Anybody worried about their investment in ESO?

Sigtric · February 2017

Purrmaid wrote: »

There is never any guarantee in life that your hobby will continue.
Your house might burn down.
You might get a job that leaves no spare time for said hobby.
You might actually loose interest (how many different "hobbies" haven't you had in your life?)

There is never a guarantee that what you put your soul, time, and hardearned money on will be there for you for your entire life.
Which if you have such a mindset, you'll only get disappointed time and time again.

Which is why I'm completely onboard with the people that say "it isn't an investment, it's money spent on entertainment".

As much as I'd like to think this mmorpg will be alive and kicking in 10 years, there's a high chance it wont happen. With the market and the fleeing customer no game is actually safe these days.

Every single mmorpg out there is having the same issue with the masses: You cannot please everyone, and there is always someone mad, disappointed, and ranting about the missteps a company has taken with their game.

Wildstar fired their pvp team. They fired half their people when they decided to not launch the game in Asia.
GW2 fired their dungeon team and never got it back. (thus never fixing past mistakes and only focusing on throwing out new content and hoping people will be happy enough). They decided not to have a holy trinity (dps, tank, healer) and then added raids that needed a healer.
Funcom's CEO got caught doing illegal shizzle.
Almost every single P2P play has gone F2P with subscription bonuses. (wow being one of the few stubborn ones left, but with them losing numbers every single year people are worried there too).
The only mmorpg I'd consider "safe" is final fantasy, because the core final fantasy fans will always stick to it. No matter how horrid it might become. They're fiercely loyal.

In my opinion, out of all of those ESO seems on safer ground. Even if it isn't the biggest one atm.

And, if anyone might be more loyal than FF fans, it's TES fans.

It's the same thing that keeps LOTRO running to this day, even after going from an amazing game to trash after several really bad decisions

Kodrac · February 2017

I don't consider it an investment. It's a hobby, not a lifestyle.

ThePaleItalian · February 2017

OrphanHelgen wrote: »

Slurg wrote: »

What investment? I play for fun; anything I've spent is an entertainment expense. If it's no longer fun I'll stop playing.

That's you tho and from your side of view. Which is also the reason things are not in balanced, because the majority of the players just play for fun and stop playing time to time, and those are the one Zenimax looked at as well when they did this current balance patch, which is one of the worse imh.

Perfect example right there. Two totally different points of view. Which is more important? Which would take priority over the other? MMO's have been trying to do this since day one and none have yet to succeed. Hopefully with ESO they can find my middle ground.

ChaosWotan · February 2017

Trust me, I'm very Zen about gaming and life in general, but I'm not rich and it suddenly occured to me that I have used a fair amount of money on this game, and I justify this by viewing it as an "investment" in a good and meaningful hobby, but then it also dawned on me that games often die, and that people's complaints in this forum might indicate that the devs have lost the original creativity which, in my opinion, made ESO the first game that is more than just a game.

Now I have invested so much time and money on this hobby that even if I personally don't like new content I'm still happy as long as the majority is happy with it, since that will keep the game alive.

And nice to read a positive thread here in this forum

cjthibs · February 2017

Investment:

[mass noun] The action or process of investing money for profit:

1.1[count noun] A thing that is worth buying because it may be profitable or useful in the future:

1.2[count noun] An act of devoting time, effort, or energy to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a worthwhile result:

Nope. Not profitable. Useful...ehh...not really. Worthwhile? ...well that's pretty subjective and only the person paying for it can decide that.

Either way, there is nothing to worry about here. You either consider the payments worthwhile or you don't. But if you're considering a vidya game an investment...I don't think I'd want you as a financial advisor.

mb10 · February 2017

You "invested" time and money and got immediate results. Its not really an investment its just a purchase as there really shouldnt be an expected return in the future.

You dont buy 10k crowns hoping that in future that 10k crowns will be worth 20k crowns so I think your choice of words here is incorrect.

Im also confused about ZOS "failing to deliver" they arent exactly going to tear apart the game. You for example bought Orsinium, you did the quests, used the zone to level up and did Maelstrom Arena. You cant say a year later "oh ZOS have ruined the game with their balances and changes, I bought DLC so its not fair"

No you bought DLC and got DLC. You played the game for hours and you enjoyed it, you werent standing there doing nothing.

Nestor · February 2017

I hate Television, I am uninterested in watching remakes, sequels and Marvel Super Hero Reboots, my GF works nights. I live in a town that gives little reason beyond drinking alcohol for going out as the cultural activities are few and far between. So, gaming is my primary entertainment and past time. Currently ESO is the game I play the most, but not the only game I play. If it goes away, I have other games to play.

Slurg · February 2017

To the OP, I do not think you need to worry about the future of the game because I complain about crown crates - they seem to be selling quite well despite my protests.

I have spent plenty of money since 2014 but still don't consider it an investment. Of course I would be disappointed if one of my hobbies was no longer available to me. But of all the things in the world that I could be worrying about, the future of this game is just not one of them.

ChaosWotan wrote: »

If one has subscribed since 2014, and bought a lot of things in the crown store, and spent countless hours on getting the best gear, then this is an investment in a fun hobby, which one enjoys here and now, but many people in this forum have complained about IC, crown crates, Homestead, lack of new pvp content, and bad servers for instance, so if this trend continues, with people also getting disappointed by Morrowind, one might be justified feeling a very minor worry that in a not very distant future it's time to "cut your losses" and find a new MMO (and start the whole process all over again there...)

But happy to hear that people who have responded so far are not worried about this

FortheloveofKrist · February 2017

Not at all. I removed $120k of my retirement from my 401k, paid the feds the penalty, and invested it all in crowns.

I'm sure I'll see a 12% annual return. Positive.

Bouldercleave · February 2017

ChaosWotan wrote: »

How many have invested so much time and money on ESO that they start to feel just a tiny bit worried that the devs can no longer deliver what's expected from the best MMOs today?

LOL - No, No I'm not worried. That's just a silly, overly dramatic snowflake kind of thing to say.

I spend time and money and in return they give me a product that I currently enjoy. When that ceases to be the case, I will move on.

To "worry" about it is ridiculous. If they aren't delivering what YOU expect, move the *** on.

ChaosWotan · February 2017

Hehe, funny that some people keep to an accurate but narrow interpretation of the word "investment".

My life is so carefree that the future of this game is my main worry

NocturnalGuideMe · February 2017

Im glad i clicked into this forum.

*chews popcorn*

ChaosWotan · February 2017

Enjoy

NocturnalGuideMe · February 2017

FortheloveofKrist wrote: »

Not at all. I removed $120k of my retirement from my 401k, paid the feds the penalty, and invested it all in crowns.

I'm sure I'll see a 12% annual return. Positive.

well when you lose your wife and your house hopefully VR tech has come around and youll be able to physically move to Tamriel.

i hear Elsweyr is nice this time of year

Lyserus · February 2017

nvyr wrote: »

TBH I really haven't been playing much lately since the Morrowind announcement and all the high priced crown store items. Been passing time playing the Division while waiting for Ghost Recon Wild lands to hit shelves. I hate to say it by I think my ESO time is coming to an end due to the greed and lack of desperately required fixes. If GRW ends up being fun I think my time will be spent there instead.

if you are PC NA please send stuff

thank you so much

id is my forum name with @ , again thank you

Abeille · February 2017

I'm not worried about "losing money" because I feel that the hours I spent in the game and the fun I had playing it are worth the money.

But of course, every time they introduce a new anti-consumer strategy to the game (like the Crown Crates), I worry about the future of the game. Not because of the money I put in it, but because I want to keep enjoying it. I'm not a MMO hopper, and I really love the TES franchise, so I want to stay here and I want my experience to keep being good, I don't want to move to another game.

Darth_Apache · February 2017

I am never disappointed in investing time into something I have enjoyed doing from age 5.
Gaming.

This MMO is the only one that has really captured my interest and held it for as long as it has.
Including WoW.

I played for about 6 months into the launch of Cataclysm.
Was amazed but quickly lost interest. I am not entirely sure what it was about it but it just wasn't what i was into at the time.
Also played numerous browser based MMO's as well:
Cabal, Perfect World, Star Wars, Fantasy something something etc etc.

So my answer is no, not worried at all.

My wife on the other hand is usually infuriated at my spending but meh.

NewBlacksmurf · February 2017

I can't consider anything I've done or spent as an investment
Can't take any of it anywhere else

bulbousb16_ESO · February 2017

ChaosWotan wrote: »

Hehe, funny that some people keep to an accurate but narrow interpretation of the word "investment".

I think this is mainly very young people that either:

a) don't understand the word and can't be bothered to look it up

OR

b) are not mature or wise enough to understand that their time has value

Yes, ESO is an investment. It is an investment of both your time and your money.

Developing a character is a classic example of an investment. You invest it with your time, it grows in power and value, and you hope that it gives you a good return on the time you put into it.

Wifeaggro13 · February 2017

ChaosWotan wrote: »

How many have invested so much time and money on ESO that they start to feel just a tiny bit worried that the devs can no longer deliver what's expected from the best MMOs today?

That time long since passed. I do understand the sentiment though. This is not a MMO though anymore. The games that had a community feel and that time and emotional investment does not exist in ESO. Unfortunately they do have a system to create a heavy monetary investment. It's a focus on churn players bases and creating barbie doll items and solo centric game play. It's why the guild system does not have stable player bases and end game trial guilds heavy steady rotations of trial players. Primarily this game is trying to capture it's single player skyrim audience, solo player online rpg. The problem with that is single player RPGs do it better. They need to build a MMO

DeadlyRecluse · February 2017

If the time I invest in a game isn't worth the payoff at the time, I stop.

Investing in a game because you hope it becomes something else is a fool's errand.

linoge63 · February 2017

DeadlyRecluse wrote: »

If the time I invest in a game isn't worth the payoff at the time, I stop.

Investing in a game because you hope it becomes something else is a fool's errand.

Yeah, kinda like marrying someone hoping they will fulfill our version of their potential...

Autolycus · February 2017

Yes

Lokey0024 · February 2017

You need a GF

sevomd69 · February 2017

First world problems....

AlMcFly · February 2017

Nope. Not worried about my investment into this game at all. ZOS already has a "general" roadmap for the entire year. That ensures at least a year of entertainment will still exist for me. The majority of players will do what they always do: jump from game to game every few months. When the current wave of "new" people leaves, we will all be better off. Morrowind releasing in June is exciting, one unavoidable drawback however is that it will simply attract another wave of tourists who come in, get bored after a month, and then spend a month badmouthing the game before they leave. Some of these tourists have left ESO and returned 3 or 4 times already. I feel they are the worst when it comes to negativity toward the game. It's inevitable.

Saltypretzels · February 2017

posters here are taking the word investment way too literally

FortheloveofKrist · February 2017

Saltypretzels wrote: »

posters here are taking the word investment way too literally

When I read your comment I literally *** my pants.

Not actually, just literally.

Akrasjel · February 2017

Not yet

Rouven · February 2017

Once I receive my collectors edition I guess I may envision myself as an old man in the rocking chair, with a blanket over my cold lifeless legs, the book open on the coffee table, clutching the colossus statue like a hagraven a newborn. Humming the title melodie of ESO, occasionally muttering "We'll always have Vvardenfell." while slowly rocking back and forth.