In my opinion, Bethesda sold the soul of ESO with the tomes. With this battlepass ESO ist just another grinder with no own soul!
The daily and weekly grind for the tomes is boring as hell!
I already miss the questing of the chapters and not being forced to harvest 6 times 15 ore, kill 1.000 foes for stupid battlepass points.

just my cent

Mathius_Mordred wrote: »

I wonder how they have calculated their income stream from this. Apart from ESO+ and the Buy to Play, their main income was from people buying the DLC, either the standard or the deluxe. They could work out the expected sales of these products based on previous experience and player numbers, and possibly the state of the global economy but especially in the US and the EU.

Now they are in unknown territory. There are no more DLCs, no more failed Content Pass. They seem to be relying on people buying premium tome caches (unless I've missed something). These caches unlock extra tome rewards that you can then earn tome points to purchase.

I wonder about this too. I always bought the pre-order deluxe version right after the year reveal stream every year and I usually play daily. I don't buy cosmetics (I have tons from chapters and events), I don't buy crates (I don't do gambling) and I don't buy ESO+ (I don't do game subscriptions). I also bought the dungeons which was usually 30 euro's each year.

So now with the battlepass tomes, I go from spending 100 euros each year to 0 euros for this game forward because all the actual content will be free and I don't need more cosmetic stuff. I use my ESO money on other games and their DLC now because if you have all the zones and dungeons like I do, ESO is now basically a free to play game.

I also didn't see a lot of people with the seasonal cosmetics/personality/weapons/mounts equipped so far. So I am wondering how well this is going from a financial standpoint. Usually the first season sells the most because it is new and people surf the hype wave. Time will tell... One thing is for sure, they can't switch monetisation model for a third time next year, because people seem already super confused this year.

BretonMage wrote: »

Arunei wrote: »

BretonMage wrote: »

Arunei wrote: »

I'm going to assume this is a joke post/satire or something, but in case it isn't...I hate to say this, but it's a game. If you don't want to kill animals you don't have to, but let's not try to impose real-world morals on a video game or claim that 'killing' pixels on a screen is 'slaughter'. Also you already seem to know that mobs in Delves/Dungeons not counting is a bug, so the whole "is this fair" thing is kind of a moot point anyway.

If we feel our sensibilities stung by senseless slaughter, it's because it's natural for people with functioning empathy to feel for the suffering of others, and often even when we know the others aren't real. I mean, if games are "just games", what's the point of feeling moved by the characters of Baldur's Gate or Expedition 33? Or, for that matter, Romeo and Juliet?

Not saying I'd actually condemn the players who kill innocents in the game, but it's not pleasant to see either.

That whole "people with functioning empathy" line is a hell of a statement, because it implies people who kill non-living things in a game somehow lack it. I'm one of the most empathatic people I know, I cry super easily when others are upset or during sad scenes in games or movies. I abhor real-world violence and it gets me REALLY mad when I hear about things like animals or people being abused or killed. But there is a big difference between getting emotionally attached to characters and getting emotionally attached to Random NPC Animal #5,301.

I'm not going to dictate how you play your game, and honestly, if I want to feel emotions like pity or compassion for those in a fictional fantasy universe created to seem life-like, then I think I have that freedom to do so. That's one of the great things about games, you have a choice to relate to it in the way you want. So just as you can choose to treat these animals as mere pixels, so too can I choose to see Tamriel as a living, breathing world.

Except...they AREN'T created to seem life-like. They walk back and forth infinitely on a coded path, do coded actions like occasionally like fighting another or sitting, they don't eat, procreate, drink, expel waste, and so on.

Like someone else said, you can feel a certain way about things but there comes a point where it's taken to extremes. But the thing I most have a problem with is your implication that people who treat the game as a game and nothing more somehow lack "functional empathy".

Rishikesa108 wrote: »

Arunei wrote: »

Dogs and cats aren't killable because ESO is based in the United States, where those animals are pets and NOT game or livestock animals. But all the animals you CAN kill? They are actually hunted irl (the ones that exist irl anyway) for food and other things, or are livestock animals that are raised as food or for leather, milk, and so on. Pigs, goats, squirrels, rabbits, elk, deer, etc are all animals that get hunted or raised as livestock.

You say, "Cats and dogs are pets, so it's only right that they're unkillable." But in this game, you can kill people... what's the logic?
Actually, there's no logic.
I'm not shocked by killing people; in fact, I do it often with my nightblade.
It's an action that requires a certain skill, so it makes sense in a game.
I kill mudcrabs because they give me chitin, but these are animals that have a health line on their heads and, even if weak, they defend themselves in a certain way and attack if attacked.
But killing animals with 1 hp, which mostly don't give anything I already have tons of in my infinite bag, just for the fun of watching them moan and blow up... disgusts me. And I'm annoyed that ZOS encourages it.
In fact, ZOS should provide a toggle so that anyone who wants to can avoid inadvertently killing them, as well as a "prevent attacking innocents" feature.
This game has repeatedly demonstrated its consideration for the rights of minorities.
I am part of a minority, of which I am proud.
The minority of those who have total respect for animals and don't even eat them, obviously.
I regret that the sensibilities of this minority are not protected by ZOS like other minorities worthy of equal respect.

What are you talking about, no logic? There IS logic, even if you don't like it or agree with it. Whether it's people or animals, it's still A GAME. Neither real people nor real animals are being harmed in any way.

On top of that, you're making COMPLETELY and frankly inappropriate claims that people "do it for fun" or want to "hear them moan". You're 100% projecting real-life morals to, yet again, a video game. You're acting like people are doing this becuase they want to geninuely harm animals or something. By that logic, I guess that means people who play evil characters must condone and want to do the things their characters do?

Sure, ZOS can make it that "Prevent Attacking Innocents" applies to critters, but that would probably annoy people more than it wouldn't if they wanted to not attack people but then had to turn it off to farm critters. The most use it would get is so people didn't drop their Ult on a random rabbit or something while fighting. And they could make a separate toggle for it, sure, but it's unlikely they would because who even knows what kind of coding that would look like.

Finally, stop bringing up minorities. They have no place in this conversation and trying to shoehorn them in is comparing apples to tires. You aren't a "minority" because you don't like that critters can be killed and are bothered by it. Trying to use them to prop up your argument is NOT a good look.

I noticed something during the stream. the new additions to the Daggerfall area. they may be overlapping with the Ilessan Tower Delve. not necessarily in a way that would overlap map but the new building in the north east corner of the Daggerfall might be in a position where it ought to be visible from the open area inside the Delve. just something to keep in mind for the environment/world building team. but yeah. please keep adding stuff to replace those inaccessible areas on the maps. fill them all, go nuts with it!

Arunei wrote: »

Dogs and cats aren't killable because ESO is based in the United States, where those animals are pets and NOT game or livestock animals. But all the animals you CAN kill? They are actually hunted irl (the ones that exist irl anyway) for food and other things, or are livestock animals that are raised as food or for leather, milk, and so on. Pigs, goats, squirrels, rabbits, elk, deer, etc are all animals that get hunted or raised as livestock.

You say, "Cats and dogs are pets, so it's only right that they're unkillable." But in this game, you can kill people... what's the logic?
Actually, there's no logic.
I'm not shocked by killing people; in fact, I do it often with my nightblade.
It's an action that requires a certain skill, so it makes sense in a game.
I kill mudcrabs because they give me chitin, but these are animals that have a health line on their heads and, even if weak, they defend themselves in a certain way and attack if attacked.
But killing animals with 1 hp, which mostly don't give anything I already have tons of in my infinite bag, just for the fun of watching them moan and blow up... disgusts me. And I'm annoyed that ZOS encourages it.
In fact, ZOS should provide a toggle so that anyone who wants to can avoid inadvertently killing them, as well as a "prevent attacking innocents" feature.
This game has repeatedly demonstrated its consideration for the rights of minorities.
I am part of a minority, of which I am proud.
The minority of those who have total respect for animals and don't even eat them, obviously.
I regret that the sensibilities of this minority are not protected by ZOS like other minorities worthy of equal respect.

The only animation cancelling that is happening here is done by ZOS themselves

Sentinel wrote: »

I will make a point for those in this thread that suppose that people won't use it unless there are proper rewards. The whole point of having difficulty options for people like me is not "maximizing" some in-game efficiency for getting gold, items,

I don't even want extra rewards. I would choose a harder difficulty just because. In fact, I'm still hoping for an option for an Exp reduction, or Exp Locking

Sentinel wrote: »

Heck I am lurking here despite not having played consistently for years because a system like this would be roughly the only thing to draw me back into this game.

Same, honestly. I let my WoW sub run out once I heard about the difficulty changes here. I was playing Skyrim just killing time until it was released.