The Elder Scrolls Online Relaunches on PC/Mac Today

[StewShearerOld]

The Elder Scrolls Online Relaunches on PC/Mac Today

<The Elder Scrolls Online has re-launched on PC and Mac today with fresh content, a new subtitle and a buy-to-play monetization model.

Back when <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/the%20elder%20scrolls%20online?os=the+elder+scrolls+online>The Elder Scrolls Online first launched, there were more than a few gamers left skeptical by its developer's decision to try and sell it as a subscription-based MMORPG in a world largely conquered by free-to-play games. Those skeptics wound up being pretty dang right. While the initial game had its fans and followers, many ignored it and Bethesda <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/139272-Elder-Scrolls-Online-May-Be-Going-Free-to-Play>eventually made the decision to re-brand the game and switch over to a more appetizing buy-to-play model.

If you were one of the gamers holding out for that change to actually happen, your wait is over. As of today, ESO on PC and Mac is now officially The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited. Gamers interested in jumping into it will merely need to purchase a copy of the game <a href=https://account.elderscrollsonline.com/store/product/eso_standard?q=8f6fc3bd-237e-494d-a927-d44683391a49&p=859962a9-9e99-4888-8931-50905c94c826&ts=1426620279&c=zenimaxonline&e=live&rt=Safetynet&h=72affd58d37bc59bb53e4d1ac2bea007>($59.99), after which they'll have full and unlimited access to all of its content. This includes "six major content updates" added to the game after its initial launch. Players already owning copies of the original ESO will be automatically upgraded to Tamriel Unlimited.

While the paid-for game won't come with any required subscriptions, players willing to part with a bit more cash will have the option of purchasing <a href=https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/tamrielunlimitedfaq>an ESO Plus membership. Rewarding players with extra in-game cash, "exclusive character progression bonuses" and automatic DLC access, ESO Plus memberships are being offered in durations of 30, 90 and 180 days. ESO players who had previously had subscriptions will have the remaining time on their accounts automatically transferred into an ESO Plus membership.

The big question, of course, is whether or not The Elder Scrolls Online dropping subscriptions will be enough to entice gamers who had previously ignored it. Considering the continued popularity of The Elder Scrolls as a brand, we'll go on a limb and say that the game might still have a shot. There's also no telling how it will perform when it hits the PS4 and Xbox One <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/139544-The-Elder-Scrolls-Online-Goes-Buy-to-Play-Launches-on-Consoles>later this year on June 9th.


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[Sight Unseen]

Check it out guys, it's a solid game that did not deserve most of the bad press that it got. It's now subscription free and now is a really good time to get into this game.

I HIGHLY recommend this game to anyone who is a big fan of the Elder Scrolls who doesn't mind a bit of MMO bullshit added to the mix. This is definitely MUCH more Elder Scrolls than WoW.

EDIT: Question to the Escapist staff if youre reading this- Will you be doing another review or revisiting your coverage of this game? Because a lot of things have changed since its initial launch and it is now a MUCH MUCH better and more polished game than it was. I think it's in your reader's best interests to do a revisit review if you weren't already planning to. Thanks!

 

[Covarr]

Sometimes I wonder why more companies don't go with a buy-to-play model for online games. I mean, I get that they must have their reasons, but this model is bafflingly rare next to free-to-play and traditional subscriptions.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Karadalis]

Check it out guys, it's a solid game that did not deserve most of the bad press that it got. It's now subscription free and now is a really good time to get into this game.

I HIGHLY recommend this game to anyone who is a big fan of the Elder Scrolls who doesn't mind a bit of MMO bullshit added to the mix. This is definitely MUCH more Elder Scrolls than WoW.

EDIT: Question to the Escapist staff if youre reading this- Will you be doing another review or revisiting your coverage of this game? Because a lot of things have changed since its initial launch and it is now a MUCH MUCH better and more polished game than it was. I think it's in your reader's best interests to do a revisit review if you weren't already planning to. Thanks!

The game itselfe might not have deserved the bad press, it was simply a mediocre MMO... a dime a dozen one. Didnt do anything particulary wrong.. but also did nothing particularly outstanding either.

What deserved all the bad press where the business practices of the dev and publisher.

The myriad of collectors editions, subscription fee where you HAD to enter a valid credit card before you could even access your free month that came with the game, ingame shop and such low money gain ingame that you where almost forced to buy a mount from said ingame store if you wanted a decent one (wich was vital in PvP)

They tried to nickel and dime their customers for what back then was merely a mediocre mmo experience that could be had by LOTRO, TOR, the secret world or any other of the many many high quality free to plays out there.

 

[AnthrSolidSnake]

I bought it last month since buying it came with a month subscription anyway and I knew by the time it was up I wouldn't need it anymore.

My time playing it was...okay. The combat is so disappointing. It didn't need to be an MMO. It should have been what people wanted it to be: Online Skyrim (Or Elder Scrolls in general). It has no impact or flow, and it just feels really awkward. Skyrim certainly hasn't perfected first person sword combat, but it feels way more satisfying than TSO.

That being said, there's a lot to do. Crap tons of quest with full voiced dialogue, weapon and armor forging, and a sizable skill system will keep you occupied. It still suffers from feeling too much like busy work rather than an actual quest though.

Really though, I'm certain now that the Elder Scrolls formula doesn't work in an MMO setting. Just make the next main Elder Scrolls game co-op. I think that's what most people wanted anyway.

 

[Sight Unseen]

The game itselfe might not have deserved the bad press, it was simply a mediocre MMO... a dime a dozen one. Didnt do anything particulary wrong.. but also did nothing particularly outstanding either.

Disagree with this. It's much more than "mediocre." It was unpolished at launch but the core of the game is solid, the world is GORGEOUS, the combat is well done and builds are varied and highly customiseable. I can go much longer about this but for the sake of brevity I'll stop there.

What deserved all the bad press where the business practices of the dev and publisher.

Ok, let's go through this one at a time.

The myriad of collectors editions

There were only two. The Imperial Edition and the Digital Imperial Edition (the digital only content of the imperial edition)

subscription fee where you HAD to enter a valid credit card before you could even access your free month that came with the game

There's nothing inherently wrong with subscription fees except that people have gotten spoiled and entitled after having free to play come to prominence. I was much happier paying a sub because I knew that everything in game I had to EARN. There were no shortcuts or pay to win. Everyone had equal access to everything.

As for your point about the credit card, that's pretty much industry standard. And once the game verified the card (by taking $1 and then returning it) you can cancel your sub and play your free month and not pay a dime for the sub. Nothing evil or shifty here.

ingame shop

Didn't exist until the update to free to play. Whoever told you there was an ingame shop was lying.

and such low money gain ingame that you where almost forced to buy a mount from said ingame store if you wanted a decent one (wich was vital in PvP)

Another lie from Angry Joe who didn't bother to play past the tutorial island. Once you get off the tutorial island the loot and gold drops increase significantly and you can easily buy a horse with gold earned in game before you hit level 20 (PVP unlocks at level 10, but you really aren't viable anyway until level 50+) For PVE a horse is nice, but not necessary because the world has enough wayshrines to quick travel to that you never have to spend too long running.

They tried to nickel and dime their customers for what back then was merely a mediocre mmo experience that could be had by LOTRO, TOR, the secret world or any other of the many many high quality free to plays out there.

Again I disagree. Rumours of Zenimax's "cash-grabbiness" are greatly exagerated, and the game is much better than most people gave it credit for. Most people watched Angry Joe's sham of a review and parroted his points exactly even though they are verifiably and unquestionably false.

 

[Kotoriii]

I always giggle with the ESO threads and Sight Unseen defending the game to the point where it makes you think that he has to work for Zenimax for defending the game so vehemently.

OT: Bought the game at launch, played until level 40. Stiff and boring combat, quests are meh, not a real Elder Scrolls feeling. Can't hurt to try it out now that it's free, but I wouldn't have high hopes for a better game.

 

[Villain Protagonist]

Seems pretty good. I might check it out when it gets to ps4.

 

[Sight Unseen]

I always giggle with the ESO threads and Sight Unseen defending the game to the point where it makes you think that he has to work for Zenimax for defending the game so vehemently.

OT: Bought the game at launch, played until level 40. Stiff and boring combat, quests are meh, not a real Elder Scrolls feeling. Can't hurt to try it out now that it's free, but I wouldn't have high hopes for a better game.

I am not affiliated with Zenimax or Bethesda in any way other than playing their games. I also shill Rock Band games without being affiliated with Harmonix!

 

[Zontar]

Apart from saying once more that, like most of the internet, I fucking called it when it comes to the game going free to grind-I mean free to play.

To pull off a subscription based MMO these days you need something unique, that no one else has to offer, which is why WoW and Eve are the only ones who are able to pull it off, since everything else is either a clone of WoW or is offering something that a dozen other already free MMOs do. ESO was the later, with nothing in its arsenal that wasn't offered by other MMOs that cost less and often did it better.

 

[snekadid]

ingame shop

Didn't exist until the update to free to play. Whoever told you there was an ingame shop was lying.

You are a blatant liar. There was a cash shop from day one and it sold mounts. It was even attached to a freaking hotkey.

As to the gold, unless you count 2 map transitions past picking your faction as the tutorial island then you are again intentionally misleading people as even 2 maps later you still got 2-3 gold drops from mobs when the game first launched.

 

[Xeorm]

Sometimes I wonder why more companies don't go with a buy-to-play model for online games. I mean, I get that they must have their reasons, but this model is bafflingly rare next to free-to-play and traditional subscriptions.

P.S. Thanks

For most MMO-like games they're based around constant content updates in order to keep players playing. Unfortunately for the customers, the content is also expensive enough to produce that they need to pay a decent amount for it, usually by subscription fee or selling the individual content. Plenty of online games don't really worry much about constant content, either because the content is easy enough to produce or rare enough to not matter much. D3 works as an online game because the content is so cheap, with the occasional expansion to sell, for example.

One price paid at the beginning for constant content always makes me look askance at it, as it means that the content is either cheap and thus not really worth buying anyway, or I've effectively paid for the equivalent of an early access game, where they sell me an incomplete game with promises of making the full bit of content later. Neither of those are outcomes I particularly enjoy.

 

[Sight Unseen]

ingame shop

Didn't exist until the update to free to play. Whoever told you there was an ingame shop was lying.

You are a blatant liar. There was a cash shop from day one and it sold mounts. It was even attached to a freaking hotkey.

As to the gold, unless you count 2 map transitions past picking your faction as the tutorial island then you are again intentionally misleading people as even 2 maps later you still got 2-3 gold drops from mobs when the game first launched.

You could buy A (as in one single) horse (the lowest quality horse in the game), or upgrade to the imperial edition. And it wasn't in game. It was buried on the website with a small "store" link on the launcher. Unless I'm completely ignorant of it after ~400 hours of gameplay there was not a "hotkey" or any other in game presence to this store. That is just patently untrue.

NOW there's a hot key to the crown store, but that only arrived with the transition for b2p.

As to the gold- the first 1-2 zones for each faction is the (optional) tutorial zone, meant to be played from levels 1-5. Once you leave those zones the drop quality increases significantly. To say otherwise is blatantly untrue. For example, in the Ebonheart Pact, Bleak Rock is for levels 1-4, and Bal Foyen is for 4-5. These are smaller zones with only 3 skyshards each and are designed to be easy to help newbies get the feel for the game. The first "real" zone is Stonefalls which is balanced for levels 1-15 and has 16 skyshards (mentioning to give an impression of the size of the zone.) This is where the proper "loot treadmill" (for lack of a better word) starts.

I understand if you disagree with me, but I haven't lied about anything that I said, and I'd be happy to talk to you if you want to discuss it maturely rather than dismissing me as a liar. I have played this game a lot, I know what I'm talking about most of the time.

 

[KaZuYa]

Sub model still works and is the best model but what this game failed at and what nearly every new MMO fails at is the social aspect. These aspects like guilds and housing and enhanced interaction are what drive people to keep playing these types of games and they just cut it or think it can be added whenever and by then you've lost a lot of your players.

When I rolled in ESO on release the guild side of things were a mess, even the guild recruitment forum was a mash of EU/US and all 3 factions in one section, you had to troll through page after page looking and then since there was no Guild tags you had no idea what these guilds were like. Simple fact on release have an extensive and well presented guild section in game and people will play a lot longer, yet however obvious this is moronic dev's and publishers fail to do this and wonder why people fail to make a connection with the game and get bored after a few months.

 

[EndlessSporadic]

May be willing to give this a shot now.

 

[XenoScifi]

I do not agree with the re-release price tag of $59.99. That's (in my opinion) a AAA new title release price and this is not a AAA new release. Even if the game is free to play a $59.99 price tag for a game a year old seems a bit off. This could just be me being a cheap ass, but a price point for a year old MMO should probably be listed at something a little more reasonable. $29.99-39.99 feels a little more logical. Once again this is only my opinion of course and turns me off from purchasing.

Perhaps this is partly due to the console releases as well? Because technically that would be a brand new AAA new release, but still does not feel right.

 

[Setch Dreskar]

While the initial game had its fans and followers, many ignored it and Bethesda <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/139272-Elder-Scrolls-Online-May-Be-Going-Free-to-Play>eventually made the decision to re-brand the game and switch over to a more appetizing buy-to-play model.

Can we seriously stop saying Bethesda had anything to do with this game? I mean I feel bad for them more then anything, Zenimax did everything with this game and Bethesda takes all the blame.

 

[bug_of_war]

It was unpolished at launch but the core of the game is solid, the world is GORGEOUS, the combat is well done and builds are varied and highly customiseable.

You know what else was unpolished at launch? Assassin's Creed Unity. Doesn't matter how good a game eventually becomes, if it's unpolished at release, it's gonna get a bad score and rightfully deserve that score. If you're asking for $80 - $120 dollars for a game (AU dollars, don't know the price range elsewhere) than I don't care if you had a deadline, I don't care if you'll make it better down the track, the game should be polished from the get go. If I'm gonna sacrifice an entire days worth of work earnings to buy something, I'm expecting it to be good at a minimum. Not okay, not average, not give it a couple of months, straight up good from the very word go.

There's nothing inherently wrong with subscription fees except that people have gotten spoiled and entitled after having free to play come to prominence.

When I'm able to pay $67 for Xbox Live/$50 for Playstation online for an entire year of playing any game I own or borrow accessing it's online features, this mindset no longer becomes "entitled" or "spoilt" it becomes the norm. Hell, I don't have to pay shit if I buy the same console games on PC! So I'm sorry, subscription based games have become archaic remnants of old school video gaming where it use to be a big deal having online multiplayer.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

$60 just to try it out is still kind of ridiculous. I think World of Warcraft had the right idea, making it free up to the point where you know whether you want to keep playing or not and then hitting you with the subscription fee. Though even then $15 every single month for just one game is pretty insane. Even Xbox users who play nothing but Call of Duty and buy every new game every year pay less than that for the game and their online access combined. $15 quarterly for an MMO is more reasonable, and should be more than enough to cover the expenses of keeping the servers running and deliver content updates, and still reap a tidy profit.

When I'm able to pay $67 for Xbox Live/$50 for Playstation online for an entire year of playing any game I own or borrow accessing it's online features, this mindset no longer becomes "entitled" or "spoilt" it becomes the norm. Hell, I don't have to pay shit if I buy the same console games on PC!

Isn't this because: (1) on consoles, Sony and Microsoft foot the bill for hosting servers for multiplayer for every game they certify, using the PSN and Xbox Live subscriptions you described to cover it, and (2) on PC, the multiplayer is always either shitty peer-to-peer or hosted on fan-run servers that usually have all kinds of stupid mods or ads or both? I don't play a lot of multiplayer games and I've never owned a console, but that's what I've heard.

 

[Caffiene]

Can we seriously stop saying Bethesda had anything to do with this game? I mean I feel bad for them more then anything, Zenimax did everything with this game and Bethesda takes all the blame.

The game was not made by Bethesda Game Studio. But it is published by Bethesda Softworks, who presumably had/have a large say in changing the payment model.