FakeStrake wrote on Aug 22^nd, 2013 at 12:54am:


I give it two.

It'll avoid the "all F2P MMOs are garbage" mentality that I and a lot of other people have, however:



Not to mention it bastardizes all lore the ES series ever had (a screencap from beta of an Argonian complaining of being poisoned is a famous, yet minor, example), the fact that it's being developed by people who just do not really care about anything besides profit margin, and the fact that beta is full of yes-men who have only ever played Skyrim and are only there to get a "sneak peek."

Anyone who is remotely excited about its release is either not paying attention to its development (or the regression of MMORPGs as a genre) or are complete idiots.

Vissarion wrote on Aug 23^rd, 2013 at 10:05am:



Well, a recent article from WoW producer (?) mentioned that potentially WoW could go F2P as well, full game. Basically he didn't discount the F2P model and the possibility of WoW getting rid of sub requirements.

Vissarion wrote on Aug 23^rd, 2013 at 11:01am:


Yup, just pointing out that TES and Wildstar are swimming against the currents. If the big dog of subs model MMOs is considering F2P, it's a good sign that the tides have changed.

Memnir wrote on Aug 23^rd, 2013 at 10:50pm:


I'm not being disingenuous when I say: don't get excited.

If you thought Turbine was bad when it came to listening to player feedback in beta... HAH.

Vissarion wrote on Aug 23^rd, 2013 at 10:05am:

I highly doubt you will see a successful and sustained subscription-only model ever again. The fact is that no MMO provider - or game provider for that matter - can come out with content that justifies the $15/mo standard. It's always been a broken model, and all it took was one moderately successful game making the switch before the dam broke.

I'd be perfectly fine with paying $15/mo to a game provider that came out with the equivalent of 1/4 of a console game's content every month... given the old $60 per game up front cost model. But I have yet to see an MMO provider that comes out with anywhere near that kind of content.

As for service costs - running the game servers and whatnot - that was long ago shown to be a non-issue. Blizzard's SC1 servers are still running without subscription fees 15+ years later.

Another example of a doomed payment model: cable TV and similar services (dish/directTV). Most consumers don't want packaged TV (there's always someone who still rents their phone from AT&T, but they don't count). It's great having 1000 channels and all but I don't watch 990 of them. The companies themselves are proving to be exceptionally resistant to change, but their service model has lived well beyond its expected lifespan. It can only continue so long as one of them doesn't crack. As soon as one company cracks, the rest will fall in line very shortly after... just like F2P in MMOs.

The game looks pretty good, and it's fun to play.

However, playing it at PAX has not convinced me enough that a $15 sub is going to be overly tempting. And the Devs on the showfloor were pretty evasive when I pressed for specifics (as I thought they'd be, but I had to ask).

Fun? Certainly.
Fun enough to sink the $15-a-month hook back in? 'm still on the fence.


The lack of a panel for the game is also worrisome. SOE had panels for SWTOR a full two years in advance of the game's launch. Bethesda has had panels for Fallout 3, New Vegas, and Skyrim in the PAX leading up to their launch - even if those launches were a ways out. The fact that Bethesda wasn't willing to have a presentation where a lot of details would be expected has me concerned that the "meat and potatoes" just won't be there.

Ewilan wrote on Sep 7^th, 2013 at 6:31pm:


Skyrim has garbage combat. A multitude of other games make it look like the worst shit possible. The lore was one of the major points of TES and this MMO is ignoring most of it.

Quote:


The game is not being developed by Bethesda. Which, depending on your point of view, is either good or bad: Bethesda is pretty incompetent, and the only way to make TES games really good is with extensive mods. In an MMO, mods will probably not be possible.