Which brings me to my other main concern. Far from the careful and cautious approach, many people seem to be clamouring for runaway monetization. There are threads where people are saying they'd eagerly pay large sums of money for almost any boost, change, or item. ZOS will cater to what players want, in particular if it helps the bottom line, and it is my concern that these people, who speak the loudest with their wallet, will be the ones driving the game's future.

starkerealm wrote: »

pppontus wrote: »

I find it just as bad as you, we just look at it from different perspectives I think.

The problem is, you're attempting to justify the behavior. If you don't agree with it, there's no reason for you to.

I'm explaining it, from an analytical point of view. Including prior experience with similar situations, and expressing concerns.

If you really think it's an issue, there's no reason to justify or defend it. And yes, saying, "well they're a company, they're there to make money," is an attempt at justifying it.

starkerealm wrote: »

pppontus wrote: »

Sure, it'd be nice if all those shoemakers instead went to work on imperial city, but unless I can convince everyone on the planet to pay for that instead.. y'know.

Yeah... the problem is, when you get people to cough up for already produced content, it doesn't exactly incentivize the creation of new content. If they can just add random garbage items to the store using existing content... why spend money on making a new zone? I mean, it took STO two years as the most profitable PWI title before they rated a new zone? Or, TSW, which went Buy to Play... and the "seriously guys, it'll be done in six months" release of Tokyo got pushed back over two years?

Yeah. No. This could easily mean we won't see the Imperial city or any other new zone until Christmas 2016.

Razzak wrote: »

Tandor wrote: »

Alphashado wrote: »

Tandor wrote: »

AH93 wrote: »

Sadly most online games, (even some single player games now!), have gone down a path of monetising every little thing they can, because why bother actually playing the game and putting in the effort to unlock items, when you can stand in town spending money in the in-game store?

Sense of achievement slowly trickling away.

There's no doubt that this sort of change appeals to some players, and that's fair enough - each to his or her own. However, those to whom it doesn't appeal can simply choose to ignore those items in the Crown Store and get the same sense of achievement from earning the items in-game as they did before, without needing to worry over how other players got the items.

That is much easier said than done. One of the main reasons I was attracted to ESO in the first place was because it was a subscription model and because of quotes like the one in the OP from Matt. I want a good, well designed MMO that does NOT revolve around a cash store.

Cash shop this, cash shop that. It's like being at a care dealership with a salesman approaching me every 2 minutes or having a telemarketer call me 10 times a day.

We don't want it and it's impossible to ignore if trying to avoid it was one of the main reasons we came here in the first place.

What I find hilariously ironic is how people whine about being forced to dish out $15 per month on a sub, yet they will spend ungodly amounts of money in the cash store on things that are free in a sub model with a little effort.

I don't really understand why avoiding this change is "easier said than done". I continue to pay a sub, barely look at the crown store and have only bought a costume to test the system really, I doubt I'll go back to it until there's some content on offer. Meanwhile I continue to play the game exactly the same way I played it before, and on the same terms. The threads on the forum will die down as the novelty and instant reaction wear off, but can be read or ignored as you like.

It's exactly the same game today that it was a month or two ago as far as I'm concerned. Oh sure, people with a "glass half empty" approach to life will say "oh but they might sell this, they might sell that..." but if and when that becomes an issue then don't buy those items, it really is as easy as that. People read too much into these cash shops, they exist primarily as an alternative source of revenue from those who don't want to subscribe, and can be largely ignored by those who still prefer to subscribe (but who will benefit from the extra viability rendered to the game by that alternative source of revenue and the additional players drawn to the game by it).

True, their primary reason for existence is an alternative source of income. But what I think OP wanted to impress with his post and what many others think, is that this kind of practice has an almost certain effect on the game outside of it's income source. It has an effect of lowering the quality of the game in general. Less content releases, less bug fixes, less customer support, less... pretty much less in almost every part of the game, except cash shop items.
If they would employ new devs for cash shop items design and retain the same level and momentum of general game development as there was right after launch, I don't think many would mind having cash shop. But they didn't. A part, and it could be a large part, of development that was supposed, or believed to be, responsible for new content has been steered towards cash shop and it's items. No new content for months is more than clear indication of that.
You could even say it's already evident in latest patch notes.