Official Discussion Thread for "Crown Store Sale: 5/21 - 5/26"

Ley

For the record, a new zone or two should not cost more than the entire game. I would never pay 10,000 crowns for a new zone. I will continue to subscribe though, so I won't really nee dot buy dlc.

I'm glad they're putting those items on sale, I think I may treat myself to a new horse.

Rosveen

Ley wrote: »

For the record, a new zone or two should not cost more than the entire game.

Try two games. The 5.5k crown pack is the same price as a new PC game in my country. This is going to be interesting...

VaXuS

So the horses are gonna be 50% off? if so neat! I'm finally gonna spend the 500 free crows i got for buying the game

Krycek89

lol, are you all new players or something? This is the way cash shops work... any of you played star wars tor??
where is the incentive to buy, if you know you can just buy it next week. Its called a BUSINESS strategy.

They need to make money, however much one dislikes it - just imagine paying money for packs filled of rubbish with a random chance to drop the item you want - i know of a few games that have gone down that path - and i am over the moon eso hasn't.

Turelus

Krycek89 wrote: »

This is the way cash shops work... any of you played star wars tor??

Yes, I just hoped ZOS had more class than EA.

Siliconhobbit_ESO

Not sure why these items are being removed from the store on the 26th of May.

I could understand the reasoning if these items were removed on Thursday the 28th, mid-evening: This causes a panic for those that have little to no cash but WILL have a pay-day on that following Friday. The hope is in this situation that members of the communtiy will try everything they can to get the money needed to make that purchase.

I could understand the reasoning if these items were removed on Friday, the 29th or Saturday the 30th: Friday payday has arrived and now plenty more people will have the capital available to make that purchase in the cash shop. This of course is a situation where ZOS is looking out for the consumer and allowing them the time to carefully consider their available funds. This is a gamble however from a Marketing standpoint.

** Of course, these items are being removed mid-week, on a Tuesday. The only resason I can think of for this particular move is that it coincides with a Maintenence Monday. Which, makes sense for the purposes of maintenence...but NO SENSE at all from the stand-point of Marketing.

Of course, I'm not in Marketing, OR in Marketing for ZOS...so wtf do I know.

Lunachik

I think it's good to rotate items, so it keeps things feeling freshly stocked. In other retail, (and that's what this is), you change your window displays regularly. Bringing back old favorites at a discount can happen later and that would be cool as well. Another idea would be to have a way to obtain items through game play, (using those achievement points for something would be nice)? Or themed sales events, All Guar, All Week or something. lol In any case, I'm always curious to see what the new additions will be.

EQBallzz

Turelus wrote: »

Already said it via Twitter but I am sad to see that manipulating players into panic purchases is more important to ZOS than offering a large collection of items everyone has access to.

I guess the gamble here is that more players will panic at the removal of items and purchase them in a sale than purchases from existing members or new players. I would love to hear from someone at ZOS a reason why these items are being removed other than to try and persuade people into purchasing them.

The sale alone should be enough for people who were on the fence about an item to think about buying it, most people have seen the data-mined items which could be release on the Crown Store and granted not all of these may be ready for release but there is more than enough content options to release new items and make money augmented with monthly sales on some less popular items without the need to try this dirty trick.

Disappointed with ZOS once again, I keep wanting to think of them as more than a corporate money maker company but they seem hell bent on being another Electronic Arts style AAA company.

Yep. It's sad and pathetic to see how ZOS has transformed into everything they said there were trying not to be prior to launch. All this marketing BS and trickery to try and coerce players into making purchases is just sad but not unexpected once they moved away from subs. This is what MMOs turn into without a sub and it's only going to get worse from here.

Sandmanninja

1) don't spend all of your crowns the moment you get them
because then
2) you'll have crowns available for sale items

I'm glad for the sale items - thanks ZOS!
Panther - nabbed!
I just bought the horses but now I'll get those pet guars that I was holding off purchasing

msanchez7317

Start selling XP potions or something useful and I'll resubscribe perhaps, but for now I'll save up. Nice looking mount, but the striped still looks better (thanks!).

DemonHunter4196

When I first saw the news that the Senche-Panther mount was going to be available I was excited. I wanted a feline mount since I started playing the game recently and saw other players with them. Then I read that the Senche-Panther mount would only be available for purchase for one week and I was very disappointed. The "limited time offer" sales discriminate against people who have to budget for their game purchases on a monthly basis. I am disabled and get paid at the beginning of the month. By the end of the month my check has been spent with only enough money in my bank to keep the remainder of automatic payments for the rest of the month from bouncing. By the time this was announced I didn't have enough money to get anything more this month and since it won't be around when I get my disability check next month I won't be able to purchase this item. Making the item available for a whole month would allow people who are in situations like mine to purchase it. At the very least you could announce when items would be available a month in advance so we could save money for purchases like this. I don't mind supporting a game I play, in fact I am an ESO Plus Member because I believe in supporting the games I play, but I object when the game companies discriminate against players like me.

Esther

Awesooooome! Looking forward riding it today!

Seth_Black

I had a good laugh reading all comments ...so much complaining without reason...

@ZOS thx for the Senche-Panther! Waiting for next one!

Nerouyn

Paulington wrote: »

Without being too much of a cynic, maybe ZOS have finally realised just how well limited-time offers work? That sense of urgency opens wallets like nothing else, as proven by everyone and their dog's wife's sister's mother's grandmother's cousin riding around on a Senche Leopard.

I strongly suspect you're right but it's such a commonly used tactic that many people see right through it.

Plus this particular market would have experience with other games - eg. GW2 - and limited time items disappearing from and inevitably reappearing in the store.

Turelus

@DemonHunter4196 that really sucks. I hadn't even thought how fast sales like this might effect people on monthly pay.

Blutengel

Turelus wrote: »

@DemonHunter4196 that really sucks. I hadn't even thought how fast sales like this might effect people on monthly pay.

But at least its not gone for good. You may not have it right away but sometime in the future they will have it available again.
My hope is one day they put the veterans rewards on a limited sale I missed out on them sadly.

Jamesmasterflex

I hate to diss on eso, because i like this game and i have fun playing it. for the most part i do get excited when i read about new stuff entering the crown store, New mounts are fun and costumes are funner,and i ive bought 99% of them from the store already, i dont like that fact they sell purple motifs, and enhanced beginner foods, and reset skills and attributes scrolls in there though, but that's another story lol. But when oh when are they releasing a new dlc for eso???. ive been playing eso for since release, but my 4 toons are running out of things to do. so the lack of any new dlc's are forceing me to go elsewhere to get my gaming fix such as Witcher 3 , and dragon age inquistion, etc...But Dont get me wrong, im totally loyal to eso and i defend eso against haters when i need to, but the slowness of them to put a dlc like murkmire, the imperial city, or wrothgar yet to be added to the crown store is just lame........ im sure it will be there soon, but when? if anyone knows this i would be thankful for a reply

Jamesmasterflex

And to you ZOS, whatever you do in the future with eso, please oh please do NOT start selling XP potions, leveling up potions, etc. Those encourage lazyness, and that would totally ruin the game

Jiigen

Jamesmasterflex wrote: »

And to you ZOS, whatever you do in the future with eso, please oh please do NOT start selling XP potions, leveling up potions, etc. Those encourage lazyness, and that would totally ruin the game

XP Potions have already been confirmed to be coming.

SantieClaws

So are there technical limitations on the number of items that can be offered in the crown store at once then?

Just seems to be shooting yourself in the foot to limit the number of items you offer at any one time if those items are already in existence.

The more you have on offer then the more chance that a player is going to find just that costume or mount or pet that they are looking for.

Jiigen

wenxue2222b16_ESO wrote: »

So are there technical limitations on the number of items that can be offered in the crown store at once then?

I was thinking the exact same thing, it just seems odd to be removing costumes, pets and mounts... Motifs makes sense, they presumably don't sell and imbalance the game even further when it comes to economy.

Kitty8Khajiit

This one saved up, and will buy her Senche-Panther as soon as he is ready. She has been wanting him for a very very long time, and will hug him and pet him and feed him and love him!

Thank you ZOS Mages, but please do not forget that Kitty still is needing a home of her own where her Senches and kittens can roam!

Kitty hopes that the new kittens she knows will be released soon ( ) wil be FLUFFY. She loves her little white spotted kitten, but thinks another sort would also be great. After all, there is more than one dog model, yes? A FLUFFY Kitten with tufty ears like a MaineCoon would make Kitty deliriously happy, especially if it were black.

Turelus

So a breakdown of this thread so far seems to be.

Pros

• Large income spike from sales/panic purchase.
• Items at discount prices.

Cons

• New roleplayers lose access to costumes.
• People on monthly income are penalised if they don't have funds right away.
• Makes the company seem desperate for cash and lowers reputation.
• Loss of potential sales to new customers joining.
• Players may hold off on future purchases to wait for the next going away sale.

Sure I am bias and arguing from the side of the slighted customer, but I really hope ZOS can see how removing items doesn't help them build confidence with their community.

Elsonso

Nerouyn wrote: »

Paulington wrote: »

Without being too much of a cynic, maybe ZOS have finally realised just how well limited-time offers work? That sense of urgency opens wallets like nothing else, as proven by everyone and their dog's wife's sister's mother's grandmother's cousin riding around on a Senche Leopard.

I strongly suspect you're right but it's such a commonly used tactic that many people see right through it.

I am sure that some people see right through it, but I am not certain it rises above "who cares" for most people.

A lot of the comments in here are centered around the time factor and lack of lengthy advance notice. This is so normal that these issues don't even register with me. Almost every sale and promotion that I come across appears with no warning and lasts for anywhere from 12 hours to a week. A few of the shorter ones come and go before I am even aware of them, like the special email deals from one popular electronics website.

It does happen that I miss a sale one something I want, but so what? If I missed the sale and buy it at regular price, then the sale price was not enough to influence a buying decision. If I miss a sale, or special purchase, and end up not getting whatever it is, then I just saved myself some money. In my mind, except for certain essential items, there is never an urgency to buy something.

Yigrok

Paulington wrote: »

oddavi wrote: »

Paulington wrote: »

Honestly, 2,500 Crowns for a mount? I can deal with it, but I would happily throw 10,000 Crowns in ZOS' direction for Orsinium.

WTF a 100 $ for a dlc never in a thousand years

Edit : Where the hell is the groom outfit ...

To clarify, it is not $100, at least not where I live.

In the UK 11,000 Crowns (so, 1000 more than required) is £48 which is $75. If Orsinium adds at least 100 hours of content (I would imagine it'd be well more than that) then it is good value for money based upon what games usually cost in terms of price per hour played.

I'd gladly drop 10k Crowns on an Expansion if they came once every six months or so as I crave new content, but a more reasonable price would probably be 7,500 Crowns.

Not even 7,500 Crowns would be a reasonable price for a so called "DLC". More like in the lines of 1,500-2,000 Crowns. It's DLC, not Expansion. No matter how many so called hours of play it might get you, i don't see the need to pay as much as the game was when it first launched. It's not worth it. Since you get the DLCs for free for as long as you are a sub, they should consider pricing them as i said earlier, that way it would make people sub for 1 month to play the DLC, experience it, and then they would get the complimentary 1,500 points, that way they would decide if they will get 500 more points, or re-sub again, stack on more Crown points to get the current DLC, and have more saved up for the upcoming one. The Crown store in general has some pretty pumped up prices. In the store, for me 700 Crowns are 7euros, and 1,500 crowns are 13euros, so pricing the DLC around the price mark of 13-15 euros seems like a reasonable idea.

Uberkull

Slurg wrote: »

Close out sales like this are usually for items that aren't selling very well.

It's good that they are letting us know in advance when things are going to be removed. I believe they told us long ago that they would periodically rotate stock so the fact that they are rotating some stock out is not surprising. I expect they'll announce more new items soon.

I think the problem with the costumes are that they can't quickly be put on. Go to blacksmith. go to collections, select costume, then start blacksmithing. That's tedious.

RazzPitazz

Jiigen wrote: »

wenxue2222b16_ESO wrote: »

So are there technical limitations on the number of items that can be offered in the crown store at once then?

I was thinking the exact same thing, it just seems odd to be removing costumes, pets and mounts... Motifs makes sense, they presumably don't sell and imbalance the game even further when it comes to economy.

Its a rotational method. Resturaunts do this to great success with seasonal menu items.
Essentially you do not want to clutter up the shop menu and edge customers towards buying the nice new items, you rlotate out a few older products and replace them with newer products. They can do this as long as they like but eventually they will come back to the original items, most of the time this method is bi/tri monthly procedure that lasts for one year.
Bring in the new toys, add a special LTO, add some nice desert.

ZOS_JasonLeavey

Hey there, everyone. The sale is now taking place! Hop in-game now to take part in the Crown Store sale. And don't forget, the Black Senche-Panther is available right now as a limited time offer.

Gyudan

@ZOS_JasonLeavey, pet salesman of the month.

Lionxoft

Turelus wrote: »

Krycek89 wrote: »

This is the way cash shops work... any of you played star wars tor??

Yes, I just hoped ZOS had more class than EA.

Yeah, ZOS putting a powerful race behind a $20 paywall at launch was "classy".