Well since we are not allowed to post on Elder Scrolls Online for questions, I am still on the fence about getting it. I am shocked we can't post on it unless we have bought the game. Is it really that bad that you can't post on the unless ZOS (Zenimax) gets your money? So since I can't ask there, I will ask a non ESO question here to see if it will persuade my opinion and maybe buy the game.

Why do you like to pay a monthly subscription for any MMO you play? I don't play online, so this is a new concept for me. I have tried Guild Wars never played it much, but it's a non subscription game though. So the only other one I know of, is World of Warcraft. Never tried it, never even seen it played. So goes to show you I know nothing of MMO.

So why do you play them (for fun obviously but seeing if there is other reasons) and why do you pay for it? I know if you want to play it, you keep paying for it. But why do you accept paying for it? I can't grasp this concept of paying for a game and then keep paying after you bought it. If Bethesda can make a game we can play for 500 for $60, why do we have to keep playing for an MMO? This is not a complaint, just want to understand. Why do people keep paying for WoW and other MMO games. (I don't even know of any other MMO games)

What are the benefits to it? All I read is to keep the "internet" or "internet gamers" out of the games that they flock to Free to Play games. So does paying a sub fee keep the "jerks" out? It's more of a pleasurable experience?

Just like to know why YOU like paying subscription based games.

*edit* please don't make this a MMO svcks, we shouldn't be paying for a sub fee. This is for people who like it and why.

I honestly believe Bethesda/Zenimax's handling of TES: O is terrible. You pay $60+ for the game then $15 a month to play it. It would've been better if the game was free or less than $60. Don't get me wrong, I don't have an issue paying $100+ for a game but to pay a monthly fee to play that game is absolutely ridiculous. I wouldn't buy nor pay TES: O but apparently, there are a lot of people [REDACTED] to. If you think it's worth it then by all means, buy it. But I can honestly say that to me, it's not.

Plus you have to pay for online services of your respective console if you play om one I believe.

It's ridiculous. I would never pay ￡9 a month for a single game. I tried expressing that opinion in the ESO forum, you can probably imagine how well that went.

I don't know if I "like" paying a monthly fee, but I'll have to wait and see if I have enough fun with the game to justify it or not. My last MMO was EVE Online. At the time I paid for the base game, and spent about $15/month for the subscription as I recall. So I'm not terribly shocked that ESO is doing the same thing that was standard back in the early '00s when I was playing. But I did swear off MMOs for a long time. If none of the newsletters EVE has sent me over the years has tempted me back, I'm not sure ESO is going to change my mind - but I'm going to give it a chance and see. That's just me, though.

MMOs have continuing costs that single-player games do not. Skyrim didn't need a Megaserver just to run, for example. They also didn't need to hire extra customer support and both in-game and forum-based moderators, GMs, other support staff, etc. So I can see why an MMO either needs to rely on microtransactions or a monthly fee in order to make it a viable business. It's up to the consumer to decide if there's enough value included in that cost or not.

Edit: If you're really on the fence, I wouldn't be surprised if some time after the initial launch phase hype has passed, if they start to offer free preview weekends or something. Most other MMOs I've played have periodic specials (or even just standard) that lets you demo the game for free for a short amount of time, to see if it's something you'd want or not.

I forgot about that. As if paying the online usage fees to M$ or PS aren't enough. I mean, honestly, think about it. Not only are you already paying for the use of the internet from your ISP but you've bought a game and now you either need to pay M$ or PS to use their service PLUS Beth/Zen is asking for you to pay again. Yes, I understand they need to maintain their servers but then they should've just made the game free with the monthly fees. I still stand by my "money grab" statement about TES: O.

It's just not worth it to me anyway.

And what? You still need to buy the game just to do a "free weekend" special just to try a game that you may think it's not worth buying into with a monthly fee? Still a HUGE waste of money to buy a game just for a free weekend of online pay. The only way I can see this as being remotely worth it is if the game is on a Steam Sale for like $20 or something; and that's a huge "if".

I considered buying TES: O last weekend. I figured the last MMO game I played was Diablo and thought maybe TES: O would be neat to try. But then I found out there was no way to play it without paying for the monthly fee and that killed my plans. I didn't want to pay for a game I may not even like. Like I said, if the game was free or close to free then it wouldn't be such an issue; then I could see paying a monthly fee. But the game is $60+ and then to have to pay $15 to just try it? No thanks. I don't have the time to justify paying $240 to play an MMO.

Is the monthly fee really 15 bucks a month for ESO? I'd be paying 60 for game 15 per month and 50 for gold membership on the Xbox....ouch. I would think a free trial or demo would be nice to see if its worth it. I guess I wouldnt mind paying if updates/patches new content came frequently, but still, that's a lot to pay for a game, I'd have to love it no doubt.

It's $14.99 for a 30 day pass. It's $12.99 a month for 180 day pass. But I didn't think it was available for consoles yet.

People did not pay for the Beta and some only played one weekend. There does not have to be a requirement to buy something that you are demoing.

I don't understand what you are getting at? They were specifically invited to play the beta and the beta does not apply to release. Those with the beta cannot play now unless I'm mistaken. But wouldn't that then make the beta a release as I'm sure it was updated. Those people that now wish to continue to play would have to pay right?

I understand there is no requirement to buy. I didn't say there even was. The OP asked if anyone felt it was worth buying. In my opinion it is not due to the outrageous cost. Am I however mistaken that one can play the game without paying for the subscription? Is there a TES: O demo? I didn't think there was. You still need to buy the game as far as I know to try the game under the "one month" free deal that I've heard doesn't work or that people are not getting. I really am confused on what you are trying to get at.

To be fair the console online service is probably MS and Sony's decision, not Bethesda.

Paying for MMO's has never been worth it in my eyes, and this game is no different unfortunately. Only way I'm bothering to try it is if it goes free to play.

I'm with you on this as it doesn't make sense to continually pay for a game...they justify it by saying the money goes towards maintenance and such but it doesn't cost that much money to maintain servers and game issues. I remember someone recently saying that WoW currently has 7-8 million players, all paying $15 a month which is an absurd amount of money. I feel that once an MMO reaches a sustained level of subscribers numbering in the 10's of thousands or 100,000 then the monthly subscription should be reduced to $1 to not only save the current players money but also draw in many more players at the cheaper cost. It's good business imo.

Kind of weird though, does any other mmo do this? Make you pay a certain amount and then impose a monthly fee. Its quite ridiculous imo. Its like paying for skyrim, and then every 4 months you play skyrim you have to pay for it again.

You could buy 4 skyrims in a year

If they have that many players even with their monthly subscription it means they've got the formula right. Im fine with these monthly subscriptions (i don't play mmo though) but whats weird is the flat fee imposed at the start. What, is that some kind of deposit? So people can't pay for one month and then leave? Or rather, they would feel compelled to play more because they already paid 75 bucks for the first month?

That you don't have to buy the game to try it out if Bethesda offers a Preview weekend.

I personally have never played an MMO beyond the free trial. I don't see the point in grinding the [censored] out of a game. It makes it incredibly boring IMO

IF they have a preview weekend then sure.

ha that's another issue, console players will really get the poop end of the stick as they not only have to buy the game and pay the monthly game subscription but also have to pay their monthly homage to M$ at $10 a month or $60 a year.

It's greedy to charge people for the first months subscription if they're buying the game, especially at the cost of 4 months worth of subscription...the least they can do is offer the first month free.

It's not the Monthly fee that gets me, it's the grind that turns me off of MMO's. I understand why it's there, to an extent. Actually, I don't understand why the grind needs to be there if everyone is battle leveled in the P2P area, but that's another discussion. In most TES games if I do have to grind out a level or two, it does not take a long time, and I can do interesting things to get those levels. In an MMO, it's just repeating the same tedious things over and over again to gain a skill level or to acquire enough materials to do anything because everything has to be so scarce.

The Xbox Live fee is $60 a year, so it's $5 a month.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox360/accessories/xboxlive/xboxlive12monthgoldsubcard

I thought Xbox live was $9.99 a month? At least the few times I've ever bought a card it was $9.99.

haha oops, the coffee hasn't kicked in yet so my brain has connected the dots wrong...I meant to say $10 a month or $60 a year if you buy the yearly subscription

Thanks guys for the comments. Before I forget, while trying to do my research, I believe I read that the PS4 doesn't need PS+ but nothing was said for XboxOne. I believe you will still need Live Gold. To me that is really a moot point, because I believe most people have it. My son has it for his online gaming. I don't find less than $5 a month for Live Gold is that bad.

$15 a month is really not that bad either, BUT for what ever reason I can't explain, it just seems "on principle" I shouldn't be doing it. Thing is, where I use to work before, a guy there LOVED playing WoW so to him the extra $15 was worth it to him.

@ Nu_Clear_Day, when you were on EVE and paid the $15 a month, were you having fun and the $15 didn't seem that bad because you were having so much fun?