ESO has gone free to play. With that comes the obvious question, is it pay to win now? The answer, thankfully is no. In the crown store (their pay store) you can bun “bundles”, consumables, costumes, mounts, and pets.

Bundles

These are the bonus content that was purchasable in things like imperial edition, adventurer’s pack, or starter packs. These were purchasable options in the past and now can be purchased in game.

Consumables

Potions, soul gems, or repair kits. The potions are worse than you can make in game as an alchemist, but slightly better than what you can find from mobs. With the crafting system break down, no big worry there. Soul gems i guess could give someone a quick leg up, but seeing that they are super cheep, plentiful, and can be made in game using the soul magic world tree it would be a very brief advantage. Repairs in ESO are never an issue, buying repair kits might save you a little gold, but it is hardly worth it IMO.

Costumes

Vanity FTW, no real advantage to costumes, but they are fun.

Mounts

Mounts are pretty great. In ESO, your mount is just a vanity look, your riding skills determine how well the mount performs. Buying a mount in game can be expensive though, taking a ton of gold especially at low levels. This is by far the biggest advantage of the crown store IMO. A one time purchase gets you around it as once you have a mount you just level your riding skills. Also, if you have the imperial bundle or bought the imperial edition you get a free mount so there is no advantage there.

Pets

Pets are vanity companions. You can earn some in game, you can buy them through bundles or the store, but there is no game advantage.

In closing, at least currently, the pay store is a a well balanced offering providing vanity items people like to buy without sacrificing the skills or advantages in game. Some people (like myself) who bought really really early to get the Adventures pack might have an issue with that being available in the store for anyone to purchase at this point but IMO it is a good idea for them to offer it as most people want the freedom to be any race in any faction.