One Thing I Wish ESO Would Change, But Probably Won't

Akisohida · October 2023

Make the resources bag free.

Seriously; I have tried to get about 15 gaming buddies into ESO over the years. You know what happens when they see the limited bag/bank space, and realize crafting mats take up that space?
"It's decent, but I don't like the limited inventory. And I don't give money to give my money to games that pressure me to pay by making gameplay worse for non-payers."

I'd bet that, for every 1 person that signs up for ESO+, there's an average of 10 who skip the game entirely because of 'pay for convenience'.

Every gamer I've talked too can accept a paid account to unlock all DLC and the crowns allowance, and the EXP boost & crafting timer boost. Those are BONUSES. But they balk at being strong-armed by making the free2play experience actively WORSE with limited space and crafting being so integral.
Seriously; Make the crafting bag free, and you reach more players. More players = more chances to hook people = more people possibly buying ESO+.

Do, like, a 6 month trial run or something; See if numbers go up. It's can't hurt to try.

SilverBride · October 2023

ESO+ perks are conveniences for those who support the game by subscribing. These should remain part of the subscription.

EdjeSwift · October 2023

Personally I can't agree with this suggestion, if anything, I'd pay for the craft bag and not the other bonuses.

Furthermore, the craft bag is far from integral to enjoying the game. I come from a time when we didn't have a craft bag available to us and we had to use our banks and alts for crafting storage. On top of that, mats stack up to 200 and if you're careful with your inventory management you shouldn't need THAT much space in your bank to store the mats you're actually going to use.

The key term here is ACTUAL use. A number of mats in my craft bag just pile up cause they end up in the "almost never going to use" pile. When it comes to weapons/jewelry/armour and traits, you're most likely going to end up only 2, maybe 3 regularly so you can purge the other 6-7 mats. Style components are the same, with the outfit station the only reason to really keep style components is for master writs, so if you need the space you can sell/purge them and buy them later unless they're super pricey and you wanna keep them for sale/value.

I really think the crafting bag has made us lackadaisical in our inventory management as we end up with hundreds of thousands, if not millions of mats in a mystical bag of holding for our convenience. Playing on multiple accounts with only one having ESO+ I know the struggle of not having the craft bag, but I also know that it's not impossible to play and craft without it.

Drammanoth · October 2023

I play without the Craft Bag. it is possible, but it requires some micro-management.

Which involves thinking.

TaSheen · October 2023

SilverBride wrote: »

ESO+ perks are conveniences for those who support the game by subscribing. These should remain part of the subscription.

This. Fully agree.

Drammanoth · October 2023

See how it is possible to manage your stuff. it's in the Hakkvild's High Hall entrance.

1 - all 160 CP mats
2 - style mats (all the 9, + all the Barbarian, Primal, Nikel, Daedric, Ancient Elf, Mercenary)
3 - furniture mats and from blue to gold mats
4 - trait mats + green honing mats + mats parts (eg. Malachite Shard, Dwemer Scrap, Viridian Dust, Casserite Sand, etc)
5 - runes
6 - surveys, treasure maps and bait
7 - style mats from DLCs
8 - alchemy mats (fungi, rarer plants)

However, if you want to play and not fret over where to put what, ESO+ is the way.

shadyjane62 · October 2023

Always subbed solely for The Bag. Ten years is long enough. I am tired of crafting anyways.

Tandor · October 2023

If you don't have "Pay for Convenience" in a game where subscriptions are optional, then you'll have "Pay to Win". I know which I prefer.

I fully understand that some players don't want to pay a subscription or can't afford to do so, and that's fine. What I don't understand is the expectation that they should enjoy all the things that are benefits of subscribing without doing so.

TaSheen · October 2023

Tandor wrote: »

If you don't have "Pay for Convenience" in a game where subscriptions are optional, then you'll have "Pay to Win". I know which I prefer.

I fully understand that some players don't want to pay a subscription or can't afford to do so, and that's fine. What I don't understand is the expectation that they should enjoy all the things that are benefits of subscribing without doing so.

Yeah. No kidding.

Pelanora · October 2023

'I pay for perks' doesn't make a lot of sense as a reply to 'make this perk free'.
You'll still get the perk.
And also the all the dlc you pay for as part of the sub.

SilverBride · October 2023

The value of the subscription goes down if perks are removed from it.

If a player wants these perks they need to subscribe.

kargen27 · October 2023

Pelanora wrote: »

'I pay for perks' doesn't make a lot of sense as a reply to 'make this perk free'.
You'll still get the perk.
And also the all the dlc you pay for as part of the sub.

Think of it as I and a lot of others pay for this perk and that supports the game. I've always thought the game should have stayed subscription only.

bmnoble · October 2023

If they did I would probably drop the subscription and just buy the last few DLC that I don't already own. Especially if they are going forward with only chapters like they did this year.

karthrag_inak · October 2023

Akisohida wrote: »

Make the resources bag free.

Seriously; I have tried to get about 15 gaming buddies into ESO over the years. You know what happens when they see the limited bag/bank space, and realize crafting mats take up that space?
"It's decent, but I don't like the limited inventory. And I don't give money to give my money to games that pressure me to pay by making gameplay worse for non-payers."

I'd bet that, for every 1 person that signs up for ESO+, there's an average of 10 who skip the game entirely because of 'pay for convenience'.

Every gamer I've talked too can accept a paid account to unlock all DLC and the crowns allowance, and the EXP boost & crafting timer boost. Those are BONUSES. But they balk at being strong-armed by making the free2play experience actively WORSE with limited space and crafting being so integral.
Seriously; Make the crafting bag free, and you reach more players. More players = more chances to hook people = more people possibly buying ESO+.

Do, like, a 6 month trial run or something; See if numbers go up. It's can't hurt to try.

No

spartaxoxo · October 2023

I'd be okay with a limited version of the resource bag being made for free. But the unlimited version is a paid perk, and at this point the only real reason to subscribe. They already got rid of 2 DLC.

MasterSpatula · October 2023

They've pretty much done away with everything subscribers actually pay for. The craft bad, which began as a "value add" for the subscription, is now the only thing subs really even get.

So sure, why not, make that free for everyone, too. Might as well make the sub just basically a donation to ZOS.

Grizzbeorn · October 2023

Akisohida wrote: »

Make the resources bag free.

Ain't gonna happen.
And it shouldn't.

Drammanoth · October 2023

You know what happens when a company is too charitable?

They get broke. And the game shuts down.

Then ofc, you can go to another game, BUT the sentiment remains... "I wish I had been paying them... Then I could play on." But alas, you cannot play a game that is no more.

Again, if one enjoys the game, they should support the company.

Aorys · October 2023

junk buster + personal assistant + mass deconstructor = no need for eso +.
destroy everything the stack worth less than 5k gold
there is a lot of trash in the game
the pressure people feel is just an illusion

Pelanora · October 2023

SilverBride wrote: »

The value of the subscription goes down if perks are removed from it.

If a player wants these perks they need to subscribe.

Entirely missed the point of the OP. The question is which content should be subbed for and which part of the base game price. That's a reasonable question. Raising the value of the base game price is a reasonable option.

If OP are right, the value of the sub is going down anyway as players resent the sub being about memory space on a server and not added content, and so aren't even sticking around, and fewer gamers makes a worse mmo, which makes subbing less valuable all round. That is a hypothesis but seems plausible.

Swap the craft bag for faster mount levelling, and the option to re skin combat pets. There are plenty of things that could be made part of a sub. that aren't so limiting to game play for starter players.

Fenris_Arainai · October 2023

Pelanora wrote: »

Swap the craft bag for faster mount levelling, and the option to re skin combat pets. There are plenty of things that could be made part of a sub. that aren't so limiting to game play for starter players.

And how long until "faster mount levelling, and the option to re skin combat pets should not be tied to subscription, and should be free" threads?

Not mentioning fast levelling od mounts would have only limited value due to characters eventually levelling fully. Then you pay for something doesn't even apply to you.

Elsonso · October 2023

Akisohida wrote: »

Make the resources bag free.

I'd bet that, for every 1 person that signs up for ESO+, there's an average of 10 who skip the game entirely because of 'pay for convenience'.

I would suggest that there are probably a lot more that skip the game because they don't think they would like it, maybe because it is fantasy, or Elder Scrolls, or an MMORPG, but might like it if they tried it. If 1 in 10 of them subscribed to ESO Plus, ZOS would stand to make more money, and not just because of ESO Plus subscriptions.

The point is that attracting players who are reluctant to pay money isn't really an attractive idea, especially when there might be a pool of people who hold no such reservations.

Mount training thing is not nearly as useful as the crafting bag, and might be considered to be less value than the crafting research and inspiration boost. Mount training convenience is also borderline pay-to-win for people who play in Cyrodiil, and it is already monetized in the Crown Store, so I can't see why they would add it to ESO Plus without cause.

Drammanoth · October 2023

Fenris_Arainai wrote: »

Pelanora wrote: »

Swap the craft bag for faster mount levelling, and the option to re skin combat pets. There are plenty of things that could be made part of a sub. that aren't so limiting to game play for starter players.

And how long until "faster mount levelling, and the option to re skin combat pets should not be tied to subscription, and should be free" threads?

Not mentioning fast levelling od mounts would have only limited value due to characters eventually levelling fully. Then you pay for something doesn't even apply to you.

But until you are lvling it, it does help.

@Pelanora has some ideas that we've been asking for for YEARS. And I would hazard a guess that the earliest they would address this is 2024. If ever.

Tensar · October 2023

They should just give at least 50 slots to our bag and bank. They are always adding more stuff but no more slots

YetAnotherLinuxUser · October 2023

well if you buy 10 alt accounts for 5.99 us on sale ou can make 5 guilds and then have your main join a couple of those and blammo, 2500 guild bank spaces for mats and motifs and overland gear and such.

but yah it would be niceif they offered a free bag space optio that held like 10 or 15 of each mat so you could play the game wihtout having to micromanage your spaces.

TheGreatBlackBear · October 2023

The game 100% bombards you with crap that you're incentivised to pick up. If that weren't the case they wouldn't be selling a portable merchant, banker and decon assistant. ZOS knows what they're doing

freespirit · October 2023

Personally I think the craft bag should stay as sub only, however for me it is not the only big reason why I sub, the other huge reason is the doubled house slots.....

Losing those would lock me out of housing, which I love!

Maybe ZoS should seriously look at adding more standard bank space but ofc why would they when they can just sell us extra inventory space disguised as pets?? 🤣

Holycannoli · October 2023

The crafting bag is one of the two main selling points of ESO+, the other being access to everything but the latest chapter and the DLC classes.

For many people the crafting bag is THE selling point.

Elsonso · October 2023

Holycannoli wrote: »

The crafting bag is one of the two main selling points of ESO+, the other being access to everything but the latest chapter and the DLC classes.

Housing limits and bank space make it the top four. Interestingly, three of those four are dealing with inventory.

zaria · October 2023

TheGreatBlackBear wrote: »

The game 100% bombards you with crap that you're incentivised to pick up. If that weren't the case they wouldn't be selling a portable merchant, banker and decon assistant. ZOS knows what they're doing

Except it was the same way back then it was sub only. Except then we had PvE storage mounts and PvP speed mounts and you better swap before going to Cyrodil, and gold was way more rare, played for almost an year and did not max out my bank even if high priority, made a lot of bank alt. But the inventory mini game was probably why I dropped ESO shortly after an year.
Also done all the quests including Cyrodil who was way less balanced than now, did AA and HRC, never managed vet CoA.
main guild was falling apart and was not really into the idea of 5 guilds for various uses.
And the hour of the inventory minigame each day made me quit.

To much work.
Yes they solved that more and more. having 64x50 transmutes is probably an deep enough magazine for the next facepalm move ZoS does.

Off topic as its an spacecraft in Kerbal space program breaking up entering Mars atmosphere but I say its its the prefect art to show how most feel ZoS balancing work.
An blind destructive force who hit randomly: Only defence is to have loads of alts and resources to rebuild.

Aurielle · October 2023

I get the frustration. We live in an era of subscription-based EVERYTHING, and sometimes you just want to pay outright for something.

I would absolutely buy the craft bag outright if I could, but I can understand also why ZOS gates it behind the subscription. It makes sense for ZOS, because it is a huge draw for ESO+. I used to sub to ESO year-round on console, but since rejoining ESO on PC after a four year break and being very mindful of how much money I wasted on an account I no longer play, this is how I’m going to do it:

1. Sub to ESO+ a max of four months out of the year, once per quarter, at times when I know I won’t be wasting any game time due to vacations or whatnot.
2. Use crowns from ESO+ to slowly purchase more housing storage over time, rather than purchasing DLCs
3. Focus on completing DLC content on main character while ESO+ is active, level up my two inventory Argonians’ inventory space every day via riding training.
4. Complete ALL mat gathering surveys while ESO+ is active (gets them out of inventory, and adds more mats to the craft bag).
5. Participate in all free ESO+ weekends and ensure I log into good ol’ Hoards-All-Materials during that time to add any stored mats into the crafting bag.

That way, I only end up spending the equivalent of one new game per year on ESO+ (versus $240 for a full year) and the inventory management when unsubbed shouldn’t be overly painful.