Is the "no fee" option a viable one?

[stebbinsd]

I can't seem to find any info on it now, but I remember reading, about a year ago, that ESO technically doesn't require a monthly fee, but you get a bunch of nifty bonuses if you pay a monthly fee. While some of them are merely a percent-based increase in XP gained or how much gold you find in dungeons, other stuff included a free mount and various other starting supplies.

 

Is it viable to play the game WITHOUT getting this starting gear right off the bat?

 

Case in point: Many years ago, back in 2007, I tried out a particular MMO called "Project Entropia." It was advertised to me that I didn't need to pay a monthly fee to play the game ... my in-game currency could come purely from a grind known as "sweating." Basically using my telekinesis (in a sci-fi game, no less) to pull sweat off animals, potentially aggroing them. Selling this supposedly-valuable sweat could then get me the in-game currency to buy weapons and armor.

 

The problem? Sweat would only sell for about 1 unit of in-game currency per vial! It would take me nearly a hundred hours of sweating to actually get enough in-game cash to buy a full set of even low-level gear! Sweating simply was not a viable option. It's a beginner's trap so they could TECHNICALLY say it was free to play!

 

I'd like to know ... is this starter gear so valuable, and so hard to come by without the premium membership, that I simply can't afford to not get the premium membership? Or would I only be looking at a short, 5-10 hour grindfest to get this starter gear & mount?