening right now in all honesty. In any case I have already unsubbed and just seeing if thing improve, but as I said at this rate I doubt it.

Respectfully, I think your predictions are based more on emotional response rather than the facts of the matter.

Reasons being.
1. It is simply the state of the gaming industry that games are pushed out before they are fully finished. The fact that the game released with bugs is not necessarily indicative of the seriousness of zenimax for the game. I think the state of the gaming industry provides a far more plausible explanation for the bugs than simply "they half Xed" it.

2. They have not, just now, realized the problems with the game. They realized from the very beginning and took extraordinary efforts to rectify the problems.
a. They have given coupons for the lost game time due to the fixes during the down time.
b. They have been releasing a steady stream of fixes/patches.
c. They are clearly listening to players in the forums
d. They were listening to players on external forums even before this one went open.

Further.
"The important thing for you, the community, to know is that we’re looking at ALL the feedback (from critics and from players), we’re addressing any shortcomings, and we’ll continue to do so. This game will get better and better every week. " - Matt Frior (The Road Ahead)

Regarding F2P.
They would only go F2P as a very last resort. They were quite emphatic about their wish to be a subscription based game. Their choice to be a subscription model was due to their commitment to giving a quality eso experience.

"And it's important to state that our decision to go with subscriptions is not a referendum on online game revenue models. F2P, B2P, etc. are valid, proven business models - but subscription is the one that fits ESO the best, given our commitment to freedom of gameplay, quality and long-term content delivery. Plus, players will appreciate not having to worry about being "monetized" in the middle of playing the game, which is definitely a problem that is cropping up more and more in online gaming these days. The fact that the word "monetized" exists points to the heart of the issue for us: We don't want the player to worry about which parts of the game to pay for - with our system, they get it all." - Matt Frior (interview)