How much will you pay for a new DLC released each month?

ChaosWotan

@andreasv

Not only T&K but also other researchers like Stanovich for example. Anchoring experiments show that many people are highly susceptible to external influence, so just mentioning "$100" can in many cases be enough to raise the baseline for how much people are willing to pay for a DLC. But if they are reminded that a full game costs 50 bucks, they will think twice. However, if it has become acceptable to pay $100 for a single mount, then paying hundred bucks for a DLC is a bargain in comparison. But this discussion about anchoring and marketing tricks is off topic.

Still, I'm sincere when saying that I will pay $100 for a high-quality DLC, partly because I have gaming, and especially ESO, as a hobby. People pay for what they are interested in. Some pay $100 for a stamp.

I'm just curious about how much ESO is valued by other gamers in this forum. That's why I created this thread.

Danksta

ChaosWotan wrote: »

You guys seems to forget one thing: if ESO is going to release 1 map each month, or 3 maps in a bundle every quarter, it's a given that they need to hire much more people to do it. That's part of the premise, obviously. But see now that I should have made that clear from the beginning, in this hypothetical scenario.


@Danksta

All in all, Orsinium is a high-quality map compared to other mmo maps today. Though the graphics in itself is not high -quality compared to BF1 maps for example.


@disintegr8

You pay for a new DLC when you get there, so it's no hurry, play when you want to.


Finally, saying that the question is unrealistic is not actually relevant, because:

1) it can in fact be realized with a large staff of devs, and

2) the purpose of the OP is just to very roughly get some feedback about how many in this forum are "binge gamers" willing to pay to get a steady supply of game content that makes it possible to finish the main content of a monthly DLC by playing it 2 hours a day, on average, during four weeks.

The graphics were the best part about Orsinium, even with those stupid dummy trees they've since got rid of. The performance there is garbage, people on XB1 were told not to go there or risk losing their character. That's not exactly what I'd call high quality.

ChaosWotan

@Flaminir

The last section of my post you are referring to was not meant as a reply to you specifically, that's why I had double spacing between my reply to you and that last section. But sorry for the misunderstanding that caused. (Btw, if I remember correctly you were/are guild leader of Unholy Legacy, right? It was the first guild I joined in late 2014 )

@Danksta

Have only played Orsinium on a high-end gaming rig. Have always worked fine for me, though it can sometimes have more micro-stuttering than other maps. I just mentioned Orsinium to give people a rough idea about what I meant when saying "high quality".

MasterSpatula

Dude, you can't ask people how they feel about something and then get smug and dismissive of everyone who thinks it's a bad idea or just wouldn't work. "How much would you pay for this?" is asking for a value judgment, and you thus opened up discussions you seem quite frustrated to be having.

I get it. You think X is cool; how much we would we be willing to pay for X? I disagree that X is cool. I don't think it's feasible. You want me to ignore feasibility, embrace "if," and imagine ZOS can throw as much money and dev man-hours at it as such a project requires.

And I say you can't just dismiss feasibility on a question like this. It's not just a question of money. The amount of man-hours a project like this would take would require an enormous number of developers. You start getting into "too many cooks" territory. Creative decisions are spread among too many people. There's no sense of focus. No clear direction. Contradictions creep into the storytelling. The game becomes disjointed and inconsistent. Quality suffers. Play suffers.

You want us to ignore feasibility and just play by the rules of the hypothetical you've set forth. But the premise of your question seems flawed to me, and it's nonsensical to expect me to ignore that.

Also, when you say you've "refuted [my] arguments," you're ignoring the fact that you haven't addressed my point that what you're proposing is simply too much content for most players to keep up with. And that's important, too.

Mettaricana

15$ amonth using eso plus they get enough money for zero content and fixes

CapnPhoton

Not much. If it actually came out as frequently as once per month it would be just something thrown together. Plus putting it all together would like a sweat shop. There would have to be a lot more dev teams and work on several at a time to pull something like that off or else it isn't very good. There is a lot that goes into an add on.

Vasoka

ChaosWotan wrote: »

My limit is still $300 each quarter.

Hehe-..I'm sorry, what?

Dracofyre

Basic DCL 19.95, and collector edition no more than 29.95/or 34.95, not higher.

if cost more than that, not many would pay up and considered cash grab if contents are too shallow and not what players wanted. no one like weak mounds or pets, or having some classes get nerfed, and they will throw up pitchforks and torches, or maybe call Negan if he is crazy enough.

not 1 per month, that too much and too soon, i would say 3-4 months, devs need time and to fine tune,

ChaosWotan

Many here are still not answering the actual question in the OP, so have now updated it with the following clarification:

"When replying please keep in mind that I'm not asking: "is it realistic that ESO, in it's current state, can produce a new DLC each month?" The only question here is: If a high-quality DLC is created each month, how much will you pay for it?

For example, if new technology in the next five years makes it possible to release a high quality DLC each month, how much are you willing to pay for it?

Or if ESO hires enough staff, and spend a year creating a series of 12 maps, with the same basic design structure and main storyline, before releasing each map once a month the next year (while the devs create a new series of 12 maps to be released the next year after that again) how much will you pay for each map (DLC) in this series?

So in this hypothetical scenario do you personally value ESO enough to pay 20, 40, 50, 75 or 100 bucks for example if a high-quality DLC is indeed released each month?

And take into consideration that it will prb cost a lot to produce monthly DLCs, so buying each DLC will be more expensive than just paying for one DLC each quarter."

Smmokkee

No.


Hell no.

ChaosWotan

@Smmokkee

A clear and simple answer, tnx

deleted008293

15$ Maybe. But 6 DLCs a year. Not 12. 2 like Orsinium or Morrowind and 4 like Gold Coast or Hews Bane. But to be honest? I will be against it.

You can't complete that much content that fast. Keep in mind that not every player play 4-6+ hours a day to be able to finish the content so fast. Also keep in mind that you can have up to 14 characters?
It is hard enough to create content already.
- You have to design it, come with the ideas, concepts etc.
- Then you have to build the world and assets.
- Then the audio part.
- Then introducing the gameplay aspects and furnish the content.
- Then the testing phase.
All the above takes lots of time and resources. There is no way you can provide high quality content in such a short term unless you spend a looot of money. But... lets say you do. How many players will be able to buy it then?

colig

This strategy would scare me even further from the game. It would look like the developer is churning out content at far too rapid a pace for players to enjoy and the abundance of changes any new sets or game modes introduced would make the meta even more unstable. Imagine grinding out a new set and having it go obsolete in two months.

For the purposes of answering your question, the answer would be zero.

ChaosWotan

@colig

"Imagine grinding out a new set and having it go obsolete in two months."

But that is not a high-quality gaming experience, and therefore not part of the premises of this hypotethical discussion. As mentioned earlier in this thread:

"20-40 bucks is reasonable compared to how much other games costs, but is that really the highest you are willing to go if each monthly DLC is good enough to maintain the same passion for the game you had the first six months you played it?"


@nordmarian

If a DLC takes 60 hours to finish, you "only" have to play 2 hours each day for a month, not 4-6 hours a day.

colig

ChaosWotan, I think it is best you lay all your cards on the table and define what each DLC is expected to contain. The number of sets, dungeons, delves, trials, skill lines, game modes, classes, houses, lore books and anything else that contributes to player desirability.

Otherwise it seems like you keep moving the goalposts and wasting everyone's time here.

Edit: grinding new gear upon release of new content is normal, regardless of quality.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

ChaosWotan wrote: »

My willingness to pay $100, simply because I can afford it, is way beyond average, but just paying a sub to get a high-quality DLC every month is far below reasonable. Creating DLCs costs money after all.

...What exactly do you think you pay for that sub with?

disintegr8 wrote: »

Brand new content on a monthly basis is nigh on impossible for every software vendor. You need time for ideas, concepts, design, planning, coding, testing, beta testing, release and review. This can not all happen in one month for brand new content.

Definitely not in a month. If they tried monthly content again (some of you may recall they tried the 'new content every ~6 weeks' thing back at the initial launch and dropped it as infeasible) then they'd probably have twelve or so teams working in parallel, and just try to set them up so they finish one after the other.

If they managed a schedule like that, in spite of it already having failed for them once, then I would probably go back to subbing and if not, I still wouldn't pay more than the equivalent of the sub fee for each DLC. And there are probably DLCs I would skip; they can churn out dungeon DLCs once a week and I still won't care about them. They'd also more likely get fewer players per DLC if they made them that fast; being content starved is going to make people less picky about what they play, as long as it's new.

Khenarthi

I'm happy to pay up to 20€ per month on computer games. That's why I subscribe to ESO+ and will buy crowns occasionally for extra costumes.

ChaosWotan

@colig

When I talk about "high quality" simply assume it doesn't include the worst aspects of the game today, like excessive gear grinding, long loading screens, or lag for instance. High quality means a game that actually has good performance, nice graphics, and a good story line. What will you pay for that?

colig

ChaosWotan wrote: »

@colig

When I talk about "high quality" simply assume it doesn't include the worst aspects of the game today, like excessive gear grinding, long loading screens, or lag for instance. High quality means a game that actually has good performance, nice graphics, and a good story line. What will you pay for that?

So basically you're asking us what would we pay in an utopian world completely divorced from reality.

Thanks, this hypothetical is definitely a waste of time.

Agobi

15 € ...same as I am paying now for close to no content added every month

brandonv516

LOL $1200 a year for this game OP? Oh but if you subscribe you get it for $15 a month (DLC is inclusive). Didn't think that one through huh?

Demycilian

Nothing much. But I would spend extra on ZOS if they just committed to game polishing/bug fixes for couple months. Like ridding the game of animation canceling/refining combat system, bug fixes all over the place, implementing a decent trade system, doing some soulsearching on lorefriendly develompement (like NOT flooding AD with EP toons as happened in One Tamriel) etc. I feel the game would profit from that much more than just pumping out new content. Whats the hurry, we got time.

One can dream.

ChaosWotan

@colig

You would have used less time if you had just mentioned a number, like "$20", instead of wasting time on discussing the value of hypotheticals

But from the response so far it seems like there is no market for monthly releases (that would have made it possible for the veterans of ESO, who have already finished the game more or less, to enjoy 2 hours a day of new rpg content).

Prof_Bawbag

Awwww poor little veterans. How will I sleep knowing they're not getting their 2 hours of new content a-day. Enough to bring a tear to a glass eye.