Ha!

GOGlodytes!

Iove it!

I think they've emphasized lots of times how important exploration is in ESO, even with videos just on the subject.
However I hope they'll leave some places as instances so your excitement at discovering a top-secret place isn't ruined by discovered Jimmy and Timmy have already killed, looted and took everything in it...

As others have said, if it's using subs, then no. If it isn't, then yes.

I'm hoping it will be more like everquest than being another world of warcraft clone.
But i'm pretty sure it won't be as good as guild wars 2 anyway.

I actually meant to get Guild Wars 2 around Christmas but forgot... Is it actually that good? I'd rather the Guild Wars model than f2p though. Then it's almost like a mobile game or facebook requiring payment every so often to go almost anything.

It is interesting to me how often people feel that 15 bucks a month is ridiculously expensive for a game that can easily keep you busy all month each month, assuming you enjoy it to begin with.

I am thinking about it in this way: when I played EverQuest constantly month in and month out and enjoyed it thoroughly at the time for years, I did not have time for nor care about other games. That meant my total annual cost including an annual expansion at 40 bucks came to $220. for fun all year long. On the other hand, if I was into single player games at say 50 bucks a pop and let's say I got a new one each month of the year that would run me $600. for probably less hours of entertainment.

Granted, that's an edge case where somebody loves MMO gameplay and simply prefers it over single player games which I did for a long time. I can understand the value of an MMO game sinking considerably if you do not play it often and therefore do not derive sufficient entertainment hours for your money out of it. Generally speaking though, as a group, MMO players tend to play their preferred game very often each week and month so as a group I think they do tend to get what actually amounts to a very good entertainment value per dollar even with subs.

In my experience, free to play games for the full unhindered (read: fun) experience cost at least as much as the old subscription model if not more. From the time SOE first introduced RMT into their games the goal always was to make more money, not less. They did not abandon the subscription model to offer a cheaper game experience and make less money. It was a deliberate, thought out decision to generate more revenue. I recall reading an article about LoTRO quite a while ago where Turbine indicated going f2p had been quite a success for them and I am pretty sure at that time they indicated revenues were up over twice what they had been. In fact, I think it might have higher than that.

It's an insidious thing on purpose the way f2p works really, just like the widespread adoption of tons of DLC, day one DLC, day one expansions (I'm looking at you Battlefield 4), DLC season passes, etc. such that for some games now what you are really looking at using say Call of Duty as an example or Battlefield, a $100. outlay for a game that once upon a time would have been around $50 and with users that would have expanded the content endlessly via mods and maps themselves for free.

It's all about milking us for more money, not giving us some kind of free ride or break. If the Elder Scrolls Online is free to play you can be very sure it is going to cost money for it to be FUN to play. There is no free lunch as they say.

Personally, I find all of this marketing crap to be deceitful and misleading in a way. It reminds me of how my box of Cheerios tells me each morning how this cereal "May" prevent health problems which I guess "may" be true but it also may not be true at all. There is no conclusive evidence to support them being able to say it WILL prevent health problems. So the marketeers use the word may and almost subliminally convey the impression that this cereal is better for you than it is actually known to be. People buy into this crap all the time.

How often I have read disgruntled reports of users playing f2p games who cry it is pay to win, etc. Well, of course it is! How the hell is the company making it going to stay afloat? They have to make money. They've just found some slimey new ways of doing it in my opinion. I would actually rather they have the balls to set a price and if the game is actually worth the money it will be fine. If it is not, it won't. But in this way it goes right back to value without any fooling around. The game either sinks or swims on its own merits and not a lot of BS trying to fool users into thinking they are getting what they used to pay for, for free or for cheaper. They aren't and they won't. Companies can't actually afford to do that understandably enough.

I really hate marketing bullshit and deception. Can you tell? I hate being lied to.

Or you do it the right way. The ArenaNet way. Cosmetic shop, fun items, etc. nothing that gives you more power.
And yet, they're still developping a lot of content and have been releasing stuff at a constant rate... which means it can work. Just think it right away and it works. Most MMOs have turned to F2P AFTER failing with subscriptions and thus the paying features weren't designed to be in the game at first, which explains why most fail at f2p too.

You just make a better worded post of what I was trying to say :P

Yes, Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 are shining examples of how to do it right. Those guys had the confidence in their game to put a price on it and go with it. That confidence was justified and both games have done well because they are good games that deserve to do well.

RMT transactions for cosmetics are fine. Blizzard does that too with WoW and people like that stuff enough to buy it. So fine. If there's a market for it, why not? But you can purchase and play Guild Wars and never spend a cent on that stuff and not have your game compromised in any way by it. No parts are held back or missing other than some cosmetics I which are inconsequential in most people's opinion I would venture to guess. It is the same thing with WoW. You can buy more pets and mounts but there are many, many more you can simply earn/farm in the game for free.

I don't partake in the aspects of MMOs that make them that time consuming for others. Also I find the methods subscription games use to keep people playing to be manipulative and boring.

It's not gonna be free2play? It's so... 2008.