crown gem exclusives are really annoying

xF1REFL1x · May 2020

I would love to have it... but most of the time what they expect from all of us wealthy gamers seems slightly out of touch. I'll pass if it is not with crown crates... and if it's over the standard gem price.

newtinmpls · May 2020

barney2525 wrote: »

It's not designed to make people forget they are spending real money. The Gems are your guarantee that if you have bad RNG you can still obtain the item(s) you want.

IMHO

You are an adorable optimist.

I'm a cynic who pretty much just doesn't every buy crates.

I suspect we will both be okay

Glenmorils · May 2020

This model is ridiculous, and the arguments defending it equally so. [Snip]

Even people who defend the lootbox model (because "cosmetic items are unnecessary" - as if games in general aren't unnecessary forms of entertainment? What a bizarre argument) should view this as insane. At this point, they are marketing items to a small amount of people who are willing to spend a ton of $$$... but a model that allowed a higher quantity of people to have access to the cosmetic items they want (make a mount cost 10-15 dollars? Even 20 for the really nice ones lol) would get a higher number of people to use the crown store.

1 person spending 300 dollars to get one item vs. 100 people spending 20 dollars on the same item?

Why pander to a few players who can buy access to this kind of item when you could probably make more money offering these items for direct purchase?

And even if you somehow didn't make more money... it's the ethical way to treat people who have already bought your game... and buy the expansions... and pay for subscriptions.

It's tiresome.

[Edited for bashing]

Destai · May 2020

worrallj wrote: »

The crown store is what holds this game back. The subscription is worthless- a craft bag? How about get all pop-up advertisements and paywall nonsense out of my face. The point of the subscription is supposed to be that you can just enjoy the game and not feel manipulated at every turn. They build deliberately annoying content to try and push sales; subscribers should not be subjected to it.

This. I want to throw my controller every time I zone and CROWN STORE EXCLUSIVES NAOOOOOOAWWWWW is in my bloody face. Subscribers should be allowed to enjoy the immersive experience we once did before this was added to the game. I don't care what's on sale. I want to play the game I enjoy uninterupted.

@ZOS_GinaBruno Pass this feedback along. Crown Store needs to be less intrusive. Ask the powers that be if they enjoy pop ups.

Destai · May 2020

idk wrote: »

Crown gem exclusives are an issue but crown crate exclusives are not?

Think about that for a moment.

They're all an issue. The crown store is an issue. Nothing other than character services should be a paid exclusive. It should all be earnable within the game.

Kiralyn2000 · May 2020

markulrich1966 wrote: »

I lately had 500+ gems without paying $$.

Protoavis73 wrote: »

I had over 600 gems just by watching twitch streams

And this (on top of all the gems people got during the year that they were giving away regular crates in-game hand over fist) is why "Crown Gem Only" items exist - they desperately want Gem Sinks to remove gems from circulation, so that when a new Crate season launches, the gem hoarders can't just buy everything they want from the new stuff without spending a $.

edit: it'd be interesting to see statistics on just how many gems are floating around in circulation. Mean/median/mode, etc. We'll never see it, of course.

Personally, I only got some of the 'free' crates during that one year of giveaways, so I only had 300-400 gems to play with. I've been slowly getting 16-40 gem cosmetics as the crate seasons go by. Still have ~150 or so left. Never spent a crown on crates. But I suppose I'm lucky in thinking that all these Ugly Mounts are Ugly, so the "main draw" of crates & gem exclusives just... isn't.

FierceSam wrote: »

Crown crates are a vile abhorrence

Crown gems are a currency only obtainable via the destruction of the items in crown crates, thus a double abhorrence.

Back in the mists of time, lockboxes gave you a prize and if it was a dupe or unusable - whoops! sucks to be you! You lose!

So people came up with the idea of "consolation currency" (crown gems, lobi crystals (STO), etc) so that even if you didn't get a Big Prize, you at least got something. And if you kept losing, you would be able to finally get a Consolation Prize with your bonus currency. So the creation of crown-gem-like currency was an attempt to make lockboxes more consumer friendly.

Of course, as with all things, it becomes twisted over time. Like, players decide that the consolation prizes are Greatly Desired, and start to complain that they "have to" open so many lockboxes in order to get their $200 mount/ship/costume/whatever, how dare that greedy company do this to us! Or companies take advantage of that impulse in their players. Etc.

Radiance · May 2020

Glenmorils wrote: »

This model is ridiculous, and the arguments defending it equally so. "This game is ripping people off in the most convoluted and predatory way possible for items that should be available for direct purchase" shouldn't be controversial.
Even people who defend the lootbox model (because "cosmetic items are unnecessary" - as if games in general aren't unnecessary forms of entertainment? What a bizarre argument) should view this as insane. At this point, they are marketing items to a small amount of people who are willing to spend a ton of $$$... but a model that allowed a higher quantity of people to have access to the cosmetic items they want (make a mount cost 10-15 dollars? Even 20 for the really nice ones lol) would get a higher number of people to use the crown store.

1 person spending 300 dollars to get one item vs. 100 people spending 20 dollars on the same item?

Why pander to a few players who can buy access to this kind of item when you could probably make more money offering these items for direct purchase?

And even if you somehow didn't make more money... it's the ethical way to treat people who have already bought your game... and buy the expansions... and pay for subscriptions.

It's tiresome.

Wealthy people love the idea of holding higher status over others bc it allows them to believe they are better than us peasants and that's why there will always be those who defend these practices. I'm not saying you're not free to spend as much as you please on w/e you want but these are pixels we're talking about that hold no real world value.

wenchmore420b14_ESO · May 2020

“When the people that can make the company more successful are sales and marketing people, they end up running the companies. The product people get driven out of the decision making forums, and the companies forget what it means to make great products.”
_Steve Jobs (The Lost Interview)

Michaelkeir · May 2020

How about just give us an in game way to earn all mounts, emotes, costumes, motifs, and other cosmetics through in game achievements like the old days of gaming. Instead of this cash shop crap.

They can still leave it in the "clown shop" for those who want to buy it that way. Thus both sides would be ok with it.

Smitch_59 · May 2020

I just ignore the crown crates/gambling boxes. Waste of money as far as I'm concerned.

vamp_emily · May 2020

barney2525 wrote: »

It's not insane. It's not designed to make people forget they are spending real money.

Everything they do is designed to make people forget they are spending real money. Why else would they have their own form of currency?

Isarii · May 2020

barney2525 wrote: »

It's not insane. It's not designed to make people forget they are spending real money. The Gems are your guarantee that if you have bad RNG you can still obtain the item(s) you want.

IMHO

You should probably read some of the industry publications from the people designing these systems. I envy your naivete, but it's an open fact that these systems are deliberately designed to obfuscate spending and coerce players.

It's not speculation on the behalf of the community here - people working in games monetization just come out and say it.

dotme · May 2020

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

...so what a 200 dollar mount? crazy

If you're on console they'll make it super-blurry when other players see it, too. Very cool.

furiouslog · May 2020

Isarii wrote: »

barney2525 wrote: »

It's not insane. It's not designed to make people forget they are spending real money. The Gems are your guarantee that if you have bad RNG you can still obtain the item(s) you want.

IMHO

You should probably read some of the industry publications from the people designing these systems. I envy your naivete, but it's an open fact that these systems are deliberately designed to obfuscate spending and coerce players.

It's not speculation on the behalf of the community here - people working in games monetization just come out and say it.

That blog post references multiple concepts of how monetization systems utilize pay to win scenarios, which don't apply in this case. The reference to "gem" type currencies is referenced, but then points out that humans over the age of 25 are able to handle the complexity of navigating intermediate currencies.

Also, the blogger cites his own papers (also blog posts) that you are presenting as factual evidence. Not saying he's wrong, but it's hardly factual proof - the papers he references do not have their own citations. He presents theories for which there is supportive evidence that has not been scientifically verified or peer reviewed.

If there is any obfuscation in the crown crate system, it's that the odds of getting a particular item are not transparent - that is all data provided voluntarily by users. And, of course, if a customer did not have the foundational math skills necessary to use that information to calculate the expected value, he or she would also be subject to obfuscation. Those are legitimate arguments. There is no need to conflate one issue with another.

Nomadic_Atmoran · May 2020

Glenmorils wrote: »

This model is ridiculous, and the arguments defending it equally so. "This game is ripping people off in the most convoluted and predatory way possible for items that should be available for direct purchase" shouldn't be controversial.

Even people who defend the lootbox model (because "cosmetic items are unnecessary" - as if games in general aren't unnecessary forms of entertainment? What a bizarre argument) should view this as insane. At this point, they are marketing items to a small amount of people who are willing to spend a ton of $$$... but a model that allowed a higher quantity of people to have access to the cosmetic items they want (make a mount cost 10-15 dollars? Even 20 for the really nice ones lol) would get a higher number of people to use the crown store.

1 person spending 300 dollars to get one item vs. 100 people spending 20 dollars on the same item?

Why pander to a few players who can buy access to this kind of item when you could probably make more money offering these items for direct purchase?

And even if you somehow didn't make more money... it's the ethical way to treat people who have already bought your game... and buy the expansions... and pay for subscriptions.

It's tiresome.

Probably because its not just 1 player making the 300 dollar purchase. Just 10 Whales paying at 300 dollars a piece blows your 100 at 20 out of the water by a 1000 dollars. And thats the real reason why these things exist. Because being manipulative in just the right way will always be more profitable than being ethical in the current state of affairs.

Glenmorils · May 2020

Nomadic_Atmoran wrote: »

Glenmorils wrote: »

This model is ridiculous, and the arguments defending it equally so. "This game is ripping people off in the most convoluted and predatory way possible for items that should be available for direct purchase" shouldn't be controversial.

Even people who defend the lootbox model (because "cosmetic items are unnecessary" - as if games in general aren't unnecessary forms of entertainment? What a bizarre argument) should view this as insane. At this point, they are marketing items to a small amount of people who are willing to spend a ton of $$$... but a model that allowed a higher quantity of people to have access to the cosmetic items they want (make a mount cost 10-15 dollars? Even 20 for the really nice ones lol) would get a higher number of people to use the crown store.

1 person spending 300 dollars to get one item vs. 100 people spending 20 dollars on the same item?

Why pander to a few players who can buy access to this kind of item when you could probably make more money offering these items for direct purchase?

And even if you somehow didn't make more money... it's the ethical way to treat people who have already bought your game... and buy the expansions... and pay for subscriptions.

It's tiresome.

Probably because its not just 1 player making the 300 dollar purchase. Just 10 Whales paying at 300 dollars a piece blows your 100 at 20 out of the water by a 1000 dollars. And thats the real reason why these things exist. Because being manipulative in just the right way will always be more profitable than being ethical in the current state of affairs.

You have to scale up the example, then, lol. 1 to 100 doesn't become 10 to 100, it goes to 10 to 1,000.

10 whales buying $300 worth of crates vs. 1,000 players buying a $20 mount they want. That's 3,000 vs. 20,000.

I'm sure the example isn't perfect, and I'm sure there is a reason that they maintain this ridiculous system. But it's definitely possible for them to offer exclusive items for a price in the crown store while being fair to the vast, vast majority of their customers instead of pandering to a few rich ones who want to feel special that they got rare items.

Isarii · May 2020

furiouslog wrote: »

Isarii wrote: »

barney2525 wrote: »

It's not insane. It's not designed to make people forget they are spending real money. The Gems are your guarantee that if you have bad RNG you can still obtain the item(s) you want.

IMHO

You should probably read some of the industry publications from the people designing these systems. I envy your naivete, but it's an open fact that these systems are deliberately designed to obfuscate spending and coerce players.

It's not speculation on the behalf of the community here - people working in games monetization just come out and say it.

That blog post references multiple concepts of how monetization systems utilize pay to win scenarios, which don't apply in this case. The reference to "gem" type currencies is referenced, but then points out that humans over the age of 25 are able to handle the complexity of navigating intermediate currencies.

Also, the blogger cites his own papers (also blog posts) that you are presenting as factual evidence. Not saying he's wrong, but it's hardly factual proof - the papers he references do not have their own citations. He presents theories for which there is supportive evidence that has not been scientifically verified or peer reviewed.

If there is any obfuscation in the crown crate system, it's that the odds of getting a particular item are not transparent - that is all data provided voluntarily by users. And, of course, if a customer did not have the foundational math skills necessary to use that information to calculate the expected value, he or she would also be subject to obfuscation. Those are legitimate arguments. There is no need to conflate one issue with another.

You should probably Google who "the blogger" is.

As I said in my comment, it's an article from someone who's played an active part in building the systems we're talking about here - not a random person on a blog. It's not an exaggeration to say Ramin Shokrizade is one of the foremost leaders in the field of game monetization.

Deloth_Vyrr · May 2020

Glenmorils wrote: »

1 person spending 300 dollars to get one item vs. 100 people spending 20 dollars on the same item?

Why pander to a few players who can buy access to this kind of item when you could probably make more money offering these items for direct purchase?

This doesn't work because your math is off, you don't have all the facts.

You assume its a 1 vs 100 conversion, but the truth is, companies have extensive data that shows how many whales they have playing and how much they are likely spend on things like this, and they price these things accordingly.

There are enough whales in the game willing to pay the higher price that they will greatly outspend the entire general population of people who otherwise would buy at a low price. And if a non-whale here and there buys said item once in a while because they really want it? That's icing on the cake.

Glenmorils · May 2020

Deloth_Vyrr wrote: »

Glenmorils wrote: »

1 person spending 300 dollars to get one item vs. 100 people spending 20 dollars on the same item?

Why pander to a few players who can buy access to this kind of item when you could probably make more money offering these items for direct purchase?

This doesn't work because your math is off, you don't have all the facts.

You assume its a 1 vs 100 conversion, but the truth is, companies have extensive data that shows how many whales they have playing and how much they are likely spend on things like this, and they price these things accordingly.

There are enough whales in the game willing to pay the higher price that they will greatly outspend the entire general population of people who otherwise would buy at a low price. And if a non-whale here and there buys said item once in a while because they really want it? That's icing on the cake.

I'm sure that's the case, it's just a shame that alternative models that are more accessible to the average player would still be highly lucrative... just not as much.

I guess I'm underestimating the # of whales and also probably how much they spend.

It's still a sad fact that parts of the game that would be nice for all players to have a chance at (especially considering the % of people who do have subs, and just everyone paying for this game to begin with + all expansions), even if these are "just cosmetic" items, are barred because they are unable or unwilling to spend that amount.

I just wish they didn't obfuscate what they were doing through the loot box system. If you're going to sell a 200 dollar mount, sell it for that much and let the whales purchase it and let everyone else see, transparently, the practices your company is engaging in.

Probably wasting my time complaining about it, here. It isn't just ESO that does this, and without legal changes, this practice isn't going anywhere.

Kiralyn2000 · May 2020

Glenmorils wrote: »

Probably wasting my time complaining about it, here. It isn't just ESO that does this, and without legal changes, this practice isn't going anywhere.

Even with legal changes making lockboxes go away, targeting whales wouldn't. Just look at how many 10k+ Crown houses have come out in the last year or two, vs new small houses.

Glenmorils · May 2020

Kiralyn2000 wrote: »

Glenmorils wrote: »

Probably wasting my time complaining about it, here. It isn't just ESO that does this, and without legal changes, this practice isn't going anywhere.

Even with legal changes making lockboxes go away, targeting whales wouldn't. Just look at how many 10k+ Crown houses have come out in the last year or two, vs new small houses.

At least they would have to be more transparent about how much these things cost. And people could decide what they are willing to pay for, or save for... I guarantee that if this item specifically, the mount, was posted directly in the store, it wouldn't be going for 20k crowns.

Matchimus · May 2020

Players chasing radiants versus players buying an item or two from crates (if they could be purchased). There was a recent thread about a radiant glitching & in it someone stated they had 14 radiants. Someone else was not far behind. That is why crates in the format they exist will always be here.

The grass is greener...

Taylor_MB · May 2020

furiouslog wrote: »

Isarii wrote: »

barney2525 wrote: »

It's not insane. It's not designed to make people forget they are spending real money. The Gems are your guarantee that if you have bad RNG you can still obtain the item(s) you want.

IMHO

You should probably read some of the industry publications from the people designing these systems. I envy your naivete, but it's an open fact that these systems are deliberately designed to obfuscate spending and coerce players.

It's not speculation on the behalf of the community here - people working in games monetization just come out and say it.

That blog post references multiple concepts of how monetization systems utilize pay to win scenarios, which don't apply in this case. The reference to "gem" type currencies is referenced, but then points out that humans over the age of 25 are able to handle the complexity of navigating intermediate currencies.

Also, the blogger cites his own papers (also blog posts) that you are presenting as factual evidence. Not saying he's wrong, but it's hardly factual proof - the papers he references do not have their own citations. He presents theories for which there is supportive evidence that has not been scientifically verified or peer reviewed.

If there is any obfuscation in the crown crate system, it's that the odds of getting a particular item are not transparent - that is all data provided voluntarily by users. And, of course, if a customer did not have the foundational math skills necessary to use that information to calculate the expected value, he or she would also be subject to obfuscation. Those are legitimate arguments. There is no need to conflate one issue with another.

Have you met people, brother? How many times in the last month have you heard "people struggle to comprehend exponential growth" (in relation to Covid). How many times have you heard "consuming x increases your cancer risk by 50%" (when it's 0.001% to 0.0015%) and it's spun as being a big deal?

The population at large generally struggles with mathematics and statistics, RNG loot boxes are 100% designed to exploit this. It's very much the same issue.

xaraan · May 2020

agreed, the gem exclusives have to be among the dirtiest money grabs they've done yet

Vizikul · May 2020

mikikatze wrote: »

This is what Twitch drops are for. :P I've only used it since February and already got 300+ gems.

When you spend more time on twitch watching some streamer playing a game rather than actually playing it yourself, then you are doing it wrong!

Mr_Walker · May 2020

barney2525 wrote: »

Taylor_MB wrote: »

As a non-crown store user I'm a little bit behind.
So there is now two premium currencies and a convoluted purchasing system?

1- You buy crowns with $$$
2- Convert to crates
3- Trade filler crate items to gems
4- Buy gem exclusive items

That's friggin insane! Each step designed to remove you from the thought you are spending real money...

You are kidding, right ?

The crates are an RNG system which is Optional. There is Nothing in any crate that any character absolutely ' Needs '. There is Nothing in any crate that gives a character any advantage over another character. And the "Gem Exclusive" items Can all show up during the RNG of the crate. So they are Not 'Gem Exclusive'.

Zos realized that during the receiving of the items from the crates, there would be stuff a player does not want. Additionally, there could be multiples of an item which was a collectible, and this would mean the player got Nothing if they already had that collectible.

So they came up with the Gems. The Gems are simply an option for the player to gain something positive if their particular RNG was bad that day. Rather than forcing players to stack and store hundreds of potions they will never use, you can convert those potions to Gems. Rather than getting Nothing for RNGing a collectible you already have, it automatically converts the item to Gems.

Every item in the crates is given a Gem Price. So, if you gain a number of Gems, you can specifically select something you do not already have.

The Gem system is your safety net. It is NOT the primary reason for obtaining items from crates. You don't buy crates for the gems. You buy crates to try and RNG an item you would really like. And if that fails, you get Gems, which you can save up to eventually simply purchase what you want. Every crate goes 'round in a cycle. Eventually they all come back around. Storm Atronach just showed up. Most of the collectibles for my account are grayed out because I got a lot the previous times - plural - these crates have been available.

It's not insane. It's not designed to make people forget they are spending real money. The Gems are your guarantee that if you have bad RNG you can still obtain the item(s) you want.

IMHO

So many strawmen.

Kiralyn2000 · May 2020

Vizikul wrote: »

mikikatze wrote: »

This is what Twitch drops are for. :P I've only used it since February and already got 300+ gems.

When you spend more time on twitch watching some streamer playing a game rather than actually playing it yourself, then you are doing it wrong!

Pretty sure most of these people doing the Twitch thing, are just turning it on in the background and letting it run while doing their laundry/homework/Trials.

santhoranb16_ESO · May 2020

Glenmorils wrote: »

Probably because its not just 1 player making the 300 dollar purchase. Just 10 Whales paying at 300 dollars a piece blows your 100 at 20 out of the water by a 1000 dollars. And thats the real reason why these things exist. Because being manipulative in just the right way will always be more profitable than being ethical in the current state of affairs.

You have to scale up the example, then, lol. 1 to 100 doesn't become 10 to 100, it goes to 10 to 1,000.

10 whales buying $300 worth of crates vs. 1,000 players buying a $20 mount they want. That's 3,000 vs. 20,000.

I'm sure the example isn't perfect, and I'm sure there is a reason that they maintain this ridiculous system. But it's definitely possible for them to offer exclusive items for a price in the crown store while being fair to the vast, vast majority of their customers instead of pandering to a few rich ones who want to feel special that they got rare items.

Its a fact that catering around the few rich players is a lot more lucrative, then catering around the middle or broad base.
See for a total random example, but in relation still:
If you got 10.000 Players. Like 8000 players wont buy you anything of the store. Reasons a plentiful ranging from just took a short look into the game to cannot afford more or even is strictly against ingame cosmetic buyables. Now you've got 2000 players that will spend some money on your ingame store. There you have then about 1000 that buy small amounts of ingame currency. About 600 will spend medium amounts. 250 high amounts. And another 150
will throw money onto you. If you now cater onto the high and money throwers, you'll exceed those with small amounts by far. Its just why the system is done the way it is. There arent just enough people that are willingly to pay but just small amounts. This section is broader then the high payers, but not broad enough to compensate it.
See if you say 1600 willing to pay 10$, but the high and highest roller,400, pay 50$, you're making 1/4 more profit onto catering the high payers - and that is huge if you scale that up. 1/4 more profit!

huntgod_ESO · May 2020

santhoranb16_ESO wrote: »

Glenmorils wrote: »

Probably because its not just 1 player making the 300 dollar purchase. Just 10 Whales paying at 300 dollars a piece blows your 100 at 20 out of the water by a 1000 dollars. And thats the real reason why these things exist. Because being manipulative in just the right way will always be more profitable than being ethical in the current state of affairs.

You have to scale up the example, then, lol. 1 to 100 doesn't become 10 to 100, it goes to 10 to 1,000.

10 whales buying $300 worth of crates vs. 1,000 players buying a $20 mount they want. That's 3,000 vs. 20,000.

I'm sure the example isn't perfect, and I'm sure there is a reason that they maintain this ridiculous system. But it's definitely possible for them to offer exclusive items for a price in the crown store while being fair to the vast, vast majority of their customers instead of pandering to a few rich ones who want to feel special that they got rare items.

Its a fact that catering around the few rich players is a lot more lucrative, then catering around the middle or broad base.
See for a total random example, but in relation still:
If you got 10.000 Players. Like 8000 players wont buy you anything of the store. Reasons a plentiful ranging from just took a short look into the game to cannot afford more or even is strictly against ingame cosmetic buyables. Now you've got 2000 players that will spend some money on your ingame store. There you have then about 1000 that buy small amounts of ingame currency. About 600 will spend medium amounts. 250 high amounts. And another 150
will throw money onto you. If you now cater onto the high and money throwers, you'll exceed those with small amounts by far. Its just why the system is done the way it is. There arent just enough people that are willingly to pay but just small amounts. This section is broader then the high payers, but not broad enough to compensate it.
See if you say 1600 willing to pay 10$, but the high and highest roller,400, pay 50$, you're making 1/4 more profit onto catering the high payers - and that is huge if you scale that up. 1/4 more profit!

The difference between a whale and the regular player is the whale continues to spend and the regular player is likely to make a single purchase, so though you could make more off the regular player at one time, when looked at over time, the whales outspend regular players by a significant margin. Also the same tactics of artificial scarcity and obfuscated currency do work on regular players since they do occasionally spend when that item they can't resist pops up, so the marketers win either way. The catch is, if you don't keep the whale on the hook, they swim away, so the system is designed to keep them spending, other players are just a bonus.

If you really want to see how obscene the whale mentality is, look at some of the eastern games, people spending $10-20k a year, a few in the 100+K range...and some of those are mobile games.

BackStabeth · May 2020

Everything that is for sale on the crown store, is there to generate more cash profit for ZoS. It's not done for you to benefit from, because anything that might benefit you or alleviate frustration with the game mechanics can be resolved by simply not coding specifically to frustrate people so they spend more money in the crown store.

ZoS doesn't care it's gambling, they don't care how much it frustrates you, so long as it keeps bringing in the money they are laughing at you, all the way to the bank.

And while they are laughing, management are giving each other high fives for not spending any money on fixing existing bugs and issues, nor upgrading the server hardware and giving you crap like "optimizing server, optimizing client" while spending all the time, effort, energy and money on new content to get you to spend even more.

Don't buy any crown crates, or anything from the crown store at all until ZoS fixes the current issues and problems. Don't pay any money to a corporation that has so shamelessly tried to reach as deep into your entertainment pocket as possible, while not providing a product you have paid for, but instead a produce that is broken, buggy, laggy and doesn't function as advertised.

Don't give them your money, no reason to be frustrated and if they continue to not listen, hit up one of the new MMOs that are coming out that are not broken and begging for more money.