Elder Scrolls online going F2P

[TechBoyJK]

http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/agegate

Not sure of the details, but the subscription was the only reason I wasn't playing.

 

[catnapper]

Technically "B2P". Mixed feelings about this, but in the end its the only way I'd keep playing it at this point, and I do like good old Tamriel. So I guess I'm happy about it. From the announcement:

If you’ve ever played ESO, you’ll be invited to return to the game and experience everything new in the world without game subscription fees. If you’re new to ESO, you’ll make a one-time purchase of the game and then continue playing without restrictions for as long as you like.

 

[lupi]

This is not a surpise. Was "known" a month or so ago when sites started talking about it after they pulled down the long term subscription offers.

 

[MeldarthX]

sounds like they are going SWO route. one off fee and pay; when they do expansions; you'll need to pay for those.........and can sub if you want for perks.....

 

[Genx87]

Very interesting.

 

[SunnyD]

sounds like they are going SWO route. one off fee and pay; when they do expansions; you'll need to pay for those.........and can sub if you want for perks.....

Meaning it's still not F2P. Granted I haven't played SWTOR in a long time, but as a formerly screwed over subscriber of said title, I found out rather quickly that as a non-paying customer SWTOR was rather unplayable in it's F2P incarnation.

LOTRO and STO are the only two F2P games that I have played that have gotten F2P right imho. Well no, can't say that. Marvel Heroes also did F2P right - it actually got me to spend money and enjoy doing so.

 

[cronos]

sounds like they are going SWO route. one off fee and pay; when they do expansions; you'll need to pay for those.........and can sub if you want for perks.....

I'm pretty sure SWTOR is now pure F2P. When they first started making the change it was B2P, but eventually they removed the initial buy-in fee.

Unless someone wants to correct me.

Meaning it's still not F2P. Granted I haven't played SWTOR in a long time, but as a formerly screwed over subscriber of said title, I found out rather quickly that as a non-paying customer SWTOR was rather unplayable in it's F2P incarnation.

LOTRO and STO are the only two F2P games that I have played that have gotten F2P right imho. Well no, can't say that. Marvel Heroes also did F2P right - it actually got me to spend money and enjoy doing so.

What about Rift?

 

[SunnyD]

What about Rift?

I can't remember Rift's F2P incarnation very much. I tried it once or twice well after the changeover, but I had lost interest in the game and getting back into it was hard to do. I was a paid Rifter for the majority of my life.

 

[Dahak]

Sounds like Guild Wars 1 model, pay for game / expansions and then free other wise
not like F2P SWTOR

With this I may go back into it / give it another shot... just did not like it enough for sub

Picking some highlights from the FAQ
http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/faq


Hmm

What is ESO Plus?

ESO Plus is an optional premium membership offered to players with the launch of The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited. ESO Plus memberships will be offered in 30-, 90-, and 180-day durations.

30-day Membership:

1500 crowns at the start of each 30-day membership period
Access to all downloadable content for the duration of membership
Exclusive character progression bonuses for the duration of membership
10% bonus to experience point gain
10% bonus to crafting research
10% bonus to crafting inspiration gain
10% bonus to gold acquisition



90-day Membership:

4500 crowns at the start of each 90-day membership period
Access to all downloadable content for the duration of membership
Exclusive character progression bonuses for the duration of membership
10% bonus to experience point gain
10% bonus to crafting research
10% bonus to crafting inspiration gain
10% bonus to gold acquisition



180-day Membership:

9000 crowns at the start of each 180-day membership period
Access to all downloadable content for the duration of membership
Exclusive character progression bonuses for the duration of membership
10% bonus to experience point gain
10% bonus to crafting research
10% bonus to crafting inspiration gain
10% bonus to gold acquisition

Plus and Item shot called new in-game Crown Store

What is the Crown Store and what can I buy?

The Crown Store is an in-game shop that allows you to buy convenience and customization items for your characters, as well as services and content.

And one more

What is downloadable content (also known as DLC)?

DLC for The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited consists of game packs with optional adventuring content (zones, quests, etc.) added to the game to enhance your game play experience should you choose. It is not required.

That bits seems like the Quest Packs from LOTRO

 

[Markbnj]

Played the beta, still not really interested. The world is nice and all, but it's the epitome of a theme-park, follow-the-floating-icon MMO with an overly complicated faction war playground.

 

[JamesV]

Not surprised.

I played this when it came out and unsubscribed before the month was out.

Getting to max level was unending run here and there quests, but the combat was interesting at times. I did like the class setup, and how you worked your skills.

PvP flat out sucked; whoever thought it was a good idea for everyone to have stealth is a moron. Imagine groups of invisible glass cannon gankers. Without stealth, some of the big battles were fun, but then you die, and have to travel a mile of stealth-infested glass cannon killers to get back to the action (not remotely fun).

Not even interested if free; wish they had made another ES game instead.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I spent less less time playing Skyrim than Oblivion since the main story is (to me) not that interesting. It's somewhat fun to wander around in the sandbox semi-aimlessly, but I prefer a RPG with a good central story.

I gather the MMO is even more sandboxy, so I'm not seeing a reason to play it even as F2P.

 

[Rakehellion]

Pay-to-win.

 

[ImpulsE69]

PLayed the beta too...was just boring. FFXIV was better IMO

 

[psychosiz]

I bought this game at a friend's urging to play with him (my mistake there) and was bored after a month. I should know better as I made the same mistake previously, only worse, with STO, a game I tried going back to several times only to realize its a terrible game.

 

[StinkyPinky]

I played and enjoyed ESO when it came out. Don't think I am interested in playing it again though.

 

[SPBHM]

hopefully it will have less restrictions than other f2p mmos, since it's not actually f2p;

 

[psychosiz]

hopefully it will have less restrictions than other f2p mmos, since it's not actually f2p;

Agreed, I don't want to see the SWTOR f2p model. That made the game virtually unplayable for me.

 

[asteldian]

B2P rather than F2P.
Once bought you have to buy the content updates. If you sub you do not need to pay for the new content.
Likely will work well for 6 months or so (due to large influx of cash from console buyers) then after that the cash shop will likely start bringing in questionable items

 

[IndyColtsFan]

hopefully it will have less restrictions than other f2p mmos, since it's not actually f2p;

From what I've seen so far, it looks like you get access to everything in the game and the only advantage a sub gets you is an increase in various stats and some of the in-game currency. I'm actually pretty excited by this announcement as I (along with several friends and my brothers) played at launch but we eventually quit due to lack of time and having to pay for a sub.

I've personally never agreed with the MMO sub model -- if I am paying $15/month, you better be including a ton of content updates and giving me expansion packs for free. That obviously didn't happen with most MMOs, so I'd rather they just go to a model where you buy the game and the expansion packs and don't have a monthly fee.

 

[exar333]

With how so many games that were Buy + sub-based turning F2P (or B2P so to speak) will any new games have subs? Or will most players just wait for it to go F2P/B2P before purchasing? This could really hurt MMO communities (maybe its already happening?)

Sub-based MMOs seem to be more of a pay-to-play privileged beta-test thing. Kind of crappy IMHO.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Not in the slightest bit surprising, I'd probably recommend a fully F2P model like the one in Rift for anyone who needs an MMO fix, the beta of ESO was not particularly good.

 

[JumBie]

It's not even worth buying to play for free. This game is just a joke, then again I hate MMORPG's, this is based on the fact that every single one thus far has just been a fetch quest grind fest.

 

[exar333]

It's not even worth buying to play for free. This game is just a joke, then again I hate MMORPG's, this is based on the fact that every single one thus far has just been a fetch quest grind fest.

I can say I really enjoyed the original version of SWG back in the day. It was skill-based and job-based (so to speak) and didn't have the fetch-quests and so forth. That was a long time ago, they didn't make all the professions engaging-enough and ultimately completely ruined the game with version 2.0....so.....even a good concept and engine seems to be ultimately doomed to fail for MMOs.

Depressing.

 

[blake0812]

PLayed the beta too...was just boring. FFXIV was better IMO

This guy gets it :thumbsup: