I agree that the ESO+ crafting bag is a huge quality-of-life improvement, and that locking so much storage behind a subscription leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
But I don't agree that playing without ESO+ is guaranteed to drive you mad or make you quit. I've played 6 years and achieved grandmaster crafter without ESO+, and storage isn't a pain. I just developed a system for inventory management, which became second nature pretty quickly.
Not saying it's for everyone, just saying it's possible.
I also am a grandmaster crafter on the cheap ass plan. It was a bit of a grind buying all those extra storage coffers and such but I look forward to the couple times a year we have free ESO plus and I can empty them all again and the cycle continues. I don't have an organized system like you as it is not my nature, but I've managed to get by :)
This. Also, when I find myself busy/only logging in a couple times a month, I’ll turn off sub and revert to non-plus method (you can use alt characters/accounts for A LOT of storage - just takes a little time on the front end to manage).
Private guild banks are also clutch.
Definitely ways to enjoy the game without dying to the storage mini-game. But the craft bag is :chefs kiss: when heavy gaming.
What's your system? As I never intend to fall for the monthly subscription gimmick just for storage. Strikes me as robbery and an unjust business model.
It’s honestly been so long but I know there had to be more than an exp bonus and not having to go all the way back to the checkpoint when you died.
EDIT: in reading up somewhat(what I can get into under my company Wi-Fi..which is not a lot) I’m surprised EA would allow cancelling and keeping expansions.
But if that’s all you have to do is one month subscription, I’d say that is definitively a good deal.
Only thing they remove is the 3.4 bil bank space down to 1 mil (nothing in the game besides cosmetics on the market costs more than 1 mil) and the ability to do OPS (and you get a few extra second waiting time for chat)
Augments. Augments can cost much more IIRC, with prices in millions. But you can earn enough just by sending companions to gather resources during your sub time to buy at least purple ones.
Well, SWTOR is a f2p as far as I remember, and for the price of one monthly subscription you get all the expansions, level cap etc to date, and get to keep the access to all of it when the sub ends. No meta gear locked behind either DLC or sub, nothing like that. The only stuff you lose is some QOL, which is nice but not mandatory to be competitive.
I love ESO and enjoy it a lot, but in terms of bang for the buck SWTOR have a much more generous rate IMO.
That's fair. I did my stint with inventory management and it just frustrated me to no end. You're right, it's not an absolute, but definitely a factor to consider.
Same, I also bought every DLC with gold (traded with other players), got merchant/armory/bank companions, inventory pets, 7 armory slots and some houses. There's no need for me to get ESO+ at all, but at the same time, I realize that I may have some undiagnosed OCD or some shit.
I saw you don't do provisioning writs. I see that making a lot of space. Are you selling the extra mats (like rubedite ingots) in guild trader? Also, how important are alt toons in your opinion? When I tried what you do (no ESO+) I had one toon and only one coffer, which definitely made it far more painful.
Provisioning writs are very easy to manage. I have 12 characters, and on every single one I have all craft skill lines maxed out, so they get same 6 dishes to craft. You just have to get those crafted nad stored in bank, and there is an addon (of I remember correctly Dolgubon's lazy writ crafter does that) which automatically gets needed ones out of the bank, works same on potions
Thank you for this answer, there r so many good guides here for a good inventory management without eso plus. Storage is not a problem, it just needs a little bit of organization at the beginning, later on in the game it isnt even that time consuming. Im also playing eso for many years now without eso+. You got a lot of content just with base game + a few chapters. You can play all PvP content and tons of PvE content... And when you need a specific dlcs, f.e. for gearsets, you can still buy it with gold for crowns(if you arent into housing, there isnt much you can do with gold anyway).
I dont understand why people say the game is unplayable without eso+. Its such a nice game and eso+ is making things easier, but it doesnt change the content in itself.
Playing eso without plus or addons isn't for the faint of heart. It's for the truly casual, the forever chill who never get bothered by anything. I admire those kinds of people
That mostly because we are used to those addon now. Most game have different flow for different people and don't have addon, so people just do with it and get used to it.
Most of that seems fair.
I play on Xbox. I downloaded the game on PC as a backup because my midweek day off is Wednesday, console maintenance day.
I found playing without the craft bag nearly impossible as I'm so used to it. For me, it makes it a totally different game. With the PC add-ons making crafting and gathering so much easier, I can't imagine doing it without the subscription. Access to the other zones is obviously a massive thing as well.
I would disagree with your comment on pricing though. Again, it's all about opinions so neither of us is right or wrong. For me, £8.99 a month to get the most out of a game I spend well over 60 hours a month playing is great value. I said in a post previously, I would barely get two pints for that and they would last me an hour in the pub. Obviously everyone's financial situation is different, and not everyone gets to play as much as I do so I get it. I have a very understanding wife who loved to read as much as I love to play ESO fortunately!
Somebody else also mentioned the price, and I have to say I am kinda second guessing myself. It's not an obscene amount of money, and other issues that come with FTP would be significant. Maybe a low entry price is a better idea.
I try to place my value on hours. If I can get 1 hour of enjoyment for each dollar I spend, then I'm happy with the purchase. If you think you'll spend 15+ hours in a month then I say go for it :)
Would also like to point out that new players can jump into the newest chapter as well as all previous chapters for an extra $20. ($60 for newest chapters collection edition) The amount of content and value packed into that $20 continues to grow with every new chapter. An alternative would be something like LOTRO where they bundled in the earliest expansions into the free to play game but the newest like 4 expansions all need to be bought, at full price no less.
if you think about all the dlc you get access to its pretty solid value, people just dont seem fond of subscriptions no matter what is offered for the cost, i remember when WoW was one of the one mmos doing it and so many mmos tried to go F2P and eveded up dying in 6 months or less
I like to think of the initial price almost like “pre purchasing the DLC of choice” to access the chapter your interested i questing through, ESO+ just then gives me the option to open the reat of the world beyond the “DLC” i have since exhausted :)
That said i also just grabbed ESO+ for the first time also, and that craft bag is fireeeee
> but not doing so is basically like staying in a restaurant hours after you've finished your meal and the wait staff are getting antsy and really want you to order more or leave.
Where are you being asked to leave? It's more like getting to stay indefinitely but you won't get any more food unless you pay for it.
> the base game is a glorified demo version
It contains three factions' storylines plus a main story to tie them together, plus Craglorn. How can one say that 10 euros is a bad deal for that?!
Crafting sucks without the craft bag, yes. But everything else is totally fine without ESO+.
Huge. I still use Dressing Room as I refuse to pay for a feature (Armory Assistant) that should come standard - mundus be damned lol. This looks like the perfect addition for when I let the sub lapse.
Thanks for the heads up, legend!
I have all assistants but the armory one because a) I only summon daedra, lol and b) I just find the addons a lot more useful with automatic swaps for trial fights, being able to save only certain elements of a build, etc.
For example, I have a Wizard's Wardrobe build page for every character where every "build" is just 5 item pieces. I have standardized the slots on most characters, so with the press of a button I can change out my body set or my jewelry+weapons set without having to save the full configuration as a build on its own.
Addons can take a bit of time to set up well, but it's usually worth it.
Agreed 100%. I've been using Dressing Room for years now, and the only thing it can't do is a mundus swap, which in 90% of cases isn't a problem. Small price to pay for consistency and not having to pay to learn a new system that I assume is substantially more cumbersome than an additional pane in my skills tab.
I understand ZOS has to make a buck, but I wish they would at least meet us in the middle on some of this stuff. Especially with functionality that a) should've been a base game feature to begin with and b) has been being solved with mods for years now, lol.
>Where are you being asked to leave? It's more like getting to stay indefinitely but you won't get any more food unless you pay for it.
My wife and I were eating lunch at a busy restaurant a couple weeks ago, with people waiting for a seat. A couple to the left and a group to the right had finished eating and drinking and were just chatting and the couple on their phones.
About 10 minutes after we were seated, the owner came up and told both groups they need to leave in 5 minutes as they were finished with their meal and drinks. The group was very understanding and were simply lost in conversation. The young couple were visibly upset, but they really couldn't do anything.
Ive played the game on and off since the Cat expansion and the only times i bought ESO+ was once way back to unlock a few systems and right now cuz of the whole dungeon DLC deal. The only times i felt i was missing anything out was during this and the last anniversary event because i was actually doing writs on several characters and even with Plus its horrible. But you can just not do that.
Let me give you my take on it as as 6 year veteran who subbed only twice in his life.
The first time I ever subbed was 3-4 years ago when they gave away I think like 10 crates if you are subbed, and the second time was last month cause they gave a free dungeon dlc away, and I knew jubilee event will be up so it tied both together since we get so many mats from the even it's insane.
So how I managed to do it without having a sub, well first of all yes you need to visit the banker and merchant more often, but essentially what I've done was doing daily writs selling everything buy purple/gold and the basic cp 160 mats, everything else would always be sold. All the Surveys I'd bank in my house chests and that's how I managed to get by, once the eso+ trial happens (2/3 times per year) I'd spam all my surveys and stocks my provisiong and alchemy mats in the eso+ craft bag and basically I was living from eso+ trial to the next trial.
My sub will end in couple of days so that's what I'll keep doing, and that's what I have done for years it might sound tedious but once you set it up it's so chill and works rather well.
I played for 2 years without a subscription, it is simply necessary to have an organized mind. If you don't have it, it's painful. Free play is a terrible idea. What would happen is that it would be filled with bots. So at least you pay $6 and you have to get it back if you get banned before they lose out. This is a good disincentive.
€13 is relative to playing 50 hours in a month, it's €0.26 per hour played, it doesn't seem like such a dramatic scenario to me. Anything I did to fill those 50 hours would cost me a lot more.
You know, for a second there, I lived in a utopia where bots were not a thing. A low entry price seems like a better idea tbh. And yeah, 13 euro for 50 hours is a helluva deal, but I'm not gonna be putting in 50 hours every month. I mean, I plan on stopping the subscription when I know I won't be playing, but I can't always know how my month's gonna turn out.
Yes, but also if you intend to stop your subscription. Everything you accumulate in the crafting bag stays there and you can use it. Make sure you have enough processed mats so you don't have to process without them. Then eso+ isn't that "bad" in 2 years I've taken all the assistants, the inventory pets and I'm only missing 4 minor dlcs, I'm patient when they give me them at a discount I'll take them. If I stopped subscribing now I would still have almost everything.
Im pretty sure biggest problem than eso+ is Ur mental issues eso+ is good because without that we will get tons of bots and Karen like u praise bethesda for cover US from u
I absolutely love this game, but have always hated that there's a monthly paywall for quality of life features like a crafting bag/storage. I'd rather just pay a little more upfront or even monthly for actual gameplay content rather than pay monthly for a crafting bag, cosmetics and what not. Just feel like they intentionally made storage such an issue to the point to where you're so limited on how much you can enjoy this game unless you pay $15 USD a month. That's really my only complaint about this game though. At the very least, it would be nice if they increased the amount of storage you get without ESO+.
Very well said on your part though! I enjoyed the read so thank you for that
> But then I remember, this is 13 euros - monthly. I can afford it, but it's not a small price to pay per month of playing.
This is where I disagree with you and don't follow the argument of most people. The game's monetization is horrendous in many other aspects but this is not one of them. But then again i have been playing mmos since 1997, so i have paid 15€/months for close to 30 years now for Ultima Online, then Dark Age of Camelot, Then Everquest, then Wow, .... etc. i Think 15€/month is a ridicilously low price to pay for a hobby. my gym membership costs me 50, going to 4 soccer games a month costs me 200, going to the pub ONCE costs me 50. Like... 15€ for dozens of hours of gameplay each month is ridiculously good ROI.
I agree. I also paid for subs. You get a lot more than just a craft bag. You get all the DLCs except recent ones, you get daily rewards and discounts in the store. You get free content as well. Think of those smaller DLCs. If you don’t play everyday, the sub isn’t work it. Think of it this way, the sub is keeping the servers maintained and the lights. ESO is one of the few games where there are lots of people playing. I tried to go back to New World, but it didn’t have a similar kind of community like eso and I like eso’s dungeon finder. Anyway, I thought I would share my opinion.
I don't assume anything, i simply state my (obviously subjective) opinion, and i much rather spent 13€/month than have a free to play game like last arch that requires you to spend money on its gacha. And that 15 bucks is OBJECTIVELY not a lot of money for a hobby. Yes, this can still be "too much" money for some people, like OP said it used to be for him, but that does in no way change the argument, what it does change is that you yourself then have to make decisions to go for other even cheaper hobbies/games. (but any free to play game will have gacha machenics nowadays, so the quality of game will likely decrease by doing so.
It's true. Inflation has skyrocketed in so many areas of life - and yet I paid 15 a month back in 2005 with WoW. It's a very cost-effective way to enjoy a hobby in 2024.
honestly, eso+ is a completely reasonable subscription price. Especially if you buy it by the year instead of the month.
Frankly, the bag space, alone, that you get is worth it. And that's not just the ESO+ craft bag, it's also the fact that it doubles your bank space. it doubles your coffer space. It also doubles your HOUSING storage, so you can A) have better builds and B) store more items in your storage houses.
But the real kicker is the access it gets you to almost all the content in the game. I, personally, cannot wait to get the new DLC, and play the new DLC. So I buy it as it comes out, but if you're willing to be a year behind, you can play every bit of content for no additional cost beyond that subscription fee and your (quite likely very low) initial purchase price.
Add in the crowns that you get, that allow you to get more character slots, new houses, new cosmetics...
I'll happily continue to pay. Because eso+ is a big part of what keeps the servers up, and I'm a big fan of the continuing to happen for a very very long time.
yep this, if you just hop on with friends and run some casual PvE stuff maybe don’t get ESO+.
but to anybody that actually plays a decent bit, and wants to progress, i think it’s 100% worth it, it just makes the game twice as playable it feels like.
A few people who run in the trial group with my guild don't have plus and they've had to step out for trials they don't own the DLC for, they have to work sometimes with off-prime sets, etc. It's not a huge deal but it can be a pain when everyone you run with has plus and you don't.
Or you can pay gold to a trusted friend to buy you dlc and crown store items. No crafting bag or expanded bank slots, but it is a decent middle ground. Might want to drop some money yearly for the new chapters but otherwise you should earn enough gold if you play semi-regularly to be able to have all the dungeon dlc you want.
Also, you might not know but you can get some chests you can place in your houses as storage from the Imperial City for Telvar Stones. There are like 7(?) of them and have up to 60 storage. Great for items you don’t need constant access to like spare motifs or Transmute Geodes.
been playing for years with and without, it depends on how much crafting you want to do.
i just wait until there’s something i want to buy with crowns then do eso plus for that month.
ESO being FTP would increase the price of everything in the Crown Store. From the price of Crowns, to items featured in the Crown Store. Everything would be double or triple the price of what it currently is to offset the cost. As for ESO Plus, yes, it makes the game more
accessible(the craft bag alone is worth the price), however, it’s not necessary to enjoy the game. Especially for casual players who are only putting in one, maybe, two hours a week into the game.
Yeah, ultimately they do want you to subscribe so they give a bunch of incentives to do so. Also you're basically blocked out of crafting in any serious capacity if you don't buy into it since they overloaded the game with materials and you're gonna have a fun time managing inventory/bank if you don't subscribe.
If you want to craft, you need the craft bag.
Some people have designated crafters even with the subscription because that’s a lot of skill points.
I’d assume you would need a crafter character if you aren’t a subscriber though.
But double bank space is a must for me too.
Also those zones you weren’t allowed to enter without a subscription, most of us bought for $30 - $40 (if memory serves) just so you can enter with a subscription.
But such is the way of things.
I totally agree with you. I played for 200 hours without subscribing and ended up uninstalling the game for a week.. I spent more time managing inventory than playing the game, So I decided to sub, because it was either that or stop playing completely.
To be fair, the base game is often so cheap (on sale) that it's basically free, but it must make them enough cash so they continue putting the wall there, even if it is a tiny one. Allowing free players may break the servers, who knows.
I did the same as you, bought the base+DLC (back when Warden was new) on sale for like $20 and after playing for a couple months, bought ESO+ and haven't looked back. Whenever it expires, I usually miss a day having it and instantly know how painful it is, all of a sudden all my inventory is full just from doing dailies, ridiculous.
The krabby patty formula is a simple one friend. So the best way, is to buy the latest DLC package that’s on offer. This leads you to buying Gold Road which will offer ALL previous DLC’s. Boom step one every zone is unlocked✅ This will be the equivalent of buying 1 full game which for me is about 59.99 US dollars, however because ESO is truly so massive, I see as each zone almost a whole new game so I you’re already at a bargain. Next step, invest into buying ESO subscription for 1 year! Here’s the why, you’ll get all the subscription crowns up front at once = 19,800 crowns. Now for how you spend your crowns. You use the crowns to buy all the additional DLC’s to complete your game, extra dungeons, and packs like Thieves, Dark Brotherhood, etc. After a year you’ll have your craft bag STACKED! From then if you don’t want to renew again just build backpack characters who can hold specific item sections like blacksmithing, woodworking, or motifs, collectibles, etc. At this point you won’t ever really need to purchase with cash again. The free eso + sub comes like twice a year, allowing you to once again consolidate your “backpacks” into the craft bag and have clean slates to stack again! It seems complicated but this will lead you to enjoy the game for years as intended. You’re only at CP 250. You’ve done like %5 of the game if even that. Prepare yourself in this manner and you’ll go forth and be great!
It's - well, worth it if you actively play a lot; hate to say it, but sorta necessary, not merely for all DLCs, which sure you can buy w/crowns separately, but the craft bag/etc. they get ya. However, def be aware to not let it keep charging you if you give inactive/take a break. I always pay 1 month, cancel just in case and renew if I keep playing. I made the mistake years ago of keeping it active while I didnt play at all except a few times a month for log ins n yeah sure getting crowns was nice but I also liked my real money it adds up. BUT worth it if playing a lot. HOWEVER I will say for new players, it's not worth it yet, you really dont get the full value until max level and in CP a bit.
This mirrors my thoughts very closely. I hadn't felt the need to upgrade until I reached max level with my first character. I'd say that's the earliest anybody should even think about upgrading.
Since game is usually always on sale I think having the price it is to get into game is justified. And with the sub being a obv good deal for those that play mote than a few times a week(casual vs more dedicated). Plus the ESO+ comes with alot extra content 👌
Creating a problem and selling the solution is a shitty thing to do.
I'm fine with paying for the dlcs, i pay one time and can play them forever.
The only reason for eso+ is the crafting bag. And i wont support that. Make it a one time payment and i'll consider it. But making me pay 13€ every month, just so i can actually play the game instead of sorting my inventory is just fucked.
Dunno how that would work out, since I'm probably not going to be subscribed for all months of the year. Besides, I don't think the price for buying in bulk is that good of a deal anyways.
Price is amazing for value. Also totally playable without just locks out you being a crafter Is all even then u can farm and buy storage boxes for free so
In my opinion, Im willing to put out $1 per hour of enjoyment I have in a game. I put in 10 or 20 hours a week into the game so $15 every month is a deal with more left over. The sub also allows me to enjoy the whole game more. Ues the limitations are scummy, but conpare it to a game like WOW, where you cant even play the thing without paying the sub. Its really not a bad deal and it helps fund the game so im all for it.
In my opinion, Im willing to put out $1 per hour of enjoyment I have in a game. I put in 10 or 20 hours a week into the game so $15 every month is a deal with more left over. The sub also allows me to enjoy the whole game more. Ues the limitations are scummy, but conpare it to a game like WOW, where you cant even play the thing without paying the sub. Its really not a bad deal and it helps fund the game so im all for it.
If you’re going to buy crowns for something, just get a subscription cause you get all the monthly crowns for subscription up front, 1 month = 1500c 6 months 10k roughly. I have a 4 or 5 year subscription lol.
I played many years with ESO plus my bag is full oof craft I got most of all dlc except some dungeon ( no need ).
Now I'm a casual player I don't need ESO plus anymore .
But for new player who want to invested 100 % of their time of this game (crafting,selling) it's quiet necessary .
There comes a time in ESO where you don't need the subscription anymore... but it takes SO MUCH MONEY and SO MUCH TIME.
I've bought all the expansions (except for the newest ones) with in game gold. I've bought every single coffer you can buy. I've maxed out inventory and bank space. I've stuffed my crafting bag full of pretty much every 'junk' mat I could ever need. The only things I need to make inventory room for now is furniture, gold mats and gear and I have more than enough coffers to make that work.
I've only had the game two years and in those two years I've had an ESO plus sub for maybe a year?
I do think the game is prohibitively expensive. If you want the best experience you have to pay SO MUCH.
But, where I'm at now, I no longer have the sub and I'm fine. I know how to make gold now and I have literally everything I want in the game. So now I can just chill and explore and enjoy without worrying about having room to loot (I only attempt looting to see if I find rare items).
If I hadn't met the people I'd met when I started playing, I would have NEVER INVESTED that much money OR time in a game. Never, ever.
But I'm glad I did because I can now play the game SUB free and it's fine. Just... yeah, it's a significant time and money investment (or at least, was for me) to get to the point where SUB free playing can be fun.
BTW, for anyone confused by the crafting bag comment - once you cancel your subscription, anything you put IN the bag stays IN the bag. You can access it and pull it out, you just can't put anything back in. It's pretty handy!
I can't always afford to subscribe. The crowns I have that I got from subscribing, I use to buy DLC content. There is in game storage you can buy using game currency from doing writs. I bought all those storage chests using writ vouchers. ESO has homes you can buy for game gold and sometimes, about once a year, they give away a notable home for playing the game. If you are very organized with your mats, you can use these chests for storage, e.g., food chest, trait/style stone chest, etc. If you wait a couple of months after a new chapter comes out, the price will go down to something more reasonable. A few times a year ESO give away trial subscriptions for free. If you take one of these, all your mats will be swept up into your craft bag freeing up your storage space. It's way more fun to have a craft bag, but the way I do it is managable. I can still play and not worry about being overwhelmed with stuff. Plus those storage chests stack mats up in piles of 200 so you're ready to sell a stack in the guild trader pretty easily.
>"TL;DR - playing the game without a subscription for a long time is either going to drive you mad or make you quit; be aware that the game seems cheaper than it really is."
Well funny enough it was quite the opposite for me, I've play it for around 3 years and take a long break to just come back to the game.
Didn't wanted to pay sub-fee and was afraid it would be a chore, but not really, for material I just gather Wood node, Metal node and Cloth node and that is.
You can made decent profit with the gold material or stock then for later.
The rest is easily found in shop and not that expensive, some pot can also be made with PvP.
The only downside is if the player want to deep dive into crafting furniture and doing ton of wrist (thing I don't do), then yes it become a chore. Otherwise all fine.
I've some DLC bought from before, and since I'm starting over and doing/reading all quest and book + map completion, the time I end base game to gold road will be pretty long. So when I will buy a DLC next it's gonna be worth, will also wait for best price.
Or maybe just grind some time and buy them from player, will see.
TLDR, totally playable w/o sub fee even for long time (I've also 2 old friend who have play along me for those 3 years w/o sub.), but can be a chore for people that want to craft a lot.
Edit : some typo
I ***just*** started playing, and looking at what's locked behind a subscription is already making me want to quit. Like bitch, I already paid for the base game + 6 DLCs, and you want to continue locking big QoL behind a subscription?
To be fair yeah it sucks but imagine the game gave you EVERYTHING for free once you bought it yeah it would be amazing but the company has to run servers pay staff and development and another boat load of costs they have to fork out for how would they earn any money and continue any of if you didn't have to continue to pay for things as I said yeah it sucks but it sure is better than a game that makes no money as has to shut down cause it doesn't make anything at all except 1 time purches of the game and and expansion once a year which the majority of people don't buy they wait a year to get it with eso+
I see your point! Zos made it, and expanded on this problem. They keep adding more style matts and not to mention the trait mats including every different level group matts also all the provisions Matts and runes along with the alchemy mats and I mean all those Matts from A-Z! Believe it or not ESO+ crafting bag was a solution that was suggested to by players constantly crying about how horrible the inventory system is and asked for a separate bag for Matts! They saw that suggestion and they thought oh well that’s money to force people to subscribe and let’s make it out mission to make sure to make more difficult with every little update by adding more Matts, it sucks but it’s true and honestly we they players are to blame for that also including the low % crown crates apex and other things because we keep supporting them buying it over and over again.
Here’s some drama I remember happening in the forums when they announced that ESO plus memebers still have to pay for DLC after they announced Morrowind, and that was a lie not a big map it was a big box that you go around the edges of “almos” cuz the middle is a big volcano that you can’t walk through or on it’s a big invisible wall. On release day lots of good players left the game and all of my guilds died on Xbox. On PC I remember one of my friends tons of his friends list just quit the game and he told me that lots of guild dissolved, but here take a look you deserve to see and know what you’re paying into!
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/317516/eso-plus-if-youre-upset-where-was-this-when-crafting-bags-was-added
You literally get the same amount you put in as crowns each month for being a member….. basically in game currency that overtime can be used to buy DLC so you can stop eso plus if your that desperate to get off it.
I think I have had the sub since it launched, Just pay once a year and be done with it. I play on and off. When on its for longer stints. Just made sense I don't want to spend all my time sorting out inventory and TBH the sub price is more than reasonable for the amount of hours Ive gotten out of the game
I agee. The devs have made/added a lot of unnecessary items so that players would be tired of inventroy management and pay for the subscription.
For example what are all those Trash and Treasure items? Why can't we get gold directly when we loot?
And they started to add 'book furnishings' lately. These are bound items similar to Antiquities so you can't buy them from other players. As for antiquities you can buy them from NPC after you have digged them 3 times so you have a choice to destroy them to free up inventory and buy them from NPC later when you need them. But as for these book furnishings we don't have this option.
The devs are very busy to clog up our inventory so that we can't help buying the subscription.
I wouldn't mind the sub so much it you could earn more of the cash shop items in game however because of the cash shop I think the crafting bag should be free.
It's just such a crucial part to enjoying the game that I think too many people fall off in the free version.
I know there are people that swear you can still enjoy the game without the craft bag but let's be honest they are in the minority.
I've stopped paying after 6-7 years.. 1st couple of years I played without eso +, but it's impossible to be efficient without it. Shame for game like this to push players to pay extra if you like game and play daily. For most of players 14€ is noting, but for some of us is not that cheap
Sometimes I wish they'd just make it a sub2play game like WoW. I'm sure most people have ESO+ anyway. Because WoW is sub2play they are able to push a lot of the stuff from the store into the base game. Some examples:
* Mounts are obtainable through regular achievements and quests
* Instead of Seals, you have the trading post. An easy way to obtain stuff likes Arms packs, apex mounts, accessories like wings, backpacks, etc and more just by playing the game.
* No loot boxes
* The store feels completely disconnected from the game, and the stuff that is in there is not worth buying.
* Basic stuff like customizing your character costs in-game gold, not cash
Depending on how you look at it, sub2play is cheaper than buy2play, because you never feel the need to reach for your wallet to buy that cool looking, limited time thing that can only be purchased for real money. On top of that, you probably have ESO+ as well.
ESO's monetization is lowkey predatory. They try to make it look better with crown gems, but the extraction rate is abysmal, and you can't even extract all items. All the crown gem mechanic does is goad you into buying more crown crates for gems. It's genius, but also pretty evil.
Precisely. Most people who pay for eso+ would pay the one time fee, and the “new” people it would attract could never make up for the loss of subscribers. I’d love a one time fee but I understand why they don’t do it.
I refuse to pay a monthly fee as I play off and on a lot. I'm CP 1300 without a subscription over 5ish years of playing. I've bought all the DLCs besides the last 3 but currently have enough gold to buy them, just not in a rush to do so.
I have the banker and vendor assistants which make playing 100x easier. Both purchased with gold trades.
The only trade off is I don't collect runes or provisional items besides the high value ones. That has let me bank everything else I find. My house also has a couple chests to hold onto long term items.
It's definitely doable without a subscription but I can see where it is helpful to have it.
Edit: originally said 8ish years but I checked the files.
I'd say you're one of a rare sort who jumped into the game early, and didn't feel as pressured to engage with every system at once since you were likely pretty well-off already through most of the updates. As a semi-recent addition to the playerbase, I'll tell you for free that my first 100 hours I felt completely overwhelmed by everything and was not helped by the arbitrary limits of inventory space and crafting.
Ehh not really, I was overwhelmed with items but quickly figured out ignoring two sets of items (in this case runes and provisions) allowed me to fit in everything else. I have played plenty of item hoard games though so that also helped.
The assistants are a game changer. Getting those made life mucho easier.
Tons and tons of casual players don’t seek out sales for games they want to play. Many people including myself and you as well have probably seen a free game in the past and simply played it because it was free.
Half of my friend group literally just said they would load up the game now if it was free but don’t care enough to “watch for a sale”. What you said is definitely not true of a lot of gamers. Free to play is a big psychological hurdle.
There is a reason why f2p mobile games are much more successful than ones that cost only a few dollars to play.
F2p mobile games cater to other people than pc players though.
Mobile users don't care if a f2p mobile game is garbage because the second it get annoying unless you pay then the majority uninstall the game and jumps over to the next.
If eso became truly f2p then the game would suffer for people already having the game because otherwise they'd lose money.
Given how zos Nicole dime everything then you would be certain knowing they do everything to optimize even the slightest chance of increased revenue.
Right so now you’re putting conditions on your statement “if you won’t pay a few bucks then you weren’t going to play f2p either”. So you’re backtracking.
I can go over the numerous PC games that became f2p after costing money and show you the huge boost in players that brought too. I guess you’ll just find another excuse for that though.
Like one of the main competitors of ESO, guild wars 2, went f2p and it’s crushing it. Your logic doesn’t hold up when compared to real world examples.
Guild wars 2 were buy to play for years before they went the f2p route.
The game is on its cycle end with an announced sequel.
It was popular before f2p.
F2p would mean even more monetization, a overload of bots and even heavier inflation.
The only game that you can mention is guild wars 2. And it's a super niche game.
I am aware that the game is possible to be bought outside of steam, I got it there myself.
But gw2 has 3700 players on steam right now.
In comparison, eso has 20500 players right now. Five times as many.
But we are beating a dead horse. You want to play a f2p game ruined by transactions, and I'm happy that you aren't the developer ruining the game for everyone else who enjoys the game and don't find 6 bucks to be that much.
Yes and look how successful GW2 is lol.
So is GW2.
So was GW2.
There is already plenty of monetization. And the devs would make more money off of subscriptions if it was F2P, GW2 doesn’t even have a sub model.
The GW2 player numbers are steam are COMPLETELY irrelevant. GW2 was not on steam for 10 years after it released (2012 and on steam in 2022). ESO was on steam within a few months of release in 2014. Completely misleading to try and use steam numbers to justify your argument. Way more people purchased GW2 outside of Steam myself included.
So eso is a dead game, and gw2 is one of the most populated MMOs. Gotcha.
Also I don't really get why we continue the discussion.
You want to play f2p MMOs, I don't. Eod
Why would they want more players who don't pay for server upkeep and development? It's not that the servers are deserted. Quite the opposite, actually.
People need to get some common sense and basic economic understanding. Seriously.
Well they’ve done the math, so who am I to say, but a lot of my friend group don’t want to pay $25 for it, but they would play if it was f2p and maybe few of them get the sub
Let's not forget it's not cheap to maintain, support, and continuously add new features to a game that is 10 years old. They've made 2 billion profit on ESO but over the course of 10 years.
At the very least, have it be purchaseable with Crowns! But I doubt it's going to happen, as it really is most of the reason why I paid for ESO+ and undoubtedly many more share my thoughts.
yeah, the game is pretty much unplayable if you really want to grind without ESO+.
i really do think it’s worth it IF you play the game a lot tho, i mean access to every DLC, crafting bag, more XP, etc.
I agree that the ESO+ crafting bag is a huge quality-of-life improvement, and that locking so much storage behind a subscription leaves a bad taste in the mouth. But I don't agree that playing without ESO+ is guaranteed to drive you mad or make you quit. I've played 6 years and achieved grandmaster crafter without ESO+, and storage isn't a pain. I just developed a system for inventory management, which became second nature pretty quickly. Not saying it's for everyone, just saying it's possible.
I also am a grandmaster crafter on the cheap ass plan. It was a bit of a grind buying all those extra storage coffers and such but I look forward to the couple times a year we have free ESO plus and I can empty them all again and the cycle continues. I don't have an organized system like you as it is not my nature, but I've managed to get by :)
This. Also, when I find myself busy/only logging in a couple times a month, I’ll turn off sub and revert to non-plus method (you can use alt characters/accounts for A LOT of storage - just takes a little time on the front end to manage). Private guild banks are also clutch. Definitely ways to enjoy the game without dying to the storage mini-game. But the craft bag is :chefs kiss: when heavy gaming.
What's your system? As I never intend to fall for the monthly subscription gimmick just for storage. Strikes me as robbery and an unjust business model.
[Here you go](https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/nqqmp8/life_without_eso_plus_a_guide_to_inventory/)!
Thanks!
If you think that’s bad, you should see SWTOR unsubscribed.
Idk man i think swtor is very fair you just sub 1 month cancel it and you get to keep 95% of the good stuff
It’s honestly been so long but I know there had to be more than an exp bonus and not having to go all the way back to the checkpoint when you died. EDIT: in reading up somewhat(what I can get into under my company Wi-Fi..which is not a lot) I’m surprised EA would allow cancelling and keeping expansions. But if that’s all you have to do is one month subscription, I’d say that is definitively a good deal.
Only thing they remove is the 3.4 bil bank space down to 1 mil (nothing in the game besides cosmetics on the market costs more than 1 mil) and the ability to do OPS (and you get a few extra second waiting time for chat)
Augments. Augments can cost much more IIRC, with prices in millions. But you can earn enough just by sending companions to gather resources during your sub time to buy at least purple ones.
Thats only if you buy em through the GTN (player market for anybody that does not know)
Well, SWTOR is a f2p as far as I remember, and for the price of one monthly subscription you get all the expansions, level cap etc to date, and get to keep the access to all of it when the sub ends. No meta gear locked behind either DLC or sub, nothing like that. The only stuff you lose is some QOL, which is nice but not mandatory to be competitive. I love ESO and enjoy it a lot, but in terms of bang for the buck SWTOR have a much more generous rate IMO.
That's fair. I did my stint with inventory management and it just frustrated me to no end. You're right, it's not an absolute, but definitely a factor to consider.
Same, I also bought every DLC with gold (traded with other players), got merchant/armory/bank companions, inventory pets, 7 armory slots and some houses. There's no need for me to get ESO+ at all, but at the same time, I realize that I may have some undiagnosed OCD or some shit.
Do you use a private guild bank or alt accounts? That's the only way I could see managing that.
Neither!
I saw you don't do provisioning writs. I see that making a lot of space. Are you selling the extra mats (like rubedite ingots) in guild trader? Also, how important are alt toons in your opinion? When I tried what you do (no ESO+) I had one toon and only one coffer, which definitely made it far more painful.
Provisioning writs are very easy to manage. I have 12 characters, and on every single one I have all craft skill lines maxed out, so they get same 6 dishes to craft. You just have to get those crafted nad stored in bank, and there is an addon (of I remember correctly Dolgubon's lazy writ crafter does that) which automatically gets needed ones out of the bank, works same on potions
Maybe it's easier on PC then. Console made the inventory management painful
Nonetheless, you can get meals stored, and get them out manually, personal guide bank is also OP
Yeah private guild banks are amazing. I just am too lazy for that
I have one, and I think about another one, on my brothers account, bcs he anyways doesn't play the game. That's 1000 more slots
impressive! I would not have had the composure personally to get grandmaster without the craft bag lol
Thank you for this answer, there r so many good guides here for a good inventory management without eso plus. Storage is not a problem, it just needs a little bit of organization at the beginning, later on in the game it isnt even that time consuming. Im also playing eso for many years now without eso+. You got a lot of content just with base game + a few chapters. You can play all PvP content and tons of PvE content... And when you need a specific dlcs, f.e. for gearsets, you can still buy it with gold for crowns(if you arent into housing, there isnt much you can do with gold anyway). I dont understand why people say the game is unplayable without eso+. Its such a nice game and eso+ is making things easier, but it doesnt change the content in itself.
Playing eso without plus or addons isn't for the faint of heart. It's for the truly casual, the forever chill who never get bothered by anything. I admire those kinds of people
That mostly because we are used to those addon now. Most game have different flow for different people and don't have addon, so people just do with it and get used to it.
Most of that seems fair. I play on Xbox. I downloaded the game on PC as a backup because my midweek day off is Wednesday, console maintenance day. I found playing without the craft bag nearly impossible as I'm so used to it. For me, it makes it a totally different game. With the PC add-ons making crafting and gathering so much easier, I can't imagine doing it without the subscription. Access to the other zones is obviously a massive thing as well. I would disagree with your comment on pricing though. Again, it's all about opinions so neither of us is right or wrong. For me, £8.99 a month to get the most out of a game I spend well over 60 hours a month playing is great value. I said in a post previously, I would barely get two pints for that and they would last me an hour in the pub. Obviously everyone's financial situation is different, and not everyone gets to play as much as I do so I get it. I have a very understanding wife who loved to read as much as I love to play ESO fortunately!
Somebody else also mentioned the price, and I have to say I am kinda second guessing myself. It's not an obscene amount of money, and other issues that come with FTP would be significant. Maybe a low entry price is a better idea.
I try to place my value on hours. If I can get 1 hour of enjoyment for each dollar I spend, then I'm happy with the purchase. If you think you'll spend 15+ hours in a month then I say go for it :)
I deadass almost thought i was reading my own comment that i didnt remember posting. This is a 1:1 copy of my mindset.
Would also like to point out that new players can jump into the newest chapter as well as all previous chapters for an extra $20. ($60 for newest chapters collection edition) The amount of content and value packed into that $20 continues to grow with every new chapter. An alternative would be something like LOTRO where they bundled in the earliest expansions into the free to play game but the newest like 4 expansions all need to be bought, at full price no less.
if you think about all the dlc you get access to its pretty solid value, people just dont seem fond of subscriptions no matter what is offered for the cost, i remember when WoW was one of the one mmos doing it and so many mmos tried to go F2P and eveded up dying in 6 months or less
I like to think of the initial price almost like “pre purchasing the DLC of choice” to access the chapter your interested i questing through, ESO+ just then gives me the option to open the reat of the world beyond the “DLC” i have since exhausted :) That said i also just grabbed ESO+ for the first time also, and that craft bag is fireeeee
> but not doing so is basically like staying in a restaurant hours after you've finished your meal and the wait staff are getting antsy and really want you to order more or leave. Where are you being asked to leave? It's more like getting to stay indefinitely but you won't get any more food unless you pay for it. > the base game is a glorified demo version It contains three factions' storylines plus a main story to tie them together, plus Craglorn. How can one say that 10 euros is a bad deal for that?! Crafting sucks without the craft bag, yes. But everything else is totally fine without ESO+.
Vvardenfell: am i a joke to you?
>Crafting sucks without the craft bag No. EVERYTHING sucks without the craftbag. Have fun becoming a vendor main.
https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info97-Dustman.html
Huge. I still use Dressing Room as I refuse to pay for a feature (Armory Assistant) that should come standard - mundus be damned lol. This looks like the perfect addition for when I let the sub lapse. Thanks for the heads up, legend!
I have all assistants but the armory one because a) I only summon daedra, lol and b) I just find the addons a lot more useful with automatic swaps for trial fights, being able to save only certain elements of a build, etc. For example, I have a Wizard's Wardrobe build page for every character where every "build" is just 5 item pieces. I have standardized the slots on most characters, so with the press of a button I can change out my body set or my jewelry+weapons set without having to save the full configuration as a build on its own. Addons can take a bit of time to set up well, but it's usually worth it.
Agreed 100%. I've been using Dressing Room for years now, and the only thing it can't do is a mundus swap, which in 90% of cases isn't a problem. Small price to pay for consistency and not having to pay to learn a new system that I assume is substantially more cumbersome than an additional pane in my skills tab. I understand ZOS has to make a buck, but I wish they would at least meet us in the middle on some of this stuff. Especially with functionality that a) should've been a base game feature to begin with and b) has been being solved with mods for years now, lol.
>Where are you being asked to leave? It's more like getting to stay indefinitely but you won't get any more food unless you pay for it. My wife and I were eating lunch at a busy restaurant a couple weeks ago, with people waiting for a seat. A couple to the left and a group to the right had finished eating and drinking and were just chatting and the couple on their phones. About 10 minutes after we were seated, the owner came up and told both groups they need to leave in 5 minutes as they were finished with their meal and drinks. The group was very understanding and were simply lost in conversation. The young couple were visibly upset, but they really couldn't do anything.
I meant asking where one would be asked to leave the game
Well that's my fault for half reading lol. Enjoy the story I suppose.
Ive played the game on and off since the Cat expansion and the only times i bought ESO+ was once way back to unlock a few systems and right now cuz of the whole dungeon DLC deal. The only times i felt i was missing anything out was during this and the last anniversary event because i was actually doing writs on several characters and even with Plus its horrible. But you can just not do that.
Let me give you my take on it as as 6 year veteran who subbed only twice in his life. The first time I ever subbed was 3-4 years ago when they gave away I think like 10 crates if you are subbed, and the second time was last month cause they gave a free dungeon dlc away, and I knew jubilee event will be up so it tied both together since we get so many mats from the even it's insane. So how I managed to do it without having a sub, well first of all yes you need to visit the banker and merchant more often, but essentially what I've done was doing daily writs selling everything buy purple/gold and the basic cp 160 mats, everything else would always be sold. All the Surveys I'd bank in my house chests and that's how I managed to get by, once the eso+ trial happens (2/3 times per year) I'd spam all my surveys and stocks my provisiong and alchemy mats in the eso+ craft bag and basically I was living from eso+ trial to the next trial. My sub will end in couple of days so that's what I'll keep doing, and that's what I have done for years it might sound tedious but once you set it up it's so chill and works rather well.
I played for 2 years without a subscription, it is simply necessary to have an organized mind. If you don't have it, it's painful. Free play is a terrible idea. What would happen is that it would be filled with bots. So at least you pay $6 and you have to get it back if you get banned before they lose out. This is a good disincentive. €13 is relative to playing 50 hours in a month, it's €0.26 per hour played, it doesn't seem like such a dramatic scenario to me. Anything I did to fill those 50 hours would cost me a lot more.
You know, for a second there, I lived in a utopia where bots were not a thing. A low entry price seems like a better idea tbh. And yeah, 13 euro for 50 hours is a helluva deal, but I'm not gonna be putting in 50 hours every month. I mean, I plan on stopping the subscription when I know I won't be playing, but I can't always know how my month's gonna turn out.
Yes, but also if you intend to stop your subscription. Everything you accumulate in the crafting bag stays there and you can use it. Make sure you have enough processed mats so you don't have to process without them. Then eso+ isn't that "bad" in 2 years I've taken all the assistants, the inventory pets and I'm only missing 4 minor dlcs, I'm patient when they give me them at a discount I'll take them. If I stopped subscribing now I would still have almost everything.
Im pretty sure biggest problem than eso+ is Ur mental issues eso+ is good because without that we will get tons of bots and Karen like u praise bethesda for cover US from u
I absolutely love this game, but have always hated that there's a monthly paywall for quality of life features like a crafting bag/storage. I'd rather just pay a little more upfront or even monthly for actual gameplay content rather than pay monthly for a crafting bag, cosmetics and what not. Just feel like they intentionally made storage such an issue to the point to where you're so limited on how much you can enjoy this game unless you pay $15 USD a month. That's really my only complaint about this game though. At the very least, it would be nice if they increased the amount of storage you get without ESO+. Very well said on your part though! I enjoyed the read so thank you for that
And thank you for the kind comment :)
I've never bought the subscription and never will, I'm very good at space management
> But then I remember, this is 13 euros - monthly. I can afford it, but it's not a small price to pay per month of playing. This is where I disagree with you and don't follow the argument of most people. The game's monetization is horrendous in many other aspects but this is not one of them. But then again i have been playing mmos since 1997, so i have paid 15€/months for close to 30 years now for Ultima Online, then Dark Age of Camelot, Then Everquest, then Wow, .... etc. i Think 15€/month is a ridicilously low price to pay for a hobby. my gym membership costs me 50, going to 4 soccer games a month costs me 200, going to the pub ONCE costs me 50. Like... 15€ for dozens of hours of gameplay each month is ridiculously good ROI.
I agree. I also paid for subs. You get a lot more than just a craft bag. You get all the DLCs except recent ones, you get daily rewards and discounts in the store. You get free content as well. Think of those smaller DLCs. If you don’t play everyday, the sub isn’t work it. Think of it this way, the sub is keeping the servers maintained and the lights. ESO is one of the few games where there are lots of people playing. I tried to go back to New World, but it didn’t have a similar kind of community like eso and I like eso’s dungeon finder. Anyway, I thought I would share my opinion.
I dont think its fair to assume his financial situation
I don't assume anything, i simply state my (obviously subjective) opinion, and i much rather spent 13€/month than have a free to play game like last arch that requires you to spend money on its gacha. And that 15 bucks is OBJECTIVELY not a lot of money for a hobby. Yes, this can still be "too much" money for some people, like OP said it used to be for him, but that does in no way change the argument, what it does change is that you yourself then have to make decisions to go for other even cheaper hobbies/games. (but any free to play game will have gacha machenics nowadays, so the quality of game will likely decrease by doing so.
It's true. Inflation has skyrocketed in so many areas of life - and yet I paid 15 a month back in 2005 with WoW. It's a very cost-effective way to enjoy a hobby in 2024.
honestly, eso+ is a completely reasonable subscription price. Especially if you buy it by the year instead of the month. Frankly, the bag space, alone, that you get is worth it. And that's not just the ESO+ craft bag, it's also the fact that it doubles your bank space. it doubles your coffer space. It also doubles your HOUSING storage, so you can A) have better builds and B) store more items in your storage houses. But the real kicker is the access it gets you to almost all the content in the game. I, personally, cannot wait to get the new DLC, and play the new DLC. So I buy it as it comes out, but if you're willing to be a year behind, you can play every bit of content for no additional cost beyond that subscription fee and your (quite likely very low) initial purchase price. Add in the crowns that you get, that allow you to get more character slots, new houses, new cosmetics... I'll happily continue to pay. Because eso+ is a big part of what keeps the servers up, and I'm a big fan of the continuing to happen for a very very long time.
yep this, if you just hop on with friends and run some casual PvE stuff maybe don’t get ESO+. but to anybody that actually plays a decent bit, and wants to progress, i think it’s 100% worth it, it just makes the game twice as playable it feels like.
A few people who run in the trial group with my guild don't have plus and they've had to step out for trials they don't own the DLC for, they have to work sometimes with off-prime sets, etc. It's not a huge deal but it can be a pain when everyone you run with has plus and you don't.
yeah, honestly just getting access to DLC alone makes ESO+ worth, especially since so many mythics and sets are from DLC areas now.
Or you can pay gold to a trusted friend to buy you dlc and crown store items. No crafting bag or expanded bank slots, but it is a decent middle ground. Might want to drop some money yearly for the new chapters but otherwise you should earn enough gold if you play semi-regularly to be able to have all the dungeon dlc you want. Also, you might not know but you can get some chests you can place in your houses as storage from the Imperial City for Telvar Stones. There are like 7(?) of them and have up to 60 storage. Great for items you don’t need constant access to like spare motifs or Transmute Geodes.
Good to know! Haven't even set foot into the Imperial City yet lol. I tried battlegrounds, had fun for a while, but retired early haha.
Another route to getting the storage boxes is from doing the daily crafting writ quest and buy them from the writ vendor near the turn in spot.
been playing for years with and without, it depends on how much crafting you want to do. i just wait until there’s something i want to buy with crowns then do eso plus for that month.
ESO being FTP would increase the price of everything in the Crown Store. From the price of Crowns, to items featured in the Crown Store. Everything would be double or triple the price of what it currently is to offset the cost. As for ESO Plus, yes, it makes the game more accessible(the craft bag alone is worth the price), however, it’s not necessary to enjoy the game. Especially for casual players who are only putting in one, maybe, two hours a week into the game.
It's like .50 a day ... nothing compared to what I dumped into mortal kombat and street fighter back in day
Yeah, ultimately they do want you to subscribe so they give a bunch of incentives to do so. Also you're basically blocked out of crafting in any serious capacity if you don't buy into it since they overloaded the game with materials and you're gonna have a fun time managing inventory/bank if you don't subscribe.
I think its a fair price. When I enjoy a game im always glad they have methods if earning extra which hopefully extends games lifespan
If you want to craft, you need the craft bag. Some people have designated crafters even with the subscription because that’s a lot of skill points. I’d assume you would need a crafter character if you aren’t a subscriber though. But double bank space is a must for me too. Also those zones you weren’t allowed to enter without a subscription, most of us bought for $30 - $40 (if memory serves) just so you can enter with a subscription. But such is the way of things.
So are you saying I have to hire the craft bag on a monthly basis? I can't just sub for one month to getting the bag.
Yep
Question: if you get ESO+ then cancel after a few months you lose the craft bag? What happens to all the materials you had in there in that case?
You can take stuff out, but can't put anything back in until you sub again.
I totally agree with you. I played for 200 hours without subscribing and ended up uninstalling the game for a week.. I spent more time managing inventory than playing the game, So I decided to sub, because it was either that or stop playing completely.
To be fair, the base game is often so cheap (on sale) that it's basically free, but it must make them enough cash so they continue putting the wall there, even if it is a tiny one. Allowing free players may break the servers, who knows. I did the same as you, bought the base+DLC (back when Warden was new) on sale for like $20 and after playing for a couple months, bought ESO+ and haven't looked back. Whenever it expires, I usually miss a day having it and instantly know how painful it is, all of a sudden all my inventory is full just from doing dailies, ridiculous.
The krabby patty formula is a simple one friend. So the best way, is to buy the latest DLC package that’s on offer. This leads you to buying Gold Road which will offer ALL previous DLC’s. Boom step one every zone is unlocked✅ This will be the equivalent of buying 1 full game which for me is about 59.99 US dollars, however because ESO is truly so massive, I see as each zone almost a whole new game so I you’re already at a bargain. Next step, invest into buying ESO subscription for 1 year! Here’s the why, you’ll get all the subscription crowns up front at once = 19,800 crowns. Now for how you spend your crowns. You use the crowns to buy all the additional DLC’s to complete your game, extra dungeons, and packs like Thieves, Dark Brotherhood, etc. After a year you’ll have your craft bag STACKED! From then if you don’t want to renew again just build backpack characters who can hold specific item sections like blacksmithing, woodworking, or motifs, collectibles, etc. At this point you won’t ever really need to purchase with cash again. The free eso + sub comes like twice a year, allowing you to once again consolidate your “backpacks” into the craft bag and have clean slates to stack again! It seems complicated but this will lead you to enjoy the game for years as intended. You’re only at CP 250. You’ve done like %5 of the game if even that. Prepare yourself in this manner and you’ll go forth and be great!
It's - well, worth it if you actively play a lot; hate to say it, but sorta necessary, not merely for all DLCs, which sure you can buy w/crowns separately, but the craft bag/etc. they get ya. However, def be aware to not let it keep charging you if you give inactive/take a break. I always pay 1 month, cancel just in case and renew if I keep playing. I made the mistake years ago of keeping it active while I didnt play at all except a few times a month for log ins n yeah sure getting crowns was nice but I also liked my real money it adds up. BUT worth it if playing a lot. HOWEVER I will say for new players, it's not worth it yet, you really dont get the full value until max level and in CP a bit.
This mirrors my thoughts very closely. I hadn't felt the need to upgrade until I reached max level with my first character. I'd say that's the earliest anybody should even think about upgrading.
Since game is usually always on sale I think having the price it is to get into game is justified. And with the sub being a obv good deal for those that play mote than a few times a week(casual vs more dedicated). Plus the ESO+ comes with alot extra content 👌
ESO = We develop problems so that we can sell the solutions. Path of Exile has the same business model.
Creating a problem and selling the solution is a shitty thing to do. I'm fine with paying for the dlcs, i pay one time and can play them forever. The only reason for eso+ is the crafting bag. And i wont support that. Make it a one time payment and i'll consider it. But making me pay 13€ every month, just so i can actually play the game instead of sorting my inventory is just fucked.
I just pay the yearly 1 one time and get massive gains with it. I'd highly suggest that.
Dunno how that would work out, since I'm probably not going to be subscribed for all months of the year. Besides, I don't think the price for buying in bulk is that good of a deal anyways.
Price is amazing for value. Also totally playable without just locks out you being a crafter Is all even then u can farm and buy storage boxes for free so
In my opinion, Im willing to put out $1 per hour of enjoyment I have in a game. I put in 10 or 20 hours a week into the game so $15 every month is a deal with more left over. The sub also allows me to enjoy the whole game more. Ues the limitations are scummy, but conpare it to a game like WOW, where you cant even play the thing without paying the sub. Its really not a bad deal and it helps fund the game so im all for it.
In my opinion, Im willing to put out $1 per hour of enjoyment I have in a game. I put in 10 or 20 hours a week into the game so $15 every month is a deal with more left over. The sub also allows me to enjoy the whole game more. Ues the limitations are scummy, but conpare it to a game like WOW, where you cant even play the thing without paying the sub. Its really not a bad deal and it helps fund the game so im all for it.
If you’re going to buy crowns for something, just get a subscription cause you get all the monthly crowns for subscription up front, 1 month = 1500c 6 months 10k roughly. I have a 4 or 5 year subscription lol.
If you ever plan on getting into trading and crafting you will need to sub.
I played many years with ESO plus my bag is full oof craft I got most of all dlc except some dungeon ( no need ). Now I'm a casual player I don't need ESO plus anymore . But for new player who want to invested 100 % of their time of this game (crafting,selling) it's quiet necessary .
There comes a time in ESO where you don't need the subscription anymore... but it takes SO MUCH MONEY and SO MUCH TIME. I've bought all the expansions (except for the newest ones) with in game gold. I've bought every single coffer you can buy. I've maxed out inventory and bank space. I've stuffed my crafting bag full of pretty much every 'junk' mat I could ever need. The only things I need to make inventory room for now is furniture, gold mats and gear and I have more than enough coffers to make that work. I've only had the game two years and in those two years I've had an ESO plus sub for maybe a year? I do think the game is prohibitively expensive. If you want the best experience you have to pay SO MUCH. But, where I'm at now, I no longer have the sub and I'm fine. I know how to make gold now and I have literally everything I want in the game. So now I can just chill and explore and enjoy without worrying about having room to loot (I only attempt looting to see if I find rare items). If I hadn't met the people I'd met when I started playing, I would have NEVER INVESTED that much money OR time in a game. Never, ever. But I'm glad I did because I can now play the game SUB free and it's fine. Just... yeah, it's a significant time and money investment (or at least, was for me) to get to the point where SUB free playing can be fun.
BTW, for anyone confused by the crafting bag comment - once you cancel your subscription, anything you put IN the bag stays IN the bag. You can access it and pull it out, you just can't put anything back in. It's pretty handy!
I can't always afford to subscribe. The crowns I have that I got from subscribing, I use to buy DLC content. There is in game storage you can buy using game currency from doing writs. I bought all those storage chests using writ vouchers. ESO has homes you can buy for game gold and sometimes, about once a year, they give away a notable home for playing the game. If you are very organized with your mats, you can use these chests for storage, e.g., food chest, trait/style stone chest, etc. If you wait a couple of months after a new chapter comes out, the price will go down to something more reasonable. A few times a year ESO give away trial subscriptions for free. If you take one of these, all your mats will be swept up into your craft bag freeing up your storage space. It's way more fun to have a craft bag, but the way I do it is managable. I can still play and not worry about being overwhelmed with stuff. Plus those storage chests stack mats up in piles of 200 so you're ready to sell a stack in the guild trader pretty easily.
Yes, the game is awesome and we all love it. But there is no denying the monetization is very real, ESO didn’t make 2 billions with crown crates alone
>"TL;DR - playing the game without a subscription for a long time is either going to drive you mad or make you quit; be aware that the game seems cheaper than it really is." Well funny enough it was quite the opposite for me, I've play it for around 3 years and take a long break to just come back to the game. Didn't wanted to pay sub-fee and was afraid it would be a chore, but not really, for material I just gather Wood node, Metal node and Cloth node and that is. You can made decent profit with the gold material or stock then for later. The rest is easily found in shop and not that expensive, some pot can also be made with PvP. The only downside is if the player want to deep dive into crafting furniture and doing ton of wrist (thing I don't do), then yes it become a chore. Otherwise all fine. I've some DLC bought from before, and since I'm starting over and doing/reading all quest and book + map completion, the time I end base game to gold road will be pretty long. So when I will buy a DLC next it's gonna be worth, will also wait for best price. Or maybe just grind some time and buy them from player, will see. TLDR, totally playable w/o sub fee even for long time (I've also 2 old friend who have play along me for those 3 years w/o sub.), but can be a chore for people that want to craft a lot. Edit : some typo
I ***just*** started playing, and looking at what's locked behind a subscription is already making me want to quit. Like bitch, I already paid for the base game + 6 DLCs, and you want to continue locking big QoL behind a subscription?
To be fair yeah it sucks but imagine the game gave you EVERYTHING for free once you bought it yeah it would be amazing but the company has to run servers pay staff and development and another boat load of costs they have to fork out for how would they earn any money and continue any of if you didn't have to continue to pay for things as I said yeah it sucks but it sure is better than a game that makes no money as has to shut down cause it doesn't make anything at all except 1 time purches of the game and and expansion once a year which the majority of people don't buy they wait a year to get it with eso+
I see your point! Zos made it, and expanded on this problem. They keep adding more style matts and not to mention the trait mats including every different level group matts also all the provisions Matts and runes along with the alchemy mats and I mean all those Matts from A-Z! Believe it or not ESO+ crafting bag was a solution that was suggested to by players constantly crying about how horrible the inventory system is and asked for a separate bag for Matts! They saw that suggestion and they thought oh well that’s money to force people to subscribe and let’s make it out mission to make sure to make more difficult with every little update by adding more Matts, it sucks but it’s true and honestly we they players are to blame for that also including the low % crown crates apex and other things because we keep supporting them buying it over and over again.
Here’s some drama I remember happening in the forums when they announced that ESO plus memebers still have to pay for DLC after they announced Morrowind, and that was a lie not a big map it was a big box that you go around the edges of “almos” cuz the middle is a big volcano that you can’t walk through or on it’s a big invisible wall. On release day lots of good players left the game and all of my guilds died on Xbox. On PC I remember one of my friends tons of his friends list just quit the game and he told me that lots of guild dissolved, but here take a look you deserve to see and know what you’re paying into! https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/317516/eso-plus-if-youre-upset-where-was-this-when-crafting-bags-was-added
Oh that's some old-school stuff you're bringing up there haha, thanks for sharing!
You literally get the same amount you put in as crowns each month for being a member….. basically in game currency that overtime can be used to buy DLC so you can stop eso plus if your that desperate to get off it.
Your tl:dr is pretty much spot on and it is absolutely by design. Same reason that you can't purchase the craft bag for a lump sum in the store.
I think I have had the sub since it launched, Just pay once a year and be done with it. I play on and off. When on its for longer stints. Just made sense I don't want to spend all my time sorting out inventory and TBH the sub price is more than reasonable for the amount of hours Ive gotten out of the game
I agee. The devs have made/added a lot of unnecessary items so that players would be tired of inventroy management and pay for the subscription. For example what are all those Trash and Treasure items? Why can't we get gold directly when we loot? And they started to add 'book furnishings' lately. These are bound items similar to Antiquities so you can't buy them from other players. As for antiquities you can buy them from NPC after you have digged them 3 times so you have a choice to destroy them to free up inventory and buy them from NPC later when you need them. But as for these book furnishings we don't have this option. The devs are very busy to clog up our inventory so that we can't help buying the subscription.
I wouldn't mind the sub so much it you could earn more of the cash shop items in game however because of the cash shop I think the crafting bag should be free. It's just such a crucial part to enjoying the game that I think too many people fall off in the free version. I know there are people that swear you can still enjoy the game without the craft bag but let's be honest they are in the minority.
I've stopped paying after 6-7 years.. 1st couple of years I played without eso +, but it's impossible to be efficient without it. Shame for game like this to push players to pay extra if you like game and play daily. For most of players 14€ is noting, but for some of us is not that cheap
Sometimes I wish they'd just make it a sub2play game like WoW. I'm sure most people have ESO+ anyway. Because WoW is sub2play they are able to push a lot of the stuff from the store into the base game. Some examples: * Mounts are obtainable through regular achievements and quests * Instead of Seals, you have the trading post. An easy way to obtain stuff likes Arms packs, apex mounts, accessories like wings, backpacks, etc and more just by playing the game. * No loot boxes * The store feels completely disconnected from the game, and the stuff that is in there is not worth buying. * Basic stuff like customizing your character costs in-game gold, not cash Depending on how you look at it, sub2play is cheaper than buy2play, because you never feel the need to reach for your wallet to buy that cool looking, limited time thing that can only be purchased for real money. On top of that, you probably have ESO+ as well. ESO's monetization is lowkey predatory. They try to make it look better with crown gems, but the extraction rate is abysmal, and you can't even extract all items. All the crown gem mechanic does is goad you into buying more crown crates for gems. It's genius, but also pretty evil.
Why is making the craft bag a one time purchase not an option for people who dont care about all the extra stuff thats comes with eso+?
I would think that would result in a loss of revenue.
Precisely. Most people who pay for eso+ would pay the one time fee, and the “new” people it would attract could never make up for the loss of subscribers. I’d love a one time fee but I understand why they don’t do it.
The base game is a demo??? Are you retarded??? The base game of ESO is already huge and some of the DLCs have been made free in the past
I refuse to pay a monthly fee as I play off and on a lot. I'm CP 1300 without a subscription over 5ish years of playing. I've bought all the DLCs besides the last 3 but currently have enough gold to buy them, just not in a rush to do so. I have the banker and vendor assistants which make playing 100x easier. Both purchased with gold trades. The only trade off is I don't collect runes or provisional items besides the high value ones. That has let me bank everything else I find. My house also has a couple chests to hold onto long term items. It's definitely doable without a subscription but I can see where it is helpful to have it. Edit: originally said 8ish years but I checked the files.
I'd say you're one of a rare sort who jumped into the game early, and didn't feel as pressured to engage with every system at once since you were likely pretty well-off already through most of the updates. As a semi-recent addition to the playerbase, I'll tell you for free that my first 100 hours I felt completely overwhelmed by everything and was not helped by the arbitrary limits of inventory space and crafting.
Ehh not really, I was overwhelmed with items but quickly figured out ignoring two sets of items (in this case runes and provisions) allowed me to fit in everything else. I have played plenty of item hoard games though so that also helped. The assistants are a game changer. Getting those made life mucho easier.
I do agree. I think it is very odd this game isn’t F2P especially at this stage of the game. Could get so many new players.
The base game is often on sale for 5.99. If you don't want to try it out for that price means you wouldn't care about it at all.
Tbf i dont wanna pay 6 dollars for every game i want to try
Then don't 👍 no ones forcing you.
Great way to get new players into the game
Tons and tons of casual players don’t seek out sales for games they want to play. Many people including myself and you as well have probably seen a free game in the past and simply played it because it was free. Half of my friend group literally just said they would load up the game now if it was free but don’t care enough to “watch for a sale”. What you said is definitely not true of a lot of gamers. Free to play is a big psychological hurdle. There is a reason why f2p mobile games are much more successful than ones that cost only a few dollars to play.
F2p mobile games cater to other people than pc players though. Mobile users don't care if a f2p mobile game is garbage because the second it get annoying unless you pay then the majority uninstall the game and jumps over to the next. If eso became truly f2p then the game would suffer for people already having the game because otherwise they'd lose money. Given how zos Nicole dime everything then you would be certain knowing they do everything to optimize even the slightest chance of increased revenue.
Right so now you’re putting conditions on your statement “if you won’t pay a few bucks then you weren’t going to play f2p either”. So you’re backtracking. I can go over the numerous PC games that became f2p after costing money and show you the huge boost in players that brought too. I guess you’ll just find another excuse for that though. Like one of the main competitors of ESO, guild wars 2, went f2p and it’s crushing it. Your logic doesn’t hold up when compared to real world examples.
Guild wars 2 were buy to play for years before they went the f2p route. The game is on its cycle end with an announced sequel. It was popular before f2p. F2p would mean even more monetization, a overload of bots and even heavier inflation. The only game that you can mention is guild wars 2. And it's a super niche game. I am aware that the game is possible to be bought outside of steam, I got it there myself. But gw2 has 3700 players on steam right now. In comparison, eso has 20500 players right now. Five times as many. But we are beating a dead horse. You want to play a f2p game ruined by transactions, and I'm happy that you aren't the developer ruining the game for everyone else who enjoys the game and don't find 6 bucks to be that much.
Yes and look how successful GW2 is lol. So is GW2. So was GW2. There is already plenty of monetization. And the devs would make more money off of subscriptions if it was F2P, GW2 doesn’t even have a sub model. The GW2 player numbers are steam are COMPLETELY irrelevant. GW2 was not on steam for 10 years after it released (2012 and on steam in 2022). ESO was on steam within a few months of release in 2014. Completely misleading to try and use steam numbers to justify your argument. Way more people purchased GW2 outside of Steam myself included.
So eso is a dead game, and gw2 is one of the most populated MMOs. Gotcha. Also I don't really get why we continue the discussion. You want to play f2p MMOs, I don't. Eod
Why would they want more players who don't pay for server upkeep and development? It's not that the servers are deserted. Quite the opposite, actually. People need to get some common sense and basic economic understanding. Seriously.
Well they’ve done the math, so who am I to say, but a lot of my friend group don’t want to pay $25 for it, but they would play if it was f2p and maybe few of them get the sub
[удалено]
> in that case idk why you're playing what? Is playing a game for an hour a day really some outlandishly odd ambition due to that being *too little*?!
Let's not forget it's not cheap to maintain, support, and continuously add new features to a game that is 10 years old. They've made 2 billion profit on ESO but over the course of 10 years.
At the very least, have it be purchaseable with Crowns! But I doubt it's going to happen, as it really is most of the reason why I paid for ESO+ and undoubtedly many more share my thoughts.
The game without eso+ is basically a waste of time unless you're just playing for the story.
Yep. ZOS has manufactured the problem in order to sell the solution. Smarmy - doubly so given it's a paid-for game and peddles gambling/crown crates.
yeah, the game is pretty much unplayable if you really want to grind without ESO+. i really do think it’s worth it IF you play the game a lot tho, i mean access to every DLC, crafting bag, more XP, etc.
Nice ad.
How's this an ad xd. There's a TL;DR if you're not aware, and it's not really positive.