ESO will be subscription based

[Dalos]

ESO is dead to me.

[Williamjsime]

I'll still play it
...Plus it's probably going to become free to play after a few months anyway

[Dalos]

Would going from a subscription to F2P make ESO a failure?
I think it does.

[dzio]

The only reason why they'll do it is if they don't get enough subscribers, so yes. I hope that doesn't happen, even though I won't be able to afford subscription. I'd rather see a fantastic and successful TES game I can't play now, but possibly will in the future, than a failed one I can play for free.

[Chaos the N'wah]

I had hoped they would stick with the buy to play model and eke out cash through a cash shop and DLCs so the game would be more accessible to new players, but I don't blame them for wanting the financial stability that comes with a flat sub fee. I'll still pay it (I paid for WoW and Rift's fees back in the day, and I didn't even like the IP of either a whole lot), but it means less of my friends will be willing to join with me.

The way I look at it is this, if ESO has a strong enough following a year after launch, when the traditional population drop off has occurred (as it does with all MMOs) Zenimax will have the means to open a secondary cash flow such as a the above mentioned cash shop, an expansion, and/or a premium membership (if so, hopefully more towards the side of minor convenience boosts and cosmetics rather than something gamebreaking). With that comes the potential for the sub fee to be lowered if they want more players; it's something MMOs do to try and swell their numbers, but it's hard to give up +15 million a month

I look forward to the game when it launches next spring, as well as watching the tantrums that will come with this announcement

[Alarra]

Yeah, I do think I'll pay the subscription fee. They say in that interview that it'll be $14.99/month with the first month free, and discounts if you buy several months at a time, which I'll almost certainly do. $15 is about what I was expecting. I'll hopefully have a full-time job by the time it comes out, so I'll be able to afford it. I'm liking what I've seen of the game so far.

[Avron the S'wit]

Well, for whoever is playing, I'll be there, so no worries.

I'd rather have a P2P model then a B2P or F2P that rewards those who can dish out money by giving them absurdly powerful rewards in-game. I used to hate that artifacts, extra lessons, and even skill boosts in exchange for money. It can be done well, but in the MUD I played, it tipped the scales too much in those players' favor, and it was unfair in the game world.

[Chaos the N'wah]

Yeah, I do think I'll pay the subscription fee. They say in that interview that it'll be $14.99/month with the first month free, and discounts if you buy several months at a time, which I'll almost certainly do. $15 is about what I was expecting. I'll hopefully have a full-time job by the time it comes out, so I'll be able to afford it. I'm liking what I've seen of the game so far.

The lowest I've seen (for $15 subs) is $9.99 per month if you sub for a full year (3 months being a normal sub and 6 months gaining a discount down to $12.99)

[Musicman247]

$120 a year is less than what I spend on coffee. If the game is good enough I'll support it.

[Abel]

I'll hold off for a month or two and if it's a good game I'll gladly pay for it. I spend a lot more on games per month than 15 dollar anyway.

[VirtualWeasel]

I'm gonna see how my first impressions pan out and see if draining my funds is worth it or not.

[Br3admax]

$120 a year is less than what I spend on coffee. If the game is good enough I'll support it.

Not me, my coffee's free.

Anyway, I'm not saving up my money until I see how it goes. I don't really think it'll last that long, to be honest, but if it does Zenimax will earn my praise.

[Baloth-Kul]

I heard the news as soon as it popped up last night, and my heart sank. I had been thinking that if it was sub based, I wouldn't get it. But I'm thinking...I might just wait and see. If there's even more goodness to be had, I might just get it.

[Williamjsime]

I agree with everyone on the P2P and have a even playing field over F2P and having people spending a tonne of monies to dominate everyone else

[Br3admax]

It's not like having P2P stops that from happening. They'll just come up with something similar to a platinum membership for those who pay more, normal will be called something like Gold Membership, and if F2P happens, it'll be called something similar to a Silver Membership. It won't really effect anything but server quality most like.

[legoless]

At €13 a month I won't even be able to justify playing the game. Disappointed with the announcement. I'd pay €60 for a singleplayer version if they're so worried about server costs.

[Musicman247]

Clear a month out of your schedule, buy the game, and then play the heck out of it for the free month. Problem solved.

[The Tom]

This is impacting my hype. I mean, I know that this is a better guarantee of a quality, regularly-updated product, but at the same time it's a bit of a financial hurdle for a semi-employed 19 year old. Well, 20 year old by next year, but still.

If the ES fanbase is large enough to support this game without it going f2p after a year then that's great, but somehow I doubt it.

[Black_Dog]

I'm a bit worried, now. They're creating themselves problems : a monthly fee why not, but 15 bucks (and that's not counting the initial purchase) ? They seem to forget people also play other games.
What I've seen from the Quakecon presentation was a little too 'generic fantasy' to justify such an investment.

I do hope they have some nice content planned...

[moonsugarkind]

I'm not going to spend $60 for a game I can play for only a month before I have to shell out an additional $15 a month to play. It's just not worth it.

[Musicman247]

It's worked for WoW so far. And if they're charging monthly I would guess it won't be $60.

[Chaos the N'wah]

From what I can recall, box prices range from $30 to $50 for launch and generally drop after the first expansion (I believe vanilla WoW is $19.99 or some cent variation)

[julystork]

It's worked for WoW so far. And if they're charging monthly I would guess it won't be $60.

Thing is: WOW's the ONLY mmo game it has worked for

Do you know how many mmorpgs went f2p because sub failed for them? Swtor, Tera, Rift are just 3 examples of many

Even Tsw went b2p since sub turn out to be unviable; seems gw2's b2p is the ideal mmo model

Sigh, why zenimax did not learn?

[Taters]

Isn't it lovely how everyone craps all over something that isn't even out yet because of a payment model they think won't be worth it? I understand perfectly well that some of you may not be able to pay $15 a month even if ESO is the greatest game ever made, but for those of you who might be able to, at least wait until the damn thing's out before you start railing against it. I suspect half the reason the P2P model tends, by and large, to fail is because of exactly that kind of behavior.

@Musicman247: I spend that on coffee every month.

[Williamjsime]

It's not like having P2P stops that from happening. They'll just come up with something similar to a platinum membership for those who pay more, normal will be called something like Gold Membership, and if F2P happens, it'll be called something similar to a Silver Membership. It won't really effect anything but server quality most like.

I seriously doubt they will. If we have to buy the game and pay monthly they won't have multi-tiered membership. Especially if they've seen the P2P feedback. I can't think of any game that has P2P and a second layer of membership.