The Elder Scrolls Online Will Have Microtransactions Too

[TheComfyChair]

I set the over/under for going totally Free to Play w/ micros at 9 months. Who wants to bet some internet money?

I bet it does quite well for itself because exclusively console players don't necessarily know any better, or it may even be their first MMO so will seem amazeballs.

Depressing, but true. This game is being milked for everything it has because the unaware will buy it. It very obviously isn't going to get anywhere on PC, it has competition that is easily going to be a minimum of on par that doesn't require a sub.

It is literally the only reason i can think of for this. They're not planning on competing with the PC MMO market, that is simply too much of a challenge for their game. Instead they just want to be the first 'next gen' MMO on the xbone/ps4 and try to make money from being unopposed.

What we need is Arenanet to release Guild wars 2 on next gen consoles (they'd need separate servers from PC because of the update frequency, but ah well, considering most of the servers are still high-full populations a year after launch, more servers makes sense anyway)), just to smash this cash grab into the ground.

 

[Dularaki]

I was in the trenches back in 2009 when the argument began with gw2 and other upcoming sub fee MMOs. I would argue with my friends and try to explain to them that the sub fee is dying and only WoW and EVE can get away with it. They refused to believe me and thought SW:TOR was the second comming of MMO's. I tried to save them....I failed... They all bought the game and played it for a month or two and never played it again. Then all the sub fee MMO's went free to play and I felt very vindicated.

And here we are again. I thought this was already behind all of us. GW2 is not a perfect game but it did shake up the MMO industry by showing that Buy to play CAN BE DONE and is profitable. Basically, what I am trying to say, is that I am completely baffled why any publisher would consider making a sub fee MMO in today's market. The economy is down and free to play games, such as LoL, are extremely popular, while buy to play games, such as GW2, continue to be successful. I just do not understand.

 

[Bloodstain]

"We'll have a shop to buy kind of fun stuff, and services too, like name changes and things like that. But it's not part of the core game," he said. "Anything in the core game is included in the subscription price."

Now, that's normal and no problem at all for me. I just hope that you cannot buy skins for your armour. One key thing about the Elder Scrolls experience is the armour's design and that you can recognise different kinds of armour (chitin, etc.). I don't want people walking around with black angel wings or flaming boots (unless they are like that vanilla).

Name changes, maybe new character slots, etc., however? No problem.

A problem, however, is still the monthly subscription fee. Since I can hardly play at all these days, I don't want to shell out money for it on a regular basis.

I hereby propose a prepaid method of online gaming. Every hour of playing the online game (thus using their servers) costs a few cents. You can load up for a certain amount of money and then play until it's all used up. (Upgrades should be free or of a significantly lower price, however.) This is a perfect model for people like me who can play excessively for one month and then not at all for several months (due to being preoccupied by university).

Please, make it happen.

EDIT: Actually, give me a few weeks and I will think about my proposed model some more. I might write an article for The Escapist about it. I'm sure there are games which did exactly that. It'll be interesting to look at how they made.

 

[Elate]

Funny, I remember another game that had pay for original game, pay subscription and micro-transactions. It was called The Secret World, enough said really.

 

[Seydaman]

Uh, do they mean just name changes and server transfers? Or what?

 

[TheComfyChair]

"We'll have a shop to buy kind of fun stuff, and services too, like name changes and things like that. But it's not part of the core game," he said. "Anything in the core game is included in the subscription price."

Now, that's normal and no problem at all for me. I just hope that you cannot buy skins for your armour. One key thing about the Elder Scrolls experience is the armour's design and that you can recognise different kinds of armour (chitin, etc.). I don't want people walking around with black angel wings or flaming boots (unless they are like that vanilla).

Name changes, maybe new character slots, etc., however? No problem.

A problem, however, is still the monthly subscription fee. Since I can hardly play at all these days, I don't want to shell out money for it on a regular basis.

I hereby propose a prepaid method of online gaming. Every hour of playing the online game (thus using their servers) costs a few cents. You can load up for a certain amount of money and then play until it's all used up. (Upgrades should be free or of a significantly lower price, however.) This is a perfect model for people like me who can play excessively for one month and then not at all for several months (due to being preoccupied by university).

Please, make it happen.

I propose a way to play which involves an up front fee, that once you'd paid, you can just play the game when you feel like it. I'm fairly sure there are examples of this model though. But the way that ESO is being sold you would have thought such a company would go bankrupt with such a pie in the sky model!

 

[chiefohara]

Uh, do they mean just name changes and server transfers? Or what?

I think its mostly that, but fun stuff might include vanity items as opposed to game changing items.

If the knee Jerk brigade would stop twitching for two seconds they'd realise that WOW have already done this for years

 

[Andy Chalk]

Not that I have an inside line on any of this but there's a difference between monetizing content and monetizing extras. Everything that's in the game - regions, dungeons, races, classes, equipment, whatever - is included in the monthly subscription fee. The microtransactions (I'm guessing) are for external things, like changing your name, getting a funky hat, whatever. I don't have a problem with that. The moment they cross the line into paying for content or progression - Mehrunes' Razor for $2.99! - then, yeah, I'll be in the complaints line along with everyone else. But the impression I get at this point is that they're just trying to cover all the bases and give people the option to do things outside of the game that other MMOs don't always allow, without compromising the actual in-game experience.

 

[Vault Citizen]

So a free to play model wouldn't fit the game but micro transactions would? Am I missing something?

 

[vun]

Nooooooooope

The only reason I would ever want to pay a sub fee is to get away from having microtransactions shoved in my face like most games seem to be doing nowadays.
I hope this game tanks so hard that this never happens again.

 

[1337mokro]

24 hours ago!

"Subscriptions will allow the player to gain the full experience!"

Current time!

"Fun is exclusive to the people that want to purchase it at $9 a gram!"

Milking it. Milking it HARD! Milk that Elder Scrolls cow till it's tits dry up and turn black! Heck just forgo all that and just break into people's homes to steal their money directly.

Meanwhile I'll be playing one of the many, many, many mods, revamps and complete overhauls for the previous games.

 

[SecondPrize]

I fondly remember all the way back to earlier this afternoon, when there was still a chance I'd buy this game and sub for a while.

It's a brave new world. Even World of Warcraft features microtransactions on top of their base subscription model, and they have millions of subscribers. Even after losing millions of subs, they have millions more than the second biggest mmo and they are resorting to this.

I guess we'll just have to get used to it or play a different genre.

I wouldn't be so quick to credit the number of subs wow has as our willingness to put up with subs + cash shop when it's a very new thing and only in Asia to boot. Yes they had sparkle ponies and pets for sale, but that was a far cry from the kind of cash shop they're moving to implement now.

 

[Fappy]

Not that I have an inside line on any of this but there's a difference between monetizing content and monetizing extras. Everything that's in the game - regions, dungeons, races, classes, equipment, whatever - is included in the monthly subscription fee. The microtransactions (I'm guessing) are for external things, like changing your name, getting a funky hat, whatever. I don't have a problem with that. The moment they cross the line into paying for content or progression - Mehrunes' Razor for $2.99! - then, yeah, I'll be in the complaints line along with everyone else. But the impression I get at this point is that they're just trying to cover all the bases and give people the option to do things outside of the game that other MMOs don't always allow, without compromising the actual in-game experience.

I see where you're coming from, but I still think it's incredibly tacky. Cosmetic/vanity items are fine in F2P games, but we're already playing $15/month. Completely external concepts like name changes I can swallow (they aren't technically content). When you are already charging your customers a retail price AND a subscription fee I feel that ALL of the content should be available to you. The subscription fee should be your all-access ticket to the content in the game imo. If they throw tons and tons of time/money at a large expansion with a huge amount of content then they can charge extra.

I was one of the people that scoffed when Blizzard introduced their first purchasable mount (I believe it was the astral/cosmic unicorn or something). It just seems like the very definition of taking advantage of your fanbase and milking them for all they're worth.

 

[Reeve]

WTF? You either should have monthly subscription OR you have an in-game shop! Not both Zenimax! This is plain greed.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Not that I have an inside line on any of this but there's a difference between monetizing content and monetizing extras. Everything that's in the game - regions, dungeons, races, classes, equipment, whatever - is included in the monthly subscription fee. The microtransactions (I'm guessing) are for external things, like changing your name, getting a funky hat, whatever. I don't have a problem with that. The moment they cross the line into paying for content or progression - Mehrunes' Razor for $2.99! - then, yeah, I'll be in the complaints line along with everyone else. But the impression I get at this point is that they're just trying to cover all the bases and give people the option to do things outside of the game that other MMOs don't always allow, without compromising the actual in-game experience.

I see where you're coming from, but I still think it's incredibly tacky. Cosmetic/vanity items are fine in F2P games, but we're already playing $15/month. Completely external concepts like name changes I can swallow (they aren't technically content). When you are already charging your customers a retail price AND a subscription fee I feel that ALL of the content should be available to you. The subscription fee should be your all-access ticket to the content in the game imo. If they throw tons and tons of time/money at a large expansion with a huge amount of content then they can charge extra.

I was one of the people that scoffed when Blizzard introduced their first purchasable mount (I believe it was the astral/cosmic unicorn or something). It just seems like the very definition of taking advantage of your fanbase and milking them for all they're worth.

This, and, I would bet money that the "fun stuff" they are talking about will include boosters if not at launch then shortly after. Boosters for Gold, XP, Item Drop, etc are one of the lynchpins of any MMO with miscrotransactions and definitely straddle the line between something that doesn't impact the gameplay and something that clearly does.

 

[Zauxst]

Nobody knows how to read? It clearly says:

fun stuff, and services too, like name changes and things like that.

World of Warcraft had the shop since ever and it was providing tons of "fun stuffs" like pillows, and other shit girls like, and men that are fluffy... And Services, as it says, Name Changes, probably race changes and other shit... This is microtransaction after all...

Stop interpreting if you can't focus on a read, and besides this is translated from German.

 

[Azwrath]

"We'll have a shop to buy kind of fun stuff, and services too, like name changes and things like that. But it's not part of the core game,"

So basically you have to buy the game for... i'm guessing they are going to price it at 50$ or 60$, pay a monthly fee of 15$ and then, if you want to have fun (IF because it is all about your choices as a player of course)you still have to pay a little something extra. Because, you know, 15$ a month is not enough for the "fun stuff".

Can someone remind me again what this game has going for it? TERA has better graphic and combat, WOW and Everquest 2 have a lot more content, they butchered alot of the Elder Scrolls setting because it did not fit into an MMO. I think they might be counting on the Skyrim fanbase a bit too much, especially if you take into consideration the fact that a big chunk of that fanbase hated this game since it was announced.

 

[Dragonbums]

So on top of charging players $10-15 bucks per month on a subscription model, they are going to implement micro transactions as well?

You have got to be kidding me.

Bethesda better do the right thing and step in before this game blows $300 million down the drain because clearly these clowns have no idea what they are doing.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I see where you're coming from, but I still think it's incredibly tacky. Cosmetic/vanity items are fine in F2P games, but we're already playing $15/month. Completely external concepts like name changes I can swallow (they aren't technically content). When you are already charging your customers a retail price AND a subscription fee I feel that ALL of the content should be available to you. The subscription fee should be your all-access ticket to the content in the game imo. If they throw tons and tons of time/money at a large expansion with a huge amount of content then they can charge extra.

Bear in mind that we don't actually know what will be offered. Again, I have zero problem with charging for external services, and "fun stuff" is obviously not a well-defined term. Vanity items are a little dodgy, yes; content is content and for $15 a month I expect access to it all, but I think maybe there can be room for purely cosmetic stuff that has no bearing on a character (and that can be earned through questing as well, so there's still a chance to get it even if you don't want to pay for it).

Boosters and the like, however, that absolutely should not be offered in a subscription-based game, and I'll line up for the complaints department if it happens. But at this point, I think "wait and see" is a better approach to take.

 

[Charli]

Zenimax wtf do you think you are doing.

...If you pay 15 dollars a month subscription you should expect to get access to EVERYTHING the game has to offer.

I'd be okay if this was say...a free to play method and grants you the things the subscription players more commonly have but...

I mean what?

Even WoW doesn't do this with much regularity, merely a handful of mounts and pets with 80% of the time are charity drives.
The 'hats' they tried to bandy out didn't actually get bought that much. I've tried looking on every realm for some sign of someone wearing one and came across one in total.