User blog comment:Jimeee/Elder Scrolls Online will be subscription based/@comment-99.253.12.134-20130901234502/@comment-5469467-20130902005114

No. You will also need to pay the subscription for the game on top of the Xbox Live subscription.

However, both Zenimax and Bethesda are looking to allow the game to be played without Xbox Live (and also Playstation Plus for PS4). If you wouldn't otherwise have Xbox Live other than to play Elder Scrolls Online, you would not need to sign up to the service (or pay the associated subscription) to play.

However, the problem is that you might still need to get Xbox Live to play other games, making the move somewhat pointless. Still, if Microsoft agrees (which I'm not sure they have yet), you might be able to avoid using Live.