Pay and Play or Buy and Play?

[cg303]

With the increased numbers of mmos falling to free to play models it
never hurt to ask why they try in the first place, It seems every mmo wants to be pay to play
but ends up another victim to dwindling subscription numbers and resorting to a cash shop.
If Elder Scrolls cuts past the crap and offers free to play once the disk is purchased, much like
Guild Wars and Defiance, I believe it will encourage more people to purchase the game and play casually
while the hard core mmo players will bankrupt them selves in the cash shop some casual players will more than likely
buy a few items now and then and money will be made including a larger launch date sale.
All they have to do to make money is offer costume pieces from major players in the elder scrolls universe,
grey fox helm, guild armors, dragon priest masks ect. along with certain boosts and cosmetic adjustments.
And they will more than likely triple the sales that any other mmo has made from their own cash shops.

 

[andy103]

I definitely think they should drop the monthly fee. Even if it makes the initial buy price more expensive I think I'd be more apt to get it.

 

[wowtgp]

I will go for the latter. I don't like keep paying for a game I already own. That's the reason I am not going to bother with ESO.

 

[Stigmatic Gamer]

I would be content with purchasing a $100 disc then having to pay a monthly $15 fee

 

[Joel]

I actually agree with Stigmatic Gamer entirely in the idea of a monthly fee versus a one time payment. The reasoning I have is that my budget as a parent and someone who doesn't want to work forever is very important and having a one time higher cost is better than having a long term low variable cost. I know that if something is popular they will eventually increase the price that people pay. That's just the way it is.

Another thing that I know is that there's a chance that I could invest a lot of money and time into a monthly service and end up being burned. Then I would end up with nothing but a lost investment of time and money.

I suppose you can say the same about a one time expense. I just think that if you're going to pay for a game, just pay up front and enjoy the hell out of it.

 

[andrew172]

I think they should drop the monthly fee, as the monthly fee looks like a reasonable price if you never had to buy the game in the first place, but taking that initial sixty bucks into account almost tips it over the edge into being unreasonable. The first $60 would be an okay price as long as the subscription fee was in the region of 5-10 dollars. I could easily part ways with a couple of trips to KFC in exchange for a TESO subscription but 15 bucks a month in addition to everything else? No thanks, the cost of living and video games in general is high enough thank you.

 

[Stuck_X_Button]

I think they should drop the game price down and keep the subscription fee. If they were going to make this free, they didn't need to put the effort they did into this it could've just been some of these other F2P MMORPGs with an Elder Scrolls skin to it. If they keep it at $69, $10 is a solid price for a subscription. I can't remember the price, but Sony's EverQuest Online Adventures on PS2 was a similar price, but that was if factoring in the network adapter that came with it.