Elder Scrolls MMORPG will have subscription fee

Excerpt here:

The Elder Scrolls Online will be a "premium" subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, carrying a monthly fee of $14.99/12.99/£8.99 after the first free month.

Zenimax Online Studios president Matt Firor revealed the news in an interview with Gamestar. He said a business model where players pay once per month for access to the entire game is better-suited for the MMO than a free-to-play scheme.

"We feel that putting pay gates between the player and content at any point in game ruins that feeling of freedom, and just having one small monthly fee for 100 percent access to the game fits the IP and the game much better than a system where you have to pay for features and access as you play," Firor said.

"The Elder Scrolls Online was designed and developed to be a premium experience: hundreds of hours of gameplay, tons of depth and features, professional customer support--and a commitment to have ongoing content at regular intervals after launch," he added. "This type of experience is best paired with a one-time fee per month, as opposed to many smaller payments that would probably add up to more than $14.99/month anyway."

Full article here

So, what do you think about this? Personally, I believe a MMORPG has a more thriving community if an hybrid model of F2P/P2P is included like Rift and SW:TOR.

subscription fee. IM OUT

lost all interest.

This game will end up following the same path as TOR.

subscription fee. IM OUT

damann22

First free month? Lol. The first month is the most expensive cause it cost the gamer $50-60. The first month is free nonsense is always holarious to me.

RIP

I was interested in this game, but I guess I am sticking with Guild Wars 2 then!

Good, all the "OMG ITS NOT FREE TO PLAY IT SUCKS" ruined this genre anyway. I'm glad FFXIV and Elder Scrolls actually give a damn about anything more than a quick cash in with item shops and a horrible free2play community. oh and actual good support and updates. inb4 LOL GUILD WARS 2MBirdy88

true,f2p ruined the genre,but it makes sense ,since the vast majority doesnt stay more than 1-2 months in an mmo.and a game like elder scrolls that  counts on casuals and semi-gamers for its success,the same kind that never buy anything and just pirate,will tank.they would never pay for a subscription fee.the game will be f2p in 6 months

Free 2 play games are full of kids who didn't get permission from mommy and daddy to pay a subscription fee for a real MMO. Also full of people who are bad at games and need to get their wallet out to succeed. Typical traits of a F2P mmo.. Heavy doses of instancing, cheaply made, bad support, pay 2 win, non-competitive community due to the fact that the game is broken beyond all repair due to f2p mechanics.

Anyone that says this is a bad thing has never played an mmo before. F2P mmos are trash and are pay to win XxR3m1xInHDn3D

Subscription is the way to go gamewise because then there is no F2P pay to win, but $15 is a huge amount to pay after already buying the game.  Make the game free with $10/month subscription and I think a lot more people will get it.

It will be free 2 play within a year, so i'll just wait. What a dumb decision.

Free 2 play games are full of kids who didn't get permission from mommy and daddy to pay a subscription fee for a real MMO. Also full of people who are bad at games and need to get their wallet out to succeed. Typical traits of a F2P mmo.. Heavy doses of instancing, cheaply made, bad support, pay 2 win, non-competitive community due to the fact that the game is broken beyond all repair due to f2p mechanics.

ShimmerMan

The issue is that there are a lot of really good MMOs out there, and I feel as if TSO doesn't do much to differentiate itself from the pack.

I don't understand why people make a big deal out of $15 a month.

If you're a pc gamer chances are $15 just is not that much money, to most anyway.

The game will fail hard

I hope bethesda can focus on a proper ES game after and some crappy mmo.

It's the preferable payment model. F2P is trashy and often ruins the immersion of the experience (by having some meta-store that controls the entire game).

what little interest I had in trying it is now gone :D

The game will fail hard

I hope bethesda can focus on a proper ES game after and some crappy mmo.

ShepardCommandr

bethesda didnt make TESO

The game will fail hard

I hope bethesda can focus on a proper ES game after and some crappy mmo.

ShepardCommandr

Free 2 play games are full of kids who didn't get permission from mommy and daddy to pay a subscription fee for a real MMO. Also full of people who are bad at games and need to get their wallet out to succeed. Typical traits of a F2P mmo.. Heavy doses of instancing, cheaply made, bad support, pay 2 win, non-competitive community due to the fact that the game is broken beyond all repair due to f2p mechanics.

ShimmerMan

I don't understand why people make a big deal out of $15 a month.

 

If you're a pc gamer chances are $15 just is not that much money, to most anyway.

 

BSC14

That's like $180 a year though. I can do a lot with $180.

Free 2 play games are full of kids who didn't get permission from mommy and daddy to pay a subscription fee for a real MMO. Also full of people who are bad at games and need to get their wallet out to succeed. Typical traits of a F2P mmo.. Heavy doses of instancing, cheaply made, bad support, pay 2 win, non-competitive community due to the fact that the game is broken beyond all repair due to f2p mechanics.

ShimmerMan

Free 2 play games are full of kids who didn't get permission from mommy and daddy to pay a subscription fee for a real MMO. Also full of people who are bad at games and need to get their wallet out to succeed. Typical traits of a F2P mmo.. Heavy doses of instancing, cheaply made, bad support, pay 2 win, non-competitive community due to the fact that the game is broken beyond all repair due to f2p mechanics.

ShimmerMan

It will go free-to-play in less than a year. After the success of Guild Wars 2 no MMO devs have the excuse to use sub fees, they are a relic of the past when it was necessary for devs to keep the servers going. In no way can this compete with WoW. If somebody has to choose between to p2p MMOs I see no reason somebody would chose this over WoW.

I would rather it be like Guild Wars but I would hate it to go F2P. F2P is a horrible mechanic for MMORPGs. You always have to pump more money to actually accomplish anything big. You end up spending more money than a subscription.

Subscriptions aren't bad as long as the devs provide constant content and support. $15 isn't much at all really.

[QUOTE="ShimmerMan"]

Free 2 play games are full of kids who didn't get permission from mommy and daddy to pay a subscription fee for a real MMO. Also full of people who are bad at games and need to get their wallet out to succeed. Typical traits of a F2P mmo.. Heavy doses of instancing, cheaply made, bad support, pay 2 win, non-competitive community due to the fact that the game is broken beyond all repair due to f2p mechanics.

Nick3306

It will go free-to-play in less than a year. After the success of Guild Wars 2 no MMO devs have the excuse to use sub fees, they are a relic of the past when it was necessary for devs to keep the servers going. In no way can this compete with WoW. If somebody has to choose between to p2p MMOs I see no reason somebody would chose this over WoW.

svenus97

Yup, D&D online and LOTR online sure is filled with immature children and poor people. And they are both really bad and cheaply made MMO:s *rolls eyes*kaealy

They also hit a point where you have to pay to continue or get the most out of the game. Both also started as fully subscription based MMOs with full production qualities.

[QUOTE="ShimmerMan"]

Free 2 play games are full of kids who didn't get permission from mommy and daddy to pay a subscription fee for a real MMO. Also full of people who are bad at games and need to get their wallet out to succeed. Typical traits of a F2P mmo.. Heavy doses of instancing, cheaply made, bad support, pay 2 win, non-competitive community due to the fact that the game is broken beyond all repair due to f2p mechanics.

kaealy

[QUOTE="Nick3306"][QUOTE="ShimmerMan"]Or it's full of people who actually have to pay bills and stuff in real life and realize spending $15 a month an a video game is just stupid. MBirdy88

It will go free-to-play in less than a year. After the success of Guild Wars 2 no MMO devs have the excuse to use sub fees, they are a relic of the past when it was necessary for devs to keep the servers going. In no way can this compete with WoW. If somebody has to choose between to p2p MMOs I see no reason somebody would chose this over WoW.

svenus97

I haven't played Guild Wars 2 in months. I grinded my way to 80 and haven't bothered since. It's all focused on personal achivement and there is no reason to play with people. It's not good for a real core experiance. The WvWvW is also a damn mess.

You should check this video out.

Also, lol at people thinking MMOs with sub fees have better communites, obviously you haven't played WoW. GW2 has the best community I've seen in MMOs, why? It has nothing to do with money, it's because it's designed to encourage teamwork

 Ugh the second you linked Wooden Potatoe I facepalmed, take the fangoggles off, he has been hyping the game to a ridiculous level in all his videos LONG before release. and most of the crap he said turned out to be wrong. One of the most anti social MMO's I have EVER played. the dungeons are crap, the combat while could of been good is so shallow. PvP lobby is nearly dead. RvRvR is a zerg fest mess. if you think that has a better teamwork setup than WoW .... then I don't know what to say. barely anybody talks.

Lost all interest. FVCK subscription fees. I buy the game once and thats it

Lost all interest. FVCK subscription fees. I buy the game once and thats it

_SKatEDiRt_

Gamespot wont let me edit my post. Please dont mod me for cussing!! i was going to take it out! 

You should check this video out.

Also, lol at people thinking MMOs with sub fees have better communites, obviously you haven't played WoW. GW2 has the best community I've seen in MMOs, why? It has nothing to do with money, it's because it's designed to encourage teamwork

svenus97

Lol just because you pay makes it better LMAO

*thats $240 for your first year of playing. ENJOY!

Lol just because you pay makes it better LMAO

It's like nobody's even trying anymore with Hybrid models.

Sub? Get bonus loot, content ect..

Not Sub? Get some loot, locked content available for purchase ect....

 Ugh the second you linked Wooden Potatoe I facepalmed, take the fangoggles off, he has been hyping the game to a ridiculous level in all his videos LONG before release. and most of the crap he said turned out to be wrong. One of the most anti social MMO's I have EVER played. the dungeons are crap, the combat while could of been good is so shallow. PvP lobby is nearly dead. RvRvR is a zerg fest mess. if you think that has a better teamwork setup than WoW .... then I don't know what to say. barely anybody talks.

MBirdy88

This announcement tells me two things: 1. Zenimax is confident that ESO will keep people's attention longer than the one or two months that is typical with MMORPGs. 2. The game is directed towards the hardcore. Personally, I don't mind paying for a subscription so long as the game delivers the experience I want. Kinda' crazy that people are dismissing the game outright because of this.DefJeff

If you've been paying attention, people have already been dismissing the game for every small thing about it. Pretty sure most people in this thread who said they won't buy it have already stated dozens of times that they weren't going to buy it based on other things they didn't like about it in previous threads. Really, people just want to come in and reiterate that they aren't going to buy it.

Going to remain optimistic with this news, a sub fee means they'll likely be a higher bar of quality and content since they're expecting people to get and stay into it monthly. Probably won't play it myself though unless it gets really good reviews, I just don't have the time anymore to commit to a sub MMO.

Big mistake. This will be SWTOR all over again. Maybe they will have more replayability, so it takes a year for them to switch instead of SWTOR's 8-9 months, but it is going to be F2P eventually. I will wait til then to try it.