According to someone with "friends" in ZoS, ESO is going B2P. Announcement next week apparently.

Mettaricana · January 2015

part of me slightly thinks free to play or buy to play i dont want either but at same time the fact GMs nor devs are mentioning anything to set us at ease or prepare us for anything has me a little concerned nice if one of them would give us their 2 cents

HippieTheGreat · January 2015

Spottswoode wrote: »

HippieTheGreat wrote: »

I hate to play devils advocate here, but looking at his post history he hasn't posted anything like this before that I can see.

That's completely irrational. If it was the first time he started claiming he was being monitored by a secret society, it doesn't make it any more probable or truthful.

It probably is irrational, but hey its the internet. Rationality has no place here

cronius77b14_ESO · January 2015

that dude is a troll. Regardless of any sub models or anything at all I would take the words of that idiot with a grain of salt. Hes been posting for months tons of eso troll threads and other games as well. In fact anyone who is active there knows how bad the mmorpg.com community really is. Most are old jaded nerds waiting for their dream sandbox that is never coming. Speak out against most of them will get you a temp ban to its funny. Pathetic and I mean PATHETIC community on that website.

Tamanous · January 2015

rylixav wrote: »

Voodoo wrote: »

TSW is doing good with players buying the new content updates. (DLC).

And you know this how exactly? Has the company made sales figures public?

This is the problem with all the hype about F2P (and B2P which is the exactly same thing even though no one appears to realize it). No company ever releases sales figures to substantiate the claim. They just say "yeah things are going great," and everyone takes the statement at face value.

I believe most identify them as a way to separate the extremes in F2P models. F2P more about price gating existing content and B2P about charging for content packs. B2P typically the preferred choice to western markets because time permits value of the duration between payments for releases. It feels more "free" while they play and not pay.

What interests me most here is we see a similar game to ESO adopting a F2P model that preserves the original gaming experience which is the overwhelming main concern western proponents of subs have when fearing of change.

NadiusMaximus · January 2015

Nb4close

Mordria · January 2015

NO! If they do make a F2P server, I hope they keep a P2P server also or I will give up MMOs forever.

NadiusMaximus · January 2015

Like they need another server.

badmojo · January 2015

Tamanous wrote: »

What interests me most here is we see a similar game to ESO adopting a F2P model that preserves the original gaming experience which is the overwhelming main concern western proponents of subs have when fearing of change.

I'm not concerned about the preservation of the gaming experience, I'm concerned with real money playing any part in the games mechanics.

I'm fine with paying to play a game. I'm not fine with paying becoming a part of the game. If I have to (for example) pay for the privilege of traveling to whatever new zone they decide to add, then I'm simply not playing.

It's like if you purchased internet service and instead of paying X per month for unlimited access, you would pay less initially, but then the service provider gets to decide how much you should pay for access to youtube videos, or maybe a new site comes out, but only if you pay X amount for access to it.

With a sub model, everything is on the table, there's no surprise or disappointment. With free to play you don't know going in how much you're going to want to spend. So you're putting a lot of faith in the developer that they're not going to get you hooked then rip you off knowing you're hooked.

At least that's my concerns with f2p.

Tamanous · January 2015

badmojo wrote: »

Tamanous wrote: »

What interests me most here is we see a similar game to ESO adopting a F2P model that preserves the original gaming experience which is the overwhelming main concern western proponents of subs have when fearing of change.

I'm not concerned about the preservation of the gaming experience, I'm concerned with real money playing any part in the games mechanics.

At least that's my concerns with f2p.

That is precisely what I meant about preserving the original game experience. Price gating existing content is paying real money to play any part in the game's mechanics (as you put it). I simply didn't want to get into value specifics which can spawn separate debates.

Elsonso · January 2015

Voodoo wrote: »

I can believe B2P. TSW is doing good with players buying the new content updates. (DLC). Makes sense for consoles too.

I dont agree with it but ..

You can find this on the Funcom website, if you want, but here is the interesting part of the 3rd quarter report.

"Player numbers and revenues are decreasing for the three current Live Games – Anarchy Online, Age of Conan, The Secret World - with increased competition both within the genre as well as from competing platforms"

"Whilst each of the Live Games continues to generate a positive net contribution to the business, the company has recorded a partial impairment of 1,086 TUSD for The Secret World."

Hopefully, Zenimax is not looking to Funcom as a role model.

Cody · January 2015

So no official statement from ZOS? just the word of some random guy on the internet?

Iago · January 2015

Cody wrote: »

So no official statement from ZOS? just the word of some random guy on the internet?

imagine that

badmojo · January 2015

Tamanous wrote: »

badmojo wrote: »

Tamanous wrote: »

What interests me most here is we see a similar game to ESO adopting a F2P model that preserves the original gaming experience which is the overwhelming main concern western proponents of subs have when fearing of change.

I'm not concerned about the preservation of the gaming experience, I'm concerned with real money playing any part in the games mechanics.

At least that's my concerns with f2p.

That is precisely what I meant about preserving the original game experience. Price gating existing content is paying real money to play any part in the game's mechanics (as you put it). I simply didn't want to get into value specifics which can spawn separate debates.

Okay, sorry I must have misunderstood. I thought you were saying it's the same game experience, you just have to pay differently.

I think the problem with these kinds of discussions is that its all about the specifics weather or not a f2p b2p or whatever system will actually be acceptable to any given player, and we all have different opinions about what is acceptable.

Personally, the ONLY change I could see being positive would be for them to simply drop the sub fee and make all their development money off the few already existing cash shop items. But, I don't think that would generate enough revenue.

I also wouldn't mind if they did something similar to WOW where you can play for free up to level 20, then you need a subscription in order to keep advancing.

Basically, I want what I am currently playing & paying to remain the same.

Elsonso · January 2015

Cody wrote: »

So no official statement from ZOS? just the word of some random guy on the internet?

Well, if the random guy on the internet is right, you should know before the next ESO Live what is going on.

timidobserver · January 2015

The only reason I can half way believe it is because ZOS is normally pretty good about squashing ridiculous tinfoilhat theories before they spread like wildfire. The fact that there isn't a dev forum post, that I can find, that completely debunks B2P/F2P, tells me that it is not off the table.

DaniAngione · January 2015

I think that's very unlikely to be true. I mean, not being a fanboy or anything... Just trying to be rational. Sure, the game might not have the playerbase it expected... But there are several other tactics and options still not implemented that could boost things a bit without having to take down the F/B2P road.

Trials/Freetime
Friend Invites/Invitation Programs
Wait to see the results of the console release
Lower sub fee

And so on...

Anyway, I think it's highly unlikely. I might be wrong, but I guess it's too soon to go "that" way. I mean, let's be honest... even Wildstar, which completely flopped, didn't go F2P yet... Why would ESO?

roltus · January 2015

timidobserver wrote: »

The only reason I can half way believe it is because ZOS is normally pretty good about squashing ridiculous tinfoilhat theories before they spread like wildfire. The fact that there isn't a dev forum post, that I can find, that completely debunks B2P/F2P, tells me that it is not off the table.

Well, since this was updated Friday, it could be taken as an answer.

https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/179

Mettaricana · January 2015

DaniAngione wrote: »

I think that's very unlikely to be true. I mean, not being a fanboy or anything... Just trying to be rational. Sure, the game might not have the playerbase it expected... But there are several other tactics and options still not implemented that could boost things a bit without having to take down the F/B2P road.
Trials/Freetime

Friend Invites/Invitation Programs

Wait to see the results of the console release

Lower sub fee

And so on...

Anyway, I think it's highly unlikely. I might be wrong, but I guess it's too soon to go "that" way. I mean, let's be honest... even Wildstar, which completely flopped, didn't go F2P yet... Why would ESO?

would not mind lower sub fee 10$ seems fair and would entice players a little more to join as it would be cheaper than the current staple for p2p mmo's but i dont want free to play thats for sure too many beloved games dead from it

TheBull · January 2015

roltus wrote: »

timidobserver wrote: »

The only reason I can half way believe it is because ZOS is normally pretty good about squashing ridiculous tinfoilhat theories before they spread like wildfire. The fact that there isn't a dev forum post, that I can find, that completely debunks B2P/F2P, tells me that it is not off the table.

Well, since this was updated Friday, it could be taken as an answer.

https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/179

Mordria · January 2015

roltus wrote: »

timidobserver wrote: »

The only reason I can half way believe it is because ZOS is normally pretty good about squashing ridiculous tinfoilhat theories before they spread like wildfire. The fact that there isn't a dev forum post, that I can find, that completely debunks B2P/F2P, tells me that it is not off the table.

Well, since this was updated Friday, it could be taken as an answer.

https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/179

Updated Friday! Good enough for me!

Djem · January 2015

Well whether the OP is to be trusted or not, I think going B2P would be much more preferable to going F2P. Of course, P2P is the best, but if we had to choose...

DaniAngione · January 2015

Mordria wrote: »

Updated Friday! Good enough for me!

Hmmmm, but why was it updated Friday if the information is pretty much what we had before, huh??

Maybe... just maybe... some intern edited it with "Yes, the game is going F2P!" and then they quickly edited it back... Hmm? Hmmmmmmmmmmm???

DOOMSAYING INCREASED TO 26

Naivefanboi · January 2015

I hope, not but if garbage like destiny can be successful with buy to play, they even get away with removing content if u dont upgrade to exspansions lmao

Iselin · January 2015

He didn't sat B2P. It could be interpreted just as easily as free time for those who left to come back and have a look... which is very common in the sub MMO world.

Invite a friend and trial accounts are also probably coming soon... also common with sub games.

Wolfshead · January 2015

@TGiordano92‌

Are you serious you know that DMKano one of few people that whine about everything on mmorpg.com and beside he not say anything about B2P and he no link nothing to even support his claims he have no link nothing.

I think he just look for few min in spotlight.

SFBryan18 · January 2015

I wish the moderators would lock these threads. They are always speculation and it seems as though a small group is trying to cause panic in the community.

MissBizz · January 2015

Pretty sure

DaniAngione wrote: »

Mordria wrote: »

Updated Friday! Good enough for me!

Hmmmm, but why was it updated Friday if the information is pretty much what we had before, huh??

Maybe... just maybe... some intern edited it with "Yes, the game is going F2P!" and then they quickly edited it back... Hmm? Hmmmmmmmmmmm???

DOOMSAYING INCREASED TO 26

Pretty sure it was updated Friday because they weren't around on the 1st, and had better things to do during the week, to add the bottom section about currency.

DaniAngione · January 2015

MissBizz wrote: »

Pretty sure it was updated Friday because they weren't around on the 1st, and had better things to do during the week, to add the bottom section about currency.

I was certain the long "hmm"s and the Doomsaying skill thing were evidence enough to my irony/to not take my post seriously?

My bad

timidobserver · January 2015

roltus wrote: »

timidobserver wrote: »

The only reason I can half way believe it is because ZOS is normally pretty good about squashing ridiculous tinfoilhat theories before they spread like wildfire. The fact that there isn't a dev forum post, that I can find, that completely debunks B2P/F2P, tells me that it is not off the table.

Well, since this was updated Friday, it could be taken as an answer.

https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/179

Nah, usually there is a very direct debunking not some obscure article that was updated. Until I see a clear "in response to bla bla allegations, we are letting you know that we will not be changing our payment structure in the near future", I accept it as a possibility. An unlikely possibility but still a possibility.

jeevin · January 2015

There are more options for Zeni to try before going btp. Btp is essentially short term gain and long term pain as revenue dwindles over time and this results in less and less content being released. Zeni may have shot themselves in the foot releasing the game prematurely but the game is far from a lost cause.