Would you pay $25 a month for ESO if ALL micro-transactions were removed?

Aeslief

The question itself is flawed - there is nothing ‘micro’ about ESO’s cash shop transactions.

dan958

Other - How much would you?

I used to buy ESO Plus when it was a requirement (and still do when it is optional), and I would be happy to continue to pay for it. However, $25 a month may be pushing it.

If it had a negative impact on the userbase numbers, I wouldn't want this change either.

Violynne

Heck no, no way!

I would not pay $25/mo for this game, transactions or not. This game would have to be significantly improved before asking for this monthly fee.

ZoS' decision to turn the game F2P was an unwise one, in my opinion. If the majority of players are taking advantage of the services used to allow their characters (8, in many cases) to be part of the world, then compensation for this service should be made.

The trade-off is the store, and it's clearly a viable alternative to generate revenue which makes up for the lost subscription base. Despite this, I still don't believe this is a sustainable model, as every other attempt at doing so has failed in the long run.

I'm quite sure ZoS knows this, which is why they're constantly updating the store. "Give 'em what they want!" works and will continue to work as long as people find value in playing the game.

The new outfit system has probably given ZoS a massive influx of revenue. This was actually a great implementation: allow players to use gold or buy tokens from the store. I'd venture to say far more bought tokens than used in game gold (I know I did, because tokens don't buy motifs or goods).

ZoS will continue to try different things. Some good, some bad. But as long as they're trying, I see this as a good thing.

But not for $25/mo.

brtomkin

Heck no, no way!

Why would a player paying $0 a month want to start paying?

whiteshadow711jppreub18_ESO

Yes, of course!

I would Pay but it's way too late..

sevomd69

Heck no, no way!

So...in other words...I would be "forced" to pay more monthly to get rid of something that was optional for me to pay for?

DieAlteHexe

Heck no, no way!

Why would I do that? It's optional (Crown Store). I'm not in favour of upping the sub price to get rid of something that's optional.

Nope.

dan958

Other - How much would you?

sevomd69 wrote: »

So...in other words...I would be "forced" to pay more monthly to get rid of something that was optional for me to pay for?

I was under the impression that in this hypothetical, it would mean that crown items would be just be included in the game free for everyone (things like mounts, costumes, not research cooldowns which would be removed totally etc) or just more development work put into other things rather than put into items intended for micro transactions.

sevomd69

Heck no, no way!

dan958 wrote: »

sevomd69 wrote: »

So...in other words...I would be "forced" to pay more monthly to get rid of something that was optional for me to pay for?

I was under the impression that in this hypothetical, it would mean that crown items would be free for everyone (things like mounts, costumes, not research cooldowns etc) or just more development work put into other things rather than put into items intended for micro transactions.

Still... I would be forced to pay more for my sub...for things that I may or may not want in the Crown Store...

Graydon

Yes, of course!

Yes $25 per month - absolutely!

Especially if that was enough to make ESO a subscription only model and rid this game of the cheap freeloading “OMG How dare you charge for DLC” riff raff from playing this game.

dan958

Other - How much would you?

sevomd69 wrote: »

dan958 wrote: »

sevomd69 wrote: »

So...in other words...I would be "forced" to pay more monthly to get rid of something that was optional for me to pay for?

I was under the impression that in this hypothetical, it would mean that crown items would be free for everyone (things like mounts, costumes, not research cooldowns etc) or just more development work put into other things rather than put into items intended for micro transactions.

Still... I would be forced to pay more for my sub...for things that I may or may not want in the Crown Store...

That entirely depends on what happens in the hypothetical. If by paying a forced subscription, it means that there is more/better content (actual game content quests, locations, dungeons etc, not crown store items), then that is the trade-off.

Asardes

Heck no, no way!

The micro-transactions system for purely cosmetic items is fine, since it gives people a choice of not buying them. I never buy cosmetic items outright let alone random crates, but I have nothing against people who want to pay extra for them, since it's entirely their choice how they spend their money. I only opened the 2-3 free crates available for subscribing every couple of months, and, as of Dragon Bones also for leveling characters and got a few pets and mounts I haven't used. I only subscribe for the access to DLCs, double bank space, crafting bag and other minor perks, and I consider $15/month to be at the upper limit of I would pay for a game. Although that's a negligible percentage of my monthly income, I cannot help it but be real stingy. I've only decided to subscribe relatively late, after playing for almost 2 years without those perks, after careful consideration of the advantages. Paying more for something that I don't use, to the toon of extra $10 a month would be a total waste and would make me cancel my subscription and cut my play time drastically.

vamp_emily

This is what I suggest:

- Get rid of the freeloaders
- Everyone pay 15 dollars a month sub ( lower the cost in some countries )
- Give an option to buy crown crates or crown store items with gold or cash
- Lower the prices of items in crown store

Streega

Heck no, no way!

Aeslief wrote: »

The question itself is flawed - there is nothing ‘micro’ about ESO’s cash shop transactions.

And, as @sevomd69 said, why would I pay more to get something that is now optional for me to pay for?

What I want is Crown Store with REASONABLE prices, not inventory clogged with items I don't need/want to, or predatory Crown Crates. My 20k+ crowns I didn't spend on overpriced stuff is still waiting btw.

IndianaGeoff

I am not offended with people making silly purchases for marginal gains. I do spring for eso plus since I can't imagine not having the crafting bag. So no.

dennissomb16_ESO

Have paid 15 a month in wow since beginning and have never used their cash shops. Paid 0 dollars a month in GW2 for 3 years and never used their cash shops. 25 dollars a month just seems unreasonably high.

The biggest difference in the above games however is every 2 years (give or take) you do need to purchase a real expansion for about 40-50 dollars which is different then ESO model

Serjustin19

Other - How much would you?

Let me see, 1St time moving out soon. Having roommate hopefully. Split cost of bills and food. Finding 2 part time jobs, without a car. I'll say around $1, I'll gladly pay. No more above that, less I can handle.

Sparr0w

£25 per month for a craft bag... hmmm

Smokewood

Yes, of course!

myskyrim26 wrote: »

Hey OP, if you cant's afford Crown Store items and Crates, just pass by. I can't afford Lexus. But I'm not making stupid polls because of it.

lol - I could buy as many as I please my friend... however I won't ever buy one on principle alone.

The reason I created this poll, although I didn't word it clearly enough, was to show WHY we DO have Micro-transactions.
Just look at the poll and read the comments. MOST people want the game to have a flat fee to buy, and then have everything included for no additional charges.

DieAlteHexe

Heck no, no way!

Smokewood wrote: »

myskyrim26 wrote: »

Hey OP, if you cant's afford Crown Store items and Crates, just pass by. I can't afford Lexus. But I'm not making stupid polls because of it.

lol - I could buy as many as I please my friend... however I won't ever buy one on principle alone.

The reason I created this poll, although I didn't word it clearly enough, was to show WHY we DO have Micro-transactions.
Just look at the poll and read the comments. MOST people want the game to have a flat fee to buy, and then have everything included for no additional charges.

Not sure what you mean by the "...want the game to have a flat fee to buy". Do you mean actually purchasing the game and no further charges as content is released or were you more meaning from the Crown Store, e.g. no crates and everything in the store available for in-game gold?

Sorry, but I'm a bit confused now. TIA

Slurg

Heck no, no way!

Come on. It’s not like they would give us all the things in the crown store for a $25 monthly fee when they can make more selling it a la carte.

Now if I could have all the shiniest things for a flat fee, I might feel different about it.

Huyen

Other - How much would you?

13 euro's like it used to be.

Kodrac

Heck no, no way!

Nope. $15 is pushing it already.

snailbrick

Heck no, no way!

vamp_emily wrote: »

This is what I suggest:

- Get rid of the freeloaders
- Everyone pay 15 dollars a month sub ( lower the cost in some countries )
- Give an option to buy crown crates or crown store items with gold or cash
- Lower the prices of items in crown store

I'm curious if I'm considered a freeloader if I've bought the game initially for around $25, then paid for crowns and used them to buy every DLC (Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Orsinium, All Dungeon DLCS), I also bought Morrowind, and preordered Summerset. However, I don't subscribe to ESO Plus. First, I don't want to feel obligated to play the game if something comes up. If I pay per month I feel like I must get on every single day or I'm wasting a lot of money.

I also don't want to spend the $15 a month for the crafting bag. I'd be willing to spend $1 to gain access to the crafting bag for a day maybe. DLC the crafting bag, I'll also pay 5,000-10,000 crowns for it, or even include some ultra-ultra rares to find in the game to make a crafting bag(Doesn't have to be unlimited, just a higher capacity then what we have with a non ESO+ account. Give us something to work towards(They did help us out with the new storage crates and would be nice if they would keep expanding on this).

That's over $200 I've spent on the game. I hardly call that freeloading. My guess is ZOS just couldn't convince enough players on launch to constitute a mandatory subscription model. They are the ones who chose to go down this path of letting people not have to sub monthly. Honestly, if I was required to sub monthly I wouldn't play the game any more. I would imagine a similar sentiment out of many people.

You have several different types of players. You have the "Take as much of my money as you possibly can" type of player. This type of person is willing to pay a $15 monthly sub + pay over $100 for each new release content + spend hundreds of dollars on crates and crowns to get all homes, costumes, mounts, etc. Then you have the extreme cheapo who buys the game for $9.99 on a steam sale and plays through the base game content they have access to and abandons the game after that. They may hope that they get grandfathered freely into new future content, but they don't go out of their way to purchase any extra content/crowns. Then you have the players like me who bought the game for around $25, have bought around $100 in crowns to buy DLC, bought Morrowind with cash, bought Summerset with cash, but do not sub to ESO+. One last type of player is the player who subs to ESO+, buys Morrowind/Summerset, and spends a little bit here and there on extra crowns.

ZOS is able to make some type of profit on each one of those players. It's worth taking the chance on a new player for only $9.99 when that player may eventually stay around and spend hundreds of dollars on the game. They may never spend another dime, lowering the price during sales is a loss of revenue they are willing to take in order to gather new players who may generate tons of revenue in the future.

I'm not knocking anyone who wants to pay for ESO+. On the low side if you prepay for 6 months you will spend $155.88 per year. If you prefer to go month to month you will pay $179.88. This is on top of new additions like Morrowind/Summerset, etc. You will easily be spending well over $200 per year before even thinking about purchasing any extra crowns for cosmetic stuff, if that's your thing. I'm simply saying its a bit unaffordable for me to lock that much money down on one game.

Before they started this current cat and mouse game of changing back and forth with not accepting crowns and accepting crowns for certain content, the most affordable way to play the game was to buy crowns(on sale if possible) and purchase the DLC outright. Now they are wavering back and forth, first you can't buy Morrowind with Crowns(it's not DLC remember ) then all the sudden they turn on a dime and you can buy Morrowind with crowns. Extremely frustrating, not to mention a betrayal to long time players who trusted them and still purchased Morrowind with cash when they made the business model shift when Morrowind came out.

I simply loathe the mentality from some people that anyone who is not an ESO+ Sub and buying tons of extra crowns, etc., is not supporting the game and helping ZOS to keep the ship afloat. This is an arrogant attitude. Many of us who haven't ever subbed have in reality spent hundreds of dollars on the game. Some people simply can't afford the extra $155-180 bucks a year on top of new release content, or they just don't think its worth spending the extra money. It doesn't make them "freeloaders."

mike_skleinub17_ESO

Every game has Micros now. I simply don't buy that stuff because most of it i'll never use for more than a few days. If even that.

I see it for the cash grab that it is. There are some things that I do want (like the Banker) that I'm saving up for. And then of course a real house of some sort instead of those tavern stalls I have now

karekiz

Heck no, no way!

Funny part this was tested in Everquest with the legends server <Stormhaven IIRC>, if anyone looks up that OLD server or knows about it.

It didn't last. Turns out jacking up the price on your product only attracts a niche audience.

DeadlyRecluse

Heck no, no way!

130 bucks a year (sub+chapter) already feels pretty freaking stiff, though when I do the math it's a good value on the entertainment hours I get.

300 bucks a year? that's a hard pass.

GimpyPorcupine

Other - How much would you?

Can we edit the title of this thread to "Does your perceived moral superiority require you to protect others from making choices you disagree with?" since that's kind of what you're asking?

ProfesseurFreder

Heck no, no way!

I do not "rent" software. Ever. I won't play WOW because of "subscription" fees (it's called extortion, people) and I would drop ESO in a nanosecond if I was forced to pony up to play software that I already own. I don't mind the Crown Store in the slightest, and I always buy the DLC outright when it comes out. That's fair, and that's how I roll.

EvilCroc

Heck no, no way!

$25 for the game without new shiny mounts and costumes?
NO WAY.