This is what happens when everyone stomps around demanding free stuff.

Sansoul · June 2019

[snip]

Anyways, gaming studios are done to skeleton crews now days because so many free loaders. [snip]

Spoiler alert: every game going forward is gonna be like this. This is basic fundamental business. If you're not pulling in revenue, you don't have money to hire and keep people employed. It's that simple. Then employee morale drops. Then employee productivity drops. Then it becomes a revolving door of people leaving the company.

You can make enough money for a sub by working even just 1 day a week and a fast food joint. And they are always hiring.
[edited for baiting]

Facefister · June 2019

I only want stable servers... I think I am too spoiled...

Sandman929 · June 2019

Sansoul wrote: »

[snip]

Anyways, gaming studios are done to skeleton crews now days because so many free loaders. [snip]

Spoiler alert: every game going forward is gonna be like this. This is basic fundamental business. If you're not pulling in revenue, you don't have money to hire and keep people employed. It's that simple. Then employee morale drops. Then employee productivity drops. Then it becomes a revolving door of people leaving the company.

You can make enough money for a sub by working even just 1 day a week and a fast food joint. And they are always hiring.

That was kind of an out of the blue, "darned kids" moment. At 45, I can empathize, but was there someone on your lawn today that prompted it?
[edited to remove quote]

Hippie4927 · June 2019

I didn't know sand needed mowing!

stewhead2ub17_ESO · June 2019

Don't lay all the blame on these "kids". Blame the parents who created this culture of entitlement.

ArenGesus · June 2019

Are... you blaming the players for the current unusable state of the game because they use a business model created by the game publisher itself?

I mean, I wouldn't necessarily disagree if you said sub should be mandatory. But still. This isn't a new thing - Walmart destroyed the small business retail sector in the US because people are so willing to spend 2% less on non-essentials. Give average folk a way to cheap out, and by and large they'll do it.

But this is not a problem with the player community. You make money when you invest money - and reinvest revenue into improving your product. Zos doesn't seem to be doing that, and what we're seeing is the result.

Sandman929 · June 2019

Sansoul wrote: »

Sandman929 wrote: »

Sansoul wrote: »

[snip]

Anyways, gaming studios are done to skeleton crews now days because so many free loaders. [snip]

Spoiler alert: every game going forward is gonna be like this. This is basic fundamental business. If you're not pulling in revenue, you don't have money to hire and keep people employed. It's that simple. Then employee morale drops. Then employee productivity drops. Then it becomes a revolving door of people leaving the company.

You can make enough money for a sub by working even just 1 day a week and a fast food joint. And they are always hiring.

That was kind of an out of the blue, "darned kids" moment. At 45, I can empathize, but was there someone on your lawn today that prompted it?

[snip]

Gotcha. What irks me more than anything isn't that there are issues, and I'm certainly happy to pay for a game that's been my only game for nearly 5 years, but the absolute feeling of neglect when an issue exists for months without a single peep from the developers. Problems are expected, and for me addressing those problems is expected. ZOS struggles with that second part by their own admission, but then doesn't nothing to fix it.
[edited to remove quote]

SpacemanSpiff1 · June 2019

yea EU players should suck it up, being semi-able to login is a privilege. and who cares that cyrodiil turns into a slideshow, many often-reported bugs have been around for years, and server performance has been on the decline for a year /s

go to bed, grandpa, you're drunk.

melodeath · June 2019

if you call lag and poor performance unlimited entertainment than i wonder what's wrong with you.

i worked for every euro i've spend on my computer and i've worked for every euro i've spend on this game, the least i expect is to log in and not having to lose my temper because the game is litteraly unplayable every time i decide to do some pvp.

Suddwrath · June 2019

Sansoul wrote: »

This isn't an age thing. It's a "toxic generation" thing.

If by "toxic generation" you mean players who expect: 1) Stable servers, 2) Bugs to be addressed, and 3) Communication from the company...wait, no. That isn't toxic at all. Those are basic expectations for consumers for the products/services that they have bought and/or are subscribed to.

I'm not entirely sure where you are getting this "WE WANT EVERYTHING FREE!" strawman from.

Roymachine · June 2019

Sansoul wrote: »

You can make enough money for a sub by working even just 1 day a week and a fast food joint. And they are always hiring.

1 day a week? Try 2-3 hours a month.

Ash_In_My_Sujamma · June 2019

Next time you visit a fast food joint and they serve you a burger withought the beef don't complain. Back in his day your grandpa didn't even know the taste of beef until he was 15. It was your spoiled generation that made beef an everyday meal and forced fast food joints in this state.

daemonios · June 2019

I would be 100% on board with the OP *if* I weren't convinced that ZOS is making more money from the Clown Store than it would from mandatory subscriptions.

In-game purchases/microtransactions are the spawn of the devil, not because of freeloaders (or not just because of them), but most of all because of the predatory nature of the sales, the decoupling between costs and prices (1 additional unit of a costume, pet, mount, etc. costs exactly zero to make), and the shift of focus from the game itself towards the store.

jainiadral · June 2019

If I were playing on the EU servers, you're darn tooting I wouldn't be giving ZOS a dime. Been reading the threads, watching the vids, reading the ridiculous state of LFG. People should be able to log on to a game they've paid for, whether they sub or not.

Editing: Gods am I ever sick of this generational [snip]

[edited for profanity bypass]

Starlock · June 2019

.... okay? I would suggest holding the brake on the assumption train but I see it has already left the station. Enjoy the derail later on down the track, I guess.

NordSwordnBoard · June 2019

Some people were complaining about getting the pony pet in a free chest last night and I admit I responded to zone chat.

"Looking a gift horse in the mouth"

Not sure if they even understood.

Snowstrider · June 2019

We pay hard earned money for a product and we have a right to demand quality as customers and if there is someone who should tolerate criticism it is the people who are selling their product.. You can call us spoiled kids all you want but it is you that are defending a big company that got our money and who are not doing a good job so far fixing the game.

People like you who excuse everything and demand others to not demand anything and just be a bunch of happy sheep are the worst.

Mojmir · June 2019

lol

NWOMark · June 2019

All the blame goes to ZOS and I think of management part of ZOS!
Why make subscription non mandatory in first place?
Game with good design/mechanic/servers will survive on buy and subscription just ok.
The answer is plain and simple: GREED
Look up what was said in UK Parliamentary Committee vs EA and EPIC GAMES regarding "free to play" and loot boxes.

Drachenfier · June 2019

I understand where this is coming from...invariably every day or so someone in zone chat is complaining about paying a sub fee, which to me is nonsensical considering it's the most cost efficient form of entertainment available. Literally costs less than going to a movie and buying a coke, or one lunch at a decent restaurant (or two at McDonalds).

vamp_emily · June 2019

Not sure what age it is but I notice that when people get older some tend to complain about everything.

Veinblood1965 · June 2019

Rofl I laughed so hard after reading the OP's post. You forgot to mention you walked 400 miles to school each morning in the pouring rain and all you got for Christmas was a bag of rocks.

BTW if you are near my house ingame stay OUT of my YARD!

Hippie4927 · June 2019

vamp_emily wrote: »

Not sure what age it is but I notice that when people get older they tend to complain about everything.

Stereotyping groups of people is very, very bad! I am 70 and I don't complain about anything in this game. When I start feeling the need to complain, I will move on to another game. Life is too short for all this [snip]
[edited for profanity bypass]

BrooksP · June 2019

I doubt Bethesda or ZOS is hurting in the revenue department to justify a skeleton crew. If they are running a skeleton crew it's due to them knowing they can run the minimal development needed to sustain a certain level of revenue.

This concept applies across the board as well, as developers know they can run the b2p/f2p model and sustain by a limited workforce to simply push out MTs, which will generate more revenue then anything else. Shitting out a new skin(or reskin) every month will generate 10x the profit then polish ever will.

So it isn't freeloaders, in reality freeloaders can actually be beneficial as it inflates player count which can draw more players in who will spend. Since not many will throw money at a game they think is dead or dying. Furthermore bandwidth and server costs aren't anywhere near what they use to be, at least not to where freeloaders would be a significant drain of revenue, if that was the case then there wouldn't be the current flood of f2ps as it would be too great a investment/risk.

Kuramas9tails · June 2019

I can never fully blame a generation below me because they are being raised in another generations society.

It wasn't the generations fault that they perceived food to be made in minutes (i.e. fast food). It wasn't the younger generations fault that previous generations created the "instant gratification" technology we get today.

I have a lot to say on this and I often think how much industrialization has changed us in drastic ways that even our bodies and mind can not catch up.

vamp_emily · June 2019

Hippie4927 wrote: »

vamp_emily wrote: »

Not sure what age it is but I notice that when people get older some tend to complain about everything.

Stereotyping groups of people is very, very bad! I am 70 and I don't complain about anything in this game. When I start feeling the need to complain, I will move on to another game. Life is too short for all this [snip]

fixed it for you.

[edited to remove quote]

Hippie4927 · June 2019

vamp_emily wrote: »

Hippie4927 wrote: »

vamp_emily wrote: »

Not sure what age it is but I notice that when people get older some tend to complain about everything.

Stereotyping groups of people is very, very bad! I am 70 and I don't complain about anything in this game. When I start feeling the need to complain, I will move on to another game. Life is too short for all this [snip]

fixed it for you.

Gave you an awesome for that!

[edited to remove quote]

BigBragg · June 2019

A. Stop trying to use age as a means to degrade people.
B. Everyone is allowed to ask for a working product.
C. Everyone on the forums has purchased the game and thereby added to the revenue of ZOS to some extent.

Kiralyn2000 · June 2019

This is what happens when old folks stomp around talking about "kids these days"...

stewhead2ub17_ESO · June 2019

To quote Grandpa Simpson, "I used to be hip and with it, and then they changed what it is, and now it's weird and frightening to me." True story!

daemonios · June 2019

Aaaaand everybody is missing the point.

If I understood correctly, OP didn't rant about people demanding fixes. They ranted about how ZOS did away with mandatory subs, to the delight of the crowd of people who don't think it's fair to pay a monthly fee for a game that has ongoing maintenance and development costs. This in turn resulted in ZOS being understaffed, and in the issues we now see in game.

I happen to agree in general. With mtx-based monetisation, publishers only need a working storefront. As long as the game is minimally playable, they'll be able to push their virtual goods. A mandatory sub would have made them more accountable to players for the actual game experience. As it is, ESO has gone down in quality, as have most current games compared to a time when there were no pre-orders, no season's passes, no zero-day patches, etc.

[EDIT] Pinning this entirely on a specific generation is ill-advised, unnecessary, and clearly resulted in derailing the thread.