A Final Plea for Clemency on the B2P/F2P decision

davidshaunmooreub17_ESO

I logged in to read about this. I personally never had a problem with a Sub, I just didnt agree with a whole Race being some extra 30$ Super Duper deluxe Version. It looked and made them look Greedy. Back when WOW came out 15$ was like huh?

But stuff was more expensive to maintain, 15$ and trust me its not a lot to me at all just seemed like pfft at 4.99 a month theyd of had 1000 X times more users and making the same money that would just bring in more after that, 15$ is just not worth a game a month any more.

Now You say well look at wow... Heres the thing.. WOW is an Addiction, Was for me was for many, It still is. WOW is Video game Crack for people. They will play it till its shut down or people get them away from it. I was End Game guild and it was bad. I moved on from this and when you put a sub on games, it just ughhs me to WOW, and many just dont want that anymore.

Making it Free means people that are only playing a few hours a night can still play. People can pay Sub Still and nothing will Change, Those that dont are going to pay when they wanna pay but its still revenue.

POE is the best example of a Free to play game i have ever seen. People might not like the game say but the model is the best ive seen, And guess what. Their raking in the cash and pushing content out like no one else ive ever Seen.

If these Devs are smart they will copy this model 100%. And hey Im not dogging on people that wanna pay the Sub thing, I didn't come here trying to get people not to play it. I came here asked questions and left cause i wasn't interested, Now I am cause of the Change. Now its.. Wait to see exactly what they do.

Just my 2 cents

eisberg

mamericus wrote: »

Some people claim one of the good points of this move is the potential of attracting a larger player base. This game is rated M for mature content. In the United States that means only people of age 17+ are legally allowed to purchase/should be playing this game. That being the case, I think it's safe to assume most people of that age (who are able to afford a computer to play this game on) are able to afford $15 a month on a subscription model. So my conclusion is yes, the B2P/F2P model may indeed attract more players, but it is my belief it mostly translates into a greater influx underage players (who do not usually own credit cards and are not always able to afford/allowed by parents to get a subscription), which should technically not even be playing this game, but of course you don't care about that because you put up a disclaimer. In any case, I would hate to see this game turn into a children's playground. I have nothing against children, but in a game that is supposed to have a mature lore and be as immersive as this one, the usual banter and nonsense that comes with younger teens interactions is undesirable to me in a game like this. This is of course subjective, but I did mention my reasons were selfish. So more population thanks to B2P/F2P? Maybe. Better one? Hardly.

Going to comment on this. it is not about affording the $15 or not, it is about how one values that $15. I can afford $15 a month, heck I can afford $45 a month, but there has never been an MMO that was worth $15 a month. Just having access to the game for $15 a month is not a good value at all, there needs to be more. I did play WoW for a year from 2005 to 2006, it was my first MMO, so everything about it was new, and I fooled myself into thinking that Blizzard was actually giving me a good value for my $15 a month. After 1 year, the blinder came off, and I realized how much money I wasted in a game that gave very little value each month. They kept on making new content for the hardcore very small minority, and not for the majority of the players.

So again, at this time there has never been an MMO that was actually worth $15 a month once I got over the newness of playing an MMO and had the blinders taken off.

Also, why pay $15 a month, when someone can play an MMO that is just as good, if not better, or nearly as good with no monthly fee? This is what ESO is up against.

Every 4 months I can get a brand new RPG that has a whole lot more content in it, then the the content created in any MMO in a 4 month period for the same price.

The subscription model isn't dying because people can't afford it, it is because they can get a better value for their money somewhere else.

Anybody who is actually surprised by this model change has been fooling themselves, and have not been keeping up with the MMO industry at all.

Cody

The moment I see even ONE weapon in this "crown store" I will leave and go back to the MMO everyone hates.

eisberg

mamericus wrote: »

Kilandros wrote: »

In point of fact Sage or Firor explicitly said they would kill the game before shifting from a sub model.

Could you please provide a quote for this?

I have seen that comment made many times, no one as of yet has actually linked to the quote. I doubt it was actually said. And it wouldn't matter anyways, that is what he felt (and really is a throw away comment to begin with if it actually was said), doesn't mean his bosses are going to let him kill the game =D

Dragath

OP, nice post, even though it wont change anything and you wont get anything of the stuff you hope for.
This Game will be released on Consoles. I am not sure if you know what that means.
B2P is the ONLY way to do it for Zenimax, but that is just the beginning.
If you knew the demographic of console Players, the usual market analysis and how to cater to them, you would pull your hair out.
If they want to make money this way, they need to have console content, which means easy accessable and flashy. same goes for ingame items, it wont take too long till a lot of stuff is classified as "convenience".

Breg_Magol

Buck wrote: »

roechacca wrote: »

They didn't even plan on buying us drinks before this ...

and the part that makes me feel dirty is that I paid for it. /shame

Breg_Magol wrote: »

LOL ... it's hilarity central seeing this much angst about a business model for a game!

The planet's in a spin, REAL people are dying, 1.5 billion people on the planet have no electricity ... and the OP is Pleading for CLEMENCY?<GROAN>

Guy's go out and get some fresh air .. bottle some pickled cabbage, or ride a bike or something .. I don't know .. just do something to elevate this thing you call living from the sad morass of a pit you're typing from!

Here .. read this -> http://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/2tasw7/afraid_that_the_community_will_take_a_nosedive/ good advice that is!

Remember. The cup is ALWAYS half full, and you ain't dead yet, so don't waste it.

Cheers, with love!

...lol nevermind. Moving on but do you find it odd you found time to spend in this thread... and not in GAME or saving the world?

Why should I find it odd ... it's raining cats and dogs here ... and I'm about to go an a road trip in an hour or so ... so thought I'd while away some time ... but I see I've touched a raw nerve ... and well ... that's funny too <evil grin>.

And my friend .. I already DO spend a large portion of my life toil to save the world .. I'm a flippin' saint I am ... heheh.

novusprimeb14_ESO

Kraven wrote: »

Kilandros wrote: »

In point of fact Sage or Firor explicitly said they would kill the game before shifting from a sub model.

^This. Which means from the ground up the company is just straight full of ***.

I have a email from zos, saying they would never do this. you need to under stand tho, there not making any money,

and there you have to have PlayStation plus crap to play on console , well that's another bad idea there prob have some deal worked out with Sony , were they get x amount of money off it , prop trying to cash out you know before the game flops.
just a guess. but you never bee able to prove it.

Vahrokh

Kraven wrote: »

Matt Firor, "Charging a flat monthly (or subscription) fee means that we will offer players the game we set out to make, and the one that fans want to play. Going with any other model meant that we would have to make sacrifices and changes we weren’t willing to make.”

“Our fans are our biggest inspiration, and we’ve listened to their feedback on the entertainment experience they want,” said Matt Firor

There is just no justifying it any longer. I call Bull ***.

I support what you are trying to say. However, at this point they've stopped listening, if they ever listened in the first place.

This is just a case of "no hard feelings, just business".
From the closed beta players feedback ZoS knew their failure to deliver a finished product would have hit their bottom line a lot.
Yet they needed a predictable income in order both to pay (portions of) the 300M debt they made and to know well how many developers could be hired to scramble and add some late content to the game.

The best way to have dependable, predictable income is to require a subscription. For as long as possible, for as long as enough players accepted and paid for the obvious shortcomings and lack of content.

With that money they could not only deliver some content patches but also re-factor the whole game for a cash shop model (coding it is not an easy or cheap or quick process, it takes months).

This plan has been going on for a while, when I unsubbed in November I got a questionary asking stuff including what I'd think about going F2P. It was not a secret.

Now they seem to have finished the cash shop and the amounts of subs tanked enough to require F2P to see enough players online. So here we go: F2P mode = On.

Valen_Byte

OP, this is probably the most well thought out, well written, heartfelt post I have ever read on these forums. You managed to capture, not only how I think, but also how it makes me feel. You have also done a fantastic job of rationally rebuking the trolls.

As for the trolls, I would not expect them to understand. They are not ES fans. The are MMO players. The only reason they are here is to play the 'newest' MMO.

I think you and I, and many others who are disheartened, feel this way because we not only love this game, but the company who created it. To those who see this as just another game, our sentiments seem silly.

My main concern is that this will hurt the ES fan base, and that the damage could spread much further than TESO. Gammers tend to hold grudges. If a company does them wrong, they tend to shy away from anything the try to produce in the future. EA is a perfect example.

Vyle_Byte

I definitely agree @Valen_Byte, of all the posts of the recent news, OP has really captured how I feel. Explains precisely my thoughts on the matter. I am trying hard not to be negative about it and I will not just walk away at this point.

However, I am disheartened and I fear for the integrity of the game, of the community. I am not holding my breath in hopes that this will do the game good, am fully prepared for the $hitstorm to come. We will look back on these days as the last of what was an amazing game, guarantee it.

mamericus

Thanks @Valen_Byte‌ and @Vyle_Byte‌ for your support in this.

Naivefanboi

ditto

alainjbrennanb16_ESO

If this action destroys the game I will no longer buy bethesda games. To date I have the all. I will go out of my way to cause the company to destroy and no longer be

stewhead2ub17_ESO

Wow...this is just sad. The OP is way to wrapped up in this (as are quite a few people on these forums) It's a FREAKING GAME! Some people prattle on like they were betrayed by their wives. It's ok to be angry. It's ok to cancel your sub if you choose. But this just looks like it's affecting your life waaaaaay too much.

Elsonso

stewhead2ub17_ESO wrote: »

Wow...this is just sad. The OP is way to wrapped up in this (as are quite a few people on these forums) It's a FREAKING GAME! Some people prattle on like they were betrayed by their wives. It's ok to be angry. It's ok to cancel your sub if you choose. But this just looks like it's affecting your life waaaaaay too much.

You are correct in that it is a game.

People get invested in games, like pets or teddy bears, and it is sad when they are no longer around.

Tandor

Kevingway wrote: »

Game companies profit from the PS4 and Xbone sub fees too, remember. That could have easily replaced the standard ESO sub fee while simultaneously keeping the sub fee for PCs.

You're kidding. We all know what the response would have been on this board if PC players were required to maintain subscriptions while the console players got the game for free - and that is how it would have been portrayed.

Valen_Byte

Tandor wrote: »

Kevingway wrote: »

Game companies profit from the PS4 and Xbone sub fees too, remember. That could have easily replaced the standard ESO sub fee while simultaneously keeping the sub fee for PCs.

You're kidding. We all know what the response would have been on this board if PC players were required to maintain subscriptions while the console players got the game for free - and that is how it would have been portrayed.

I would have scrapped consoles, instead of making this move. Plenty of MMOs are PC only.

Sylvyr

stewhead2ub17_ESO wrote: »

Wow...this is just sad. The OP is way to wrapped up in this (as are quite a few people on these forums) It's a FREAKING GAME! Some people prattle on like they were betrayed by their wives. It's ok to be angry. It's ok to cancel your sub if you choose. But this just looks like it's affecting your life waaaaaay too much.

Pretty judgmental there.

Anything you're passionate about? If so what makes it better than this? If so, why aren't you doing that and not this?

Get off your high horse and go do that instead of digging on an avid gamer making a great post. Jesus.