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[LegendOfKage]

Never played it, but I was thinking about checking it out. Before I do, I wanted to ask this question of anyone who has invested a fair bit of time into the game. How does the monetization system work? Are there pay to win aspects, or "pay to not be annoyed" elements? Is there a housing system with loads of cosmetics? Do they just provide a good product and sell nice sized DLC campaigns? I don't even know if there's a monthly fee or not.

So what's the good news and the bad news with Elder Scrolls Online in this department? How do they make money, and how annoying or easy to ignore is the monetization.

Aside from that, what version of the game would you recommend for someone just starting out? Can you go with an older expansion and have a ton of things to do, is it better to get the base game at first, or do you pretty much need the latest expansion every time?

Any help or explanations would be appreciated.

 

[Forsythia]

Lots and lots of DLC, lootcrates and you can subscribe to get 1500 crowns each month and a separate inventory for you crafting materials.

And I'd just start with the base game, there's already lots of content in that. Most play it as a singleplayer game anyway iirc.

 

[Starfield]

Subscription and whales.

The game itself doesn't cost much. Alsontheres a shitton of dlc that people buy.

A friend of mine only invested in housing items, like 2 or 300€ just to decorate houses in ESO. Didnt do anything else.

 

[Inviusx]

I've played a lot and haven't spent a dime outside of the big expansions. It's not "Pay to Win" but there are certainly a lot of "Pay for Convenience" options that are mainly tied to the ESO Plus sub.

If you're going to take the dive, buy whatever the latest bundle is and it should include everything up to the latest expansion (Blackwood). With all that content there is hundreds and hundreds of hours of stuff to do.

 

[crazyjah2003]

Me... I cannot function without their exp boosting scrolls

 

[Fuz]

and a separate inventory for you crafting materials.

I want to point out something. You can't really play without this.

 

[CAB_Life]

The crafting bag, bundled with ESO+, is essential unless you enjoy spending 3 hours each day sorting through the mounds of garbage you collect. Also, you get all the DLC (not the larger chunks called ”Chapters”) included in the sub, too.

 

[Hendrick's]

The only thing you have to pay for are the expansions, all of which can be had for $50 right now I believe. Even without that, you get hundreds of hours of gameplay for free. I never bought anything else.

 

[nightmare-slain]

when i played it the only things i bought were the expansions to get the new story and quests. you can spend money on other things (here is what you can spend your crowns on: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/crownstore) but at no point did i ever feel like i needed to in order to access content/progress. the game has a shit load of content to go through in the base game and of course the expansions and a lot more.

you can pay for the subscription which gives you access to all the expansions (no need to buy individually), unlimited storage for crafting, 1650 crowns per month, double bank space, 10% bonus to gold/xp, and other stuff.