Official Discussion Thread for "Welcome to 2017"

thegreybetween · February 2017

Thank you very much for the insight into the new content structure. Personally, I think it makes a lot of sense from a business-model perspective (much moreso than your awkward Crown Store push of late), and I find it quite reasonable as a player. This new content scheme binds more of your revenue stream to the quality of the content you are creating, rather than to purely superfluous cosmetic systems, which not only incentivizes you to create content that we're willing to pay for (good for players) but also makes that revenue much more dependable (good for you) than the gamble that is the increasingly exploitative Crown Store.

From a value perspective, I think the system is more fair than the knee-jerk outrage seems to warrant. Let's break it down:

One Year of Full ESO Access
- ESO Plus: 6-month subscription = USD$77.94
- ESO Plus: 6-month subscription = $77.94
- Q2 Chapter Release, Collector Upgrade Edition: $60
Total Annual Cost: $215.88
Average Monthly Cost: (215.88/12) = $17.99

And what do you get for your $18/month?
- Full access to an already vast and robust game world featuring hundreds of hours of content
- A massive new "chapter" update featuring new systems, regions, and play modes each year
- Two new content patches per year (the scope of which is uncertain in light of chapters, but precedent has been good)
- A dungeon-based content patch, which has limited appeal but likely adds new loot/motifs as well
- Full ESO+ privileges: Increased housing item caps, crafting XP/gold/research buffs, costume dyes, etc.
- The Crafting Bag. Seriously, this is almost worth the cost of a subscription alone (IMO)
- 18000 Crowns to use as you see fit - Cosmetic goodies, locking down a DLC you love if you intend to un-sub at some point, gambling for goodies in RNG boxes, etc. That's equivalent to an 83% rebate in in-game currency (if you're inclined to purchase Crowns anyway)
- Periodic fix, QoL, balance, maintenance, and other updates

The same $18 in your entertainment budget gets you what? A movie ticket and some popcorn. A couple of hot, new indie games on Steam that you play for a month and then forget about. 3/4 of a Pathfinder Adventure Path subscription. A badass bacon cheeseburger and a pint. Mmmmm...

Yes, we're being asked to fork out money. Yes, this new scheme is a departure from the previous system where all of the above cost only $12.99 per month. But they're also upping the scope and quality of the content we're getting and working hard to grow Tamriel into a truly vast and immersive experience catering to a wide variety of players. That is definitely worth something.

I'm happy to see a move to relate the price we pay to the content we get. I'd much rather give them $60 for a massive glut of exciting new content (and a bear-summoning class...c'mon!) than the same $60 for a new mount skin and a pack of RNG boxes. Knowing that they're putting the money into making Tamriel a place I want to spend my time makes me far more willing to help out the development of this game by continuing to support it with my wallet.

I, for one, am happy to support our new content-creating overlords.

FleetwoodSmack · February 2017

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

timidobserver wrote: »

@ZOS_GinaBruno
Looking forward to hearing about the Cyrodiil performance changes that Matt mentioned. Is that coming with the expansion or a later update?

Neither - you can expect to see some changes to Cyrodiil before Morrowind. We'll give everyone more details a little later, and will give certainly everyone a heads up before any changes occur.

Sorry, but a lot of us have heard this time and time again. And no offense, but this whole thing screams like "Hey guys, we're hemorrhaging money, give us a bail out." Yearly chapter updates? What about fixing the base game? "We'll still be fixing that!" Y'all said that when you started introducing DLC. Look where that got us.

Preyfar · February 2017

thegreybetween wrote: »

I, for one, am happy to support our new content-creating overlords.

I have no problem with the price of the expansion. I think it makes sense for ZOS to admit that their system isn't working as well as they'd hoped, and the cost to develop new content on the scale and scope that players want is NOT economical long term. I think that's fine, and it's rare for a company to come out and say that and make a change of this nature.

But I think ZOS also needs to change the perks up a bit for ESO Plus (as I mentioned, bring back subscriber rewards). Providing a unique skinned mount with maybe some adornment changes is not a massive amount of dev time compared to the design of a massive new landmass, quest programming, hiring voice actors, etc.

the'Doctor · February 2017

I LIKE WHAT I READ AND SAW....KEEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

Peekachu99 · February 2017

I quite like the tone and information presented in the article. Looks like the development team have high expectations. Fixing class/ gear balance and setting Cyro performance as a priority should satisfy many people. I'll be glad when they finally revisit crafting and retune all the set's that have been outclassed.

maboleth · February 2017

Mickey_Ox wrote: »

ESO+ members don't get them for free, they are paid for.

ESO+ is €13x12 months = €156. The roughly €180 is because the Q3 releases may be in differant months meaning they could be 14 months apart.

Please don't spread nonsense and false information.
ESO+ is 11eur x12 = 132 eur per year BECAUSE you wouldn't be a complete fool to subscribe for a year using the most expensive, monthly scheme. Or maybe you would? Further, you cannot sub for a year, but 6 months.

And EVEN if you did subscribe using the monthly scheme, then you could just unsubscribe the next. Case closed. None could ripped you off for a month!

And even then - in your worst possible case scenario of ZOS ripping you off - you would still have 1500 crowns in your pocket every month, worth of the same price you paid ESO+ for - 13e. So you paid ESO+ 13e/mo, you felt ripped off, you canceled the next month = you still have 1500 crowns worth of 13EUR.

I'm over and out of this pointless discussion. Kudos to ZOS and their PR team, Gina & Jessica, for taking their time to read what some of these ignorant, clueless and mean people say.

Carbonised · February 2017

Considering the dwindling benefits of ESO+, maybe it' time to retire the model completely, and have people pay for DLCs a la carte, like you mentioned, and crafting bag separately. Honestly, the ESO+ benefits seem rather small compared to the investment.

As for Chapters/Morrowind, if we do get 1 huge content zone every year (as well as 3 smaller DLCs) then I'm ok. This last year has been a dry desert when it comes to content. Ever since DB no new land has been added, and while 1 Tam and Homesteads do bring new features to the game, it's hardly 'content' in the true sense of the word. You have now promised 1 large Chapter and several smaller content DLCs yeach year, please keep to that promise and don't change your mind and your business model around 1 year from now - as you have done before.

Cyrodil and lag. Wow this has been an issue in like forever. Well I'm glad you adress it in the message. However, words are cheap and actions is what matters. Reduce lag in Cyrodiil and allow us to actually play large scale PvP without lagging out and disconecting all the time. Then I'll applaud you.

Additionally, we'll have a DLC in the first quarter of each year, a Chapter in the second quarter, a dungeon-based DLC in the third quarter, and a DLC in the 4th quarter.

Keep to this promise then. 1 Tam wasn't a DLC, Homesteads isn't a DLC. You're behind schedule, and goodwill will only take you so far. Don't go back on this promise, like you went back on the promise of quarterly DLCs last year, and keep getting those content DLCs out there in addition to a yearly 'chapter'. That's what we really need you to do.

RagnarFirehawk · February 2017

Hmm. Not a DLC, it's an expation...
$100 for Morrowind® Digital Collector's Edition Upgrade, not too bad based on the content.
So want to try out the Warden class
most of all Should be interesting but to be going to Morrowind again will be Epic...

tinythinker · February 2017

Tandor wrote: »

tinythinker wrote: »

My issue: I don't want to reroll each summer when a new class is released with a Chapter.

Nobody needs to re-roll. There are two extra character slots available in the Crown Store with Morrowind. Doubtless others will be added later.

Reroll=create new character

Elsonso · February 2017

thegreybetween wrote:

Let's break it down:

One Year of Full ESO Access
- ESO Plus: 6-month subscription = USD$77.94
- ESO Plus: 6-month subscription = $77.94
- Q2 Chapter Release, Collector Upgrade Edition: $60
Total Annual Cost: $215.88
Average Monthly Cost: (215.88/12) = $17.99

And what do you get for your $18/month?
- Full access to an already vast and robust game world featuring hundreds of hours of content
- A massive new "chapter" update featuring new systems, regions, and play modes each year
- Two new content patches per year (the scope of which is uncertain in light of chapters, but precedent has been good)
- A dungeon-based content patch, which has limited appeal but likely adds new loot/motifs as well
- Full ESO+ privileges: Increased housing item caps, crafting XP/gold/research buffs, costume dyes, etc.
- The Crafting Bag. Seriously, this is almost worth the cost of a subscription alone (IMO)
- 18000 Crowns to use as you see fit - Cosmetic goodies, locking down a DLC you love if you intend to un-sub at some point, gambling for goodies in RNG boxes, etc. That's equivalent to an 83% rebate in in-game currency (if you're inclined to purchase Crowns anyway)
- Periodic fix, QoL, balance, maintenance, and other updates

Let's go the non-ESO Plus route...

For this exercise, let's assume one (1) 1500 crown dungeon DLC, one (1) 2000 crown small content DLC, and one (1) 3000 crown large content DLC, for a total 6500 Crowns, which retails most closely for $56 (5500 crown pack + 1500 crown pack, retail)

5500 crown pack = USD$39.99
1500 crown pack = USD$15.99
Q2 Chapter, Collector Upgrade Edition: $60

Total annual cost: $115.99
Average monthly cost: $9.67

What do you get for your $10/mo? Same things you listed above, minus the ESO Plus advantages.

Now, let's assume you did not own the DLCs, so figure in an addition 5500 Crowns for the DLC Pack, plus 1500 for Hist, for another 7000 Crowns. That adds a one-time charge of $56.

The value proposition is whether ESO Plus is worth roughly twice as much.

Edit: spelling and typos
Edit 2: fixed strange quote attribution

Salganis · February 2017

Well, I do not have any problems in the chapter or political expansion every year, I think it's okay because you can buy the expansion in 40 us which is fine for me and the sub is not mandatory as ather games.
What worries me most as a player is that i really want to see improvisation in the game mechanics of the dungeons and trials. I want to see booss fight with more incredible mechanics more theatrical I think the game has improved that way in the DLC but it has to be better.
And I would like to see a larger chapter as one that costs 2 years to make or 1 year and 1/2 for better content.
Verry happy with the game from Uruguay.
And support the Spanish language more.

Rohamad_Ali · February 2017

I'm tired of being negative . I said what I needed to say yesterday . I respect at least Matt is telling us up front , after missing that opportunity yesterday , we can expect to pay out of pocket for a new chapter every year . At least now I know what to expect with a subscription . It's a paid pass for 3/4's of the content each year . Ok fine . Thanks for letting us know .

I'll have to rethink my budget with ESO . I think I will surf through the next year free and just pay for what I need to continue adventures .

Thank you for the look ahead ZoS . I am most interested in Cyrodiil changes .

Marto · February 2017

While I'm fine with "Chapters" being paid separately (I'd still prefer a crown option)...

Releasing a chapter every year will basically mean ESO+ Subscribers only get 75% or less of the main content of each year.

I think there's something fundamentally wrong with that.

thegreybetween · February 2017

lordrichter wrote: »

The value proposition is whether ESO Plus is worth roughly twice as much.

That's a good follow-up to my (mis-attributed) post. Thanks for looking at the non-ESO+ side of the situation.

For my part:

thegreybetween wrote: »

- The Crafting Bag. Seriously, this is almost worth the cost of a subscription alone (IMO)
- 18000 Crowns to use as you see fit - Cosmetic goodies, locking down a DLC you love if you intend to un-sub at some point, gambling for goodies in RNG boxes, etc. That's equivalent to an 83% rebate in in-game currency (if you're inclined to purchase Crowns anyway)

These two points pretty much sum up how I feel about the difference. The crafting bag is probably the single best QoL feature in the game for me and the way I like to play, and I honestly would consider finding something else to do with my time than go back to the inventory-management nightmare of the non-bag days. Totally worth my dues, IMO. And while I'm not a huge proponent of the Crown Store, the 1500C/mo allotted to subscribers does have some legitimate value.

Honestly, a viable alternative for some might be a hybrid approach: Sub for X months to immediately purge your inventory into the crafting bag (which becomes unavailable for further storage but still holds pre-stored goodies) and use the 1500X Crowns to secure your DLCs. It is ultimately more expensive than a pure non-ESO+ system, but does provide some handy temporary/pseudo-permanent QoL for your character(s).

In any event, the Crafting Bag has me hooked. 10/10, would sub again.

EDIT: Forgot a "+", and fixed a typo

Elsonso · February 2017

Marto wrote: »

While I'm fine with "Chapters" being paid separately (I'd still prefer a crown option)...

Releasing a chapter every year will basically mean ESO+ Subscribers only get 75% or less of the main content of each year.

I think there's something fundamentally wrong with that.

Where do you get 75%?

UrbanMonk · February 2017

Cancel ESO+ sub and buy the content as you go.

Frondale · February 2017

tinythinker wrote: »

Preyfar wrote: »

Abeille wrote: »

"Each ESO Chapter will feature a self-contained story and zone that can be experienced by itself without needing to travel out to the main game."

Does it mean the main story won't continue? Is Darien lost forever?

Say it ain't so!

Yeah, that's kind of confusing what they said about continuing the story. Perhaps there's story related quests there that continue IN ADDITION to regular quests, and the story quests only apply if you've finished the main storyline (such as when the Prophet appears).

This would be great!

I have to admit, I was ever so excited when I saw the Prophet appear at the end of completing Wrothgar.
Speaking to Darien's friend and he had a juicy tid bit about Darien.

We have grown to love these characters and to follow on with the story is something alot of us want. I think we will get our wish too.

Quarter 3. Dungeon based theme added. What is that exactly? A new trial or...?
I don't quite understand this.

Elsonso · February 2017

thegreybetween wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

The value proposition is whether ESO Plus is worth roughly twice as much.

That's a good follow-up to my (mis-attributed) post. Thanks for looking at the non-ESO+ side of the situation.

I have no idea what happened with the attribution on that quote. The one that was linked was not even one I was interested in responding to. Anyway, fixed.

Crafting Bag is a convenience, but three things make it less than critical for me. First, I am not maxed, so I have a ton of room to grow my bag space. Second, I lived comfortably without the bag for the entire time before the bag existed. Third, I have less need for crafting storage because my crafting is much more focused to my characters and much less focused on being prepared for any crafting request. The latter is per ZOS game design.

The real issue for me is that they are letting ESO Plus fall behind. The benefits in Homestead are nice, but hardly critical unless a person plans to do a lot of expensive, or grindy, decorating. They have added a lot of options now for gaining XP, so the XP boost has been diluted. I have a lot more max level crafters, now. Really, the only things keeping me in ESO Plus are the Crowns, the DLC, and the Crafting bag. ZOS has diluted the DLC benefit. Crowns are not enough.

On the other had, Morrowind Edition is valuable to me. Considerably more valuable than ESO Plus today. I am almost considering them to be mutually exclusive.

So, my plan is to cancel ESO Plus this year and just buy Chapters and DLC one at a time. I might let it renew just for the easy 9000 Crowns, which I will use to buy all the DLC for the next year, then cancel right after that, but ESO Plus crowns are more expensive than the 5500 Crown pack.

UrbanMonk · February 2017

lordrichter wrote: »

Marto wrote: »

While I'm fine with "Chapters" being paid separately (I'd still prefer a crown option)...

Releasing a chapter every year will basically mean ESO+ Subscribers only get 75% or less of the main content of each year.

I think there's something fundamentally wrong with that.

Where do you get 75%?

75%= 6 month of base game content which is available for free even without ESO+ and hopefulyl 1 DLC with soem content. So basically ripoff for 6 months of SUB fee.

MissBizz · February 2017

Preyfar wrote: »

MissBizz wrote: »

@lordrichter I've been disagreeing with you over the last few days (mostly I kept it to myself though ) but this - I really couldn't have said it better myself. It's disheartening to realize our DLC future is Thieves Guild/Dark Brotherhood and Shadows of the Hist - per year. Outside of full expansions, which I'm not quite sure I agree on - as I'm thinking the same as you... maybe Orsinium would have been slated a chapter if they had thrown a new class in with it.

My problem with Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood as "content" is that I'm required to grind, grind, grind, grind to get up levels within the ranks of the guilds to access said content. Being forced to grind is something Korean MMOs do, not American ones. If I want story why do I have to wait days/weeks of grinding annoying mini-quests to get to it? Why not make the story accessible and instead making the grinds more challenging and rewarding for those who want to do it?

I mean, at least if we're going to go this route let's take it as a "1 story mission, 2 grinds, 1 story mission..." or give us some indication of how far we have to go to get the next story chapter. These were disappointing design decisions in a game that's all about story first. The grindwall should be about gear, not content.

@Preyfar I agree with you! I felt like they tried to force it to take longer by the forced grinds. In reality, these were very small DLC's with short storylines (comparing to what we have otherwise in the game), but they forced it to take longer by adding this grinding. I like to quest, I like stories. I just want to go through the darn questline like a book, not take a break to do the same repeatable 6 times over before I can go to the next story quest. It felt like it was just added in to make the DLC bigger in a sense of hours of gameplay.

Don't get me wrong, I was surprised with the twists in the DB DLC, and I did enjoy the story. I just would have preferred they be the shorter storylines that they really were, with the grinding of dailies just an option (for gear/motifs/whatever) rather than essential to moving forward in the story.

This makes me excited about Morrowind, I feel that this will be my next "Orsinium" that I loved so dearly. Big, awesome decently long story! I've went through a roller coaster of feelings over this whole paid expansion every year thing, but at the end of the day - for the type of content I enjoy, it's a good thing. Sure, it's more money - but I feel like this type of content is the type I enjoy most, and it'll be worth it.

Ilsabet · February 2017

Frondale wrote: »

tinythinker wrote: »

Preyfar wrote: »

Abeille wrote: »

"Each ESO Chapter will feature a self-contained story and zone that can be experienced by itself without needing to travel out to the main game."

Does it mean the main story won't continue? Is Darien lost forever?

Say it ain't so!

Yeah, that's kind of confusing what they said about continuing the story. Perhaps there's story related quests there that continue IN ADDITION to regular quests, and the story quests only apply if you've finished the main storyline (such as when the Prophet appears).

This would be great!

I have to admit, I was ever so excited when I saw the Prophet appear at the end of completing Wrothgar.
Speaking to Darien's friend and he had a juicy tid bit about Darien.

We have grown to love these characters and to follow on with the story is something alot of us want. I think we will get our wish too.

I always have to smile when I see @Abeille lobbying to rescue Darien. One of the throughlines of my main character's headcanon (and the entire reason I started writing a headcanon for her) is that she was in love with Darien by the end of her alliance storyline. So the events of Coldharbour hit her very hard and she still hasn't really gotten over what happened. I haven't played through Wrothgar yet, but I highly anticipate her reaction to finding that letter.

I also have to figure out how to justify getting her into the Gold Coast to see Gabrielle when she's really not the innocent-murdering type.

At any rate it would be an awful big letdown to give us all of those teaser hints over multiple DLCs and then never do anything with him again.

EkojiRone · February 2017

I think all that ZoS has done thus far is great. And this chapter to come is thrilling. I do hope that the battle system will allow the nerfs to be calculated properly so that PVP is more fun and not one meta runs all (Destro Ult zergs) Also, I know its not on the radar, but I hope that they find a way for all platforms to play with each other. I'm sure it would be complex from controller to keyboard and mouse. But I have met some folks who play on other systems.. and I can't group with them.. Makes me sad.. but anyways.. yay for 2017

shadoza · February 2017

maboleth wrote: »

Mysticman wrote: »

Mickey_Ox wrote: »

WOW, what a slap in the face to loyal ESO+ subscribers.

Q2 2016- content update
Q3 2016- 2 dungeons (patethic really)
Q4 2016- no paid content
Q1 2017- no paid content
Q2 2017- chapter ( pay ontop of your ESO+)
Q3 2017- 2 more dungeons??? (Again pathetic)
Q4 2017- content update
So a loyal ESO+ subscriber will have paid roughly €180 for a years membership from Q3 to Q3 and recieved no DLC. .
So from the last decent content of Q2 2016 till the next decent content inQ4 2017 ESO+ members will have paid roughly €270 for 4 dungeons.

Talk about destroying the value of membership

'What he said'
ESO+ subscriptions has become a total ripoff and to announce that you will continue to adding 2 crappy dungeons "every" Q3 and try to pass they off as real DLCs is really disappointing. I'm cancelling my sub today I'm tried of getting ripoff and I would encourage others to do the same until they restore "real value" to ESO+.

What Matt has said was:

1) DLC
2) Chapter
3) Dungeon
4) DLC

With ESO+ you get 2 DLCs + Dungeons for free per year. Just because One Tamriel & Housing was free for everyone, doesn't mean every single year will be like that. Those two updates were long needed patches (esp. One Tamriel) and finally executed.
Further, ESO+ is not 180 eur but 132 per year.

Sometimes I truly question the intelligence or sincerity of some forum posters.

$14.99 USD (cost of 30 auto renew) x 12 months = $179.88 USD (let us call it $180 USD)

Q1 DLC = good, I might find an interest in it
Q2 Chapter = going to cost me at least $40 (180+40=220)
Q3 Dungeon = not good for me. I do not play groups last dungeon pack was group focus. No benefit to me this quarter
Q4 DLC = good, too bad I had to wait nearly half year to see it

If the DLC cost about $40.00 each, then not subbing will cost me about $120 per year (2 DLC plus the Chapter). This leaves $50.00 for crown crate purchases; don't judge, I love the card game and the surprise of the item reveal.

10% bonuses = this was good before the One Tamriel. Not so good now as I discovered getting bonus experience does more damage than good. My first character arrived at CP160 wearing level 48 gear because I have not been able to gather enough mats and gear to advance my skill levels. (Referencing the actual skill level that allows one to make better gear) Raising through the level ranks quickly means receiving fewer loot drops per levels...because it takes less time and one does not get more loot just more experience and gold.
The craft bag = this is great. Love it. However, with Homestead prices being above my abilities to generate those amounts; I'll be selling and breaking down nearly all my loot to generate the gold needed to buy and furnish my home.
Custom coloring = I'll miss this one. But it does not advance the progression so I can play without it.
1500 crown = nice, but there are few things in the crown store that I want to buy, so it just stacks or I spend it on Crown Crates (which are not needed, just fun) or something else I really do not want.
Free access to DLC = only two DLC actually (I can purchase the ones I like), one of the other two I do not use because I do not group (last dungeon pack was very group focused), the other one is not free

While this may not be the issue of others. This is where my experience falls. Suggesting that one must be lying or stupid because you don't see the situation from their vantage is a bit unfair. I am, currently, on the edge of dropping my sub because I am seeing fewer benefits to keeping it. I am already one step into it but I have not dropped it yet. If anyone sees an advantage that I am not seeing, I welcome them to share it. (Please do not feed me the line that one can get hundreds of thousands of gold farming dungeons (I don't do group dungeons much, if ever) or that I can join a trade guild. (I do not get anything worthy of selling.) I am looking for a reason to hold onto the membership...go on give it a go: why should I keep subbing?

Croblasta · February 2017

Thanks for all of your clarifying statements today regarding player concerns! What about add ons for the console or combat UI/Metrics enhancements ? Any teaser in this you can give for this in 2017?

Frondale · February 2017

Faulgor wrote: »

I think it might be worth considering retiring the ESO+ model. Since its inception ZOS has tried to make it more appealing, and this recent change puts all their efforts back several degrees.

What I could see happening is offering a "season pass" with each chapter purchase that includes all 3 upcoming DLCs before the next chapter releases. So when I buy a chapter with that offer, I actually feel I'm set for the year until the next expansion comes along.

Well the only issue with this is that I DO NOT own any of the DLC's since I have been ESO Plus from the start of ESO.

That means I would have to buy every previous DLC content to catch up with the current seasons pass idea you are proposing.

Majeure · February 2017

Sounds great, looking forward to seeing how the new model works out.

I really like the idea of more of these big "Chapters" as you call it, but we'll have to see how the first one works out of course, but based on what I've seen so far, in my case, I can't help but see it extremely successful. Especially if each of these is going to include a new Trial.

I don't understand the point of 4v4v4 though if you're not tying it to factions, why not just go 4v4 then for a more competitive environment? Either way, looking forward to trying it out when it gets here.

Thanks for your hard work, and hope you'll actually get that Cyrodiil performance sorted out one day.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Actually just posted in another thread, but we do not plan on raising the gear cap with Morrowind.

Oh thank god, I think doing that would make a lot of players very unhappy... seeing as we'd just be grinding the same old content again and again, with RNG on traits, that we already have had to go through for those sharpened maelstrom weapons for example.

Hope you do a token or level upgrade system before raising it... ^^

nexxus_ESO · February 2017

thegreybetween wrote: »

Thank you very much for the insight into the new content structure. Personally, I think it makes a lot of sense from a business-model perspective (much moreso than your awkward Crown Store push of late), and I find it quite reasonable as a player. This new content scheme binds more of your revenue stream to the quality of the content you are creating, rather than to purely superfluous cosmetic systems, which not only incentivizes you to create content that we're willing to pay for (good for players) but also makes that revenue much more dependable (good for you) than the gamble that is the increasingly exploitative Crown Store.

From a value perspective, I think the system is more fair than the knee-jerk outrage seems to warrant. Let's break it down:

One Year of Full ESO Access
- ESO Plus: 6-month subscription = USD$77.94
- ESO Plus: 6-month subscription = $77.94
- Q2 Chapter Release, Collector Upgrade Edition: $60
Total Annual Cost: $215.88
Average Monthly Cost: (215.88/12) = $17.99

And what do you get for your $18/month?
- Full access to an already vast and robust game world featuring hundreds of hours of content
- A massive new "chapter" update featuring new systems, regions, and play modes each year
- Two new content patches per year (the scope of which is uncertain in light of chapters, but precedent has been good)
- A dungeon-based content patch, which has limited appeal but likely adds new loot/motifs as well
- Full ESO+ privileges: Increased housing item caps, crafting XP/gold/research buffs, costume dyes, etc.
- The Crafting Bag. Seriously, this is almost worth the cost of a subscription alone (IMO)
- 18000 Crowns to use as you see fit - Cosmetic goodies, locking down a DLC you love if you intend to un-sub at some point, gambling for goodies in RNG boxes, etc. That's equivalent to an 83% rebate in in-game currency (if you're inclined to purchase Crowns anyway)
- Periodic fix, QoL, balance, maintenance, and other updates

The same $18 in your entertainment budget gets you what? A movie ticket and some popcorn. A couple of hot, new indie games on Steam that you play for a month and then forget about. 3/4 of a Pathfinder Adventure Path subscription. A badass bacon cheeseburger and a pint. Mmmmm...

Yes, we're being asked to fork out money. Yes, this new scheme is a departure from the previous system where all of the above cost only $12.99 per month. But they're also upping the scope and quality of the content we're getting and working hard to grow Tamriel into a truly vast and immersive experience catering to a wide variety of players. That is definitely worth something.

I'm happy to see a move to relate the price we pay to the content we get. I'd much rather give them $60 for a massive glut of exciting new content (and a bear-summoning class...c'mon!) than the same $60 for a new mount skin and a pack of RNG boxes. Knowing that they're putting the money into making Tamriel a place I want to spend my time makes me far more willing to help out the development of this game by continuing to support it with my wallet.

I, for one, am happy to support our new content-creating overlords.

ALL OF THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Every last word. Well said, concise and on point.

Seriously, the whinging and complaining brought on by this change is revolting and smacks of spoilt entitlement. By all means people, take your sub and go somewhere else if you're unhappy. Nobody is forcing you to stay, and I dare say we'll be better off without you in the long run. $40 for the basic upgrade is not asking much. An entire new game is $60 and half of those are worth 20 hours of gameplay, if you're lucky, with zero replay value; most of them are complete garbage.

$40 is a couple of hours max, in a mediocre restaraunt with food that's probably previously frozen.
$40 might get you and someone else in to see a crappy movie and have enough left over for a giant tub of crappy popcorn with butter flavored oil dumped on top. Meanwhile, the people around you will talk and text and rattle their snack wrappers while some kid sitting behind you kicks your seat and coughs cold germs on you.
$40, depending on where you live, *might* fill your car with gas once or twice, if at all.

TL;DR if it's not worth $40 to you, don't buy it. But enough with the overly-dramatic whinging already.

Abeille · February 2017

Ilsabet wrote: »

Frondale wrote: »

tinythinker wrote: »

Preyfar wrote: »

Abeille wrote: »

"Each ESO Chapter will feature a self-contained story and zone that can be experienced by itself without needing to travel out to the main game."

Does it mean the main story won't continue? Is Darien lost forever?

Say it ain't so!

Yeah, that's kind of confusing what they said about continuing the story. Perhaps there's story related quests there that continue IN ADDITION to regular quests, and the story quests only apply if you've finished the main storyline (such as when the Prophet appears).

This would be great!

I have to admit, I was ever so excited when I saw the Prophet appear at the end of completing Wrothgar.
Speaking to Darien's friend and he had a juicy tid bit about Darien.

We have grown to love these characters and to follow on with the story is something alot of us want. I think we will get our wish too.

I always have to smile when I see @Abeille lobbying to rescue Darien. One of the throughlines of my main character's headcanon (and the entire reason I started writing a headcanon for her) is that she was in love with Darien by the end of her alliance storyline. So the events of Coldharbour hit her very hard and she still hasn't really gotten over what happened. I haven't played through Wrothgar yet, but I highly anticipate her reaction to finding that letter. I also have to figure out how to justify getting her into the Gold Coast to see Gabrielle when she's really not the innocent-murdering type.

At any rate it would be an awful big letdown to give us all of those teaser hints over multiple DLCs and then never do anything with him again.

While my main character who is doing the main quest in-character is not "in love" with Darien, she does love him very much, but more like a buddy cop sort of thing (same for Raz, for example). Darien is one of the few character she would go to Oblivion and back to save. Well, not "few", I'd say there are about a dozen characters that she would go to Oblivion and back for, now that I think of it.

Anyways, she isn't the murdering type either, so she just went to Anvil with Captain Jimila and happened to bump into Gabrielle when visiting the city. So how about that for your character too, maybe? My character didn't do the DB quest line, though, I have a DB character for that.

Either way, #SAVEDARIEN. Verandis would be good, too. My other sweethearts are safe for now.

Ilsabet · February 2017

Abeille wrote: »

Ilsabet wrote: »

Frondale wrote: »

tinythinker wrote: »

Preyfar wrote: »

Abeille wrote: »

"Each ESO Chapter will feature a self-contained story and zone that can be experienced by itself without needing to travel out to the main game."

Does it mean the main story won't continue? Is Darien lost forever?

Say it ain't so!

Yeah, that's kind of confusing what they said about continuing the story. Perhaps there's story related quests there that continue IN ADDITION to regular quests, and the story quests only apply if you've finished the main storyline (such as when the Prophet appears).

This would be great!

I have to admit, I was ever so excited when I saw the Prophet appear at the end of completing Wrothgar.
Speaking to Darien's friend and he had a juicy tid bit about Darien.

We have grown to love these characters and to follow on with the story is something alot of us want. I think we will get our wish too.

I always have to smile when I see @Abeille lobbying to rescue Darien. One of the throughlines of my main character's headcanon (and the entire reason I started writing a headcanon for her) is that she was in love with Darien by the end of her alliance storyline. So the events of Coldharbour hit her very hard and she still hasn't really gotten over what happened. I haven't played through Wrothgar yet, but I highly anticipate her reaction to finding that letter. I also have to figure out how to justify getting her into the Gold Coast to see Gabrielle when she's really not the innocent-murdering type.

At any rate it would be an awful big letdown to give us all of those teaser hints over multiple DLCs and then never do anything with him again.

While my main character who is doing the main quest in-character is not "in love" with Darien, she does love him very much, but more like a buddy cop sort of thing (same for Raz, for example). Darien is one of the few character she would go to Oblivion and back to save. Well, not "few", I'd say there are about a dozen characters that she would go to Oblivion and back for, now that I think of it.

Anyways, she isn't the murdering type either, so she just went to Anvil with Captain Jimila and happened to bump into Gabrielle when visiting the city. So how about that for your character too, maybe? My character didn't do the DB quest line, though, I have a DB character for that.

Either way, #SAVEDARIEN. Verandis would be good, too. My other sweethearts are safe for now.

Yeah I had some major feels when I had to make that choice about Raz, but for different reasons more akin to the buddy cop thing.

It did make for another good headcanon writeup though.

I was hoping there was a way to get there without actually joining the Dark Brotherhood, so that sounds good to me. I'm biding my time on buying it, but I know there's a person you can talk to like I did with Quen to trigger the whole introductory Thieves Guild questline that got me to Hew's Bane the first time. So if I can circumvent that and get there without having to actually join the DB that'll be good.

And yeah I was highly disappointed that Verandis never came up when we got to Coldharbour. I mean I guess I understand that it wouldn't make sense for non-DC characters, but it seems like a no-brainer for that to be a followup to the Rivenspire questline.

#darienfangirlsunite

dodgehopper_ESO · February 2017

makeyurself wrote: »

@ZOS_GinaBruno any chance we will be able to make any of our current characters switch to the Warden class? What about increasing the character limit beyond 12?

This question is on the minds of many of your players. I would be very grateful if ZoS does increase the cap, preferably by at least 4 slots. That's also money on the table for the company, so I don't see why they would spurn this.