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Comment from a Zenimax employee, about Elder Scrolls Online Free to Play.

MoonKnighttMoonKnightt Member UncommonPosts: 148

I'm not going to get the employee in trouble, and I also do not care who doesn't believes me. But here is the comment I got from an employee inside Zenimax.

"Right now, we do not have any plans to make any changes to the payment model of the game.  The subscription models are 30 days and 90 days right now. You can check out the announcement page for any changes we make to the game in the future."

That is exactly what they said, and on the surface it looks like the game is going to keep it's subscription.

But notice the use of the words, "right now".  It was used twice in two sentences. I personally want the subscription model to stay.  But when you use the words, "right now", the person is telling the truth because right at this very minute because the game is not free to play currently. It makes it very easy to assume it is not going free to play. Same with the subscription model, "right now", there are two payment models for the game. At this very second, those are the payment models. It sounds like lawyer speak, until they make an official announcement.

It could just be a poor choice of wording, but the in two sentences in a row? They repeated the same wordings when talking about subscription methods of the game.  They could have used the words "in the future", "this year", or simply said "we are not planning to go free to play".

In my opinion this absolutely means ESO is going buy to play (doubt it will go free to play), with some sort of subscription bonus. Probably will be announced alongside the console release. I hope I'm wrong, I really do. The bots have been managed much better. I have only seen one speed hacking ore farmer since I have been back (playing over two weeks).

But if this game does go free to play instead of buy to play? Can you imagine how bad the bots will be? With the punishment of having a free account banned? There will be no cost of entry to just create another one. So at least with buy to play they have to pay for another copy. This won't exactly stop bots but it will cost the hackers and bots something. Zenimax would make money off the bans.  

 

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Comments

  • d_20d_20 Member RarePosts: 1,878
  • PulsarManPulsarMan Member Posts: 289

    I can understand the use of "right now." 

    If they're comfortable with the income of the game as is, great. But when it comes down to laying off staff / shutting the servers down, or changing up your income model...you change the income model. Because no matter how much you may prefer the sub model in principle, you enjoy paying your employees even more. 

    Let me just make it clear that I am not suggesting that ESO is, or should, go free to play / buy to play.  

  • Octagon7711Octagon7711 Member LegendaryPosts: 9,004

    I can see using the words 'right now' because that employee probably has very little to do with making the final decision.  If he says, "I 100% know for a fact subs won't be changing."  You can bet he's lying because he doesn't know what the higher ups are working on and keeping close to their vests.  He also knows that if he's wrong and the bosses wakes up one morning and decides something different, his words will be copy and pasted all over the internet as proof of how Zen lies. 

     

    It's easy for players to say what they want and state what the facts are or are not because they have nothing to lose if their wrong.  But speaking as a rep for a large company is a different matter.  You use words like might, as far as I know, and probably, a lot.

    "We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa      "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."  SR Covey

  • LydarSynnLydarSynn Member UncommonPosts: 181
    I only played the game is beta. It was ok but I personally would not pay 60 bucks plus a sub for it. The game is nothing new in the MMO space and I would only pay that kind of money for something new and innovative. I might buy it without a sub or pay a sub for a few months without buying the game. If they lower their prices, I might give the game another shot and I am sure there are some others who feel the same. If not, ESO is a title I can live without.
  • RawasaRawasa Member UncommonPosts: 37
    http://www.vg247.com/2015/01/09/the-elder-scrolls-online-pulled-from-australian-retailer-report/ yup , so I dont really know what is going on...lets all just hope for the best.
  • jblahjblah Member UncommonPosts: 368
    The  fact that they are instructing stores to send back all boxed copies and time cards for ESO  speaks for itself. The game is just not worth a subscription to most people and the console crowd will be even less accepting of a subscription to play.

    Playing- Guild Wars 2, SWTOR
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  • TomShadowTomShadow Member Posts: 13
    Nice find.  The linked Kotaku Australia article mentions, " ...removed by January 13."  Maybe we will get an update next week.
  • BTrayaLBTrayaL Member UncommonPosts: 624
    Reading between the lines and tin-foil hats do not make a game go F2P.

    image
  • BattlerockBattlerock Member CommonPosts: 1,393

    I bought it during steam sale  - if they don't change to f2p or b2p I just wont ever play it again.

     

    Don't care either way.

  • TheGoblinKingTheGoblinKing Member UncommonPosts: 208

    I'm sorry but i LOL'd really hard at your tin foil hat conspiracy theory about 2 little words lol. Its so ridiculous lol.

     

    Its not going FTP or B2P so just get over it and stop denying reality lol.

  • yaminsuxyaminsux Member UncommonPosts: 973
    Lol...it's saying "I want to play this game so bad, but I dont wanna pay for subs".

    The game is great, a better one we've seen in years (FF14 v2 is another one), why kill it by going F2P? Support it by paying subs.
  • NightliteNightlite Member UncommonPosts: 227
    So you filed a petition asking if they are going to go free to play.. What's with all the cloak and dagger stuff?
  • bcbullybcbully Member EpicPosts: 11,843
    image
  • AnnwynAnnwyn Member UncommonPosts: 2,854
    Not sure whether it will go F2P or not, although recent actions by Zenimax seems to hint a change in business model, but I'm glad I didn't buy the game. Maybe I'll look into giving the game a fair shot once we have a clearer idea of what it is that Zenimax plans to do. I had a pretty bad experience with the game during Beta, so I'm playing it safe in the meantime.
  • GestankfaustGestankfaust Member UncommonPosts: 1,989

    So tired of this conversation....

     

    At least this post pokes fun at ESO going F2P. But can we at least STOP!?!?

     

    Or is it that we need to keep the post counts up here?

     

    "This may hurt a little, but it's something you'll get used to. Relax....."

  • bcbullybcbully Member EpicPosts: 11,843
    Originally posted by Rawasa
    http://www.vg247.com/2015/01/09/the-elder-scrolls-online-pulled-from-australian-retailer-report/ yup , so I dont really know what is going on...lets all just hope for the best.

    but you can still buy it online from EB with no discounts...

    https://www.ebgames.ca/SearchResult/QuickSearch?q=elder+scrolls+online

  • BaitnessBaitness Member UncommonPosts: 675

    I hope it does not end up going f2p or b2p as neither of those will work well with the bug fixing and revamping patches that ZOS is doing such a good job with.  F2P / B2P games need content in patches - purchasable content, like shiny suits! Or maybe you can get the buggy from RAGE as a mount!  Or reskin your bow like a gun from Quake!  So super cool gotta buy it, only $7.99~!

     

    Really though, if they are even considering this I hope they work out how the hell they will make more money without completely destroying the game.  It would not fit in well with a cash shop at all, it focuses too heavily on immersion.

     

    On the other hand I would have thought SWTOR would not have fit well with a cash shop either... and they started selling parts of the UI, the ability to wear epic gear, and weekly passes to play in pvp/instances... oh god just thinking about it makes me literally facepalm, I can't finish the sentence without sadly holding my head.  Then they could go LoTRO style and sell quest chains... oh goddamnit wtf turbine.  Maybe like GW2 and EvE, give a currency people could buy to trade out in game for in game money... but one of the appeals of ESO is the non-centralized auction system, which would not really support that at all.

     

    I cannot think of anything they could monetize that would not be severely damaging to the game.  My best guess would be you get one alliance you can play with, have to pay to unlock the other two.  Probably have to pay to join a campaign, and then buy another ticket to join it again after it completes.  Perhaps lock all but one race in each alliance behind a paywall.  Maybe they could get away with putting each zone's major questline up for cash.  Probably limit experience gain, either the rate of it or locking off certain things entirely.  Maybe sell enchantments that don't fade, but you have to buy one for each weapon/piece of armor.  Perhaps limit weapons depending on class unless you unlock them.... 

     

    All of those ideas would suck.  B2P wouldn't be as bad because they would embrace the expansion model for producing content, and the offline ESO games have had great success doing that already.  The problem of course would be the immediate drop in bugfixes and any chance of working on old content.

  • TheGoblinKingTheGoblinKing Member UncommonPosts: 208
    Originally posted by Baitness

     

     

    Really though, if they are even considering this I hope they work out how the hell they will make more money without completely destroying the game.  It would not fit in well with a cash shop at all, it focuses too heavily on immersion.

    Exactly, because as FTP they'll be more focused on making crap they can sell you in the cash shop then actually fixing the game.

  • MagikarpsGhostMagikarpsGhost Member RarePosts: 689
    Originally posted by Troveaholic

    I'm not going to get the employee in trouble, and I also do not care who doesn't believes me. But here is the comment I got from an employee inside Zenimax.

    "Right now, we do not have any plans to make any changes to the payment model of the game.  The subscription models are 30 days and 90 days right now. You can check out the announcement page for any changes we make to the game in the future."

    That is exactly what they said, and on the surface it looks like the game is going to keep it's subscription.

    But notice the use of the words, "right now".  It was used twice in two sentences. I personally want the subscription model to stay.  But when you use the words, "right now", the person is telling the truth because right at this very minute because the game is not free to play currently. It makes it very easy to assume it is not going free to play. Same with the subscription model, "right now", there are two payment models for the game. At this very second, those are the payment models. It sounds like lawyer speak, until they make an official announcement.

    It could just be a poor choice of wording, but the in two sentences in a row? They repeated the same wordings when talking about subscription methods of the game.  They could have used the words "in the future", "this year", or simply said "we are not planning to go free to play".

    In my opinion this absolutely means ESO is going buy to play (doubt it will go free to play), with some sort of subscription bonus. Probably will be announced alongside the console release. I hope I'm wrong, I really do. The bots have been managed much better. I have only seen one speed hacking ore farmer since I have been back (playing over two weeks).

    But if this game does go free to play instead of buy to play? Can you imagine how bad the bots will be? With the punishment of having a free account banned? There will be no cost of entry to just create another one. So at least with buy to play they have to pay for another copy. This won't exactly stop bots but it will cost the hackers and bots something. Zenimax would make money off the bans.  

     

    I use "right now" a lot when talking about things that may change in the future. it would be foolish to say that it will always be P2P when you do not know that for certen,

    free 7 day sub and unlocks for swtor new accounts and 90+ day inactive subs click here to get it!

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  • PsYcHoGBRPsYcHoGBR Member UncommonPosts: 482
    I would play this game if it went buy to play with a subscription option.
  • WizardryWizardry Member LegendaryPosts: 19,332

    I feel it is coming in 3 months because any sales they get from console will be excited new players willing to sub for a couple months.Once the new sales market is dried up about 2 months after console launch i suspect a change in plans.

    If they do change in the next 3 months,that would indicate it WAS already in the plans and make them out right liars,until then we sit and watch.

    Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.

  • Fly666monkeyFly666monkey Member UncommonPosts: 161

    Anyone who thinks this game isn't going F2P is in denial. In fact, given that they've pulled the 6 month sub, and pulled all time cards and boxes off shelves should give you a time frame. They are working on the code for the new model as we speak, if it isn't done already.

    It's happened time and time again. The idea that sub based games can still thrive in this day and age (That are not WoW or EVE) is wishful thinking at best. They are just milking the sub money for as long as they can because they know there are people who hate the F2P model so much, they are willing to pay for a Sub-Par game just to avoid them. And once they dwindle to the point where it's no longer profitable, they switch the model. You should all be familiar with this pattern by now.

  • IHATETHISWEBSITEIHATETHISWEBSITE Member Posts: 16

    Game costs 18 Euro now

    First time I bought  Imperial Edition 80 Euro  and din't play Imperial race but Nord  also I barely used Imperial horse because one sold in game is much better  been in pre lunch max vet top players all maxed  [mod edit]

     

    Returned to game 1 month ago when I heard about 1.6 uptade bougth Standart Edition and Enjoy the hell out of it

     [mod edit]

    And considering all won pools so far ESO seems to have a passive majority that just don't give a dime about your F2p model .

     [mod edit]

  • YaevinduskYaevindusk Member RarePosts: 2,094

     

    People are finding a lot of connections that give evidence to this.  Though I believe it originally started due to precedence; there were games that removed their long-term subscription plans before making the turn to F2P in the past.

     

    About two weeks prior to ESO's release I commented on a topic myself regarding a friend that claimed to work on the project.  They said that it is a planned contingency for them to make the game B2P before the console release, and that they might push said console release back as a part of this if there's enough money -- and or changes -- to be had prior to it.

     

    I'll probably have to find that post eventually, though I didn't think much of it back then (mainly because you should plan for various outcomes).  Though this is an Elder Scrolls game we're talking about; that community is all about buying up DLC or cash shops and still somewhat wary of monthly fees.  Given ES's single player history, it could make them quite a bit of money.

     

    Due to frequent travel in my youth, English isn't something I consider my primary language (and thus I obtained quirky ways of writing).  German and French were always easier for me despite my family being U.S. citizens for over a century.  Spanish I learned as a requirement in school, Japanese and Korean I acquired for my youthful desire of anime and gaming (and also work now).  I only debate in English to help me work with it (and limit things).  In addition, I'm not smart enough to remain fluent in everything and typically need exposure to get in the groove of things again if I haven't heard it in a while.  If you understand Mandarin, I know a little, but it has actually been a challenge and could use some help.

    Also, I thoroughly enjoy debates and have accounts on over a dozen sites for this.  If you wish to engage in such, please put effort in a post and provide sources -- I will then do the same with what I already wrote (if I didn't) as well as with my responses to your own.  Expanding my information on a subject makes my stance either change or strengthen the next time I speak of it or write a thesis.  Allow me to thank you sincerely for your time.
  • DocBrodyDocBrody Member UncommonPosts: 1,926
    I´d get it for 10$ if it were B2P and then pay for DLC but subscription, not interested
This discussion has been closed.