Official Discussion Thread for "The Road Ahead - February"

ZOS_JasonLeavey

This is the official discussion thread for the web article "The Road Ahead - February."

Read the latest update from Game Director Matt Firor about the future of ESO!

Denaia

Link doesn't work atm.

Wicked_Wolf

Did I read this right? We are getting 1500 crown points a month as subscribers?

ZOS_JasonLeavey

It should be up and running now, @Denaia. Some users were experiencing a cache issue, but check again and let us know!

WyndStryke

Fixed, thanks

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO

Im happy that there is some leeway in the whole must be subbed from april to march thing. 300 days is fair.

Garbrac

"[...] we'll almost certainly have experience boost potions in the store at some point [...] you still have the choice of purchasing them with crowns or in-game gold"

Will alchemist also be able to make better versions of these pots which is why they can be bought for gold or are you saying, we can buy select items from the crown store with in-game gold? I sure hope you mean Alchemist can make them. Why have a potion in the game that is non-existent to those who've mastered the way of Herbs and Spices?

Lord_Draevan

Removed, question was answered further on in the article.

Mouseattigan1

Hey dev's, I have three questions that weren't really answered.

1.) Will you be continuing with the loyalty program or is it getting scrapped?
1a.) If it is getting scrapped, what is the reason for this move? Are you replacing it with something else? Loyalty programs have always proven to be neat gimmicks.

2.) Why is the rewards program towards subscribers who subscribed during specific dates? Shouldn't it be a static number of days subscribed? The model that ESO uses... doesn't really make much sense. It can create a brand of elitism that doesn't make for good times.
This is basically how it feels:
"Oh look, I was subscribed during this time of the year!"
"And I wasn't because I'm poor, but wanted to be."
"Oh well! You lost out!"
It makes both my wife and I feel a bit of buyers remorse. Every time we see the Dwemer Sphere, and now every time we will see the Striped Senche, we're going to remember that we couldn't afford to be subscribed during arbitrary dates and times.
2a.) I understand time-limited rewards, or special items gained only through specific events or being handed out by developers, but since it's masquerading as a loyalty program, those of us who *are* loyal are feeling left out for what we likely feel as punishment for not paying.

3.) Will it be possible to earn the striped Senche in some other way? Both my wife and I have been with ESO from the beginning and before, during beta testing. But because we didn't have the money to pay for a subscription consistently, we're a fair bit short of earning that reward, as well as the other rewards. We don't want it given to us, but we do wish we had some way to earn these things.
3a.) a compromise would be that the loyalty system would still remain in place, but it would take twice as long to earn the Senche tiger as those getting it now. (say, 600 days subscribed versus 300 days.)

Garbrac

Lord_Draevan wrote: »

Removed, question was answered further on in the article.

Do you meet these requirements? (it requires a bit of math that I'm too lazy to do for you)

You are an active ESO subscriber when we transition to Tamriel Unlimited.
You have paid for 300 total days of subscription time (non-consecutive), prior to March 16th.

Since April 4 2014 to March 17th 2015, there will have been 347 days. If you were unsubbed for 48 days you will not qualify.

Yandros

Yay, Striped Senche (giant cat) mount ..... Nice :-)

Lord_Draevan

Oh, so 1.6 is going live in February? Nice!

"That's it for this month's Road Ahead – with 1.6 going live in February..."

Rosveen

• You are an active ESO subscriber when we transition to Tamriel Unlimited.
• You have paid for 300 total days of subscription time (non-consecutive), prior to March 16th.

Just so we're totally clear, you mean 300 days already passed, right? Because "paid for" technically includes also any days remaining after the transition, which you bought before March 16th.

edit: Alternatively, I can't English. It all depends on which part of the sentence "prior to" refers to.

Mouseattigan1

Rosveen wrote: »

• You are an active ESO subscriber when we transition to Tamriel Unlimited.
• You have paid for 300 total days of subscription time (non-consecutive), prior to March 16th.

Just so we're totally clear, you mean 300 days already passed, right? Because "paid for" technically refers also to any days remaining after the transition, which you bought before March 16th.

I would prefer that they meant 'paid for'. If so, I might be able to earn the reward by buying an extra 90 days of game time.

nimander99

Kind of a bummer that I cant get those items since I've only been subbed since august... hey I have a great idea, for everyone who keeps their subs active through the switch to unlimited we should still have the chance to earn the later items! Seriously please consider this...

Darkeus

no news about a patch: new zone, skills, stuff or something? oh man... how about options to remake our chars apereances? like hair and other details...

Rosveen

Garbrac wrote: »

Lord_Draevan wrote: »

Removed, question was answered further on in the article.

Do you meet these requirements? (it requires a bit of math that I'm too lazy to do for you)

You are an active ESO subscriber when we transition to Tamriel Unlimited.
You have paid for 300 total days of subscription time (non-consecutive), prior to March 16th.

Since April 4 2014 to March 17th 2015, there will have been 347 days. If you were unsubbed for 48 days you will not qualify.

Do the first 30 days count? They never did for other loyalty rewards. If not, then with 5 days we all got in May that leaves 13 day leeway.

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO

Rosveen wrote: »

Garbrac wrote: »

Lord_Draevan wrote: »

Removed, question was answered further on in the article.

Do you meet these requirements? (it requires a bit of math that I'm too lazy to do for you)

You are an active ESO subscriber when we transition to Tamriel Unlimited.
You have paid for 300 total days of subscription time (non-consecutive), prior to March 16th.

Since April 4 2014 to March 17th 2015, there will have been 347 days. If you were unsubbed for 48 days you will not qualify.

Do the first 30 days count? They never did for other loyalty rewards. If not, then with 5 days we all got in May that leaves 13 day leeway.

They said from april to march. if april didnt count they woudlnt have mentioned it.

Grinwhrl

***, I'm 270 days, a month short of 300, little bit pissed off now. They should include us beta players to this as well to offset it a bit.

Mouseattigan1

nking.ldb16_ESO wrote: »

***, I'm 270 days, a month short of 300, little bit pissed off now. They should include us beta players to this as well to offset it a bit.

My wife and I are at 240. Financial reasons kept us from subscribing, but we were both beta players. It makes us feel like we're being punished for not shelling out cash.

Garbrac

Rosveen wrote: »

Do the first 30 days count? They never did for other loyalty rewards. If not, then with 5 days we all got in May that leaves 13 day leeway.

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

They said from april to march. if april didnt count they woudlnt have mentioned it.

That's a good question, typically the free 30day does not get accounted to these types of loyalty rewards. He did state from April, but that could have been a mistake and he forgot about the 30days as well.

Perhaps a ZOS employee can shred some light on this.

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO

Come on guys they said at first no leeway. Now they letting people have a month and a half of non-sub. You have to draw the line someplace. If you go with 270 then what about people with 260? Then 250? So I think they have given enough leeway.

Grinwhrl

Mouseattigan1 wrote: »

nking.ldb16_ESO wrote: »

***, I'm 270 days, a month short of 300, little bit pissed off now. They should include us beta players to this as well to offset it a bit.

My wife and I are at 240. Financial reasons kept us from subscribing, but we were both beta players. It makes us feel like we're being punished for not shelling out cash.

Yeah I feel the same way now.

Mouseattigan1

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

Come on guys they said at first no leeway. Now they letting people have a month and a half of non-sub. You have to draw the line someplace. If you go with 270 then what about people with 260? Then 250? So I think they have given enough leeway.

The proper leeway would be to have a loyalty program that doesn't use arbitrary dates, where you can earn the items by subscribing for a set number of days, regardless of when you subscribed. *That* is a proper loyalty program. Loyalty is for how long you are subscribed, not when you are subscribed.

That's how they made it sound like it would be when it first came around. Not... this.

Voltos

Will we see Integrated Voice Chat for PC and Mac at some point? This would be a monumental improvement for group coordination across the board!

curlyqloub14_ESO

Awesome - some rewards I will actually use! So happy it's not more pets - thanks guys!

Mouseattigan1 wrote: »

I understand time-limited rewards, or special items gained only through specific events or being handed out by developers, but since it's masquerading as a loyalty program, those of us who *are* loyal are feeling left out for what we likely feel as punishment for not paying.

While I can certainly understand and sympathize with this sentiment, it's not really feasible for them to do it any other way than what they did. If they started making exceptions for cases such as yours, it would open the door to every disgruntled person who willfully un-subbed (not b/c of lack of funds) coming back and saying "Oh I couldn't afford it please give me the rewards". But on the bright side, there will most likely be other stuff you can get in the future. I *think* they have given out two rounds of six-month rewards now (or maybe three months?), so it wouldn't be a surprise if they gave out another round of tigers in another year (or so).

Grinwhrl

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

Come on guys they said at first no leeway. Now they letting people have a month and a half of non-sub. You have to draw the line someplace. If you go with 270 then what about people with 260? Then 250? So I think they have given enough leeway.

Anyone who subbed at the start and end transition should get something in my opinion, or at least 90 days worth and transition...

This kind of stuff is just going to *** more people off then do any good tbh.

Garbrac

I understand all the players who are missing the reward times by a few weeks or days.

I've always asked ZOS if the rewards were retroactive, as they should be BUT with a difference. There should be two versions of the reward, cosmetic differences. If you earned the reward without ultizing the retoactive scale you'd get the epic looking striped senche tiger shown in the post.

If you earned the reward after it was originally given out you still get the stripped Senche Tiger but visually it'd be different, perhaps the retroactive reward doesn't have the armour on the mount.

Now I know some people will still be upset about it, but there needs to be a way to set apart people who've earned things at different times. It's a status symbol in a way (yes I know it can be a form of elitism) but at the very least you'll still get your Senche Tiger. Plus the Elitism goes both ways, maybe the retroactive reward looks better and for those who really enjoy collecting pets it'll be a bit of a bummer to not have the two different colours, but at least you'll be able to say, "I got this because I've been in ESO since it began"

Wicked_Wolf

I totally understand that those who weren't in the specified timeframe are frustrated they can't get the rewards. But honestly, if you could, wouldn't it defeat the whole purpose of a loyalty reward to begin with? It's not really punishing you. It's a bonus for those who have subbed the entire time.

rotaugen454

They are already giving a month and a half of leeway, they have to draw the line somewhere.

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO

Mouseattigan1 wrote: »

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

Come on guys they said at first no leeway. Now they letting people have a month and a half of non-sub. You have to draw the line someplace. If you go with 270 then what about people with 260? Then 250? So I think they have given enough leeway.

The proper leeway would be to have a loyalty program that doesn't use arbitrary dates, where you can earn the items by subscribing for a set number of days, regardless of when you subscribed. *That* is a proper loyalty program. Loyalty is for how long you are subscribed, not when you are subscribed.

That's how they made it sound like it would be when it first came around. Not... this.

The loyalty program and this senche mount are two different things. The loyalty program is ending but this mount is not part of that. Its an exclusive mount for people subbed 300 days. One time deal not like the other stuff.