Ex Employee or Troll?

Garbrac

Hey Everyone,

I don’t usually post on the official forums, but I found something that I think needs the attention of either a ZOS employee or community awareness. During my travels across the vastness of the internet in search of everything ESO, I have stumbled on some interesting posts.

There seems to be a guy posting and claiming to be an “ex” employee, I don’t know if he is or isn’t an employee. I would assume he isn’t as most companies like ZOS would require you to sign a document stating you will not discuss company policies or procedures after your termination.

This guy is claiming that he has “proof” that ESO will go F2P after the first investment quarter and Sub numbers are “abysmal”. Now, I strongly disagree with both statements, sadly I have nothing to back up my argument other than seeing how many people were in Beta / Launch week I can only assume that the game has surpassed that of SWTOR, which had over 2 million Subs first month.

He also goes on to claim that ZOS has laid off a lot of its Senior staff, now with ESO being as big as it is currently – least in the media sense – I would think we’d hear about any massive layoffs done by the studio.

So as I said I don’t know how accurate this is, but has anyone else heard of these rumors or have anything to back up his claims to being a ZOS employee?

dbennett707cub18_ESO

Not buying this as legit, because he says there is no item logging. I spoke on the phone to a support rep. who could see every item I had ever deleted and even read them back to me.

Kyotee0071

Even if the game does go FTP it can still prosper and be a solid game. The more I play this game, the more I see it heading to FTP in the near future. (Opinion of course). And by the way, I enjoy the game.

Just so many issues and it's going to take a long time to iron out. I can see folks canceling subs do to frustration before things get fixed.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Hi folks,

We don't believe the person who made those posts is a former or current member of the ZeniMax Online Studios development team; there have been no such layoffs.

Khal_Kitte

You can expect the majority of new mmorpgs to follow this exact business plan, at the end of the day its more profitable and the subscription model is becoming less and less the norm.

Gamers are more likly to spend money on microtransactions than have a monthly figure coming out of their bank on a regular basis.

Usual methodology is to gain the first few rounds of subs and then turn to a FTP model.

starkerealm

I thought TOR claimed to have 1m after launch, and it turned out that the numbers were something of a shell game, because they fudged the system so people couldn't cancel their account close to the first month renewal.

It was the Sony F2P... Clone Wars Adventures, I think, that was boasting 2m around the time TOR launched.

Or is my memory messing with me?

Also, I heard a rumor about widespread layoffs on... I think, the massively boards, But, none of the gaming press has picked that up. Whatever your feelings on their integrity, some site would have sent an intern off to troll through the devs' linkedin profiles so they could get the click bait.

The only credibility I can give to that is if there were members of the team that were specifically hired short term. Either prior to launch, or (in customer service) to handle the extra load at launch. It's possible that Zenimax has released their temp hires for the extra customer service load at launch.

Honestly, if the launch was actually going badly, I'd expect to see something hilarious and stupid like when Funcom's CEO threw the company under the bus.

Carde

Looks like total bull to me for a few reasons.

1. Those bugs were around before the game even went up for sale (Sorry ZOS, but its true ).

2. How the hell could an ex employee know what their subscription numbers were like when the game isn't even out of its first free 30 days yet?

3. Few other reasons not really worth mentioning. Pretty clever troll, but pretty obvious.

Rainbow

Garbrac wrote: »

Hey Everyone,

I don’t usually post on the official forums, but I found something that I think needs the attention of either a ZOS employee or community awareness. During my travels across the vastness of the internet in search of everything ESO, I have stumbled on some interesting posts.

There seems to be a guy posting and claiming to be an “ex” employee, I don’t know if he is or isn’t an employee. I would assume he isn’t as most companies like ZOS would require you to sign a document stating you will not discuss company policies or procedures after your termination.

This guy is claiming that he has “proof” that ESO will go F2P after the first investment quarter and Sub numbers are “abysmal”. Now, I strongly disagree with both statements, sadly I have nothing to back up my argument other than seeing how many people were in Beta / Launch week I can only assume that the game has surpassed that of SWTOR, which had over 2 million Subs first month.

He also goes on to claim that ZOS has laid off a lot of its Senior staff, now with ESO being as big as it is currently – least in the media sense – I would think we’d hear about any massive layoffs done by the studio.

So as I said I don’t know how accurate this is, but has anyone else heard of these rumors or have anything to back up his claims to being a ZOS employee?

Usually a person who is pretending to be an "EX" employee is usually an attention seeking liar who wants to use his dreams and fantasies as "proof" towards what he is claiming.

Koltiros1005b14a_ESO

Sounds like a troll to me, in any case please god don't go to F2P that's a true disaster this game is worthy of the sub that I pay for it.

ijRoberts

Considering it appears he created an account to specifically make that post, no, I wouldn't believe him. He has no credibility.

Garbrac

Koltiros1005b14a_ESO wrote: »

Sounds like a troll to me, in any case please god don't go to F2P that's a true disaster this game is worthy of the sub that I pay for it.

I agree wholeheartedly

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi folks,

We don't believe the person who made those posts is a former or current member of the ZeniMax Online Studios development team; there have been no such layoffs.

That is great news! glad to hear that ZOS has no need to do such lay offs. Even though ESO has it's bugs (which MMO doesn't) the game itself is great!

Carde

ijRoberts wrote: »

Considering it appears he created an account to specifically make that post, no, I wouldn't believe him. He has no credibility.

The user name seems totally legit, at least.

Ketobbey

As I have read on redit you are looking for more staff. Your hiring like crazy is what I read in network engineering.
Some people just cry wolf...

Ragnar_Lodbrok

I think Zenimax is like SE in the regards theyd rather shut the game down than go F2P

starkerealm

Rainbow wrote: »

Garbrac wrote: »

Hey Everyone,

I don’t usually post on the official forums, but I found something that I think needs the attention of either a ZOS employee or community awareness. During my travels across the vastness of the internet in search of everything ESO, I have stumbled on some interesting posts.

There seems to be a guy posting and claiming to be an “ex” employee, I don’t know if he is or isn’t an employee. I would assume he isn’t as most companies like ZOS would require you to sign a document stating you will not discuss company policies or procedures after your termination.

This guy is claiming that he has “proof” that ESO will go F2P after the first investment quarter and Sub numbers are “abysmal”. Now, I strongly disagree with both statements, sadly I have nothing to back up my argument other than seeing how many people were in Beta / Launch week I can only assume that the game has surpassed that of SWTOR, which had over 2 million Subs first month.

He also goes on to claim that ZOS has laid off a lot of its Senior staff, now with ESO being as big as it is currently – least in the media sense – I would think we’d hear about any massive layoffs done by the studio.

So as I said I don’t know how accurate this is, but has anyone else heard of these rumors or have anything to back up his claims to being a ZOS employee?

Usually a person who is pretending to be an "EX" employee is usually an attention seeking liar who wants to use his dreams and fantasies as "proof" towards what he is claiming.

Maybe it's just me, but usually anyone who's claiming to be an ex-anything is using it as an attention ploy. I mean, I know a few people who are former developers, but I've never heard them use that as a justification for their opinions.

Sometimes, you know, you'll have someone who'll use their history as an IT admin or programmer to talk about how something doesn't make sense, but unless they're actually retired, they don't usually phrase it in the past tense.

But, too often ex- is just an excuse to try to claim their opinion is somehow valid, while gearing up an excuse for any accusation that they don't know what the hell they're talking about.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Ketobbey wrote: »

As I have read on redit you are looking for more staff. Your hiring like crazy is what I read in network engineering.
Some people just cry wolf...

That's true, @Ketobbey. (Shameless plug)

Foxhunt

I never, ever believe what someone like that says.. It's almost never true (With the exception of one leak I believe proven to be true and from an inside R* source with the Grand Theft Auto series). Nothing but a troll attempting to start a fire.

Ketobbey

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Ketobbey wrote: »

As I have read on redit you are looking for more staff. Your hiring like crazy is what I read in network engineering.
Some people just cry wolf...

That's true, @Ketobbey. (Shameless plug)

I only quote that so the plug would show up again

starkerealm

Oh god, I love that quote, "I'd post proof of this, but it will likely get me in even more trouble now that I've been fired/quit..."

Translation, "I'm making *** up, I can't back up my claims... uh... I can claim that I can't ignore some parts of my NDA safely, because I can't let them know my secret identity, because I'm like Batman."

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Khal_Kitte

It would be nice if this game didn't go FTP though, as despite having issues with a number of quests (and yes I made the obligatory rage tickets for all of them). Generally this game has had one of the smoothest launches I have been a part of and the questing from 1-50 for me didn't really feel like a grind. (a distinct lack of collect 20 bear arses where not all bears have the item style quests)

Just iron out those bug and get the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves guild in and I will be happy.

I do wonder though with the veteran rank system... how progession past this point will work in future maybe expansions, maybe an extension of skill points or more veteran ranks? The more I think about it the more trouble I have figuring out how it will be accomplished without impacting already in place cap system,

starkerealm

Khal_Kitte wrote: »

(a distinct lack of collect 20 bear arses where not all bears have the item style quests)

Leaving the age old question unanswered: What kind of a freak wants 20 bear asses...

Wait... that came out wrong.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Rainbow

starkerealm wrote: »

Oh god, I love that quote, "I'd post proof of this, but it will likely get me in even more trouble now that I've been fired/quit..."

Translation, "I'm making *** up, I can't back up my claims... uh... I can claim that I can't ignore some parts of my NDA safely, because I can't let them know my secret identity, because I'm like Batman."

LOL

starkerealm

Foxhunt wrote: »

I never, ever believe what someone like that says.. It's almost never true (With the exception of one leak I believe proven to be true and from an inside R* source with the Grand Theft Auto series). Nothing but a troll attempting to start a fire.

I vaguely remember Bioware having a reliable-ish source a couple years ago. They must have been caught up in one of the purges after ME3 or TOR though.

Ravinsild

starkerealm wrote: »

Khal_Kitte wrote: »

(a distinct lack of collect 20 bear arses where not all bears have the item style quests)

Leaving the age old question unanswered: What kind of a freak wants 20 bear asses...

Wait... that came out wrong.

I do...gonna make a nice bug rug out of 'em.

Rainbow

my favourite part is

"my *** is covered by my own smartphone apps, but others are pissed. "

Dominulf

Thanks for the link, it's an interesting read.

I will bookmark the page and take time stamped screen captures of the content for future reference about ESO going F2P after the next investment quarter.

Perseas

Its not good to go F2P, because this guy claims that... decrease the sub fee to half and implement some sandbox content, that you could add some micro-transactions... Add some unique treasures and sells treasure packs... Like the ones in Swtor (a chance to get a super treasure.. and stuff like this)... Add some more styling in the crafting, that you could EXTREMELY hard gain by playing, or buying it via ur store..

f2p, all people who paid, will leave

Rainbow

Dominulf wrote: »

Thanks for the link, it's an interesting read.

I will bookmark the page and take time stamped screen captures of the content for future reference about ESO going F2P after the next investment quarter.

Lots of people have said ESO will become free to play, that doesn't mean what that person said on that thread about being an ex employee is true.