POLL: Should The Elder Scrolls Online Expansions be free for everyone

danno8

No, pay it or leave it

I would prefer the other direction in fact. Mandatory subs, minimal store presence with no loot boxes. I think it provides a better overall gaming experience.

FF14 makes it work and it's nice logging into a game where you feel like the rewards are all tied into playing the game in the created world the developers have made, without the distraction of the sideshow that is the Crown Store.

Blinx

No, pay it or leave it

would prefer a mandatory sub, but first they need to improve the abysmal writing quality as of late

stop treating the Vestige like an incompetent fool for one, and stop having these idiotic dialogue trees asking for reminders every other sentence, plus make puzzles actual puzzles you know like Orsinium had, instead of moving a block 3X this way or that way, and presto puzzle solved, Zzzzzz

FeedbackOnly

No, pay it or leave it

I think the system is more than fair with old expansion becoming a crown store item each. You could buy it with gold or use ESO plus on it

oldbobdude

No, pay it or leave it

Why would anybody think ZOS doesn’t deserve to make any money on their work? How will they pay their employees? How will they keep their servers running.

DMuehlhausen

No, pay it or leave it

That's never how expansions should work and shouldn't. If they do then they should raise the monthly sub to 25$ and force it to be pay to play again.

I really don't understand anybody's whining about this. You get to play a game essentially for free. You aren't restricted on content you have access at all really. Go play SWTOR on it's free to play model and see how good you have it here.

They have to make money back some how on the 10s of thousands of hours that everyone collectively puts in on different DLCs and expansions.

spartaxoxo

No, pay it or leave it

That is how free to play games work, and devs do make money. I don't think the suggestion wants ZoS to not make money, just they'd prefer it primarily came from the cash shop. That's the way I see it, asking for the game to be F2P, which is a legitimate business model.

Reverb

No, pay it or leave it

I don’t know that I’ve seen such a one sided poll on this forum before

Bluedog164

Yes they should be free

Reverb wrote: »

I don’t know that I’ve seen such a one sided poll on this forum before

Yeah this is a one-sided poll alright

kieso

Lol @ poll

Fester82

No, pay it or leave it

Pay it, how else are they supposed to keep developing the game adding more stuff?

SedoUmbra

Yes they should be free

Probably shouldn't have commit to this answer, but I agree with what another poster said above.
Game mechanics should be free for everyone, but DLC zones and dungeons should remain as a paid-for access. Sometimes it feels like we're being milked a bit, but the fact is, putting money into the game is how you get more content and improvements. But it seems very weird to have a 7th crafting skill line randomly locked behind one of the several DLC packs.

fred4

What is the point of this question? Everything was once DLC and therefore included with ESO+. Then ZOS decided they needed / wanted more money and started charging for annual chapters / expansions. They already made a clear decision to break what was at least perceived by some as a promise not to do this. I suppose in a technical sense chapters become DLC after a year, but whatever. ESO is not a public service. Debate on this is futile.

I could answer from a selfish point of view, but I'm not going to. Neither you nor I have access to an ESO monetization breakdown, of what generates what fraction of their income. As far as I am aware that information is not public. I don't think even just the true demographics between endgame players and casuals is known publicly either, nor the total daily players. I bought the game through Steam, but I use the ESO Launcher for updates and log in with my ESO password, not my Steam password. I don't even have Steam running when I play. It says I played two hours, when in reality I have played 1000+. There are multiple platforms plus Stadia. I believe the Steam statistics for ESO are far from accurate.

You may have a negative opinion on the crown store or on including "must have" mythics with every new chapter for the endgame players. Until you have an actual financial breakdown of what fraction of ZOS' income that represents, it's hard to argue about this. ZOS getting new servers is a positive sign at least. Much of existing infrastructure appears to be a decade old. I assume this means ZOS are planning for another decade. At any rate, they're investing some of the profits back into the game.

Jaimeh

Since subscribing is optional, it makes sense to sell the expansions, though maybe they could reduce the prices to make them more affordable. However, they become free with ESO+ after a while, and there has been cases where they offer them for free, like with Murkmire (Deadlands was also free if the player had Blackwood) or they make them free after some time, like with IC (and now Morrowind, I believe).

Maitsukas

No, pay it or leave it

I'd rather have the current Buy-to-Play method than the Buy-and-Subscribe-to-Play (which was until Tamriel Unlimited's release).

Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo

I don't think they should put Mythical item leads behind DLC, that's for sure.

I don't have all DLC -> No reason for some content as it's old and I've done it in the past via sub.

It's an intricate web they have spun, but my broom speaks louder.

No for free expansions, but cheaper ones yes. Do they deserve their price tags? Not so sure, hey.

JKorr

No, pay it or leave it

Its already buy to play, no sub needed.

Wish it had remained sub only, but that is never going to come back.

DreamyLu

No, pay it or leave it

And how is the game supposed to survive if you cancel one of the main cash sources?

Keeping a game alive is money and there are not so many options to secure sufficient income: main ones are expansion(s) and crown stores (or gem stores or whatever it's called in each MMOs).

Ragnarok0130

No, pay it or leave it

Sylvermynx wrote: »

I would personally prefer that this was a sub to play game. However, I'm well aware that won't happen.

What I do is help out people who can't afford to buy to play. Because I CAN afford B2P, not only for myself but for others when needed.

@Sylvermynx we used to have a mandatory sub and it was done away on March 17th 2015 in favor of buy to play with the Tamriel Unlimited update. https://elderscrollsonline.info/news/elder-scrolls-online-becomes-buy-to-play

Those early days were interesting times indeed (no justice system for one) but if we got rid of a lot of the nicking and diming and hiding features behind paywalls I'd prefer to return to a mandatory sub too.

Sylvermynx

No, pay it or leave it

Ragnarok0130 wrote: »

Sylvermynx wrote: »

I would personally prefer that this was a sub to play game. However, I'm well aware that won't happen.

What I do is help out people who can't afford to buy to play. Because I CAN afford B2P, not only for myself but for others when needed.

@Sylvermynx we used to have a mandatory sub and it was done away on March 17th 2015 in favor of buy to play with the Tamriel Unlimited update. https://elderscrollsonline.info/news/elder-scrolls-online-becomes-buy-to-play

Those early days were interesting times indeed (no justice system for one) but if we got rid of a lot of the nicking and diming and hiding features behind paywalls I'd prefer to return to a mandatory sub too.

I knew it had gone away at some point but that was long before I started playing (June 2018). It was a no-brainer for me to sub ESO+, because I've played both WoW and RIFT in the past, both sub to play games at the time (left WoW in 2013, RIFT in 2016, no clue if they're still sub to play, haven't been back to either one).

I've always felt that sub to play games have a cash flow they can count on, and to me that's just more sensible than things like the Crown Store. Now admittedly, the first year I played I bought crates in seasons I liked as they came along (as well as all the free ones we got for a while), and got a lot of great stuff. I haven't bought many since - a few in the second year if it was a season I really liked, and none since about December of 2019.

I'm definitely happy with SOE.

RisenEclipse

No, pay it or leave it

I mean I prefer to support the games I am playing so I can get better things in the future. Besides everything in this game goes on huge sales at least once a year for each DLC and chapter. So really, if you don't feel like paying the base price then just wait for a sale.

karekiz

No, pay it or leave it

Only if the game requires a subscription to play it.

Mythgard1967

No, pay it or leave it

I dunno on the cash store vs paid sub.....on the one hand; I personally would prefer a sub...but like @Sylvermynx I "grew up" on subscription games.

But, I recall when the first subscription games went to buy to play with a cash shop (DDO and LOTRO) and i was playing LOTRO at the time.

LOTRO population was waning hardcore. People werent willing to pay the subscription. They went "free to play" which was really buy to play; and LOTRO Made more money in the first month than it had in a significant amount of time. The game was revived. The population jumped like mad. The world was full and it remained full for a long time.

They added a cash shop with rotating cosmetics and it worked for them.

The game opened in 2007 and was waning by the time they went buy to play in 2010. And in March they just went full on free to play with no pay wall up to level 95. It is an old game. It is actually doing well for a game that old. It makes sense they do this as the game does show its age and getting folks to play it means it needs to have these changes. The game also changed hands and was ready to be closed when the developers saved it and bought it out...you gotta love that passion....I think its amazing.

I just don't think ESO is ready to be put in that true free to play model. ESO is still very popular and holds onto its base fairly well (recent bumps not withstanding). I also dont think that the true Subscription model without a cash shop works as well as it used to (FFXIV being the anomaly here, not the rule)

You WANT this game to be profitable; and you want it to be as profitable as possible. Companies don't continue to throw money at every project that is profitable....profitable games and projects close all the time. COmpanies have limited resources and they support and invest in the MOST profitable lines....you want ESO to be on the most profitable list so it continues to be invested in. You dont want this game to go into "maintenance mode" because it is merely profitable enough to pay for itself.

Lucozade85

Yes they should be free

Free with ESO+. Game feels like it's dying and needs some fresh faces.

Fenris_Arainai

No, pay it or leave it

No. SWTOR has expansions included in sub and they have about 2-hour play time "expansion" every 2-3 years. I'd hate ESO becoming similarly new content-starved due to lack of funding.

spartaxoxo

No, pay it or leave it

Mythgard1967 wrote: »

I dunno on the cash store vs paid sub.....on the one hand; I personally would prefer a sub...but like @Sylvermynx I "grew up" on subscription games.

But, I recall when the first subscription games went to buy to play with a cash shop (DDO and LOTRO) and i was playing LOTRO at the time.

LOTRO population was waning hardcore. People werent willing to pay the subscription. They went "free to play" which was really buy to play; and LOTRO Made more money in the first month than it had in a significant amount of time. The game was revived. The population jumped like mad. The world was full and it remained full for a long time.

They added a cash shop with rotating cosmetics and it worked for them.

The game opened in 2007 and was waning by the time they went buy to play in 2010. And in March they just went full on free to play with no pay wall up to level 95. It is an old game. It is actually doing well for a game that old. It makes sense they do this as the game does show its age and getting folks to play it means it needs to have these changes. The game also changed hands and was ready to be closed when the developers saved it and bought it out...you gotta love that passion....I think its amazing.

I just don't think ESO is ready to be put in that true free to play model. ESO is still very popular and holds onto its base fairly well (recent bumps not withstanding). I also dont think that the true Subscription model without a cash shop works as well as it used to (FFXIV being the anomaly here, not the rule)

You WANT this game to be profitable; and you want it to be as profitable as possible. Companies don't continue to throw money at every project that is profitable....profitable games and projects close all the time. COmpanies have limited resources and they support and invest in the MOST profitable lines....you want ESO to be on the most profitable list so it continues to be invested in. You dont want this game to go into "maintenance mode" because it is merely profitable enough to pay for itself.

This is a pretty fair post. I agree. I don't think ESO needs to be a free-to-play game because it's holding it's subscriber count well, and personally I tend to feel like buy to play games have more chill player populations than free-to-play games. But also, I'm not gonna pretend it hasn't been a profitable business model that hasn't revived old games in the past. I'm honestly a little surprised that so many posts seem to not have noticed the recent trend of companies going to f2p at increased profits, not lower profits. F2P is a perfectly legitimate business model, I just don't think it's the right one for this game.

Alinhbo_Tyaka

You left out the third choice. I don't really care one way or another. A game being free or having to pay for it is not one of the criteria I used when deciding what games I will play.

Bekkael

No, pay it or leave it

Of course everyone should have to pay for new game content. If you bought a head of lettuce at the grocery store, that wouldn't entitle you to take a bottle of salad dressing for free! No such thing as a free lunch.

spartaxoxo

No, pay it or leave it

Bekkael wrote: »

Of course everyone should have to pay for new game content. If you bought a head of lettuce at the grocery store, that wouldn't entitle you to take a bottle of salad dressing for free! No such thing as a free lunch.

But there is such a thing as Free-to-Play MMOs? Honestly reading the replies in this thread makes me feel like I've been imagining the massive success of games like Fortnite....

Sylvermynx

No, pay it or leave it

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Bekkael wrote: »

Of course everyone should have to pay for new game content. If you bought a head of lettuce at the grocery store, that wouldn't entitle you to take a bottle of salad dressing for free! No such thing as a free lunch.

But there is such a thing as Free-to-Play MMOs? Honestly reading the replies in this thread makes me feel like I've been imagining the massive success of games like Fortnite....

Well, there are.... but they're not to everyone's taste. I wouldn't mess with games like fortnite for anything, just not my thing at all.

Yup. I'm VERY picky about games....

StevieKingslayer

No, pay it or leave it

While I am one of those people that actually has to save for an expansion that involves some serious foregoing of basic items, I still say no.

They do need to make money for the product they produce. I do think that the mythics shouldn't be behind that paywall. The mythics being there is essentially their safety net incase no one wants to play their content, they still have to for the "meta" items.

While I understand they are pricey (I paid 60 bucks for blackwood and feel pretty ripped off tbh since the quality has declined and there was less to do) the dev's do need to be paid for it. We get the dungeon packs for free on ESO plus, so I think it's a good medium.

I do however feel as though we could have more crown store sales.