The Elder Scrolls Online Will Have Microtransactions Too

[Fappy]

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.

Yeah, the interview was hardly conclusive so I'm not about to hop aboard the hate-train just yet. I think I'm actually one of the few people on this site that wouldn't mind a sub fee as long as the game is good enough to warrant it. GW2-style model would be ideal, but if they can justify the the fee I'll be on-board.

 

[Dragonbums]

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.

Console players don't know any better?

Geez. I can understand if you said casuals or something (and even then everyone is frugal about their money.) but you think CONSOLE players are so money stupid that we would put up with buying the game, paying the monthly fee, and putting up with micro-transactions?
I'm insulted.

 

[ShirowShirow]

I'm against Subscription fees, but the one thing that I can understand their advantage is that they help avoid shit like this.

 

[GrimTuesday]

Why can't I just have a fucking Elder Scrolls game with the entire continent without having to subscribe to play online with people I'm just going to end up hating (seriously, other people are the worst part about MMOs)? I mean sure it would be fun to roam the tundras of Skyrim, or explore the Aldmer ruins of Cyrodiil with my friends, but I don't want to have to buy the game and then pay to play it. I'm not a big MMO fan, but I was going to give this a shot, now I'm not so sure.

 

[kael013]

My interest died at the news of a sub fee (currently job hunting: lots of free time, no money to burn) but this actually seems alright. "Fun stuff" is a bit of a nebulous and subjective term, but if it's just stuff like name changes, xp boosts, and the like that's not so bad. I'll hold off hating on this news until what the cash-shop sells is better laid out.

'Course, I'd still like a GW2 or STO model.

 

[Groenteman]

Saaaay whaaaat?

What droolball on Zenimax is getting paid to come up with this? Herpty derp, we will just do ALL payment models! Im a genius! Totaly just earned my 6-digit salary! Also need a bigger lease car!

In all sincerity, they would not try to pull this (...) on a less-known series. They are pissing themselves at the thought of losing money, and will be sure to rip the players off on every corner they turn. Release regardless of what it does to the game on a long term.

Yes yes, im sure its just for the 'extras', like wanting to be on the same server your friends are on. Yup totaly superfluous Fun stuff. If you genuinely believe that to be ok then you completely lost all sense of relativation.

 

[klaynexas3]

Just give me co-op in the next game. How hard can that be? I'll host it on my computer, I don't care. It won't cost you a damn thing extra, and you can bet that it will sell like hot cakes, because the crowd that wanted a multiplayer Elder Scrolls but didn't care for an MMO is still pretty big, and still unsatisfied.

 

[Sight Unseen]

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.

Yeah, the interview was hardly conclusive so I'm not about to hop aboard the hate-train just yet. I think I'm actually one of the few people on this site that wouldn't mind a sub fee as long as the game is good enough to warrant it. GW2-style model would be ideal, but if they can justify the the fee I'll be on-board.

I'm with you on this one. I'm going to wait and see "how bad" the cash store in game is before I pull out my pitchfork.

But yeah, if they include exp boosts or stat-items or anything like that then I'm out

 

[GAunderrated]

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.

Console players don't know any better?

Geez. I can understand if you said casuals or something (and even then everyone is frugal about their money.) but you think CONSOLE players are so money stupid that we would put up with buying the game, paying the monthly fee, and putting up with micro-transactions?
I'm insulted.

Well it is a HUGE generalization so I would like to amend his statement to say "Console gamers 17 and under (and their parents who buy them games) don't know any better."

While not every console gamer pays for every stupid thing that is shoveled at them, you have to keep in mind that bad purchasing practicing among console gamers is why we have horrible DLC practices and Disk Locked Content. It was originally meant to extend great game content, but they eventually noticed that console gamers would buy any piece of DLC regardless of value, and decided to have $15 map packs and other atrocities.

I have no doubt that the adult console gamers can see through the scams but the younger gamers and the subsequent parents who buy for them don't and they are the real money makers.

Ignorance is bliss. And why make millions selling to intelligent people when you can make hundreds of billions selling to the uninformed?

 

[ZLAY]

Congratulations, you absolute fucking morons.

Including this cancerous part of the mmos into already subscription based one is unjustifiable.

 

[weirdee]

this is like the derp to their earlier herp, as far as i can tell

oh well! *shrug*

 

[Sgt Pepper]

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.

Have to disagree. Monetizing services (world transfers, name changes, smart phone apps or w/e) are one thing. But, no matter how inconsequential, even cosmetic fluff is game content.

I love subs, going to pay one for FFXIV, but if I pay a sub I should, generally, be able to obtain all content via in-game methods. The odd charity item I could maybe get behind, or promotional items (FFXI gave people the chance to get the promotional items like the destrier beret for a few quid), whilst not ideal, is just about tolerable.

But to go from the get go with monetized fluff items (and tbh it may be more, we need ZOS to define "fun items") on top of a sub isn't good.

 

[SecondPrize]

Console players don't know any better?

Geez. I can understand if you said casuals or something (and even then everyone is frugal about their money.) but you think CONSOLE players are so money stupid that we would put up with buying the game, paying the monthly fee, and putting up with micro-transactions?
I'm insulted.

It's not entirely unfair. The whole paid dlc thing was tested out on consoles and took root when console gamers lapped it up. You can't be that surprised when someone doesn't hold console players in such high regard with that on your record.

 

[Cybylt]

Does that statement sound like it would come from a person that has even an OUNCE of respect for the legacy of this series?

Yes, when all of the other games can be boiled down to "Shit was getting pretty bad. And then one guy came along, did everything for everyone and now it's better." That sounds like stuff that would be legendary to others and you can't get away with something like that in a game with more than one person playing it.

 

[weirdee]

I guess the main problem here is that there have been millions of claims that the "core game" is unaffected when it usually is in some way or another, even if the people in charge claim that they're not core features

if somebody is telling the truth, then nobody will hear them

 

[idarkphoenixi]

But I literally read something just yesterday where they said they were charging a premium so this exact thing wouldn't happen.

Essentially they said: "We want to go full subscription so that the player wouldn't feel like they were being nickled and dimed during their experience"

 

[Nexxis]

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 think many people just don't like the potential for them to do this. I figured that paying for name changes and the like are standard MMO fair no matter what pay system they have, but putting it in a "cash shop" rubs people the wrong way. They're worried that it starts off innocently enough but there is potential for them to abuse it. We'll have to see if they do. Hopefully they're not going to go that route. Also, as WoW has shown, the MMO crowd doesn't like it when people can buy cosmetic items with real money as everyone (at least, everyone with the cash) can get it and that's bad for whatever reason.

 

[Vivid Kazumi]

pardon my ignorance of mmo's.but aren't microtransactions mostly used in f2p mmos?

 

[Saulkar]

And here I was hoping that the monthly subscription would end these fucking retarded micro transactions that are in reality an integral part of the game that is blocked off behind an artificially inflated and emotionally caustic grind.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

This sorta defeats the purpose of a subscription model in the first place. Yet another example of publishers wanting it all. They want to charge 60 dollars for the game, they want a monthly fee, and they want to charge more for other features as if it were a F2P game. I had no interest in the game to begin with but it boggles my mind that anyone would want to play it now.