New thread: Should the base game become free-to-play?

wolfie1.0. · June 8

No

The issue isnt the base game price. Its that base game content is very restricting. If you start now, and lets say you want to play eso for the first time on a new account. You get:
- base game
- Morrowind
- Orsinium
- Theives guild
- Dark brotherhood
- PVP content
-

That's it. For between $5 and $30 you basically get access to what i would call a paid demo of ESO.

If you pay for the deluxe edition you gain access to each chapter DLC which has more content but is $60 usd.

So lets say im a new player and I buy eso deluxe, I log into the game and find out that in order to access the second half of each zones story and to gain access to a bunch of dungeons with very useful gear... i need to either commit to paying an additional subscription fee, spend hundreds of dollars to buy the dlcs, or spend countless hours grinding gold to have someone gift me them.

If you want to know the true barrier to entry this is why people drop out.

Its the DLC bloat issue. I know ZOS has stated that things are going to be moving to base game. So we will see, but it needs to be more consistent, and faster. Imo things like antiquities, jewelry crafting, ToT and classes should have gone base game years ago along with the chapters. The DLCs and second zone story quests should be in the deluxe game by now.

CalamityCat · June 8

No

I'm one of those gamers who is really stingy about money, but I didn't hesitate for a second when it comes to buying ESO. Especially as it was on sale. Which it is, regularly. I think it's also included with the basic Xbox sub too. That's more than accessible enough for players on a low budget.

I've played free games, but when anything is remotely good I always want to buy something to support the game's development. We can get so many good items and homes etc simply playing the game, I think it's rediculous to also expect to get ESO for free.

I've seen a fair few returning players just back because of the DK revamp and Night Market, so I'm sure the upcoming warden refresh and content following that will have a positive effect on the game population.

SilverBride · June 8

No

The game is already free to play which is different from free to own.

DarkStrifeYT · June 8

No

meekmiko wrote: »

DarkStrifeYT wrote: »

Hell no. The sheer ammount of bots and cheaters that will influx in?! There was one free weekend and the fact so.many bots joined in during those 2 days and made starter zones (everything had a level) was insane.

Don't forget how bad it was when it game was absolutely free to own on Epic for like a week.
Bots and Gold Scammers galore came outta that one.

I don't want a reminder for that one... Only time I had to turn off the zone chat and stick to dlc areas.

Cardhwion · June 8

No

wolfie1.0. wrote: »

The issue isnt the base game price. Its that base game content is very restricting. If you start now, and lets say you want to play eso for the first time on a new account. You get:
- base game
- Morrowind
- Orsinium
- Theives guild
- Dark brotherhood
- PVP content
-

That's it. For between $5 and $30 you basically get access to what i would call a paid demo of ESO.

If you pay for the deluxe edition you gain access to each chapter DLC which has more content but is $60 usd.

So lets say im a new player and I buy eso deluxe, I log into the game and find out that in order to access the second half of each zones story and to gain access to a bunch of dungeons with very useful gear... i need to either commit to paying an additional subscription fee, spend hundreds of dollars to buy the dlcs, or spend countless hours grinding gold to have someone gift me them.

If you want to know the true barrier to entry this is why people drop out.

Its the DLC bloat issue. I know ZOS has stated that things are going to be moving to base game. So we will see, but it needs to be more consistent, and faster. Imo things like antiquities, jewelry crafting, ToT and classes should have gone base game years ago along with the chapters. The DLCs and second zone story quests should be in the deluxe game by now.

What utter tosh. The basegame is not "a demo" it is hours upon hours of content. Until you have done all the zones plus Morrowind, you will know whether the game is for you and buy the rest, or you will have had your fun but enough of it.

Tommy_The_Gun · June 8

No

There are multiple reasons. First and the most obvious ones are all kinds of boting in PvE & PvP & issues related to cheating or market manipulation, or even something as basic as having a one player solo guild with bank guild unlocked etc.

The other issues is how it would change the game for current players - cuz if a game goes f2p, then it also goes p2w or worse.

wolfie1.0. · June 8

No

Cardhwion wrote: »

wolfie1.0. wrote: »

The issue isnt the base game price. Its that base game content is very restricting. If you start now, and lets say you want to play eso for the first time on a new account. You get:
- base game
- Morrowind
- Orsinium
- Theives guild
- Dark brotherhood
- PVP content
-

That's it. For between $5 and $30 you basically get access to what i would call a paid demo of ESO.

If you pay for the deluxe edition you gain access to each chapter DLC which has more content but is $60 usd.

So lets say im a new player and I buy eso deluxe, I log into the game and find out that in order to access the second half of each zones story and to gain access to a bunch of dungeons with very useful gear... i need to either commit to paying an additional subscription fee, spend hundreds of dollars to buy the dlcs, or spend countless hours grinding gold to have someone gift me them.

If you want to know the true barrier to entry this is why people drop out.

Its the DLC bloat issue. I know ZOS has stated that things are going to be moving to base game. So we will see, but it needs to be more consistent, and faster. Imo things like antiquities, jewelry crafting, ToT and classes should have gone base game years ago along with the chapters. The DLCs and second zone story quests should be in the deluxe game by now.

What utter tosh. The basegame is not "a demo" it is hours upon hours of content. Until you have done all the zones plus Morrowind, you will know whether the game is for you and buy the rest, or you will have had your fun but enough of it.

So you would pay hundreds of dollars for the rest of the dlc? Or sub and lose access when the sub is up?

I know plenty of people that have gotten into the game, saw that paywall and noped out.

We can disagree about if its a demo, but the reality is that the majority of the content you get from the base game is over 9 years old at this point, and its less than 20% of the games full content. Even the deluxe version probably only gives you around 60%. And the rest you need to buy or sub.

If you need a reminder of how it feels go create a new account. No transfers from another one, no meta gaming, no joining any of your existing guilds, no exp grinds. Go experience the game like a new player and ask yourself if you would buy each dlc with your own money as it currently stands.

Malprave · June 8

No

Dalinar4 · June 8

Yes

I may be wrong, but it seems like a good compramise would be to have a 1 week free trial.

Arunei · 12:39AM

wolfie1.0. wrote: »

Cardhwion wrote: »

wolfie1.0. wrote: »

The issue isnt the base game price. Its that base game content is very restricting. If you start now, and lets say you want to play eso for the first time on a new account. You get:
- base game
- Morrowind
- Orsinium
- Theives guild
- Dark brotherhood
- PVP content
-

That's it. For between $5 and $30 you basically get access to what i would call a paid demo of ESO.

If you pay for the deluxe edition you gain access to each chapter DLC which has more content but is $60 usd.

So lets say im a new player and I buy eso deluxe, I log into the game and find out that in order to access the second half of each zones story and to gain access to a bunch of dungeons with very useful gear... i need to either commit to paying an additional subscription fee, spend hundreds of dollars to buy the dlcs, or spend countless hours grinding gold to have someone gift me them.

If you want to know the true barrier to entry this is why people drop out.

Its the DLC bloat issue. I know ZOS has stated that things are going to be moving to base game. So we will see, but it needs to be more consistent, and faster. Imo things like antiquities, jewelry crafting, ToT and classes should have gone base game years ago along with the chapters. The DLCs and second zone story quests should be in the deluxe game by now.

What utter tosh. The basegame is not "a demo" it is hours upon hours of content. Until you have done all the zones plus Morrowind, you will know whether the game is for you and buy the rest, or you will have had your fun but enough of it.

So you would pay hundreds of dollars for the rest of the dlc? Or sub and lose access when the sub is up?

I know plenty of people that have gotten into the game, saw that paywall and noped out.

We can disagree about if its a demo, but the reality is that the majority of the content you get from the base game is over 9 years old at this point, and its less than 20% of the games full content. Even the deluxe version probably only gives you around 60%. And the rest you need to buy or sub.

If you need a reminder of how it feels go create a new account. No transfers from another one, no meta gaming, no joining any of your existing guilds, no exp grinds. Go experience the game like a new player and ask yourself if you would buy each dlc with your own money as it currently stands.

What are you on about? The base game, now that it includes Morrowind, Orsinium, TG, DB, and IC, is hardly a demo. There are hundreds of hours of gameplay there, how is that a "demo"? And if someone enjoy the game that much after that stuff you can upgrade to the Deluxe version which includes all the previous Chapters. The majority of the remaining DLC after Chapters are literally Dungeon DLCs and they don't include nearly as much content as you seem to think.

If someone likes Dungeons then sure they might want those but the average person is not missing out on as much content as you're trying to imply if they don't buy every single piece of DLC. Each Dungeon DLC is two Dungeons, which is a whole 32 quests. A drop in the bucket compared to what base game alone adds. All 16 of those Dungeon DLCs isn't anywhere near the amount of content in what used to be base game at launch, let alone what base game includes these days.

Aside from each Chapter, the DLCs that have any actual content are the "part 2s" of each DLC that was a smaller continuation we got at the end of the year. Clockwork City, Murkmire, Dragonhold, Markarth, Deadlands, and Firesong. Those altogether, at 2k Crowns each, can be a bit pricey, yes, but aside from Chapters they're the DLC that adds actual content, and for all of them you're getting about 60 hours minimum of play time.

All of that to say that paying 20 bucks when the base game isn't on sale but less than 10 when it does go on sale (which is pretty often all things considered) means that there's no reason the base game needs to be free. 20 bucks for literal HUNDREDS of hours' worth of content is hardly a demo, and it doesn't matter how old the content is either, so I'm not sure why that was brought up. Content is content, the older something is the more it's going to have in the case of games like ESO.

valenwood_vegan · 12:42AM

No

Blood_again wrote: »

A kind reminder that crown store gifts were limited 1.5 months after the free ESO giveaway in EGS.
We still have to deal with the consequences of one week of ESO being FTP. Yes, 3 years later.

Ahhh, was about to say this but somebody did! The consequences of the game going temporarily f2p with Epic were enough to make me hope they don't ever try that again until the game is truly in dire straits and there is no other choice.

*edit to fix quote

Gabriel_H · 12:43AM

No

wolfie1.0. wrote: »

That's it. For between $5 and $30 you basically get access to what i would call a paid demo of ESO.

Pretty big demo. I would take over 2,000 hours of play to complete everything in base game, even the bare minimum is 200+ hours. For contrast a $60 dollar game has about 60 hours of gameplay.

mdjessup4906 · 3:22AM

Yes, but but without the last chapters/extensions

I first got into eso during g one of those free to play things, so free base game makes sense. Maybe just make that offer year around.