I know it won't happen, but would be great if it was free/discounted for ESO+ subscribers. This seems like an appropriate service to add for your long time supporters ZOS.

while you do have to unlock it on at least one character, it's insane to think this was the brilliant *** solution to the very tiring and godawful process of making more characters. not only do they sell *** houses that cost several times more than the *** game itself, among dozens of other over priced garbage, now they want to sell the skill lines instead of gee I don't know, improve the process of making alts, WITHOUT yet another hit to the player's wallet?

Seriously, will ESO stop being an MMORPG? Very little will be earned by character anymore. PvPers and end-gamers can skip almost the entire game and play only the end bits they want.

Will dolmens become the leveling process of choice, already a nightmare in some zones for those trying to complete quests? Why not sell Level 50s fully-maxed or is that the next step? Or would that be prohibitively expensive?

Will this empty out all the zones? Will you be able to level Psijic, e.g., without ever going to Artaeum or even Summerset on that character? Will only first characters/new accounts populate the majority of zones?

New classes will be able to be maxed on the first day? Players will show up maxed on the new class in pvp and learn how to play that class long before the traditional levelers come close? That isn't a competitive issue?

What's next, account-wide titles if you pay for them? Anything else possible will change from being character-based to account-wide (for purchase, of course)? Delves and world-bosses only once?

Will the money reaped from this extreme change be reinvested in ESO, particularly performance? Or go toward other games or shareholders?

I am really, really sad tonight. I've spent a lot of money in this game on cosmetic items; pay-to-win is an anathema to me (or pay-for-convenience for those who tell themselves that lol). I wish they had made this change years ago. My time and money would not have been invested so heavily.

Not because ESO doesn't have a right to be some other kind of game, but it is NOT a traditional mmorpg path and feels like bait-and-switch for those who thought they were playing and enjoying a traditional one. That is worth mourning.

Iluvrien wrote: »

1) ZOS implement intentionally grindy progress mechanics.
2) Players complain about grind.
3) ZOS "saves the day" by adding a bypass for the grind to the Crown Store.
4) Go to 1.

It's been this way since the release of the Glass Motif (motif chapters, not books, based on double RNG). The community failed to present a significant or organised front against the change. ZOS's experiment proved a financial success. Queue more of the above.

Nothing will be updated with regards to these progression systems now. To do so would cost ZOS money in development time and assets, and in Crown Store sales. See horse riding for reference.

So not only are ZOS intentionally implementing player-unfriendly systems to drive eventual Crown Store sales... people are actually thanking them for it.

Asian MMO practices otw...

Iluvrien wrote: »

1) ZOS implement intentionally grindy progress mechanics.
2) Players complain about grind.
3) ZOS "saves the day" by adding a bypass for the grind to the Crown Store.
4) Go to 1.

It's been this way since the release of the Glass Motif (motif chapters, not books, based on double RNG). The community failed to present a significant or organised front against the change. ZOS's experiment proved a financial success. Queue more of the above.

Nothing will be updated with regards to these progression systems now. To do so would cost ZOS money in development time and assets, and in Crown Store sales. See horse riding for reference.

So not only are ZOS intentionally implementing player-unfriendly systems to drive eventual Crown Store sales... people are actually thanking them for it.

I really don't know why I ever come back to this game.

It really is just as you stated. And people thanking them for them is just beyond comprehension.

khajiitNPC wrote: »

no it’s stupidity on your part because your arguement is based on a misosophical premise. Yes the progression is instantaneous (barring you have completed already and have the mullah to spend), but it doesn’t prevent you from obtaining the same skill albeit at slower pace. Still not pay to win.

With that logic selling items also not p2w. You could say the same if maelstrom weapons were in crown store. "But you can get maelstrom weapon in game aswell, albeit at slower pace." Point is that you can buy things with real money, but can't buy with ingame gold or achievement points. It gives players who buy this skill lines advantage over players who didn't. Especially below 50 level campaigns and battlegrounds.

I'm amazed about how many PC players whine about P2W when they already use P2W add-ons to skip the grind. Anything that gives you an advantage over people that don't have the technical proficiency or computer capable of running add-ons gives you a pay to win advantage. On console I've got a bunch of points into highlighting nodes, but P2W PCers get to use those points elsewhere, etc.

All add-ons should be banned (except purely cosmetic ones) to keep the game fair. And once we've done that, we can discuss skill lines in Crown store.

eso_lags wrote: »

Its actually disgusting and im surprised anyone would be happy about this.

Ya its a needed change, but because zos is so god damn greedy its on the crown store. Personally i dont like getting walked on. If they put these things in the game now, for gold or an achievement or something, I would praise it. But in the crown store? No.

And what makes it so much more disgusting is the fact that console still does not have lorebooks and skyshards built into the map of the base game. Meaning that its a thousand times harder for us to grind those things than it is for PC players.. So of course more console players will be enticed to buy these things without having access to the same tools as PC players do.

And psijic also, but thats nowhere near as big of a deal. But mages guild and skyshards are. Its mind blowing how they just dont care and put these things out anyway. * In the end it will make my life easier. I dont mind paying for them, but I wont thank them for walking on their players. Maybe when console has lorebooks and skyshards, but its still grimey to put it on the crown store. It would just be less grimey.

You can buy crowns with gold now. Zero real money.

jazsper77 wrote: »

ESO is now P2W. Lol

Nothing about these skill lines is pay to win.

Undaunted: A player without undaunted can still out play someone with it and kill them. Can also be gained the normal way and isn't exclusive to the crown store.

Mages guild: Same as undaunted.

Fighters Guild: Same as undaunted.

Thieves Guild: Nothing relevant to endgame or pvp content realistically.

Legerdemain is pure solo pve.

Dark brotherhood is the same as thieves guild.

Psijic skill line can be leveled from 0 to 10 in under 3 hours. I have done it myself.

Simply because you can buy something that people can gain in game doesn't make it pay to win. It would be pay to win if the skill lines were exclusive to the crown store.

Given how grossly unbalanced under-50 PvP already is I can't see this helping, and we've seen nothing to suggest this will be locked to lvl 50+ characters. Those max-level Ultimates and such are locked behind all that time spent for a reason. Outside of PvP it's fantastic for anyone with enough cash to splash but it can and will be abused in PvP.

I shouldn't have to explain how a fresh lvl10 character walking into Battlegrounds with Dawnbreaker Ult slotted isn't good for balance.

Finally!! I don't understand wht it took so long.
Thanks!

Sure, it saves a lot of time and they also did the same thing with Skyshards. While those two things aren't that problematic, per se, what happens when they keep adding other things like level 50 boosts, Trial and Dungeon gear packs, etc, which is where this could potentially end up and spiral into every other feature of the game that is normally EARNED. If you prefer to play the game that way, that's your choice. This would likely hurt the game more than anything and a lot less time with players in-game actually playing it. Whether it's a convenience or not (or you already earned it), this is still technically a form of P2W because it advances your character outside of gameplay as intended. Why actually play the game when you can just pay your way?