Lol, you have to buy the package before you even pay a single cent for a subscription.

Its not the same. It just isn't. People can go blue in the face over a pre-order and CE pack, but it is not the same as a microtrans gate at all.

How so?

How is it a compromise?

People who didn't want open-race-selection are going to be mad that its now possible.

People who did want it are going to be mad that its pre-order only and not standard.

Even on here, I see countless posts able how the beta was a huge let down and doubt about the game. And with the newest announcements on the Imperials and the Collectors Edition, I'm seeing it more. You go on sites like IGN and Game Informer, people are shouting in the comments. Every game is bound to have people who are against it, but it seems like the numbers for ESO are fluctuating more than anything I've ever seen.

Kill it all with fire. http://25.media.tumblr.com/d4d9b3edf816415b01d51c917ee3b097/tumblr_mo8t9dE5oi1s7gn7ko1_500.gif

Free to play in 6 months for sure. People would be insane not to. This is one of the most expensive MMO's to play in history.

Well if they were going to buy the game anyways, why would they be mad? Simply Pre-order a regular edition and you're set.

Those that didn't want it can still roll their same race and faction they planned, and will simply have to get over seeing other races.

More than anything, I want a response, a Q and A session, a tweet, or whathaveyou going into explicit detail on what each part of the the pre-order and Imperial edition mean, leave nothing up to ambiguity or conjecture. ZOS certainly needs better communication with the community, its like they only half-listen to us. I remember saying "allow us to imperials..." but I never added "..for an extra $20,". This whole uproar has to do with people's opinions on pre-orders as well; you have to admit that they've gone out of control. Years ago, a pre-order made sense when there was possibility of physical scarcity, but now we're pre-ordering digital games. Isn't that the most insane, pants-on-head [censored] thing you've ever heard? There is no digital scarcity, what good reason would I have to pre-order it? It only exists to serve companies that may not have stellar products and are looking to rake in cash before people realize that the game wasn't as good as they thought. It doesn't help that the NDA hasn't been lifted either. So if someone pre-orders now, they better cross their fingers that the game is good because all they've got to go on is conjecture.

As it stand right now:

To get all the content

ESO is a 80 dollar game + 15 dollars sub fee

The question becomes, it is worth it anymore?

I don't think any race or +speed (thus giving those players an advantage over normal players) should be exclusive.

Rather I am fine with pure cosmetic items, things that made you unique/stand out, those are ok.

The idea of being able to play any race in any faction is something I like (and imo shoulda been done from the start) where you picka faction separate from your race.

Or perhaps have it be story involved where as you play you are able to join a faction, some of which might be harder to do (like you could o in EQ2).

An entirely personal question. How much is your entertainment worth it to you?

Some people pay hundreds of dollars for sportsgame tickets, to attend a game that lasts two hours. Some people spend fifty bucks a night at a bar or pub, and have to suffer the hangover effects afterwards. Some people Dump thousands of dollars into personal hobbies. You're paying, essentially, 15$ to get up to 744 hours of entertainment time, assuming you dont sleep, work, or take any other breaks. Still, realistically, you're getting more entertainment hours out of a subscription MMO than you would out of just about any other form of entertainment short of twiddling your thumbs in the corner of your room.

MMO's are like pizza, you get far more for your money than you would ever get at any other kind of venue.

For me a lot of it is the principle. Saying one thing and doing something opposite. I look at GW2, and they have a massive amount of content right out of the box for retail cost. No sub. EvE Online (the 2nd most successful mmo in the last 10 years): extremely low retail cost (like $5 during sales on steam, very frequent) and a sub (which you can pay for with in-game credits). WoW: $20 retail and a sub. TESO: $60 retail, $20 for the other part of the content, a sub. Tell me why TESO deserves to cost more than all of these other successful mmo's? You can get the same amount of time on anyone of these mmo's.

Well here's my 2 septims on the matter of pre-order and imperial edition bonuses:

Imperial Edition: I'm fine with it for the most part. You don't need to get it, as you won't really be missing out on anything that you didn't know existed a few hours ago anyways. If you choose to though, you can upgrade your account and get access to all of the things it provided later down the road. Still, it kind of svcks that an entire playable race is gated behind it. Worst case scenario is that you need to pay extra money to get all of the games "content", but the access is still there.

Pre-order bonuses: While I'm fine with the bonuses themselves, my issue is that anyone who isn't willing to fork over a ton of money for a game they aren't even sure will be any good or that they'll like, is losing out on some pretty major game changers for a lot of people. As in, the ability to play as any race for any alliance. If you don't pay early, you're SOL and will never have access to this feature unless they decide to add it later down the line. You can take a gamble and pay for the game early, or you can wait it out and see what the reviews are like. If they turn out well and you decide to play, you missed out. If you pay but the game turns out bad, you lost money that you didn't need to spend.

i guess i will deal with it, the game is fun enough to where i will be buying it, i just feel like i will only need 4 character slots now instead of my 9. i will pretty much have 1 of each class and all 4 will be in 1 alliance. orc, dark elf, argonian, and khajiit teaming up

This!

This. They could have implemented this in many other ways. But offering an explorers pack is just such an easy and greedy way to do this. Why not do it in a way that would add content to the game in form of a long questline or even a content expansion later on? An expansion is actually worth paying for.

You do realize that when WoW was a brand new game, it was a 59$ standard price and 79$ for the collector's edition, right?

You cannot compare the price of a brand new game to one that's now over a decade old.

i have to agree, plus you get a lot for only 20 more. most CE's offer crap for in game items and still mark it up 20, this gives you a race, mount, pet, xp boost

Right.

I paid 149.99$ for the collector's edition of star wars: the old republic - a game that went free to play after 6 months. The collector's edition there ultimately offered nothing that you couldnt get elsewhere in the game.

I'm not happy with the pricing or with the bonuses of the collector's edition. I'm not the type of person who get annoyed at developer game decisions on a whim and I'm always trying to look at things on both sides of the fence, but this isn't okay.

I couldn't give a flying toss about the pets (in fact I'd rather not see them in the game to begin with) or with the special white horse (assuming that the wording about the horse is just a poor choice). This is a game where lore is it's strong backbone and they seem to think it's okay to throw in a race which was up until now considered as unplayable due to it's story at the last moment with an overpriced "collector's edition".

This is not okay, fix this Zenimax.

But you are an Xbox user we can see why you aren't upset due to being screwed or price gouged....j/k but I had to ;p

No this is something that should be available to everyone not simply a select few who decide to pay the additional 20 on top of the subscription. As a subscription based game this isn't something that should be locked out. I am one that isn't to complain about costs and support a p2p mmo, and up until this point things were looking good. This kind of puts things on the @.@ right now. Not sure what to think, well I am sure, my thought is that it stinks and is [censored]. I already stated I wont be purchasing any of the editions because I will be playing s a dunmer in their respective starting area. But for those that enjoy the imperial class/lore etc, this is kind of a screw job.

keeping a close eye on what they plan on doing these next couple months before release on ps4. At least the large difference between release dates give me the opportunity to see how people enjoy the game or not.

Aeno

I have an Xbox, yes. However, I am a PC player as well. I won't be playing ESO on the console. In fact... I haven't even turned that thing on in almost 6 months.

Yes, I agree that imperials should be able to join any faction and its nice that they are included, selling them for $20 is not ok, yes you can buy an update in the cash shop later as predicted.

Having all races being able to join any faction is controversial. First ZOS did not want it but now they have changed 180 degree, for myself I don't care but see its an issue for people who want to play one specific race and also want to play with friends from another. I guess this also comes to the cash shop.

Does anyone know what the racial abilities will be? Of the imperials, I mean.

I appreciate freedom and I have no problem with inclusion of Imperials and any race to any faction.

But....

I don't like the fact that it hinges on a pre-order or buying a CE.

My hunch is that what you are really getting is a limited time exclusivity. Non CE or pre-order players will cry and cry and cry until eventually (probably 6 to 9 mo. after release) race faction restrictions are lifted for all, and Imperials can be bought in the game store. Then everyone who pre-ordered and bought the CE will all have their feelings hurt and begin to cry, and cry, and cry that they are not special anymore.

Ah, okay! What mmo should I compare TESO to? Or do they get a free pass because they're new? Go on, please tell me an mmo that I'm allowed to compare this to.