Elder Scrolls Online Buy to Play Explained .

Pete Hines, Vice President of PR and Marketing, Matt Firor, Game Director, and Paul Sage, Creative Director on The Elder Scrolls Online took to Twitch to answer questions and go in depth about what you can expect for Elder Scrolls Online’s future.

Elder Scrolls Online on Console

On June 9^th Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited will launch on consoles. We learned that there will be a console beta but the dates of it haven’t been narrowed down much beyond “April-ish.” Zenimax isn’t sure of the size of the beta yet that information will be released at a later date. Much of the world that has been done on the console version of the game focuses on communication tools and the controls. Menus had to be completely changed with large font to accommodate both using a controller and the fact that people sit further away from their TVs than they do their PCs.

Elder Scrolls Online DLC

Zenimax also announced that Elder Scrolls Online would be adopting a buy to play model and releasing DLC that can be purchased. The DLC will include new stories, new areas of the world to explore, and more. Perhaps most important to note is that the DLC will level scale. So, if you aren’t at max level you won’t have to wait until the end of the game to play the DLC, you’ll be able to jump right in from the moment you get it. Anyone who is part of ESO Plus will get the DLC free.

Elder Scrolls Online Subscription

ESO Plus is the new subscription option. By paying the monthly subscription not only will you get the DLC for free you’ll also get a monthly stipend of Crowns to be used in the in game shop as well as boosts to Experience, crafting speed, crafting inspiration, and gold acquisition.

Elder Scrolls Online In Game Store

The Crown store will be focused on customization and convenience. Items you’ll be able to find in the in game store include pets, mounts, and costumes. All of these items will unlock account wide and be placed in a collection system where they won’t take up bag space. It was highly stressed that the mounts available in the store will not be any better than the mounts you can already get, they’ll just look unique and provide the ability for more customization on your characters. Also in the crown store will be convenience items like potions. These potions will NOT be as powerful as the ones that players can craft. They’re simply there for people who don’t have the time and desire to spend all day crafting. On the topic of the game going pay to win it was stressed that this will not happen. Everything you can buy that gives an advantage can be obtained in game. Additionally, crowns and the items purchased in the in game store cannot be traded or sold. So there will be no way for players to “buy gold.”

There were some other surprise changes announced. The tutorial is getting a revamp. This will be put in place by the time console players are able to play so they’ll never experience what the tutorial is currently like. There weren’t many details on how the tutorial would be changed but based on the video showed of it there will still be some of the current tutorial left. There will be an Imperial edition of the game released for console players and one of the most asked questions, will characters still be transferable from PC to console as was previously promised was answered. The answer of course being yes. There is also a change coming to mounts to make it a bit easier when you get a new mount. Skills and abilities mounts have will carry over to new mounts. So you won’t have to start over with each new mount.

All of this of course comes at the same time as many other big changes that are coming to The Elder Scrolls Online. Current subscribers will be able to see the changes starting next week on the public test shard.

Will you be playing Elder Scrolls Online now that the new business model has been announced? Have you been holding out for the console version? The bigger question right now though, is this the death of the subscription model for MMOs?

Keep an eye out on MMOGames for the latest Elder Scrolls Online news as well as the thoughts of our writers on the change and more in the coming weeks. See you around Tamriel.