ESO went Free to Play

Cody · January 2015

With the potions.....

As long as they are not as effective as potions one can buy from guild stores/make themselves, it should not be a huge problem.

Roechacca · January 2015

jrkhan wrote: »

@roechacca if $potions are account bound, then it would be difficult to exchange for gold. I think the rest of your argument was based off a theoretical $ -> potion -> gold -> gear exchange. They could probably also add the 'unusable in Cyrodil' tag to the potions. Maybe sell the same potions for nominal AP cost also.
Was there some other info that indicated gear could be acquired for $?

Is this your first F2P experience ? If so then let me explain something . Gold is never account bound . It's the root of all F2P evils . Next will be the open selling of Cash shop items on the Auction Lists . You'll also see a new group of players in pvp . The pre made accounts for sale . Set up just for pvp . It's a nightmare dude . Trust me on this .

Joy_Division · January 2015

Subtomik wrote: »

Free cosmetics only fine. Otherwise gg wp.

"You can spend crowns in the in-game Crown Store to get ... convenience items like health potions and soul gems"

They have a rather loose concept of "convenience items." One, I suspect, will expand.

LonePirate · January 2015

roechacca wrote: »

Subtomik wrote: »

Free cosmetics only fine. Otherwise gg wp.

They already announced gold and potion buffs from the cash shop

The initial cash shop is no different than the current subscription model as subscribers will be able to acquire these things for no more than what they are paying now. However, until we know more details about these items and others, it is too soon to pass much judgement about it. We also don't know yet how much future content and fixes we are giving up, if any, for these items.

I'm not optimistic but I will see how this plays out. If it weren't for the consoles, none of this would be happening, though. Will they ruin yet another PC game?

Roechacca · January 2015

PvP is always the first to suffer the effects of F2P . The only constructive thing I see is buff servers will no longer exist as population increases and try's to balance itself away from ques . But the type of players it attracts ... You'll feel like someone pooped in your sandbox .

Giraffon · January 2015

This sucks.

Valnas · January 2015

way to *** out your product and pay marketers instead of developers. gg

Xexpo · January 2015

F2P

http://youtu.be/G2y8Sx4B2Sk

Grim13 · January 2015

Where's my "Beta Tester" badge?

frozywozy · January 2015

I just hope that the next The Elder Scrolls single player game will be an improvement and even better than Skyrim was (not saying that Skyrim was bad by any mean - got over 1400hours of playtime) even with the failure of TESO.

Soris · January 2015

roechacca wrote: »

jrkhan wrote: »

@roechacca if $potions are account bound, then it would be difficult to exchange for gold. I think the rest of your argument was based off a theoretical $ -> potion -> gold -> gear exchange. They could probably also add the 'unusable in Cyrodil' tag to the potions. Maybe sell the same potions for nominal AP cost also.
Was there some other info that indicated gear could be acquired for $?

Is this your first F2P experience ? If so then let me explain something . Gold is never account bound . It's the root of all F2P evils . Next will be the open selling of Cash shop items on the Auction Lists . You'll also see a new group of players in pvp . The pre made accounts for sale . Set up just for pvp . It's a nightmare dude . Trust me on this .

LonePirate wrote: »

roechacca wrote: »

Subtomik wrote: »

Free cosmetics only fine. Otherwise gg wp.

They already announced gold and potion buffs from the cash shop

The initial cash shop is no different than the current subscription model as subscribers will be able to acquire these things for no more than what they are paying now. However, until we know more details about these items and others, it is too soon to pass much judgement about it. We also don't know yet how much future content and fixes we are giving up, if any, for these items.

I'm not optimistic but I will see how this plays out. If it weren't for the consoles, none of this would be happening, though. Will they ruin yet another PC game?

Wel... Let me bring an example for you.
Trion did this in Rift. At first, the cash shop was perfectly implemented to game. All gaming sites were talking about how awesome the "Patron" system is and it was really good tbh. But then, about a year later, it became almost yet another *** p2w game.
It's a curse on all f2p games. No matter how good you design your system, it will cause big imbalances in time.

jrkhan · January 2015

@roechacca‌ Definitely agree it could devolve. I agree in general f2p more often than not becomes p2w, but there are exceptions. I tried Neverwinter - and in that game there was a direct exchange of player purchased currency to auction house currency. Very much p2w. Counter point Path of Exile - a game with pvp (season races) that really handles f2p well. You can buy bank space, and cosmetics only. Actually, really liked how they handled potions (flask that is filled over time similar to current ESO ult system).

Orchish · January 2015

I've completely lost the will to play. I won't outright quit, i'll check it out and see what it actually is, but cash shops/buy to win etc is a no for me. I don't mind cosmetics and such, but as soon as we get pay walls and in game items that benefit a player over another in anyway, i am out.

Roechacca · January 2015

jrkhan wrote: »

@roechacca‌ Definitely agree it could devolve. I agree in general f2p more often than not becomes p2w, but there are exceptions. I tried Neverwinter - and in that game there was a direct exchange of player purchased currency to auction house currency. Very much p2w. Counter point Path of Exile - a game with pvp (season races) that really handles f2p well. You can buy bank space, and cosmetics only. Actually, really liked how they handled potions (flask that is filled over time similar to current ESO ult system).

You're forgetting the Account Sellers . Pre made PvP toons fully leveled with the biggest noobs behind the wheel . They'll get in your guilds , whine and moan and buy more stuff to try to win because their bads . They disrupt everything . Sorry I'm just not a optimist on this ... Calling my therapist !

RedTalon · January 2015

Its going more pay to win with one of those bonuses for having a plus membership always starts like that. But we will see

Wyndfoot · January 2015

Looks like I'll play until something new and better gets released. Pay 6 month subscription at a time so I'll have another 4 months of paid time currently, hopefully a new a shiny game is out by then.

Grim13 · January 2015

lol

"ESO Plus™", "Premium Membership", "Tamriel Unlimited", "Crown Store", "benefits", "game packs"...

RinaldoGandolphi · January 2015

I will say this.

This whole B2P/F2P thing to me just screams of a knee-jerk reaction. In business, you have to lose money to make money. You look at any small business, its not uncommon to lose money in the 1st two years, its why most small businesses that survive for 3 years make profit and go on to survive.

TES is supposed to be a "long-term investment" being ZOS should have been projecting the game would make X amount of money over say 7-10 years. Instead of weathering the storm of the 1st two years, perhaps losing a little money, while investing in creating a superior product that would have reaped them much profit in years 3 through 10, they knee jerk and went for the quick fix in going B2P in less then 1 year.

They figure console players won't pay a sub, which isn't true, create an excellent must have game, and they will pay trust me. However, they figure they don't want to or not willing to invest that kinda time, so they will go B2P in hopes of selling lots of console copies to make up for common short-gain initial product investment losses.

What happens after the initial influx of cash from console sales? Then what? It seems they are focusing too much on shorterm and not enough on longterm profit.

Going B2P in less then a year is telling, ZOS shoudl have stayed course, if they were not turning an acceptable profit by quarter 3 of year 3, then they could have maybe gone this route, but they didn't give the game a chance to grow. You can't plant seeds in a garden and expect them to be ready to harvest in two days.

Roechacca · January 2015

I hope this is in the Cash Shop cuz mines Xtra sore today .

Soris · January 2015

Also all the bots, gold sellers, troll kids and other plagues shall arise again.

jrkhan · January 2015

roechacca wrote: »

You're forgetting the Account Sellers . Pre made PvP toons fully leveled with the biggest noobs behind the wheel . They'll get in your guilds , whine and moan and buy more stuff to try to win because their bads . They disrupt everything . Sorry I'm just not a optimist on this ... Calling my therapist !

That's a good point, and I concur - with more players and with no subscription fee that things like that are more likely to occur! First time I was aware of it happening was in Diablo2 (though I'm sure accounts for sale must predate that). I'd actually be surprised if accounts with former Emperor haven't already changed hands. I guess I'm slightly more optimistic still! (Or maybe that's the happy pills talking)

Grim13 · January 2015

I will say this: for a game that is probably dying... this may save it for a couple more months.

Asgari · January 2015

This shows how desperate they have become. GG sell outs!

Also 100 crowns or w.e. they call it for the 15$ a month i paid? seems pretty low compared to what you will get once your P2W in march.

Grim13 · January 2015

Princess_Asgari wrote: »

This shows how desperate they have become. GG sell outs!

Also 100 crowns or w.e. they call it for the 15$ a month i paid? seems pretty low compared to what you will get once your P2W in march.

It's 1500 crowns a month, I believe.

Subtomik · January 2015

roechacca wrote: »

You're forgetting the Account Sellers . Pre made PvP toons fully leveled with the biggest noobs behind the wheel . They'll get in your guilds , whine and moan and buy more stuff to try to win because their bads . They disrupt everything . Sorry I'm just not a optimist on this ... Calling my therapist !

This is why I will never join a guild without a lengthy application process. I sold my wow account back in vanilla for 1400$ and the guy who got it was a bad joke.

You can never be 100% but it's always good to not ginvite someone to you see what they can do and make sure they can handle themselves.

Roechacca · January 2015

Subtomik wrote: »

roechacca wrote: »

You're forgetting the Account Sellers . Pre made PvP toons fully leveled with the biggest noobs behind the wheel . They'll get in your guilds , whine and moan and buy more stuff to try to win because their bads . They disrupt everything . Sorry I'm just not a optimist on this ... Calling my therapist !

This is why I will never join a guild without a lengthy application process. I sold my wow account back in vanilla for 1400$ and the guy who got it was a bad joke.

You can never be 100% but it's always good to not ginvite someone to you see what they can do and make sure they can handle themselves.

Well I'm sure you can make a buck selling accounts once again with this new model . I absolutely hate pre made account selling . Ruins many things . People get access to bank vaults and the whole guild suffers . It's a huge problem with F2P .

thelordoffelines · January 2015

Subtomik wrote: »

roechacca wrote: »

You're forgetting the Account Sellers . Pre made PvP toons fully leveled with the biggest noobs behind the wheel . They'll get in your guilds , whine and moan and buy more stuff to try to win because their bads . They disrupt everything . Sorry I'm just not a optimist on this ... Calling my therapist !

This is why I will never join a guild without a lengthy application process. I sold my wow account back in vanilla for 1400$ and the guy who got it was a bad joke.

You can never be 100% but it's always good to not ginvite someone to you see what they can do and make sure they can handle themselves.

You said $1400? Was that a typo?

Dats a lot O.O"

booksmcread · January 2015

woodsro wrote: »

I will say this.

This whole B2P/F2P thing to me just screams of a knee-jerk reaction. In business, you have to lose money to make money. You look at any small business, its not uncommon to lose money in the 1st two years, its why most small businesses that survive for 3 years make profit and go on to survive.

TES is supposed to be a "long-term investment" being ZOS should have been projecting the game would make X amount of money over say 7-10 years. Instead of weathering the storm of the 1st two years, perhaps losing a little money, while investing in creating a superior product that would have reaped them much profit in years 3 through 10, they knee jerk and went for the quick fix in going B2P in less then 1 year.

They figure console players won't pay a sub, which isn't true, create an excellent must have game, and they will pay trust me. However, they figure they don't want to or not willing to invest that kinda time, so they will go B2P in hopes of selling lots of console copies to make up for common short-gain initial product investment losses.

What happens after the initial influx of cash from console sales? Then what? It seems they are focusing too much on shorterm and not enough on longterm profit.

Going B2P in less then a year is telling, ZOS shoudl have stayed course, if they were not turning an acceptable profit by quarter 3 of year 3, then they could have maybe gone this route, but they didn't give the game a chance to grow. You can't plant seeds in a garden and expect them to be ready to harvest in two days.

Quarterly profits. Quarterly profits. Quarterly profits. Quarterly profits.

Most people don't have the ability to think twelve months out, let along three or ten years.

Kartalin · January 2015

At least now I may finally have time to catch up on some games that I bought but haven't had a chance to play, like Watchdogs, Borderlands Presequel, and Farcry 4. Also GTA 5 PC when it comes out.

Lava_Croft · January 2015

booksmcread wrote: »

woodsro wrote: »

I will say this.

This whole B2P/F2P thing to me just screams of a knee-jerk reaction. In business, you have to lose money to make money. You look at any small business, its not uncommon to lose money in the 1st two years, its why most small businesses that survive for 3 years make profit and go on to survive.

TES is supposed to be a "long-term investment" being ZOS should have been projecting the game would make X amount of money over say 7-10 years. Instead of weathering the storm of the 1st two years, perhaps losing a little money, while investing in creating a superior product that would have reaped them much profit in years 3 through 10, they knee jerk and went for the quick fix in going B2P in less then 1 year.

They figure console players won't pay a sub, which isn't true, create an excellent must have game, and they will pay trust me. However, they figure they don't want to or not willing to invest that kinda time, so they will go B2P in hopes of selling lots of console copies to make up for common short-gain initial product investment losses.

What happens after the initial influx of cash from console sales? Then what? It seems they are focusing too much on shorterm and not enough on longterm profit.

Going B2P in less then a year is telling, ZOS shoudl have stayed course, if they were not turning an acceptable profit by quarter 3 of year 3, then they could have maybe gone this route, but they didn't give the game a chance to grow. You can't plant seeds in a garden and expect them to be ready to harvest in two days.

Quarterly profits. Quarterly profits. Quarterly profits. Quarterly profits.

Most people don't have the ability to think twelve months out, let along three or ten years.

And ESO's development has taken nearly 7 years...