How long before TESO becomes free to play?

[andrew172]

I think that TESO becoming free to play is somewhat inevitable. It's a console game and the most expensive console games on average cost in the region of $60 and TESO is asking for about $200 taking into account a years monthly subscription. So few people are going to be able to afford it and most MMOs do go free to play after the initial subscriptions start to stop to boost players. SO my question is- how long do you think it will be before it does go free to play?

 

[Stuck_X_Button]

I'll say...a year-two years. That's usually the amount of time needed for that first wave of players who have ponied out the $200 to become so powerful and such that the MMO isn't really fun for newer people coming in to do anything without putting in money for a special account

 

[desarijulian]

Yeah, I'd say give it some time for all the paid up players to get some cool stuff and become powerful. Then they'll open it up to the freeters (free-to-players). I doubt anyone who ponied up that much money would be happy for the game to be free to play so quickly.

 

[Limezero]

It's worth noting that people said the same thing about WoW, and look at how many years they've been rolling for. Although I will say that Bethesda is much more likely to make bad business choices and eventually end up having to resort to making the game into a F2P/freemium model. Which I wouldn't mind, personally. Buying it again and subscribing just to play Skyrim 2: Electric Boogaloo "now with other players to ruin your game" edition doesn't exactly strike me as a good idea.

 

[SpaceTiger]

Buying it again and subscribing just to play Skyrim 2: Electric Boogaloo "now with other players to ruin your game" edition doesn't exactly strike me as a good idea.

I want to play Elder Scrolls Online, but I really want to play Skyrim 2: Electric Boogaloo for the title alone. Sounds like it would be a trippy as hell Skyrim. I would probably put duckets on the "Now With Other Players to Ruin Your Game" DLC, but the players would have to be really dreadful. I want ninja looters, lower levels that trail a long line of higher leveled monsters behind them, server lock outs because of bad traffic, and for a bunch of people to wear the same low level robe because it looks cooler than the higher leveled ones.

...I want the works.

As to the original question: two to three years for open level caps and maybe one to two years for free to play to level 20 or something.

 

[andrew172]

Some interesting point raised by you guys. Seems to be a fairly realistic time frame. It s is true that WoW is still going strong but Console gamers have almost never had to subscribe to play a game before and unless you're used to the idea after paying to play it is something that may alienate a lot of console users. Lord of the Rings online has a pretty successful free to play up until a certain level formula that maybe TESO could adopt. One thing I dislike though is coming to play a free to play game but everything you need to do well costs money, it may be free to play, but pay to win is just annoying.

 

[sidd230]

Will last for two years, then it will go F2P and in the next 3 years Bethesda will forget about it...

Same thing that has happened to every MMO since WOW.

 

[Stuck_X_Button]

I think Bethesda will kind of look over now and then and remember they have an MMORPG. These kinds of games can usually coast along on their own with a few expansions/DLC here and there. I don't see the same kind of support of say WOW or EQ, but it'll run for awhile (longer than 3 years) and probably into the PS5 era.

 

[SpaceTiger]

I can see TESO ending up like Phantasy Star Online: a few diehards will still play throughout the duration of the console's life and beyond (people were playing PSO on Dreamcast for awhile afterwards). Eventually the level caps will be raised to something enjoyable when there's a lack of paying players and it'll be another DCUO (paying for extras).

 

[Stuck_X_Button]

I can deal with TESO becoming PSO. I was on PSO for a long time after it closed down. I believe there were like ghost servers established for Phantasy Star Online after it was ended. I know the first EverQuest has those kinds of servers even though Sony had long moved on from that game and closed the servers sometime during EQ2's run.

 

[Tomba]

$200 is close to what you're normally looking at for an MMO in the first year. Sometimes there's that first month free thing to reel you in, but the monthly subscription is a given. I agree that it will be one or two years before it goes freenium so that the early adapters truly get to enjoy the game before the freeters (I like that term) start to run amok Animaniacs-style.

 

[RobDaCool]

Wonder if it'll beat ToR's record of 9 months before announcing F2P?

 

[Tomba]

I keep forgetting TOR. I might have to adjust my guess because that MMO was also heavily hyped. It would probably meet TOR's record time.

 

[desarijulian]

Thinking clearly it's just going to take time because it is an MMO and those that aren't immediately free to play to get on to bandwagon unless they really need to. It'll be a couple of years before we hear anything about them even considering going in that direction so if you really want to play it then you'll have to pony up the cash for it.

 

[SpaceTiger]

I would pony up the cash for it for a few months. If you put in the time on a MMO, you can get to a pretty managable level to where you can walk away from subscriptions for awhile. The drawback to that is that you tend to establish social alliancesand in-game friendships via groups and guilds that depend on you regularly playing.

When do you guys think we'll see a Fallout Online?

 

[mauricioq]

I don't know if it will be free someday to be honest...
Maybe if they do not make enough profit to continue, the game will probably include a shop with items so you can buy them with real money, and them become free. But I don't see it happening soon.

 

[Tomba]

All MMORPGs become free eventually. EverQuest and World of Warcraft took longer because they came at a time when people were willing to pump money into their subscription on a regular basis. Now and days the number of those up for doing that has dwindled and people are expected F2P experiences now, especially with a bunch of pretty sizable, solid looking MMORPGs out there. I still believe the F2P will simply halt at a level cap.

 

[Stuck_X_Button]

When do you guys think we'll see a Fallout Online?

It's too soon to consider a Fallout Online. I'd love one, but it'll depend on the success of Elder Scrolls Online I'd think.

 

[andrew172]

Console players imply aren't used to paying monthly fee for their games. If you've never played an MMO before then the concept of paying $200 for a game when some people like myself rarely fork out more than $15-$20 for one. I get that subscriptions are a part of many MMOs reality. But some of us need to eat and pay rent. I do however think that maybe a... three month? subscription would be a pretty great think as a gift to someone and then I would consider buying it for a month or two. Or I would say I'd had enough until it was free to play. Either way, there's no real rush to buy the game straight away. I think most people will be okay with waiting till it goes free to play.

 

[Ghost_of_Crash]

It's too soon to consider a Fallout Online. I'd love one, but it'll depend on the success of Elder Scrolls Online I'd think.

Yeah it's way too soon for them to consider Fallout Online. I think people would've jumped at paying monthly fees and buying that one as there are plenty of fantasy-based MMORPGs out there. It's like the stock, go to setting for an MMORPG because you can just populate it with your usual fantasy lore races and classes then come up with a simple enough lore...OR take an existing lore and change some stuff around. There will always be a vile wizard, killing necromancers, killing this beast, collecting stacks for newbie quests, and milestone weapons quests.

With FO online, it would change it up a bit.