I feel it is necessary to include a foreword to the following piece, as it is imperative that the reader receives this as an opinionated article. Many aspects of The Elder Scrolls Online are hotly debated on a daily basis, and that certainly isn’t going to change anytime soon. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with any number of the following points, I encourage you to respond as such in the comments. I look forward to reading your ideas, predictions and opinions.
[promo title=”The Subscription Fee”][/promo]
Let’s start off with the most prominent complaint regarding The Elder Scrolls Online. In order to play the game, you will need to pay $60 for the actual software. After one free month of gameplay, you will be expected to pay $15 per month in order to retain access to the video game. This subscription model is most famously (or infamously, depending on your viewpoint) used in the world’s most popular MMORPG World of Warcraft.
So, the MMO giant World of Warcraft is able to require a subscription fee and maintain its status as most popular? For the average gamer complaining about The Elder Scrolls Online, that almost has to be baffling. Regardless of how you feel about the World of Warcraft, you can’t really deny that the model has failed the game. In fact, subscriptions were on the rise as 2013 ended, with the total number clocking in at around 7.8 million. This is admittedly lower than its peak number (12 million near the end of 2010), but it remains to be very impressive.
The “problem” that many people are taking issue with is that MMORPGs have gone through a sort-of evolution over the past few years. Many are being released as free-to-play, while others that dared to start with a subscription fee (such as Lord of the Rings Online and Star Wars: The Old Republic) have dropped the model due to a lower player-base. Naturally, both Lord of the Rings Online and The Old Republic still offer an option to subscribe to a monthly fee in order to obtain special benefits in-game. This allows the player to decide whether or not the game is worth the continuous payment.
A few days ago, Bethesda’s vice president of PR, Pete Hines, defended the monthly fee for Elder Scrolls Online by calling it a “value proposition.” By this, he means that Zenimax (the development team behind ESO) will be fully dedicated to providing swift and meaningful content additions to the game. Hines had the following to say regarding their decision to include a subscription model:
“We feel pretty strongly about the support we’re going to have for the game and what you’re going to get for those dollars. We’re also very confident in our ability to support it with content. And not content of the magnitude of, it’s a new month, here’s a new sword or here’s a funny hat–but content that is real and significant and it feels like regular and consistent DLC releases.”
Personally, I believe it’s also of note that a lot of the complaining is being done by console gamers. The decision to include Elder Scrolls Online on the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One is nothing less than exciting, and I think it’s wonderful that we’re finally going to see some quality MMOs on consoles. However, the average console gamer isn’t exactly used to the idea of paying monthly for a video game. I’m not sure if it’s a lack of understanding in terms of how MMOs operate or if there is some underlying sense of entitlement working its evil magic, but they’ve certainly been vocal about it. While there are still plenty of PC gamers complaining about the fee (these are the people who are familiar with MMO fees, but they are also familiar with the aforementioned evolution of the genre), console gamers do have a legitimate reason to worry.
At least, some think they do. To play multiplayer games, one must subscribe to Sony’s PlayStation Plus or Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE Gold service. However, Sony has chosen to be lenient on this rule for free-to-play games and MMOs in that PlayStation Plus is not required. Microsoft, on the other hand, still requires the consumer to subscribe to Xbox LIVE Gold in order to play any game online, including Elder Scrolls Online. This means that Xbox One users will be required to pay significantly more in order to access the MMO.
While that’s something I can’t entirely defend, I will say this: if you own a next-gen console this early in their lifespans, you probably are subscribed to either PlayStation Plus or Xbox LIVE Gold. While it may seem easy to complain that you would have to pay for both Plus or Gold and the subscription fee for an MMO, it really isn’t as logical as you might think. They’re completely separate entities, after all. You aren’t helping Zenimax create a better game experience by subscribing to Plus or Gold. Unfortunately, the most I can say to console gamers disagreeing with the practice is “think about it for a few minutes” instead of hopping on the bandwagon of hate. As for everyone else, it’s far more practical to wait and see if Zenimax will stand by their promise of delivering incredible content on a speedy basis instead of crucifying them before the game has even released. Even with the evolution of the MMO, World of Warcraft is still proving that the model can work. There’s nothing wrong with giving a new game a fair chance.
[promo title=”The Imperial Edition”][/promo]
Collector’s editions are nothing new to the gaming industry. They typically cost more than the base game and include special features and collectibles designed for the more hardcore fans. In the final few days of January earlier this year, the collector’s edition of Elder Scrolls Online was revealed, labelled as the “Imperial Edition.”
You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone complaining about a game shipping with a collector’s edition. Plenty of people enjoy their hobby enough to the point where they find the higher price acceptable and totally worth it. Of course, this is Elder Scrolls Online we’re talking about. Essentially nothing can be revealed about the game without a horrific outbreak of complaints.
The $100 package contains a few lore-based physical items as well as some rather negligible in-game items. As nice as this sounds, there is one aspect of the Imperial Edition that has sparked outrage: the Imperial race is only available to those with this edition of the game. The standard edition of ESO allows the player to choose between nine races, with the Imperial being the tenth for those willing to shell out an extra $40.
There isn’t much to say here beyond the fact people are arguing that this is a scummy, money-grabbing practice being put into place by Bethesda and Zenimax. It’s being labelled as a “pay-wall”, blocking out one of the more famous races in Elder Scrolls lore. I think what most people are failing to take into account is a pay-wall blocking out races isn’t exactly something new to MMOs. After all, if an expansion pack for World of Warcraft includes a new race or two, they aren’t about to give them to you for free. In addition, we went the longest time without knowing Imperial would even be a race. Why should there be any anger over it being announced as a special bonus to the more dedicated Elder Scrolls Online fans? They didn’t have to include the race in the first place, but they clearly wanted to pack as many special features into the Imperial Edition as possible to ensure that we, the consumers, would be getting the best deal possible. Curse you, Bethesda and Zenimax, for your desire to ensure we are given more bang for our buck!
Amusingly, the Imperial Edition was reported as outselling the standard edition at a 5 to 1 ratio. Despite the vocal outcries, nothing talks louder than money and sales. It’s clear that even the average Elder Scrolls Online fan wants the best experience possible, and is willing to shell out some extra cash for the enjoyment.
[promo title=”Conclusion”][/promo]
I could go on and on, of course. You know that very well. Some PC gamers are angry that the game is coming to consoles, claiming that it will “dumb down” the game as a whole. Plenty of people who participated in the beta have found the game to be buggy and a bit lackluster in terms of content (even though you’d think the word “beta” and the fact that hardly any content was live on the test servers would repel such complaints). It’d be extremely time consuming for anyone to go over all of the “atrocities” being committed by Zenimax and Bethesda.
Gamers have been known as notorious for their bandwagoning and lack of patience. Look at how quickly people are willing to shoot down the idea of a subscription-based MMO simply because they believe that it isn’t the industry standard anymore, or that no game developer could possibly meet the expectations set forth by a monthly fee. Look at how many are willing to label a game as broken and terrible strictly based on experiences with the beta. Even more terrifyingly, you’ll see plenty of people going off of what they’ve heard other people say about the beta. It turns into a vicious parroting of irrelevant opinions formed by people who only care to bash a game they know very little about.
Let’s give Zenimax a chance, folks. Sure, the game may go free-to-play after a year or so. Maybe it won’t sell as well as Pete Hines hopes. Or, maybe, Zenimax will completely fall through on their promises. But this nonsense where gamers crucify a developer and their game based on their own personal lack of insight and information needs to come to a screeching halt. You might consider yourself to be an industry expert, capable of producing meaningful predictions and condemning games before they even release, but I highly doubt that this is the case.
The Elder Scrolls Online releases in April for the PC and in June for consoles. After that time has passed, we can finally begin to have arguments based on proof instead of speculation.
