Elder Scrolls Online: DLC Unlimited

No doubt you have heard that on March 17 ESO is going buy to play. Console launch is scheduled June 9th. Game is also changing name to Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited. I am happy that they are switching so fast. Some may argue this was their intention all along but that is a story for another time. Whatever the case may be it is good that conversion is going to happen so early in game's lifecycle. The older MMO gets the harder it is to convert it to F2P/B2P. Game will have cash shop and paid DLCs. People who still want to subscribe will be able to do so. It all looks pretty much like the model used by The Secret World. However the devil is in the details and we have yet to see how Zenimax Online will implement buy to play.
   
So far my biggest concern are DLCs. To be more specific:

• how often Zenimax Online is going to release them? I can guarantee you we will not get monthly updates. They couldn't make that happen when game was sub only and i seriously doubt it will change with transition to B2P;

• what exactly are we going to get? I hope devs will do better than Funcom. Mission packs for The Secret World usually consist of few quests. In terms of quality they are often orders of magnitude better than quests in other MMOs but still you get to complete them once per character. If Zenimax wants to keep people playing they need to drop content-rich updates at least once per 2-3 months, similar to what Square Enix does with Final Fantasy XIV;

• pricing is another issue. Press release states that subscribers are going to get them for free. The rest of us will have to pay. I reserve my judgment on this matter until we see first few updates. Let's give them a chance and hope they don't charge us 15$ for quest chain that can be completed in two hours;

• quality and pricing aside my biggest concern is that Zenimax will put group content behind paywall. Fragmenting playerbase is never good move. Let's say you want to run a dungeon that came with DLC with your friends. If one of them haven't bought that DLC he/she will not be able to enter instance. No fun for all of you (unless you are willing to ditch your friend). In this case both those who have paid for content and those who haven't are being punished;

As you can see there are few things to be worried about and i didn't even touch the Crown Store as Zenimax calls ESO's item shop. But before moaning about pay to win we need to know a bit more about it. Their FAQ only says that shop "allows you to buy convenience and customization items for your characters, as well as services and content". Let's hope that Zenimax will not get too greedy while implementing buy to play. But I have to admit - I'm hoping against my better judgment.