ESO’s Content Pass Model Is Failing Us—and Writhing Wall Proves It

Furyous

Has the shift in how content is sold fundamentally changed the quality we can expect?

ESO used to sell expansions that were complete before asking players to pay.
You knew what you were buying.
You could evaluate the content, the scope, the features, and decide if it was worth your money.
That model rewarded effort, polish, and transparency.

Now we have “content passes.”
We prepay for content that hasn’t been created yet.
There’s no roadmap, no feature list, no accountability.
Just a vague promise that something will arrive eventually.

And when it does?
We get events like Writhing Wall, marketed as a “once in a lifetime” experience:

• The biggest threat the game has ever faced
• A massive, mysterious wall
• A fanatical cult
• A realm-threatening incursion

It was framed as the pinnacle of narrative and gameplay, something that would define the year.

And how do we fight this ultimate evil?
We spend weeks knitting sweaters to finally unlock Phase Two, only to find it just added socks to the knitting list.
This is the real reason people play fantasy games full of dragons and demonic gods, to gather supplies for months.
What’s Phase Three going to be? Sort the sweaters and socks by color and size?
Gods, what I’m really hoping for is to finally realize my lifelong gaming goal of washing and folding the laundry.
I mean, world threats are only won by neat housekeeping practiced over months of daily repetition.

The gameplay loop:

• Housekeeping
• Underwhelming and minimal rewards
• Weeks of chores with no payoff

What really confuses me is that there’s clearly talent involved.
The graphics are solid.
The story setup is compelling.
But the delivery feels sloppy, lazy, and uninspired.
It’s like the event was planned under the old post-paid model, and then halfway through, the monetization changed.
Once the content was prepaid, the structure fell apart.

So here’s the question for the devs and the community:
If the content is already paid for, what incentive is left to make sure it’s good?
Where’s the pressure to deliver something compelling, complete, or even coherent?

The failure of this event, and likely future ones, is baked into the model.
When content is prepaid and undefined, quality becomes optional.

I’m posting it because I care about the game and the community.
We deserve better than vague promises and post-paid disappointment.

Danikat

My approach is to treat the content passes like expansions: I'll decide if I'm going to buy it based only on what's been announced so far (for a pre-order) or what's actually out. Anything I get after that is a bonus.

So far the 2025 one hasn't been worth the price (even when it was 30% off). I'll get it at some point, probably after it's added to the crown store and there's a crown sale.

I'm waiting to see what's announced for next year and will decide on that once I know what I'm getting and what it costs, and again any vague promises they make about stuff coming later on won't factor into it until it's actually happening.

Dock01

the story is lousy , Mannimarco being able to walk and use Molag Bals army after betraying him makes no sense , the previous companions dint show up even tho they sworn to always stop the king of worms if he ever returns, insane amount of recyled assets , and all this for 50-80$ ? id buy it if it was worth that price but its not

colossalvoids

And it's all in buy-to-play title, having a premium sub, paid expansi... a "content pass" and an in-game store which is... quite predatory, to say the least.

Stay sane.

kind_hero

Even devs from ZOS said that Orsinium was among their top favorite DLCs they have done. That is also because they had two years time to work on it.

In my opinion, Orsinium should be a gold standard. The challenge is to deliver such a polished DLC in less than a year and with, most likely, a smaller team than 10 years ago.

I don't like the content pass model. I paid for it, but it felt quite expensive for me, even though I am paying a sub for 10 years and buying each DLC every year.

What I always disliked in ESO DLCs is how they were split in two or more content packs. If I pay for something, I want to be able to have full access when it is released, since I didn't pay in installments. Even this year the DLC is labeled as "content pass", the structure is the same like in the previous years. It is quite frustrating to start the story in summer, get to a cliff-hanger, only to wait until late autumn for the conclusion. Also, having dungeons with key story elements which most of the time get skipped or rushed is a very bad idea. Many people questing don't like to do dungeons just to get a new layer of the main story.
Also, things that motivate me to play, like furnishings and housing, are intentionally delayed and spread across incremental updates. So, we get the base themed furnishings in the summer, a few others with the dungeon packs, and the structural or more interesting furnishing plans in the winter, to make people grind the dailies more, after they have done them countless time in the summer. I am sorry, this model is really annoying, and shows a desire to create engagement in an artificial way, rather than to have people play because of how cool the content is. Look at how many people still play Skyrim now, even after Oblivion remastered was launched. While there is no FOMO in Skyrim!

silentxthreat

Furyous wrote: »

Has the shift in how content is sold fundamentally changed the quality we can expect?

ESO used to sell expansions that were complete before asking players to pay.
You knew what you were buying.
You could evaluate the content, the scope, the features, and decide if it was worth your money.
That model rewarded effort, polish, and transparency.

Now we have “content passes.”
We prepay for content that hasn’t been created yet.
There’s no roadmap, no feature list, no accountability.
Just a vague promise that something will arrive eventually.

And when it does?
We get events like Writhing Wall, marketed as a “once in a lifetime” experience:

• The biggest threat the game has ever faced
• A massive, mysterious wall
• A fanatical cult
• A realm-threatening incursion

It was framed as the pinnacle of narrative and gameplay, something that would define the year.

And how do we fight this ultimate evil?
We spend weeks knitting sweaters to finally unlock Phase Two, only to find it just added socks to the knitting list.
This is the real reason people play fantasy games full of dragons and demonic gods, to gather supplies for months.
What’s Phase Three going to be? Sort the sweaters and socks by color and size?
Gods, what I’m really hoping for is to finally realize my lifelong gaming goal of washing and folding the laundry.
I mean, world threats are only won by neat housekeeping practiced over months of daily repetition.

The gameplay loop:

• Housekeeping
• Underwhelming and minimal rewards
• Weeks of chores with no payoff

What really confuses me is that there’s clearly talent involved.
The graphics are solid.
The story setup is compelling.
But the delivery feels sloppy, lazy, and uninspired.
It’s like the event was planned under the old post-paid model, and then halfway through, the monetization changed.
Once the content was prepaid, the structure fell apart.

So here’s the question for the devs and the community:
If the content is already paid for, what incentive is left to make sure it’s good?
Where’s the pressure to deliver something compelling, complete, or even coherent?

The failure of this event, and likely future ones, is baked into the model.
When content is prepaid and undefined, quality becomes optional.

I’m posting it because I care about the game and the community.
We deserve better than vague promises and post-paid disappointment.

I had a strong feeling this would happen so I decide to keep the wallet shut. as a pvp player I will spend money but it needs to be a 2 way street

Furyous

Just to clarify where I’m coming from:

I’m not against spending money on games. I have money earmarked for entertainment, and I want to support developers who deliver content that feels meaningful, polished, and worth the time investment.

But that’s the key—it has to feel worth it.
When content is vague, recycled, or built around chores instead of gameplay, it doesn’t feel like value.
It feels like obligation.

And I’m just not having fun with this “once in a lifetime” event.
The slog to do the same thing over and over for months isn’t fun.
There’s no difference between Phase One and Phase Two, it’s just more of the exact same thing.
I don’t want to pay for this.

I’m not asking for everything to be perfect. I’m asking for effort, clarity, and a sense that the people making the content actually want it to be good, because when that’s there, I’m happy to pay for it.

I want value for my money.
If I feel like I wasted it, I won’t spend it again next time.

silentxthreat

exactly. Ill pay for good game content but eso has been failing the pvp community for years. I know its because that group of players usally spends as little as possible but its mostly because the state of the game. If they would give us good content everyone will pay but this isnt it

twisttop138

Yes, you're right on a lot of things this years content is lackluster. Cheap, kinda. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense lore wise. A village of nords on this secret island. In winter coats no less. The return of dead characters, the spoiling of that in promo stuff. Reskinned, reused. A very noticeable lack of side quests. The trial, while excellent, is old bosses thrown in for reasons. Plus lord warden is stuck on a shield iny trunk. He talks to me when I pull it out. What's he doing in Coldharbor?

I could excuse all of that transition year. I keep seeing it. Year of transition from the chapter model to something worse. New stories in old zones. Not against that. For sure could be a cool thing to take the place of our kidnapped Q4 story dlc. Where did that go again? So we could get bug fixes right? How's that going PC players getting teabagged by Bashei?

Then we have the wall. The event to make it ALL worth it. I don't need to repeat the advertisement, people are posting it in threads. I guess in the end, it could be realm breaking. As in it's made a lot of people very angry and is a threat to the realm.

I get that they lost staff. That they had the other mmo shut down. Profits profit profit. Shareholders first Microsoft now calls the shots. I feel for them. I'm not angry with the dev team. I get people do what they're told. I work too. But they need to do something. They need to blow us away in the end of year letter. Let loose the secrets you keep hinting at.

DenverRalphy

To be fair. The content was actually created beforehnd. It's just not very much of it, and (IMO) not impressive work.

It's not like they just started working on the 2025 content only after announcing the change to a seasonal release model and selling the content pass.

I'm not defending the new release model, as I feel extremely let down as many others here do. Even so, any critiicisms do need to be acccurate.

Furyous

DenverRalphy wrote: »

To be fair. The content was actually created beforehand. It's just not very much of it, and (IMO) not impressive work.

It's not like they just started working on the 2025 content only after announcing the change to a seasonal release model and selling the content pass.

I'm not defending the new release model, as I feel extremely let down as many others here do. Even so, any criticisms do need to be accurate.

I tried to cover that in the original post:

Furyous wrote: »

What really confuses me is that there’s clearly talent involved.
The graphics are solid.
The story setup is compelling.
But the delivery feels sloppy, lazy, and uninspired.
It’s like the event was planned under the old post-paid model, and then halfway through, the monetization changed.
Once the content was prepaid, the structure fell apart.

I think they had much bigger plans for this, but it all fell apart for whatever reasons.
And to be honest, I don’t care what the reasons are.

If I buy a car and it doesn’t run, I don’t care why, it’s not my job to diagnose the factory.
I want the car I paid for, not something that looks nice but doesn’t work.

I’m paying to be entertained.
Knitting sweaters for months in an MMO isn’t entertaining to me.

twisttop138

DenverRalphy wrote: »

To be fair. The content was actually created beforehnd. It's just not very much of it, and (IMO) not impressive work.

It's not like they just started working on the 2025 content only after announcing the change to a seasonal release model and selling the content pass.

I'm not defending the new release model, as I feel extremely let down as many others here do. Even so, any critiicisms do need to be acccurate.

You're absolutely correct. They don't take the money and then create the content. Stuffs planned out the year before or even more I've heard. I don't know why but solstice feels half finished. Like they had planned it, built it, started doing it but stopped half way through and did like a weird pivot. It feels...empty. So unlike a chapter. So sparse on side quests. I get this weird feeling that it's completely unfinished when I travel through and see almost no quest markers. Compared to say blackwood. I was on a multi year break, back 7 months now and just getting into what I missed. I was just in blackwood yesterday and it seems everywhere there's a black quest starter. Papers on the ground, people etc. I don't know. Very disappointed, but we'll see what's coming

Furyous

twisttop138 wrote: »

You're absolutely correct. They don't take the money and then create the content. Stuffs planned out the year before or even more I've heard. I don't know why but solstice feels half finished. Like they had planned it, built it, started doing it but stopped half way through and did like a weird pivot. It feels...empty. So unlike a chapter. So sparse on side quests. I get this weird feeling that it's completely unfinished when I travel through and see almost no quest markers. Compared to say blackwood. I was on a multi year break, back 7 months now and just getting into what I missed. I was just in blackwood yesterday and it seems everywhere there's a black quest starter. Papers on the ground, people etc. I don't know. Very disappointed, but we'll see what's coming

I think that feeling is perfectly explained by the change in how they charge for content.

Before the shift to prepaid content passes, they had to build something worth buying.
The incentive was clear: make a great product and people will pay for it.
But halfway through this cycle, they pivoted to a model where the money comes first.
Once the content is prepaid, the pressure to deliver drops dramatically.

I'm sure the Microsoft acquisition and other internal factors played a role too.
But the bottom line is this: if you've already been paid, the urgency to finish strong fades.

If you don't believe me, try this. Prepay a contractor the full amount for a job in your home, then just wait for them to show up.
That's the dynamic we're seeing here.
And it shows.

tomofhyrule

I am a little suspicious of where the team intends to go from here.

I get that this was a rough year what with all of the surprise layoffs, but as has been said, that was not the cause of the content being subpar. All of this was planned before those hit.

I do suspect there was a massive budget cut last year, and that would explain the surprise cancellation of the NA event. Still, I can’t imagine that 2025 was good for next year’s prospects.

I know that “more agile development” totally meant “we’re going to do less each patch,” but still…

My one last piece of copium is that this desire to reduce the animation footprint is to take account of the fact that older hardware can’t handle so much and they want to make something like a new Class that needs new attack animations.

spartaxoxo

tomofhyrule wrote: »

I get that this was a rough year what with all of the surprise layoffs, but as has been said, that was not the cause of the content being subpar. All of this was planned before those hit.

The overland difficulty feature was supposed to come out this year. So, I do suspect that at least some of this is due to layoffs but we'll never know.

Regardless though, next year needs to course correct because this year has somehow managed to both over promise and not tell us anything and then undelivered all at once.

katanagirl1

tomofhyrule wrote: »

I am a little suspicious of where the team intends to go from here.

I get that this was a rough year what with all of the surprise layoffs, but as has been said, that was not the cause of the content being subpar. All of this was planned before those hit.

I do suspect there was a massive budget cut last year, and that would explain the surprise cancellation of the NA event. Still, I can’t imagine that 2025 was good for next year’s prospects.

I know that “more agile development” totally meant “we’re going to do less each patch,” but still…

My one last piece of copium is that this desire to reduce the animation footprint is to take account of the fact that older hardware can’t handle so much and they want to make something like a new Class that needs new attack animations.

Being on console I am not generally prone to suggest anything that would cause them to lose players on my server, but the truth is playing on PS4 became difficult years ago, about the time that the PS4 Pro was out and the PS5 was becoming available. You couldn’t run a trial because the adds wouldn’t load in for 30 seconds or more. You couldn’t PvP because you never came out of a forward camp alive. The performance was crippling back then. Just rolling up to a wayshrine meant black silhouettes of other players and some npcs weren’t where they were supposed to be.

If this is all being done to keep players on last gen consoles now and it is hurting the rest of the game, then it’s time to just move on. We are not in the middle of a COVID epidemic anymore, there isn’t a shortage of PS5s and XBox Series consoles that limits how many players can buy them. Some players may be holding back due to finances but that will always be the case.

My only fear about that is that I am starting to see the same performance issues creeping back in on PS5 now. So something is causing a strain in the game again. We have theories on what it might be but no concrete evidence. There are so many different aspects to the game now, ToT, IA, scribing, and subclassing. Perhaps the servers just can’t handle the load with the increased number of systems, skills, and the fact the many players run three permanent pets and a companion now. I guess something needs to be done, I just hope they are working on the part of the game that is really causing the problems.

Varana

Yeah, the mass layoffs came around mid-year, i.e. when Solstice was already mostly done (I hope). I can believe that they affected the WW event somewhat, but still, I have a hard time seeing how this trainwreck could've been made good in those two or three months with more people. They always talk about how testing and deploying fixes takes a long while (which is the excuse for letting major bugs fester for months), so by that logic, the content should've been mostly produced by July. Instead, we got very little to no content at all with the event.

And in the end, that wouldn't be such a terrible thing if the price reflected that cut-back content. "We can't produce content at the same rate as before" is a reasonable thing to say, and iirc, they said that when they announced the season model. But if you produce less content, then you need to charge less for that.
And not rip people off like this year.

twisttop138

Furyous wrote: »

twisttop138 wrote: »

You're absolutely correct. They don't take the money and then create the content. Stuffs planned out the year before or even more I've heard. I don't know why but solstice feels half finished. Like they had planned it, built it, started doing it but stopped half way through and did like a weird pivot. It feels...empty. So unlike a chapter. So sparse on side quests. I get this weird feeling that it's completely unfinished when I travel through and see almost no quest markers. Compared to say blackwood. I was on a multi year break, back 7 months now and just getting into what I missed. I was just in blackwood yesterday and it seems everywhere there's a black quest starter. Papers on the ground, people etc. I don't know. Very disappointed, but we'll see what's coming

I think that feeling is perfectly explained by the change in how they charge for content.

Before the shift to prepaid content passes, they had to build something worth buying.
The incentive was clear: make a great product and people will pay for it.
But halfway through this cycle, they pivoted to a model where the money comes first.
Once the content is prepaid, the pressure to deliver drops dramatically.

I'm sure the Microsoft acquisition and other internal factors played a role too.
But the bottom line is this: if you've already been paid, the urgency to finish strong fades.

If you don't believe me, try this. Prepay a contractor the full amount for a job in your home, then just wait for them to show up.
That's the dynamic we're seeing here.
And it shows.

I think we're in agreement about this years content. I get your analogy, I'm a diesel mechanic and we invoice after repairs are done. Even side work when I fix people's cars I get paid after. I just don't think that solstice wasn't completed (in the state we will find it in after phase 3) before we purchased it. I think they had a done 60% of a chapter and decided to ship it. It's good enough for government work, as we say in the trades. We'll never know why until a disgruntled dev does a reddit ama or gets interviewed by gaming media 10 years from now but why it's unfinished and sub par doesn't matter. It is. And it ain't getting better from here, I suspect. More agile development, what a joke. I'm almost getting sick of saying but this years a wash. Now it all rests on the end of year letter.

mrreow

Nobody in high business corporate will ever agree or allow to have one quality DLC instead of several half baked.

It’s just as alien concept to the bottom line as intuitively excellent it is for consumers.

This is why I don’t play AAA games that mmos undoubtedly are. And why ESO will never unleash its full potential…

As long as MMOs game dev is beyond reach of indie developers we will congregate in these virtual halls dissatisfied. Pointing fingers at the cost-efficient, just-acceptable, McDonald’s of creative work.

kargen27

I believe it was announced 2025 would be a transition year from what we had to what is coming. Maybe I am remembering wrong but pretty sure 2025 was meant as a one off to get the game where they want it to end up.

DenverRalphy

kargen27 wrote: »

I believe it was announced 2025 would be a transition year from what we had to what is coming. Maybe I am remembering wrong but pretty sure 2025 was meant as a one off to get the game where they want it to end up.

That is correct. However what's odd though; Is that despite openly stating that it would be a Transition Year which could be interpreted as acknowledging it would be a year full of hiccups.. Instead of acting to keep the playerbase happy by perhaps offering some kind of boon to offset the chaos, they instead opted to raise the price of content for the privelege of receiving less.

Furyous

It just occurred to me, the Season Pass was almost a year ago.
They’ve already been paid for this year’s content.
No matter what they do now, they can’t get more money out of it.
The only way to generate new revenue is to pivot all efforts into selling next year’s pass.

So now I’m wondering: how much of the current year will be rushed, cut short, or quietly skipped just to get next year’s pass on the market?

If the goal is to start selling again, the incentive shifts from finishing strong to pivoting early.

colossalvoids

Furyous wrote: »

It just occurred to me, the Season Pass was almost a year ago.
They’ve already been paid for this year’s content.
No matter what they do now, they can’t get more money out of it.
The only way to generate new revenue is to pivot all efforts into selling next year’s pass.

So now I’m wondering: how much of the current year will be rushed, cut short, or quietly skipped just to get next year’s pass on the market?

If the goal is to start selling again, the incentive shifts from finishing strong to pivoting early.

That's where their short term profit strat fails kinda, if the course doesn't change or getting fixed upon an outrage or constructive criticism that can be addressed it gives people less incentive to do the same blind purchase the next year, more so it makes the customer suspicious no matter they like it or not as it indicates a behaviour.

twisttop138

kargen27 wrote: »

I believe it was announced 2025 would be a transition year from what we had to what is coming. Maybe I am remembering wrong but pretty sure 2025 was meant as a one off to get the game where they want it to end up.

They did say this, you're correct. But a transition year doesn't exempt them from delivering quality content that we actually paid more for. They don't just get a pass from criticism because they were vague about what's to come in a letter last December. Be clear. Concise. Don't charge more for less then tell us it's a world changing once in a lifetime chance to save the realm.

They were also clear in that letter about what's coming. No more chapters. New stories in old zones. 3 months seasons, which will probably go something like this.The dark brotherhood faces a new threat from an old foe. Gather your allies as you journey across Tamriel, to beloved, iconic locations as you fight to stop this new threat. Culminating in a showdown for the ages. Will you save the brotherhood or will McGuffin destroy all you've worked so hard to build. What it really means though is we strung together some prologue length quests that we'll release a couple times throughout the season. Maybe some new pockets in old delves where you'll face an enemy. Maybe once next year they'll release this Craglorn lite adventure mini zone they talked about. Throw in some furnishing plans, a couple antiquity leads, something for the master writ vendor. Reskin some outfits and stuff as rewards for the season. Cap it off with a golden pursuit with a mount and or house and boom. You're done. There's your money, but they'll want you to pay for the entire year or maybe by the season but you'll have to pay. Still no confirmation that there'll be more dungeons, a new trial, a new class, companion. To say nothing of everything else we lose without chapters. New systems, side quests, delves, public dungeons, world bosses, exploration.

So I think it's entirely fair to tell them, loudly, now if you don't like it or what's been hinted at. The more voices raised the better. It'll probably make no difference, look at just the basics ignored this year. Class balance, crippling combat issues. Still though, I love this game. I want it to be a 30 year mmo. I've played for almost 10 years. I'll be here till the lights go dark. So I feel like we can't cut them any slack in this regard, though with the year they've had some stuff is perfectly understandable. Anyway, just one guys worthless opinion.

liliub17_ESO

This "chapter" or whatever they want to call it reminds me of a game in the past but not in a complimentary way to ESO.

In another game two years older than ESO, something similar to this content pass stuff was begun. It was a "living story" concept and came out in several episodes in between the regular major content releases which were, on average, a couple of years apart; the first episode was released and began a mere six months after game launch, I think. At first it was honestly a lag fest because of the tremendous number of players doing the content. Even with the periodic crippling lag, it was a lot of fun with guildmates and the rewards were decent. Many screenshots taken and stories told to this day of those early adventures.

Those devs persisted with chasing the bugs and banishing the lag as much as possible, and I think five seasons over six years were eventually released. If you were not present when they went live originally, you had to pay for the episodes to play that content later (and can buy now) . I only have some of each as my attendance was spotty in those years. The living story was additional, not in place of, a major content release, and added content to the game while the devs fine-tuned the expansions (chapters).

At some point, the idea was shelved and the devs concentrated on putting out solid content, all story driven as always, with new mechanics or something to catch the attention without breaking the game altogether.

Not going to say there aren't still bugs and mistakes in that game's releases. But I am going to say that while this concept can be done and done well --- ESO's version ain't it.

licenturion

Your post was entertaining to read

Furyous wrote: »

So here’s the question for the devs and the community:
If the content is already paid for, what incentive is left to make sure it’s good?
Where’s the pressure to deliver something compelling, complete, or even coherent?

The solution is in the question.

The community should just band together and not pre-purchase anything so that they are eventually forced to go back to the old model of releasing complete content instead of live service drip feed.

After this year, I will not pre-order and wait until the content is complete and buy it in deep sale.

Usually, numbers are the only thing taken into consideration for companies. So not buying is the only thing I can actually do to show my disdain for the new formula. I gave them the benefit of doubt this year, but they have failed spectacularly when it comes to old asset reuse and a terrible event.

Usually when games start with tiny drip feed of content I usually lose interest quickly. It happened before with Destiny 2, Sea Of Thieves and The Division 2. I need 'expansions', not micro/mini-events that are basically filling progress bars and watching number go up.

Elsonso

I bought the content pass for this event, and I can say that this is a very boring event. It is sort of fitting that Witches Festival was run concurrently, since they are basically the same sort of event. Players run around and collect boxes of prizes doing repetitive tasks. This gets BORING very quickly because it was so long.

I can handle repetitive New Life or Witches Festival for a few days, but eventually, I am done and move on. These need to be several days long so that people can participate without feeling too rushed. I am under no obligation to stick with it the entire time, once I reach my fill of the event.

Writhing Wall Phase 1 was very very long. I stuck around to see that Phase 2 was mainly shuffling rewards and putting a beam of light up. So, I am done with Writhing Wall on both EU and NA and am back to my normal game play. I have no active characters in Solstice.

Will I buy the 2026 Content Pass? Too soon to tell, but after this event, I question whether it is wise to invest in promised future content.

Asdara

Honestly, this whole situation reminds me of exactly the kind of thing EU consumer law was designed to prevent. Under European rules, especially the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the Digital Content Directive, companies aren’t supposed to sell “future content” with vague promises and no clear description. When you ask players to prepay for undefined digital goods, that can easily cross into misleading commercial practice territory, the same legal category as loot boxes and other opaque monetization schemes.

If the content you deliver doesn’t match what was advertised or implied, EU law says consumers are entitled to a refund or other remedy. Regulators like the European Commission or national consumer agencies can fine companies and force them to change how they market and sell digital products.

That’s basically what happened with loot boxes: the issue wasn’t just randomness, it was the lack of transparency and the false sense of value being sold. “Content passes” that promise big narrative experiences but deliver half-finished chores could absolutely be seen the same way under EU law.

Castagere

Dock01 wrote: »

the story is lousy , Mannimarco being able to walk and use Molag Bals army after betraying him makes no sense , the previous companions dint show up even tho they sworn to always stop the king of worms if he ever returns, insane amount of recyled assets , and all this for 50-80$ ? id buy it if it was worth that price but its not

When I found out that this was about Mannimarco, I wish I could have gotten a refund for this pass. This is like a bad joke. Also, you would think if he came back the the three other heroes that fought him would show up, but they don't. I feel really stupid for buying this. This is what we are going to get now. And remember, this is under Microsoft ownership.

Tavore1138

Furyous wrote: »

And when it does?
We get events like Writhing Wall, marketed as a “once in a lifetime” experience:

One marketing promise I hope they keep!

kargen27

twisttop138 wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

I believe it was announced 2025 would be a transition year from what we had to what is coming. Maybe I am remembering wrong but pretty sure 2025 was meant as a one off to get the game where they want it to end up.

They did say this, you're correct. But a transition year doesn't exempt them from delivering quality content that we actually paid more for. They don't just get a pass from criticism because they were vague about what's to come in a letter last December. Be clear. Concise. Don't charge more for less then tell us it's a world changing once in a lifetime chance to save the realm.

They were also clear in that letter about what's coming. No more chapters. New stories in old zones. 3 months seasons, which will probably go something like this.The dark brotherhood faces a new threat from an old foe. Gather your allies as you journey across Tamriel, to beloved, iconic locations as you fight to stop this new threat. Culminating in a showdown for the ages. Will you save the brotherhood or will McGuffin destroy all you've worked so hard to build. What it really means though is we strung together some prologue length quests that we'll release a couple times throughout the season. Maybe some new pockets in old delves where you'll face an enemy. Maybe once next year they'll release this Craglorn lite adventure mini zone they talked about. Throw in some furnishing plans, a couple antiquity leads, something for the master writ vendor. Reskin some outfits and stuff as rewards for the season. Cap it off with a golden pursuit with a mount and or house and boom. You're done. There's your money, but they'll want you to pay for the entire year or maybe by the season but you'll have to pay. Still no confirmation that there'll be more dungeons, a new trial, a new class, companion. To say nothing of everything else we lose without chapters. New systems, side quests, delves, public dungeons, world bosses, exploration.

So I think it's entirely fair to tell them, loudly, now if you don't like it or what's been hinted at. The more voices raised the better. It'll probably make no difference, look at just the basics ignored this year. Class balance, crippling combat issues. Still though, I love this game. I want it to be a 30 year mmo. I've played for almost 10 years. I'll be here till the lights go dark. So I feel like we can't cut them any slack in this regard, though with the year they've had some stuff is perfectly understandable. Anyway, just one guys worthless opinion.

My intent wasn't to defend this years content but to point out in might be an anomaly. The opening post and others suggest what we have now is what we are going to be getting here on out. I'm just reminding people we might be getting something different so don't give up hope just yet.
By all means let them know this wasn't a good year in a lot of aspects though.