So, When Creation Club Gets Around to Skyrim...

[nightscrawl]

It LOOKS like if you get Survival Mode in the "free" period, you get to keep it for free afterwards. But I agree, the wording is vague enough to allow Bethesda to say: "No, we only meant it was free for a week."

 

But I'll stick to Frostfall and other, established free mods.

 

Oh, and for those who try to get it afterwards, notice how they "priced" it at 800 credits, but you have to buy the 1500 credit level (for $14.99) to get it since the next level down is only 750 credits. Unless you saved your free 100 credits, that means Bethesda is effectively getting $15 for Survival Mode, not $8. Tell me that wasn't done deliberately when they set the credit cost.

 

The pricing thing is the most scummy aspect of the whole Creation Club. I have no issue with modders getting paid. The actual content comes down to user preference. But they have deliberately priced these things in order to get us to spend the most money possible, even if that means we have spare points left over, just sitting around.

 

IMO, they should have had two options for pricing: units of 50, and units of 100. If something costs 800 points, then people can buy eight units of 100 points, or combine the two amounts for however much they need -- an item costing 450 would be four 100 units and one 50 unit. This doesn't mean separate purchases, but selecting the amount of something you want to buy, just as in any other online transaction -- "I'll buy four of these, and one of this, and two of those."

[LeddBate]

 

The pricing thing is the most scummy aspect of the whole Creation Club. I have no issue with modders getting paid. The actual content comes down to user preference. But they have deliberately priced these things in order to get us to spend the most money possible, even if that means we have spare points left over, just sitting around.

 

IMO, they should have had two options for pricing: units of 50, and units of 100. If something costs 800 points, then people can buy eight units of 100 points, or combine the two amounts for however much they need -- an item costing 450 would be four 100 units and one 50 unit. This doesn't mean separate purchases, but selecting the amount of something you want to buy, just as in any other online transaction -- "I'll buy four of these, and one of this, and two of those."

 

 

(Imitating Pete Hines voice): "But, but, that would make SENSE! (And less money for us...)"

 

On the (possibly) bright-side, I just got notified by someone here (who I implicitly trust) that CC will no longer FORCE files onto your PC's hard drive. I haven't confirmed it yet (can anyone else chime in with solid info?) but I will try to ASAP. If this is true, that's great. And it knocks down one of the major gripes I had about the CC. I wonder if this is also true for consoles. Would be fantastic for them if so. No longer would they have to worry about their limited drive space being filled up with files they don't want.

 

EDIT: Okay, here's Bethesda responding to the subject of files being forced onto hard drives in connection with CC.

In particular, the update at the end pretty well spells it out.

Quote:

Why do the Creation Club assets download for everyone? [uPDATED]

This was a requirement for some platforms and how Creation Club needed to work. Most other games that offer similar content do the same. We realize this is a frustration point for players and we are working on a solution to change the way this functions. On the PC, this will not happen with Skyrim Special Edition, and has been patched for future releases on Fallout 4. Unquote.

 

So, unless something changes drastically, that pretty well ends the "OMG, this is gonna clog up my drive!" worry for PC users. But I'll still leave that option in the poll until (and if) Bethesda assures us that console users also won't get the files shoved onto their drive.

Edited October 1, 2017 by LeddBate

[Virde]

This is really a non-issue for PC users. We are not the market audience for this. Bethesda has already shown they have no interest in removing free versions of mods that already exist, and that they are making changes to handle concerns about it auto-downloading onto your drive. So they are listening, they just don't care about some of the complaints coming their way.

 

I have no problem with CC. I'll snag free stuff when it's free (like I've done with FO4 so far with Horse Power Armor, Prey Rad Suit, and Onyx Paint Job). If a piece of content is good enough I /might/ pay for it (like the backpack mod for FO4 is tempting). But that really depends on the item at hand.

 

It really doesn't negatively affect anyone and benefits console players who couldn't get access to quality mods because of platform limitations. It also greatly benefits the third part contractors working on CC content (like giving them experience in the gaming industry for their resume and you know, getting paid). I'd be naive to think Bethesda would give all of the CC content away for free after paying people to make it. But so far I've snagged 4 items for free and get the feeling I can get more.

I'm on a leaning-positive-but-neutral side to this.

[LeddBate]

This is going to sound at least a little hypocritical of me, but I actually LIKE the concept of Bethesda's "Survival Mode". Yes, the free mods (Frostfall, WiC-C, iNeeds, etc.) do a better job in combination. But that's the point. SM is a one-stop mod that does MOST of that for the console users. That's actually pretty cool. If I had a XBOX I'd probably want this mod (pardon, I meant "content") so very much.

 

My issue is with the pricing. Putting Survival Mode at 800 credits, thus forcing most folks to buy the 1500 CR tier to get it, just seems to be so blatantly (to quote nightscrawl) "scummy". Because it turns a $8 mod into a $15 purchase. (Unless you've still got your free 100 credits laying around.) The only thing worse than this sort of practice is those #%$^& "Loot" crates in other games. Hey kids, you don't have to wait until you're 18 to gamble. You can do it NOW with loot crates!

 

Coming Soon to Creation Club for Skyrim Special Edition: Loot Barrels! Only 25 credits per barrel! Buy 10 barrels, get the 11th one free!

http://i975.photobucket.com/albums/ae239/CON-Troll/Dovahkinda/YouKnowItsComing1.png

 

http://i975.photobucket.com/albums/ae239/CON-Troll/Dovahkinda/YouKnowItsComing2.png

 

Oh gawds, I just gave Pete a terrible idea. (Searches frantically for delete button...)

 

EDIT: Let me be PERFECTLY CLEAR. This is snarky humor ONLY. The images above were photo-shopped (well, paint.net-ed actually, but whatever.) So don't start raging thinking this is real. It's just humor.

I know, I know. I shouldn't have to spell this out. But as someone else here on the forums put it: "Derps will derp..."

Edited October 3, 2017 by LeddBate

[Taramafor]

I went with the top answer. It's Bethesda trying to charge money for content that is basically mods. Again. When I buy a game I buy "the game". And if I have it for 5 years I expect to have the full content at that point. Not something released with yet another price tag slapped on. Survival might be free for now, but it's going to cost £15 later. And later content put in Skyrim likely won't have the "Buy now for free" thing. And mods have done it better. Which adds further insult to injury.

 

The ONLY time this doesn't apply is when the content is on a large scale. New maps, multiple units and factions spread out. New story content. A MULTIPLE number of things that enhance the gameplay. If we give in to paying for survival now it's going to risk having to Beth charge for horse armor later. Bethesda had their chance and they messed up. And here I see a over 5 year old game getting an additional price tag slapped on. Yes the company wants money for other games. No that doesn't mean THIS game gets away with being paid through the nose for. Especially when mods have already done it. The only real change is the debuffs (since frostfall and needs and requirements were clearly pasted. Not a bad thing in and of itself), but that's a simple enough thing to do. And certainty shouldn't have taken over 5 years to do it.

 

Now if it was a donation system I wouldn't mind at all. Anything from creation club could then be paid for due to the content alone. In other words if there's a small donation for the current content it could be a hint to the makers that more things need to be added in. And if there's a large donation (and this can be well over an asking price) it could be a sign that it's doing something right. Either way it's a sign that there's some form of feedback to be had. You simply do not get that with fixed prices. I bet Bethesda would be actually getting money from creation club easily if they implemented a donation funded system. But they are once again trying to force "mod content" on the players. It started with Oblivion horse armor. It's continued in Fallout 4 (though I don't know the history with creation club with Fallout 4) and it's continued into survival with Skyrim. There's no "early days" about it. It's been going on for years as it is.

 

At least they're no longer trying to charge people for mods other people made. To quote what I said earlier, if modders do good work I would encourage donations to the mod makers. I'm quote proud of campfire myself. Love my immersion. Going to point out that immersive things like this are lacking in survival in Skyrim. I think that says it all.

Edited October 7, 2017 by Taramafor

[pgir001]

This is my opinion and entirely subjective so take it for what it's worth. Look at what happened when Steam tried to implement paid for mods. Valve mishandled the entire implementation and execution and Bethesda stepped in and stopped it. Modding is very important to Bethesda, it's added a life to their games that isn't seen elsewhere. Much of the success of SSE alone is due in no small part to the modding of Skyrim over the years. Bethesda wants to capitalize on an untapped potential source of revenue. But they also know they need to be very careful and not muck it all up. Will they make mistakes? Sure, but I think they will correct them. As I said, they don't want to ruin what has made this very successful. I also believe that modders have the right to earn money on their work. With one major caveat. The mods need to be worthy of my money. Don't flip crap at me and think I'm gonna pony up for it. The vast majority of mods on Nexus and in Steam's Workshop aren't worth a dime.

 

That said, I would like to express my biggest concern for the future of modding. Bethesda is not know for fixing their broken games. They have left this to the modders, who have stepped up and take on this responsibility. So, should Arthmoor be paid for his unofficial mod series? Absolutely! He's put a tremendous amount of effort into making the games playable. And these mods take a broken game and make them work. But, they aren't exactly "optional". So here is the dilemma. He's due money, I won't deny that. But not by me. I've paid for Skyrim and I expect it to work. I think it's wrong of Bethesda to shirk their responsibility to provide a working game onto the community and then allow that community to charge even more money after purchasing the title just to be able to actually play it. If they want Arthmoor to fix their game, then Bethesda needs to pay Arthmoor for this type of mod. Which I don't even really consider it a mod since it's not modding the game, but making it function at a basic level.

Edited October 9, 2017 by pgir001

[LeddBate]

Gopher has just put out a video, showing what happens when you use Creation Club's Survival Mode alongside the non-CC mods "SkyUI and iHUD" (requiring SKSE-64bit, of course.)

 

As you probably guessed, there are issues...

[pgir001]

I saw the video on the Arcane Archery bug. But you know......I wasn't all that upset about it. Assuming the issue is addressed and corrected. As I said above, I think Bethesda want's to find the balance and they will work to that end. Many modders want to be able to make money from their work and Bethesda want's to support this. So Who are we to stand in that way?

 

But (.......HUGE "BUT" here.)

 

I, most likely will never pay for a mod. I just don't think they are worth it. Most aren't worth money. in fact looking at Nexus, over 50K mods in Skyrim, how many of those are garbage? The vast majority are crap. Or were created for "another" purpose associated with that "other" mod site.

 

Not to mention the frustration of buying them only to find some don't play well with others.

Edited October 10, 2017 by pgir001

[NoelOne]

I have two consoles and my PC that I can game on. What the whole CK thing did, is guarantee I won't play Bethesda products on console, ever again. I have FO and Skyrim (Original edition) for the console for fun, time wasting and trying out new styles on Vanilla but there is no way in Hades I'm going to have them stuffed with crap I did not want. I think the CK is a poorly thought idea and it has NOT improved my opinion of Bethesda, and that is sad because I like Beth-Soft games.

[CosmicArrow]

The thing I don't understand is how people defend this for console gamers yet when exclusives get released for consoles the same people say, "Shoulda bought a console". :/