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

Kiralyn2000 · May 2022

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....

Yeah, but you "pay" for those games in other ways. Moar grind, battlepasses, content focused on repetitive grind for battlepasses, content focused on micro/macro-transactions, lockboxes, less content overall, game designed to cater to the interests of "whales", etc.

spartaxoxo · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

Kiralyn2000 wrote: »

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....

Yeah, but you "pay" for those games in other ways. Moar grind, battlepasses, content focused on repetitive grind for battlepasses, content focused on micro/macro-transactions, lockboxes, less content overall, game designed to cater to the interests of "whales", etc.

I agree. That's why I don't want this game to be F2P, as I voted. I'm just saying a company does not have to charge for expansions to be successful, because that seems to be what most of the replies seem to indicate. And it's a bit odd to me, since like there's an entire segment of the industry dedicated to free-to-play games that are wildly successful. Kind of like how companies use to give out free razers so you'd buy the blades, some companies make the dlc and the game itself free, but then charge you for all other sorts of add-ons. I'm not gonna say I want it for this game, because I don't. But I'm also not gonna reply as if f2p games don't exist and OP is just coming up with some wild, strange, entitled concept. Because like, it is absolutely a thing. And a very lucrative one at that. That's just a true thing, even if it's inconvenient to my opinion that this game should absolutely not be free-to-play.

spartaxoxo · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

StevieKingslayer wrote: »

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.

They do discounts on the chapters at pretty predictable intervals, if you wanted to spend a bit less. I'll edit them into here for you.

cyberjanet wrote: »

When I decided not to pre-purchase in protest against the poor execution of the companion system, I did some research:

Sale cycle of a new chapter, which usually launches June:
35% off during quakecon, usually August
50% of during community event, end September/October
67% off on Black Fredas and during New Life event

I normally like to pre-purchase early so that I can put the new crafting stations in the guild hall almost immediately.
Can't think that I've ever been attracted by the pre-purchase bonuses.

Drammanoth · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

It's usually this way: if you PAY for something, you appreciate it (more). For free? Bah, fun for a moment.

FlopsyPrince · May 2022

Mythgard1967 wrote: »

Leave it as it is....unless you mean by free...should ESO go to a purely subscription model where everyone pays a monthly fee to play all content and pays for the expansion when it comes out like other games on this model? Wait, I would still say No. I actually like the crownstore and I don't think there should be a crownstore in a pure subscription model...or at least it should be fully scaled back.

Having a crownstore and pay as you play model is what allows many to "play for free".

I pay a "monthly fee" via ESO+ and still have to pay for the expansions.

That will not change, but it definitely is annoying. WoW was the same way.

Amottica · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

Zenimax would lose all incentive to create new content and try to improve the performance of the game if they gave it away for free. They would have to rely on (and essentialy place most of their focus) the crown store.

Sparxlost · May 2022

no but the dungeon sets and mythics should be available for trade...

Sparxlost · May 2022

Iselin wrote: »

All D

Blinx wrote: »

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

by mandatory sub do you mean that the game would only be playable for a fee every so often???
something like this would be terrible as people have spent a ton probably on the dlc for this game already and i doubt this change in access to the game would be very welcome...

Mythgard1967 · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Mythgard1967 wrote: »

Leave it as it is....unless you mean by free...should ESO go to a purely subscription model where everyone pays a monthly fee to play all content and pays for the expansion when it comes out like other games on this model? Wait, I would still say No. I actually like the crownstore and I don't think there should be a crownstore in a pure subscription model...or at least it should be fully scaled back.

Having a crownstore and pay as you play model is what allows many to "play for free".

I pay a "monthly fee" via ESO+ and still have to pay for the expansions.

That will not change, but it definitely is annoying. WoW was the same way.

I have played several MMO's that were the same way.

GW2 is a bit of your oddity. Pay for the expansions and then free to play. The cash shop though.....you can directly convert real dollars to cash shop currency to game gold and back. You are only limited by the dollars you wish to spend. You can directly convert real life dollars to game currency and buy your legendaries, if you wish.

The cash shop is also very very sparkly. So many outrageous character effects. Now I appreciate the cosmetics (my characters were very understated).....but holy cow you can make amazingly sparkly abominations.

And even the apex mounts in ESO are thoroughly unsparkly compared to what it COULD be. And I also appreciate that. (though, I miss being able to DYE my mounts...not a fair comparison though...GW2 probably has the best mount system of any game out there)....ESO voice acting and emersion is factor is about a million times greater than GW2.

You can also pay real cash to buy nodes to increase your in game currency to purchase your armor sets. Totally free to play (after buying the software) also leads to more cash shop monetization.

Your achievement points can also be directly linked to cash shop expenditures.....roll the dice on the loot boxes, gain weapon glamours until you gain achievios.

I love their pvp....but...the character particle effects are migraine inducing.

No system of monetization is PERFECT for everyone. Monetization, by its very nature is unfair to SOMEONE. ESO monetization may not be perfect...but nothing is....but its perfect enough for me. They have walked a tight rope of not only being profitable, but being profitable enough to satisfy the bean counters so they continue to invest in the game (to grow) while trying to stay true to the values of an Elder Scrolls game. It is a balance and it will teeter totter...and discussions of the devoted fans are important to that balancing act.

Path of exile comes Close to perfect monetization (at least before they were bought out by ten cent)......but that is not an MMO. A mostly single player ARPG is going to have a different model than a true MMO. ESO is the first MMO for a LOT of people; drawn in by the Elder Scrolls brand...and they have to walk a line of satisfying veteran MMO players and folks new to MMOs...not an enviable job....

EDIT: holy typos batman.

DorianDragonRaze · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

If ESO were totally free I wouldn't play it. I mean, there are plenty free games, and their quality is way below the level that I enjoy. Want a free game? Welcome somewhere else. Want a really good game? Pay and enjoy.

TrellyTB · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

I am always of the mindset "You get what you pay for". Sure, sure, some games are free to play, I try them and they are rubbish I don't care for.

If I like something, I pay for it.

RedTalon · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

Of-course not, there is no logical reason to make them free

Tandor · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

If you check out the OP's various current polls, you'll find the common denominator is in the size of the majority against his suggestions. I don't know whether they're a wind-up or simply an indication that this isn't the game for him, but perhaps he could elucidate us on that?

As for the business model, I have played MMOs since 1998 and have always bought the game, paid a subscription, and bought any expansions - and done so quite happily or moved on. That's how I played ESO at launch, and it's how I've played it when it dropped the mandatory subscription, with very little interest on my part in the Crown Store. When the AwA change came in with UD33 I cancelled both my main account subscriptions, not because I want to play them for free but because I no longer want to play them at all. I do want to play my third account which only has a single character on it and so I'm happy to subscribe to it and have the chapter pre-order on it. I've never understood the argument that a game is good enough to play but not good enough to pay for, to me that's just an excuse to try and justify free-loading.

asuitandtyb14_ESO · May 2022

The game should have expansions, and people should pay for them. That being said, ZoS overcharges for their expansions. They are nearly the price of a full game; if ZoS included all four quarter's content releases tied to that year's expansion in that expansion, and took out the crown store cosmetics and included those items (minus houses) in the expansion, they would absolutely be worth the price.

Hotdog_23 · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

Don't work for free. Nor do I expect someone else to do it either.

Stay safe

draigwyrdd · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

Would I like free expansions? Yeah, absolutely.

Is that a viable business model? No.

FlopsyPrince · May 2022

Amottica wrote: »

Zenimax would lose all incentive to create new content and try to improve the performance of the game if they gave it away for free. They would have to rely on (and essentialy place most of their focus) the crown store.

They don't "give it away for free" outside of paying for expansions. What is ESO+? This is a major misconception some have.

Paying twice or the same thing is a pain.

FlopsyPrince · May 2022

asuitandtyb14_ESO wrote: »

The game should have expansions, and people should pay for them. That being said, ZoS overcharges for their expansions. They are nearly the price of a full game; if ZoS included all four quarter's content releases tied to that year's expansion in that expansion, and took out the crown store cosmetics and included those items (minus houses) in the expansion, they would absolutely be worth the price.

Hotdog_23 wrote: »

Don't work for free. Nor do I expect someone else to do it either.

Stay safe

draigwyrdd wrote: »

Would I like free expansions? Yeah, absolutely.

Is that a viable business model? No.

Then what is ESO+? That is not free....

Jimboo84 · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

I play this game already 8yrs on ESO+, I don't think everyone should have "free" access. Free doesn't exist. About the price could always be discussed.
Besides, every beginning player I hear is complaining that this game is too large and too complex to get it understood. Also if you have o so many DLC's.

Chiaroscuro · May 2022

Turning the game into a mess of MTX would be hellish.

I think its frankly awesome the way its implemented already in theory, just...wish the execution wasnt so sloppy? Let people buy dlcs with MONEY not crowns, its needlessly annoying. Let people just flat spend cash like normal adults, ZOS. Stop trying to force some of us who deeply resent the crown nonsense into that side of the ecosystem.

I will say, gameplay things like, say, *jewellerymaking* shouldnt be locked behind dlc though. I'm not saying give Summerset itself away (tho it was very cool to see that happen with Morrowind), but the skilline shouldn't just be a middlefinger to those who want to be master crafters while enjoying the base game.

The precedent set by jewellerymaking actually is what sent me on hiatus from the game for several years, I was so disgusted. Not pleased to see it happened again with scrying, too.

I'm subbed rn because I really enjoy Tamriel but I deliberately don't recommend the game to new players and friends anymore specifically **because of that compromising my trust in ZOS.**

Integral1900 · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

The player base as an average is still gonna end up paying that money, it’ll just come from a different direction, ZOS is a business, not a charity

HappyDan · May 2022

drsalvation wrote: »

I believe game mechanics should be free, but story and zone expansions shouldn't.
There are still no companions available for people with no DLC's, jewelry crafting certification is only available in summerset, excavations are only available in skyrim (I mean, the quests you need to do to get the skill tree), these are gameplay mechanics that shouldn't be bound to an expansion, if you want to get mythic items, you need to purchase the skyrim DLC otherwise you won't be able to excavate anything
You won't be able to get jewelry crafting writs unless you do the certification, and for that you need to buy the summerset DLC.
You won't be able to use any companions unless you do their quests, but you need blackwood (and/or high isles) to do their quests.

What's more intriguing is that your companion's quests are all in vanilla zones, only the starting quests are in DLC zones, so why are they locked behind a paywall?

From what I gather, the card game would be available for free for all users, right? Or do you need to do a quest in high isles just to be able to start challenging others across tamriel?

Anyway, long story short:
New gameplay mechanics should be free, new story and region expansions should not be free.

Card game is only for people that own the high isles, I assume it will be like bg's people will play for a bit on release card's game population will die and they will unlock it to the rest of tamriel in few months/year

WiseSky · May 2022

Yes they should be free

Sure I like free stuff. But what will pay the price of that to ESO?

aussie500 · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

Zos needs to make money to keep making new content, so no they should not be free. DLC is free if you subscribe, those not willing to pay anything still have plenty to play with the base game, and the never ending managing of inventory without a craft bag.

rpa · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

I'd prefer "sub to get access to the whole game" model but can wait for new stuff go on sale. I almost never buy games for full price anyway. (I can recall only two exceptions from last 10 years.)

FlopsyPrince · May 2022

Chiaroscuro wrote: »

Turning the game into a mess of MTX would be hellish.

I think its frankly awesome the way its implemented already in theory, just...wish the execution wasnt so sloppy? Let people buy dlcs with MONEY not crowns, its needlessly annoying. Let people just flat spend cash like normal adults, ZOS. Stop trying to force some of us who deeply resent the crown nonsense into that side of the ecosystem.

I will say, gameplay things like, say, *jewellerymaking* shouldnt be locked behind dlc though. I'm not saying give Summerset itself away (tho it was very cool to see that happen with Morrowind), but the skilline shouldn't just be a middlefinger to those who want to be master crafters while enjoying the base game.

The precedent set by jewellerymaking actually is what sent me on hiatus from the game for several years, I was so disgusted. Not pleased to see it happened again with scrying, too.

I'm subbed rn because I really enjoy Tamriel but I deliberately don't recommend the game to new players and friends anymore specifically **because of that compromising my trust in ZOS.**

Those are not DLCs, they are expansions. I believe you get JC with any new game now. Not sure about scrying, but I don't think that is a DLC either.

StormWylf · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

There is no such thing as free, in the end someone has to pay.

PeacefulAnarchy · May 2022

Yes they should be free

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Chiaroscuro wrote: »

Turning the game into a mess of MTX would be hellish.

I think its frankly awesome the way its implemented already in theory, just...wish the execution wasnt so sloppy? Let people buy dlcs with MONEY not crowns, its needlessly annoying. Let people just flat spend cash like normal adults, ZOS. Stop trying to force some of us who deeply resent the crown nonsense into that side of the ecosystem.

I will say, gameplay things like, say, *jewellerymaking* shouldnt be locked behind dlc though. I'm not saying give Summerset itself away (tho it was very cool to see that happen with Morrowind), but the skilline shouldn't just be a middlefinger to those who want to be master crafters while enjoying the base game.

The precedent set by jewellerymaking actually is what sent me on hiatus from the game for several years, I was so disgusted. Not pleased to see it happened again with scrying, too.

I'm subbed rn because I really enjoy Tamriel but I deliberately don't recommend the game to new players and friends anymore specifically **because of that compromising my trust in ZOS.**

Those are not DLCs, they are expansions. I believe you get JC with any new game now. Not sure about scrying, but I don't think that is a DLC either.

JC is summerset, new base game purchases don't have summerset. Scrying is Greymoor, same thing. So if a new player wants those things they need to buy the collection that includes previous chapters, or buy the DLC in the crownstore.

FlopsyPrince · May 2022

PeacefulAnarchy wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Chiaroscuro wrote: »

Turning the game into a mess of MTX would be hellish.

I think its frankly awesome the way its implemented already in theory, just...wish the execution wasnt so sloppy? Let people buy dlcs with MONEY not crowns, its needlessly annoying. Let people just flat spend cash like normal adults, ZOS. Stop trying to force some of us who deeply resent the crown nonsense into that side of the ecosystem.

I will say, gameplay things like, say, *jewellerymaking* shouldnt be locked behind dlc though. I'm not saying give Summerset itself away (tho it was very cool to see that happen with Morrowind), but the skilline shouldn't just be a middlefinger to those who want to be master crafters while enjoying the base game.

The precedent set by jewellerymaking actually is what sent me on hiatus from the game for several years, I was so disgusted. Not pleased to see it happened again with scrying, too.

I'm subbed rn because I really enjoy Tamriel but I deliberately don't recommend the game to new players and friends anymore specifically **because of that compromising my trust in ZOS.**

Those are not DLCs, they are expansions. I believe you get JC with any new game now. Not sure about scrying, but I don't think that is a DLC either.

JC is summerset, new base game purchases don't have summerset. Scrying is Greymoor, same thing. So if a new player wants those things they need to buy the collection that includes previous chapters, or buy the DLC in the crownstore.

I am not certain, but I thought all but the current expansion was no wrapped into the base game. I definitely could be wrong on that.

baltic1284 · May 2022

No, pay it or leave it

I do not believe anything in the game needs be free per say especially Expansions and chapters they do need make money but i will agree they need work hard on their Support staff and actually address and fix solutions.