Elder Scrolls Online Using Subscription Fees

[Ironman5000]

Yeah if you want to debate about that then start your own thread...oh wait :whistling:

 

Anyway after some consideration it doesn't sound so bad, especially if there a chance the monthly fee would drop which I might wait for. If F2P MMOs do charge for baubles and addons then I think a subscription might be the better option for me to get everything.

Edited August 26, 2013 by Ironman5000

[raatorotta]

Another game i can't afford... i guess i keep playing single players only...

[Thor.]

Meh another possible game that i would have probably bought if it was buy to play, and no monthly charge, have they learned anything from borderlands 2, probably not. Now that's a game to look up to. :dance: :D

 

I doubt there will be a mmo that would ever compare to it.

Edited September 1, 2013 by Thor.

[Vagrant0]

Meh another possible game that i would have probably bought if it was buy to play, and no monthly charge, have they learned anything from borderlands 2, probably not. Now that's a game to look up to. :dance: :D

 

I doubt there will be a mmo that would ever compare to it.

Big difference between the two... Generally, a MMO cannot fund its servers and development team solely from the sales of a boxed game. Atleast, not a MMO with a persistent world. In a standard MMO, even if you do not have any players in an area, you still have the servers related to that area running and emulating NPC behavior. Although "zoning" is mostly done away with in your modern MMO, there are still places of transition between areas which allows the game client to switch between which actual server is sending the player data. This behavior can clearly be seen by monitoring IP traffic when moving around a MMO world. Even a small MMO can have several dozen servers connected to a single network. For every network, you have people being paid to essentially babysit them and make sure they keep working around the clock. With all this complication, and by nature of games being buggy, you also need an active staff of people around to fix errors as they happen, roll back data, reimburse players, or simply remove those public elements who are being jerks. Then you have a team of programmers who work to resolve game bugs and incorporate content and events. Then, if you are producing the game yourself instead of just paying a contract to host the game, you have a second team of programmers, writers, and artists who work towards producing new content for that game.

 

Guildwars can manage without monthly fees, but mostly because they do not have many servers, have almost no active GM type staff, are not too invested in releasing new content, and game areas are isolated and generated on demand. Guildwars also has income from the game store which pays for the small amounts of extra art (usually bought extras) and the few patches and additions that get added here and there. They also don't do price drops, meaning that after the main group of sales has paid for the development, all the other money is just being funded towards the next game and maintenance. Regardless, it is not a model that would work with what ESO is trying to accomplish.

 

F2P games, generally are either produced in Korea or some other country where the labor (cost of living) is cheaper and then licensed for hosting in America. Or, the quality/support for that game is negligible. Or the game straight up does everything it can to suck money from players early on by means of broken mechanics, severe limitation of what you can do with a free account/bought extras, or other means of extortion. This is also why most F2P games tend to be broken, suck horribly, or just require you to throw money at them constantly.

[hector530]

Meh another possible game that i would have probably bought if it was buy to play, and no monthly charge, have they learned anything from borderlands 2, probably not. Now that's a game to look up to. :dance: :D

 

I doubt there will be a mmo that would ever compare to it.

 

comparing an MMO which have persistent worlds filled with thousands of players vs a game that uses a peer-to-peer system.....

[Thor.]

There is also Planet side 2 which is doing alright and its completely free, does that count???.

[dudutz18]

First, don't stone me if this' been said.

 

Judging based on trailers, - I think - ESO will get swallowed by many upcoming korean MMOs like "Boobs & Soul," Arche Age, Black Desert, Black Sheep, Black Gold, and I don't even know why they are so obsessed with the word Black. ESO player base may be a huge problem once they are released in NA/EU approx by mid 2014. There's still likelihood they will maintain subscription fee though much is to be expected from this (Active GMs in-game, excels in support, bug fixes, list goes on).

 

From financial prespective, Zenimax is a private company so they probably haven't raised too much money from the public thus reducing the need to pay them back in a steady basis. Still, I don't know how they plan to make return from this but they need to do better to appeal to more audiences. Eg. Square Enix can maintain subscription fee based Final Fantasy because they don't have too many servers and they have mainstream income despite them being a public company.

 

I think the fee isn't a problem especially to people with a job, but the opportunity cost is. One can buy a more appealing game instead right? I personally loved the idea of ESO but the trailer... the combat looked just as robotic as tes:oblivion.. I was expecting it to have some gigantic monster pve kind of style and a well animated FPS combat with a lot of moves to choose from but I guess I was expecting too much lol. I'll be trying out some of those korean MMOs and for sure, Tom Clancy's Division!

[hector530]

Planetside 2 still has pay walls. Like weapons only obtainable by Cash.

 

I don't think tes online will swallowed up by Korean mmo mainly these mmo are small time and not popular in the west.

 

Also Square Enix Isn't in the best of shape. They said if ff online is a complete failure (Again) it'll bankrupt them

[Thor.]

Dust514?? even though its tied to eve, its still considered free to play.

[Vagrant0]

Dust514?? even though its tied to eve, its still considered free to play.

Boxed game for PS3. Upfront costs paid by direct game sales, servers probably supported by money from EVE since both can interact with eachother.

 

In addition to the paywall, Planetside 2 also doesn't have that many actual servers.