Tamriel Unlimited, ESO Plus & Crown-Shop, DLC, B2P - GIVE IT A CHANCE.

Lukeh Shadyvale

TL;DR Provided Below... Point of this post is to GIVE this a chance, read the TL;DR for a better way to look at this change.

“Our fans are our biggest inspiration, and we’ve listened to their feedback on the entertainment experience they want,” said Matt Firor, Game Director of The Elder Scrolls Online. [Official Press Release]

So after breaking down the articles it comes across like this:

Tamriel Unlimited:
The only decent thing I like is pay once, play forever pretty much how we play now without subscription a nice thought but we all know they need the cash somewhere...
They promise that we will all get the content and updates for free as normal on this Tamriel Unlimited model.

Regular updates and new gameplay will be offered to all players to enjoy free of additional charges. [Official Press Release]

Key Words... Updates and New Gameplay. Updates will most likely mean patches, rebalancing and fixes which we're all entitled to anyway as game-players if a game is broken. New Gameplay, DOES NOT necessarily mean new zones for example: DSA, Justice System, Imperial City are all new gameplay this means they are probably looking into duelling arenas, active PvP which I would class as gameplay.


ESO Plus:
This is where it gets a bit... of a Pay to Win scenario...Well more of a Pay to Win FASTER scenario. They said before release the game is against paywalls, against zones you pay for, levels you pay for, progression you pay for which it still is with Tamriel Unlimited.

While you’re a member, you’ll enjoy faster progression thanks to the helpful buffs to XP, gold, and crafting, and you’ll be able to access any DLC game pack that’s available.ESO Guide to ESO Plus

But un/fortunately (Depending on your view), ESO+ offers you a bunch of crowns to buy items from the store and free access to the new DLC... If you are NOT an ESO+ member you will have to pay more money for your DLC and Crown store items... But also DLC could mean 1 or both of 2 things:

DLC Pack as they call it could mean a new explorable zone, currently we're waiting on Orsinium and Murkmire zones but chances are we will get them as current ESO subscribers once we are automatically made ESO Plus members if we choose to continue and leave the £7.99 3monthly (or whatever yours is) subscription leave your accounts. So we will be given Murkmire and Orsinium for what we think is for free, but we get it because we're ESO Plus members as of March 17th...

There is still a slight unlikely possibility that the new zones will be given to all Tamriel Unlimited players and the DLC it talks about is questing content which would then most likely offer unique rewards or else why do it, right? So as an ESO+ member you pay for the new quests to get the new rewards which you might possibly be able to buy outright at the crown store... who knows.

The point of reading keywords is to make sure you can see that DLC only comes to ESO+ members. And DLC could be New Zones which would bring along new styles. Or New Quests which could bring along new unique rewards. The ones who choose not to play may not get that chance.

A final side note on this topic is that they are supposedly being able to explore ALL of Tamriel, yet we know as players there is now ALL of Tamriel yet. This again is a maybe, might not kind of situation, maybe the zones will unlocked and DLC means new storylines. Still possible.

The Crown Store
So the crown store has a fun key word in it...

In Tamriel Unlimited, you’ll be able to purchase optional downloadable content, and the new in-game Crown Store will offer convenience and customization itemsConsole Announcement Article

You can spend crowns in the in-game Crown Store to get unique mounts, special vanity pets, a variety of fun costumes for your character, and convenience items like health potions and soul gems.ESO Guide to ESO Plus

Convenience? A very broad word, although we have examples it will start like this no doubt but as the game gets on the word convenience will broaden the most likely of chances is by "convenience" they'll one day mean buffs. Whether it's enchantment runes to create Master-Style weapons for you to sell for 1.2million at a trader. A warlock ring or something that pretty much would fall under 'Convenient' so you can conveniently survive every PvP encounter, conveniently run Hel Ra solo whatever. It starts off real nice and convincing but soon it will expand until everything is purchasable and you don't do anything just bash heads in PvP.


Overall as players we won't see much difference in the system except for the crown store and the only way to get crowns is through RL money or ESO+... +RL money for more.
New players will experience the same world we did except us ESO+ members if we choose to stay and new ESO+ members if they choose to join will be a lot more swaggier, with any luck with lore immersive gear but don't hold your breath.


TL;DR
Give this a chance, it could work. You're paying the exact same as you are now if you continue as ESO+, if you do then think of it this way.
There's a new LESSER payment model called Tamriel Unlimited one off payment no subscription fee. But players of TU will not get new zones and quests, not have access to maybe cool new mounts and costumes UNLESS THEY PAY REAL MONEY and we get 10% more XP, Gold, Inspiration and Crafting XP.

That's pretty much it.

http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/2015/01/21/your-guide-to-eso-plus-premium-membership
http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/2015/01/21/eso-heads-to-consoles-june-9th
http://bethsoft.com/en-us/news/bethesda-softworks-announces-the-elder-scrolls-online-tamriel-unlimited--arriving-on-consoles-june-9-

ONE MORE THING:
For more information on the different ways players will be able to experience The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, please watch our livestream on twitch.tv/zenimaxonlinestudios today at 21/1/2015, 12pm ET (5pm GMT) or visit: www.elderscrollsonline.com/faq

fromtesonlineb16_ESO

I agree with you, few round here will though.

nikolaj.lemcheb16_ESO

Give it a chance it actually the right keyword here.

It might be good, it might be bad, ZoE probably had a good reason to do it and they might pull it off.

If not well then there are other games but we need to give them a chance to prove they can pull it off.

Kilandros

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alainjbrennanb16_ESO

you wont get everything in game even if subbed there will be armour etc in store better than in game this is what happened to swtor and the constant updates with stop it will just be dlc. because if there is update like for the thieves guild etc and those not paying sub have to buy content every 6-8 weeks they will start bitching so that content will stop and you will only get 1-2 dlc's a year

McDoogs

Name a recent or upcoming MMO that either hasn't done this already or isn't going to go this way.

It's hard isn't it? Like it or not, this business model is the wave of the future. The subscription-based business model is dying fast.

Justan

No. I will not support b2p/f2p MMO's. I was hoping ESO would be my new MMO home for years to come, but this announcement pretty much killed the game instantly for me.

There has never, and WILL never be a b2p/f2p MMO that even scratches the quality of P2P. They don't have the resources, or devotion to the product that p2p devs do... instead, it's like gw2/swtor... all about the cash shop and anything they can sell, they WILL sell.

Future cool mounts? on the store. Future pets? Content? Guilds? New ability tree's or classes? All locked behind a store. It makes anything NOT on the store with a price tag on it absolutely trivial and beneath the development team. It's all about the benjamin's now with ESO

Pathfinder

Sorry, I gave ZoS many chances, but they don't deserve another.

Volto

I don't care what you think may or may not work out. I'm sure some will stay but 80% of the time when this happens it means only bad things. I think it's a really bad idea but to each his own I guess.

AngryNord

I stuck around with LoTRO after it went F2P due to the lore... I'll stick around with ESO due to the lore, for now... But if I'll play as regulary, remains to be seen...

Melian

Wow. I've been defending this game since beta, but you are really delusional, OP.

" Pay to Win FASTER scenario"

Yeah, otherwise known as Pay to Win.

The only silver lining here is there are a couple months' sub they won't be getting from me, since I unsubbed now. I notice that they waited until January's payment went through, though.

Cody

I personally don't care about having new zones, so.. yeah:)

Forestd16b14_ESO

So we'll be able to play regularly and that ESO+ is basicly something for the lazy people who don't wanna take the time or gold into leveling up there crafting skills.

daneyulebub17_ESO

Do NOT give it a chance. The only way game devs will stop this crap is if they fail--big time--as soon as they betray their most loyal customers. Don't let them string you along. Yet again, they're banking on US, the loyal subscribers, funding them. The only difference is now we KNOW what we are funding them to do. Don't be a sucker.

Past history has always shown that, at best, F2P changes the focus of a game from content and lore and quality to a one of devising new things and ways to sell. That's how they make their money, so its inevitable.

And that's not even considering the Pay to Win aspects that creep in, and what it does to the community. Even without those considerations---F2P (or B2P) turns the customer/developer relationship from a partnership, where they customer pays based on the quality of the overall game, to a one-sided game of the developer constantly trying to get new suckers to purchase the next shiny thing.


F2P ruins MMOs. All of them, at least for any discerning player who doesn't just pop in for a few weeks and then move on, or doesn't see the game as a contest to collect the most bling.

Stop the madness--show the industry that we've had enough.

Do NOT give it a chance.

Azzuria

Since money go tight I had to cancel my sub. Nice to know that in a few months I won't -need- the sub.

I've been with ESO since closed beta and love this game. Dearly. Yeah, it can be frustrating, but hopefully the F2P model, along with updated / fixed / balanced gameplay, will bring back old players and convince new folks to give Tamriel a chance.

Just hope they're active policing spammers and bots.

Sindala

Melian wrote: »

Wow. I've been defending this game since beta, but you are really delusional, OP.

" Pay to Win FASTER scenario"

Yeah, otherwise known as Pay to Win.

The only silver lining here is there are a couple months' sub they won't be getting from me, since I unsubbed now. I notice that they waited until January's payment went through, though.

Good news is if you live in Europe, we have laws that stop online companies from "changing" a product (which this is) without offering a full refund of the last payment period. So that means you can claim your money back if you paid between December 21st and January 21st.

pvpaddict42

daneyulebub17_ESO wrote: »

Do NOT give it a chance. The only way game devs will stop this crap is if they fail--big time--as soon as they betray their most loyal customers. Don't let them string you along.

Past history has always shown that, at best, F2P changes the focus of a game from content and lore and quality to a one of devising new things and ways to sell. That's how they make their money, so its inevitable.

And that's not even considering the Pay to Win aspects that creep in, and what it does to the community. Even without those considerations---F2P (or B2P) turns the customer/developer relationship from a partnership, where they customer pays based on the quality of the overall game, to a one-sided game of the developer constantly trying to get new suckers to purchase the next shiny thing.


F2P ruins MMOs. All of them, at least for any discerning player who doesn't just pop in for a few weeks and then move on, or doesn't see the game as a contest to collect the most bling.

Stop the madness--show the industry that we've had enough.

Do NOT give it a chance.

You are of course welcome to your opinions and if you don't want to give it a chance, that's fine. To believe that this game failing with the new model will prevent them in the future though is pretty much a fallacy. I'm sure you, along with a number of other players feel betrayed by this change from Zenimax. I get it. Your outrage however has been experienced numerous times over the years from a number of games that have had this happen to them and it hasn't slowed down this from happening.

Personally, I don't care what model they use if they actually keep the game fun and get the content and updates out there. My biggest gripe with Zenimax is that I feel like they have put a lot of content on the back burner because they had an eye to going this route for a while when they started to realize their subscription based game plan was failing. They should have been more upfront about it sooner rather than springing it on us like this. I get why they did it, but it is still annoying.

I paid for the sub before, I will keep doing so until I have simply had enough of the game. That may be sooner or later depending on how this goes and how fast they can keep the updates rolling. It's up to each person to decide whether its worth it or not, but I would suggest you concentrate more on your enjoyment of the game rather than any feelings you may have about the company and it's "betrayal" of your loyalty.

Kurimugann

For Ps4 you'd still need the PS+ to even play online, nothing, not even F2p is free ever. There is still a while before we find out how good/bad it really is, right now might be too soon for bashing.

Tankqull

nikolaj.lemcheb16_ESO wrote: »

Give it a chance it actually the right keyword here.

It might be good, it might be bad, ZoE probably had a good reason to do it and they might pull it off.

If not well then there are other games but we need to give them a chance to prove they can pull it off.

people on consoles are not willing to pay 2 subscriptions for one game e.g. ESO+xbox live gold ... thats all
and they cant have two different models for consoles and PC as that would end in an even bigger ***...

THammer

Yes, give it a chance. I am watching the twitch channel. No pay to win... sounds good so far.

Shadowcaster_9481

Just my opinion here but this really changes nothing for me. My $14.99 per month will just have its name changed from monthly subscription fee to Plus Pass. Hopefully it brings in new people who were reluctant to buy the game then pay per month to try it out. If we get more people playing, maybe finding groups wont be such a pain.

As far as the cash shop, I played EQ well before that was put in and played it again after it was put in and nothing really changed for me but that may be due to my play style (I will not ever have the "best" gear in game if its sold for RL money or drops in trials like it is now).

Personally, getting the crowns each month and maybe getting a double xp potion or a new costume here and there would be nice.

TheLaw

I'll give it a chance, but there's a big change that I'll unsub. The F2p/B2p community will be terrible vs what we have right now.

IvorySamoan

This is the best thing that could of happened to the game, and i mean that 100% sincerely.

B2P done right (ala GW2) is a great model for an MMO: I think everyone is mostly salty that we've been paying for the Beta until now... if they bumped up the crowns per month subbed amount, this would be a good start to fixing things (say, 500 per month subbed, not 100 as it is now).

starlizard70ub17_ESO

I'm not as upset as most people seem to be here. Most MMOs are B2P or F2P with a cash shop. I'll wait and see how it goes for a few months. As it is, I wouldn't be paying anymore for ESO Plus than I am now.

bertenburnyb16_ESO

..... this is not good news

daneyulebub17_ESO

Dear god. Do you really think, on the ESO Live, they would ever say, Yeah! Pay to Win, baby!!!!!

Of course they're going to say no Pay to Win. Give it a year. (If you can stand the freaking blinking buy NOW buttons and "Special pink Guar Mount--only available this week" announcements--and the crafting enhancement packs and the speed enhancements and "buy this teleport for 10 crowns" and all the other stuff that just turns F2P cash store games into the equivalent of a late night infomercial.

Laplace

I'm going to remain cautiously optimistic. The SWTOR comparisons are slightly off; SWTOR heavily penalizes you for not subbing, and these days, their payment scheme is the absolute least of their problems. Guild Wars 2 did it right, but their more recent Gem Store updates are getting dangerously close to pay-to-win territory.

We don't know what's going to be in the Crown Store yet. They said it's aesthetic, customization, and convenience. The first two I'm totally fine with. "pay-to-look-cool" is way, WAY different than pay-to-win. It's the last one that I think can be iffy. "Convenience" has been used as code-word for pay-to-win before in other games.

A buff to experience points gain, gold, and research time/inspiration is tricky. On one hand, it's not like you're buying an insta-level to 50 or 100k in gold just like that. Really, all it does is save time. It's still going to take effort on the part of the player, just slightly less than a non-subber.

That said, it can be a very, VERY slippery slope. I'll reserve judgement until it actually launches, but I can understand the hysteria a bit. Gamers have been down this road before. Some MMORPG's got it right (again, Guild Wars 2 is a good example), others didn't (you know you are).

And let's be real: We know why this is really going on. ESO isn't as strapped for cash as some people claim it is. Microsoft refused to budge on waiving the requirement for Xbox Live to play ESO on the Xbox One, which amounts to two subscriptions to play the same game, virtually guaranteeing that ESO would be dead-on-arrival on that platform. Zenimax blinked first, and that doesn't have to be a bad thing.

The next few months are going to be crucial for this game's survival, and it's really going to come down to transparency and engaging with the community to see what we want to come from the premium options. Again, I'll remain cautiously optimistic, but know this: History shows us what happens among the playerbase of an MMORPG at the first whiff of pay-to-win. Zenimax, for the sake of this game and everyone who enjoys it, do not screw this up.

Leeric

Why so they can lie again? lol how many chances they get? 2 is enough for me.

Jitterbug

http://youtu.be/U8VHc49ZdP4

briandivisionb16_ESO

There will be no pay-to-win items in the store

Except for XP and gold boosts and soul gems.
I've unsubbed
#CosmeticOnlyOrBye

Lukeh Shadyvale

Here's the thing, we're getting more for just doing exactly what we do right now.
We get cosmetic stuff in the crown store, sure there's soul-gems, repair kits and lesser than crafted basic pots in packs but so what I never bought them from a merchant I certainly won't in the crown store.
The costumes and the mounts look awesome and are a great idea and the 1 year mount which will no doubt be a senche seems awesome.

All that's REALLY changing is people can now play all of what we have now for a 1 off payment and they need to pay with real money for new zones they're adding and use of the crown store. US however if we continue how we are now we get the new zones etc. the none subscriber don't unless they pay.

There's no one going to be better than you or like you because they paid more! The people who buy B2P games get bored very quickly of video games and most likely won't pay for ESO+ or DLC or pour money into it.