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Elder Scrolls Online (most likely) going FTP in six months

M

Mindman

Member
massively.joystiq.com/2014/12/30/the-elder-scrolls-online-quietly-removes-six-month-subscriptions/

Players are just a little bit leery of the fact that The Elder Scrolls Online has removed the six-month subscription option from the game. Oh, sure, it seems innocent enough; it's just a change in billing options. But it's also one of those changes that's happened in more than a few other games indicating that the game was removing the need for a subscription... or that the game was no longer going to be playable at all, in the case of Warhammer Online.

The official ZeniMax response on the French forums is simply that players indicated they preferred the shorter billing options, so the six-month option was removed. General sentiment in the thread is that this answer is not entirely credible. If it really is a harbinger of something more to come... well, we'll find out about it in about six months. Maybe five.
Click to expand...

So, this likely means F2P in six months or less, to go along with the console releases! Not for sure of course, but if history is anything to go by, we are getting what we wanted. Sub me if old.

EDIT: Someone change title to F2P, lol
 
T

The Abominable Snowman

Member
I'm down for F2P or even just a one-off charge like Guild Wars. ESO was something close to $15/month (After the initial full price buy-in and disregarding the microtransactions) which is a little steep, especially considering consoles already have online subscriptions for online play.

General consensus seems to be that the game is 'eh' outside of PVP anyway, and I have little interest in PVP for a game like this.
 
M

Moon_frogger

Member
Not sure how this is indicative of F2p when most free to play mmo's still have a sub option. Usually the indicator for an MMO going f2p is server mergers. Just saying.
 
B

Bizzquik

Member
I would much rather this thread title end in a Question Mark instead of (essentially) a Period - as this is conjecture.

But interesting nonetheless.
 
G

gogosox82

Member
I will play it when its f2p. I didn't enjoy what I played in the beta and I didn't think it was worth a sub but wouldn't mind seeing what they do with the story.
 
G

Genis94

Neo Member
Saw this coming a mile away. I already had gripes with their microtransactions and destroying their own lore if you paid enough, but the lack of engaging content really gave me the impression it could not hold a candle to games like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. People say the subscription based MMO is dead, but I feel that the problem is too many try it and fail at delivering enough content to justify the subscription fee. I think FF14 is doing it the best right now, as they have released tons of content through patches, including a new class and job and several Primal raids and new dungeon difficulties.
 
H

Hero Prinny

Member
what i played in the beta was alright i guess. If it was buy to play and had cosmetic microtransaction like Guild Wars 2 I would've actually bought the game. but anyways, I'll give it a go once it goes f2p.
 
B

brickwalker0

Member
Can't wait to have to pay for basic UI elements al a SWTOR.

You know for a fact that a big game franchise going F2P means they're going to gouge the fuck out of everyone they can.
 
B

bounchfx

Member
i'm shocked it took this long. Also, kind of crazy that the console one still isn't out.

Anyone play here? has there been any significant updates since launch?
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
"The official ZeniMax response on the French forums is simply that players indicated they preferred the shorter billing options, so the six-month option was removed."

Ahahahahaha how stupid do they think people are?
 
J

JNA

Banned
Serious question but why do developers even try to have it at pay to play? Don't they realize that unless they are WoW that it will never work? No matter how good or bad the game is?

All it does is just make the good look worse for having this kind of history like SWTOR.
 
L

Lord of Castamere

Member
Good. The console versions were going to bomb extraordinary hard at 60+Sub. It missed the window of no games though. No way in hell I'd touch this until summer, free or no.
 
A

Automatisch

Member
JNA said:
Serious question but why do developers even try to have it at pay to play? Don't they realize that unless they are WoW that it will never work? No matter how good or bad the game is?

All it does is just make the good look worse for having this kind of history like SWTOR.
Click to expand...

My guess is they work on these games for a really long time, and drastically changing their business model after designing content a certain way might be why they tend to release and wait. Otherwise, my guess is they simply thought the IP would carry them a lot farther than it actually did, much like TOR.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
JNA said:
Serious question but why do developers even try to have it at pay to play? Don't they realize that unless they are WoW that it will never work? No matter how good or bad the game is?

All it does is just make the good look worse for having this kind of history like SWTOR.
Click to expand...
They get money up front from both boxes and subs, patch and polish the game while getting paid to do it, and then also have an easier time forecasting how much interest the f2p version might have once it's released.

Basically it's like how some companies charge more for early access to a game (or charge at all for an f2p game in early access).
 
H

Hamster Plugin

Member
Why do pay2play MMO subscriptions always have to be $15/month? Or even worse, in Europe it's €15/month. All MMOs are either f2p or have a 15/month high subscription price.
 
J

jesu

Member
I'm all over this if the console versions go F2P.
(wish EA would bring the Star Wars one to console too!)
 
E

Elandyll

Banned
I could see the game going F2P at the same time as the console version (also f2p) will come out, maybe around May/ June?
 
B

bounchfx

Member
His Majesty said:
It's not a bad game. Too many people expected it to be Skyrim online I guess.
Click to expand...

this is all people actually wanted... was it too much to expect a game that somewhat resembled elder scrolls? hehe

but seriously all i want is skyrim with 2-4 player co op. thats it. ESO never had to be made imo.
 
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