Gaming used to be expensive because of the cost for equipment. Sadly to that cost, game developers and publishers, have now added all those additional costs for mostly cosmetic items. And it's disappointing to see that the most expensive item on your list is exactly that, not the game or a membership but Crowns. I don't think I'm anywhere near your total, even though I play since release on PC with a sub for two years and have the game on both consoles as well. Mostly because I only bought two Crown packs since they were introduced to the game.

But I'm not surprised about the success of milking gamers that way anymore since a few days ago a friend has pointed out the price for all DLCs for Train Simulator 2019 (£5,424.38).

Billdor wrote: »

There are expensive hobbies and dangerious hobbies. Personally I don't have the balls to check how much I've spent.

This. So much this. >-<

FierceSam wrote: »

Hey ArchMikem,

Thanks for sharing this. Many people wouldn’t have the nerve. It’s illuminating to see where a gamer’s money goes.

Over half of that for cosmetic gamble boxes. You spent nearly 10 times as much on mystery crates as you have on the actual game.

I said Crown Packs, not Crown Crates.

I don't know how much I've spent, but not enough to to be saddened by the amount.

I did buy the Digital Imperial collectors edition when the game first launched in 2014. Wanted to play as an Imperial, and went with the collectors edition since at that time I was somewhat serious about "collecting it all", but have since stopped worrying about all the "exclusive" and "time limited" nonsense ZOS keep spurning out from a factory line.

I also bought the collectors edition for Morrowind, but skipped it for Summerset and went with a regular one. The cosmetic crud attached to it were not all that interesting to me, and I had no real use for them, unlike for the stuff included in Morrowind.

I haven't bough Elsweyr yet, and do not know when I will. I will at some point, since Elder Scrolls are a hobby of mine., and will want to slog through it at some point. But then again, I still have like 85% of Murkmire to go through so am in no real hurry about it either.

As for DLC, the only one I "bought" was the bundle for Thieves guild. I got it via subscription crowns so it didn't cost me any extra, and I only bought it because it came with a camel, and it was cheaper to buy the bundle during a sale, than it would've cost to just buy the camel.

My main cost involved with the game has been the money I've spent on subs. During the past 5 years, I've been subbed most of the time, though not all. I've probably missed about a years worth of months unsubbed. Taken as a whole, I suppose that does add up to a considerable amount of money, but then again so does bi-weekly visits to an indoor swimming pool and sauna over a 5 year period. So that is relative cost, and something I feel does give it's moneys worth in content. (Crafting bag, doubled inventory caps for bank and housing, monthly lots of crowns to spend, and of course, access to all the DLC.)

I've only bought crown packs twice. The first one was well over a year ago during a sale, and the second during the latest sale in anticipation of the stuff datamined for release with Elsweyr.

If I add it all together, it does come around to 800 Euros or something, so still a decent chunk of cash, but when divided by the years over which it has been spent, and taking into account that more than half of it is in subs, I'm not too depressed by the amount invested. ESO certainly is not my most expensive hobby ever. That would prolly be miniature wargaming... I've sunk 20k into that easily over the years. The difference being, that a lot of the stuff I've bought still retains it's value, and some of it has become quite valuable bits of collectables, where as all the money spent on ESO is bound to go up in smoke sooner or later.

All in all, I do not like spending money on "games as a service", and am painfully aware of just how predatory the gaming industry has become when it comes to monetizing. The pressure of FOMO and ludicrous amount of never ending micro purchases can really add up if one does not pay attention.

ESO is the only live service game I play, and have opted not to try many of the never games because I know that they are all designed to leech as much money from me as possible. Even if the base game is free, I still rather spend my time on something else, since I know that the gameplay has been designed into channeling me into spending money on micro transactions, and that most of the things I care about (i.e. cosmetic stuff) are gated behind extra purchases. Thus I choose to only buy and play games that do not nickel and dime their content. Well, except for ESO of course, but I play this game because it's an Elder Scroll game, and it's an MMO, and most of the cost involved is for the monthly sub, which is okay in my eyes.

Hymzir wrote: »

I don't know how much I've spent, but not enough to to be saddened by the amount.

I did buy the Digital Imperial collectors edition when the game first launched in 2014. Wanted to play as an Imperial, and went with the collectors edition since at that time I was somewhat serious about "collecting it all", but have since stopped worrying about all the "exclusive" and "time limited" nonsense ZOS keep spurning out from a factory line.

I also bought the collectors edition for Morrowind, but skipped it for Summerset and went with a regular one. The cosmetic crud attached to it were not all that interesting to me, and I had no real use for them, unlike for the stuff included in Morrowind.

I haven't bough Elsweyr yet, and do not know when I will. I will at some point, since Elder Scrolls are a hobby of mine., and will want to slog through it at some point. But then again, I still have like 85% of Murkmire to go through so am in no real hurry about it either.

As for DLC, the only one I "bought" was the bundle for Thieves guild. I got it via subscription crowns so it didn't cost me any extra, and I only bought it because it came with a camel, and it was cheaper to buy the bundle during a sale, than it would've cost to just buy the camel.

My main cost involved with the game has been the money I've spent on subs. During the past 5 years, I've been subbed most of the time, though not all. I've probably missed about a years worth of months unsubbed. Taken as a whole, I suppose that does add up to a considerable amount of money, but then again so does bi-weekly visits to an indoor swimming pool and sauna over a 5 year period. So that is relative cost, and something I feel does give it's moneys worth in content. (Crafting bag, doubled inventory caps for bank and housing, monthly lots of crowns to spend, and of course, access to all the DLC.)

I've only bought crown packs twice. The first one was well over a year ago during a sale, and the second during the latest sale in anticipation of the stuff datamined for release with Elsweyr.

If I add it all together, it does come around to 800 Euros or something, so still a decent chunk of cash, but when divided by the years over which it has been spent, and taking into account that more than half of it is in subs, I'm not too depressed by the amount invested. ESO certainly is not my most expensive hobby ever. That would prolly be miniature wargaming... I've sunk 20k into that easily over the years. The difference being, that a lot of the stuff I've bought still retains it's value, and some of it has become quite valuable bits of collectables, where as all the money spent on ESO is bound to go up in smoke sooner or later.

All in all, I do not like spending money on "games as a service", and am painfully aware of just how predatory the gaming industry has become when it comes to monetizing. The pressure of FOMO and ludicrous amount of never ending micro purchases can really add up if one does not pay attention.

ESO is the only live service game I play, and have opted not to try many of the never games because I know that they are all designed to leech as much money from me as possible. Even if the base game is free, I still rather spend my time on something else, since I know that the gameplay has been designed into channeling me into spending money on micro transactions, and that most of the things I care about (i.e. cosmetic stuff) are gated behind extra purchases. Thus I choose to only buy and play games that do not nickel and dime their content. Well, except for ESO of course, but I play this game because it's an Elder Scroll game, and it's an MMO, and most of the cost involved is for the monthly sub, which is okay in my eyes.

Miniature Wargaming, like tabletop real time strategy? I've watched a few videos of people playing those Halo Fleet battles where they buy their ship miniatures and paint them themselves, I can see the costs in that.

I've had more "live service" spending that I'm mostly regretful about. A few premium currency packs in World of Tanks, a LOT of money for in-game currency in Planetside 2 just cause I didn't like the grind and wanted cosmetics. And now ESO, though ESO still ranks as my most expensive game. Still, lesson learned. The only money I'm putting into gaming now past the original purchase is ESO. Well, I mean some DLC content for Cities: Skylines doesn't really count.

Take it a step further and divide the amount of money you have spent by the total number of hours spent online.
Personally it's been a very cheap hobby for me given the amount of hours of entertainment it has given

I know a guy who drops 1grand in crown purchases whenever he buys them.

ArchMikem wrote: »

So then, how much have you guys bled into-I mean supported our favorite game?

Base Game: $79.99
XBox edition: $20.00
Morrowind Upgrade: $59.99
Summerset Upgrade: $39.99
Elsweyr Collectors Upgrade: $49.99

Major Content Sub Total: $249.96


Crown Packs Sub Total: $594.43
ESO Plus Subscription Sub Total TD: $811.51

GRAND TOTAL TD: $1655.90

Not as bad as I thought it would be, considering I've been around since the beginning. I didn't bother to add Xbox live into it because I was only there for a few months before going back to PC.

To me, its money well spent, I don't regret a penny of it..

Too much, not something to be proud of

I was actually thinking about this the other day. Seeing this post spured me on to crunch the numbers.

£2578.41 on my main account.
£245.82 on my second account.

I regret nothing!

What many people seem to forget is that they can only use one Mount in any given time.
The all chase after Mounts in crown crates & the crown store is a pointless cosmetic grind that many should aspire to avoid.
If you already got a mount, you can be satisfied with it
All Mounts have equal speeds (Though some believe the Dwarven Spider and its variations are faster).

If you are looking for a specific Radiant Apex mount in the crown crates, you may not get the specific one you want, even after buying many crown crates.
A prime example is the "Dragonscale Solar Horse" in the current crown crate season, its drop rate is extremely low and some people have bought hundreds or even thousands of crates without having a single drop of this mount.
It is important to remember that ESO is just a game, you don't own the content and it can't serve as a long term investment.