Was the Free To Play Weekend secretly a test for going Free to Play?

Shadowstep2003 · November 2016

How would you feel if ESO announced they were going Free to Play? You can already buy the base game digitally for 10 bucks, I don't think it'd be such a stretch to give it away for free and make money off the subs, upcoming crown crates, dlc, costumes, etc.

Do you think this was all an experiment by ZOS on whether it would be beneficial to go Free to Play?

I feel like there is always a bigger picture for the reason these companies do these types of things. Sure it could be just to gain more exposure, but if there is data that suggests there were a ton of new users who tried the game when it was free then fell off after the even maybe they see it as a worthwhile change.

Mic1007 · November 2016

A year ago, I would've raged at the thought of ESO going F2P. Now it's just become a bitter pill that I am expecting to swallow soon.

NewBlacksmurf · November 2016

Well it's not the first time so having done this a few times ....and having not gone free to play....it wasn't a thought.
If it went free to play I wouldn't care as I already own the game and it would seem to keep ESO plus and the upcoming crown crates so were not seeing a lot of fixes and the quality went downhill over a year ago so....

If it gets worse...I won't be playing anyways. It's not a matter of going F2P but a matter of quality.

yodased · November 2016

Not to sound pedantic, but this was inevitable as soon as the game went B2P.

The ethos of the company changed, they started hiring people from the F2P world and a lot of the original crew jumped ship.

I mean their new marketing manager is quite the lover of chinese/korean F2P Grind-a-thons anyway. I mean she was in charge of the transtion of SwToR, whats that tell you?

You don't have to wonder who's idea the gambling boxes were lol, just look at the games she was in and you can see the path this one is going towards.

SaibotLiu · November 2016

If anything it would just be a test on distributing the client etc. Im sure they used it as an opportunity to collect data, but how useful it would actually be would be pretty marginal. If they wanted to go F2P there are a lot of metrics they would use in making that decision. I just dont see how a single weekend is going to give them accurate sales figures for a F2P model.

Wreuntzylla · November 2016

Mic1007 wrote: »

A year ago, I would've raged at the thought of ESO going F2P. Now it's just become a bitter pill that I am expecting to swallow soon.

Ah, yes, the heady days of learning that what ZoS devs say cannot be taken for a grain of salt. Or that slightly sick feeling you get when you realize the goodwill built up by an epic franchise is slowly sliding into the bottom feeder pit with games like Neverwinter.

Korah_Eaglecry · November 2016

Sorry to crumple up your tin foil hat. But ZOS isnt the first or the last company to use a Free to Play Weekend Event. Plenty of companys do free this or that to convince potential customers to buy into what it is they sell. Ubisoft does Free to Play Weekends all the time with Rainbow Six: Siege. This is actually pretty common on Consoles.

If ZOS is intending to take the game F2P. A F2P Weekend is not evidence of such a transition. Not when other companys use it all the time and dont go F2P.

Loralai_907 · November 2016

While I am fairly certain F2P is coming, I don't think the free weekend was a test for that.

idk · November 2016

@Shadowstep2003

Unlikely. It's common for MMOs to offer trial periods from time to time.

The time is not even a worthy exoeriment for anything other than testing the effects of a trial weekend/week. They will be able to track them to see how many sub or purchase crowns.

Of course those who just buy the base game and nothing else are not the targets. Recurring revenue is the target.

Wreuntzylla · November 2016

Did you guys get more than 5 stars since console release??? They clearly said the game would always be a subscription based game and then went B2P. That's enough history that F2P is not a big stretch let alone tinfoil. The cost reduction for DLCs right now is so steep it's already approaching F2P....

Nestor · November 2016

Why is that every time ZOS sneezes, or blinks or even breathes, someone thinks the game is going to F2P?

The Free Weekend was a marketing event, nothing more, nothing less. They don't need something like this to decide what Financial Model the game is going to be, they can just look at the numbers and other factors and decide one way or the other.

SanSan · November 2016

No. It's free to play to get more people to try it then buy it. It's a great marketing tactic. Overwatch did it before and so did ESO.
Brought in a lot of people.

ArchMikem · November 2016

If they do, I'd kinda like to get $60 worth of free Crowns...

vyndral13preub18_ESO · November 2016

While I dont think it was a test, it certainly would make business sense to take a shot at people who havent coughed up cash to buy the game yet. Maybe entice them in and get them to buy in before you do go free.

1mirg · November 2016

ArchMikem wrote: »

If they do, I'd kinda like to get $60 worth of free Crowns...

You'll prob only get a pet, like us Beta testers did. Not free crowns.

So, enjoy your future pet!

Ghost-Shot · November 2016

This game already has most of the worst parts of free to play, so what does it really matter at this point?

Bouldercleave · November 2016

Games do F2P weekends and events all the time. I doubt this was a test, but more to try and get new players that were on the fence about buying it into the game and excited.

At this point in the evolution of the game, I don't think that going F2P would really be that big of deal. The digital download for the game is 10.00. They are no longer sustaining the game with new product sales.

Isbilen · November 2016

From my experience in 2014 when rumours regarding ESO transitioning to the buy-to-play model started surfacing, a lot of users on this forum took that stuff very emotionally. Therefore I would like to remind you of what posts here looked like then.

I think ESO is going F2P sometime early next year. I don't think this because of the free-weekend, but the game has been out for quite a while now (3 years next spring), so it’s reasonable to assume that sale figures have dropped quite a bit. The game has also gradually made its way towards resembling what you would see in a free-to-play game:

- Advertisements when you log in
- Big fat Crown icon at the top of the screen on every menu
- Gambling boxes

I don’t see transitioning to a free-to-play model as a negative thing in itself if done correctly (Guild Wars 2), but it could end up being a disaster too, so you're right to worry.

nine9six · November 2016

Doctordarkspawn · November 2016

Honestly I think the quality of the design is more important than it's F2P possibility. What's the point of the game if it's just a mess to play?

If they fix the ballance, but add F2P, I'll take it.

RazielSR · November 2016

Of course. Its just a matter of time.

If you read my posts and others posts from about 2 years ago you will understand.

It is normal and thats how mmos works nowadays.

The game is folowing a freemium path since b2p announcement.

Insta level 50 will appear too.

Its all normal,its business after all.

Tandor · November 2016

yodased wrote: »

I mean their new marketing manager is quite the lover of chinese/korean F2P Grind-a-thons anyway. I mean she was in charge of the transtion of SwToR, whats that tell you?

That she has experience of another decent MMORPG that has retained optional subscriptions?

Pallmor · November 2016

Wreuntzylla wrote: »

Mic1007 wrote: »

A year ago, I would've raged at the thought of ESO going F2P. Now it's just become a bitter pill that I am expecting to swallow soon.

Ah, yes, the heady days of learning that what ZoS devs say cannot be taken for a grain of salt. Or that slightly sick feeling you get when you realize the goodwill built up by an epic franchise is slowly sliding into the bottom feeder pit with games like Neverwinter.

Hey, I like Neverwinter! It's actually one of the better F2P MMO's out there. Everything you can buy in their cash shop can also be earned in-game. All their DLC is free. Their auction house works really well. Their events are the best of any MMO I've ever seen. It has a great companion system. And their grouping tool for dungeons and skirmishes works really well. It's not as pretty or open-world as ESO, but there are a lot of things it does really well (even if you never spend a dime).

WhiteCoatSyndrome · November 2016

This actually isn't the first time ESO has had a Free To Play Weekend, so...not necessarily? It's not a guarantee that it won't go F2P certainly.

Korah_Eaglecry · November 2016

Pallmor wrote: »

Wreuntzylla wrote: »

Mic1007 wrote: »

A year ago, I would've raged at the thought of ESO going F2P. Now it's just become a bitter pill that I am expecting to swallow soon.

Ah, yes, the heady days of learning that what ZoS devs say cannot be taken for a grain of salt. Or that slightly sick feeling you get when you realize the goodwill built up by an epic franchise is slowly sliding into the bottom feeder pit with games like Neverwinter.

Hey, I like Neverwinter! It's actually one of the better F2P MMO's out there. Everything you can buy in their cash shop can also be earned in-game. All their DLC is free. Their auction house works really well. Their events are the best of any MMO I've ever seen. It has a great companion system. And their grouping tool for dungeons and skirmishes works really well. It's not as pretty or open-world as ESO, but there are a lot of things it does really well (even if you never spend a dime).

All of that was tested with Star Trek Online first. The F2P model STO and Neverwinter follow is not as bad as many out there. Its definitely built in such a way to pull Westerners in. But it still has its flaws. Content still trickles in and is almost always introduced in a grind-a-thon manner that requires players to burn themselves out on the content to gain the powerful or interesting rewards.

idk · November 2016

Nestor wrote: »

Why is that every time ZOS sneezes, or blinks or even breathes, someone thinks the game is going to F2P?

The Free Weekend was a marketing event, nothing more, nothing less. They don't need something like this to decide what Financial Model the game is going to be, they can just look at the numbers and other factors and decide one way or the other.

Some people like to speculate the worst and others like to stir it up.

Slylok · November 2016

Blizzard just a had free to play weekend for Overwatch.. So according the the OPs logic we can expect Overwatch to be free to play soon.

FLuFFyxMuFFiN · November 2016

A lot of conspiracy theories going around lately.

Abeille · November 2016

Isn't it because of the contest?

There are some places where the contest is running where you can only run this kind of thing if there isn't a mandatory entry price. The box price could very well be a "mandatory entry price". However, during the weekend, people were able to enter the contest for free, thus making the contest completely legal on these places.

I'm thinking this is the case because, last time, it was during the 1mil contest.

RinaldoGandolphi · November 2016

If the game ends up going F2P then I'll most likely pull out shop for good because I simply will no longer be able to afford to play.

Bruce Schriener, one of the worlds leading security experts and cryptographer (he was part of the groups helped design all security protocols and encryption used in https, ssl,tls,etc) in other words he helped design all the crypto that's used today on the internet.

Anyways he wrote a long article about FTP games on his blog, you will have to look back in the archives, but long story short is F2P MMO end up costing you considerably more money then sub based games..you get nickeled and dimed here and there to the point they are sucking 25-30 bucks a month instead of 15. They will put certain things in the cash shop you gotta buy to be competitive, they will have them drop in the world too but the chances being so low(0.0000001%) that literally less then 1% will ever see them drop so you will be forced to buy them to be competitive this can range from a wide variety of things...it doesn't have to just be gear

In the end all F2P games end up P2W in some fashion because the only way they make money is from a cash shop and they have to have things you need to sell else they won't make no money

Let's hope the game stays B2P as much as I don't really like that, I can live with it

code65536 · November 2016

Er, last year, around this same time (end-of-year holiday season), they had a free play weekend.

They did this year exactly what they did last year.