Last time I played Rift I saw fairly constant reminders pop up amongst the already annoying pop ups during game play.

I hope they charge $39.99 for Vvardenfell just to spite you.

And how does this differ from the expansion packs that have been offered from almost every online game that has ever existed, going back to EverQuest?

The simple reality is that for anything but niche games, subscriptions bring in enough money to keep a game going. New content requires new revenue. Games go the 'free to play' route only because those game companies think they can generate more revenue through an in game store then they could though subscriptions. Nothing more.

Having playable content that is only available to those who have purchased it is generally a bad idea from a design standpoint, as it excludes part of the playerbase. Having fluff is generally not (see League of Legends). Purchasing an advantage (money, items) generally only works in games where you can lose it to someone else (see Eve-Online and the ability to purchase characters or ISK through in game mechanics).

What ESO has is the purchasing of an advantage that is in game (a mount), and what amounts to fluff. Neither of which is game breaking, and will not effect someone else's playing experience.

i will admit that i am foolish enough and do love Vvardenfell and morrowind soo much that i will pay that and much more. its true.

note: if you see your post was deleted or warning or anything like that, then just know for a fact it was not me who reported it. i dont rat people out.

I used to play City of Heroes/Villains. Spent 6 years playing it actually. It was a sub game from the very beginning, April 2004. In November that year, it came out with a Collector's Edition, which among physical swag came with some in-game items: a badge (basically a title), a special cape, and an aura. There was no other way to unlock these things except via real cash. There probably was some complaining about that, but I don't recall much, and frankly most people thought they looked pretty goofy, and other earnable titles sounded cooler, so the real draw of the CE was the physical stuff.

Before that, I played FFXI. At the time, the sub for it was either $12 or $12.99, I forget. However, that allowed you only ONE character. Each additional one cost $1 per month. It's true you could do everything with one character. However I, and according to forums at the time most people, had more, three being the most common. With three, all based in different cities, you could mail items and materials around to each, playing the market to get cash, which was desperately needed in that game. Was it intended? I never heard officially, but it certainly wasn't against the rules. So yes, essentially, paying extra per month got you a distinct in-game advantage.

People are imagining a golden age and I question if it ever existed. I'm pretty sure Ultima and EQ players could give you examples too. Even...what's that old game? Meridian 59, is that it? Heck, what is multi-boxing but essentially this, for that matter? A controversial topic to be sure, but I don't recall it ever being explicitly against any rules?

Would be lying if I said I cared what happened on these forums.

Just because they offered exclusive offers on pre-order, it does not mean it is launching with cash shop.

Rift, Lotro, SWTOR, and WoW (among others) offered exclusive rewards to pre-orderers, and remained without cash shop for years after launch.

aww cmon dude. i thought they said we cant talk in cryodiil. which means our conflict will come to an end once eso opens unless u let me join your guild with my salemen alt i can sell stuff to you guys at some seriously LOW prices ! give a poor man a chance! and yeah im serious let me set up shop (just for sales) in your guild!?

I'm guessing most of the complaints are coming from fans of the SP Elder Scrolls game, and have no experience with these CE's, or selling of vanity items.. However I have seen SP games come out with special editions, and store exclusives (which haven't hit ESO yet, can't wait for that outlash.) Veteran MMOers should be quite used to this. There are deals out there right now to get up to $20 off the Imperial Edition, which would equal the cost of a Standard Edition.

Umm no they haven't. That's the same as saying because I can go to their website and buy something that prevents me from having to pay a monthly sub they have a cash shop. Btw I am referring to a lifetime sub.

All they are doing is cutting out steam gamestop or whatever retailer they have partnered with to sell the game. The only people who have a right to get upset over the day 1 upgrade are those retailers.

Don't worry, brother. I'm going to PM you our campaign when the game launches. <3

yayyness!

trust me u wont regret i gona sell u the best skoomas u ever tasted!!!!

I honestly dont get why people are upset about a cash shop. As long as it does only seel cosmetic items, why would anyone have a problem with it? So someone wants to look like a rodeo clown hitting people with a smoked salmon, god bless you. I dont get upset if they sold item that gave you more dmg or hp or some stat that would give you an advantage over me, but it does not. Because a game like that will not get very popular, and it will lose a lot of its competative players.

from what I understood, mostly it is becuase it is "pandora's box". Once started you will be addicted and game will svck your money.

This has been known for a while.

LOL so this anger towards the cashshop is fueled by the fear of addiction? Wow, well... Don't do drug, just dont =P

#1 Thats very true

#2 Even tho it is true the naysayers will happy ignore every word of it because they are stuck on repeat with their fingers in their ears

I find it interesting how people defending/supporting Zenimax don't see the bigger picture and the impact this model may have on gaming as a whole. Someone mentioned earlier, that subscription based MMO without a cash shop is something that existed 10 years ago and what TESO is doing is the new standard. Unfortunately it is a standard we, gamers, have set by allowing publishers to get away with basically anything.

If you think that by defending this model you're doing this game or it's community a favour - you're wrong.

Nothing good will come from double, or even triple, dipping. All you are doing is setting an example for other publishers. If TESO succeeds with this model others will follow. Next time it will be quadruple dipping if not more.

Maybe at this point in time it's not an issue for some of you guys. Maybe money is not a problem and maybe you don't see anything wrong with this business model. But what about the future? What about the next big Elder Scrolls MMO? If you support this cash grab, you will end up paying $100 for the box and $25 subscription for the privilege of logging into the game. The rest will be available via cash shop.

It's all up to you guys.

Be a responsible consumer and vote with your wallet.

All the best

I would be fine with a cash shop, as long as there are only cosmetics that can be found in-game as well.

Does this mean this is the last of your posts we will see? Shall we assume that rather than hang around whining about a game you object to, you will go off and find a game you like to play?

Here's the problem and why it upsets people.
They create a community lead to believe there won't be selling anything but cosmetic items (but things changes over time). Any online game where you interact with other people creates connections and those connections with other people are hard to break, some people infact only play because of the people inside the game, but far from all. Some decide to go solo 90% of time, others only play solo 10% of the time.
But an MMO game is partially meant to give you the chance to interact with people and you're actually rewarded by doing so (the devs own words in announcements) and thus you have created personal relations with people (no, not the sixual kind). This is when the "pandora's box" will open and a flood of p2w items potentially show up in the cash shop. People don't wanna lose contact with the people they have gotten to know in game and will keep on playing. The players that decide to leave, and thus not paying their subscription fee, means a loss of money for the company, but the items in the cash shop that will sell to people still playing will cover that loss of revenue.
Why would people buy the items? Because they can. If one person does it, he's got an advantage over the next guy and thus there's a good chance that both players will pay for said item because no competative gamer wants the other person to have an advantage over one self.
Eventually it'll weed out the "normal" subscribers (the ones not interested in the cash shop) and you'll have a community that thinks it's fine with p2w because the majority of that community now exist of players using the cash shop for buying items.

That's why some people are upset about the cash shop.

I'm not whining and I do not object the game. However, I have an issue with the way Zenimax is trying to monetize this product.

All my whining posts are in the closed beta forum, go there if you want to know my opinion of the game.

I'm not defending anyone. I'm just making fun of all those nolifers that nerd-raged when the pre-order model announced. Hell there must be like 50 videos about it already, everyone crying about how the game is going to fail.

I just made a post saying how ESo could launch with no cash shop , like 3year old games did (rift).

Everything else is doom & gloom atm.

Tell me what game startet with only cosetic stuff in the cash shop, and now has P2W. Because I dont know any.

craft of the God's mmo,

fallen earth mmo