You know this means repair kits are going to become rare outside of the shop right?
LOL... repair kits are not free drops nor do many people even bother with them. Any vendor in game that sells anything has a cheap "repair all" option which is what everyone uses and they all carry repair kits you can buy if you want to do that. Good try though...
Wouldn´t surprise me if they going to remove that "repair all" feature either all together or remove it for free players.
They put those repair kits in there for a reason, so no worries. They going to make adjustments in the game to make these kits viable.
Maybe they will and maybe they won't. But it's pretty obvious they've done a good job if the only thing the doom and gloom crowd can find to bitch about is what they might do in the future... it's actually kind of funny watching ya'll scrambling.
And there are no " free " players. Anyone playing the game has bought it. ZOS isnt going to be removing anything.
Yeah I was hoping the cash shop would feature bag and bank upgrades. That's about all I see myself buying.
Will we still be able to buy mounts in game for gold or is this being relegated to the cash shop?
I am having a great time playing ESO but it appears as if the cash shop will not offer me much. It looks like Ill be able to play for free, at least for the moment, without any negative impact. A win win.
As a side note to a previous post...I love Turbines cash shop and distinction between accounts. I like being able to check back into the game without having to restart my sub each time. There are items offered which definitely accelerate your progress at earlier levels but for the most part nothing seems egregious in terms of p2w especially at end game. I personally would be ok with Zenimax taking a page from Turbines playbook in this regard. GW2's shop also features more of the things that I am looking to pay for.
Ill def be saving money with ESO's current iteration of their cash shop which gets no complaints from me.
Del Cabon A US Army ('Just Cause') Vet and MMORPG Native formerly of Trinsic, Norath and Dereth. Currently playing LOTRO.
Originally posted by jpaprocki This cash shop reminds me of how lotros started and look at it today! It won't be long before you start seeing crafting supplies and some things that people will call questionable "P2W" items. The only question is how long will it take?
Selective memory much? This is an overview of the different options after it went F2P from Oct 2010
What does that have to do with anything I said? That has nothing to do with the craft shop. Perhaps you should learn to read?
I'm not an IT Specialist, Game Developer, or Clairvoyant in real life, but like others on here, I play one on the internet.
I am glad eso went b2p, wouldn't have tried otherwise.
I don't think lotro is a good example of cash shop done well. It was okay to begin with but store introduced buying crafting levels, gambling boxes, gear with stats, purchase levels, tomes that give stat upgrades (very small drop chances in game to get these), components that upgrade legendary items like scrolls of empowerment and crystals that upgrade from minor to major legacies (also very hard to obtain in game). I am sure I am forgetting some things.
There was considerable backlash against these changes and now there are more f2p/b2p alternatives so I am hoping zos takes the tsw gw2 route rather than lotro. DDO and lotro were extremely earlier adopters of the f2p transition perhaps the first. Mistakes were made and I hope other devs learn from where turbine went wrong.
Whether the crown store goes down a "slippery slope" is yet to be determined, it is not inevitable. There are examples of b2p games that don't have insidious cash shops like tsw and gw2. B2p devs have more of an incentive to retain players than f2p. Old players are not so easily replaced by new due to the box price.
Originally posted by YashaX I would like to buy more inventory and bank space. They should probably also cut down the number of character slots (something reasonable like four) and sell extra slots.
No; you don't.
That you want some extra inventory and bank space - sure; has been one of the "grumbles" since the day launched. You don't want this type of stuff in the cash shop though. There is a slippery slope and when they add these the ball is a-rolling.
And there will be a conspiracy theory thread as well: slots limited on launch to sell later. Cringe.
If I am not paying $15 a month anymore I don't mind paying a bit for something useful but not game breaking like extra inventory. Limiting slots seems quite logical- they do actually need to sell something. There are not that many items they can sell that are actually really useful but don't turn the game into a p2w farce. Inventory and character slots seem safe enough for a b2p game.
What does that have to do with anything I said? That has nothing to do with the craft shop. Perhaps you should learn to read?
Perhaps YOU should learn to read all those "purchase" reference. As in shit that was in the LOTRO store form day one that is nothing like what's in the ESO version... premium classes, character slots, bag space, gold limit, skirmish limit, etc. Plus they also had acceleration potions of different types. I didn't think I had to spell out the relevance but obviously, at least in one case, I was wrong.
LOTRO's store started the way F2P games start with crippled "free" accounts and all kinds of stuff for sale just like in Turbine's first F2P MMO, D&D online. So your "look how it started and look at today!" example is crap...that's all. You guys just don't get that there really is a difference between B2P where the developer gets a large chunk of revenues from box unit sales vs. an F2P game that needs to get most revenue from the cash shop.
If you want to make any relevant "look at it then and look at it now" case for how they all go downhill, use The Secret World's cash shop, the only other game that I'm aware of that started P2P and went B2P instead of F2P... which won't work very well for the doom and gloom point you're trying to make since it hasn't changed much at all from initial B2P conversion to this day.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
you know you can buy soul gems from mystic vendors, right?
For now you can, and when Zenimax are not making enough money they will remove them from the world drops and vendors.
Turbine have moved the riding skills to the cash shop so if you want to ride a horse you now have to pay real money for it or grind turbine points (5 at a time) which can take hours of game play to buy the simple riding skill.
All cash shops start off tame and then things change for the worse.
With these changes to ESO I hope the game burns and dies.
Originally posted by Vonatar Soul gems in the Crown Store? If they are filled soul gems then that's on the edge. You can recharge enchantments on items with filled soul gems, which has an effect on stats (to a degree).
I constantly vendor soul gems to free up inventory. They drop so often that it's hardly on the edge. Filling them is extremely easy as well.
I bet that the day after the patch the soulgems will disappear from the game.
here is the problem.. good thing about p2p games is you only spend 15euro a month and have access to every thing with acceptable/reasonable level of grind..when goes so called free to play the level of grind is massive for free accounts and even when you subscribe to the game still some of the cool looking stuff like mount or skins etc are locked behind the pay wall.
i was playing rift when it was p2p and got all cool stuff with acceptable grind.. went free to play and now i have pay extra even as patron.
same story for swtor and now eso joins the cash grab f2p or b2p machine.
SWTOR has one advantage, a good deal of the Cartel Market stuff gets put on the GTN for credits. Sometimes they are asking for ridiculous amounts for rare drops and name brand items like Revan and Satele Shan stuff. But if you don't "have" to have name brand, there are about 100-200 other types of armor sets and weapons that you can purchase, without spending real money. Other than your sub fee that is, the disadvantage. In a way the Tamriel shop may be a little more mild since they are going B2P with a cash shop rather than P2P with a F2P/Cash Shop hybrid option. I believe both systems will do fine, both Bioware and Zenimax are competent businesses.
TSW indeed is the best implementation--they do make a game where there's little pressure or real need to visit the cash shop.
And... they are failing miserably. Funcom's income from the game has plummeted further and further each quarter. Even though the game itself is still well received for the most part. The less money, the less significant expansions, which is where they are now.
The lesson being, for an F2P/B2P game to make money after about the first year it implements the model, they need to make the cash store more and more intrusive to keep the money rolling in. That's why it ruins games---either by bankrupting them if they don't force the store in your face, or ruining the games quality if they do.
Originally posted by jpaprocki This cash shop reminds me of how lotros started and look at it today! It won't be long before you start seeing crafting supplies and some things that people will call questionable "P2W" items. The only question is how long will it take?
Selective memory much? This is an overview of the different options after it went F2P from Oct 2010
What does that have to do with anything I said? That has nothing to do with the craft shop. Perhaps you should learn to read?
I've been playing LotRO since March 2007. This cash shop is nothing like LotROs was when it started or it is now.
I have been playing LOTRO since March 2007 also and I see the similarities. Are they identical shops? No. However both games are approaching the shop pretty much the same in key aspects. In both games, if you subscribe you get access to all regions, quests, and features of the base game. In both games, if you subscribe you get a monthly allowance of special, non-refundable currency that is used specifically in their cash shop. That is where they are alike. Not to mention LOTRO has had a little over 4 years to add to their cash shop. Yes, LOTRO's starting shop was more extensive, but Turbine already had an idea of what sold in cash shops and how to implement them from DDO. Since ESO and LOTRO seem to function the same way with regards to the sub, it's fair to say that their shop could develop the same overtime. Some people seem to get really bent out of shape though when the thought of associating ESO with any type of f2p game. It was that way before the b2p announcement and it is still that way.
TSW indeed is the best implementation--they do make a game where there's little pressure or real need to visit the cash shop.
And... they are failing miserably. Funcom's income from the game has plummeted further and further each quarter. Even though the game itself is still well received for the most part. The less money, the less significant expansions, which is where they are now.
The lesson being, for an F2P/B2P game to make money after about the first year it implements the model, they need to make the cash store more and more intrusive to keep the money rolling in. That's why it ruins games---either by bankrupting them if they don't force the store in your face, or ruining the games quality if they do.
That's a valid point but if they ever do need to change the cash shop to a more aggressive one due to dwindling box sales and subs, that'll be sometime in 2016 at the earliest since the one thing that ESO has that TSW doesn't is console sales... and those are just starting this spring. The consoles will pretty well guarantee a honeymoon period till the end of 2015.
By then they should have a couple or 3 DLCs out and the uptake of those will give them an indication about how they're doing and if changes are needed. The model they're going for with the DLCs (which likely won't be $5 like the TSW ones) also creates an incentive for them to produce more content, not less.
More likely, IMHO, if they start struggling financially at some point in the future would be a a F2P conversion and with it, a new more F2P-traditional cash shop as well as crippling of F2P accounts.
But all of this is just idle speculation... what matters is how the shop is now and it's pretty damn tame.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Originally posted by jpaprocki This cash shop reminds me of how lotros started and look at it today! It won't be long before you start seeing crafting supplies and some things that people will call questionable "P2W" items. The only question is how long will it take?
Selective memory much? This is an overview of the different options after it went F2P from Oct 2010
What does that have to do with anything I said? That has nothing to do with the craft shop. Perhaps you should learn to read?
I've been playing LotRO since March 2007. This cash shop is nothing like LotROs was when it started or it is now.
I have been playing LOTRO since March 2007 also and I see the similarities. Are they identical shops? No. However both games are approaching the shop pretty much the same in key aspects. In both games, if you subscribe you get access to all regions, quests, and features of the base game. In both games, if you subscribe you get a monthly allowance of special, non-refundable currency that is used specifically in their cash shop. That is where they are alike. Not to mention LOTRO has had a little over 4 years to add to their cash shop. Yes, LOTRO's starting shop was more extensive, but Turbine already had an idea of what sold in cash shops and how to implement them from DDO. Since ESO and LOTRO seem to function the same way with regards to the sub, it's fair to say that their shop could develop the same overtime. Some people seem to get really bent out of shape though when the thought of associating ESO with any type of f2p game. It was that way before the b2p announcement and it is still that way.
One huge difference that you seem to be ignoring is that LOTRO crippled the lesser accounts in significant ways to heavily encourage use of the cash shop - which is just par for the course for F2P games that NEED the cash shop sales to survive.
And as long as we're throwing our LOTRO credentials around, I was there at the beginning and in beta as well.
As to bent out of shape... the only thing that annoys me is lies whether explicit or by omission to try to shoehorn a comparison where it doesn't fit. LOTRO went F2P with all that entails, ESO is not going F2P... there is a difference.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Originally posted by jpaprocki This cash shop reminds me of how lotros started and look at it today! It won't be long before you start seeing crafting supplies and some things that people will call questionable "P2W" items. The only question is how long will it take?
Selective memory much? This is an overview of the different options after it went F2P from Oct 2010
What does that have to do with anything I said? That has nothing to do with the craft shop. Perhaps you should learn to read?
I've been playing LotRO since March 2007. This cash shop is nothing like LotROs was when it started or it is now.
I have been playing LOTRO since March 2007 also and I see the similarities. Are they identical shops? No. However both games are approaching the shop pretty much the same in key aspects. In both games, if you subscribe you get access to all regions, quests, and features of the base game. In both games, if you subscribe you get a monthly allowance of special, non-refundable currency that is used specifically in their cash shop. That is where they are alike. Not to mention LOTRO has had a little over 4 years to add to their cash shop. Yes, LOTRO's starting shop was more extensive, but Turbine already had an idea of what sold in cash shops and how to implement them from DDO. Since ESO and LOTRO seem to function the same way with regards to the sub, it's fair to say that their shop could develop the same overtime. Some people seem to get really bent out of shape though when the thought of associating ESO with any type of f2p game. It was that way before the b2p announcement and it is still that way.
In LotRO you don't get access to all regions and content. You get access to all quest packs that aren't associated with an expansion. You have to pay for expansions in LotRO and the sub doesn't provide access to that stuff. In ESO the sub will provide access to all the content.
In LotRO classes, traits slots, virtues, storage, inventory, LI slots, LI stats/legacies, and many other game mechanics are monetized. In ESO no game mechanics are monetized or cut back.
The cash shop in LotRO has more items but not more types of items than it did when it started. It's essentially the same cash shop with more stuff. When LotRO went F2P it cut back on what players could do (character slots, inventory, traits, etc) without the sub. In ESO nothing is cut back for not subscribing.
This is what the ESO and LotRO cash shop have in common: cosmetics (costumes, horses, pets) and potions (health, energy).
The ESO cash shop and subscription is a lot more like the TERA cash shop and sub than it is LotRO. It could change over time, but right now the ESO cash shop isn't like Turbine's now or when it was released.
Reread what I wrote and you will see I said access to the base game with a sub in LOTRO. ESO will be the same when it starts launching expacs too, yes? And yes, LOTRO's store now has more variety than it did when it launched.
Originally posted by jpaprocki This cash shop reminds me of how lotros started and look at it today! It won't be long before you start seeing crafting supplies and some things that people will call questionable "P2W" items. The only question is how long will it take?
Selective memory much? This is an overview of the different options after it went F2P from Oct 2010
What does that have to do with anything I said? That has nothing to do with the craft shop. Perhaps you should learn to read?
I've been playing LotRO since March 2007. This cash shop is nothing like LotROs was when it started or it is now.
I have been playing LOTRO since March 2007 also and I see the similarities. Are they identical shops? No. However both games are approaching the shop pretty much the same in key aspects. In both games, if you subscribe you get access to all regions, quests, and features of the base game. In both games, if you subscribe you get a monthly allowance of special, non-refundable currency that is used specifically in their cash shop. That is where they are alike. Not to mention LOTRO has had a little over 4 years to add to their cash shop. Yes, LOTRO's starting shop was more extensive, but Turbine already had an idea of what sold in cash shops and how to implement them from DDO. Since ESO and LOTRO seem to function the same way with regards to the sub, it's fair to say that their shop could develop the same overtime. Some people seem to get really bent out of shape though when the thought of associating ESO with any type of f2p game. It was that way before the b2p announcement and it is still that way.
One huge difference that you seem to be ignoring is that LOTRO crippled the lesser accounts in significant ways to heavily encourage use of the cash shop - which is just par for the course for F2P games that NEED the cash shop sales to survive.
And as long as we're throwing our LOTRO credentials around, I was there at the beginning and in beta as well.
As to bent out of shape... the only thing that annoys me is lies whether explicit or by omission to try to shoehorn a comparison where it doesn't fit. LOTRO went F2P with all that entails, ESO is not going F2P... there is a difference.
I didn't mention how LOTRO "crippled" lesser accounts, because that is not similar to what ESO has. I only mentioned what was similar between the two. Make sense?
Am I lying that if you sub to LOTRO and ESO you get a monthly allowance of their cash shop currency? Am I lying when I said that by subbing to LOTRO and ESO you get access to the full base game? Those aren't similarities to you? Like I said,..bent out of shape.
I didn't mention how LOTRO "crippled" lesser accounts, because that is not similar to what ESO has. I only mentioned what was similar between the two. Make sense?
Am I lying that if you sub to LOTRO and ESO you get a monthly allowance of their cash shop currency? Am I lying when I said that by subbing to LOTRO and ESO you get access to the full base game? Those aren't similarities to you? Like I said,..bent out of shape.
Lol, whatever.
You've been on this "it's like the LOTRO cash shop" kick from the moment the details ESO cash shop was announced and several people in various threads have methodically explained to you why you're totally wrong but you just keep on going... got to give you credit for perseverance I guess.
Saying that this is anything like the LOTRO shop is like saying that Roseanne Barr is similar to Halle Berry... yes, they're both women, we get it. And I bet I could do a list of similarities too... but what would be the point?
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
The "monetization experts" will have no doubt told them you don't want an aggressive, casino style cash shop at its launch. For those who think that the cash shop will remain as decent as this, please name one game where that has happened before.
We have seen this so many times, your heart hopes ESO won't go down that line, but in your head you know they will.
The "monetization experts" will have no doubt told them you don't want an aggressive, casino style cash shop at its launch. For those who think that the cash shop will remain as decent as this, please name one game where that has happened before.
We have seen this so many times, your heart hopes ESO won't go down that line, but in your head you know they will.
I don't think the cash shop is bad or has "gone downhill" in GW2 or Tera, and from what I hear TSW. Oh that's right Path of Exile, haha now that I think about it there are quite a few games that have managed to combine a f2p or b2p model while maintaining a reasonable cash shop. We also have Lol, Smite, etc- basically any serious competitive online game. Many console games also pump out decent dlc/expansions after releasing the base game.
I think all you doom and gloomers are just still hating on the fact that yet another mmo dropped its sub-based payment system. The fact that ESO went B2p, and the incredibly tame cash shop it has adopted (I actually think they could go a bit further without damaging the game) is really something gamers should be celebrating. Zeni, or whoever calls the shots, has taken a completely different tack to games like Lotro (from the chart posted above the two systems look as different as night and day) and they should be applauded for that.
I am actually hoping this sets a precedent for future games. F2p sounds attractive (because free) but more and more people are becoming frustrated with the ambiguity and hidden costs of that system. Sub-based is welcomed by people who treat it as a kind of gym membership fee, but it turns off the casual gamer or those that like to play many different games. B2p done right satisfies that fundamental consumer need of feeling satisfied about purchasing something you want at a reasonable price, no strings attached.
Comments
And there are no " free " players. Anyone playing the game has bought it. ZOS isnt going to be removing anything.
Yeah I was hoping the cash shop would feature bag and bank upgrades. That's about all I see myself buying.
Will we still be able to buy mounts in game for gold or is this being relegated to the cash shop?
I am having a great time playing ESO but it appears as if the cash shop will not offer me much. It looks like Ill be able to play for free, at least for the moment, without any negative impact. A win win.
Del Cabon
A US Army ('Just Cause') Vet and MMORPG Native formerly of Trinsic, Norath and Dereth. Currently playing LOTRO.
Still able. Mounts in cash shop is only like costume.
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What does that have to do with anything I said? That has nothing to do with the craft shop. Perhaps you should learn to read?
I'm not an IT Specialist, Game Developer, or Clairvoyant in real life, but like others on here, I play one on the internet.
I am glad eso went b2p, wouldn't have tried otherwise.
I don't think lotro is a good example of cash shop done well. It was okay to begin with but store introduced buying crafting levels, gambling boxes, gear with stats, purchase levels, tomes that give stat upgrades (very small drop chances in game to get these), components that upgrade legendary items like scrolls of empowerment and crystals that upgrade from minor to major legacies (also very hard to obtain in game). I am sure I am forgetting some things.
There was considerable backlash against these changes and now there are more f2p/b2p alternatives so I am hoping zos takes the tsw gw2 route rather than lotro. DDO and lotro were extremely earlier adopters of the f2p transition perhaps the first. Mistakes were made and I hope other devs learn from where turbine went wrong.
Whether the crown store goes down a "slippery slope" is yet to be determined, it is not inevitable. There are examples of b2p games that don't have insidious cash shops like tsw and gw2. B2p devs have more of an incentive to retain players than f2p. Old players are not so easily replaced by new due to the box price.
If I am not paying $15 a month anymore I don't mind paying a bit for something useful but not game breaking like extra inventory. Limiting slots seems quite logical- they do actually need to sell something. There are not that many items they can sell that are actually really useful but don't turn the game into a p2w farce. Inventory and character slots seem safe enough for a b2p game.
Perhaps YOU should learn to read all those "purchase" reference. As in shit that was in the LOTRO store form day one that is nothing like what's in the ESO version... premium classes, character slots, bag space, gold limit, skirmish limit, etc. Plus they also had acceleration potions of different types. I didn't think I had to spell out the relevance but obviously, at least in one case, I was wrong.
LOTRO's store started the way F2P games start with crippled "free" accounts and all kinds of stuff for sale just like in Turbine's first F2P MMO, D&D online. So your "look how it started and look at today!" example is crap...that's all. You guys just don't get that there really is a difference between B2P where the developer gets a large chunk of revenues from box unit sales vs. an F2P game that needs to get most revenue from the cash shop.
If you want to make any relevant "look at it then and look at it now" case for how they all go downhill, use The Secret World's cash shop, the only other game that I'm aware of that started P2P and went B2P instead of F2P... which won't work very well for the doom and gloom point you're trying to make since it hasn't changed much at all from initial B2P conversion to this day.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
For now you can, and when Zenimax are not making enough money they will remove them from the world drops and vendors.
Turbine have moved the riding skills to the cash shop so if you want to ride a horse you now have to pay real money for it or grind turbine points (5 at a time) which can take hours of game play to buy the simple riding skill.
All cash shops start off tame and then things change for the worse.
With these changes to ESO I hope the game burns and dies.
I bet that the day after the patch the soulgems will disappear from the game.
SWTOR has one advantage, a good deal of the Cartel Market stuff gets put on the GTN for credits. Sometimes they are asking for ridiculous amounts for rare drops and name brand items like Revan and Satele Shan stuff. But if you don't "have" to have name brand, there are about 100-200 other types of armor sets and weapons that you can purchase, without spending real money. Other than your sub fee that is, the disadvantage. In a way the Tamriel shop may be a little more mild since they are going B2P with a cash shop rather than P2P with a F2P/Cash Shop hybrid option. I believe both systems will do fine, both Bioware and Zenimax are competent businesses.
TSW indeed is the best implementation--they do make a game where there's little pressure or real need to visit the cash shop.
And... they are failing miserably. Funcom's income from the game has plummeted further and further each quarter. Even though the game itself is still well received for the most part. The less money, the less significant expansions, which is where they are now.
The lesson being, for an F2P/B2P game to make money after about the first year it implements the model, they need to make the cash store more and more intrusive to keep the money rolling in. That's why it ruins games---either by bankrupting them if they don't force the store in your face, or ruining the games quality if they do.
I have been playing LOTRO since March 2007 also and I see the similarities. Are they identical shops? No. However both games are approaching the shop pretty much the same in key aspects. In both games, if you subscribe you get access to all regions, quests, and features of the base game. In both games, if you subscribe you get a monthly allowance of special, non-refundable currency that is used specifically in their cash shop. That is where they are alike. Not to mention LOTRO has had a little over 4 years to add to their cash shop. Yes, LOTRO's starting shop was more extensive, but Turbine already had an idea of what sold in cash shops and how to implement them from DDO. Since ESO and LOTRO seem to function the same way with regards to the sub, it's fair to say that their shop could develop the same overtime. Some people seem to get really bent out of shape though when the thought of associating ESO with any type of f2p game. It was that way before the b2p announcement and it is still that way.
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
That's a valid point but if they ever do need to change the cash shop to a more aggressive one due to dwindling box sales and subs, that'll be sometime in 2016 at the earliest since the one thing that ESO has that TSW doesn't is console sales... and those are just starting this spring. The consoles will pretty well guarantee a honeymoon period till the end of 2015.
By then they should have a couple or 3 DLCs out and the uptake of those will give them an indication about how they're doing and if changes are needed. The model they're going for with the DLCs (which likely won't be $5 like the TSW ones) also creates an incentive for them to produce more content, not less.
More likely, IMHO, if they start struggling financially at some point in the future would be a a F2P conversion and with it, a new more F2P-traditional cash shop as well as crippling of F2P accounts.
But all of this is just idle speculation... what matters is how the shop is now and it's pretty damn tame.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
One huge difference that you seem to be ignoring is that LOTRO crippled the lesser accounts in significant ways to heavily encourage use of the cash shop - which is just par for the course for F2P games that NEED the cash shop sales to survive.
And as long as we're throwing our LOTRO credentials around, I was there at the beginning and in beta as well.
As to bent out of shape... the only thing that annoys me is lies whether explicit or by omission to try to shoehorn a comparison where it doesn't fit. LOTRO went F2P with all that entails, ESO is not going F2P... there is a difference.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Reread what I wrote and you will see I said access to the base game with a sub in LOTRO. ESO will be the same when it starts launching expacs too, yes? And yes, LOTRO's store now has more variety than it did when it launched.
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
I didn't mention how LOTRO "crippled" lesser accounts, because that is not similar to what ESO has. I only mentioned what was similar between the two. Make sense?
Am I lying that if you sub to LOTRO and ESO you get a monthly allowance of their cash shop currency? Am I lying when I said that by subbing to LOTRO and ESO you get access to the full base game? Those aren't similarities to you? Like I said,..bent out of shape.
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
Lol, whatever.
You've been on this "it's like the LOTRO cash shop" kick from the moment the details ESO cash shop was announced and several people in various threads have methodically explained to you why you're totally wrong but you just keep on going... got to give you credit for perseverance I guess.
Saying that this is anything like the LOTRO shop is like saying that Roseanne Barr is similar to Halle Berry... yes, they're both women, we get it. And I bet I could do a list of similarities too... but what would be the point?
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
The "monetization experts" will have no doubt told them you don't want an aggressive, casino style cash shop at its launch. For those who think that the cash shop will remain as decent as this, please name one game where that has happened before.
We have seen this so many times, your heart hopes ESO won't go down that line, but in your head you know they will.
I don't think the cash shop is bad or has "gone downhill" in GW2 or Tera, and from what I hear TSW. Oh that's right Path of Exile, haha now that I think about it there are quite a few games that have managed to combine a f2p or b2p model while maintaining a reasonable cash shop. We also have Lol, Smite, etc- basically any serious competitive online game. Many console games also pump out decent dlc/expansions after releasing the base game.
I think all you doom and gloomers are just still hating on the fact that yet another mmo dropped its sub-based payment system. The fact that ESO went B2p, and the incredibly tame cash shop it has adopted (I actually think they could go a bit further without damaging the game) is really something gamers should be celebrating. Zeni, or whoever calls the shots, has taken a completely different tack to games like Lotro (from the chart posted above the two systems look as different as night and day) and they should be applauded for that.
I am actually hoping this sets a precedent for future games. F2p sounds attractive (because free) but more and more people are becoming frustrated with the ambiguity and hidden costs of that system. Sub-based is welcomed by people who treat it as a kind of gym membership fee, but it turns off the casual gamer or those that like to play many different games. B2p done right satisfies that fundamental consumer need of feeling satisfied about purchasing something you want at a reasonable price, no strings attached.