How can you tell that it will be going f2p?

 

SWtOR, LotRO, etc. almost all of them became f2p in the end, you can't really do much without a subscription but still it's free to play in paper.

 

Well that's out for me then. Figure'd it at least be free. Oh well.

 

Personally, I could care less if ESO eventually goes F2P just so long as they keep the option to allow players to pay the subscription in order to avoid all the micro-transactions and paygates. I absolutely hate being nickle and dimed for every little thing in a game. When I buy a game, I want to be able to have the whole game, not just a part of it with the option to buy the other pieces. DLC on consoles annoys me to a lesser degree for this exact same reason.

Also, SWtOR went F2P because it had absolutely no end game to speak of and LotRO went F2P because, in my opinion, it just wasn't a very good game. Having played in 3 beta weekend sessions so far (the upcoming one will be my fourth), I can say ESO has been much more fun than I ever had with SWtOR or LotRO, and it is still only in beta with a limit of leveling only to level 17. I would give ESO at least a year before it goes F2P if it does. I can't wait till NDA lifts to allow players to show everyone some real gameplay so people can see how great ESO really is.

 

Well, seems Curse is giving away Beta keys.

 

@Amoral Philsopher
I agree with the biggest problem of those games being the missing endgame content.
But we have yet to see any endgame content of ES:O other than the whole Emperor fight. (And looking at every other MMO released over the last few years, all of them suffered from not having enough endgame content/motivation at the start which makes me wonder why this game should be different).

Other than that there is the simple financial reason of going f2p/having a mircopayment system. Just look at SWtOR and at how much money it made with its cartel market compared to its earlier subscriber based system. So yeah.. Zerimax will try to get as much money from selling the overpriced game+subscribtion and as soon as interest begins to wane (And ES:O would have to be really special for that not to happen) it will go f2p and they will begin to make the real money. (Things like the Emperor Edition with its extra race are, in my opinion, a clear sign of that)

 

Hey, so I got a key, but I can't play it as I'm on holiday in NZ.

I would probably play later when I get back to aus, but that won't be for a while. Is this a temporary beta key, or can I use it later in 2 months time?

If it's a key for this weekend only, I'd be happy to give it away. Let me know.

 

I would hold off on anyone giving away their key if they got it from zennimax (signing up for the beta). The key I received originally 3 beta sessions back is the same key I have received for each beta session since then. If you give away your key and someone activates it, you essentially lose your access to all future beta sessions unless you are able to acquire a new key from someone else or a giveaway like Curse.

 

I am, again thanks for the heads up about the curse beta key giveaway. One of my favorite things in a game is the character creation feature, the sneak peaks ESO posted seems to be fascinating so I wanna experience it myself, with all its details.

Btw how does one go about being a dedicated beta player? One of my mottos is "If you're doing something, do it right". The thing is this is my first time joining a game's beta so I'm not really sure how. Do I just play normally and take note of any glitches I come across? Or do I specifically search for bugs and all that jazz? And how do you search for bugs? Any recommendations?

 

Essentially. The game as it looks now looks really shitty for what it's trying to be, and it's stomped over enough of the lore just with what little we know about it already that I'm disinclined to give it any slack. If it can't deliver a good gaming experience, then it's worthless, because it obviously won't hold up as a story or setpiece for the Elder Scrolls universe. And we won't know if it will be any better than Defiance until we get to see it played first-hand.

I don't know what kind of idiot would drop 70+ solid on a day one release. I wouldn't recommend that even for a game that looks like it'll be fantastic. Wait a few months before deciding to drop that kind of money, especially on an MMO.

 

I will be playing this weekend, probably going to restart one of my characters.

 

I've been playing since around 10 when the servers went on. Character name is Chriar if anyone is interested.

 

I think they're past that stage. Play normally and explore, because I think they're more interested in a stress test for their servers.

I just tried TESO last night and I'm not too impressed. The gameplay and graphics look more like Oblivion than Skyrim. It's not a deal-breaker for me but with mmos like Tera, Guild Wars 2, and the upcoming Blade and Soul looking better and smoother, I'm less inclined to spend money to buy the game and pay subscription too.

 

I am also playing in the beta right now (got it in another window at this exact moment) and I am not sure we are playing the same game. ESO doesn't look anywhere near as bad as Oblivion was. I even booted it up on my xbox just to make sure time hadn't messed with my memory since the last time I played it years ago. I would say ESO (which I am playing with graphics set to high) is almost on par with Skyrim on the console in terms of graphics.

Overall, including all the past beta weekends, I have spent over 40 hours with this game so far and I can't get enough of it. It is a beautiful mmo, imo, and crazy fun to play. I started out this weekend playing my level 15 character from the last beta session and have just started a new character so I can try out a character specialized in crafting (probably going to try enchanting first). So far, I have leveled a character from 1 to 15 three times from the ESO betas I've played and I have not grown tired of that content yet. This will be my fourth. I am perfectly happy to buy the game and pay the subscription if I continue have this amount of fun with it. Hell, I've beaten $60 games I've bought in less time than I've played in this beta alone.

 

That's a good point. I'll probably end up picking this up, but I'm going to hold off a while and see how the dust settles, reviews are fairly mixed right now. I did enjoy playing the beta, although I didn't play the most recent beta weekend so I assume it has improved since my last experience.

 

I am rather enjoying it. I think it feels pretty good.

But they need to do something about a recurring bug that it appears hundreds of testers are having, where load times either start getting longer and longer, or apparently randomly start taking 10+ minutes to switch zones. It's been happening to me regularly.

If they can get the loading issues fixed, I won't mind paying for it. But a rather large portion of my Rift guild(s) are planning to play it, and being able to play with them will make up for the minor flaws I've run into.

 

I have been having this problem too this weekend. I didn't experience this issue the previous beta weekend, but I did for the one 2 beta sessions back. It seems they are increasing the number of people they invite to beta with each proceeding session, trying to stress the server even more each time to optimize it better. Most likely these are just growing pains they are experiencing that should be stabilized by the time of release (I hope).

 

I think they are going to have a smooth launch with very few if any crashed/lags. They did a LOT of stress testing during previous betas and whoever wants to play right now can play. So if they can handle the current player load, they can handle launch, which will be a fraction of that.