The Elder Scrolls Online Now Open for Business
The wait is finally over for The Elder Scrolls fans.
Bethesda announced on Friday the launch of The Elder Scrolls Online for PC and Mac at retailers nationwide, and on the official online store. The Digital Imperial Edition costs $79.99 via Bethesda and Amazon, and $59.96 for the vanilla version on Amazon.
By purchasing the Imperial Edition, gamers will get to play as an Imperial and serve on any alliance. Gamers receive the Imperial White Horse to mount and journey through Tamriel with increased speed. Imperial Edition customers will also get the Mudcrab Vanity Pet, which will scuttle along by your side, and the Rings of Mara. Players can even craft Imperial gear, and transform any gear the player owns into Imperial gear.
"The Imperial White Horse is purchasable for 1 gold from any stable in the game, as soon as the player starts the game," reads the launch FAQ. "The Mudcrab Vanity Pet will be in the player's in-game mailbox starting from launch on 4.4.14. The Ritual of Mara will be in the player's in-game mail as soon as they start the game--they should simply perform the ritual with their desired partner to get the Rings of Mara."
Players who participated in the beta will receive a monkey vanity pet to call their own. This pet should be available via the in-game mail system on 4.4.14. The Q&A also reveals that beta players can use the beta client; they simply need to patch the client using the ESO launcher.
"We are grateful for the overwhelming response to The Elder Scrolls Online," said Matt Firor, Game Director of The Elder Scrolls Online. "With 5 million people registered for beta, it's clear that a large number of fans are eager to jump online and experience everything the game has to offer. We couldn't be more excited to get it into everyone's hands."
Unfortunately, there is no free-to-play mode. Gamers wanting in on the action will be required to pay $14.99 per month. Other price plans include a 90 day plan which equals to $13.99 for 30 days, and a 180 day plan that equals to $12.99 per 30 days.
What will be interesting to see is Blizzard's World of Warcraft subscription numbers in a month or two to see how much damage The Elder Scrolls Online has done to the MMORPG's subscription numbers. As Matt Firor pointed out, the beta reeled in 5 million beta players, meaning World of Warcraft could see a big drop in numbers as curious gamers take The Elder Scrolls Online for a spin.

I was in the Beta and at 1080p was running it at the max settings allowed (not sure if they are higher ones now) and I'm rocking a Radeon 6870.
The game is Ok, but I didn't care much for the interface overall. People need to remember that this is only the PC version released, the Xbone version is coming in July IIRC, so I think sales will jump quite a bit once the console version launches.
I played WoW from Burning Crusade and quit a few months before Cataclysm launched, and WoW pretty much burned me out on MMO's and I wont pay monthly for any game ever again. Same as I wont buy pieces of games ever again, I bought battlefield 3 and refuse to buy DLC.
By pay2win, I'm assuming you are talking about the Imperial Edition? Any Race on any Faction is not a game-changer (per se, unless you're an RP diehard), nor is Imperial style equipment or vanity pets. The mount IS kinda pay2win, but it's their slowest mount (yes, there's different tiers of mounts) and it's only a stock 15% speed boost to begin with. As for the other two: Star Wars, WoW, and EQ all have done subs. ESO has promised (yeah, grain of salt) to make the sub worth it with regular content releases (we'll see). But at least it isn't as terrible as WoW subs for the SoO patch until xpak release timeframe.
By pay2win, I'm assuming you are talking about the Imperial Edition? Any Race on any Faction is not a game-changer (per se, unless you're an RP diehard), nor is Imperial style equipment or vanity pets. The mount IS kinda pay2win, but it's their slowest mount (yes, there's different tiers of mounts) and it's only a stock 15% speed boost to begin with. As for the other two: Star Wars, WoW, and EQ all have done subs. ESO has promised (yeah, grain of salt) to make the sub worth it with regular content releases (we'll see). But at least it isn't as terrible as WoW subs for the SoO patch until xpak release timeframe.
Yeah, talking about the mount. I hear what you're saying, and I grant your points, but to be honest it really wouldn't matter to me if it were only a 5% speed gain.
It's still a gameplay advantage that you pay for with real money.
That fact alone spoils the fun for me in any video game: the knowledge that I can, *officially* and with the developers' blessing, connect my real-life wealth with my in-game wealth. I (and surely many others) feel that keeping the two separate is absolutely essential for in-game non-vanity material acquisition to give me any sense of satisfaction.
So, that's my position on pay2win. I also hold the opinion that the fact that Bethesda is using all three profit models at the same time is the icing on the cake, and makes them extra worthy of ridicule.