Why i suspect there has been so much silence

Spottswoode · January 2015

Joejudas wrote: »

I honestly think that the gaming sites might be on to something with the F2P thing and it caught ZOS off guard. The silence has been them trying to figure out the damage control on that F2P being leaked early. I cant think of any other reason they wont just answer our questions.

Seeing as how every change is met with the immediate cry of "GAMES GOING F2P!! END IS NIGH!!" I highly doubt that it caught them off guard. Practically every time Paul Sage sneezes we hear some doom prophecy about this game.

thelordoffelines · January 2015

Samadhi wrote: »

wenxue2222b16_ESO wrote: »

I suspect the general silence is a combination of just being back at work and possibly announcing something later this week or next - basically preparing for something big. what that big thing is I don't know - internal meetings, next episode of ESO live, Update 6 on the PTS, all the stuff iwth F2P and champ points that has gone down over the hols, next road ahead article etc etc.
...

Realistically, there is not much need to post between now and when 1.6 goes live on PTS.
The things that most people are hoping to hear from ZOS are things they have already made clear statements on.

Personally prefer if their time gets invested in handling the content update rather than answering needless questions on the forums.
Every bit of time spent posting on the forums is time taken away from pushing forward on content.

wenxue2222b16_ESO wrote: »

...
However the silence over the six month sub is certainly suspicious. If it is nothing to do with F2P then tell us that openly.

When it was brought up in the non-English forums, it was posted by a ZOS representative that it has nothing to do with F2P, but people have been speculating and accusing ZOS of lying anyway.
Hell, the first "news" story that was linked to on an off-site review rag said that they were basing the entirety of their story on the fact that even though ZOS has already made statement on the forums that a vocal group does not believe ZOS' statement. The article itself admitted to being a rumour passed around by players rather than based on any company statement.
Would not be entirely surprised if the articles were written as a result of a disgruntled player spamming the inboxes of various websites proclaiming the change to be news-worthy.

Why bother responding to speculations when the same people who are promoting them now will not believe anything ZOS posts on the matter anyway?
Even when ZOS employees have done interviews in the past and been asked about going F2P, players didn't believe the responses then either.

Wait... So they already answered it and they said they aren't going F2P?..... HMM sounds like F2P to me.. Why would u say u aren't going F2P unless ur going F2P? Very strange...

Gidorick · January 2015

I would gladly pay $130 for a year subscription.... How about we do that instead?

RSram · January 2015

When ZOS cancels the 90 sub, then that's when I'll start thinking F2P maybe a reality.

Joejudas · January 2015

I simply put my thoughts forward but everyone has put it to bed for me. I'm good no need need to pour gasoline on a fire....lets pour water on it.

Joejudas · January 2015

Joejudas wrote: »

I honestly think that the gaming sites might be on to something with the F2P thing and it caught ZOS off guard. The silence has been them trying to figure out the damage control on that F2P being leaked early. I cant think of any other reason they wont just answer our questions.

I think my original thoughts on this were off kilt and I have changed my mind. Sorry for making a thread that ended up just making it worse.

Xsorus · January 2015

Heh, they came out and said it wasn't to do with f2p... People didn't believe them. They really can't say or do anything else if they weren't satisfied the first time

alainjbrennanb16_ESO · January 2015

blah blah blah, is all we hear about this. why should they responed, if they do they are dammed, and no one will believe them. why would they take it away from sub, as the player base they have now most of them would leave if it went away from subs. it all comes down to those people who don't like to pay for things, they get fake dvds, download illegal music etc. they think they don't need to pay for things, they all want to play eso but are so tight fisted. they should just leave well alone. so please just get of zos's back about this they will be dammed no matter if they respond or not just enjoy the game, and if it ever goes to f2p/ b2p which is the same you just buy the game, then you can start with the rants

stefan.gustavsonb16_ESO · January 2015

Did anyone ever consider that they might not have a simple answer? The correct response could simply be "we don't know at this point".

I am OK with not knowing, and I don't expect any promises. People distrust ZOS because several of the promises they have given were broken, so even a renewed promise is worth little at this point. I'll just wait and see how things turn out.

Laggus · January 2015

Gyudan wrote: »

What we can assume so far:
- Players who have completed veteran content before 1.6 will not be "compensated" in any way.
- Update 6 will be delayed on Live for some time (PTS delayed already).
- Suscription numbers aren't as good as expected.
- ESO may go F2P/B2P in less than 6 months.
- Console is delayed to some time in 2015, no ETA.

The silence or lack of detail on those issues is bad for the game imo.

Probably right. I predict Champion Points for sale in the ESO store when it eventually goes F2P..its thats not ironic.

Snippit_Thomas · January 2015

Joejudas wrote: »

Well....i understand what your saying...but when IGN, Kotaku, PCgamer etc etc pick up on it....i think it needs a clear answer at that point. You might disagree...but that just my take.

If these sites said the sky was blue, I would go out side to check.

Tandor · January 2015

Grunim wrote: »

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

http://questgamingnetwork.com/category/podcasts/esotr-podcasts/

These guys had a good theory. 48 minutes in it starts.

Don't want to watch? Basically they removed it to come more in line with consoles who offers 1,3 and 12 month options so they removed it to be more in line with that.

Interesting, I didn't have the chance to watch this podcast. So are they suggesting that ZOS may introduce a 12 month option to replace the 6 month option? I'm currently on the 6 month plan, but I wouldn't mind any option that saves me money.

My two LoTRO lifetime memberships were the best value for money I've ever had in gaming, and I'd welcome a similar deal here. Failing that, I'd opt for a 12 months option if they introduced it. Funnily enough, I was about to switch from 3 months to 6 months when they withdrew it

!

Tandor · January 2015

DDuke wrote: »

It is not an honest answer (nor was it officially announced), anyone with half a brain cell can tell that.

True, but I'm more interested in what people with a complete brain cell are making of it, and they're not making much of it at all.

Samadhi · January 2015

Part of me figures that what happened is when (nearly) everyone with 6 month subscriptions rage-unsubbed over various things since launch, then many of those accounts resubbed afterwards with shorter duration subscriptions, it gave ZOS a large influx of data showing that people "preferred" shorter duration subscriptions due to all the swaps.

But it does not matter anyway, because the only people who have any real information on this matter is ZOS; however, the information on the matter that a ZOS representative has already released is not believed by the naysayers anyway, who insist that ZOS is lying.
If ZOS puts out an English-language statement that says the exact same thing, those questioning it will not believe it anyway; they believe that ZOS is being fundamentally untruthful already. If they did believe it at that point, then rather than any issue with the company the whole thing just boils down to language prejudice.

C'est la vie.

wiz12268b14_ESO · January 2015

Going F2P never really works long term. It might work short term and give a company a big boost but a decent game with a loyal fanbase can survive as a sub model. Look at Lotro and Fallen Earth they held a sub longer than most games were able to. Fallen Earth had one with a skeleton playerbase for almost 3 years.

I really thought ESO would be free to play by now anyway or at least buy to play. So it did better than I thought. Whether it goes that route any time soon is a major leap.

But its been a year and theyre probably running out of 'canned' content and are now actually developing more new stuff. That takes money to be sure.

I will say this, game is ten times better now than it was pre release so theyre definitely improving it.

I didnt buy it then and just picked it up for the 19 buck special on steam. It was worth that much anyway. Still short of a 'great' ES game but an adequate MMO (quest driven).

The major thing with free to play is they need a store, and an expansive one. Akin to Lotro store or Rift store. Something they may have (and most people including myself thought they had at release) so who knows.

End of the day is I see a lot of people playing this game still. On all 3 alliances. There are no 'dead' zones, there are players in every one of them. Maybe not loaded but theyre not empty. The fans will continue to pay a sub regardless. People who were disillusioned wont, they might come back for free to play, they might even send a buck or two on store credits. But long term if ZoS can keep updating the game as they have been and make money (unlikely) then they dont have a need to change the status quo.

The most obvious reason why they changed it was because its better for them to not offer a dollar off per month. 6@ 12.99 isnt as good for them as 2 x 3@ 13.99. Guys are going to sub (or not)regardless.

Their major issue is the need for 'player (self) made' content. Well beyond simply PvP and Veteran Grind (which is still questing). They need some RP stuff in the game where people can spend a few hours a night NOT questing or crafting or PvPing (or any of the other 'normal' MMO activities people do at max level).

The game has some nice mechanics in it and they can probably do a lot more with what they already have. But they spent the last year fixing all the stuff that was broke at release. Lets just hope when they get most of that figured out and can make some "real' changes they dont screw up what they have done right.

Digiman · January 2015

wenxue2222b16_ESO wrote: »

However the silence over the six month sub is certainly suspicious. If it is nothing to do with F2P then tell us that openly.

Quoted for the truth.

When it comes to something about payment methods, there is no cloak and dagger BS that can justify not revealing the actual reasons for such a change and penny dreadful excuse of not many people were picking that option was insulting to our intelligence.

That option costed nothing to keep up nor were there outrageous complaints about it.

Eitherway this silence and the change has come off very shady from ESO's side and like Ricky said, "You got some explaining to do."

As for the lack of communication I chalked it up to holidays, Zenimax has one negative quality that is true is that they can be quite lazily slow when it comes to responses.