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[Column] Elder Scrolls Online: An Open Letter to Zenimax
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
With patch 1.6 finally on the PTS and our review of its major changes being out, I think it’s time I sit down and have a one sided discussion with Zenimax. I’ve sat idly by enjoying all the fantastic content and changes that ZOS has been doing to the game but there are areas of The Elder Scrolls Online that haven’t seen any love since the launch of the game almost a year ago and they need to be addressed.
Read more of Ryan Getchell's Elder Scrolls Online: An Open Letter to Zenimax.
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Comments
Keep wishing. There is WoW then ESO, then everything else. ESO is here to stay.
Nice write up Ryan. It's hard to disagree with anything you said.
They would not have the whole team debgging and polishing,likely only a few people.
So where is the TEAM,there should be around 150 man teams working on triple A projects,often times many more.
I think what pretty mcuh every developer does is afte the initial money grab,they know little money is coming in so they cut their overhead dramatically.That means when you hear devs tell you they are fully committed to future content,you know it is bs.
If they are 100% serious about the future of the game then there would be the same team that made the game working on every piece of future content.If they want a console port fine get a team for that,otherwise you are ignoring the players who supported your game and just aiming at the NEW money grab,the console players.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
For the record, the entire team is still intact. If you are saying hire other people to do the console thing, I can see where you're coming from. Idk if that's the way ESO was built though. I kinda think the ones who built ESO pc have been build ESO console all along.
Keep wishing. There is WoW then ESO, then everything else. ESO is here to stay.
Nice write up Ryan. It's hard to disagree with anything you said.
Well I wish there were no more articles about it, the game can stay playable for people that like it.Fair enough
That's funny because AFAIK SWTOR was still #2 for profits in an MMO. Do we have numbers that say otherwise?
The question is, "Does ESO have numbers that say other wise?" ZOS is apparently to embarrassed to say. Besides, if someone mentions the top and bottom of the pile of the MMO industry, of course there is everything else in between.
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
yes we do. http://venturebeat.com/2014/10/23/the-10-highest-grossing-online-pc-games-in-2014-hearthstone-dota-2-cant-compete-with-league-of-legends/
“Also, its new title Hearthstone managed to come in at No. 10,” said van Druenen. “That is ahead of titles like Elder Scrolls Online ($111M) and Star Wars: The Old Republic ($106M).”
Oh certainly. There are plenty of numbers about ESO's profitability and player retention. The only problem is that not a single one is verified or valid.
Like when Superdata reported 750K subscriptions? People latched on to that being current subscriptions, but the context was that of total subscribers. Like how I had subscribed to WoW in the past. So I count as a subscriber in some data collection. But I'm not active. In other words, since ESO was initially subscription based, that number was probably closer to the boxed sales figure than current subscribers. In that light, it's not really all that impressive.
But then again, it assumes that 750K was an accurate number to begin with and given Superdata, it probably wasn't.
This is exactly it, with bethesda and all it's subsidiaries being privately owned, we will never see any quarterly financial reports like we do with Blizzard for example. Any numbers you see reporting on Bethesda or its subsidiaries are purely speculations and in some cases financial projections using weighted numbers.
"When Bethesda Softworks released Elder Scrolls Online, the industry took notice as the publisher fearlessly announced a subscription model, rather than going free-to-play like its direct competitor Guild Wars 2(NCsoft). So far, a subscriber base of 772,374 (June) indicates that its strategy is working."
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/404/view/forums/thread/417714/Elder-Scrolls-Online-SuperData-Research-Pegs-ESO-at-Nearly-800000-Subscribers.html
Nope try again
The LFG tool and the crafting system need some major love and attention.
The crafting is an average system that really brings little to the player and game. If they want to make it as important to the game as it was originally announced to be then I suggest they use a crafting system similar to FFXIV where it is not tied to your character level, but has its own leveling system. Remove the need to have skill points from leveling and collecting Skyshards to increase your ranking in a profession and create a new system so crafters can feel like it is a profession not a side-job for their character.
The LFG system is just plain broken (from my experience)! I have not been able to have one group match up with it for any dungeon no matter how I use it.
Why don't you show me a link from the game's publisher or something at least official and not made up?
There have only been 'guesstimates' made about ESO's player numbers or revenue, if you check out the small print at Superdata, they even state that their 'estimates' are based on the games Peers, and not even from Zenimax directly or indirectly. Subsequently there is no actual data to support that ESO's 'profitability' if it is such, is even comparable to the top 5 MMO's let alone the top 10. That Zenimax has steadfastly refused to publish any data of their own, even informally, and are now changing their subscription model, makes it blatantly obvious that all is not well, it wouldn't surprise me at all to hear that ESO is in fact closely mirroring Wildstar in terms of player numbers and revenue. The Console launch i feel, is more than likely Zenimax's last throw of the dice with ESO, especially as i am not sure that Zenimax will be able to conceal player numbers all that effectively, on servers for both the XB1 and the PS4. Interesting times indeed!
Because none exist of course !
It's easy to believe something when it supports your point of view because it "looks" right, not because it actually is.
Its a bit like the whole Xfire and Raptor thing, people try to use them to justify their own arguments, when they appear to indicate a trend etc, that supports their own theories, but then discount them when they do not, when really, any argument based on them is inherently flawed anyway.
I remember those. Especially after GW2 launched. It was so bad, just mentioning XFire in a thread got it moderated. But yeah, a trend inside a sample group is not an accurate number outside that group.
Just as flawed as your own earlier post regarding the changes to the monetization and the console launch ?
The console launch was an established fact even before the PC launch, so it can hardly be described as a "desperate last-ditch money grab". And the payment model for the console version was always in doubt. Nobody thought Zenimax would have the balls to copy Square Enix (FFXIV:ARR) and demand a monthly sub for the console version. It seems popular opinion won the day.
But Zenimax are probably correct in their console strategy. Skyrim sold 3 times more copies on console than on the PC, so there's a lot of gold in them thar hills... best not to ruffle any feathers before plucking the goose clean.
SWTOR will be a distant second to ESO when it comes to earnings after ESO's console launch. SWTOR cannot go there, so they can never take advantage of the massively expanded player base. ESO is also getting a Cash Shop along with the huge potential console player numbers, I'm sure Zenimax is dizzy with anticipation...
I'm not entirely convinced that they really wanted to be in the MMORPG market... the market is already flooded and this game is going to be more work for them than they ever intended to get involved with. I see ESO being their first and last MMO, with no expansions to come... this is pretty much all you're gonna get. A one trick pony with them returning to the single player market where they should have stayed.
Well since you are not interested in the game why do you not go away?
Instead the game has to??
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!