Why is the Imperial race still paywalled?

Bat

Are people buying this in such big numbers that it makes sense to keep it like that?

Because if I'm to buy it from the Crown Store, I need to pay 2,100 crowns, for which I would have to spend more than 20 euros. That is approximately twice what I paid for the entire base game. I can't make heads or tails of this pricing decision, it's only a race?

For that money, I can unlock an entire zone (Southern Elsweyr, or Murkmire for even greater "bang for the buck" considering mythic item farm locations) from the CS, or I can purchase an entire chapter from a third party vendor - heck, I could even buy a new-ish triple A title for that money.

There's an Imperial themed event coming up, maybe we can hope for a good sale on this item? With c:g ratios these days I wouldn't want to upgrade outside of a sale, tbph.

FeedbackOnly

It was another edition you could get back at start of the game. It came with murcrab, imperial horse (big deal as horse or mount wasn't as easy to get) and imperial race for 10 dollars more.

When I bought my edition it was 30 and base game was 20. It was a good deal and good investment.

Bat

Yeah, I understand it made a lot more sense back in 2015 when it was launched but now? I have so many nice mounts and pets that it's literally only the race I'd pay for - and 20 euros is a really high asking price for that lol.

EdmondDontes

This is the standard ZOS marketing tactic. Everything decent, even storage, is behind a paywall.

Tandor

EdmondDontes wrote: »

This is the standard ZOS marketing tactic. Everything decent, even storage, is behind a paywall.

It's what happens when people don't want to pay subscriptions. They want everything for free, and then complain as soon as an alternative revenue source is implemented which it has to be because game development and maintenance is no different to anything else in life, it costs money on which a return has to be earned. At least there's no inherent game-winning advantage in anything that is locked behind a paywall in ESO, ZOS have done a good job thus far in not falling into the Pay To Win trap.

EdmondDontes

Tandor wrote: »

EdmondDontes wrote: »

This is the standard ZOS marketing tactic. Everything decent, even storage, is behind a paywall.

It's what happens when people don't want to pay subscriptions. They want everything for free, and then complain as soon as an alternative revenue source is implemented which it has to be because game development and maintenance is no different to anything else in life, it costs money on which a return has to be earned. At least there's no inherent game-winning advantage in anything that is locked behind a paywall in ESO, ZOS have done a good job thus far in not falling into the Pay To Win trap.

It's a pay to play marketing strategy in disguise. And, given the way they've continuously put new OP gear in new chapters/expansions, a strong argument can be made that there is a pay to win strategy in effect as well; case and point, Oakensoul.

MaraxusTheOrc

If you paid $10 for the base game, that’s well and good. Seems like that is an insane amount of game value for that price. Not the kind of return that puts food on the table of the team that maintains this live service, AAA MMO however.
I think it’s perfectly reasonable for them to maintain a price on a race that historically was a collector’s edition type item. That’s like asking why do they still charge for the collector’s edition of [insert expansion here].

Aquelarre

Overpowered race. Less blocking cost, roll cost, sprint cost... Nerf it please.

Kiralyn2000

MaraxusTheOrc wrote: »

If you paid $10 for the base game, that’s well and good. Seems like that is an insane amount of game value for that price. Not the kind of return that puts food on the table of the team that maintains this live service, AAA MMO however.

Also, MTX rarely get "sale" prices.. the 'sale' generally ends up happening from Crown sales, where you pay less for them (and therefore, effectively get the MTX for less $). So comparing the standard MTX price with super-bargain base game prices doesn't really work well.


(disclaimer: I never got the Imperial edition, but my original boxed base game - Tamriel Unlimited edition - did come with Any Race/Any Alliance)

NordSwordnBoard

Imagine if it dropped in the game, or could be purchased with Tel Var. Or even purchased through endeavors, gems etc. If you had it drop in the game though, imagine the influx of players. All walks of life would flock to that old content for a lottery ticket.

spartaxoxo

Honestly, they've made Morrowind free so they might as well make this free too. Can't imagine it still sells well, given that the Imperial race isn't even all that.

BlueRaven

Aquelarre wrote: »

Overpowered race. Less blocking cost, roll cost, sprint cost... Nerf it please.

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Honestly, they've made Morrowind free so they might as well make this free too. Can't imagine it still sells well, given that the Imperial race isn't even all that.

lol

•••

There is no real reason for zos to make it free. Apparently the race still has some interest in it or this thread wouldn’t exist.

To me $10 is not so bad. It costs less then a lunch for me.

(Owner of the original CE box set for ESO, btw. It came with the race already unlocked for me.)

Danikat

Back in 2015 I bought the base game for £12 on Amazon, then paid £20 for the Imperial Edition Upgrade through the website (this was before the crown store existed). At the time it was a good deal because about 9 months earlier when the game came out the Digital Imperial Edition had cost something like £50.

But I suppose the usefulness of what you get has changed. The main appeal of the Imperial Edition for me was the horse, because the next cheapest option was the brown horse for 10,000g and you had to buy 1 for each character, so the 1g Imperial horse was very useful. Also making my crafter an Imperial meant I didn't need to find or buy that motif, and originally you could convert most items to the Imperial style by right-clicking, so it was a cheap way to deal with ugly drops before the outfit system came along.

Nomadic_Atmoran

Tandor wrote: »

EdmondDontes wrote: »

This is the standard ZOS marketing tactic. Everything decent, even storage, is behind a paywall.

It's what happens when people don't want to pay subscriptions. They want everything for free, and then complain as soon as an alternative revenue source is implemented which it has to be because game development and maintenance is no different to anything else in life, it costs money on which a return has to be earned. At least there's no inherent game-winning advantage in anything that is locked behind a paywall in ESO, ZOS have done a good job thus far in not falling into the Pay To Win trap.

Come on man. You have been here long enough. This was a thing BEFORE they dropped the sub-model.

barney2525

They nerfed the Imperial a Looooong time ago, got rid of its passive Heal.

Now its not even a first choice for ANY class. Imperial outfits are not particularly noteworthy, so just adding the motif to the large number of items you never wear isn't worth much.

Doesn't even have a very good range of hair colors IMHO

It doesn't seem worthy of paying $20 to add the race. As a matter of fact, when I started the new account from scratch I did not buy the Imperial package because I could not see any reason to use it. Other races perform better. And as of this writing, I still have not bought it for this account.

Tandor

Nomadic_Atmoran wrote: »

Tandor wrote: »

EdmondDontes wrote: »

This is the standard ZOS marketing tactic. Everything decent, even storage, is behind a paywall.

It's what happens when people don't want to pay subscriptions. They want everything for free, and then complain as soon as an alternative revenue source is implemented which it has to be because game development and maintenance is no different to anything else in life, it costs money on which a return has to be earned. At least there's no inherent game-winning advantage in anything that is locked behind a paywall in ESO, ZOS have done a good job thus far in not falling into the Pay To Win trap.

Come on man. You have been here long enough. This was a thing BEFORE they dropped the sub-model.

The compulsory sub model was dropped and the Crown Store introduced with One Tamriel. They came together. Prior to that there were some differences in the options available according to whether you pre-ordered and which edition you bought, which is standard with any game release these days.

"Reception improved significantly with the March 2015 re-release and rebranding as The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, transitioning to a buy-to-play model with microtransactions and an optional subscription.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_Online#:~:text=Reception improved significantly with the,microtransactions and an optional subscription.

VaranisArano

As I remember it, ZOS went Buy to Play instead of mandatory subscriptions in conjunction with moving to Consoles in part because console users would've been paying a double subscription to ESO and their own gaming service.

psychotrip

Tandor wrote: »

EdmondDontes wrote: »

This is the standard ZOS marketing tactic. Everything decent, even storage, is behind a paywall.

It's what happens when people don't want to pay subscriptions. They want everything for free, and then complain as soon as an alternative revenue source is implemented which it has to be because game development and maintenance is no different to anything else in life, it costs money on which a return has to be earned. At least there's no inherent game-winning advantage in anything that is locked behind a paywall in ESO, ZOS have done a good job thus far in not falling into the Pay To Win trap.

Bro I paid a WoW subscription since middle school, and only quit when the game went downhill. This isnt about kids these days wanting everything for free. People will pay a sub if the game is good enough.

The reason live services move to the MTX model is simple: profit. They can make far more by [SNIP] a "free to play" or "buy to play" [SNIP] than by catering to a slightly smaller audience that gives them consistent revenue.

Stop blaming your fellow gamers for the current state of AAA gaming. We weren't the ones asking for this.

Auldwulfe

Aquelarre wrote: »

Overpowered race. Less blocking cost, roll cost, sprint cost... Nerf it please.

As someone who plays Imperials, not really.... Orcs heal by hitting people, and they get bonuses to weapon AND spell damage, other races have resource regain built in --- Imperials just spend a little less, but have to use only base regen on everything

Auldwulfe

shadyjane62

I bought at start. But the nose on the female is so ugly every time I think I want to make one I end by deleting.

Danikat

Tandor wrote: »

Nomadic_Atmoran wrote: »

Tandor wrote: »

EdmondDontes wrote: »

This is the standard ZOS marketing tactic. Everything decent, even storage, is behind a paywall.

It's what happens when people don't want to pay subscriptions. They want everything for free, and then complain as soon as an alternative revenue source is implemented which it has to be because game development and maintenance is no different to anything else in life, it costs money on which a return has to be earned. At least there's no inherent game-winning advantage in anything that is locked behind a paywall in ESO, ZOS have done a good job thus far in not falling into the Pay To Win trap.

Come on man. You have been here long enough. This was a thing BEFORE they dropped the sub-model.

The compulsory sub model was dropped and the Crown Store introduced with One Tamriel. They came together. Prior to that there were some differences in the options available according to whether you pre-ordered and which edition you bought, which is standard with any game release these days.

"Reception improved significantly with the March 2015 re-release and rebranding as The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, transitioning to a buy-to-play model with microtransactions and an optional subscription.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_Online#:~:text=Reception improved significantly with the,microtransactions and an optional subscription.

They sold the Imperial Edition Upgrade as an optional extra before the crown store was introduced. You're right that it was part of the special edition of the base game, but after that you could buy it as a seperate purchase directly through the website. The palomino horse was sold that way as well and I think there was some other stuff as well. UESP has some info about it: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:PC/Mac_Store#Removed_Items_.26_Services

(You're slightly off on the timing as well. The game switched to buy-to-play and introduced the crown store in March 2015, the One Tamriel update wasn't until October 2016.)

Aquelarre

Auldwulfe wrote: »

Aquelarre wrote: »

Overpowered race. Less blocking cost, roll cost, sprint cost... Nerf it please.

As someone who plays Imperials, not really.... Orcs heal by hitting people, and they get bonuses to weapon AND spell damage, other races have resource regain built in --- Imperials just spend a little less, but have to use only base regen on everything

Auldwulfe

Sarcasm.

Sparxlost

Because, despite what they say, you DONT get to be an imperial for free..

spartaxoxo

barney2525 wrote: »

They nerfed the Imperial a Looooong time ago, got rid of its passive Heal.

Now its not even a first choice for ANY class. Imperial outfits are not particularly noteworthy, so just adding the motif to the large number of items you never wear isn't worth much.

Doesn't even have a very good range of hair colors IMHO

It doesn't seem worthy of paying $20 to add the race. As a matter of fact, when I started the new account from scratch I did not buy the Imperial package because I could not see any reason to use it. Other races perform better. And as of this writing, I still have not bought it for this account.

I did buy it at the first opportunity (been here since console launch) and I haven't really used it the entire time. I used to prefer the horse but now we have better ones.

spartaxoxo

psychotrip wrote: »

Tandor wrote: »

EdmondDontes wrote: »

This is the standard ZOS marketing tactic. Everything decent, even storage, is behind a paywall.

It's what happens when people don't want to pay subscriptions. They want everything for free, and then complain as soon as an alternative revenue source is implemented which it has to be because game development and maintenance is no different to anything else in life, it costs money on which a return has to be earned. At least there's no inherent game-winning advantage in anything that is locked behind a paywall in ESO, ZOS have done a good job thus far in not falling into the Pay To Win trap.

Bro I paid a WoW subscription since middle school, and only quit when the game went downhill. This isnt about kids these days wanting everything for free. People will pay a sub if the game is good enough.

The reason live services move to the MTX model is simple: profit. They can make far more by [SNIP] a "free to play" or "buy to play" [SNIP] than by catering to a slightly smaller audience that gives them consistent revenue.

Stop blaming your fellow gamers for the current state of AAA gaming. We weren't the ones asking for this.

To add on that, even those who DID ask for it generally don't want everything for free. People are generally fine with paying for substantial expansions and cosmetics. What they tend to not like in being cash store exclusive is classes/characters and power. And even in the case of classes/characters most don't mind those being in the cash shop for faster as long as there is a way to grind them out.

Auldwulfe

Aquelarre wrote: »

Auldwulfe wrote: »

Aquelarre wrote: »

Overpowered race. Less blocking cost, roll cost, sprint cost... Nerf it please.

As someone who plays Imperials, not really.... Orcs heal by hitting people, and they get bonuses to weapon AND spell damage, other races have resource regain built in --- Imperials just spend a little less, but have to use only base regen on everything

Auldwulfe

Sarcasm.

Not so much - I have an Imperial of every class - and am deleting some, including ones I got to Champion level, as, due to hybridization, other races just play better.

Auldwulfe

Hamish999

I bought the Imperial pack a few weeks ago during the Zenithar event (with my ESO+ crowns) so I could get the house a wee bit cheaper for in game gold, it was the last house available for gold that I don't own lol.

Since then I've created a new Imperial toon who will be my first ever serious tank character. I'm looking forward to playing her and trying the content from a different perspective. I wouldn't have done this if Imperial was base game.

I have no High Elf or Wood Elf toons and I have no Necro toons despite having access to all of these, as I have no interest in them. I did this purely because buying the pack (to buy the house) peaked my interest and Imperials are meant to make very good tanks.

That was a long arsed way of saying I don't mind Imperial not being base game lol, (just like Warden and Jewellery crafting aren't).

Deter1UK

Honestly, I think the game is somewhat schizophrenic with imperials.

For one thing they are not really a race - are they? I would assume that being an 'Imperial; just indicates that you are a resident of Cyrodill, no?

And no one knows who the emperor is because they are all fighting over it - apart that is for the actual Imperials and the Tharn family who happily stomp around in Elsweyr (and elsewhere) generally being horrible to all the alliances

- apart from Cyrodill where they are notable by their lack of interest in the fact that everyone else is knocking seven bells out of each other, the Imperial City and all the fortifications around it.

None of it makes any sense whatsoever...

TheGreatBlackBear

Not defending imperial being paywalled but it is a very strong race for tanking. It's either the best or slightly behind redguard depending on the fight for as the BIS race for tanking. It's far from teh useless option that people like to make it out to be.

Auldwulfe

TheGreatBlackBear wrote: »

Not defending imperial being paywalled but it is a very strong race for tanking. It's either the best or slightly behind redguard depending on the fight for as the BIS race for tanking. It's far from teh useless option that people like to make it out to be.

As a tank, yes - but trying to do other stuff, not so much

Auldwulfe

Carcamongus

I only moved to ESO because it made the Imperial race available (I had read it wouldn't be playable), though this was 8 years ago and I can't remember how I got the bundle. I can't complain about the 1g horse, which for years was my chosen mount, and the mudcrab, at a time when pets were rare. That's the only race I play in all TES games (I started with Oblivion). I was so clueless when creating my first toon that I chose dragonknight because, well, dragons were cool and all that. As it turns out, Imperial DKs seem to be good for tanking, so Captain Clueless here got lucky.

But that was then, before crowns and at a time when there were few sets, not as much content and the game still needed to pay for itself. With so many more options now for tweaking builds, from new sets to CPs, not to mention plentiful free mounts and pets, it makes less sense to charge that much just to unlock a race (though it's an awesome one).