I'm just hoping for a $120 yearly fee. They offer that up and I'll grab it in a heartbeat. As long as expansions aren't too expensive when they come out, I'll be a happy camper (although having said that, I'll probably buy the expansions even if I think they are a little too expensive...)

true.

Most games don't have long term appeal. I would consider myself to be a pretty serious gamer but as the years have passed I don't have that much time to waste on mediocre games. For that reason, I only buy maybe 6 to 8 games a year. If I find a good MMO, then all the better. I still like SWTOR, but in some ways I find that game lacking but I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe I just keep my sun because I am a huge star wars fan, I don't know.

That said, I love TES, I love the Lore behind the game. I love the small details in the games. You can tell Bethesda put a lot of love into the games, and afar playing the Beta for a few weekends I can't see that same respect for the game world in ESO.

I just can't understand why anyone would complain about a sub, unless they're kids.

i too hope for the 120 a year option, if it happens i am getting it right away

seems like most are kids. I don't have a good job, neither do a lot of my friends, yet 5 imperial editions reserved and ready and waiting.

$15 a month is nothing, so nothing, so very little nothing. I pay more then that a week on some "F2P" mmo's

and we all love the idea of a pay gate. keeps out the trolls and kids. and only those that want to play the game will be playing the game. and I agree that a lot of people that cant afford it get butt hurt and complain about every little thing because they wont be playing it. . .you will not be missed.

You incorrectly assume that a person doesn't have 50 cents a day, when in fact they choose not spend 50 cents a day.

Penny pinching adds up.

Those buggers often have big bank balances precisely because they never part with money unless they absolutely have to.

I see baseless assertions and accusations of badness without any details.

I know what's in GW2's cash shop and it's all very innocuous compared to what you find in f2p cash shops. I asked for any examples of badness. Though vod has provided what they think are some...

Your question was answered in full in the post you replied to. Try reading it again.

Well you've provided examples at least but I was fully aware of those. No surprises there.

Experience boosters only save time. If the game content is enjoyable (I found it to be so) then there's no appeal in buying xp boosters. Maybe they appeal to people levelling alts. I don't know. I've done that too and without using any boosters. Even the free ones I've gotten.

Min-pets... meh. I can appreciate that a collect-o-phile would want them and not be happy about some being cash shop only but I have a fairly practical approach to items both digital and real. If it doesn't actually do something useful then its value is questionable and I can do without it. The very fact that some are cash shop only mini-pets (something I noticed soon after I started playing) just made me decide to ignore that part of the game.

Best aesthetic textures in the cash shop? That sort of thing is always going to be a matter of taste. I've looked through their cash shop and didn't see a single one I liked more than what's available in the game. Most of my characters are Sylvari and my favourite armour and weapon textures by far are their racial ones.

In case you've missed it I am not anti-subscription. I agree that a subscription without a cash shop (that's important) puts everyone on an equal footing. I like that. But some of the claims being made in its defence are wrong.

I hate cash shops but have never found GW2's objectionable, especially since there is no subscription. And for all that I'd be happy to pay a sub for ESO, given GW2's financial success, Skyrim's financial success with box sales and expansions, and the fact that Skyrim players would be a large part of ESO's potential market, b2p might have been a more profitable model for them. Sometimes you can make more money by charging less if it means a lot people buy your product.

EDIT : Just to put this in perspective, look at Perfect World. Apart from game design elements deliberately intended to frustrate you into buying your way around them, gambling in lockboxes etc. they've got a new game client which installs spyware to collect info about your browsing which they can sell.

Wage inequality is a thing, you know?

$15 is not a trivial sum for lots of people.

Sorry but then gaming is the last of their problems.

How can they afford a gaming pc anyway?

It takes an 800€ pc to meet the reccomended specs.

glad you said this because people are not entitled to play ESO they have the option to pay for the service or not. everyone with money spends some of it each month on some form of activity be it games, drinking, smoking or eating out/buying daily coffee. people always choose how to spend their money. if people really want to play the game they could easily cut back on any of these things and make up the 15 bucks. if they are unwilling to or unwilling to add another 15 to their spending each money then they clearly dont want to play that bad

Then perhaps the luxury of an online game isn't for them?

No ones holding a gun to someone's head and demanding they subscribe to TESO, we all have a choice here to either pay the sub and enjoy the game or to not pay the sub and find an alternative means for our own entertainment.

The way some people are going on its like their family has been kidnapped and the only way they can get them back is to sub ￡8.99 a month to TESO.

As I've already said, people can make sacrifices. If they really wanted to play, they would find a way.

I am not discounting financial struggles, Im sure most of us have suffered them at least once. I do understand that times are tough now for many people. But, Years ago I remember I didn't have a high paying job, but I still chose to play Eve Online. I found a way to budget it in. Anyone can do the same.

I remember when i didnt have a good job.

I used to play outdated single player games on an outdated computer.

/shrug

If someone would ask me today now - with a straight face

Is ESO pricing too High?

I would say straight with out a blink - No I don't think so..

if you cannot afford it then you have issues with your spending or your mommy does not give you enough pocket money.

Really if you cannot pay 50€ for a game and then monthly sub go and play those F2P games...

This question just makes me Every [censored] time...

And yes I am buying the Imperial Edition my self

Recommended? Minimum would be more relevant for this scenario. That'd knock the price down considerably.

Either way, maybe they stole it

And yes, maybe they're pilfering internet service too!

Or maybe they'd be playing from work. Cheeky buggers...

Computers are supposedly useful for things other than gaming. At least that's what I've been told. People may already have one or access to one capable of running ESO for more important things but still not have $15 a month to burn on a sub.

Point is, it's unkind and achieves nothing to insult people expressing the view that they'd prefer ESO have no sub.

Saying "People who prefer ESO have no sub", is the same as saying "people who want ESO to be free".

Its not going to be free at the beginning, if at all. So why keep bringing it up at all? Customers who are willing to pay for it are tired of hearing it. It just makes them look stupid. If they can't afford to pay $15 a month for a game, then they have bigger problems and should address those.

It may be F2P in 6 months. SWTOR went F2P. But, lets be honest here, Free to Play MMOs are not really free to play. Does anyone really believe the SWTOR is "free"?

And quite frankly, I am tired of the moochers and would rather play without them. They'll probably be running around begging for coin or scamming.

This - I agree. And to top that - I would love to be able to Stab / Fry / Burn etc those beggars because this is not "All rainbows and ponies" MMO.

i remember when i didnt have a good job either, still came up with 15 bucks a month for EQ

I always wonder how they can afford top of the range equipment (PS4 / xBox One and a Full HD TV. Or a gaming PC with monitor or keyboard) none of which are cheap but then can begrudge paying a monthly sub. The only audience I can see having a problem with this is children whose parents have purchased the console/PC as a gift to them but are not willing to pay a subscription. Maybe the world has changed a lot since I was 14-15 but I remember having to get a paper round to pay for my monthly subscriptions to UO and the likes. Perhaps those begrudging the ￡8.99 should do that?

There's no universal answer on whether it's too expensive, because it's down to what people have experienced and how much do they think they're getting out of the game. Judging by gameplay I'd easily get ￡60's worth of game in the 30 days free, which is brilliant considering how most games nowadays last me less than a fortnight (some disgracefully last a weekend, and I'm not talking about ￡15 Indie games here). But if the game has loads of content but is still ￡60, I won't bother with it in future because it's not content I enjoy but others might. I'm not going to pay that amount just because it's average and there's nothing else better; I'll pay how much I think the game is worth even if that means price drops or waiting for the game to go 'F2P'.

I won't miss ￡60 but I will notice ￡8.99 going out of my wallet every 30 days after a few months because I have to consider how much I'm getting for my buck. I don't care if I'm getting more content than a map pack in Battlefield 4 or a new character in Skylanders, but I do care about if I enjoy it or not. If I don't enjoy the content it's no big deal, I'll just remain unsubscribed until there's more content I feel is worth that ￡8.99 and I'll stay for how long I enjoy the game for. It's not as though my account, my characters, my progress or my game disc is going anywhere so I can subscribe as and when I feel.

Do I feel the game is too expensive? If I can use up those 30 days for ￡60 and have bucketfuls of fun, I feel like I'm robbing the publishers. But with the subscription fee it's all down to how much content I'm getting versus how much fun I get from it.

truth.

When I was a teen, I had a job working at McDonalds.

I just can't understand how people can demand any product to be free, or complain because a product is not free. I like to get free stuff just the same as anyone else. That said, I don't go around complaining about products which I can't afford, or choose not to spend my money on.

I want a less expensive mortgage. I wonder what JP Morgan Chase would say if I stood in front of their banks and demanded a lower mortgage payment, or constantly sent them nasty emails, since they don't have a forum. Banks are the true thieves and the one these people should be complaining about, not some game company making entertainment for people to enjoy.

People should not expect free stuff.

F2P MMORPGs aren't simply financed via ads, they use their ingame cash shops for making money. And trust me, those require way more than $15 if you really want to enjoy the games.

Hello all,

The way I see it, when it comes to pricing it all comes down to three factors: The Client, The Product, The Managers/market.

The Client

At the end of the day, it′s always the same - Allow me to explain my self, the users/people will pay what they are ready to afford. I know salary is important but when it comes to purchasing many times is lead by irrational decisions (that at the end of the day we try to justify by finding reasons to rationalize them). Remember that there needs and wants, and in the case of gamming industry it′s all about "wants" therefore will be up to each individual to decide what this game and it′s fee it′s worth to them.

The Product

Now, having understood that at the end of the day the decisions will be completely subjective... we enter into the product, I don′t really want to enter and discuss how this game is better or worst than other RPG′s... The only thing I would like to state here is that the game it self and what we think of it, is what will make our "want" for the game be bigger or not (I know, this is obvious).

The Management & Market

Here is where the magic really happens when we talk about pricing. As any important business decision, the market needs to be anolyzed in order to understand what the users/people are ready to pay for the product that you are about to offer (specially for newly introduced products). - This is the part that worries me the most. I have the believe that the Gamming market is suffering important tactonic shifts which are changing the way the games are being distributed and consumed (4 ever). This being said, many managers, companies instead of truely understanding what the market is ready to afford try to make the market adapt to their own pricing models. Don′t get me wrong, it can be done, nevertheless, you need the power of your Brand extreamly strong amongst your user base in order to do so. A perfect example would be Apple and/or Harley Davidson. I'm not sure Bethesda or Skyrim has this brand awareness yet (this is a very subjective opinion). Now, when it comes to RPG′s we all know that the game that probaly thas generated by far the most money has been WoW, believe when I say that before this project was approved, at some point an anolyst when to their managers and said "look at this, our game could reach these audience which are xxxxx numbers of users that with a monthly fee we would be earning zzz,zzzz,zzzz €/$". Well, my answer to this is, it′s ok to dream, in fact is needed in order to achieve greatness! Nevertheless, we also need to be realistic, and be prepared for different case scenarios... in this case it′s more likely that this game or any other RPG game will have a very very ver hard time replicating WoW′s success. In this regard, my message is simple: Please Bethesda don′t blind yourself!

At last, when it comes to pricing, there are several strategies that managers tend to adopt, nevertheless, the most common ones are go for quantity or for quality. The first one will be focused on trying to appeal to as many users as possible. The best example for this would Freemium Games, this model it′s slowly becomming the new standard in the Gamming world (take a look at LOL, Dota, WOTanks, etc). The second one, does not focus so much in quantity but in quality, here is where the company decides to target to customers that are ready to pay their premium price. This is all measured, if the company has decided that they are implementing monthly subscription, the company knows that they will be giving up xxxxxx amount of users by doing so, but instead they may have 100,000 users (instead of 500,000) that are willing to pay a premium price that would equal to the 500,000 users being in the freemium model. At last, in my personal opinion what is a kick in the balls is making the users pay for the game itself before you pay for the subscription. These to me, tells me the managers thought the following: "I don′t believe with my product enough, so I will get my money back ASAP and later on I don′t give a [censored]." Now, this being said, all comes down to the product. Is this a good enough game in order to attract the minimum required audience to make this game and community sustainable?

Not that my opinion matters too much for any of them,,, but if you ask me, they are making a terrible mistake whne it comes to their pricing strategy. First you need to focus on building and consolidating your elder scrolls RPG community which is not the same as the stand alone game (it may have the same characthers/world but it does not necessarly appeal to the same audience). Later, once your fan base is big enough is when you can evolve your pricing model.

Regards!

I think too that pricing is too high (or unfair of same price in euros for all europe countries). And before you start about "49p day" nonsense - I live in EU, I work for 4 euros per hour full time (and thats above REAL average salary pays in my country, not some false statistics), my netto income is 500 euros, pay 350 for rent, powers and internet and have 150 for food, public transport, games. So yes, 13 euros (highest monthly cost of all - US is around 11 euros and UK is only 10 euros per month) every month is too much for me. I saved for ESO imperial edition for few months, bought it and probably after 1 month I will stop playing. Unless they:

a.) change pricing model

b.) lower price per month

And Im not only one who is thinking like this. Have some friends, which bought only standart edition and they too will ditch game after 1 month.

Hate to quote WoW but they made a game based on single player game...

A: They had the game sold with A price and sub straight away with X price and they kept it going working and with out problems...

How is this anyway different?

Bye bye...

No really - I mean it ... bye bye. I work 8 hours a day and make more than enough to rent and food and needed stuff and I can still pay 13€ a month for a game that I want to play. If you cannot that is a shame but why would they change something like basic payment for pixels if most of the people are able to make their ends meet and still be able to pay the game.

Oh yeah and I live in EU I work in a company and I am not above average pay scale.

I work 8 hours too, yet live in wrong part of EU (why they cant make pricing that consider local income? In Germany, you easily earn 1,5k euros, pay 1000 for all costs and have 500. Yet they "only" pay 13 per month same as me with 150 euros per month free to spend). I was automatically given region, cant change it, so why they cant also make pricing more specific for each region? Or why wealthiest regions (US and UK) pays least amount per month?

EDIT: someone said here "I make 20$ per hour" - so is it fair (in best case scenario without taxes and rent), that he can play game for month after 45 minues and I can play game after after 3 hours 15 minutes?

Being born in bad area of EU .... really so the company should consider where you live why would they? What about those people who play f.e. Swotor, WoW, EvE, or any other monthly sub games in your area? Why are they paying their sub?