Buy Game Time With Gold.

AShmo

So my question is this. Would you support buying game time with gold as long as the person buying would not get the crowns one usually get when you buy game time. I think this would give another important gold sink to curb inflation.

Treeshka

No company in the world would allow their players to buy game time or premium subscription with solely using in game grinded currency in the process of acquiring it.

Only possible and profitable way to sell vouchers of game time or premium subscription bought by someone else using real world currency, and then selling it to players with exchange to in game currencies.

AShmo

Tell that to Blizzard. They allow you to buy a token with gold and redeem that token for 30 days of game time. Also in retail wow they allow you to buy the token with gold and exchange it for i believe 20 dollars worth of Blizzard bucks, so you can use that to buy services and other Blizzard games.

shadyjane62

Yes I would. I have determined this to be my last year of subbing.

TaSheen

No. I don't have any problem paying three subs with RW currency. Even if I was still playing WoW I wouldn't be using that token system.

AShmo

TaSheen wrote: »

I don't have any problem paying three subs with RW currency.

I am glad you dont but there are some people that cant.

EdjeSwift

AShmo wrote: »

Tell that to Blizzard. They allow you to buy a token with gold and redeem that token for 30 days of game time. Also in retail wow they allow you to buy the token with gold and exchange it for i believe 20 dollars worth of Blizzard bucks, so you can use that to buy services and other Blizzard games.

That's not quite how the Blizzard system works.

The Blizzard token system DOES allow a player to redeem the token purchased with gold for game time and/or "Blizzard Bucks", but this isn't done by the company directly. There is still another player who purchases the token for real world money and then places it on the auction house. Thus, the company is not the one providing a player with in-game time for gold, it's another doing so. The company is still making more than normal for the token as they charge more for the token in the shop than they do for a monthly subscription. The token costs $20 USD for me, and a subscription would only cost $14.99.

Furthermore, ESO doesn't have in-game time as Blizzard does, it has ESO+ which is an optional service with many amazing Quality of Life improvements, but is absolutely not necessary to play the game.

Amottica

It does not matter if I would support it. Zenimax would not and that is fairly obvious. There is no game I have seen that required payment for a subscription that allowed a player to merely pay gold for that sub. Even in Wow, where a player can buy a token from another player for the sub, the player selling it still had to buy it with real money.

So it is a nice hypothetical but it will never happen.

alcoraptor

Purely with in-game gold directly from ZoS will never happen, as they'd lose a huge chunk of revenue, given how easy gold is to get in ESO.

I could see a system similar to what WoW does working, where a player buys (with real money) a 30d ESO+ token, which they then list on the trader.
I doubt they'd actually implement it though, as they already manage monthly subscriptions from PC, XBox and PS - so adding a token into that mix would be a fair amount of effort.

LunaFlora

why would you wanna buy game time when you've already bought the game?
how would you buy game time if you don't have the game?
the game isn't subscribe to play

Dagoth_Rac

LunaFlora wrote: »

why would you wanna buy game time when you've already bought the game?
how would you buy game time if you don't have the game?
the game isn't subscribe to play

There are lots of people who want the added convenience of ESO+ but don't want to pay $15/month for it.

Grizzbeorn

AShmo wrote: »

Tell that to Blizzard. They allow you to buy a token with gold and redeem that token for 30 days of game time.

That token is made available by a player who bought it with real money then put it on the auction house.
Blizzard is still making real-world money from that token before it becomes available for in-game gold.

LunaFlora

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

why would you wanna buy game time when you've already bought the game?
how would you buy game time if you don't have the game?
the game isn't subscribe to play

There are lots of people who want the added convenience of ESO+ but don't want to pay $15/month for it.

ah that's not game time, but alright.
definitely something i never see zos doing

Tandor

LunaFlora wrote: »

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

why would you wanna buy game time when you've already bought the game?
how would you buy game time if you don't have the game?
the game isn't subscribe to play

There are lots of people who want the added convenience of ESO+ but don't want to pay $15/month for it.

ah that's not game time, but alright.
definitely something i never see zos doing

I certainly hope not.

Necrotech_Master

Grizzbeorn wrote: »

AShmo wrote: »

Tell that to Blizzard. They allow you to buy a token with gold and redeem that token for 30 days of game time.

That token is made available by a player who bought it with real money then put it on the auction house.
Blizzard is still making real-world money from that token before it becomes available for in-game gold.

sounds like kind of a more legitimate crown<->gold conversion lol

Danikat

I could see them doing something like WoW does:

1. Player A buys a token, which costs the same as a subscription does normally (so $14.99 for a 30 day token, maybe other values are available too).
2. Player A sells the token to Player B (in the guild store, direct trade, whatever)
3. Player B uses the token and gets 30 days of ESO+

So ZOS get the exact same amount of real money as someone buying a subscription for themselves, Player A gets gold and Player B gets ESO+ time which they couldn't or wouldn't buy with real money.

I'm not sure if it's something I'd use though. I could get ESO+ more often than I do, I just usually think it's not worth the money for me. I'm more likely to spend gold on it because I get more gold than I need by playing and it doesn't have as many uses as real money so there's less likely to be other things I'd rather spend it on, but I suspect in a system like that the tokens would be very expensive (similar to buying crowns now), which might put me off.

Amottica

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

why would you wanna buy game time when you've already bought the game?
how would you buy game time if you don't have the game?
the game isn't subscribe to play

There are lots of people who want the added convenience of ESO+ but don't want to pay $15/month for it.

Every game that has a subscription requires someone to pay for that subscription.

Even in WoW where someone can buy a token from another player for 30 days play time, the selling player bought it with real month.

TaSheen

AShmo wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

I don't have any problem paying three subs with RW currency.

I am glad you dont but there are some people that cant.

I'm not posting what I really want to....

spartaxoxo

Treeshka wrote: »

No company in the world would allow their players to buy game time or premium subscription with solely using in game grinded currency in the process of acquiring it.

Only possible and profitable way to sell vouchers of game time or premium subscription bought by someone else using real world currency, and then selling it to players with exchange to in game currencies.

World of Warcraft does, and it was and remains one of the biggest MMOs to ever exist. Just need to make game time a tradeable item, same as dye packs or whatever.

deyjasagus

Treeshka wrote: »

No company in the world would allow their players to buy game time or premium subscription with solely using in game grinded currency in the process of acquiring it.

Only possible and profitable way to sell vouchers of game time or premium subscription bought by someone else using real world currency, and then selling it to players with exchange to in game currencies.

Eve Online comes to mind.

Trejgon

deyjasagus wrote: »

Treeshka wrote: »

No company in the world would allow their players to buy game time or premium subscription with solely using in game grinded currency in the process of acquiring it.

Only possible and profitable way to sell vouchers of game time or premium subscription bought by someone else using real world currency, and then selling it to players with exchange to in game currencies.

Eve Online comes to mind.

And just as with WoW tokens, EvE Online PLEX are purchased by other players with irl cash, and then posted to the marketplace for sale for in-game currency.

Braffin

I'm not against a tradeable eso+ (that's what you're talking about, aren't you?), but I think Zos will only consider such a feature if the price is equivalent to the usual subscription prices. So a tradeable token bought in crown store would be a solution for your issue.

tohopka_eso

Trejgon wrote: »

deyjasagus wrote: »

Treeshka wrote: »

No company in the world would allow their players to buy game time or premium subscription with solely using in game grinded currency in the process of acquiring it.

Only possible and profitable way to sell vouchers of game time or premium subscription bought by someone else using real world currency, and then selling it to players with exchange to in game currencies.

Eve Online comes to mind.

And just as with WoW tokens, EvE Online PLEX are purchased by other players with irl cash, and then posted to the marketplace for sale for in-game currency.

I tried to do some researching on this and as mentioned it's something purchased irl with cash then sold in game to players. This is something EverQuest does also and how I made my plat in game.

Juju_beans

AShmo wrote: »

Tell that to Blizzard. They allow you to buy a token with gold and redeem that token for 30 days of game time. Also in retail wow they allow you to buy the token with gold and exchange it for i believe 20 dollars worth of Blizzard bucks, so you can use that to buy services and other Blizzard games.

But someone had to buy the token itself from the Blizzard store for real money.

ESO_CenturionPlayer

This is not their business model and they will not change. Not when a game is 10 years in and rapidly declining.

This would dramatically cut down profits for ESO subs (15 a month) while in game gold is insanely over-inflated and will only continue to be unstable as players continue turning to newer games.

In my opinion they are going to maximize every dollar they can before the player base implodes. Makes sense anyway.

AnnieK

You can buy game time in WOW by grinding gold to buy a wow token in the in game Auction House.

Grizzbeorn

AnnieK wrote: »

You can buy game time in WOW by grinding gold to buy a wow token in the in game Auction House.

People keep missing the point that before that token lands on the Auction House, someone has to buy it with real money, then put it on the Auction House.

tohopka_eso

AnnieK wrote: »

You can buy game time in WOW by grinding gold to buy a wow token in the in game Auction House.

Which costs real money from another player to sell. They have the same type of token in EverQuest also. It's like I mentioned how I made money in game.

Wolf_Eye

EdjeSwift wrote: »

AShmo wrote: »

Tell that to Blizzard. They allow you to buy a token with gold and redeem that token for 30 days of game time. Also in retail wow they allow you to buy the token with gold and exchange it for i believe 20 dollars worth of Blizzard bucks, so you can use that to buy services and other Blizzard games.

That's not quite how the Blizzard system works.

The Blizzard token system DOES allow a player to redeem the token purchased with gold for game time and/or "Blizzard Bucks", but this isn't done by the company directly. There is still another player who purchases the token for real world money and then places it on the auction house. Thus, the company is not the one providing a player with in-game time for gold, it's another doing so. The company is still making more than normal for the token as they charge more for the token in the shop than they do for a monthly subscription. The token costs $20 USD for me, and a subscription would only cost $14.99.

Furthermore, ESO doesn't have in-game time as Blizzard does, it has ESO+ which is an optional service with many amazing Quality of Life improvements, but is absolutely not necessary to play the game.

I'm a little confused. If the token costs $20 and the sub only cost $14, then why would anyone buy the token over the sub?


Also, I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to Blizzard's variation of system in ESO, but it sounds like someone still pays somehow? Blizzard MUST still be making money on this somehow. So I think OP isn't understanding this and thinks this is just free subs.

zaria

Danikat wrote: »

I could see them doing something like WoW does:

1. Player A buys a token, which costs the same as a subscription does normally (so $14.99 for a 30 day token, maybe other values are available too).
2. Player A sells the token to Player B (in the guild store, direct trade, whatever)
3. Player B uses the token and gets 30 days of ESO+

So ZOS get the exact same amount of real money as someone buying a subscription for themselves, Player A gets gold and Player B gets ESO+ time which they couldn't or wouldn't buy with real money.

I'm not sure if it's something I'd use though. I could get ESO+ more often than I do, I just usually think it's not worth the money for me. I'm more likely to spend gold on it because I get more gold than I need by playing and it doesn't have as many uses as real money so there's less likely to be other things I'd rather spend it on, but I suspect in a system like that the tokens would be very expensive (similar to buying crowns now), which might put me off.

Agree this would be an good idea. It raises one issue however, you get crowns for ESO+ roughly equal the value of the sub.

Now if you don't use the crowns you could use them for buying eso+ for yourself so it just cost half as much.

And the eso+ crowns is an very good deal I would not want to go away.
You could perhaps have two sort of crowns, bought and eso+ and the eso+ crowns could not be used to buy eso+ only other stuff.

metheglyn

Wolf_Eye wrote: »

EdjeSwift wrote: »

AShmo wrote: »

Tell that to Blizzard. They allow you to buy a token with gold and redeem that token for 30 days of game time. Also in retail wow they allow you to buy the token with gold and exchange it for i believe 20 dollars worth of Blizzard bucks, so you can use that to buy services and other Blizzard games.

That's not quite how the Blizzard system works.

The Blizzard token system DOES allow a player to redeem the token purchased with gold for game time and/or "Blizzard Bucks", but this isn't done by the company directly. There is still another player who purchases the token for real world money and then places it on the auction house. Thus, the company is not the one providing a player with in-game time for gold, it's another doing so. The company is still making more than normal for the token as they charge more for the token in the shop than they do for a monthly subscription. The token costs $20 USD for me, and a subscription would only cost $14.99.

Furthermore, ESO doesn't have in-game time as Blizzard does, it has ESO+ which is an optional service with many amazing Quality of Life improvements, but is absolutely not necessary to play the game.

I'm a little confused. If the token costs $20 and the sub only cost $14, then why would anyone buy the token over the sub?


Also, I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to Blizzard's variation of system in ESO, but it sounds like someone still pays somehow? Blizzard MUST still be making money on this somehow. So I think OP isn't understanding this and thinks this is just free subs.

The people who buy the $20 token aren't converting that token to sub-time; they're selling it on the in-game AH for gold. The token is a way for people with in-game gold to support their subscription and for people with real-life money to purchase in-game gold.