Players Upset Over The Elder Scrolls Online's Subscription System

On April 6th at 8 AM Eastern, players who have purchased The Elder Scrolls Online but have yet to set up a recurring subscription or entered a game time code will no longer have access to the game. The issue with most players making their objections heard in the Elder Scrolls Online forums over the past couple of days isn't the subscription itself — the minimum $14.99 monthly fee comes as no surprise. What is surprising is that Zenimax Online is pre-authorizing users' credit and debit cards the full $14.99 (or more) fee.

[mezati99]

F2P in 6 months

[Anthotis]

Yep.

If you thought their prices were bad now, you haven't seen anything yet.

I dread to think how much of the game will be hidden behind paywalls when this goes F2P.

[xPhearR3dx]

Their prices? It's $15 a month which has been known for AGES. Which is a standard for MMO games.

[YellowTempes]

I doubt they'd make such a rookie mistake as to close off the game and force people to pay anyway.

However, I can't help but think how the $200 million would have boosted the next TES game instead of an MMO that is so limited.

I hate seeing goods and fruits in a TES game and not be able to grab everything to run and sell it all. Not to mention that even the first TES is capable of better immersion than a game where people run naked in front of your Unholy Dark Elf Flesh-Eater Vampire character and you can't do anything about it.

[ZodTheRipper]

Meanwhile I'm still enjoying Skyrim ...
It will need a TES:6 to recover from this.

[thekhurg]

What's disappointing is, this game is basically a reskin of Guild Wars 2 with just extra story/lore. Nearly identical gameplay, same world pvp concept, minimal endgame PVE content.

[redwin]

The most ill pay for this game is $50 a year and that's with everything online otherwise they can keep the game

[Gamer1982]

F2P and dead within a year this is only good because of the name behind it. It's a sub standard MMO that has nothing special or new about it. The MMO world is very hard to crack these days even WoW is shrinking year upon year forcing blizzard to finally look elsewhere for funds. So only the best and brightest ideas will survive. We need new cool ideas not the same old stuff like this time and time again.

[Ritsujun]

Phearred's mad!!!

[SilentNegotiator]

Stop turning RPGs into mumorpugers!

[levian]

Well the problem is uninformed TES fans thinking this is another TES game. It's not. This is an MMO first, with a bit of TES flavour. It is in NO way meant to be TES:VI.

Besides, most F2P MMOs blow. If I was playing an MMO regularly I'd prefer monthly payments over F2P any day.

[Christopher]

This is a piss poor way for Bethesda to handle this. The 30-day free game time is sacred in the MMO arena, especially since people are plopping down $60 to buy the game.

Bad form, Bethesda, bad form.

[nypifisel]

Don't blame Bethesda, they had nothing to do with it. TESO was developed by Zenimax

[Christopher]

Zenimax and Bethesda are one and the same.

[nveenio]

This is a publisher decision.

[Balcrist]

@cgoodno, Zenimax and Bethesda are not the same, Zenimax owns Bethesda, I remember when Skyrim was coming out people kept asking Todd Howard why there was no multiplayer, and he kept saying that they didn't want to make an multiplayer elder scrolls game... with skyrim's popularity and many people wanting it to have a multiplayer, Zenimax took the Elder Scrolls copyrights that it owns as part of owning Bethesda and made ESO.

[Christopher]

@Balcrist: As a resident of Maryland, here's a bit of history. Zenimax was founded by the guy who founded Bethesda. The goal? To publish their own games and the games of other companies they would absorb or make deal with. This also allowed Zenimax to acquire IPs but have their own development companies or third-parties build them while they still make money off of them.

For all intents and purposes, Zenimax is Bethesda in that their company goals are one and the same and they are tightly woven into the Bethesda way of work and the people. So, I'm 99% certain that this decision was made in cooperation and not just Zenimax saying to do it this way. Their goals are one and the same.

[candy_mafia]

SOE' PC/PS4 Everquest game is going to make the payment system a bad memory if Bethesda continues this way.

[elhebbo16]

Unless they decide to f*** it up like they did with Everquest 2 and make it a pay-to-win. hopefully they learned from there mistakes.

[epoxe]

Oh you mea the EQ game that if you want to play the beta content creator for they charge you $100? F()CK SONY.

[3-4-5]

Yea what a mess this is

[Clown_Syndr0me]

As soon as it goes F2P it will be shit. Like all other F2P MMOs.

Oh and we all know F2P basically means Pay 2 Win. You can easily spend triple the average monthly fee on content in "F2P" games monthly. Its a complete con.

[Monkeyonfire13]

Micro transactions in 6 months

[Rickgrimes95]

I would absolutely buy this game day 1 for 60$ but I am not paying 15 a month complete bullshit they would of made all of their money back easy. Look at the success of skyrim. Even if this game cost $200+ million to make, grand theft auto cost just as much and is now the largest selling game in history rockstar did not need a subscription an now their loaded

[Magicite]

Sub method is not a problem, look at FF14ARR and WOW. Simply this game aint worth that.

[rdgneoz3]

And the other 2 games don't make you set up a recurring subscription to use your free 30 day trial...

"On April 6th at 8 AM Eastern, players who have purchased The Elder Scrolls Online but have yet to set up a recurring subscription or entered a game time code will no longer have access to the game."

"What is surprising is that Zenimax Online is pre-authorizing users' credit and debit cards the full $14.99 (or more) fee."

Read the article. People like to try a game before putting down more money for a sub to see if they like it first.

[geddesmond]

This game has just been taken off my list of what games to get this year.

[Spenok]

Really? This is your reason to not play a game? Or are you meaning the sub fee?

[geddesmond]

Yes because that 30 free days is the deciding factor for me as to weather i want to keep subscribing to the game or not. If I want to keep subscribing then I'll give my credit card details. if not then I shouldn't have too.

[orakle44]

You still get the 30 days of free game time.

[rdgneoz3]

"You still get the 30 days of free game time."

When you have to set up a recurring subscription before you can even use the free 30 days (which I'm curious if the free days ticks down while you wait to do that), and they pre-authorize your card for the money right when you do it, it doesn't seem like it's free.

And if someone loses their card and needs a new one sent to them, they now can't play what they've payed for?

And yes, those 30 days are what determines it for many people. Forcing them to cough up more money for something they're not sure about continuing doesn't always sit well.

[joab777]

With all the complaining, it probably will...and then the nightmare begins. F2p and microtransactions are 100 worse than subs. Ask anyone who plays mmo's.

I would much rather pay $15/month if they keep great content coming than see it turn into a f2p disaster. Trust me!

Maybe if they only charged $8-10/month, ppl would be more willing to pay. I dunno. What worries me the most is thatb there are no endgame raids. Yes, there is veteran level but many ppl are already veteran 2. There are 4 mans and adventure zone...but at some point they will need more than 12 man trials ti keep ppl from DCUO, FF14, and Destiny.

[xX-StolenSoul-Xx]

If they do go F2P I would hope they take note from DCUO, the game has made it so people who do sub get all the DLC for free, more bank space, more invy space, unlimited cash, and even with those perks free players can still do plenty. I just buy all the DLC when they release.

[Spenok]

I'm glad someone else out there has sense about MMO sub models.

[Sly-Lupin]

It baffles me why they would even design an subscription-based MMO when clearly the market turned away from subscriptions years ago.

I can only assume they're trying to rake in as much money from the early-purchasers before the inevitable transition to to F2P.

Of course, it's possible they'll go the WoW route and make it F2P up to a certain level, but require a subscription for anything higher. Or charge fees for additional character slots or inventory space.

[Flamingweazel]

ff14 has been a massive success. Sub mmo's work, bad mmo's dont/ f2p is an even worse scheme.

[_LarZen_]

F2P is cancer.

[ArbitorChief]

This game will go down as one of the biggest flops in history. Heard $200 million was invested, there's no way in hell it'll make that money back. This game will be F2P in a matter of months.

[Rickgrimes95]

I think they would of made their money back fine if it was a 60$ game and that was it

[Gamer1982]

@200 million invested? even as a 60$ game it would have had trouble as they would have had to sell 10 million to break even (they will only make about $20 from a $60 game). Which probably wouldn't have happened being online only. They should have stuck to what made them rich i the first place. Rich single player content and maybe even throw in online co-op.

[Sly-Lupin]

@Gamer1982: Making $20 back from a $60 sale?

I don't think that's accurate.

What I've read about the breakdown (mostly from Swen Vincke) indicates that developers get a much smaller percentage. IIRC, it was something like $7 out of every $60. About half goes to production and distribution costs, and the rest to the publisher.

And many publishers have deals with developers where they get ALL of the money until a certain sales threshold is reached, so it's quite common for developers to make successful games but still never see a dime of profit.

[ceed911]

Gameplay is why it will be flop, controversy aside this terrible hit 1-9 to actually attack while pretending to aim with your mouse is idiotic.

They had a series built on FPS-styled gameplay that happens to be the most popular multiplayer genre, and then they switch it? ESO would have been revolutionary if they kept the same real-time multiplayer friendly combat that they were famous for.

Now instead I can aim an arrow directly in the sky and watch it arc down and hit an enemy no matter where he is based on rolls.

That was their first and largest mistake. The second was them hiding it in all gameplay trailers, which made it even more clear that they messed this up.

It was bad enough they changed the gameplay, but it was 100x worse that I played it 2 years ago at PAX East in a 2 hr press session and then saw how they advertised to the general public. Their marketing team staight up lied to the fans and thats what hurts the most.

[titans9999]

Not paying ANY sub fee, never have and I never will. Screw these developers!

[DanteVFenris666]

You are not the tArget audience. Millions of others are playing sub games and this game is good enough to make people go off theirs and join this one. Every mmo gamer I know has given up on their mmos for this one. N4g is mostly a console gamer zone that have never experienced sub games so why bother talking as if you've played one? It costs about 5-10 dollars a month to just pay for their servers per player. If it wasn't sub it would have to try to make that some other way. I'd rather the sub then tons of micro transactions.

[Odoylerules000]

Every mmo gamer you know, huh? Wow. Even if you weren't lying, guess where all those people are going back to after a month of ESO? Yep, back to whatever game they were playing before this piece of garbage called ESO was released. Also, titans9999 is the target audience. Every single gamer is the target audience if Zenimax wants to make its money back.

[Sci0n]

Agreed I am seeing so much post of people crying about the sub fee but on the PC based threads im reading everyone just can't wait to see if its actually worth it. I would rather pay the 15 a month instead of playing a free to play pay to win microtransaction watered down game. Final fantasy has a sub and I really dislike that mmo, a bunch of characters running around looking like slender fruity cats and the pvp was added in as a after thought on there so it sucks. Also its a bore fest with all the text you have to read since npc's can't talk to you with there voices. I am so excited for eso and will gladly pay the monthly fee as long as the game holds up.

[MRMagoo123]

LOL as if ppl are leaving WOW for this game, this game is by far the worst mmo out for a long time, its not even as good as rift.

[Lukejrl]

To say one's market is only mmo players is short sighted. A company should be ambitious and go for the gamer that has never played mmo's.

[titans9999]

Dante, then get ripped off I don't give a rats ass, it is idiots like you that developers love to,take advantage of, you are part of the problem!

[Darth Gamer]

Very unfortunate for the people that are running into this issue. I, for one will not be playing this Elder Scrolls game. I am not into the whole MMO type games but will patiently wait for the next one or Fallout 4. I love Bethesda and the games they put out (even though they can be full of bugs) so I was very disappointed when they finally gave in to the MMO fans and decided to go that route.

[danthegamerfiend]

Yeah man I agree, they really should of made a elder scrolls sequelto askyrim or Fallout 4. The time and money invested in elders scrolls online would of possibly made Fallout 4 by now.

[lashes2ashes]

They are made by two totally different teams. This game has no effect on fallout 4 being made.

[danthegamerfiend]

Still slows the release down,why dont they combine there studios. its not like they are trying to annual release of these games.

[anonjohn23]

Even MMO fans weren't asking for an MMO Elder Scrolls. All anybody asked for was an Elder Scrolls game with co-op so you could play with friends. I would have preferred to have a Fallout or Elder Scrolls game with 4 player multiplayer. It would be amazing to have had experienced Skyrim with my friends.

[dazzrazz]

How do you buy a game without knowing it requires a additional monthly subscription 0_o

[sourav93]

It's not that they didn't know about the subscription...it's just that their credit/debit cards are being pre-authorised for the full subcription fee during the beginning of their free month.

[Christopher]

It's not that. You get 30 days of free game time. But, they're not allowing you to use it unless you sign up for a subscription first.

[rpgenius420]

It's ******* bull**** my nephew wanted to play for the month to really see how it is and now we have to get another month. It would be nice if they just let people get their month free.

[thehitman]

Well that still shouldnt be an issue why would you buy a game knowing it requires a subscription to play it over a period of time and dont have a card ready to use? Seems like a waste of 65 bucks right there.

If you dont want to pay for the subscription after your first 30 days you just cancel and they will reimburse you for whatever charges incurred. I dont like buying a game for 60 bucks and paying a subscription on top of it but I think people are just being retarded now.

[Christopher]

@thehitman: Because a lot of people use game cards to pay for subs. But, why should they be forced to buy a gamecard and use it for a one month sub when they haven't been given the chance to try it for the 30 free days? And for those that use CCs, why should they have to give personal info and be forced to cancel a sub? No other MMO has required this in the past.

[thehitman]

@coodno

It sounds like people have a problem with the subscription in the first place and not the fact it makes them use their card for the first 30 days.

ALL subs nowadays that give you a trial make you use ur card. Netflix w/e your subscribing to unless you have a game card which is what you use then.

"So basically, because I only have about $12 in my bank (I'm between paydays), I'm not going to be able to play the game I ALREADY PAID FOR until next week when I have enough to cover the authorization?
"

From the article he has only 12 dollars lol sounds like a personal problem where he shouldn't be spending money on games but on other things.

I never understand how people complain about something they willingly jump into knowing what the costs are. Also FF required a CC in order to play it i remember because I borrowed a friends card just to try the 30 days.

[Tempest317]

@thehitman

The issue is theyre being forced to pay ffopue 2nd before being allowed to use the trial month...what if they dont want to play past the first month? Theyre being forced to line zeminaxs pockets even if they decide they hate the game after 20 minutes. Totally underhanded tactics imo and reason enough not To buy
Edit: yes a lot of trials ask for your card info before you get the trial, but NONE that I have ever used will charge you anything until AFTER the trial, not up front. Charging up front means its not a trial anymore, its a purchase

[thehitman]

@tempest

If you cancel at anytime during or before the 30 days you get your money back. So it is what it is.

[Tempest317]

@hitman

Thats good that you get it back, but theyre still freezing money in your account that they have no business touching. Thats like downloading a game demo, and having your card charged/preauthorized for the price of the game, just in case you decide to buy. Obviously there are people like you that dont mind, but I feel there are a lot of people like me who think thats bad business practice, and would be enough to prevent me from buying.

[Christopher]

***ALL subs nowadays that give you a trial make you use ur card.***

Not with MMOs. Note, a lot of people actually use game cards on these. Forcing them to use at least a month on it at this time when they may play now and go back at a later time to sub and try it out when there have been updates is not how MMOs have worked in the past.

[Spenok]

EXACTLY what thehitman said. EVERY subscription based MMO does this. In order to even get into the game you have to give your credit card info to play the game. As he says, if you decide you don't like it by the time your first month is up, cancel it before you are charged, and BAM, no charge. And if you are charged, call and get a refund. It's not exactly rocket science. And people are just looking for something to complain about at this point.

I can almost guarantee most of the people complaining about this game in this thread have never even touched the game. It's really not hard. If you don't want to play a game with a subscription fee, DON'T! Don't come and bitch to people who actually enjoy the game and want to talk about its content etc. We don't care you don't like it. Go off to something you do like and leave us alone.

We don't come in to the threads of games you like and tell you they suck. (Read "I" don't do that anyways lol, this is the internet we're talking about here).

Bottom line is, if you don't want to play it, or don't like the sub fee, move on. End of story.

[Christopher]

@Spenok: Umm... I've played MMOs since the 90s.

Here's how it normally works.

1. You buy the game w/30 days free.
2. You create an account (no CC needed)
3. You enter in your 30-day code.
4. You log in to your account and play the game for your free 30 days.
5. If you want to continue playing, you subscribe (using CC or game card).

So, no, thehitman is not right. Neither the account creation or just playing require you to subscribe. You only subscribe when you are no longer able to play and must subscribe otherwise.

People are complaining that you have to sign up for a subscription up front and not after your 30 days of free time. They're not complaining that it's a subscription-based game. This is truly something that affects those who use game cards instead of CCs to pay for these type of games since game cards are non-refundable.

[WeAreLegion]

Many people. Trust me. I worked retail for seven years. Many GameStop employees probably aren't mentioning the subscription fee when they try to get the reserves. People are uninformed.

[MRMagoo123]

It happens all the time, the EB i go to say they get the sale first then deal with returns if they have to, the same thing has happened with titanfall and the plants vs zombies garden warfare game, the manager at EB said loads of copies of both those games have been returned because the average consumer has no clue they are completely online only.

[Baccra17]

Back in my day when you bought a game, you bought it ONCE and could play it as much as you want. Will never get the need to buy a game and buy permission to play it.

[Darth Gamer]

exactly!! I'm 40 and have never bought a subscription to play a game I already purchased. If all games went this route, that would be the day I quit gaming. I love multiplayer but not this type of multiplayer.

[incendy35]

I have in the past, but not anymore. My problem with the model is that I just can't find the time to play one game enough to justify it.

[Darth Gamer]

Same here. If I buy a game, I might play it for a few weeks or months but then put it down for a long time only to revisit it months later. I can't see paying 15$ basically every time I want to revisit a game I have already bought. Not to mention when they finally turn of the servers and you are S O L.

[Muzikguy]

I agree, buying a game and then a subscription to play it has never been my thing. If more people felt this way then maybe we could go back to the good old days where games were story driven and not multiplayer driven. And like Darth says, servers shut down. Then what? You paid hundreds of dollars and have nothing left, and that was just ONE game. I'll admit, I did play WoW for a few months but after that never paid another sub fee for anything

[Psychotica]

I am 47 and this is the first time I am subscribing to a game. If the game stayed the same for the next several months then it wouldn't be worth the money, but they will be releasing large amounts of new content regularly.

[MasterCornholio]

Case in point

Guild Wars

[blackmanone]

Baccra, while I'm from the same day as you, I believe the subscription model can work as long as the end game is there. Unfortunately in the history of mmos there have only been three games to understand that, but all have been well worth the monthly sub. Those games would be UO, Eve Online and Dark Age of Camelot. In fact after all these years Im still paying happily for Uo. Seige Perilous 4 Life.

[Jubez187]

And you bought those games as is and there were no patches/maintenance/updates.

People seem to forget that you get A LOT when you pay a sub fee.

[DanteVFenris666]

Back in the day... 2004 wow had a sub. How far back are we going? Sub games are also on a different level and can last years of content. I could be playing wow and nothing else for the past 10 years and not have gotten bord. THATS what a sub game is like. All you people are rather children, jobless or poor. You have no idea the costs of those mega servers, stop talking as if they are charging you for no reason. And stop thinking that if you don't like the game no else will. It will not die and millions of people are willing to play this sub. Out of my work with like 8 people, 4 are playing this game the rest are non gamers

[JackBNimble]

"Back in my day when you bought a game, you bought it ONCE and could play it as much as you want. Will never get the need to buy a game and buy permission to play it".

Really? subscription based MMO's are nothing new. Don't believe me? Well , just google the list of MMO's.

[cartman313]

I'll gladly support a great game for $15 a month. I have already gotten my money's worth with ESO. If it went free to play I would most likely quit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/eld...

This guy explains it very well.

[Jughead3416]

If we as gamers support this crap by paying a subscription fee after already buying the game, this will open the door for developers to continue doing stuff like this for this new generation of gaming. If we don't support it, then they won't have a choice but to stop doing this. And others will get the message that this doesn't work. It's up to us. How arrogant do you have to be to charge people $60 for your game , plus a subscription fee?

[DanteVFenris666]

Play wow and then your opinion can have more validity. Your talking out your ass(same as the rest of you). That fee you pay goes to further development and server costs. As long as they keep getting money they keep making content. It's not like skyrim where support stops upon release(besides a few expansions)

[Jughead3416]

Only an idiot fanboy like you would defend this crap. I can't picture a game that's worth a monthly subscription after paying for it. Maybe you can afford it with no problems. Maybe you're stupid enough to support it. But it seems like most people aren't willing to do this. Or at least isn't comfortable with paying for this long term. I have no doubt that it's an awesome game. I loved skyrim, and I'm sure this is even better, but I'm willing to miss out. If enough of you are stupid enough to throw all your money at this, then developers everywhere will follow suit. Destiny will be a much bigger game, lasting the next 10 years, and they won't have a subscription. What does that say?

[rayzorn]

idk why people cant grasp this. mmo and multiplayer games are totaly difrent. they cant just charge 60 dollars once for mmo's and let you play. or they would be broke.

i played wow and everquest for years. dont see myself playing another mmo though becuase i missed alot of good games when i played those cause i had no time for other games. i did have alot of fun with them though.

[JackBNimble]

Jughead

Obviously mmo's aren't for you , but this is nothing new, this is how mmo's have always worked. You buy the game then get 30 or 60 days sub free, after that you can either pay the sub or not play. If you don't like it then don't buy it, I'm not going to buy it.

It's not like buying COD or GTA V and having to pay $15 a month to play, then the servers would be dead.

[JsonHenry]

And if they had just made a co-op enabled TES game instead they would be making money. Hopefully they've learned their lesson.

[AceBlazer13]

Thought I was the only one wanting this.I don't want a million people roaming around my world just me and some close friends adventuring the lands, borderlands style. Co op would've probably been so much cheaper as well.

[Mithan]

I have no problem buying a MMO subscription. I've done it lots in the past. I don't have the time to play MMO's anymore, but I suspect I've gone about 6 years or more paying some fee overall.

[ShadowKingx]

even if this game goes f2p, i would not buy it, just means there gonna make you pay alot to move forward in the game. this game is just like why people wont buy a xbone. more or less.

[HacSawJimThugin]

In this case, the success of Skyrim lead them to believe that they had a sure fire win. Unfortunately this game will fail. I was on board until I learned of the sub fee and just ALL of my XBL friends that I game with feel the same way. Talk about revenue loss or missed opportunity.

[HeartlessGamer]

I hate when developers say thier game is F2P but they make you pay an online fee

[Smitty2020]

I won't be buying this game with the monthly payment, which is a shame coz I would love to play this on my ps4.

[Jughead3416]

I'd love to play it too. Since when is $60 not enough to play a game though? It's crazy. I hope they don't do this to Fallout 4. That would be heartbreaking.

[JackBNimble]

Fall out is not an mmo... I think you need to do a little research to understand the difference between an mmo and a multiplayer game.

[il-JumperMT]

The only way to go for MMOs is subscription, however you need to keep pumping content and justify that subcription.

TESO is so bad, you should get paid for playing, on other hand FFXIV has a monthly fee and you get 100+ hours of content every 3 months for free.

[Grave]

I'll wait for no sub fee. Which will be very soon. I haven't heard anything on server populations, but it can't be very high. Game is not even available on Steam, right?

[Spenok]

The game released 3 days ago. Do you really expect them to announce server population so early?

Often times publishers/developers NEVER announce server population. But judging by what I have seen with articles like this one; http://venturebeat.com/2014...

Clearly people are interested in the game. I was trying to help a friend buy this very edition (Imperial edition) today. And it is already sold out everywhere. While I know it is a collectors, and they only make enough for launch/preorders, it's still something of note.

This game so far is doing well. I am not saying they will never talk about server population. But the fact that it is releasing across 3 platforms across the world pretty much guarantees it will have a population large enough for them to keep it subscription based for years to come.

Which, in my personal opinion is a good thing. F2P always ruins great MMOs.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

MMO's like this have 3 options for pricing imo: pay one time at register, pay a monthly, free to play with lots of microtransactions. You dont get to charge me up front and monthly... sorry but i will never support this regardless of how awesome it could be.

[Spenok]

There is literally NO game that has a subscription where you get the software for free. IE WoW, FFXIV and FFXI, this, and many others. It's just how it has ALWAYS worked. Why do people not know this, and act like this is some new model that we have never seen before? It's been like this for over 15+ years now.

[Miraak82]

I've been playing mmo's for a long time , I don't see the big deal. It gives you updated content and a fun social aspect of community . For the price of a pack of smokes and a fast food meal I have my month full constant play time and if I get bored take a 3 few month break and resub and play and see all the new added features and content.

[LetoAtreides82]

But do you have time to play other games?

[LeoDDestroyer]

So it seem people in this case are not upset by the subscription but by having to enter in a credit or debit card just to play the game even with the code you get when you buy the game.

[fluxmulder]

I don't think people here understand what's going on. They are forcing people to choose a subscription plan (and charging their debit or credit card for $15) before giving them access to the free 30 day trial. Granted, the money supposedly gets returned after they verify the player has a valid payment method. If it's simply for authentication purposes, why charge $15, why not a dollar?

See more here: http://forums.elderscrollso...

[urwifeminder]

Players get upset at everything these days, but surely they would have looked at the success of Guild wars 2 and its awesome model.

[RE_L_MAYER]

well yeah if players didnt get upset you would have a diarrhea of x boxe ones with drm digital only

[urwifeminder]

No need to get upset just don't buy one if you don't like it simple, I was buying regardless of DRM my pc has many DRM games I still play and enjoy them I recommend more fibre in your diet.

[moomoo319]

It doesnt even need to go F2P. I think 60$ with no subscription is more than fair and more people would consider buying it, especially the console players

[SpecialK]

Definitely.

I just cant see why id want to pay such a high monthly cost for any game. Most gamers are playing multiple games at any one time we dont want to be paying lots of subscriptions.

Problem is I would rather just wait for an SP elder scrolls game. I think that id get quickly bored of the novelty of other players in this game, and would end up going lone wolf anyway.

[drosera1]

Good grief, this thread is filled with a bunch of pathetic whiners, most of which clearly haven't played this game. Meanwhile, over at a REAL forum with intelligent conversation, gamers are actually enjoying The Elder Scrolls Online a lot, even nay-sayers who disliked the Beta.

[xPhearR3dx]

Yup. The Beta did this game no justice. I'm loving it and can't stop playing. Easily worth the $15 a month. But hey, that's "too much" to pay for one game, so those kids can keep buying their $60 sub-par "AAA" games they play for a week and never touch again.

[RobAlmighty]

No one in here seems to realize, in order to play World of Warcraft people had to buy the game and pay a subscription afterwards. The game is great, and the first MMO I have enjoyed in quite a long time. Having to pay the subscription fee before the free month sucks, but it is worth it. I already have 40+ hours into it.

[ramza04]

I wouldn't waste my money subscribing to this crap. FFXIV. Now that's a game Id more than happily give my money to. Can't wait for PS4 release!

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

FF14 is the only MMO worth the subscription IMO. I've played FF11 since day 1 in NA and paid for it over 8 years. If my money helps keep quality content coming then I'm all for it. I never understood people who complain about subscription fees for an MMO. How do you expect devs to deliver more content without charging you? Some gamers feel they are always entitled to something for nothing...

[Pathogenic]

Here's the thing though with FFXIV. They never charged while you were playing your 30 days free. That's why people are upset. You as the consumer "should" have the option of subscribing at the end of your free month. Not early on.

It gives the player time to see if they like the game or not. In this case you can view my comment below

[Pathogenic]

Pre-authorizing your account for the next month just shows how big a flop it was for TESO. They had millions sign up for the beta. Now they have dwindling numbers. The first sign of failure has been shown. The next sign will see pre orders cancelled for the console versions. The backlash reminds me of the Swtor days and too be honest, it only gets worse.

You can have your own opinions but MMO players like myself have this game turning for the worse, which is F2P. It doesn't deserve a subscription model but it does deserve the B2P option. This would have made TESO better and console gamers more than likely would have picked the title up.

[xPhearR3dx]

So because N4G loves to hate on ESO and requiring a valid payment method makes ESO a flop? You kids can hate all you want, but myself along with MILLIONS of other people are actually playing and enjoying the game.

[Pathogenic]

I love how you like to label this. In no way was this N4G and the members fault. It was formed by one man and that was me. As well as opinions and mmo players reactions from around the world. Saying that "N4G loves to hate on ESO" is singling out the entire community.

People are allowed to form their opinions and express those opinions but never to label an entire community. Your opinion is yours and I respect that. I understand you gave me a disagree and that's your own doing. Notice how little different my response was to you. You get what you deserve if you provide inaccurate information.

And we don't hate the game itself, we hate the publisher for what they have done up until this point.

[xPhearR3dx]

Actually, most forums I go to rather enjoy ESO. Of course, there's the haters, there always will be. But at N4G? There's practically nothing but haters.

And this hate began the day the game was announced because a SP franchise was getting an MMO. Had nothing to do with the subscription or anything.

[awi5951]

There are console people making these mistakes because MMO's don't usaully appear on consoles. All the MMO's i played always make you put down a payment choice before they let you play on launch.

[LetoAtreides82]

But they didn't charge you the full subscription amount did they? Usually MMO's let you play 30 days for free and then you'd need to pay if you want to continue playing. World of Warcraft, the most successful MMO ever, never required any payment info before your trial was over.

Some MMO's do a pre-authorization charge of anywhere between $0.01 to $1.00 and then the money is refunded in a few days. The reason people are complaining is they're getting charged the full $14.99 without any warning, and to make things even more confusing when they check their account profile it shows that they only have 29 days left of game time available, where's their 30 days of free game time?

[RE_L_MAYER]

as an elder scrolls fan i expected more from elder scrolls online and they want you to pay that much-i can play ff 14 thank you

[Clown_Syndr0me]

Which also has a subscription fee, and is like a year old already.

[RE_L_MAYER]

its coming on ps4 next week

[xX-StolenSoul-Xx]

@Re_L_MAYER yes it comes out next week on PS4 but it has been out on ps3 and pc for 8 months. I actually enjoy FF XIV but stopped after 2 months cause i didn't like the PVP

[Xristo]

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM ANND GLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM MMM!!!!

LOL

N4G being N4G. Hey guys, you are a small minority.

BTW, most every MMO I have played requires a subscription choice made with a CC before you play your free 30 days. There may be a few but even the "Oh great and powerful, WoW" did this at release. Kids these days...

[fishy1]

here is an easy fix to those that dont have money in there account. Use paypal, there is no pre-authorization. I never give my cards to these people. Neither should you.

[Xristo]

I agree with the PayPal suggestion. It's what I used also.

[Xristo]

For all those who are jumping on the doom and gloom bandwagon, ESO is currently the highest rated mmo on mmorpg.com:

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamel...

And you can also read the comments coming in from those who are actually PLAYING the game:

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamel...

This is the best mmo to come out in YEARS... loving every minute of it! Sorry F2P leechers, this game is here to stay P2P! :)

[Rumb13stiltzkin]

It's brilliant. Only level six after playing all weekend - I'm having so much fun just exploring the world that I'm surprised when I level up!

[Kran]

See if a huge franchise like Star Wars with The Old Republic can't handle being a subscription based MMO (I mean look how popular KOTOR was), then there's no chance TES will keep the subs either.

Bethesda/Zenimax literally just thought of the big start up money when they came up with the business model. Give it a year and they'll be panicking.

[Rooted_Dust]

TOR's problem was that the character's stories were way more interesting than the game itself. Once you made it to the end there was no reason to keep playing.

ESO definitely doesn't suffer from that problem.

[kevinsheeks]

Had they made it an action mmo I would have paid but I'm tired of these point and click type mmo -_-

[Xristo]

It's closer to an action mmo than most mmos as the mouse has no cursor in combat. You have to aim the reticle (in melee at least) or you WILL miss. Trust me, I miss with my DK all the time lol. You also must block, interupt (default: hit both mouse buttons at the right time), and dodge.

[kevinsheeks]

O.o I have to go watch some gameplay videos the ones i seen maybe didn't give the best interpretation

if it's like you say i'd be willing to actually pay

[xPhearR3dx]

Xristo is correct.

I'm currently level 28 and have loved every minute of it. The combat is not point and click at all. Each click swings your sword and like he said, you can miss. It's pretty similar to Skyrim in terms of parrying, dodging etc. It's kinda like playing Skyrim on Legendary difficulty. Lots of hacking and slashing (due to the nature of MMO combat balance), but with actual aiming and precise movements.

To be perfectly honest, gameplay videos and even the beta does the real game no justice.

[SITH]

I must admit, I spend way more than $15 a month on things I don't need and food I should not eat. I really want to play this game. But three MMOs (elder scrolls, destiny, and much later star citizen) will be hard to juggle. Luckily two are free to play.

I think what is going on is a combination of broke gamers playing games they can not afford, and poor implementation by zenimax online. It is fishy they want your information upfront. And given you do get charged immediately though temporary it should have been made clear if it was not before you purchased the game.

[rayzorn]

sorry but destiny and star citizen are not mmo's they are multiplayer games only. big difrence

[SITH]

Yeah, you are sorry indeed. Both Star citizen, and Destiny support Multiple gamers playing in at least one persistent game world. That is 100% the criteria for a MMO game. Apparently you are oblivious some of what constitutes an MMO. And by the way high-speed, MMOs are multiplayer only. Squadron 42 is the Single player game for star citizen. Destiny allows a single player to take on instances or locations in the game alone. And according to you and I quote, "..mmos have thousands of people on a server at a time. tens of thousands." So will Star Citizen and Destiny. I have no idea how you thought otherwise.

http://starcitizen.wikia.co...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...
http://destiny.gamepedia.co...

[rayzorn]

well damn i thought destiny was like borderland for some reason with a 4 player co op only online. learn something every day.

[rayzorn]

this is straight from star citizens kickstarter page.

Is Star Citizen an MMO?

No! Star Citizen will take the best of all possible worlds, ranging from a permanent, persistent world similar to those found in MMOs to an offline, single player campaign like those found in the Wing Commander series. The game will include the option for private servers, like Freelancer, and will offer plenty of opportunities for players who are interested in modding the content. Unlike many games, none of these aspects is an afterthought: they all combine to form the core of the Star Citizen experience.

i have been looking at this game from time to time cause it looks good. i thought maybe i was wrong when i read what you posted. but wikipedia is not good for info they are wrong alot.
that kickstarter page is old though. so i tried to find something newer on their main page and i couldnt.

so i could still be wrong.

[iNFAMOUZ1]

Oh well ill skip this one sadly...

Im having fun still with skyrim anyways, leveling slowly but fun. Level 49

[ARESWARLORD]

This game is going to flop so hard that they will abandon the monthly fee

[Rumb13stiltzkin]

You wouldn't know it from how ridiculously populated the world is.

[Papafynn]

Well, said players shouldn't buy The Elder Scrolls Online. #PROBLEMSOLVED

[NotSoSilentBob]

SWTOR 2.0

[rayzorn]

wow console games just dont get this. i play both console and pc. sub fees are not that hard to understand. everquest, wow, tes online and alot of others are nothing like a multiplayer game like cod or a fps. i mean nothing. mmos have thousands of people on a server at a time. tens of thousands.

they normally work on servers weekly new content comes out normally a few times a year for free. with an expansion coming out once a year or every other year that you would have to pay for though.

there is so much to do in a mmo compared to any other type of game. pay time never ends. you can put 10k hours in it and still do more.

its not like they made skyrim and said you have to pay a monthly fee. this is an MMO go read do research almost all you pay for.

i might not buy it but believe me tons will. maybe more on pc cause they are more into mmo's then console gamers.

[lifeordeath617]

i wish it was free to play with micro-transactions. Its enough that i pay $60 a year for Xbox, $8 a month for Netflix, whatever a month for hulu plus lolol. and $15 a month for a Elder Scrolls game that couldve been just regular Co-op

[90Supra]

They can keep it...

I'm not paying a subscription for a single game......ever

[SuperWeeb]

I don't mind that it's a sub fee.
I don't even mind that you have to pay for the game.
What I do mind is the pre-order bonuses... Pay more for an exclusive race and to be in any faction? Really?
What I also do mind is the (not so cheap) cash shop. In a game that already costs and has a subscription service.

The Elder Scrolls fan in me hates What they've done to the lore and world. The MMOfan in me is disappointed in how the combat is apparently mediocre, or that you can't do the very things that defined ES: Steal, murder... You can't steal a horse, no, either buy one with money or gold.

It's wasted potential.

[Xristo]

lol wtf cash shop you talking about? Quit spreading false information.

[SuperWeeb]

I'm not "spreading false information", if you were capable of performing a quick Google search, you'd see that they're selling horses.

http://www.pcgamesn.com/eld...

[bornsinner]

almost as bad as kojima charging us for a demo

[InTheZoneAC]

if they just charged $60 I'd be all over this, but there is no way in hell I'm paying a subscription when there are still hundreds of games to catch up on.

I usually play Battlefield the most, but I'm not paying extra for one game that'll see less playing time.

Luckily the poor sales won't affect future Elder Scrolls releases by Bethesda.

[McGamer]

I love how these console fanboy sites eat up any kind of mmo drama to try to take cheap shots. I enjoy ESO and would gladly pay a sub for a quality game over some lame F2P game.

[Predaking77]

I never played an MMO. Final Fantasy Online beta on PS4 is my first one and I like it a lot man, I'm hooked up with it. Anyone knows how much is going to be the subscription? And if my current progress in the Beta will transfer to the full game?

Never expected MMO to be so amazing. I hope EverQuest Next feels the same. Not so excited about the elder scrolls online since I habe been reading many negative stuff. Maybe I'll try a demo.

[Smoey]

People seem to forget that one of the most played MMOs, World of Warcraft is the same sub system. The game is amazing and I'd gladly pay a monthly fee. This will not be free to play for a long time.

Compared to SWTOR this destroys it, look how long that took.

[Tru_Blu]

Love ES and FO games... This I'll avoid like the plague.

[Rumb13stiltzkin]

Bought TESO late Friday night and played at least 15 hours over the weekend. There's so much to see and do that leveling up has largely become an afterthought and as I've today, I'm only level six.

This game is nothing like Guild Wars 2 (could never get into it no matter how hard I tried, WoW, FFXIV (Level 50 with iLvl 80+ gear), or any other MMO I've played.

It's brilliant and well worth the subscription to keep more content coming at regular, short intervals.

The issue with F2P is that the rate at which new content, systems, and mechanics are introduced is slowed considerably because revenue becomes difficult to predict. I think a lot of people forget that.

[anesthesique]

Was interested in this game till I heard it had a monthly subscription. No thank you Bethesda.