Maintenance for the week of October 12:
• PC/Mac: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 12, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 8:00AM EDT (12:00 UTC)
• Xbox One: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 14, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 9:00AM EDT (13:00 UTC)
• PlayStation®4: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 14, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 9:00AM EDT (13:00 UTC)
• PC/Mac: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 12, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 8:00AM EDT (12:00 UTC)
• Xbox One: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 14, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 9:00AM EDT (13:00 UTC)
• PlayStation®4: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 14, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 9:00AM EDT (13:00 UTC)
The Markarth DLC and Update 28 base game patch are now available to test on the PTS! Read the full patch notes here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/categories/pts/
Another $0.02 regarding the B2P announcement
daemonios
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First, and to get this out of the way, I have to say I'm disappointed and feel betrayed by ZOS. I played during the last 2 betas, bought the imperial edition and subscribed since early access. This is not what I signed up for.
I don't believe in free lunches. People who don't subscribe are either going to have to pay the same or more through the cash shop, or are going to be freeloaders subsidised by subscribers and/or heavy spenders in the cash shop. In-game cash shops are an abomination IMHO. They're like the perfect monopoly: the developer alone decides supply and, to a large extent, demand (by determining the in-game utility of items in the shop). It's a complete dummy market.
That said, today's announcement wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. They promised to keep the cash shop aimed exclusively at vanity content (pets, costumes) that don't alter game mechanics, or convenience items (soul gems, pots) that are weaker than player-created alternatives.
As it is, I don't intend to unsubscribe. However, my trust in ZOS is running very thin. They have reneged on prior commitments several times (the business model is one, the xp tracking for champion point award is another, though in the latter case they've tried to make good on their promise in the end). At the same time, they have failed to address major issues that hurt the game: performance in Cyrodiil, miscellaneous bugs such as random infinite losing screens or inability to interact with doors and other objects, skill/weapon swap responsiveness, class balancing...
I sincerely hope this new model will bring in more players and more money, and that this money is used to polish the rough edges still in the game, as well as to develop new content. Bit I am very sceptical that it will work like this for a very long time. The tendency in non-subscriber games is to have much slower development times. Players lose interest and leave. Developers must make money and therefore start forcing players to use the cash shop for essential items.
I guess we'll have to wait and see. We still have 2 months of the "classic" ESO. After that, it's anybody's guess what happens. What I do know is that if I do much as smell a bit of pay-to-win in their model, I'm out.
I don't believe in free lunches. People who don't subscribe are either going to have to pay the same or more through the cash shop, or are going to be freeloaders subsidised by subscribers and/or heavy spenders in the cash shop. In-game cash shops are an abomination IMHO. They're like the perfect monopoly: the developer alone decides supply and, to a large extent, demand (by determining the in-game utility of items in the shop). It's a complete dummy market.
That said, today's announcement wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. They promised to keep the cash shop aimed exclusively at vanity content (pets, costumes) that don't alter game mechanics, or convenience items (soul gems, pots) that are weaker than player-created alternatives.
As it is, I don't intend to unsubscribe. However, my trust in ZOS is running very thin. They have reneged on prior commitments several times (the business model is one, the xp tracking for champion point award is another, though in the latter case they've tried to make good on their promise in the end). At the same time, they have failed to address major issues that hurt the game: performance in Cyrodiil, miscellaneous bugs such as random infinite losing screens or inability to interact with doors and other objects, skill/weapon swap responsiveness, class balancing...
I sincerely hope this new model will bring in more players and more money, and that this money is used to polish the rough edges still in the game, as well as to develop new content. Bit I am very sceptical that it will work like this for a very long time. The tendency in non-subscriber games is to have much slower development times. Players lose interest and leave. Developers must make money and therefore start forcing players to use the cash shop for essential items.
I guess we'll have to wait and see. We still have 2 months of the "classic" ESO. After that, it's anybody's guess what happens. What I do know is that if I do much as smell a bit of pay-to-win in their model, I'm out.