Elder Scrolls Online's First Microtransaction Is a Horse

[A-D.]

Meh this is going to fail, they are already halfway up shit-creek and soon without a paddle.

Between this and their "defense" of the Subscription model, i cant help but notice that somehow they dont really seem to have a clear idea of what they are actually doing to begin with, there are so many things fundamentally wrong, from pre-order incentives right down to game-mechanics that i cant help but wonder why any TES fan would actually buy this game. At this point the negatives outweigh any positives i could think of that would make the game worthwhile to play.

Plus, just for clarification on the issue, a "Cash Shop" is universally a feature where you can selectively buy in-game products, whether these are entirely cosmetic or have a direct benefit is irrelevant. The moment you can buy something, for actual US Dollars, Euro, British Pounds, Australian Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Yen, Rubel..whatever, you have a "Cash Shop".

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Now this is some ridiculous shit. Subscription and initial purchase, and now they'll be pushing microtransactions as well. Even if it was all completely justified they'd LOOK like dicks for doing it.

 

[Atmos Duality]

TES fans demanded an Elder Scrolls MMORPG for many years, and now they've got one.
I'm not at all surprised that Zenimax is trying to capitalize on it and wring every last dime it can out of the fans.

It's Oblivion's Horse Armor DLC all over again. Memories.

Oblivion set an ugly precedent with that didn't it?
Look at the mess that devolved into now.

In hindsight, I'm glad I stopped bothering with the TES series after Oblivion.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Microtransactions in a fully priced game that is also a subscription? Fuck right off. I will not touch it.

It could be they are already planning for it to go free to play. In which case, I will wait.

 

[Glaice]

Nope, no more interest in this despite being an Elder Scrolls fan.

Good job screwing things over that is likely in the interests of Zenimax.

 

[ckam]

Aw yeah, man. Game of the Year here.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

Spoiler: BUT GUYS

IT'S SOOOOO CUTE!

Fail all you want, TES Online, as long as I get my single player titles.

I'd say it failing will actually harm the franchise (or will be perceived as such) and thus decrease the chance for a new Elder Scrolls game. Its pure existence probably also means that they won't be starting development of any single player Elder Scrolls games anytime soon.

I'd expect this game to be blamed quite a lot for not getting another single player Elder Scrolls game. Just think of SWToR and how we could have gotten KotoR 3 instead.

Thing is, ESO is made by a completely different dev from the main singleplayer games, Zenimax Online Studios as opposed to Bethesda Softworks. I wouldn't be too worried about the main series.

 

[UsefulPlayer 1]

Am I reading that right? You can't play as an Imperial unless you get the Imperial Edition?
Like a whole race of people are locked up?

Imperials are not boring. I can't believe people are talking about the horses over the Imperial price wall. The ten races are integral to the Elder Scrolls games. At least I can eventually get a horse.

But high prices for a horse and real money price walls kinda shows that this is not an Elder Scrolls game. I mean all this bullshit is adding on walls to the free-roam experience we are used to. I mean, why can't I steal my real money back.

Horse stealing still better be in there for a quick lift.

 

[VoidWanderer]

Retail fees + subscription fees + microtransaction??!

HA! Good luck guys.

Does anyone want to place bets of when this MMO goes free-to-play?

I think the Escapist should have a clock thing that starts when the game launches and stops when the game goes f2p, what do you guys think?

 

[Therumancer]

... Zenimax ...

First, you e-mailed me a pass to play your beta... only to never respond after when I signed up. Then, you made it where people have to pay a subscriptions fee to play online every month. Now, you're making people have to pay with real money for horses. Horses?

I'm done. I'm sorry, but until you act more civil towards your community- I won't bother looking into The Elder Scrolls online anymore. Sure, you could work very hard in-game to earn your horse but... it's a horse. In Skyrim, all I had to do was pay an easy 1,000 gold or so to obtain one easily. Heck, on PC I could use MODS to get everything I want, including a pet mudcrab.

For free.

So yeah i'm not happy about this. I shouldn't feel as upset as I do now but, I am mad. This isn't right Zenimax and Bethesda! You of all companies shouldn't be supporting this. I admit, I am unsure as to how you're doing business or if you're in control at all- but don't allow stunts like this to go on. It's going to drive your customers away and what will happen then?

So yeah, please stop Zenimax. Next thing you'll do is charge people real money to purchase homes. HOMES. Let me repeat that.

Purchase homes for your character to live in, as a resting place. A simple add-on that people will have to purchase to stay in despite if they don't have a home, they're character is homeless and probably cannot store their items anywhere.

Although to be fair, I could be wrong with how items are stored. But still. This isn't justified at all.

Actually that's Richard Garriot's thing. His entire upcoming MMO is largely a real estate grab. He sells you not only houses but also plots of land to put them on. The thing is though that once you pay real money for a land plot, you need to keep grinding in-game money to pay rent on it or it reverts back to "the bank" to be purchased by another player, and you have to pay real money again to get another plot of land. He also intends to have limited amounts of land in game in hopes that this will make the market more competitive. Now granted, you do not lose your house (which you paid for seperatly) but it and anything in it revert to a deed in your inventory if you wind up losing your land in game.

The point here being that this is coming, but it's not going to be Bethesda's doing. If the idea works though, I expect a lot of imitators.

 

[Adept Mechanicus]

Microtransactions on top of a subscription model? They're just keep making the money barrier higher and higher. The consumer pays to be allowed the privilege of being able to pay more. How do they not understand that by alienating their player base, they take away the most vital aspect of an MMO?

 

[tzimize]

Everything I've seen, played, and read about ESO screams cash grab that's going F2P in like a year.

Seriously, fuck off with a cash shop ON TOP of a sub and then offering something like a horse.

QFT.

Honestly, I feel like I'm done with MMOs. There is not a single thing any mmo does better than regular games other than wasting my time and wallet.

 

[Schadrach]

Are you telling me I have to pay real money to get a mount in the game? If that is the case, fuck zenimax. Because that is just messed up. It's almost like they want to ruin their IP with this game.

And this isn't dangerously close to horse armor, it has surpassed it. A mount is a must have in most MMOs, I'm assuming this game isn't any different.

You don't -have- to pay real money to get a mount in the game. Buying a horse in game will set you back a few pretty denariis, yes, but you can buy them with in-game money without too much difficulty.

This is no different than WoW, where some mounts can be bought from the online store, but the game gives you plenty of chances to not do that.

Except mounts in WOW don't cost you an arm and a leg. You now get you're first level of mount training for free and pay about ten gold for a mount. Which every player should have at level twenty. The purchasable mounts for WOW are purely cosmetic as well, as mounts you earn in game do the exact same thing. And the mounts require you to have a mount of the same level to use it.

So my options are spend a long ass time getting money to buy a horse or pay them money, great choice.

Yeah, mounts in ESO are a lot more like mounts in WOW before any of the xpacs.

 

[PuckFuppet]

Are you telling me I have to pay real money to get a mount in the game? If that is the case, fuck zenimax. Because that is just messed up. It's almost like they want to ruin their IP with this game.

And this isn't dangerously close to horse armor, it has surpassed it. A mount is a must have in most MMOs, I'm assuming this game isn't any different.

You don't -have- to pay real money to get a mount in the game. Buying a horse in game will set you back a few pretty denariis, yes, but you can buy them with in-game money without too much difficulty.

This is no different than WoW, where some mounts can be bought from the online store, but the game gives you plenty of chances to not do that.

Except mounts in WOW don't cost you an arm and a leg. You now get you're first level of mount training for free and pay about ten gold for a mount. Which every player should have at level twenty. The purchasable mounts for WOW are purely cosmetic as well, as mounts you earn in game do the exact same thing. And the mounts require you to have a mount of the same level to use it.

So my options are spend a long ass time getting money to buy a horse or pay them money, great choice.

Yeah, mounts in ESO are a lot more like mounts in WOW before any of the xpacs.

It takes less than a weekend to earn enough cash for a mount, and when I say weekend I mean to four-ish hours a day for three days that I put into ESO last beta.

 

[Aesir23]

Wait a minute... They ask (I'm assuming) $60 for the game itself, then ask a $15/month sub fee, and THEN add microtransactions on top of that?

That is just... I'd be amazed if I wasn't appalled as well.

 

[Doomer08]

As always. People that don't care can't care any less where as the people that do care care too much.