Crown Store Gifting Update – October 2023

ArchangelIsraphel

I'm wondering if there is some kind of strange discrepancy occurring where PC accounts whose billing history is primarily through steam are being excluded from the ability to gift.

I've been playing since August of 2018. I've been subbed through steam since September 21st 2018 and have not ever dropped the sub. I've purchased multiple crown packs. I log in every single day, and have no infractions whatsoever on the account. I have never received a ban.

I am well past the age requirement for the account. I'm CP 2219 with 17,236 hours played. I've participated in pretty much every form of content the game has to offer.

I pre-order the special edition with all the extras of the chapters every year.

My account was not reinstated for gifting, and the only reason I can think of as to why is that my billing history on the website does not show my crown and sub purchase history because it was all done through steam.

Additionally, the only people I have ever sent gifts to are my parents accounts. (Whose subs I also pay for, as they like to adventure with me. Family time in game is important to us.)

I am going to contact support to attempt to reinstate gifting on my account, but to say I am confused is an understatement.

Grimmhawk

ArchangelIsraphel wrote: »

I'm wondering if there is some kind of strange discrepancy occurring where PC accounts whose billing history is primarily through steam are being excluded from the ability to gift.

I've been playing since August of 2018. I've been subbed through steam since September 21st 2018 and have not ever dropped the sub. I've purchased multiple crown packs. I log in every single day, and have no infractions whatsoever on the account. I have never received a ban.

I am well past the age requirement for the account. I'm CP 2119 with 17,236 hours played. I've participated in pretty much every form of content the game has to offer.

I pre-order the special edition with all the extras of the chapters every year.

My account was not reinstated for gifting, and the only reason I can think of as to why is that my billing history on the website does not show my crown and sub purchase history because it was all done through steam.

Additionally, the only people I have ever sent gifts to are my parents accounts. (Whose subs I also pay for, as they like to adventure with me. Family time in game is important to us.)

I am going to contact support to attempt to reinstate gifting on my account, but to say I am confused is an understatement.

I'm thru Steam and got my gifting enabled last night. Though my ticket stayed at "waiting on agent" the whole time and found out on a random check on my account that gifting got enabled.

I also got an email this morning saying it was enabled.

SickleCider

I'm late to the party, but, thank you for this! I recall asking y'all kindly for a Halloween Miracle and you delivered!! 👻✨ As always, the Blackfeather Court Commission (we are no longer a campaign, but an established entity) thanks you for your most shiiiiny patronage! 🐦👑

kiheikat

Xbox player. Followed the instructions exactly to submit a ticket. Waited 8 days and gifting was turned back on for me.

Silverlocke

I followed directions been waiting 11 days and mine still says awaiting agent

phaneub17_ESO

Wonder if the reason I'm locked out of gifting because I gifted crowns and sent 3 million gold to my new Epic Games account back in June, does that look suspicious? lol.

Ezhh

After the initial string of copy-paste "no" replies to my ticket, through which I don't think my account was looked at, I'm now at six days silence from support. This brings the length of time I'm waiting to 13 days without anything other than a copy-paste answer.

Shaolindelt

I've been playing for a while (2020) and CP is over 2500 and I'm active in 5 guilds and have bought crowns, DLC, etc. Mine was not turned on, first request was denied and I'm in the appeal phase now. Also a STEAM user, so most of my billing history is there. I did include a copy of it on my appeal too . . . we'll see if that helps.

YetAnotherLinuxUser

i refuse to beg for the privelege of spending cash on crowns to sell them fir in game gold.

Arictheana

I barely used gifting but the fact that I can't makes it seem like I'm being punished for something? I submitted a ticket. See how it goes. I'm wondering if I didn't get automatically enabled because of this part:

Account must show consistent game play activity and be active in an in-game ESO community.

I take hiatus' from MMOs all the time. I usually rotate between ESO, SWTOR, GW2, and WoW. Currently, I haven't been playing ESO 'actively' so that could be why.

Elsonso

@ZOS_Kevin ... since Crown Store gifting is not based on the player, but the account, is there a process for having it removed from an account that has it? Just open a general ticket?

JavaRen

Why would you want to remove it?

Elsonso

JavaRen wrote: »

Why would you want to remove it?

The better question is why would someone want it? They just slapped it on my account, and anyone who didn't have that happen has to beg for it. Watching how that is rolling out, and watching the people being rejected for "not active enough", has given me pause. The thought has popped into my head that maybe the smart play for a lot of players is to opt out before the *** hits the fan, again.

ZOS_Kevin

@Elsonso for anyone who would want it removed, for now a general ticket is probably the way to go.

JavaRen

Elsonso wrote: »

JavaRen wrote: »

Why would you want to remove it?

The better question is why would someone want it? They just slapped it on my account, and anyone who didn't have that happen has to beg for it. Watching how that is rolling out, and watching the people being rejected for "not active enough", has given me pause. The thought has popped into my head that maybe the smart play for a lot of players is to opt out before the *** hits the fan, again.

Or, hear me out, you could just not use it, and not add more work to the over extended CS staff by submitting a ticket.

Ingenon

Elsonso wrote: »

The better question is why would someone want it? They just slapped it on my account, and anyone who didn't have that happen has to beg for it. Watching how that is rolling out, and watching the people being rejected for "not active enough", has given me pause. The thought has popped into my head that maybe the smart play for a lot of players is to opt out before the *** hits the fan, again.

You do you. I don't think folks legitimately gifting crowns will have issues, but I could be wrong. Or having the capability, but not using it.

When the **** hit the fan earlier, with the seals of endeavor and folks supposedly getting banned for somehow getting seals multiple times for doing the same endeavor, I had not been regularly doing daily/weekly endeavors. I actually started doing them again regularly. Never did experience that bug (getting seals multiple times for the same endeavor).

Shaolindelt

Shaolindelt wrote: »

I've been playing for a while (2020) and CP is over 2500 and I'm active in 5 guilds and have bought crowns, DLC, etc. Mine was not turned on, first request was denied and I'm in the appeal phase now. Also a STEAM user, so most of my billing history is there. I did include a copy of it on my appeal too . . . we'll see if that helps.

Just an update - after receiving the initial denial, attaching my STEAM history on the appeal - I got a notice this afternoon that gifting has been ENABLED on my account now.

I'm not sure of all the qualifications, or the reason that my account wasn't originally in it, but if this process is what it takes to protect ESO/ZOS from bad actors and allows the community to gift legitimately in game, I'm all for it. Gifting crowns wasn't originally in the game, so I appreciate that it's grown into it and these are just hurdles that have to be overcome.

Thanks ZOS!

Ezhh

So after three copy-paste denials and two weeks waiting, I finally got approved for gifting today. Overall this was a really negative experience, and I would really have expected a better system to handle this.

Just to be clear - I don't mind that I need to open a ticket, and while waiting around for a reply is not fun for anyone, I can understand it. What isn't okay is being brushed off with a copy-paste no multiple times, and support closing my ticket without reviewing my account. As I pointed out before - the goal of support seems not to be supporting, but rather brushing us off to avoid dealing with actual issues.

valenwood_vegan

It really seems to be hit-or-miss, I'm on my second ticket now myself since they just closed my first ticket with a frankly, rude... 1 sentence copy paste denial. I guess I'll just keep trying until I get someone who's actually willing to review my account. It's not an acceptable support experience.

And @ZOS_Kevin if you're still monitoring this at all... it might be worth trying to communicate to support that it would actually cut down on the number of these tickets if they provided more than a generic copy-paste response. Like, if I've done something wrong that I was never told about... or haven't engaged with some aspect of the game sufficiently (in ~15k hours :P )... it might be better to just tell me that. Even in a vague way if there's concern about revealing "secret" criteria.

Due to the terse and generic responses provided, however, I'm not convinced that I received an actual review of my account history vs. the gifting criteria and thus I continue to pursue the matter and it ends up causing more work for all of you!

Tyrant_Tim

Just wanted to jump in the thread to say thanks for the ability to gift again, I was able to purchase my partner that “Shadow Queen’s Labyrinth” she’s been eyeing since we previewed it on PTS.

Much easier than attaching my card to her account, so once again, thank you.

Kallykat

Gifting was enabled on my account 2 days ago, 11 days after submitting the ticket. I guess I'll never know why it was denied in the first place, but thanks to ZOS for fixing it.

If you're still waiting, hang in there!

ArchangelIsraphel

ArchangelIsraphel wrote: »

I'm wondering if there is some kind of strange discrepancy occurring where PC accounts whose billing history is primarily through steam are being excluded from the ability to gift.

I've been playing since August of 2018. I've been subbed through steam since September 21st 2018 and have not ever dropped the sub. I've purchased multiple crown packs. I log in every single day, and have no infractions whatsoever on the account. I have never received a ban.

I am well past the age requirement for the account. I'm CP 2219 with 17,236 hours played. I've participated in pretty much every form of content the game has to offer.

I pre-order the special edition with all the extras of the chapters every year.

My account was not reinstated for gifting, and the only reason I can think of as to why is that my billing history on the website does not show my crown and sub purchase history because it was all done through steam.

Additionally, the only people I have ever sent gifts to are my parents accounts. (Whose subs I also pay for, as they like to adventure with me. Family time in game is important to us.)

I am going to contact support to attempt to reinstate gifting on my account, but to say I am confused is an understatement.

As an update to my previous post-

Gifting was re-enabled on my account without any difficulty today. My support ticket was never replied to, other than with a copy-paste response saying that I have gifting back. Given what I have seen in this thread, I'm very happy that I received prompt attention from customer support. Thank you, to whichever representative reviewed my account.

Interestingly enough, my mother's account, which I also pay the sub on, and is also through steam like mine, was never limited and was immediately given the ability to gift. She never had to ask for a review on her account. She has played for about 8,000 hours, is CP 1286, does not purchase DLC or Chapters unless they are on sale, and has participated in less forms of content overall. She is also waaaay less social than I am, and only talks to other family members in game/has less community participation.

Additionally, I play for more hours per day than she does, as my particular job schedule allows for this.

I'm only posting this information (with her permission) because we both find it interesting that an account with far more activity and money put into it was put on hold for gifting, while an account that has made less purchases and has less activity was not. Both accounts surpass the criteria for the requirements, yet we have this strange discrepancy.

Although I am grateful to have gifting re-enabled on my account with ease, I am deeply concerned by the fact that this entire thing seems to have no rhyme or reason to it, that accounts that far surpass the requirements are being withheld from gifting while accounts with less activity are not.

It's all very strange, and I can only hope for the best for the rest of you who are struggling.

I'll post another update once my father gets back to us on whether or not he can gift, since his account activity is more similar to my own.

valenwood_vegan

So an update - I was finally enabled to gift once someone looked at my second ticket. So keep trying if you've been denied and think you should be eligible!

I wish the process was smoother, but also thank whoever finally gave my account history a proper check.

Aglacien

I don't have near the playtime as some other people here, I tried the game out when it first launched, subscribed on and off over the years, but never made it to a high level, and doubt I meet whatever arbitrary requirement they have now. So, my frustration may seem unwarranted compared to others but wanted to give my experience with this debacle for a "new player" perspective and how incredibly unfriendly this system is.

The game was on sale so I convinced my friend to buy it as well so we could play together. Thought it would be fun to gift them a two-seater mount so we could stick together and have them "drive". I go to the store, hit the gift button on the mount, it says I don't have enough crowns. To me that implies that if I purchase crowns, I can then gift the mount. I buy $40 of Crowns, only then to be told my account does not have gifting enabled. I hit the view more details button, and the rules in game are 30 days after purchasing a crown pack or subscribing to ESO plus. Which I have done numerous times over the years. It took searching on google to find that there are now new obscure requirements a person would never come across naturally until after they spend money.

I'm incredibly frustrated that the message of "Gifting is not enabled" does not take priority over the 'You don't have enough Crowns messaging", as I wouldn't have spent the money if I knew my gifting access was disabled. While I'm sure the TOS is airtight from a legality standpoint, it *feels* incredibly scummy and leaves a horrible impression of false advertising/predatory practices. I'm sure this was an issue with the previous gifting system as well.

Anyways, I submitted a first ticket. And a few days later surprisingly got a response saying "Gifting had been re-enabled on my account". Two days later I try gifting in game again and still don't have access. I submitted another ticket referencing the first ticket number and got the canned response that I don't meet the new requirements. I responded to that message asking for clarity on why I was approved initially and then declined. Been roughly 5-6 day since and still waiting for a response. I can sympathize for needing a new system to combat fraud, but the communication and practices around implementing it are incredibly poorly thought out.

Elsonso

Aglacien wrote: »

Anyways, I submitted a first ticket. And a few days later surprisingly got a response saying "Gifting had been re-enabled on my account". Two days later I try gifting in game again and still don't have access. I submitted another ticket referencing the first ticket number and got the canned response that I don't meet the new requirements. I responded to that message asking for clarity on why I was approved initially and then declined. Been roughly 5-6 day since and still waiting for a response. I can sympathize for needing a new system to combat fraud, but the communication and practices around implementing it are incredibly poorly thought out.

That is an interesting twist on the ongoing drama for this latest debacle.

reefjunkie

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

The customer service team is going through these tickets manually. So the 7-10 day threshold unfortunately cannot be avoided.

As for the concern around Crown Store items leaving, while we understand the frustration, a lot of this is on a schedule that is more or less set in stone, as any changes will impact the rest of the calendar year. That being said, we will pass this concern on to our teams incase there is any room for an extension. No promises, but we will pass it on.

When can we expect some solid resolution on this? My wife first noticed the issue when she attempted to gift me an item for my birthday. That item is about to expire out of the store and she (among others who are affected which I have seen on Facebook) is not inclined to jump through these ridiculous hoops to have it enabled. Like many others, she handles game issues within the console environment exclusively.

I went through my billing history and in the last 12 months, I have spent $481.88 on ESO. This does not include the 6 expansion pack purchases I made roughly 18 months ago. I have never had a ToS or CoC violation that I've been made aware of, never bought or sold crowns in game from other players. Literally, we use gifting within our family but as I play the game more, I am nearing the point of considering donating crowns for items to a couple of the guilds I am in as contest prizes.

Some update on the course(s) of action would be appreciated..

Shara_Wynn

Are other Steam account holders being blanket denied gifting rights? Or is this happening to accounts that log in via the official ESO website game login portal as well?

I feel like I have just been blanket banned because I login via Steam and whoever is reviewing the tickets (or whatever as I am not entirely sure it's an actual human, prolly more like some programmed bot following a set of blah blah's) isn't bothering to check the account beyond "has account X logged in via ESO official login portal Y" if no = blanket ban.

If this is the case, then ZOS, you are collectively punishing honest account holders for the actions of what I am sure is a tiny, tiny minority purely on the basis that whomever or whatever is checking tickets is either too lazy or too incompetent to properly review each case individually. Really, really poor.

Elsonso

Shara_Wynn wrote: »

If this is the case, then ZOS, you are collectively punishing honest account holders for the actions of what I am sure is a tiny, tiny minority purely on the basis that whomever or whatever is checking tickets is either too lazy or too incompetent to properly review each case individually. Really, really poor.

I think that the situation is that that the people reviewing the requests, and yes, I do think it is people, have a very rigid criteria and anything outside of that is simply rejected. I do not believe that there is lazy or incompetent going on, at least not in the realm of the people handling the tickets. I think they are just doing what they were told to do.

As for Steam, if you read back, you will see that some people have provided Steam purchase information and have reported that helped. I don't think Customer Support can see information from Steam, so they don't know.

Shara_Wynn

Elsonso wrote: »

Shara_Wynn wrote: »

If this is the case, then ZOS, you are collectively punishing honest account holders for the actions of what I am sure is a tiny, tiny minority purely on the basis that whomever or whatever is checking tickets is either too lazy or too incompetent to properly review each case individually. Really, really poor.

I think that the situation is that that the people reviewing the requests, and yes, I do think it is people, have a very rigid criteria and anything outside of that is simply rejected. I do not believe that there is lazy or incompetent going on, at least not in the realm of the people handling the tickets. I think they are just doing what they were told to do.

As for Steam, if you read back, you will see that some people have provided Steam purchase information and have reported that helped. I don't think Customer Support can see information from Steam, so they don't know.

If that is indeed the case then it is still very poor customer support. If they are unable to detect any activity via the ESO website or log in portals, then the ticket should be automatically passed onto someone who is capable of dealing with the case in more detail. Why not ask me for the information they need instead of just saying "computer says no".

It's not like they don't know that many players use third party websites to log into ESO, renew their subscriptions and make Crown Store purchases. So why haven't they a system in place to deal with those accounts, instead of treating them like they are somehow second class?

However I was wrong to label unknown generic CS workers as lazy or incompetent. It isn't their fault that ZOS hasn't given them the tools to provide adequate customer support, so for that statement I apologize. That doesn't detract from the fact that the customer support ZOS are giving is still poor.

reefjunkie

Shara_Wynn wrote: »

Are other Steam account holders being blanket denied gifting rights? Or is this happening to accounts that log in via the official ESO website game login portal as well?

My wife and I are on XBox and have been blocked for gifting. The stated criteria in game (join ESO+ or purchase crowns to activate 30-day timer) is a lie and needs to be corrected. There is **ZERO** mention of having to go to the website, link your account correctly then go to a very specific set of menu options in the support request matrix to request re-enablement, receive summary denial, submit for review and hang in limbo for however long.......

As an IT Manager with a long history of IT support including for tier 1 global corporations, this is not right on many facets, ZoS. Not one bit.