I've heard A LOT lately about the "death" of MMO subscriptions or monthly fees. A lot of speculation has obviously followed.

My question is this; - What exactly IS the status of ESO regarding this issue and what is likely to happen to ESO regarding this issue?

I can afford the game (just!), and I will be buying the XBox One purely so I can play ESO. That's a huge expense in these times. I will obviously need XBL Gold, but YET ANOTHER subscription on top of all that is gonna kill me! I enjoyed (actually, I'm STILL enjoying) both Oblivion and Skyrim (inc all DLC) on the 360, but the best bit was being able to play offline when the internet was down or unreliable. Subs would mean that when finances are tight and I need to pay an unexpected bill, the likelyhood is I won't be able to de-stress in Tamriel, like I do now, because I can't afford this month's fees! ....or the next 3-6mths fees either!

I know the devs have got to get thier money back somehow, but surely sales will suffer if people cannot afford subs? A one off fee to join might be the answer? I cannot say for sure what the solution is, but I think we, as the potential customers need to know, clearly and definatively, what will be the intentions of those running the servers.

I have a lot of money riding on this issue, as my purchase of a next-gen console rides on it.

Until we get closer to release and all the details are revealed, the payment plan discussion is off-limits for the time being.

Closer to release, we will open the official Payment threads again.