Free Deadlands DLC

Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo

Hvíthákarl wrote: »

Wait until ESO+ subscribers have to drop the sub due to unexpected bills or something like that and then we'll be talking. No one is "betraying" you lol, once you drop ESO+ you lose access to all of the DLCs you don't own so you basically get the chance of accessing Deadlands even if you have to unsubscribe for other reasons

If that's no enough, there are also a lot of rewards other than the DLC that people have conveniently forgotten. I wish more b2p MMORPGs were as generous as ESO lol

But you still need Blackwood either way, right? Just to get it straight and I'm not confusing myself or others.

Dark_Lord_Kuro

totzummrdave_ESO wrote: »

I just want to know what happened to the pony they promised us for watching today's cast.
Straight from the email I received a couple days ago:
"Get an exclusive look at the fiery conclusion to the year-long Gates of Oblivion saga! Plus, tune in for key announcements, upcoming in-game activities, and fun surprises! Watch on Twitch.tv/Bethesda at 4pm ET on 10/1 and earn a pet pony."
I watched, but so far no usele... erm pet.

Got mine durring the stream
Is your twitch account linked?

Mix

Hvíthákarl wrote: »

Wait until ESO+ subscribers have to drop the sub due to unexpected bills or something like that and then we'll be talking. No one is "betraying" you lol, once you drop ESO+ you lose access to all of the DLCs you don't own so you basically get the chance of accessing Deadlands even if you have to unsubscribe for other reasons

If that's no enough, there are also a lot of rewards other than the DLC that people have conveniently forgotten. I wish more b2p MMORPGs gave as much free stuff as ESO does lol

If I have unexpected bills to the degree that I have to not renew a sub (and I am on a tight budget) I don't think I will be worried about lost DLC access. For the sub the loss of bank space, craft bag and double furniture limit would impact my game far more than loss of DLC access. I probably would just take a break, maybe find a way to make some extra cash to pay those unexpected bills.

Elsonso

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

It may benefit you, and congrats, but how will that help ZOS?

FOMO. Buy Blackwood now and get the DLC at no additional cost, if we get to 100%, which we will.

They mystery served the purpose of getting 23k people to watch a stream that really had no additional information to present about the 4Q DLC. Calling it "year end" also served the purpose of getting 23k people to tune in. The pony... .the CD giveaway... all served that same purpose... to get people to the last marketing event for the year long story.

Based solely on observation, I would say that it was a success. If there are players that benefit from this, more of a success.

I've been an ESO Plus subscriber for years. I even have the Murkmire that they handed out for free. I can certainly be happy for the Blackwood owners who are not ESO Plus subscribers that will likely get to access the Gates of Oblivion content finale. Deadlands, like Murkmire, simply won't be part of ESO Plus, and I am fine with that. This is not a sign of the Apocalypse. As an added bonus, more people will be able to do Deadlands content.

RevJJ

Actually, I’ve changed my mind about the whole thing. Between the recent introduction of broken pvp sets, the pvp servers being an absolute joke and this, it’s time to cancel my ESO+. Thanks ZOS, the free DLC actually made that decision easier for me

wolfie1.0.

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Disturbed_One wrote: »

We can have differing opinions of the validity of what they're doing... as to whether they should or not... but they're not taking away anything from me. I, as a subscriber, LOSE NOTHING, and some other people get something. Personally, I'm okay with that, same as I am in the real world when those less fortunate get something, even if I would have benefited from it prior (such as my student loans statement earlier).

On top of this, you are not getting 1 less piece of DLC with the sub. Subbing is for renting and is separate from ownership. If you want to own the dlc, you have to spend the same amount of crowns as everyone else. And with this prize, that crown amount is zero.

An ESO+ rental is not the same thing as ownership. A person may have no desire to own when they plan to never stop renting, but that doesn't change that they chose not to buy. The gift changes the buy price NOT the rental.

People are acting like the value of the DLC being given is subtracting from the rental side, and that's just untrue. You can access this with rental still whether or not you feel like owning it too. That has not changed. It's a subtraction from the buy side and has no impact on your ability to access the dlc regardless if you chose to swoop this up from the crown store at 0 dollars or not.

You have to remember that in the state of modern video games that you don't "OWN" anything. You are paying for a license to use the software needed to access your account. They can stop that at any time. so really the difference is whether you pay for the license over time or through a one time purchase. there are advantages to both relying on ESO + and using a one time purchase. ESO+'s craft bag and crowns bring value but require you to spend IRL funds in renewable sums, and its value revolves around how often you play ESO and how you invest said crowns. Meanwhile in ESO's current approach to their game, a one time purchase has the advantage of buying it once without a long term commitment to playing, you also have the option to use in game currency to access DLCs.

Even with all of this though, my sub is good for a long while yet. So while i agree that this reward is nice to some, its not really all that great for me. so if you want to participate go ahead, but my incentive to do so is very very very low, and the rest of the event rewards are meh to me as well. I will add that i havn't felt this apathetic to an event ever, and that includes the much hated by me Midyear Mayhem, I just don't care for the Bounties of Blackwood now. and i had little enthusiasm to start with.

So good luck everyone, thats about as far as i can go. If i get the pathfinder achievement during the event its because their was a farming node next to the spot because that's really all i will be doing.

Mix

It isn't the sign of the Apocalypse for sure, but for so much hype and getting us all to watch then "free Deadlands DLC" was a real letdown from my perspective (one account with ESO+). I am not unhappy that other players get to benefit from this, but I was so excited for a surprise that ultimately didn't change my situation from pre-surprise state. I think their marketing team should consider their entire audience when making these things which in this case was broken down between:

Players owning Blackwood, players not owning Blackwood.
Players with ESO+, players without ESO+

So:
No Blackwood, No ESO+ : Marketing makes buying Blackwood VERY appealing, on sale and the Deadlands DLC will be included as a bonus right now. This was the core audience they wanted to appeal to. (problem: people without Blackwood probably weren't following the Bounties of Blackwood community event/year end stream announcements because they don't own the Chapter and weren't participating. Not sure how much of the audience would fall into this category. You also haven't given them a reason to subscribe)

Blackwood, No ESO+ : Marketing works well for this group. You are not selling them anything though, they just get a free dlc! Overall benefit for this group but no direct profit for ZoS. They are very happy though! (problem: you haven't done anything to convince this group they should purchase ESO+)

No Blackwood, ESO+ : Marketing semi-appealing due to the in-game rewards pet, markings, goodie boxes if they buy Blackwood on sale. They would already have Deadlands access. (problem: this group might be the 'wait a year until it is included in ESO+' category meaning they are completely OK with waiting a year to do the story for the previous year. You might not be able to appeal to this group beyond the in-game goodies, so if they really want that Ogrim they will have to shell out!)

Blackwood, ESO+ : Marketing has nothing to sell this group because they've bought it all. (problem: the surprise was hyped up and then turned out not to benefit this group, this group is now unhappy due to the letdown.)

Marketing goal: Sell Blackwood copies and keep customers happy. I argue that selling the ESO+ subscription should be a goal too and it would lean towards keeping customers happy.

Sell Blackwood: Great job here. In-game rewards, chapter on sale, and free DLC.
Keep customers happy: neutral, depending on how many ESO+ vs non-ESO+ players there are. non-ESO+ happy as they get a free DLC. ESO+ unhappy because they have free DLC access anyways.

If ZOS had added in a goal to sell ESO+ subs via this promo as well. [ie. If you are a subscriber you get an additional reward (preferably exclusive to up the appeal and prey on FOMO)] then you turn the ESO+ group into a happy customer base because they have a surprise, to non-subs you give them a reason to sub (even just one month, but you hope to keep them with the ESO+ benefits that are hard to play without: craft bag, bank space, double furniture limit, etc).

I don't have a marketing degree. We don't know the distribution numbers of the player base/audience. What I do know is that people owning Blackwood and following the event would be the most likely to tune in for the "surprise" announcement and part of that group would have ESO+ and part wouldn't and the surprise really only effects the non-ESO+ group which leaves the ESO+ group feeling disappointed. It isn't that we didn't like the surprise (ie if it was a mount and not to our taste) but rather we already have DLC access and you just gave us free DLC access, thus we effectively get nothing in this surprise. For future events I hope this is taken into consideration. ESO+ subs haven't 'lost' anything, but hyping it up and then giving a reward that offers no benefit for a (hopefully) large part of the audience is a letdown and really not the feeling you wanted to generate via the announcement. I know I watched the announcement, thought "What?!" to myself, took off my headphones and went back to work, while wondering how talkative the forums would be about this topic...

Eliahnus

This ‘reward’ is a real letdown for ESO+ members !
I cancelled my sub.

Danikat

I know we're 6 pages in so this is a bit late, but I've not been on the forum since the topic started. I think it's a flawed assumption to say that 'pretty much anyone' who buys chapters will also subscribe. It seems to be a common assumption that players go to one extreme or the other; either they subscribe and buy chapters and buy crown packs, or they never buy anything after the base game, but I suspect there's a lot of people who fall somewhere between those two extremes. There's certainly a lot of people who talk about buying DLC.

But maybe I notice it more because I'm one of those people? I almost never subscribe, but I always buy the chapters and story DLC and the only reason I don't buy dungeon DLC is I don't do dungeons often enough that it seems worth buying more of them. For me it's better value to buy the DLC than subscribe because I only have limited time to play each day and I'm often away at short notice, and I like to take my time with DLC and be able to go back whenever I feel like it rather than trying to burn through it all in one go then forget it. Overall it works out cheaper and more worthwhile to buy it and have it to play whenever than to subscribe and hope I get enough free time that it doesn't feel like a waste of money.

Edit: As far as giving away a DLC for free goes I think the real problem is over-hyping the "amazing" surprise at the end. The community event rewards are usually things that are only going to appeal to a sub-set of the player base, like furnishings or pets. If they'd just said up-front what it was or even said 'a surprise bonus reward' and not gone out of their way to call so much attention to it I doubt as many people would care that it's another thing only useful for some players.

BomblePants

I don’t think that the people who are either saying it’s an equal gift or complaining that subs are moaning about free stuff understand at all… yet it’s such a simple concept…

cyberjanet

I'm a little confused. What did I buy when I bought Blackwood? I thought I was getting the entire Blackwood story, about the four ambitions. We have only three of them so far, so the story is unfinished. I thought Q4 was the culmination of the Blackwood story, not a separate DLC that we would have to pay extra for in order to finish the story.

We usually get the dungeon packs as separate DLCs, that I understand. They have nothing to do with the main story.
Do we always only get half of what we think we're buying?

anitajoneb17_ESO

wtlonewolf20 wrote: »

You have to remember that in the state of modern video games that you don't "OWN" anything. You are paying for a license to use the software needed to access your account. They can stop that at any time. so really the difference is whether you pay for the license over time or through a one time purchase. there are advantages to both relying on ESO + and using a one time purchase.

For people who don't think like "play subbed or not play at all", purchasing (crowns) vs. renting (ESO+) the DLCs makes a real difference.
I used to sub, for a long time. During all this time, I have purchased all DLCs (not with cash, but with the crowns included in the subs). Many people used to laugh at me, like I was doing ZOS a white-knight-favor by "buying twice". They spent their sub-crowns on cosmectics and fluff (fine, their choice).
But the truth is, they are now STUCK with subbing, whereas I am free to unsub - and still enjoy 100% of the game's content.

(Yes, for anyone who has always subbed and never bothered actually buying permanent access to DLCs, the option of unsubbing and buying DLCs instead is... financially a VERY significant one).

anitajoneb17_ESO

BomblePants wrote: »

I don’t think that the people who are either saying it’s an equal gift or complaining that subs are moaning about free stuff understand at all… yet it’s such a simple concept…

Please elaborate. You're being sort of elliptic here.

anitajoneb17_ESO

cyberjanet wrote: »

I'm a little confused. What did I buy when I bought Blackwood? I thought I was getting the entire Blackwood story, about the four ambitions. We have only three of them so far, so the story is unfinished. I thought Q4 was the culmination of the Blackwood story, not a separate DLC that we would have to pay extra for in order to finish the story.

We usually get the dungeon packs as separate DLCs, that I understand. They have nothing to do with the main story.
Do we always only get half of what we think we're buying?

Not sure what you mean.
The release schedule is (and has always been since 1st chapter "Morrowind") :
- Q1 : dungeon DLC
- Q2 : story DLC (only purchasable with cash not included with ESO+, during year 1)
- Q3 : dungeon DLC
- Q4 : story DLC (included with ESO+ and purchasable with crowns).

Since Elsweyr (3 years already) this has been combined into a "year-long story" but that doesn't change anything to the commercial aspect of it. The schedule is the same.
If you purchased Blackwood believing that you'd get everything else free over the whole year, then you were wrong and I'm sorry about that, but you cannot blame ZOS for being misinformed, I'd say that's on you.

Elsonso

cyberjanet wrote: »

I'm a little confused. What did I buy when I bought Blackwood? I thought I was getting the entire Blackwood story, about the four ambitions. We have only three of them so far, so the story is unfinished. I thought Q4 was the culmination of the Blackwood story, not a separate DLC that we would have to pay extra for in order to finish the story.

The story is Gates of Oblivion. Blackwood is a big part of that, but it is not the only part.

Stopnaggin

Not gonna lie. As a player that has been here since 2014, ESO + for the vast majority of that. Also buying crowns on a regular basis, I am disappointed. The rewards prior to this were better IMO. Underwhelmed is an understatement. I have to seriously question if Plus is even worth it at this point. The DLC are cheap enough, all the crown crate stuff is junk or re-skined mounts. So what is my incentive? Free stuff that I would have gotten with plus? Its not like the dlcs are adding that much. Its fairly obvious, to me, that player retention is not the top priority.

Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo

Stopnaggin wrote: »

Not gonna lie. As a player that has been here since 2014, ESO + for the vast majority of that. Also buying crowns on a regular basis, I am disappointed. The rewards prior to this were better IMO. Underwhelmed is an understatement. I have to seriously question if Plus is even worth it at this point. The DLC are cheap enough, all the crown crate stuff is junk or re-skined mounts. So what is my incentive? Free stuff that I would have gotten with plus? Its not like the dlcs are adding that much. Its fairly obvious, to me, that player retention is not the top priority.

I wonder if ESO+ is going to be a thing in future. That's a question which is bugging me a bit.
With the latest 'event' it kind of makes you feel it's perhaps not that important to them financially compared to the other monetisation systems. *picking my brain*

Lady_Galadhiel

Stopnaggin wrote: »

Not gonna lie. As a player that has been here since 2014, ESO + for the vast majority of that. Also buying crowns on a regular basis, I am disappointed. The rewards prior to this were better IMO. Underwhelmed is an understatement. I have to seriously question if Plus is even worth it at this point. The DLC are cheap enough, all the crown crate stuff is junk or re-skined mounts. So what is my incentive? Free stuff that I would have gotten with plus? Its not like the dlcs are adding that much. Its fairly obvious, to me, that player retention is not the top priority.

I only sub for the craft bag and double furniture space at this point.

Stopnaggin

Disturbed_One wrote: »

I feel like I'm listening to the arguments over paying off people's student loans...

"But I had to pay for mine" so it's unfair that anybody else gets theirs forgiven.

If/when you no longer have ESO+ you'll still have access to the DLC.

Well thats not quite the same but, if you happened to get loans to go to school, why would you not have to pay it back? This has always been a mystery to me. Why is it OK to take out a loan and assume its cool to not pay it? Did the bank or school not have to pay for the insurances, buildings, teachers and other employees to make it possible for someone to go there? The electricity, gas and what not?
I'm not arguing the point that it may be overpriced either but the same applies, if it was a [snip] ton of money no one made anyone take that loan. Genuinely curious

[edited for profanity bypass]

Prof_Bawbag

Not gonna trash those complaining because, yeah, i see their point.

However, as a console player who shares the console with one of my kids, who also plays eso, but isn't subbed to eso, and shares my Xbox Live Sub, I'm more than happy with the prize as my kid gets that dlc for free and I don't need to fork out on the another account for it. So it's win win for me.

Had this not been the case, I'd probably be completely siding with the op.

Prof_Bawbag

Youyouz06 wrote: »

Stopnaggin wrote: »

Not gonna lie. As a player that has been here since 2014, ESO + for the vast majority of that. Also buying crowns on a regular basis, I am disappointed. The rewards prior to this were better IMO. Underwhelmed is an understatement. I have to seriously question if Plus is even worth it at this point. The DLC are cheap enough, all the crown crate stuff is junk or re-skined mounts. So what is my incentive? Free stuff that I would have gotten with plus? Its not like the dlcs are adding that much. Its fairly obvious, to me, that player retention is not the top priority.

I wonder if ESO+ is going to be a thing in future. That's a question which is bugging me a bit.
With the latest 'event' it kind of makes you feel it's perhaps not that important to them financially compared to the other monetisation systems. *picking my brain*

Of course it's important. The only money getting pumped into this game is probably sub money and dlc sales. That stuff in crates is probably used entirely to help boost those massive profits you see the parent company posting.

I mean, if you can name one single thing that has improved in game, performance wise, since CC's arrived, I'll retract my statement. If anything, the game is more buggy and Cyrodiil worse.

MasterSpatula

Welp, I'm done getting the Pathfinder achievement on alts. What's the bloody point?

Stopnaggin

Hvíthákarl wrote: »

Wait until ESO+ subscribers have to drop the sub due to unexpected bills or something like that and then we'll be talking. No one is "betraying" you lol, once you drop ESO+ you lose access to all of the DLCs you don't own so you basically get the chance of accessing Deadlands even if you have to unsubscribe for other reasons

If that's no enough, there are also a lot of rewards other than the DLC that people have conveniently forgotten. I wish more b2p MMORPGs gave as much free stuff as ESO does lol

Wait until the close the server, then that "owned" dlc is not "owned" any more. Stop with the rental speech. The whole game is a rental. You own nothing in the game, none of the crown purchases, none of the outfits, character slots, mounts, furnishing nada. Its pixels nothing more, and if people are underwhelmed they have earned the right. They have paid for something they feel like they have not gotten. What you perceive as value isn't universal. Value is subjective, what you value at $15 a month is not the same as the next guy.
Good, people get a , sort of, free DLC, but they also have to have Blackwood so its not really free is it? Personally I found it over hyped, and underwhelming delivery. I am more excited for the tables than a DLC I would have already had access to. But that is me.

Khaleesi8688

No

Stopnaggin wrote: »

Disturbed_One wrote: »

I feel like I'm listening to the arguments over paying off people's student loans...

"But I had to pay for mine" so it's unfair that anybody else gets theirs forgiven.

If/when you no longer have ESO+ you'll still have access to the DLC.

Well thats not quite the same but, if you happened to get loans to go to school, why would you not have to pay it back? This has always been a mystery to me. Why is it OK to take out a loan and assume its cool to not pay it? Did the bank or school not have to pay for the insurances, buildings, teachers and other employees to make it possible for someone to go there? The electricity, gas and what not?
I'm not arguing the point that it may be overpriced either but the same applies, if it was a [snip] ton of money no one made anyone take that loan. Genuinely curious

[edited for profanity bypass]

I will start by asking a question. In today's world do you feel that high schools have adequately prepared students to make responsible financial choices esp in regards to loans? My husband was barely old enough to legally drink, yet he got promised all kinds of jobs he would be qualified for by ITT when they wanted him to enroll. As soon as he graduated he was told his minimum payment on the biggest loan (because there are almost always multiple loans involved apparently) would be almost 400 dollars a month and they refused to take anything less. Plus the smaller loans payments obv. They forced us into default. We hadn't even gotten off food stamps at that point so it was just out of the question. We paid off the smaller loans that were reasonable payments. And now 12 years later, ITT doesn't exist because of predatory loan practices but we still owe 60k on what was a 30k loan. We tried applying for all the special forgiveness programs when they went belly up but most never returned our messages and the ones that did told us the program wasnt for people in our state. I don't expect the loan to be forgiven but we did our best and got screwed anyway. I completely understand the other side tho because I wouldn't want to pay for someone else's mistakes either. Its crappy no matter what.

cyberjanet

Malthorne wrote: »

This is a step in the right direction. The small DLCs that conclude the year long story arc should be included in the price of the yearly chapter anyway. Kudos to ZOS for this player friendly decision.

I thought they were. Especially as the story doesn't finish in Q2.

Jamdarius

Now it actually makes me wonder what do you think would actually make a fine reward for this event? I see a lot complaining but not many ideas for future reference. Also does it hurt so much that some players that actually SUPPORTED game by BUYING chapter get something for free?

Pauwer

Jamdarius wrote: »

Now it actually makes me wonder what do you think would actually make a fine reward for this event? I see a lot complaining but not many ideas for future reference. Also does it hurt so much that some players that actually SUPPORTED game by BUYING chapter get something for free?

Us eso+ subs support the game for like 12e each month for years and years. That is the problem with this free dlc thingy. [snip]

[Edited for Bashing]

Paulytnz

cyberjanet wrote: »

Malthorne wrote: »

This is a step in the right direction. The small DLCs that conclude the year long story arc should be included in the price of the yearly chapter anyway. Kudos to ZOS for this player friendly decision.

I thought they were. Especially as the story doesn't finish in Q2.

You and me both, it is outrageous we have to pay TWICE for one story. I will seriously be questioning if I should buy next year's "year long story you only get half of" when it comes around.

Yes I have ESO+ so will get the full thing anyway, it's just the principle of it........

Stopnaggin

Khaleesi8688 wrote: »

No

Stopnaggin wrote: »

Disturbed_One wrote: »

I feel like I'm listening to the arguments over paying off people's student loans...

"But I had to pay for mine" so it's unfair that anybody else gets theirs forgiven.

If/when you no longer have ESO+ you'll still have access to the DLC.

Well thats not quite the same but, if you happened to get loans to go to school, why would you not have to pay it back? This has always been a mystery to me. Why is it OK to take out a loan and assume its cool to not pay it? Did the bank or school not have to pay for the insurances, buildings, teachers and other employees to make it possible for someone to go there? The electricity, gas and what not?
I'm not arguing the point that it may be overpriced either but the same applies, if it was a [snip] ton of money no one made anyone take that loan. Genuinely curious

[edited for profanity bypass]

I will start by asking a question. In today's world do you feel that high schools have adequately prepared students to make responsible financial choices esp in regards to loans? My husband was barely old enough to legally drink, yet he got promised all kinds of jobs he would be qualified for by ITT when they wanted him to enroll. As soon as he graduated he was told his minimum payment on the biggest loan (because there are almost always multiple loans involved apparently) would be almost 400 dollars a month and they refused to take anything less. Plus the smaller loans payments obv. They forced us into default. We hadn't even gotten off food stamps at that point so it was just out of the question. We paid off the smaller loans that were reasonable payments. And now 12 years later, ITT doesn't exist because of predatory loan practices but we still owe 60k on what was a 30k loan. We tried applying for all the special forgiveness programs when they went belly up but most never returned our messages and the ones that did told us the program wasnt for people in our state. I don't expect the loan to be forgiven but we did our best and got screwed anyway. I completely understand the other side tho because I wouldn't want to pay for someone else's mistakes either. Its crappy no matter what.

I would argue that kids being prepared more is only partially an educational systems problem. My parents taught me more financial responsibility than any school. Now does the education system as a whole need an upgrade? I would say yes, they are far more concerned about getting that govt money than actually educating kids. Look at those year end tests that we used to have, at least I did, we weren't studying for those all year, we learned our basics and the test at the end would show it. Now its just studying to pass that test.
Again I wasn't arguing if loans were too high or school costs too much. I got my degree, and yea it sucked paying all that back. And sometimes circumstances made me late and jacked my credit. Lesson learned and passed on to my kids.

mayasunrising

I really am for ZOS giving out free DLC to help folks who are being hit by Covid related financial issues, and as a lover of this community I'll do the Pathfinder achievement on multiple characters to help meet that 100% goal do others can enjoy Deadlands, but I was disappointed that this was the final reward for the event - especially given the rewards we received in previous pathfinder events. Maybe the DLC could have been a login reward one month like Murkmire? I dunno. As a subscriber, it just makes me a little /sadpants. TBH even the second reward tier being marking is a little bit weemp womp.

But whatevs. I was away from ESO for a while playing other games, and I really am enjoying coming back to all the new content and changes - especially antiquities and the companion system! Regardless of how I feel about the pathfinder prizes, I think ZOS has done an amazing job over the past year. The content is really fun and the new zones are just gorgeous (The Reach tho! )! I'll continue to sub and hopefully in the future the pathfinder events will offer better end rewards.

And bright side; if I decide to unsub, I'll still have Deadlands available to me to play.