ESO need Free Trail for newcomers

Sagatho

Hello ppl

now with the release of WOD i realized that blizzard have a big number of subscribers, and i was thinks what blizzard do to get newcomers attention and i realized that blizzard now give the opportunity to play the game with a lot of locked features but the are allowed to taste the game and get involved to buy the game and get a subscription.

i think it will be amazing for ESO to give free time to newcomers to taste the game, because some people don't want play the game because the have a bad comment about because the bad release experience,

what do you think ESO must do to increment the number of subscribers?

sorry for my bad english.

regards

ers101284b14_ESO

Sagatho wrote: »

Hello ppl

now with the release of WOD i realized that blizzard have a big number of subscribers, and i was thinks what blizzard do to get newcomers attention and i realized that blizzard now give the opportunity to play the game with a lot of locked features but the are allowed to taste the game and get involved to buy the game and get a subscription.

i think it will be amazing for ESO to give free time to newcomers to taste the game, because some people don't want play the game because the have a bad comment about because the bad release experience,

what do you think ESO must do to increment the number of subscribers?

sorry for my bad english.

regards

WoW has gone up to back up to what like 10 million? which will last for about a month or 2 before people realize its the same crap and leave again. then they will be back down to what they where before the Expansion. Also WoW has had the free trial in place for quite a while. Its nothing new.

As far as a free trial here I think they should. There where rumors that there might be one in the API code but I dunno. I have been saying they need one for a while and they probably will sometime after console launch.

DezIsDead

Well when you buy the game you get thirty free days right? And at the moment the game is on sale on steam for 20 bucks. And I hear rumors of third party websites selling it for 16 bucks. At that price, and 30 free days I do t see how they can't give it a shot

Razzak

I really don't understand what happened to demos and free trials that were so abundant once. They are a wonderful way of presenting a game to those that are unwilling to buy it just yet. And in my opinion only enlarge the number of players, so they are definitely benefitial.
Why does ESO not have a trial or something similar? They must have a valid (from their view point) reason for such a decision, but I would really like to know what that is. If nothing else, to satisfy my curiosity.

ers101284b14_ESO

Razzak wrote: »

I really don't understand what happened to demos and free trials that were so abundant once. They are a wonderful way of presenting a game to those that are unwilling to buy it just yet. And in my opinion only enlarge the number of players, so they are definitely benefitial.
Why does ESO not have a trial or something similar? They must have a valid (from their view point) reason for such a decision, but I would really like to know what that is. If nothing else, to satisfy my curiosity.

This should answer your question

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QM6LoaqEnY

Rosveen

DezIsDead wrote: »

Well when you buy the game you get thirty free days right?

Wrong. You get 30 days for the price of the game - days you can't even access until you set up a sub plan, so for people who use game cards it's another immediate payment on top of the box price.

DezIsDead

I wasn't sure, thank you for the clarification though

Razzak

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

Razzak wrote: »

I really don't understand what happened to demos and free trials that were so abundant once. They are a wonderful way of presenting a game to those that are unwilling to buy it just yet. And in my opinion only enlarge the number of players, so they are definitely benefitial.
Why does ESO not have a trial or something similar? They must have a valid (from their view point) reason for such a decision, but I would really like to know what that is. If nothing else, to satisfy my curiosity.

This should answer your question

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QM6LoaqEnY

Lol. Couldn't have asked for a more appropriate response. And quick.

That definitely answers my question about demos. Never thought about that hard enough to reach similar conclusions, but can't deny what I saw and heard. It does make sense.

But ESO is in a different situation. It does not need a demo. It needs a trial. Whole game that restricts you from either reaching higher levels or playing for more than few days from start. It does not need a separate game, it "only" needs a separate or added database management. Especially if it is a time limited trial. The only thing you need is login control.
I know, I make it sound very simple, but it's also not Hadron colider difficult.

Sagatho

my point is that people dont play or buy the game because the bad reputation that the game get for a really bad release, i like ESO more than another mmo, but i have to admit that i leave it for month because the really bad and buggy release, so i think that with a trail account new players and old ppl that leave at release will come back and enjoy the game,

in the external forums people talk poopy about ESO and wen i reply saying that now the game is Ok they keep talkin thrasj abut it.

so that it

zaria

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

This should answer your question

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QM6LoaqEnY

Well I disagree, the reason why i'm sitting here might be because of the daggerfall demo.
I bought wow because of the demo this is positive.
Same with demo of kerbal space program, DA:O and mount & blade.

The video also asked for the demo to be released before the game, that is not an requirement. Most AAA games hardly need demos, and as they say if the game is mediocre the demo will hurt.
For pc games demos probably work better as it help a lot against piracy, many download games to try them, then use the excuse that the game is not good enough to pay for but good enough to continue playing.

For MMO the setting is a bit different, They get most of their income from the subs not the game sales at least not after the first months.
its also pretty easy to set up an demo by limiting characters in the demo but give them the entire game.

For ESO, I guess an demo will come however its plenty of new people coming in so they have no hurry, an demo will also generate both an overflow of people in the starting areas and also an far worse attitude in them.
Hard to avoid spamers and *** with the demo, even if they have their own shard serious demo players will face that.

I guess the demo will not come until after the console release and after the flow of new players has dropped to some level.

firstdecan

Razzak wrote: »

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

Razzak wrote: »

I really don't understand what happened to demos and free trials that were so abundant once. They are a wonderful way of presenting a game to those that are unwilling to buy it just yet. And in my opinion only enlarge the number of players, so they are definitely benefitial.
Why does ESO not have a trial or something similar? They must have a valid (from their view point) reason for such a decision, but I would really like to know what that is. If nothing else, to satisfy my curiosity.

This should answer your question

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QM6LoaqEnY

Lol. Couldn't have asked for a more appropriate response. And quick.

That definitely answers my question about demos. Never thought about that hard enough to reach similar conclusions, but can't deny what I saw and heard. It does make sense.

But ESO is in a different situation. It does not need a demo. It needs a trial. Whole game that restricts you from either reaching higher levels or playing for more than few days from start. It does not need a separate game, it "only" needs a separate or added database management. Especially if it is a time limited trial. The only thing you need is login control.
I know, I make it sound very simple, but it's also not Hadron colider difficult.

They won't offer the free demos \ trials. That will just encourage the gold sellers to come back.

Rosveen

zaria wrote: »

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

This should answer your question

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QM6LoaqEnY

Well I disagree, the reason why i'm sitting here might be because of the daggerfall demo.
I bought wow because of the demo this is positive.
Same with demo of kerbal space program, DA:O and mount & blade.

Disagree with what? The video clearly showed that positive outcomes are possible - just not prevalent. You liked the demos, that's great, but how many other people didn't? How many games had bad demos? DA2 demo was pretty awful (but was actually a reliable preview of things that came later :P), so was Dead Space. Bayonetta did nothing for me. Blood Money wasn't representative of the whole game at all. DA:O you mentioned didn't even have a proper demo, it was just character creator, which definitely wouldn't have sold me on the game (luckily, I had a chance to play my friend's copy first).

Ysne58

I do believe that it is something the budget/finance people should seriously consider.

Melian

Sure, it might make it easier to sell the game - I keep trying to convince my friends to give it a try, which would be easier with a demo.
The trouble is that it encourages the goldspammers and other assorted riff-raff. I'm not sure it's worth it. If potential players keep hearing good things from the player base and the cool patches keep coming, eventually they'll check it out, trial or no trial.

Rhian-Skybladeb16_ESO

Back in the old days (man I feel so old ^^) you got usually 30 days free trial before you had to buy the game.

Best examle was DDO.
Before DDO went down that poopy FreeToPlayPayToWin drain you could download a "lower resolution" version and play for free for 30 days - and if you liked it, you could buy the box and have a better resolution. The lower resolution was the only "limitation" the 30 days trial had...
- and when you bought the game you got another 30 days free gaming as a welcoming gift

It was a good way to get people interested in a game, because they could try first and then decide if they buy or not.

OK games like Ultima Online did not have that, when it was new. But back then the internet wasn't that good and downloading something bigger than 10 MB was a pain in the arse around 1997 ^^ so I do not mean that way back hehe

Tandor

It didn't seem to do DDO much good.

The simple fact is that if a game is good then people will play it. No amount of free trials or demos will persuade people to play a game that isn't good. TESO is already a very good game, and a lot of people are playing it. As with all new MMOs it is constantly being improved and and as that continues more people will play it.

Free trials and demos are only of interest to those who don't want to pay for a game, they have a quick look and then move on to the next F2P title, or back to the one they're committed to at the time. I'm not sure the TESO community would gain much from those people dabbling with the game for a few days and then abandoning it. Moreover, it would mark the return of the gold sellers and botters.

nine9six

A 7-day Trial with limited Privileges would be nice. Or maybe just let them play on a PTS / Demo server, with the ability to Migrate your character to the Live server with Purchase / Subscription?

We've put man on the moon. Surely we could tackle this "issue" if needed.

For now, I'd rather they focus on other things, TBH.

SteveCampsOut

How about this? Free to PTS but you must submit bug reports for every incident you experience that impedes your game progress and you can't transfer your character to the live game. EVER. They get free beta testers back in the PTS server and people get to try out the game with the only cost being time spent and sending in bug reports....Win/Win.

zaria

Rosveen wrote: »

zaria wrote: »

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

This should answer your question

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QM6LoaqEnY

Well I disagree, the reason why i'm sitting here might be because of the daggerfall demo.
I bought wow because of the demo this is positive.
Same with demo of kerbal space program, DA:O and mount & blade.

Disagree with what? The video clearly showed that positive outcomes are possible - just not prevalent. You liked the demos, that's great, but how many other people didn't? How many games had bad demos? DA2 demo was pretty awful (but was actually a reliable preview of things that came later :P), so was Dead Space. Bayonetta did nothing for me. Blood Money wasn't representative of the whole game at all. DA:O you mentioned didn't even have a proper demo, it was just character creator, which definitely wouldn't have sold me on the game (luckily, I had a chance to play my friend's copy first).

Yes the DA2 prevented me from buying it, and you are right about DA:O, memory fail here.

And I don't think demos before the game is released make sense economical, much for the reasons in the movie.

After the game is out you can start hunting the redundant ones who will not buy the game unseen but might try the demo and buy.
Yes it will require a game who is able to keep its price up for some time and better have an train of dlc.

One pet idea would be to integrate demos into steam, you basically download the full game with an different drm and some other minor changes who limit you to time played, area or level.
You can then buy and update the game and continue to play.
Guess it would cut down piracy a lot.

ers101284b14_ESO

SteveCampsOut wrote: »

How about this? Free to PTS but you must submit bug reports for every incident you experience that impedes your game progress and you can't transfer your character to the live game. EVER. They get free beta testers back in the PTS server and people get to try out the game with the only cost being time spent and sending in bug reports....Win/Win.

I had that idea months ago. But unfortunately people where quick to say no because the trial people would then get to experience the new content before us and that upset people.

Gidorick

My initial reaction is to allow players to play on the Starter Islands for free for a period of 30 days but then I think of the gold-farmers and bots that would run rampant, so there needs to be some separation.

IF ZOS wanted to go this route, I think the best option would be to have a Trial Server that separates the trial players from the subscription players and ONLY have the starter islands on that server and limit the players to level 10 (or maybe 15 so they can see the awesome weapon-swap mechanic). At any point during the trial the trail player should be able to buy the game ($60 or whatever) and migrate their character to the subscription server.

Trial players shouldn't be able to increase their bag-space from a bag vendor, feed their horse more than 10 times (to encourage migration before 30 days), or amass more than 5K in gold (this would disempower the gold-farming bots). They shouldn't have access to banks or email attachments (including hirelings) and should only be able to create one character.

With these mechanics, I think a trial for ESO would work well! The main thing is to not have the trial have a negative impact on the main game itself and if the trial is on the same server... I really don't think that's possible.

The question now becomes does ZOS want to create a separate server purely for trial periods? Do they want to take on the cost of that server and maintain that server with no guaranteed return? They might do a "trial" themselves and say they are going to have a limited "3-month" trial period where anyone can sign up for a 30 day free trial within a 3 month period and they will run the servers for 4 months and then take the analytics from that to see how many people signed up for subscriptions based on their free trials to determine if it's beneficial to them to keep the Trial Server up and running.... That might be worth the effort. Maybe...

immodium

Someone in this post on reddit found something about trials on the PTS

reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/2j5ejx/media_found_prematurely_on_the_pts_were_getting/

Loneshard

I read somewhere that will come! Next year.. or in dev language = Soon™

tinythinker

firstdecan wrote: »

They won't offer the free demos \ trials. That will just encourage the gold sellers to come back.

nine9six wrote: »

A 7-day Trial with limited Privileges would be nice. Or maybe just let them play on a PTS / Demo server, with the ability to Migrate your character to the Live server with Purchase / Subscription?

I agree no free trials on the live server. People have pushed for free weekends on the test server as a way to get more people on it. I support that idea, as a free weekend would get the average player through the starter island and a decent amount of progress into the first major zone if they stick with one character. It wouldn't be enough to warrant the hassle of migration, and people could try different things too so they could have a better idea of starting options.

If they offered a free weekend every 2-3 months it wouldn't have the same cost as a traditional demo and would give trial players a hands-on experience. If they like it there is no delay to play, just upgrade the trial account to a subscribed account. Make the trial weekend the weekend before a new major update is going to be released: 1) so that a more polished version is available, 2) to reward subscribers with an sneak peek of the new content, and 3) to entice trial players to subscribe and gain access to that new content when it goes onto the liver server.

Razzak

Why would gold sellers be a problem for trial? You simply don't allow any trial accounts to trade.

snowmanflvb14_ESO

Rosveen wrote: »

DezIsDead wrote: »

Well when you buy the game you get thirty free days right?

Wrong. You get 30 days for the price of the game - days you can't even access until you set up a sub plan, so for people who use game cards it's another immediate payment on top of the box price.

Bit wrong there. Yes there is the test payment when you set up using a cc but that is refunded to you. However, I do agree the 30 days is not really free as they actually account for it when pricing the purchase price of the game to start with.

snowmanflvb14_ESO

Sagatho wrote: »

my point is that people dont play or buy the game because the bad reputation that the game get for a really bad release, i like ESO more than another mmo, but i have to admit that i leave it for month because the really bad and buggy release, so i think that with a trail account new players and old ppl that leave at release will come back and enjoy the game,

in the external forums people talk poopy about ESO and wen i reply saying that now the game is Ok they keep talkin thrasj abut it.

so that it

the release was not terrible. When compared to most successful MMO's it had a very good release.

Misa

ESO needs a trial yeah, but I'd like it to wait 1 or 2 patches more

Iorail

Gold sellers is probably what's holding this, but all they have to do is give a 14 day trial with no chat access, no pm's and no trading allow, and mostly limited to the starter zone, with no option to bypass to go to the first zone.

Gyudan

Iorail wrote: »

Gold sellers is probably what's holding this, but all they have to do is give a 14 day trial with no chat access, no pm's and no trading allow, and mostly limited to the starter zone, with no option to bypass to go to the first zone.

How would that experience be enjoyable?
Sure, the game is great, but if players can't even talk to each other to ask for advice orhave a conversation with a friend that brought them to ESO, do you really expect them to stay?
A video of ingame footage featuring nice graphic environments and intense combat sessions would be much more effective imho.
(and maybe a bard song or two)

ers101284b14_ESO

Iorail wrote: »

Gold sellers is probably what's holding this, but all they have to do is give a 14 day trial with no chat access, no pm's and no trading allow, and mostly limited to the starter zone, with no option to bypass to go to the first zone.

There's a reason they stopped forcing people into the starter islands after beta.....just saying. I think your idea is kind of on the right track but doubt that part would work.