Its official, you have to pay a monthly fee to play this game

http://kotaku.com/youll-pay-a-monthly-fee-to-play-the-elder-scrolls-onli-1176508405

There is the article explaining this.

I for one will not be playing this game anymore which is pretty damn upsetting since I was excited to play.

I probably wouldn't play it regardless but personally I prefer a monthly subscription over a web of micro-transactions.

The far better approach for people who want to feel like they're playing a whole game and doesn't take pleasure in buying their games' content piecemeal.

@funkydupe said:

Though to be fair, I can't help but think they're planning and hoping to do both.

@professoress: Of course they are at some level anyway. Too much of it just doesn't fly in a Subscription based MMO, so they should tread carefully.

Wonder how long it'll take for them to drop the subscription. I'd say it lasts 6 months.

Well, that obliterates any chance there was that I'd play this.

I'll be paying the $5/month for PS+ then the additional $14.99/month just for ESO. Thats why I won't be paying for that game.

Instead you're possibly playing more, for less content, on a monthly basis, whether or not they're adding new content or you're even playing the game. No thanks.

I'd have prefered the Guild Wars approach of simply paying for the game and then being done with it. No DLC (beyond cosmetic fluff) or on-going subscriptions.

Then I'm out. It's the same reason I'm not picking up FFXIV next week, I've already got one subscription-based MMO I like to play, and I'm not willing to start paying for more than one MMO at a time. I feel bad every time I re-up on Swtor subscription time even though it's always worth the money, so I can't see me starting a whole new subscription-based MMO and having to choose between them. Besides, I spend too much of my time in Swtor worrying about when my subscription is going to run out, and it ultimately makes the game less fun. I'm a big proprietor for the Guild Wars 2 model of, you know, paying once like a regular videogame. I don't think it's totally unreasonable for them to ask, but I'm not paying it. Maybe it'll go F2P in a year like most other MMOs.

This will be F2P sooner or later, so it's not that big of a deal.

And I prefer Guild Warss'es's'ses' take on subscription fees. Which is to...

ELBOW DROP THEM IN THE FACE!

Huh. weird. I thought the line they had been pushing was that it was more of Elder Scrolls Online as in a co-op game instead of an MMO. But this definitely pushes it into MMO territory. Better bring it with them content updates.

So I have to buy the game, and proceed to pay monthly fees to play the game I've already bought? That is fuckin' absurd.(it should be noted i know little about mmos so if there is actually a good reason to do this then its fine.)

Okay, thanks for freeing up some of my time, game

That's usually how MMOs work. Though, you usually get one month free with your game purchase. Depending how into it your are, you could very well get your fill from that free month.

People are acting like this is some novel,-drop-kick-to-the-face procedure for MMO's. This is how they usually work ( and I think it is much better than that micro-transaction crap that has been coming out recently).

I don't like pay to play anymore. I used to never have a problem with it but after years of playing MMORPG's I started to feel like I was pressuring myself to play because I had a subscription going. I think SOE is doing a great job with how they handle free to play in Planetside 2. Now I can not worry about having to get on just because I'm obligated. I'd rather pay individually for xp boosts or whatever when I feel like it. I also don't have to feel bad about wanting to play but knowing I'll only play for an hour for that month and be bored. Before I'd have to fork over $15 just to feel nostalgic for an hour. Now I can just jump in and out without have ever payed.

Also add to the fact that you can get a lot more people to play your game when it's freely available. Which means more people get to try it and more people may end up spending at least 15 a month in game. I just feel like if used right (like SOE so far) then it's win win for everyone.

It feels like the issue is that ESO doesn't have a lot of features that necessitates it being MMO let alone justification for the subscription. So far what they've been demoing has shown more like an "online co-op" game than an MMO so I'm not sure where the justification for the subscription fee is coming from.

oh wow, i was really looking forward to this game too. oh well, fuck that shit. Besides Wow, who the hell pays subscription fee's in 2013? Paying for gold/ps+ AND having to pay monthly for this shit? naww

@leftie68: I'm not sure I agree. Even when we're talking about microtransaction heavy F2P games, how many of them require you to spend $15 a month to keep up with the game?

With a subscription based game, you're still paying for new content (on a monthly basis IF they even add anything new), you're still paying for the boxed copy, you're paying whenever they decide to release new expansions and you're usually still paying for fluff items in a cash shop as well. Yes, it's the standard business model, but that doesn't make it a good one.

Meanwhile, many F2P games provide new content for free and only require you to pay for the fluff. It's hard to see subscriptions as anything but an attempt to gouge the consumer for all their worth before introducing a F2P option 6-8 months later.

Welp. I guess that's it for this game.

*fart noises*

nope

Then it's already dead.

It'll have a bunch of subscribers for the first couple months, numbers will then proceed to nosedive for the months thereafter, and the game will be free to play within a year.

All of this has happened before; all of this will happen again.

What a bummer.

It's cool, just give them a couple months.

I was always under the impression that it would be subscription based, but $15 a month? No thanks.

@wintersnowblind: I agree this is a risky move, but all indications from Zenimax was that this game was going to be a premium, service-oriented, immersive Online game. Honestly, the best MMO's I have played have been monthly fee based. The difference in terms of service and content quality between a Guild Wars 2 and a World of Warcraft is huge. I am not saying that there is no room for F2P MMO's, but the longevity of those experiences tend to be short lived. But again, they have to do it right, with new content and a plethora of end-game content, otherwise, this game will fail. Also FYI, if you read the interview, Matt Firor says that there will be no micro transactions in the game.

A subscription fee is still the least of my problems with this game. Obviously I haven't played it, but from the little I've seen, it looks like yet another run of the mill fantasy MMO with the Elder Scrolls named tacked onto it. Or rather, it looks like an MMO inspired by Elder Scrolls and not the Elder Scrolls turned into an MMO which, I would imagine, would be infinitely more appealing to a lot more people.

Man, I was hoping it would be Free to play or like Guild Wars 2. I'm not excited to pay a monthly fee to get my lore fix.

This wouldn't be such a big deal, but even pay to play games use micro transactions these days. I won't even try it if the game uses both.

@leftie68: Agreed. It's bizarre to me how much backlash a subscription model gets these days. I have always preferred it over f2p. I will definitely be subscribing to this one (And FFXIV).

They no doubt have a plan ready to roll out to switch to F2P. It would be irresponsible to not have a plan at this point. The only question is how long until they have to roll it out. Star Wars was quicker than even I thought it would be soooooo....6 months at most?

Yep.

You can put microtransactions in a paid-for MMO provided they're all cosmetic if you want to. I think that's what Guild Wars 2 did, or something like it. I am not paying a monthly subscription for one game, though, no matter how good it is.

Might as well throw the game in a landfill now. Doomed to fail just like SWTOR.

Two giant media properties crashed and burned doing it this way.

Smells like a cash grab. Launch it as a sub, get at much money as you can in the first year then release your f2p. If I'm wrong and they actually think they will thrive on a sub model, then that's just adorable!

Just canceled my pre-order. Oh well.

@kryptickiller: What was the non-Star Wars property?

Exactly. They just want to catch as many suckers early on like they've done with every MMO lately. Box costs money and monthly, then it goes F2P soon after.

I don't play one game exclusively I've recently been playing Defiance and Marvel Heroes but I dip in and out of them so I'm completely fine with the pay once or F2P micro transactions way of doing things. I really don't appreciate the pressure a monthly sub puts on me to keep playing or attempt to blast through things really quickly. I won't be trying this one until those options are here.

Not surprising in the least.

You can remove a subscription, and go free to play. You cannot go from free to subscription - Bethesda is keeping its options open this way.

Also, launching a game of this scale as F2P? The servers would be utterly massacred, or Bethesda would spend thousands on servers that dont get used past the first month.

My interest level has dropped massively. Also anyone saying free to play wouldn't support a game of this caliber should go play Neverwinter or any other successful free to play MMO

Eh. If I had the money, I'd still pay for a subscription. I'm a sucker for Elder Scrolls, however shitty the adaptation to an MMO may be.

Guild Wars 2 is not F2P. It is B2P or Buy to Play. F2P or Free to Play indicates that it is completely free to access it. B2P is exactly what I was hoping for ESO. That would mean that they would get away with more micros for some things but still be a step up from F2P.

@irvandus: Man I hope this game is better than Neverwinter.

Eh, still better than the F2P nightmare many modern MMO's have become, but I never thought Elder Scrolls was that great to begin with anyway.

Sad to see this... Guild Wars 2 did "F2P" really well, offering a ton of content for the base price of the game and offering extra content (not pay 2 win) for micro-transactions. I was hoping to see this game follow that formula, but oh well. I'll probably give it a shot for sure, but it depends on how my time in Final Fantasy XIV goes. I don't need 2 MMOs in my busy life

(for like 6 months tops)