A few words about me. I've been playing TES games since Morrowind. I've been playing several MMOs, a few of them at quite serious level for years (that is, my friends and I were quite successful at end game content of these games). So you could say I have a more or less educated opinion about MMOs.

Now, those that have been playing MMOs extensively, have been observing a trend taking place in the money making therein. Where once gamers would pay monthly subscription fees to allow immersion in their online worlds of choice, more and more games are surrendering to the free to play (FTP) model regularly.

The question behind this migration is whether this is an indication of failure in the overall expectations from the game in question. There are several games available that initially released with subscriptions to play and slowly turned into FTP. In my opinion it's obviously a failure.

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, turned into FTP (still has premium accounts available).

Star Trek Online was released as a subscription based game that later evolved into FTP model.

The Lord of the Rings Online. Went FTP with items and privileges that can be purchased from an item shop.

Star Wars: The Old Republic went FTP.

...and the list goes on...

As you can see, several prominent titles including Star Wars: The Old Republic, The Secret World and TERA all ditched their subscription fees, while even games with incredibly loyal fanbases like City of Heroes have had their plugs pulled due to less than stellar player numbers. It’s understandable then that some people may be thinking the MMO genre is failing, and all who enter into it are doomed. Well, except for WoW. And, in my opinion, ultimately ESO will have to compete with WoW.

Of course the picture is more complex than this. There is EVE Online, and Guild Wars 2, which cannot be called failures at all, only their approach is different. But essentially MMOs take so long to make, and they take so much money that either you’re successful and you’re going to do really well, or you’re not and your company is toast.

So, in your opinion, how will ESO be different from all those MMOs that had high hopes at launch then they surrendered and turned into FTP (or let's just say: failed) in a year or so? Because the list of those MMOs is quite long.

How will it stand out from the masses? What exactly will be different in it? LOTRO, SWTOR, STO etc. had depth and lore easily comparable to the TES universe (TES lore fanatics will disagree, I'm sure, but it's true). Raiding, dungeons, alliance PVP, small scale PVP, quests, achievements, combat, trinity ... we've seen them all. I don't see what is different about ESO. The only real difference is the world, which is indeed fantastic and awesome. But not great enough to attract gamers from other MMOs, that needs unique features, which honestly I cannot see at the moment.

That said. I wish the best for ESO and I will definitely play it. I just have my doubts about it's future.

I will play this game even if it's future is bleak. I've heard enough to know that it's going to have many good points worth investing time in. So, just enjoy it and don't fret over the duration of its existence. Life is fleeting, and short, if you worry about the "how longs?" you'll completely miss out on the enjoyment. The exact same holds true for TESO.

It doesn't really have to stand out to lure some chunk of the mmo crowd. TES, Bethesda, Skyrim are well known trademarks already and the gaming media always seem to favor them, besides their marketing budget will most likely be stellar. So a lot of people, fans and newcomers will play the first few months if only for the hype, even with monthly fee. Then the shifting player base will move to other upcoming titles and the TES fans will most likely keep playing, the game will go free to play and the quality of our characters' life will improve I reckon the big rush (first few months) will make Zenimax the cash they needed for profitability. I think the best overall content (lore and refined pvp, mature community) will be reached when all the outlanders "Dov44Kynn Emperorz " will have left.

Age of Conan is a failure.
Star Trek Online is a massive failure.
The Lord of the Rings Online isn't a failure but failed to old with time, got out-dated.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is a failure.

That is why they are F2P.

Best example here is the very old World of Warcraft that isn't F2P.
Because:

• It progress well with time, didn't get out-dated or replaced with a World of Warcraft 2!
  
• Graphic engine gets updated, gameplay gets added, new features get added.

What comes with F2P tho?

• Less hammering down on hackers.
  
• Not very active customer support.
  
• An uncertain future with uncertain content.
  
• Very little chance to upgrade the engine of the game, graphics and features that require more money to make.