...but yeah, maybe us euros should just join forces with the US crowd?
How was latency last beta for you euro folks (since only the US server was open)? I think that'd be the biggest kicker: Can you actually play the game reasonably?
I didn't check exactly what my ping was, but I didn't really notice any latency except at one or two occasions.
And that could have just been the beta servers under load.
I've been playing with a friend from Malaysia. It's been pretty good on his end, too. Join us, EU brothers and sisters! Join us!
There are EU and AUS people playing GW2 on the PA US server and they do pretty well.
Comparisons to other MMOs are pretty moot though, GW2's netcode != ESO's. We also don't know their infrastructure, do we even know WHERE in the US their servers are located?
Just because you lagged/didn't lag in another game does not mean you will lag/not lag in ESO.
This is why I asked about last beta weekend since that's the only real evidence we can use. If you guys want, this weekend might be a good idea to test latency as well since you can switch your server to US.
...but yeah, maybe us euros should just join forces with the US crowd?
How was latency last beta for you euro folks (since only the US server was open)? I think that'd be the biggest kicker: Can you actually play the game reasonably?
Only thing I really noticed was enemies sometimes dropping dead while I was still charging up my heavy attack. Really minor.
Comparisons to other MMOs are pretty moot though, GW2's netcode != ESO's. We also don't know their infrastructure, do we even know WHERE in the US their servers are located?
Just because you lagged/didn't lag in another game does not mean you will lag/not lag in ESO.
The best netcode can do is hide the lag and do minor compensation, but in an MMO environment where clients can (and do) lie, things like damage hits need to be server-confirmed and you can't compensate for that. If someone hit you from the server's point of view it doesn't matter what your client told you, you'll get hit.
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Dr_KeenbeanDumb as a buttPlanet Express ShipRegistered Userregular
I'll admit, I'm kinda hoping we have enough interest to justify a presence in the other factions.
Don't really see that hapening though.
Or you could just do like me and play whatever faction you damn well please. I'll be in the guild and trade dick jokes all damn day. And then I will perforate your taint.
AD in the lead what the hell is wrong with you people?
I'll admit, I'm kinda hoping we have enough interest to justify a presence in the other factions.
Don't really see that hapening though.
Or you could just do like me and play whatever faction you damn well please. I'll be in the guild and trade dick jokes all damn day. And then I will perforate your taint.
AD in the lead what the hell is wrong with you people?
Yeah - it should be absolutely blowing away the competition, not merely leading.
I only got a few short bursts of gameplay but the latency from Aus was surprisingly good given how generous they were with beta invites and the whole one server dealy.
Also as has been mentioned, you should play whatever faction you want...pa guilds...and mmo guilds in general at launch wittle down pretty quick.
SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
Okay, I haven't been following any of this but I'm giving it a go due to the IGN Prime invite. Is there a good starter resource to read up on real quick-like?
I caught something in that PvE video of getting leveled up to 50 in Cyrodil? Are there other places to be adventuring instead, then?
Please fill my brainmeats with knowledge~ The first post is not exceedingly informative.
Okay, I haven't been following any of this but I'm giving it a go due to the IGN Prime invite. Is there a good starter resource to read up on real quick-like?
I caught something in that PvE video of getting leveled up to 50 in Cyrodil? Are there other places to be adventuring instead, then?
Please fill my brainmeats with knowledge~ The first post is not exceedingly informative.
Cyrodiil is primarily a PvP zone. It has some PvE content, but that's not where you start the game. Once you reach level 10 you can go to Cyrodiil and fight for your faction, and the game will scale your stats to level 50.
After creating your character and selecting one of three starting factions, you start in a linear tutorial before being dumped into one of your faction's regions. You're then largely free to explore, complete side-quests and follow the main story. If you've ever played Skyrim then a lot of the game's mechanics will be fairly familiar.
The beta starts in about seven hours and 45 minutes. If you or anyone else wants to group up right away I'll try to be on soon after. Just let me know when you're all free to play.
Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
Welp, guess I'll have some time to try this today. It goes live in what, 6 hours?
Hm. So.... Nightblade with Bow didn't really leap out at me. Maybe Nightblade with Sword and Board, or Dual Wielding? I'm going to go Imperial and they appear to be tanky-focused.
Can't decide what to play come release. I had my heart set on a Nightblade tank (because I love tanking, and Nightblades get some really neat sustain skills), but then I rolled a Sorc to play with a friend and that was really fun too.
Plus, they get a cowl, and you know what that means.
So yeah, Zenimax is just going full no fucks given mode. I did NOT think they'd have the balls to straight up put a starter horse on the cash shop day 1. I mean, some people were peeved about it being in the CE of course, as you're paying for more efficient play. But I did not expect them to just put a horse alone in there. It's a bit scary to be honest, because this is not WoW putting in some crazy winged dragon horse later on you buy from the cash shop. This is just them saying "Yeah, why wait until you've made the gold to buy a boring brown horse when you can pay a couple shekels for it?"
IMO in a subscription MMO there is no place for selling things that actually allow you to progress faster than you otherwise could. It's no different than an EXP boost really. And it's actually not even the same as with WoW, because in WoW the mounts themselves are not the thing that costs money, so even when you buy one on the shop you have to wait until X level and pay Y gold for the training in game. Here you're just straight up getting your "Travel faster on a mount" item at level 1 instead of level 15 or whenever a regular "I only paid for the game itself" customer will get it.
So we get stiff once in a while. So we have a little fun. What’s wrong with that? This is a free country, isn’t it? I can take my panda any place I want to. And if I wanna buy it a drink, that’s my business.
With MMOs these days I draw my line between "Pay for Convenience" and "Pay to win".
That line hasn't been crossed yet.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Zenimax can't win. They make an Imperial edition where you get a free horse and people get pissed. Then they let you buy the equivalent horse a la carte and people get pissed.
Actually, I can appreciate what they are doing. Some people are more than happy to pay for convenience now rather than wait for later.
I would rather those kind of items be in there than XP or Gold boosts.
The "free horse at level 1" is basically combining an XP and Gold boost. It's a boost of gold equivalent to the cost of a horse in game, and it's comparable to a boost in exp insofar as you WILL level up faster than those who do not pay extra to get a horse at level 1.
With MMOs these days I draw my line between "Pay for Convenience" and "Pay to win".
That line hasn't been crossed yet.
So you'll have no problem if they put exp boosts in the cash shop too? What is pay to win? There is no winning in MMOs. Here you are paying for content that people who don't pay have to earn in the game via time investment.
Zenimax can't win. They make an Imperial edition where you get a free horse and people get pissed. Then they let you buy the equivalent horse a la carte and people get pissed.
The people upset about the horse are not upset that it was only available on the CE and not standalone. They're upset because this is a subscription MMO, and most people will say "In a subscription game I don't want anything in a cash shop that lets you pay to skip a time investment inside the game that you would have to make if you didn't pay." And that's what this is.
What they SHOULD have done is make the imperial horse look rad as fuck, but horses only cost a tiny amount of gold in game, whereas the real cost of having a mount is the gold cost. Thus, people who buy the CE would've had to play the game to earn the horse training like everybody else. This is why WoW managed to sell mounts without people caring, because their mounts are just skins, and the cost of riding them remains the same for those who buy them and those who don't.
It's not the biggest deal in the world obviously, and I'm not one of the people who is like OMG slippery slope. But I don't have to like their decision. I bought the CE of ESO for me and my wife, so don't think I'm taking some principled stance. I'd just have preferred they weren't selling the ability to skip content in game for cash.
So Amazon says the collectors edition is estimated delivery for Apr 7th. That might fuck me for that weekend huh?
I already have my early access code and will be able to play before the physical copy arrives.
Anyone know if there has been word how Zenimax is handling this sorta thing?
I'm not sure what your question is? If you have the early access code you're good to play, yeah?. Are you asking about whether you'll have access to your CE stuff before the box arrives? If so, I'd just email amazon support and ask them if they will be sending you the CE code early by email or if it's in the box.
Actually, I can appreciate what they are doing. Some people are more than happy to pay for convenience now rather than wait for later.
I would rather those kind of items be in there than XP or Gold boosts.
I would probably buy a horse for real money, depending on how much they're asking.
I regret not getting the imperial edition, purely for the horse, as 17,000 gold for the same starter horse is a LOT of money. I'd rather spend it on crating materials.
I got to level 9 in the beta, I think, and had about 1500, which I spent on 2 bag expansions.
Anyway - I'm off to get some new trainers. Beta launches at 4pm here in the UK, so I should see you all soon.
With MMOs these days I draw my line between "Pay for Convenience" and "Pay to win".
That line hasn't been crossed yet.
So you'll have no problem if they put exp boosts in the cash shop too? What is pay to win? There is no winning in MMOs. Here you are paying for content that people who don't pay have to earn in the game via time investment.
Nope. No problem at all.
In fact if there was one thing that annoyed me in for example LOTRO it was that I was continually getting "bonus XP" when I didn't want it. Since a lot of the game was all about chasing Turbine Point Achievements the XP boost straight up ruined a lot of the in-game content as you were continually overlevelled. Same thing applied to Borderlands where a lot of the content just didn't scale appropirately.
If I'm envious of the XP-boosted people in any PvE MMO, then it's not a MMO worth playing for me (because that means the journey from 1 to max level involves a great amount of drudgery).
In fact, in many MMOs the feature I miss is an XP choke...
Pay to Win is when you pay real money for gear or boosts that give you a combat advantage compared to the stuff you could craft/gather on your own, allowing you to tackle content (or difficulty levels) that non-payers simply can't. Or getting an edge in PvP for example.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Eh, we can agree to disagree then, because I think allowing people to pay cash for ANYTHING that is a time investment for non cash payers in game, whether by selling horses or exp boosts is cancer on a subscription based game.
You should be able to design your game where nobody would want to pay cash to skip gameplay.
I don't like it, but it's wrapped into the CE dislike for me- in my mind there's no difference between charging money to get those bonuses at release, or after. At the end of the day, it's a bonus that won't mean much to me a month down the line, I'm reserving my ire for/if they start selling content in the store.
That said, having tested the Imperial edition stuff on the long-term server, I don't think it's even remotely worth the cost unless you just love Imperials. The basic horse speed is a fucking joke, and unless you're ignoring exploration, you have to constantly get off to collect resources/chests/etc.
edit: And I maintain that all of this is just writing on the wall for the inevitable F2P conversion in say, 12 months max.
Yeah, I'm trying to be clear about the fact that none of my criticism of the choice is me saying "Zenimax sucks, game is doomed yar yar." I'm so excited to play this game, I already prepurchased 2 CEs for my wife and I. I think it's a super fun game and I look forward to putting in time. I just simply don't like being able to pay cash to avoid content. To me, it's the equivalent of saying "We don't have confidence that you'll enjoy playing our game just for the sake of playing it, and you will not enjoy the process of earning your first horse, so fuck it pay us some cash for it."
I just don't like it at all, especially in a subscription game where there is simply no "We're doing this to fund the game" excuse.
I feel like providing the horse on its own is a decent move considering it's already in the imperial edition. However, I agree on the base point that being able to buy anything that lets you get ahead quicker sucks.
If you don't feel that the Imperial Edition crossed the line already, this horse isn't changing anything. If you think the Imperial Edition DID cross the line, then of course this horse is going to upset you, but honestly getting mad at the same thing twice isn't really worth your effort.
At this point, in my personal opinion, I think Zenimax is right up next to this line and the horse separate from the Imperial Edition is okay, if not a halfway decent idea BUT ONLY because the Imperial Edition exists in the first place and contains a horse. However, if they start selling more items, such as actual exp boosts, etc, I'll be a bit more irritated about it. I'm wary of their decisions but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until they actually announce that they plan to do something like that.
So Amazon says the collectors edition is estimated delivery for Apr 7th. That might fuck me for that weekend huh?
I already have my early access code and will be able to play before the physical copy arrives.
Anyone know if there has been word how Zenimax is handling this sorta thing?
We don't have any exact dates but Zenimax has said there will be a grace period. Your access won't instantly be cut off on the 4th, but I can't really tell you how long the grace period is. You may want to contact them to see if the 7th at least falls within it.
So Amazon says the collectors edition is estimated delivery for Apr 7th. That might fuck me for that weekend huh?
I already have my early access code and will be able to play before the physical copy arrives.
Anyone know if there has been word how Zenimax is handling this sorta thing?
I'm not sure what your question is? If you have the early access code you're good to play, yeah?. Are you asking about whether you'll have access to your CE stuff before the box arrives? If so, I'd just email amazon support and ask them if they will be sending you the CE code early by email or if it's in the box.
The grace period is all I'm curious about. Since the code covers early access, but amazon cant get it to me until the 7th.
But others are saying the grace period isn't fully clear yet.
Actually, I can appreciate what they are doing. Some people are more than happy to pay for convenience now rather than wait for later.
I would rather those kind of items be in there than XP or Gold boosts.
I would probably buy a horse for real money, depending on how much they're asking.
I regret not getting the imperial edition, purely for the horse, as 17,000 gold for the same starter horse is a LOT of money. I'd rather spend it on crating materials.
I got to level 9 in the beta, I think, and had about 1500, which I spent on 2 bag expansions.
Anyway - I'm off to get some new trainers. Beta launches at 4pm here in the UK, so I should see you all soon.
I feel like this deserves more attention.
How reasonable is it to get 17k gold?
How much does the pretty pony in the cash shop cost?
There's your argument @Joshmvii. To me? It seems a little (lot) out of line.
Actually, I can appreciate what they are doing. Some people are more than happy to pay for convenience now rather than wait for later.
I would rather those kind of items be in there than XP or Gold boosts.
I would probably buy a horse for real money, depending on how much they're asking.
I regret not getting the imperial edition, purely for the horse, as 17,000 gold for the same starter horse is a LOT of money. I'd rather spend it on crating materials.
I got to level 9 in the beta, I think, and had about 1500, which I spent on 2 bag expansions.
Anyway - I'm off to get some new trainers. Beta launches at 4pm here in the UK, so I should see you all soon.
I feel like this deserves more attention.
How reasonable is it to get 17k gold?
How much does the pretty pony in the cash shop cost?
There's your argument @Joshmvii. To me? It seems a little (lot) out of line.
The flip side of this - what is the difference in price between the standard edition and imperial edition ? I think it was £20 in the UK.
But if the horse is all you want (I'm not bothered about the imperial race, the ring of Amara sounds like it only benefits you when playing with the person you're married to) then paying £5-10 might seem like a bargain.
Ideally, my horse would have a giant £ brand somewhere, and I can change its name to Cash-Horse.
12 mins to Horsefall !
+1
mojojoeoA block off the park, living the dream.Registered Userregular
edited March 2014
The argument to have is - Last time the web got all uppity over a cash shop they immediately had a guy come out and definitively state "we will offer services ala wow (char slots/ ie upgrades) and not fluff/cash shop only items."
This skirts the line of what is a service enough to cause some panic.... Is a quicker way to get a buy-able in game horse a service? If it isnt- they lied and the cash shop will be a terrible pox on this game.
But i have no idea, but where does the 'service vs cash shop' logic extend with the comany?.... Are new hairstyles a service? Is a same speed but red colored horse only available for $$$ a service? Is newer different armor a service? Is an extra bag slot a service?
How do those fit in with 14.99 a month?
to me- you could already get a horse quicker via cash in the IE version of the game. Now if you skipped ie you can pay less and just get that 1 benefit. Seems fair. I'm more worried with the above... What do they deem legit to sell for cash for an mmo with a monthly fee ?
mojojoeo on
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
Zenimax can't win. They make an Imperial edition where you get a free horse and people get pissed. Then they let you buy the equivalent horse a la carte and people get pissed.
People being pissed if it means they then don't buy the game.
From Zenimax's POV, is there a functional difference between a paying customer who is happy, and a paying customer who is grumbling about someone else's horse ?
This is only a Problem if they can show that grumbling about a Cash shop leads to lost sales, or cancelled subscriptions.
Money talks - if a game has a cash shop that some people aren't happy with, but lots of people are using it, why would you close it down ? Or change your policy ?
If 17k gold is "a lot" (even if it's only in the beginning), and the horse costs $5, this is a "alarms going off" situation (to me).
It implies they they don't value the players time (to earn gold to buy the horse). If it takes me six hours of "money focused" playing to get 17k to buy the horse (and I'd wager it's more than that), but I can earn $5 of disposable income during a regular work shift... What's being said? I'll even take into account that playing a game is orders of magnitude more fun than working. Let's just say that 1 hour of work is worth 3 hours of video games.
To me, it reads a little like this: "Just give us your money for your first mount. Seriously. Who want's to grind that much gold? Just buy it, guy." Then there's the "We gave it to all the CE buyers", so you've got dude who just bought the normal game running around trying to farm up the gold, while the thousands of CE players are riding around. From a business perspective, this is brilliant. They're going to make a bundle off selling the horse in the shop.
Because they've priced it out of reality in the game.
You're paying $X to save 17k gold, essentially. Granted, it's only one time. But that... That seems dubious, to me.
I'm not saying it's a "DOOM AND GLOOM!" thing.
I'm just saying, "Huh. Can we... Can we talk about this?"
+2
mojojoeoA block off the park, living the dream.Registered Userregular
If 17k gold is "a lot" (even if it's only in the beginning), and the horse costs $5, this is a "alarms going off" situation (to me).
It implies they they don't value the players time (to earn gold to buy the horse). If it takes me six hours of "money focused" playing to get 17k to buy the horse (and I'd wager it's more than that), but I can earn $5 of disposable income during a regular work shift... What's being said? I'll even take into account that playing a game is orders of magnitude more fun than working. Let's just say that 1 hour of work is worth 3 hours of video games.
To me, it reads a little like this: "Just give us your money for your first mount. Seriously. Who want's to grind that much gold? Just buy it, guy." Then there's the "We gave it to all the CE buyers", so you've got dude who just bought the normal game running around trying to farm up the gold, while the thousands of CE players are riding around. From a business perspective, this is brilliant. They're going to make a bundle off selling the horse in the shop.
Because they've priced it out of reality in the game.
You're paying $X to save 17k gold, essentially. Granted, it's only one time. But that... That seems dubious, to me.
I'm not saying it's a "DOOM AND GLOOM!" thing.
I'm just saying, "Huh. Can we... Can we talk about this?"
Ok. So time shortcuts are ok to buy (ie a valid thing to offer over say power)- you view the valuation of this shortcut to be off? Is that right?
That looking at the amounts ...... could be an issue.
mojojoeo on
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
The comparison with work wages and in-game playtime always rings hollow for me. You're not working, you're having fun. If playing the game is literally as tedious as working then why the heck are you still playing?
So, yeah, I'll take 5 hours of having fun over 1 hour of working for the same end result.
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mojojoeoA block off the park, living the dream.Registered Userregular
Dude! sucks for EU
The "EU" Megaserver seems to be located in the US, specifically in Cockeysville, Maryland on the East Coast. This is not precisely what I would call an "EU server". Hopefully this is just the case for this beta.
I currently get between 150-180ms to this server on a standard DSL connection from Sweden. As a comparison, pings to other European game servers, for example Battlefield 4 or WoW, are usually around 30-50ms with my connection.
My testing method:
Log into the EU Megaserver, log into a char and switch ESO to windowed mode.
Open task manager, click "Resource Monitor" and select the "Network" tab.
Select the checkmark next to "eso.exe" in the upper window.
Walk around in the game and watch the IP adress with most traffic in the "Network Activity" window. This is most likely the server that processes your characters movement, combat and so on.
Enter said IP adress, for example in my case "198.20.200.93", into a geolocation service such as http://www.ipligence.com/geolocation.
The current ping to the server will also be displayed in the "TCP Connections" section of the Resource Monitor.
EDIT: /u/Dimillian posted a link to an official news entry that explains the situation. In short, ZOS figured that there is no noticable disadvantage to having European players play on the US servers, so they chose to have the EU servers located in the US to be able to quickly react to any problems during the launch period. Incidentally, they seem to be not quite done with setting up the EU datacenter. As soon as the launch period is over and the EU datacenter operational, they will migrate everyone playing on the US-based "EU server" over to the actual European datacenter - without any user intervention needed. I expect a slightly longer maintenance period during this migration.
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
Posts
There are EU and AUS people playing GW2 on the PA US server and they do pretty well.
Just because you lagged/didn't lag in another game does not mean you will lag/not lag in ESO.
This is why I asked about last beta weekend since that's the only real evidence we can use. If you guys want, this weekend might be a good idea to test latency as well since you can switch your server to US.
Only thing I really noticed was enemies sometimes dropping dead while I was still charging up my heavy attack. Really minor.
Or you could just do like me and play whatever faction you damn well please. I'll be in the guild and trade dick jokes all damn day. And then I will perforate your taint.
AD in the lead what the hell is wrong with you people?
3DS: 1650-8480-6786
Switch: SW-0653-8208-4705
Yeah - it should be absolutely blowing away the competition, not merely leading.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Also as has been mentioned, you should play whatever faction you want...pa guilds...and mmo guilds in general at launch wittle down pretty quick.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
I caught something in that PvE video of getting leveled up to 50 in Cyrodil? Are there other places to be adventuring instead, then?
Please fill my brainmeats with knowledge~ The first post is not exceedingly informative.
Cyrodiil is primarily a PvP zone. It has some PvE content, but that's not where you start the game. Once you reach level 10 you can go to Cyrodiil and fight for your faction, and the game will scale your stats to level 50.
After creating your character and selecting one of three starting factions, you start in a linear tutorial before being dumped into one of your faction's regions. You're then largely free to explore, complete side-quests and follow the main story. If you've ever played Skyrim then a lot of the game's mechanics will be fairly familiar.
The beta starts in about seven hours and 45 minutes. If you or anyone else wants to group up right away I'll try to be on soon after. Just let me know when you're all free to play.
Hm. So.... Nightblade with Bow didn't really leap out at me. Maybe Nightblade with Sword and Board, or Dual Wielding? I'm going to go Imperial and they appear to be tanky-focused.
Plus, they get a cowl, and you know what that means.
IMO in a subscription MMO there is no place for selling things that actually allow you to progress faster than you otherwise could. It's no different than an EXP boost really. And it's actually not even the same as with WoW, because in WoW the mounts themselves are not the thing that costs money, so even when you buy one on the shop you have to wait until X level and pay Y gold for the training in game. Here you're just straight up getting your "Travel faster on a mount" item at level 1 instead of level 15 or whenever a regular "I only paid for the game itself" customer will get it.
I would rather those kind of items be in there than XP or Gold boosts.
With MMOs these days I draw my line between "Pay for Convenience" and "Pay to win".
That line hasn't been crossed yet.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
PSN: Beltaine-77 | Steam: beltane77 | Battle.net BadHaggis#1433
I already have my early access code and will be able to play before the physical copy arrives.
Anyone know if there has been word how Zenimax is handling this sorta thing?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So you'll have no problem if they put exp boosts in the cash shop too? What is pay to win? There is no winning in MMOs. Here you are paying for content that people who don't pay have to earn in the game via time investment.
The people upset about the horse are not upset that it was only available on the CE and not standalone. They're upset because this is a subscription MMO, and most people will say "In a subscription game I don't want anything in a cash shop that lets you pay to skip a time investment inside the game that you would have to make if you didn't pay." And that's what this is.
What they SHOULD have done is make the imperial horse look rad as fuck, but horses only cost a tiny amount of gold in game, whereas the real cost of having a mount is the gold cost. Thus, people who buy the CE would've had to play the game to earn the horse training like everybody else. This is why WoW managed to sell mounts without people caring, because their mounts are just skins, and the cost of riding them remains the same for those who buy them and those who don't.
It's not the biggest deal in the world obviously, and I'm not one of the people who is like OMG slippery slope. But I don't have to like their decision. I bought the CE of ESO for me and my wife, so don't think I'm taking some principled stance. I'd just have preferred they weren't selling the ability to skip content in game for cash.
I'm not sure what your question is? If you have the early access code you're good to play, yeah?. Are you asking about whether you'll have access to your CE stuff before the box arrives? If so, I'd just email amazon support and ask them if they will be sending you the CE code early by email or if it's in the box.
I would probably buy a horse for real money, depending on how much they're asking.
I regret not getting the imperial edition, purely for the horse, as 17,000 gold for the same starter horse is a LOT of money. I'd rather spend it on crating materials.
I got to level 9 in the beta, I think, and had about 1500, which I spent on 2 bag expansions.
Anyway - I'm off to get some new trainers. Beta launches at 4pm here in the UK, so I should see you all soon.
Nope. No problem at all.
In fact if there was one thing that annoyed me in for example LOTRO it was that I was continually getting "bonus XP" when I didn't want it. Since a lot of the game was all about chasing Turbine Point Achievements the XP boost straight up ruined a lot of the in-game content as you were continually overlevelled. Same thing applied to Borderlands where a lot of the content just didn't scale appropirately.
If I'm envious of the XP-boosted people in any PvE MMO, then it's not a MMO worth playing for me (because that means the journey from 1 to max level involves a great amount of drudgery).
In fact, in many MMOs the feature I miss is an XP choke...
Pay to Win is when you pay real money for gear or boosts that give you a combat advantage compared to the stuff you could craft/gather on your own, allowing you to tackle content (or difficulty levels) that non-payers simply can't. Or getting an edge in PvP for example.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
You should be able to design your game where nobody would want to pay cash to skip gameplay.
That said, having tested the Imperial edition stuff on the long-term server, I don't think it's even remotely worth the cost unless you just love Imperials. The basic horse speed is a fucking joke, and unless you're ignoring exploration, you have to constantly get off to collect resources/chests/etc.
edit: And I maintain that all of this is just writing on the wall for the inevitable F2P conversion in say, 12 months max.
I just don't like it at all, especially in a subscription game where there is simply no "We're doing this to fund the game" excuse.
If you don't feel that the Imperial Edition crossed the line already, this horse isn't changing anything. If you think the Imperial Edition DID cross the line, then of course this horse is going to upset you, but honestly getting mad at the same thing twice isn't really worth your effort.
At this point, in my personal opinion, I think Zenimax is right up next to this line and the horse separate from the Imperial Edition is okay, if not a halfway decent idea BUT ONLY because the Imperial Edition exists in the first place and contains a horse. However, if they start selling more items, such as actual exp boosts, etc, I'll be a bit more irritated about it. I'm wary of their decisions but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until they actually announce that they plan to do something like that.
We don't have any exact dates but Zenimax has said there will be a grace period. Your access won't instantly be cut off on the 4th, but I can't really tell you how long the grace period is. You may want to contact them to see if the 7th at least falls within it.
The grace period is all I'm curious about. Since the code covers early access, but amazon cant get it to me until the 7th.
But others are saying the grace period isn't fully clear yet.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I feel like this deserves more attention.
How reasonable is it to get 17k gold?
How much does the pretty pony in the cash shop cost?
There's your argument @Joshmvii. To me? It seems a little (lot) out of line.
The flip side of this - what is the difference in price between the standard edition and imperial edition ? I think it was £20 in the UK.
But if the horse is all you want (I'm not bothered about the imperial race, the ring of Amara sounds like it only benefits you when playing with the person you're married to) then paying £5-10 might seem like a bargain.
Ideally, my horse would have a giant £ brand somewhere, and I can change its name to Cash-Horse.
12 mins to Horsefall !
This skirts the line of what is a service enough to cause some panic.... Is a quicker way to get a buy-able in game horse a service? If it isnt- they lied and the cash shop will be a terrible pox on this game.
But i have no idea, but where does the 'service vs cash shop' logic extend with the comany?.... Are new hairstyles a service? Is a same speed but red colored horse only available for $$$ a service? Is newer different armor a service? Is an extra bag slot a service?
How do those fit in with 14.99 a month?
to me- you could already get a horse quicker via cash in the IE version of the game. Now if you skipped ie you can pay less and just get that 1 benefit. Seems fair. I'm more worried with the above... What do they deem legit to sell for cash for an mmo with a monthly fee ?
People being pissed if it means they then don't buy the game.
From Zenimax's POV, is there a functional difference between a paying customer who is happy, and a paying customer who is grumbling about someone else's horse ?
This is only a Problem if they can show that grumbling about a Cash shop leads to lost sales, or cancelled subscriptions.
Money talks - if a game has a cash shop that some people aren't happy with, but lots of people are using it, why would you close it down ? Or change your policy ?
If 17k gold is "a lot" (even if it's only in the beginning), and the horse costs $5, this is a "alarms going off" situation (to me).
It implies they they don't value the players time (to earn gold to buy the horse). If it takes me six hours of "money focused" playing to get 17k to buy the horse (and I'd wager it's more than that), but I can earn $5 of disposable income during a regular work shift... What's being said? I'll even take into account that playing a game is orders of magnitude more fun than working. Let's just say that 1 hour of work is worth 3 hours of video games.
To me, it reads a little like this: "Just give us your money for your first mount. Seriously. Who want's to grind that much gold? Just buy it, guy." Then there's the "We gave it to all the CE buyers", so you've got dude who just bought the normal game running around trying to farm up the gold, while the thousands of CE players are riding around. From a business perspective, this is brilliant. They're going to make a bundle off selling the horse in the shop.
Because they've priced it out of reality in the game.
You're paying $X to save 17k gold, essentially. Granted, it's only one time. But that... That seems dubious, to me.
I'm not saying it's a "DOOM AND GLOOM!" thing.
I'm just saying, "Huh. Can we... Can we talk about this?"
Ok. So time shortcuts are ok to buy (ie a valid thing to offer over say power)- you view the valuation of this shortcut to be off? Is that right?
That looking at the amounts ...... could be an issue.
So, yeah, I'll take 5 hours of having fun over 1 hour of working for the same end result.
And may I add a ffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
Here's hoping said migration is both prompt and actual. Won't help me much if they migrate the servers after I've put the game aside for a while.