Styling Will Be Monetized

Gray_howling_parrot

NOT the first batch on release, but after that - Rich Lambert has confirmed that some will be earnable and some will be purchasable. Have to admit I’m slightly bummed here. Quite literally the only thing that wasn’t ABSOLUTELY incredible from the showcase.

I just worry that the coolest skill styles and potentially pet skins in the future will all be monetized and we’ll be left with very basic styles to earn. Disappointed simply because, as far as I know, this is the first time ZOS has decided to monetize a chapter system (meaning outside of the direct chapter purchase - monetizing later additions to the system). Thoughts?

Gray_howling_parrot

Outside of that - as stated before, this may be the most excited I’ve been for a chapter. Music, lore, vibes, systems and a new daedric prince?? Come on dude!! So sick.

Thanks ZOS

tomofhyrule

I can't say I'm surprised.

Besides, Styling is not the Chapter system. The Chapter System is Scribing. Styling is more something they're adding akin to Customized Actions (which are all monetized), in that it changes the visuals of the skill but doesn't really change anything except the visuals. I'm honestly surprised (happily) that they're making any of them earnable.

But yes, I am also pretty hyped about this Chapter. I have been needing a Shield Toss in the worst way.

virtus753

Cooperharley wrote: »

Disappointed simply because, as far as I know, this is the first time ZOS has decided to monetize a chapter system (meaning outside of the direct chapter purchase - monetizing later additions to the system). Thoughts?

Antiquities are monetized individually in that you have to get access to their own DLCs plus Greymoor.

Sometimes that’s multiple DLC per antiquity, too.

Gray_howling_parrot

tomofhyrule wrote: »

I can't say I'm surprised.

Besides, Styling is not the Chapter system. The Chapter System is Scribing. Styling is more something they're adding akin to Customized Actions (which are all monetized), in that it changes the visuals of the skill but doesn't really change anything except the visuals. I'm honestly surprised (happily) that they're making any of them earnable.

But yes, I am also pretty hyped about this Chapter. I have been needing a Shield Toss in the worst way.

I think that’s a fair comparison! But, while it may not be “the” chapter feature it’s definitely a new system for the chapter, which is why I’ve been viewing it that way.

I agree on the earnable! I just think with so much monetization and customized actions already being monetized that we would get this as an earnable feature entirely. Still beyond thankful for it and excited nonetheless - only slightly bummed like stated before

I just hope pet skins are earnable for the player base and not the portion that gets monetized later on.

Gray_howling_parrot

virtus753 wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

Disappointed simply because, as far as I know, this is the first time ZOS has decided to monetize a chapter system (meaning outside of the direct chapter purchase - monetizing later additions to the system). Thoughts?

Antiquities are monetized individually in that you have to get access to their own DLCs plus Greymoor.

Sometimes that’s multiple DLC per antiquity, too.

That’s true too - good point

virtus753

Cooperharley wrote: »

virtus753 wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

Disappointed simply because, as far as I know, this is the first time ZOS has decided to monetize a chapter system (meaning outside of the direct chapter purchase - monetizing later additions to the system). Thoughts?

Antiquities are monetized individually in that you have to get access to their own DLCs plus Greymoor.

Sometimes that’s multiple DLC per antiquity, too.

That’s true too - good point

I think in general it seems more acceptable in MMOs to monetize cosmetics, to follow up on the distinction that tomofhyrule pointed out above.

I do have to wonder how in the future they will continue to monetize Scribing itself. We will have to pay for this chapter to get it for base game skill lines (weapon lines, soul magic, etc.). Will we also have to pay for it if they expand it to class lines? Will classes feel less than or incomplete without it? While I understand that some players are excited at the possibilities it can open up for class lines, class identity is already a very strong concern for me. I'm wary of any possibility that this might be used to address pain points or fill gaps in a class. I hope it doesn't go that way.

Grizzbeorn

Why surprised?

The Outfit system was introduced... outfit slots cost $
The Armory system was introduced... armory slots cost $

All I'm saying is that it's nothing new. I'm not passing judgement on monetization; *some* of it is justifiable.

At least *some* of the styles will be earnable in-game. Can't earn outfit slots or armory slots (or character slots).

Elsonso

Cooperharley wrote: »

NOT the first batch on release, but after that - Rich Lambert has confirmed that some will be earnable and some will be purchasable. Have to admit I’m slightly bummed here. Quite literally the only thing that wasn’t ABSOLUTELY incredible from the showcase.

I just worry that the coolest skill styles and potentially pet skins in the future will all be monetized and we’ll be left with very basic styles to earn. Disappointed simply because, as far as I know, this is the first time ZOS has decided to monetize a chapter system (meaning outside of the direct chapter purchase - monetizing later additions to the system). Thoughts?

We'll see. Hopefully, the in-game stuff will not be limited to "beige" versions, while the limited time event loot is in full color and the limited time cash shop/loot box stuff is full technicolor animated rainbow unicorn stuff.

AnduinTryggva

Cooperharley wrote: »

NOT the first batch on release, but after that - Rich Lambert has confirmed that some will be earnable and some will be purchasable. Have to admit I’m slightly bummed here. Quite literally the only thing that wasn’t ABSOLUTELY incredible from the showcase.

I just worry that the coolest skill styles and potentially pet skins in the future will all be monetized and we’ll be left with very basic styles to earn. Disappointed simply because, as far as I know, this is the first time ZOS has decided to monetize a chapter system (meaning outside of the direct chapter purchase - monetizing later additions to the system). Thoughts?

Mh. Styles have always been monetized to some extent. Some motifs can only be bought with crowns like Tsaeci style. Same goes for most of the costumes and some coloring patterns are also crown only items. As hair dresses etc.

I am not surprised or shocked as I expected it. You can see if with the animation morphs like ressource collection or recall animations. And players are willing to pay for it. ZOS would be stupid not to cash in on that.

AnduinTryggva

I forgot to add:

I see it much more problematic to some extent that certain classes are hidden behind a dlc like archanist as it is now. From what I hear everywhere this class is so op that hiding it behind a dlc chapter is more a pay-to-win than just selling a playstyle.

Of course a nerf to this class is inevitable.

Elsonso

AnduinTryggva wrote: »

I forgot to add:

I see it much more problematic to some extent that certain classes are hidden behind a dlc like archanist as it is now. From what I hear everywhere this class is so op that hiding it behind a dlc chapter is more a pay-to-win than just selling a playstyle.

It is part of an expansion, and it does have to compete against the free classes. It is not unusual for new classes to be buried in an expansion. The pandas from WoW come to mind.

I do expect that it will be nerfed hard this year, though. I really don't think that the class is the best class. It is a very limited class in terms of options. Warden and Sorcerer feel better. Arcanist feels forced. There is a need to generate Crux and then use it. That means limited builds. I expect ZOS to try and break that up. Hopefully, not like they did the Necromancer.

TheMessengerOfDeath

Everybody hated a mandatory sub of $15 A month from mmos because it costs too much. But those same people willing pay $30 for the base game
$15 a month to eso because if you plan to play long term they sold you the craft bag as the solution. Not to mention games with mandory subs new content is free eso yet again $40+ for DLC, then on top of that they went so far left from P2W it costs more just to play eso than it would to just P2W in another mmo. Not to mention the loot boxes everything is locked behind the crown shop and they have the audacity to want $100+ on a house in game. This game is the most monetized game in history and people complain wElL hOw dO yOu eXpEcT tHeM to kEeP sErVeRs uP. They sold me a base game it’s not my responsibility to keep their server running but taking in 200b on revenue this is a product not a game and we get the almost most bare bones watered down content because they play it safe and every corner they want another piece of your paycheck. This is ridiculous.

Elsonso

TheMessengerOfDeath wrote: »

Everybody hated a mandatory sub of $15 A month from mmos because it costs too much.

ESO at launch was probably viewed as not worth the subscription money. They had no reputation. Most MMOs would have failed by now, but ESO did not. By the time they built that reputation, they were already a cash shop game.

Danikat

I'm ok with that, but mostly because for me skill styling is split evenly between possibilities I'm largely indifferent to and ones I've been asking to buy for 6 years now.

If/when they add the option for wardens to have something other than a bear and for sorcerers to change the twilight into something less annoying I'll buy one, unless it's stupidly over priced. For everything else I'll see what free options are available but I don't care if I have to keep using the defaults.

Destai

Disappointed but not surprised. As far as I'm concerned, this game is monetized enough, and has proven to be quite successful. IMO, they should be pivoting away from new monetization avenues to new earnables; especially with the consistent feedback supporting that direction. Hopefully, they're reasonably priced, like the harvesting animations, and not locked behind crown crates. But, I'm keeping my expectations low.

Yes, I realize there'll be some earnable, but I don't trust that they'll be as attractive as the monetized stylings. I'm also concerned they'll push out monetized stylings at a much quicker rate than the earnables. Time will tell.

Alpheu5

Danikat wrote: »

If/when they add the option for wardens to have something other than a bear and for sorcerers to change the twilight into something less annoying I'll buy one, unless it's stupidly over priced.

It costs $25 to change your name, $8 to cure a curse, and $2 for 10 tri-pots. Everything in the game is stupidly overpriced.

Elsonso

Alpheu5 wrote: »

Danikat wrote: »

If/when they add the option for wardens to have something other than a bear and for sorcerers to change the twilight into something less annoying I'll buy one, unless it's stupidly over priced.

It costs $25 to change your name, $8 to cure a curse, and $2 for 10 tri-pots. Everything in the game is stupidly overpriced.

The curse can be cured in-game. The tri-pots they sell are OK, but they can be had for free in daily rewards. I have more than a thousand of them. Literally. The Crown chicken dinners also come for free in daily rewards. My characters live off of the free chicken dinners.

The only thing that is hard to get for free is the name change.

Alpheu5

Elsonso wrote: »

Alpheu5 wrote: »

Danikat wrote: »

If/when they add the option for wardens to have something other than a bear and for sorcerers to change the twilight into something less annoying I'll buy one, unless it's stupidly over priced.

It costs $25 to change your name, $8 to cure a curse, and $2 for 10 tri-pots. Everything in the game is stupidly overpriced.

The curse can be cured in-game. The tri-pots they sell are OK, but they can be had for free in daily rewards. I have more than a thousand of them. Literally. The Crown chicken dinners also come for free in daily rewards. My characters live off of the free chicken dinners.

The only thing that is hard to get for free is the name change.

I know, that's why I brought them up. Charging $8 for something you can easily cure in-game for under 1000 gold is scummy.

redlink1979

Alpheu5 wrote: »

(....) Everything in the game is stupidly overpriced.

^ This

Erickson9610

I'm glad that Skill Styles will be monetized — I don't want every Skill Style, and I hope that monetizing the system will incentivize ZOS to implement community requests for specific Skill Styles.

Also, I'm glad Scribing skills aren't being monetized in the same way. At least, we might expect new Scribing skills to appear in new DLC and Chapters, the same way we often get new Mythics in new DLC and Chapters.

TheMessengerOfDeath

redlink1979 wrote: »

Alpheu5 wrote: »

(....) Everything in the game is stupidly overpriced.

^ This

[snip]

I can’t even get irl friends new and old, old guild mates and others I’ve met over the years to even considering coming back. Every single thing in the game is monetized and holy is everything expensive the crowns you get per $1 is a *** joke. My brother won’t even touch the game and he said it best. ESO is a mobile game at heart its %10 game %90 cash store.

[edited for bashing]

Nharimlur_Finor

TheMessengerOfDeath wrote: »

redlink1979 wrote: »

Alpheu5 wrote: »

(....) Everything in the game is stupidly overpriced.

^ This

[snip]

I can’t even get irl friends new and old, old guild mates and others I’ve met over the years to even considering coming back. Every single thing in the game is monetized and holy is everything expensive the crowns you get per $1 is a *** joke. My brother won’t even touch the game and he said it best. ESO is a mobile game at heart its %10 game %90 cash store.

If it were 'stupidly' overpriced, then they wouldn't be making the money that they are.

The introduction of in-game gambling was the biggest disappointment, apart from then linking that practice to daily rewards.

[edited to remove quote]

TheMessengerOfDeath

LaintalAy wrote: »

TheMessengerOfDeath wrote: »

redlink1979 wrote: »

Alpheu5 wrote: »

(....) Everything in the game is stupidly overpriced.

^ This

[snip]

I can’t even get irl friends new and old, old guild mates and others I’ve met over the years to even considering coming back. Every single thing in the game is monetized and holy is everything expensive the crowns you get per $1 is a *** joke. My brother won’t even touch the game and he said it best. ESO is a mobile game at heart its %10 game %90 cash store.

If it were 'stupidly' overpriced, then they wouldn't be making the money that they are.

The introduction of in-game gambling was the biggest disappointment, apart from then linking that practice to daily rewards.

They’re so many mmos that would prove that stupidly overpriced they wouldn’t make money laughable. Clearly you haven’t the slightest knowledge of the mmo world BDO has players spending 1k a week to stay on top of P2W. Just go do some digging you can prove your own statement wrong.

[edited to remove quote]

Shagreth

I guarantee you there will be 8k crown crate bundles featuring one of those (but extra shiny) soon after release. All kinds of extra slots not being account wide, having to buy furniture multiple times, 100$ houses, most cool cosmetics already being behind crates.. and the list goes on. Then, what little we can earn is locked behind ridiculous RNG in the form of FOMO.

This game's reward system is BEYOND broken and no-one can convince me otherwise. Rich Lambert can preach all he wants about ESOFAM being so important to them, but I don't really see it in practice, they don't truly appreciate us, the players. I truly don't feel my time & money spent is appreciated in this game, and that's a sad thing to feel in your favorite game.

Soarora

Something that bothers me a lot about the styling and the port animations is you’re buying one color. If it was one animation and you can dye it, that’d be way better. Yes, harder to easily monetize but for instance, if you’re buying the purple wall of elements… its just purple wall of elements. There’s no other skill thats the same color of purple, so you can’t make all your skills thematically the same color.

Bignupie1911

Game unfortunately is becoming the crown store online

Araneae6537

Elsonso wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

NOT the first batch on release, but after that - Rich Lambert has confirmed that some will be earnable and some will be purchasable. Have to admit I’m slightly bummed here. Quite literally the only thing that wasn’t ABSOLUTELY incredible from the showcase.

I just worry that the coolest skill styles and potentially pet skins in the future will all be monetized and we’ll be left with very basic styles to earn. Disappointed simply because, as far as I know, this is the first time ZOS has decided to monetize a chapter system (meaning outside of the direct chapter purchase - monetizing later additions to the system). Thoughts?

We'll see. Hopefully, the in-game stuff will not be limited to "beige" versions, while the limited time event loot is in full color and the limited time cash shop/loot box stuff is full technicolor animated rainbow unicorn stuff.

I’d be totally fine with that! And more than fine if I could NOT have the animated technicolor garbage flashing on my screen! I’m all for people styling their characters however they want, but some of the mount summons and new recalls are WAY too disruptive!

colossalvoids

Won't say I'm surprised when it was the first thing in my mind. Glad zos knows ways for people to not get excited about new content as it would be a clown crate deal in couple patches.

Erickson9610

Cooperharley wrote: »

I just worry that the coolest skill styles and potentially pet skins in the future will all be monetized and we’ll be left with very basic styles to earn.

ZOS may very well put basic Skill Styles in content and make flashier versions of them in the Crown Store. They've done something similar to this before — for instance, the skin "Reanimated Vampiric Thrall" (from the Castle Thorn Conqueror achievement) is just the skin "Bloodfiend" (from Gloomspore Crown Crates) but with added red glowing bits.

In that case, the flashier skin was actually earnable via content, whereas the less flashy one was from the Crown Store. There's nothing stopping ZOS from putting flashier versions of Skill Styles in content or in the Crown Store. So, it really depends on the player — I prefer the more "basic" style, while others undoubtedly prefer the more "flashy" style.

Cooperharley wrote: »

Disappointed simply because, as far as I know, this is the first time ZOS has decided to monetize a chapter system (meaning outside of the direct chapter purchase - monetizing later additions to the system). Thoughts?

Skill Styles could've been introduced at the same time as Customizable Actions, and it wouldn't have caused as much uproar. I think the reason that Skill Styling was chosen to be introduced now was to not only to give time for the Customized Actions system to be fleshed out, but to pair the Skill Styling system with Scribing to meet the demands of players who wanted Spellcrafting.

In other words, players who want to customize the look of their existing skills via Spellcrafting can do so via Skill Styling, while players who want to customize the function of skills (as you would with Spellcrafting) can do so via Scribing. The two features had to be introduced at the same time because while the demands for Spellcrafting couldn't be met in full, both Skill Styling and Scribing contribute individually toward fulfilling the Spellcrafting power fantasy.

Zastrix

People here are mentioning outfit slots... You have one outfit slot for free in where you can put ANY outfit, not pay crowns per specific style. You get 2 armory builds for free, you don't have to pay for unlocking whether it can be dd/tank/heal...

Like seriously how are people okay with skill styles being purchasable? It should come with the damn DLC which you ALREADY have to pay for. If it were free, sure. It's not free.

Someone here mentioned antiquities. It's not the same. You pay to get access to the area, not the lead itself. The only leads you can't get are from the latest area which you can get literally every other. Now imagine having to pay per lead even in older areas.

I'd maybe not have a problem if it were, I don't know, 300 crowns. I would be COMPLETELY fine with that. Knowing how ZOS goes the price would be ~3000 crowns or behind lootboxes and it would cost 8000 or 16000 endeavors.