THIS GAME IS NOT GOING FREE TO PLAY

Cody · January 2015

I am sick of seeing a thread everyday about this game going F2P. It will NEVER go F2P. Why you ask? let me explain:
1. ZOS has stated multiple times they are not going free to play. Proof? read the articles on it, you will see it.
2. If it does go F2P, most of the population would leave almost immediately. there are multiple threads where most of the commenters state they would leave if the game goes F2P: if this game were to go F2P, say goodbye to most of the fan base, which means say goodbye to the money.
3. these rumors have been around since beta, and the game has yet to go F2P. ESO is going thru some hard times right now, but nothing to constitute it going F2P.

don't believe me? then do some actual research instead of listening to rumors. Trust me, the worst that can happen is this game takes on a B2P model, but It is not going Free to play. Just because ZOS has taken away one of the sub models does not mean the game is going F2P.

Keiffo · January 2015

I'd love it if the game went F2P and using sword + shield was an ability rented from the cash shop

Dominoid · January 2015

This is an interesting development however:

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/01/eb-games-is-removing-all-copies-of-elder-scrolls-online-from-stores/

Ourorboros · January 2015

Agreed with OP. Nothing to see here. Beating a dead horse.

Blud · January 2015

Cody wrote: »

I am sick of seeing a thread everyday about this game going F2P. It will NEVER go F2P. Why you ask? let me explain:
1. ZOS has stated multiple times they are not going free to play. Proof? read the articles on it, you will see it.
2. If it does go F2P, most of the population would leave almost immediately. there are multiple threads where most of the commenters state they would leave if the game goes F2P: if this game were to go F2P, say goodbye to most of the fan base, which means say goodbye to the money.
3. these rumors have been around since beta, and the game has yet to go F2P. ESO is going thru some hard times right now, but nothing to constitute it going F2P.

don't believe me? then do some actual research instead of listening to rumors. Trust me, the worst that can happen is this game takes on a B2P model, but It is not going Free to play. Just because ZOS has taken away one of the sub models does not mean the game is going F2P.

First off, I hope you're right. But you are just going on faith. Sadly, we live in a faithless age and money is god.

1. "ZOS has stated" means jack. They are also tracking your veteran xp, right?
2. You can't draw any valid conclusions based on these forums as posters here are (a) a miniscule part of the player population and (b) more likely to care about the payment model than most people as we are subscribers with a vested interest.
3. We have zero idea about what would justify ESO going f2p from the perspective of the corporate office.

AriBoh · January 2015

1. ZoS is fairly free with the sweet nothings it whispers in our ears.
2. F2P would bring in population all buying cash shop crap.
3. No smoke without fire.

At least if it went F2P I could stop saying I cant believe I pay for this ***.

Cody · January 2015

Dominoid wrote: »

This is an interesting development however:

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/01/eb-games-is-removing-all-copies-of-elder-scrolls-online-from-stores/

1. I hope this quote system has not screwed me over once again.
2. That does not mean the game is going F2P. You can still buy it electronically, I know because I was just on the site, Could be ZOS wants to move toward electronic purchases, at least for PC. idk about consoles though

Cody · January 2015

Blud wrote: »

Cody wrote: »

I am sick of seeing a thread everyday about this game going F2P. It will NEVER go F2P. Why you ask? let me explain:
1. ZOS has stated multiple times they are not going free to play. Proof? read the articles on it, you will see it.
2. If it does go F2P, most of the population would leave almost immediately. there are multiple threads where most of the commenters state they would leave if the game goes F2P: if this game were to go F2P, say goodbye to most of the fan base, which means say goodbye to the money.
3. these rumors have been around since beta, and the game has yet to go F2P. ESO is going thru some hard times right now, but nothing to constitute it going F2P.

don't believe me? then do some actual research instead of listening to rumors. Trust me, the worst that can happen is this game takes on a B2P model, but It is not going Free to play. Just because ZOS has taken away one of the sub models does not mean the game is going F2P.

First off, I hope you're right. But you are just going on faith. Sadly, we live in a faithless age and money is god.

1. "ZOS has stated" means jack. They are also tracking your veteran xp, right?
2. You can't draw any valid conclusions based on these forums as posters here are (a) a miniscule part of the player population and (b) more likely to care about the payment model than most people as we are subscribers with a vested interest.
3. We have zero idea about what would justify ESO going f2p from the perspective of the corporate office.

1. ZOS has also made claims that were true/they followed thru with. Craglorn(even though it was a complete failure in my opinion) the nerfing of vet content, and other examples. I just prefer to be optimistic in this situation.
2. True, its a tiny part of the population, but it's still worth the effort to get the results, as I have seen many people on the forums that also play the actual game very frequently.
3. Exactly.

Tamanous · January 2015

There is always a chance a game may go F2P no matter what a developer said previously. Business decisions trump promises to consumers. Investors trump consumers.

Do not fool yourself.

Gidorick · January 2015

heh.. awesome.

Kevinmon · January 2015

Then explain why they are pulling all game time cards from stores?

Elsonso · January 2015

Kevinmon wrote: »

Then explain why they are pulling all game time cards from stores?

Are they, or is that just what you read on one web page?

Ruben · January 2015

Tamanous wrote: »

There is always a chance a game may go F2P no matter what a developer said previously. Business decisions trump promises to consumers. Investors trump consumers.

Do not fool yourself.

Isn't Zenimax a privately owned company? Wouldn't that mean that there are no investors to please in the short term even if that means killing long term profit?

Elsonso · January 2015

Ruben wrote: »

Tamanous wrote: »

There is always a chance a game may go F2P no matter what a developer said previously. Business decisions trump promises to consumers. Investors trump consumers.

Do not fool yourself.

Isn't Zenimax a privately owned company? Wouldn't that mean that there are no investors to please in the short term even if that means killing long term profit?

There are investors.

zward887_ESO · January 2015

darkknightfkb16_ESO wrote: »

3. No smoke without fire.

I, unfortunately, have to agree with this sentiment. Every sub game i've played has had plenty of threads just like this one screaming that the game will never go free to play. Then you notice something here (6 month sub removed) and something there (box copies pulled from EB Games) and pretty soon a 'surprise announcement' just pops up out of the blue.

I don't imagine many of us want this game to go free to play. I certainly hope it does not, and I'm not gonna point and laugh and say "told you so!!" to anyone if it does go free to play.

Here is a real good reason why I hope this game never goes free to play. We can expect to see A LOT more of this:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/313721/

The silence (from ZOS) is deafening...

tinythinker · January 2015

Dominoid wrote: »

Oops . . .

"This is just part of a normal stock recall. Post-Christmas we ask stores to send back anything that they may have too much of in store. This time we included many titles, including The Evil Within, Destiny and The Elder Scrolls Online."

http://www.mcvpacific.com/news/read/elder-scrolls-stock-removal-just-part-of-normal-stock-recall/0143646?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

manny254 · January 2015

It is just interesting to me that all the people that play this game regularly are fighting tooth, nail, and claw to say its not going to f2p. Ask an average gamer who does not play this game and they will probably say its going f2p. If having you was enough they would never need to try anything else, but its not.

Also this kind of says something

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/01/09/report-eb-games-pulling-the-elder-scrolls-online-from-all-stores

Messy1 · January 2015

I don't want this game to go free to play . . . =P

Tempest · January 2015

Time will tell.

Rylana · January 2015

Everyone has this obsession with watching new games burn for whatever reason.

its become a constant thing in MMOs. A game comes out, and immediately people just jump to all sorts of speculative conclusions, nearly all of which are dead wrong, but dont bother trying to tell them that, they will hold on to their "prediction" for 10 years if they have to, just to be all like "i told you so" after those 10 years end.

VisceralMonkey · January 2015

You're almost right. It's going "Buy to Play" which means you'll pay to purchase it but not a monthly fee. Expect the ability to pay for cosmetic items but nothing that can change the ability to "win". And the game itself will be a tad cheaper.

It's completely normal for this to happen with MMO's these days and wasn't completely unexpected by Zenimax either. There was always a contingency plan.

The game will do much better with this model.

Syntse · January 2015

manny254 wrote: »

It is just interesting to me that all the people that play this game regularly are fighting tooth, nail, and claw to say its not going to f2p. Ask an average gamer who does not play this game and they will probably say its going f2p.

This goes more or less so... people who play and say it's not going are really saying they do not want it to go f2p.

People who do not play and say it's going f2p are basically saying I wish it would go f2p.

Even though f2p model might be more profitable sometimes for the company it has the negatives too into the game. And one thing surprises me more than any is that everything should be free... that company put 200 million dollars to make game, now give it to me free. Not the best business model if you ask me.

Mangybeard · January 2015

If it goes free to play it will still be around, and they will probably have a subscription model like every other MMO that goes free to play which provides the same level of content current subscribers are used to.

Not the end of the world, it'll bring in a lot of annoying people but that happens every time an MMO gets a large user base.

I don't see it happening, but I'm just like, whatever, you know.

Edit: And stop posting that fake EB games story, it's just basic procedure after the holidays to pull games that didn't sell as expected. Or it could be for the retail price drop. Who cares.

AlexDougherty · January 2015

Cody wrote: »

I am sick of seeing a thread everyday about this game going F2P. It will NEVER go F2P. Why you ask? let me explain:
1. ZOS has stated multiple times they are not going free to play. Proof? read the articles on it, you will see it.
2. If it does go F2P, most of the population would leave almost immediately. there are multiple threads where most of the commenters state they would leave if the game goes F2P: if this game were to go F2P, say goodbye to most of the fan base, which means say goodbye to the money.
3. these rumors have been around since beta, and the game has yet to go F2P. ESO is going thru some hard times right now, but nothing to constitute it going F2P.

don't believe me? then do some actual research instead of listening to rumors. Trust me, the worst that can happen is this game takes on a B2P model, but It is not going Free to play. Just because ZOS has taken away one of the sub models does not mean the game is going F2P.

You forgot that every game has fools spreading free to play rumours, usually the same damn fools that complain that everyone leaves when it goes free to play.

rylixav · January 2015

Cody wrote: »

1. ZOS has stated multiple times they are not going free to play. Proof? read the articles on it, you will see it.

Link? Where are you seeing this?

Winnower · January 2015

What I don't understand is why people are so confused by the marketing term "free-to-play". Free-to-play is never - ever - actually free. It's really free-to-pay-to-play.

Micro-transaction models have been shown to be able to milk players of more money *on average* over time than subscription models. And the development of those games becomes an issue of "what items can we release to the cash shop this week and what is their income potential", which is easier for the bean-counters. It's just simpler for them to approve a developer to make a cool new sword or set of armor and get it out immediately than it is for them to approve 3 developers making a whole new dungeon with a complicated quest series which will require significant testing and time.

Development becomes cheaper, so the costs to the company up-front are less, particularly in salaries and overhead.

Anyone who goes around talking about how "free-to-play" isn't a good economic model for a company hasn't informed themselves enough yet of what is going on.

Don't get me wrong; I hate free-to-pay-to-play micro-transaction cash shop freemium/premium models. Which is why I'm here and not in SW:The Cartel Market or LoTRO; Cash Store of Mordor (owned by sauron's grandmother). I consider that a game company that is willing to do a subscription model has a old-fashioned sense of honor about what it means to run a game like this, and I hope it continues.

But I'm not betting on it.

p.s.: just once I'd love to see a game go "pay to win", just for the sheer naked honesty of it.

Frenkthevile · January 2015

Tell us something @ZOS

eldermpsmithrwb17_ESO · January 2015

rylixav wrote: »

Cody wrote: »

1. ZOS has stated multiple times they are not going free to play. Proof? read the articles on it, you will see it.

Link? Where are you seeing this?

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

WILL THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE BE FREE TO PLAY?
Updated 01/13/2015 10:12 AM Published 10/18/2012 11:59 AM
Players must purchase The Elder Scrolls Online in order to play it. They will have unlimited access for the first 30 days following activation and can continue beyond that with a subscription of $14.99/month (€12.99 / £8.99).

All the prices for European countries are indicated based on a 20% VAT. Please note that, from January 1st, 2015 on, the VAT will be applied on a per-country basis, and that the rates will differ according to the local rates.

Dracane · January 2015

I'm sure, most people only say F2P, as it has become a common word for this. But they know, that it won't loose its piece price. So it is at least B2P.

And it currently does not look good. And all your evidences are very meaningless. The only reason for ESO not go B2P, is that ZoS protects the subspricption model since release (even though I haven't seen any statements in months, which could be an evidence for B2P) I mean tell me: Why don't they say anything about the rumors ? Silence is like agreeing, don't you think so ?

But I hope, they reconsider this. I don't want ESO to go B2P

I am scared, of what ESO could become after this. I always hated them for the subscription model, but now I am very glad they decided to do it.

AlexDougherty · January 2015

Dracane wrote: »

I'm sure, most people only say F2P, as it has become a common word for this. But they know, that it won't loose its piece price. So it is at least B2P.

And it currently does not look good. And all your evidences are very meaningless. The only reason for ESO not go B2P, is that ZoS protects the subspricption model since release (even though I haven't seen any statements in months, which could be an evidence for B2P) I mean tell me: Why don't they say anything about the rumors ? Silence is like agreeing, don't you think so ?

But I hope, they reconsider this. I don't want ESO to go B2P I am scared, of what ESO could become after this. I always hated them for the subscription model, but now I am very glad they decided to do it.

Why don't they say it isn't happening, because people are idiots and take denying a rumour as confirmation that the rumour is true.

Elsonso · January 2015

Dracane wrote: »

I mean tell me: Why don't they say anything about the rumors ? Silence is like agreeing, don't you think so ?

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/bethesda-responds-to-elder-scrolls-online-console-/1100-6424596/

Bethesda's PR and marketing manager Pete Hines tells GameSpot, "We haven’t announced a release date."

He adds: "Beyond that, I can't comment as we don't comment on rumors and speculation."

I point out that last statement, which could also be intended as a message directed at the people here in the forum regarding Free To Play.