Elder Scrolls Online – Ciaran Laval

December 31, 2014

2014 Reviewed All In One Post

If you’re read my other two posts reviewing then there’s nothing new here in this one, it’s just a merging of the two posts to make it easier for future reference. This means it will be a long post, with pictures, videos and probably some errors.

January

January started with a look back to 2013 and the number of private region losses. The scores on the door from Tyche Shepherd displayed a slow down on the number of regions leaving the Second Life grid, something that would continue during 2014.

2012 Net Private Region Losess – 2865 (12.0%)
2013 Net Private Region Losses – 1719 (8.2%)

The virtual world of Kitely moved to a different pricing model which largely did away with the pay by the minute options as these had not been popular.

Blackened Mirror poster should be here — The Blackened Mirror Poster

Season 2 of The Blackened Mirror was taking a mid-season break but would return by the end of January. The show was recorded in Second Life.

Linden Lab were Raising The Roof : The HTTP Project. This project, which had started in 2012 was aimed at improving HTTP communications to improve the end user experience. Linden Lab would continue working on improvements during the year.

Second Life users were getting frustrated by tax and account information requests from Linden Lab. They would continue to be frustrated by these requests throughout the year despite Linden Lab improving their communications and information on these issues.

Second Life got a mention in the comedy show, 2 Broke Girls.

Then came the storm to warm up many a chilly January evening, Cloud Party announced that they would be closing their virtual doors on February 21st.

This was quickly followed by even more news to warm up January, Aston Villa fan and Linden Lab CEO, Rod Humble, was leaving Linden Lab. This created a Twitter storm.

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December 29, 2014December 29, 2014

2014 Reviewed Part 1 : January To June

In this post I will review 2014 from a largely virtual world perspective for the months January to June. This is part 1 of 2 as part 2 is still a work in progress but will hopefully appear tomorrow. I’ll combine both posts into another post for easier future reference once they are both completed. These posts will miss lots of big and interesting stories because the nature of the beast demands some brevity. These post may well look longer than they actually are at first glance because of images and pictures. The aim of posts such as these are to give a brief overview of the year, rather than an in depth review. An in depth review is too long for a blog post, it may make for an interesting book.

Anyway, on with the show, as they say.

January

2012 Net Private Region Losess – 2865 (12.0%)
2013 Net Private Region Losses – 1719 (8.2%)

The virtual world of Kitely moved to a different pricing model which largely did away with the pay by the minute options as these had not been popular.

Season 2 of The Blackened Mirror was taking a mid-season break but would return by the end of January. The show was recorded in Second Life.

Second Life got a mention in the comedy show, 2 Broke Girls.

Then came the storm to warm up many a chilly January evening, Cloud Party announced that they would be closing their virtual doors on February 21st.

This was quickly followed by even more news to warm up January, Aston Villa fan and Linden Lab CEO, Rod Humble, was leaving Linden Lab. This created a Twitter storm.

Continue reading “2014 Reviewed Part 1 : January To June”

April 15, 2014

The Elder Scrolls Online Extremely Odd Subscription Requirements Take New Turn

I’ve blogged before about the strange issues regarding subscription payments for The Elder Scrolls Online. The crux of the matter seems to be when is 30 days of free game time not 30 days of free game time. Whereas my previous post was largely about the odd pre-authorisation charges whereby customers were reporting they were temporarily having the full subscription charge held on their accounts after setting up payment methods, the latest issue is more about those for whom a credit card wasn’t an option and this remains a very odd issue.

Due to confusion over the issue an official statement has been released :

Every customer that purchases the game receives 30 days of play included. Upon registration, customers are required to choose a payment method for the subscription fee associated with game play beyond the first 30 days of service.

Customers who choose to pay for a subscription with a recurring payment method, such as a credit card, are advised they will not be charged until the first 30-days of use included with the purchase of the game expire. Further, they are informed that they can cancel their chosen payment method up until the first 30-days included with the purchase of the game expires.

That sounds reasonable, you buy the game, it includes 30 days of game time, you setup a subscription method and can cancel before the end of the 30 days. However where matters have taken an odd twist is with their attempts to be more flexible with their payment methods :

In order to give our customers the most flexibility in how they pay for their subscription, we also offer non-recurring payment options, such as Webmoney and iDeal.
Customers choosing to use a non-recurring payment method for a one-time subscription purchase are advised they will be billed immediately for subscription and that their purchase is final. Customers who utilize these non-recurring payment methods will receive immediate access to the 30 days of use included with the purchase of the game plus the additional amount of time associated with the subscription plan they selected – e.g. 30, 90 or 180 days.

Whoa back up there, those who are using non-recurring payment methods are therefore not getting their 30 days of game time included in the game, unless they pay for more game time. That’s not really the best way of going about matters, if something is being included with 30 days of time, that should be honoured and it will be to a fashion now. The Elder Scrolls Online team also insist they were open and upfront about this and to reiterate that fact, they point this out in the official statement as well as explaining how they are going to be flexible over the issue, even though it’s not their fault ….

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April 8, 2014

The Elder Scrolls Online Players Hit By Billing Bombshell

Iris Ophelia over at New World Notes feels that The Elder Scrolls Online is a good MMO, but not a good Elder Scrolls game. Iris didn’t enjoy the beta but since the game went live, she has very much enjoyed it, explaining that something changed :

The very first thing that I will tell you about my time with The Elder Scrolls Online is how much I absolutely hated it during the beta. Playing it was like a chore — gaming housework I had to do — and I just wasn’t having fun, full stop. The second thing I will tell you is that at some point, that changed. Since Head-Start access opened last week, I’ve spent every day eagerly anticipating the moment when my work is done and I’m free to play more. It’s hard to pin down exactly why I’ve done a complete 180, but I think it has something to do with adjusting my expectations.

Over at SLUniverse, Cristiano Midnight agrees with Iris regarding the beta to live game change over, saying : “After playing it for the past week, I have to admit I’ve been pleasantly surprised how much I enjoy it, as I hated the beta.”

However, not everyone is having fun and feeling the love. One of the controversial aspects of The Elder Scrolls Online has been the subscription model, this is why it’s also known as The Elder Subscription Online, as a subscription only model is definitely not the way MMO’s are heading these days. However there’s another issue with the subscription, one that has players who have paid for the game and want to subscribe up in arms, as reported by Kotaku : Players Upset Over The Elder Scrolls Online’s Subscription System. This is different to people being upset about the existence of a subscription model, this is a tale of woe about how players who tried to subscribe after they had bought the game and found their pre-authorisation for a subscription payment method failed.

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March 29, 2014

The Elder Scrolls Online Faces An Uphill Battle

I went back to World Of Warcraft recently, the road back has been a slow one but I’m now firmly back playing. One path on the road to return was the free to play option whereby you can play for free up to level 20, this was how I first returned to the fold. Getting to level 20 these days doesn’t take long and there are some other restrictions on the account, but it took me back to Azeroth and from there I was hooked enough to subscribe again.

The Elder Scrolls Online launches tomorrow, in what is called an early access stage. Those who have purchased the correct version of the game start five days ahead of the official launch. There are some who will start three days ahead of the official launch. The game comes with a 30 day subscription and then the monthly subscription costs are :

$14.99/30 days
€12.99/30 days
£8.99/30 days

This is hardly extortionate but comes in an era when more and more titles offer a free to play option. The thing that oft gets forgotten with free to play options is that there are payment models included, some offer a monthly subscription with perks.

I started and subscribed to Age Of Conan, Star Trek Online and Star Wars, so I’m familiar with subscription models. However the times have changed and yet, World Of Warcraft is still going strong, with a largely subscription only model. This is the game that many cite as an example of how the subscription model works and they use it as an example of Zenimax making the right choice in going subscription only with The Elder Scrolls Online. However there are some gaping flaws in this theory.

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