Danikat wrote: »

lillybit wrote: »

I really don't understand people saying they aren't interested in a battle pass and/or cosmetics and want to buy content. Isn't this a win-win for them? They don't have to shell out on battle passes and can play what they want for free.

So I'll still be able to explore the new zone and play it's 30 hours of quests, but now it's free?

Oh no, I can't, because they're not making one because it's not as profitable as charging the same price for a few items.

Instead we get an "event zone" that ZOS say is sort-of like 1 dungeon but not really, and only available temporarily.

If it was "you still get what you like but now it's free" then I don't think anyone would complain, but that's not the case. They're changing not just what they charge for but what they're making and for those of us who play ESO for the story and the world it's an overall loss.

They haven't said we aren't getting a zone. In fact they made a point of not saying it. They did say we aren't getting dungeons so it's not unreasonable to assume there's something coming.

There's at least 2 new questlines coming and they talked around there being more. There is group content. There's a trial and a new system. An event zone is still a zone, it still has a story and quests. It might not be permanent but it'll appear at least twice this year (it returns in season 2) and you can play different factions each time so get something different from it. It's not the same as the content we've been used to but it's not nothing.

If they'd carried on with what they'd been doing I reckon this would probably have been the last year before they pulled the plug. It wasn't working to keep players. It's fine to want what you like but when what you like is killing the game maybe it's time to be a little flexible.

The truth is none of us know what to really expect from this year (and future years) but that they're trying something different is a good thing. It could all be a colossal failure but they'll never find out what works if they don't try anything. This is the way the game stays alive and if that's what we want we need to at least see it for ourselves before we judge it.

Monetization is really up ZOS. They need to make their work profitable.

Personally, I am more leaning towards paying for content. I don't believe free content works in an MMO game. This works fantastically for games such as LoL, Fortnite, etc. Repetitive and competitive gameplay with cosmetics.

What ESO lacks and has always lacked is addictive gameplay. Now, I have been here for years for a simple reason - I do daily stuff while I listen to podcasts. ESO has some brain dead stuff that's suitable for me and doesn't require much attention.

Take WoW as an example (which is without a doubt one of the most successful MMOs ever).

• New Expansion launches. 50e + extra cosmetics options.
• 12e/month mandatory subscription.
• Story content for like ~20-30h.
• Then season starts which is weekly activities of M+, Raiding, Arena, Battlegrounds... And this goes on for several months. Most people quit after 2 or so.
• Then patch comes (no need to buy anything, just subscription).
• ~10-15h of story content and seasonal fun starts again.
• Over 2-3 years you have 3-4 seaons and each one keeps you engaged for a 1-3 months.
• Also, throughout a single expansion there's more cosmetics included in it than ESO had in all its lifetime. And you get it simply by playing.

ESO:

• Chapter starts. 40e
• You have like ~20h of story content.
• You have a new trial which takes a few hours(!) to beat.
• Then you can farm some new cosmetics in the new zone.
• That's it. Done in 2 weeks.
• No reason to play older dungeons, trials, etc.
• Cyrodiil is static. Nothing changes there. Those who wanted, already achieved all there is.
• Then 2x dung. DLC and story DLC came. You had to pay 20e for each.
• ESO+ grants you access to the DLCs so you don't have to buy them.

Now they are going to give us story content for free. You will be done with it in 2 weeks and go away. Nothing to keep you in the game. Why should you buy cosmetics if you're playing for 2 weeks 4x a year? Sure, there are those of us who are around throughout the year. But I am willing to bet the majority of players just leave once the new content is cleared and those few cosmetics included are collected.

No reason to stay.
No reason to pay.

I think they aim to drag in new players because those are looking at hundreds of hours of content to go through. This would narutally motivate them to buy some extra cosmetics too. In other words, ZOS never cared about veteran players and they likely never will. After all, look at the player counts. They tell you everything.