Scribing towards a pay-to-win direction?

Alharion · June 19

I do not know you, but such an addition available only to the purchase of content, I really feel perplexed, especially at the sight of certain skill become extremely powerful with this new possibility of customization for certain fate, gives this guide to pay to win. This having happened for the 10 years of TESO should have been a fair addition for all and accessible to all.

sarahthes · June 19

But it's bad. So how could it be pay to win?

fizl101 · June 19

scrying and antiquities I think is more powerful. I don't think either are pay to win however

EdjeSwift · June 19

Alharion wrote: »

I do not know you, but such an addition available only to the purchase of content, I really feel perplexed, especially at the sight of certain skill become extremely powerful with this new possibility of customization for certain fate, gives this guide to pay to win. This having happened for the 10 years of TESO should have been a fair addition for all and accessible to all.

Like Warden?
Like Necromancer(was)?
Like Antiquities?
Like Arcanist?

This is nothing new. You support and buy the new chapter you get the new shiny.

SilverIce58 · June 19

Always somebody thinking new content is Pay to Win. What are you winning that others aren't? Is there something people are unable to beat without scribing? And if so, then what skill is it that is so overpowered that makes one "win" at this game? And winning what again?

LunaFlora · June 19

i think Pay to Win would be if we could buy mythics from the crown store.
or Grimoires, especially bad if with way more damage than the current grimoires.

but we can't actually buy anything from the crown store that makes us "win".

there's just dlc that have ways to earn new things

tomofhyrule · June 19

There is literally a thread (5 spaces down as I write this) that is complaining about Scribing being useless and underpowered in all content.

It can't be both OP and useless. So which is it?

People have been warning for ages that "spellcrafting" would only lead to balance upheavals, and the safest place for spellcrafting was for it to be more fun than meta. And that's where Scribing ended up, with the exception of the incorrect scaling on one script of the Resto grimoire (which also has people complaining that by far the strongest heal in the game got nerfed since it was clearly and unintentionally OP)

Scribing is supposed to be to have fun. Are you concerned that people who bought Scribing are having more fun than you and are therefore 'winning'?

Araneae6537 · June 19

Wait there’s another thread decrying scribing as useless — how could it possibly also be pay-to-win?

Regardless, a game requiring the latest content to be maximally competitive is NOT pay-to-win. Pay-to-win would be making the Wabbajack available for Crowns, for instance. Honestly, ESO makes it’s chapter the least that way of any game I’ve played. SWTOR required the latest expansion to reach the new level cap (I absolutely hate the level treadmill and making old gear not just no longer meta but useless). GW2 introduced major systems like gliding and mounts with expansions, as well as new specializations (which were often the new meta).

OtarTheMad · June 19

Why is every new thing pay to win? Scribing is not that, far from it. If anything Scribing is underpowered and maybe that’s okay.

Pay to win, my understanding anyway, is that without this thing you are calling P2W you cannot complete the game or thing… pretty much impossible hence the “win” part. Nothing in ESO qualifies. You can complete the game without Warden, Necromancer, Arcanist, Jewelry Crafting, Antiquities, Scribing etc.

valenwood_vegan · June 19

So the game should never add any new content? Or should they give it all away for free? I mean I'd like that... but they need to pay the devs and the server costs. Also, the general complaint about scribing is that the skills are extremely underwhelming and only have niche uses so I definitely don't see the problem.

I have my complaints about eso and zos, but these accusations of any new content being "pay to win" put them in an impossible position - if they make scribing skills OP, it's unfair. If they make the skills underwhelming, the new system isn't interesting to players. Sigh.

Froil · June 19

OtarTheMad wrote: »

Why is every new thing pay to win? Scribing is not that, far from it. If anything Scribing is underpowered and maybe that’s okay.

Pay to win, my understanding anyway, is that without this thing you are calling P2W you cannot complete the game or thing… pretty much impossible hence the “win” part. Nothing in ESO qualifies. You can complete the game without Warden, Necromancer, Arcanist, Jewelry Crafting, Antiquities, Scribing etc.

Pretty much what you said. People don't even understand what pay to win is anymore and just throw it around willy nilly.

sarahthes · June 19

Froil wrote: »

OtarTheMad wrote: »

Why is every new thing pay to win? Scribing is not that, far from it. If anything Scribing is underpowered and maybe that’s okay.

Pay to win, my understanding anyway, is that without this thing you are calling P2W you cannot complete the game or thing… pretty much impossible hence the “win” part. Nothing in ESO qualifies. You can complete the game without Warden, Necromancer, Arcanist, Jewelry Crafting, Antiquities, Scribing etc.

Pretty much what you said. People don't even understand what pay to win is anymore and just throw it around willy nilly.

They don't want to play the new expansion so everything in it is automatically pay to win (I don't agree with their take btw).

Tornaad · June 19

Alharion wrote: »

I do not know you, but such an addition available only to the purchase of content, I really feel perplexed, especially at the sight of certain skill become extremely powerful with this new possibility of customization for certain fate, gives this guide to pay to win. This having happened for the 10 years of TESO should have been a fair addition for all and accessible to all.

The chapter is actually a really good chapter. It is one of my all time favorite Elder Scrolls storylines. You should get it, play with scribing a bit, and come back and give everyone a review of whether you feel it is overpowered enough to truly be pay to win. For example, if you were terrible in battle grounds, and getting access to scribing suddenly made you dominate at battle grounds, then that would be a great bit of proof that it was indeed pay to win. Otherwise it is just a business, doing what a business should, and charging for new content.

tsaescishoeshiner · June 19

Alharion wrote: »

I do not know you, but such an addition available only to the purchase of content, I really feel perplexed, especially at the sight of certain skill become extremely powerful with this new possibility of customization for certain fate, gives this guide to pay to win. This having happened for the 10 years of TESO should have been a fair addition for all and accessible to all.

"Pay-to-win" has to mean more than "buying content allows you to earn or access something that gives you a benefit."

Otherwise it would boil down to:

New feature is worth using: "pay-to-win"
New feature is not worth using: "pointless DLC"

Two main things that make games actually pay-to-win, as I understand it:
- getting a one-sided advantage in almost all settings that makes it pointless to try for free
- shortcutting a years-long grind to be competitive

Which I just don't think applies to ESO, but it's definitely not a free game. I'm pretty sure you can hit 100k and top a battlegrounds leaderboard with items available with basegame ESO (harder on some classes). Should all the new gear and new skills of all DLC be removed?

frogthroat · June 19

EdjeSwift wrote: »

Like Warden?
Like Necromancer(was)?
Like Antiquities?
Like Arcanist?

Don't forget jewelry crafting-

MaraxusTheOrc · June 19

Another “pay-to-win” post. Must mean another chapter has released. I’m convinced the only people crying pay-to-win are the people who haven’t even touched scribing yet.