Oh ZoS - You have let us down!

babedenny

"Wouldnt you want them to make some money"

They ARE making money. I send them $15/month for ESO+, as do many others. Not to mention the game itself is $50+ even without a subscription.

Geeze... how many times does this have to be explained...

Snit

We MMO players may be the single whiniest demographic anywhere.

xMovingTarget

Cody wrote: »

Xendyn wrote: »

LordSkyKnight wrote: »

(Cackles) This is what you all wanted by dropping the subscription and going with a cash shop. Enjoy!

(Laughs while walking away)

Wut?
We wanted nothing of the kind. ZOS sprung that one on us like Ambush.
Know what you're talking about before you post please.

this is what happens when there is no sub fee, is what he meant.

people wanted it, now they got it.

reap what you sow

Still wondering about who wanted it. Ppl I know wanted it to stay sub only. Like myself too.

Zo$ forced b2p on us. Not because ppl wanted it.

Cody

should have stayed with the sub fee:/

I hope everyone that has been talking crap about the sub fee is happy.

this is only the beginning, mark my words.

Lionxoft

Jakx wrote: »

Wooooooow. A couple second notification comes up in a game that is FREE TO PLAY. Even if it is an attempt to sell their product. Wouldnt you want them to make some money so you can continue to play this game? Thats how a cash shop works. You dont have to purchase it, I didnt. Dont plan on purchasing anything actually but at least I have the common sense to realize they have to sell something.

Honestly, people will find ANYTHING to complain about. Amazed. Keep on, keepin' on internet heroes. You live amazing lives.

@Jakx ESO is not f2p. It's a game that requires a box fee ($20-$24 USD) and also waves this advertisement in front of their premium subscribers as well.

How about after you buy your car it plays an obnoxiously audible advertisement that is sponsored by the local dealer over your radio that you cannot mute. They advertise that they can upgrade your experience and offer you options you have absolutely no interest in. They will also interrupt whatever you're doing in order to get this unavoidable advertisement to you. That experience sounds pretty awful to me.

Seeing these messages in a Twitch stream as a prospective customer checking out whether or not I want to play the game would turn me away. Wanted to record for YouTube your world first trial run that you and your guild have been practicing for months suddenly this message plasters over the execute phase and death mechanics?

What about when you're showing Molag Bal who the real badass is?

That completely ruins the moment for people.

Just a few methods that wouldn't have bothered people as much:

• In-game mail (Once)
• Show the message in the chat window upon logging in and in the player's specific language. Not 3 languages and not randomly.
• Put it in a notification stating that there are new items in the crown store.
• Send an email
• Put it in the launcher and the log-in screen
• Make it an actual pop-up with pleasant art after you take a wayshrine..on special occasion. Not yellow system broadcast messages plastered across the screen and in languages you probably don't even speak. Also, have these pop-ups feature an ignore function. If players that bought the game have no interest in buying useless junk then they shouldn't be pestered. This isn't door to door sales.

xMovingTarget

Cody wrote: »

should have stayed with the sub fee:/

I hope everyone that has been talking crap about the sub fee is happy.

this is only the beginning, mark my words.

My words Cody.

Maudieu

Lionxoft wrote: »

@Jakx ESO is not f2p. It's a game that requires a box fee ($20-$24 USD) and also waves this advertisement in front of their premium subscribers as well.

In many outlets it is still $50+ USD.

Rial

Cody wrote: »

this is what happens when there is no sub fee, is what he meant.

people wanted it, now they got it.

reap what you sow

Yeah, because veryone unanimously campaigned for the removal of sub fees. Yes, that's how it was.

I certainly didn't, so am I allowed now to complain, oh lord?

pugyourself

Jakx wrote: »

Wooooooow. A couple second notification comes up in a game that is FREE TO PLAY. Even if it is an attempt to sell their product. Wouldnt you want them to make some money so you can continue to play this game? Thats how a cash shop works. You dont have to purchase it, I didnt. Dont plan on purchasing anything actually but at least I have the common sense to realize they have to sell something.

Honestly, people will find ANYTHING to complain about. Amazed. Keep on, keepin' on internet heroes. You live amazing lives.

How did you get the game for free?

KhajitFurTrader

Lionxoft wrote: »

[*] Put it in a notification stating that there are new items in the crown store.

You know, this idea is awesome! People'll get notified that something's waiting to get their attention, but they'll look at it in their own time.

I wish I ZOS would have thought of that, too...

Lionxoft

Maudieu wrote: »

Lionxoft wrote: »

@Jakx ESO is not f2p. It's a game that requires a box fee ($20-$24 USD) and also waves this advertisement in front of their premium subscribers as well.

In many outlets it is still $50+ USD.

@Maudieu The game was as low as $10-15 USD iirc before the B2P announcement. Shortly after the announcement, the price started creeping back up however it has fallen again nearly right after Tamriel Unlimited launched.

newtinmpls

brosselle wrote: »

Here's why it really bothers me...<snippage>

ESO is my favorite restaurant, and I just got served some really bad food

Yeah..... More sad than anything else.

I can think of ways to advertise that would increase immersion. Heck I'm still carrying around a torchbug jar that I looted from a bad person's house. Now if I saw an ad to actually "tame" a torchbug - I'd be a sucker for it.

Bouvin

Endurance wrote: »

Arezius wrote: »

Just, don't do that ZOS. end of discussion. People already hate cash shops, we're here for the game, not marketing.

I'm subbed since day one and still am by the way.

you're playing a free game, so get used to advertising or go play a subscription based game

Actually, I pre-ordered, and have been playing for the past year, a SUBSCRIPTION based game.

It's only recently they decided to move to B2P, and I was definitely not in favor of it.

It's also kind of sad that all of those subscription dollars ultimately ended up paying for development of the Cash Shop and Console.

Bouvin

xMovingTarget wrote: »

Still wondering about who wanted it. Ppl I know wanted it to stay sub only. Like myself too.

Zo$ forced b2p on us. Not because ppl wanted it.

I actually remember threads of people freaking out when they heard the game time cards were removed from Australian retailers..and they speculated that meant F2P was coming. And also the 6-month sub was removed because of F2P.

Of course, ZoS then outright lied and said that wasn't the case. And of course, fan boys jumped in to defend them.

Just like the fanbois jumped in to defend them saying B2P wouldn't devolve this game into the typical F2P trash.

And look where we are, Giant yellow letters flashing across the screen saying "Buy the latest limited time offer pet from the cash shop".

The fanbois can keep defending all they want, but ZoS isn't even treading lightly on the path to turning a game that had so much potential into F2P trash.

/rant

Cody

Rial wrote: »

Cody wrote: »

this is what happens when there is no sub fee, is what he meant.

people wanted it, now they got it.

reap what you sow

Yeah, because veryone unanimously campaigned for the removal of sub fees. Yes, that's how it was.

I certainly didn't, so am I allowed now to complain, oh lord?

i never said you could not complain, I said that I hope all the complainers are happy with the results.

once again some one does not read my post, then gives me a smart remark.



i wont read your posts then since you wont read mine.

yes, that's more than fair.

Talrenos

ZOS_JoBurba wrote: »

Hey everyone,

....
Now, could we do this smarter? In-game email or something like that? We would love to, but currently we don't have that ability. .....

Really? You lack a simple ability to mass send emails to players with announcements? That's like the very basic tools you should have. But then again its only been a year and I guess the devs were too busy rewriting their failed concepts to actually make a decent lot of tools for the GM's to use...

I'm appalled at this, but not surprised.

Hurbster

But...they have the ability to send me an email whenever I get a stupid forum achievement and they have sent me plenty of emails about the game in the past (last 2 were the welcome back weekend and the console transfer) so not notifying us of store offers sounds a bit dodgy to me.

Also it's being reported on MassivelyOP now...

http://massivelyop.net/2015/04/18/elder-scrolls-online-advertises-cash-shop-item-in-game/

Elsonso

ZOS_JoBurba wrote: »

We have heard your feedback and will be working on smarter messaging for future events but for this weekend, this is what we are going with.

This is all that the Director of Live Services needed to say, and would have taken a fraction of the time.

Ytterin wrote: »

1. You are not everyone. Many people simply click play without looking.

Let's be honest here, if people really "pay zero attention to the patcher or login screen messages" then they would not have spent the money to put those pictures on the launcher or that text on the login screen. They know people see it, and they know that one message per day is not really targeting those people who "click click click START GAME!"

I will also point out that they don't even bother to mention the cat thing in the messages on the login screen. Perfect place to put it.

Yes, I noticed it was not there. Shocking.

EQBallzz

Keihndeth wrote: »

I'm surprised people are more angry about the on-screen message than such a narrow window of availability of the Leopard Senche. As a Day 1 subscriber, I'm more than a little annoyed that I just blew my stack of 4k Crowns a week before this unannounced, limited-time mount came out. Now I have 2 horse mounts, 1 guar mount, and a panther pet I could have waited to get anytime instead. Now I have to throw down $25 on top of my $15 a month to get a limited time mount that's available for less than a week? That just isn't right. This is bad business practice ZOS. You can't just do these limited time, over such a short period of time, and not give us some kind of announcement. I defended you ZOS over what you did with the Imperial Edition, but you're sure making it hard to defend your cash grabs.

That's because B2P/F2P is all about tricking people and coercing them into buying things which is why subs are better. You think they didn't time the release of that limited time mount to have the exact effect you experienced? They knew people would use up their crowns and be forced to give them more money if they wanted to get the mount before time ran out. Why else make it limited time?

babedenny

Jules wrote: »

EQBallzz wrote: »

Neverwinter is coming.

I see wut you did dere.

This war of five kings means nothing.

Silverangel

This is so unbelievably bad that I can't believe anyone is here defending this.

This erases any faith I had in this company, for even greenlighting this. This garbage is the reason I never played Neverwinter after beta.

Just so disappointing to see Zenimax/Bethesda stoop so low. If I see this in game, I will uninstall on the spot, just like with Neverwinter.

djnapstyb14_ESO

It will hencefourth be known as the yellow words of many gamers tears

farrier_ESO

ZOS_JoBurba wrote: »

In our experience, whenever we do anything that has a limited way for folks to get something cool in-game people get really upset if they miss their chance to get it.

Thank you for these ads - and it's not often I say that about advertising.

My seeing the ads caused my wife to log in to buy it, which in turn got my wife playing again (thank you!). We gamed together until 3am, for the first time in nearly year. HAPPY!

So, your ads got one sale from me (subscription points), and another from my wife (cash), won a player back, and made another happy. Good work to your marketing team

winterscrolls229prerb18_ESO

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys, thanks for your feedback. We want to make sure everyone is aware that the Senche-Leopard is available - and only for a short time - so nobody misses out on the opportunity. We only plan on messaging this once per day, and want to hit each language (EN, DE, and FR) as these are multilingual megaservers.

Sorry but i have to reply to this.. The confusion and obvious no idea that is coming out of Zenimax makes me angry, and i'd be swearing here if people wouldn't take offense.

If the item was actually a once off item, then i can understand a system message promotion, but given Gina also stated that there's a possibility it could come back.. i can't think of this being anything more than zenimax experimenting with their new business model, in public infront of customers, and looking completely stupid in the process. See, both limited item sales (especially ones that repeat) and system message promotions for store items.. both things clearly upset a large number of players.. yet somehow zenimax wants to do both at the same time...

Call the mount as just a once off sale, and then justify the promotion as you said. Or quit doing what annoys players.. Proving you have no clue about the mmo game space over and over again.. Well good luck.


... Also for the record i bought the leopard and completely love it

EDIT:

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Fleshreaper wrote: »

"Limited time offer", is certainly open to interpretation. Which is why it is a successful marketing ploy because it implies that it will "only" be available for a limited time and never again. Then when it is offered again, for a lower price, those that purchased it the first time, feel they are getting cheated.

It is possible we will offer the Senche-Leopard mount again at some point. If we release something in the Crown Store that we intend to not bring back, we'll state as much.

In my mind that completely invalidates any rationale for using system messages. In the nicest possible way, whats it going to be then?

Elsonso

farrier_ESO wrote: »

ZOS_JoBurba wrote: »

In our experience, whenever we do anything that has a limited way for folks to get something cool in-game people get really upset if they miss their chance to get it.

Thank you for these ads - and it's not often I say that about advertising.

My seeing the ads caused my wife to log in to buy it, which in turn got my wife playing again (thank you!). We gamed together until 3am, for the first time in nearly year. HAPPY!

So, your ads got one sale from me (subscription points), and another from my wife (cash), won a player back, and made another happy. Good work to your marketing team

Maybe your wife's sale will offset the revenue lost by the people who are canceling subscriptions, or heading off to another game.

I know that ZOS needs to make money, but they really need to do it in a way that does not chase away people who are already giving them money. It's like watching a drunk person trying to stack beer cans into a pyramid...

winterscrolls229prerb18_ESO

Also, just in case (i hope someone at zenimax read's this post).

I really enjoy mmo cash shops.. i'd much rather pay for cosmetic junk than a subscription, and spend hundreds in other games doing so..

If Zenimax, your cash shop data isn't making you happy.. you really need to know that its got nothing to do with people not being aware the cash shop exists.. its completely to do with whats available for sale.

There are no good cosmetics (costumes). Armor that already exists in the game is considered a poor effort and not worth money. The pets are dumb. And the consumables are way to expensive. Maybe add some good looking armor and make the stacks of consumables closer to 200 crowns and then see what your cash shop sales look like then...

I'd even go as far as to ask for this.. because i really like eso and somehow completely unattached to my character. I want to fix this for my own enjoyment.. crowns in hand.

Anentet

ZOS_JoBurba wrote: »

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to stop in and put some detail and context around the in-game announcements this weekend. Like Gina said - it's once a day on each server in 3 languages. (5 languages? We don't even speak 5 languages) Tomorrow is the last day of this and really the last day of the WBW.

In our experience, whenever we do anything that has a limited way for folks to get something cool in-game people get really upset if they miss their chance to get it. We are using several methods to make sure everyone knows, but people don't always read their emails, they pay zero attention to the patcher or login screen messages (click click click START GAME!) and we wanted to do our best to make sure people who want the leopard senche could get it.

Now, could we do this smarter? In-game email or something like that? We would love to, but currently we don't have that ability. We have heard your feedback and will be working on smarter messaging for future events but for this weekend, this is what we are going with. There aren't very many of these special events and we want to make sure people have a chance to participate. We felt it was the least disruptive being only once per day but most effective given the tools we have now.

As always, thanks for the feedback. Without you playing the game and giving feedback we wouldn't have come as far as we have in the last year. Just please, keep it constructive, keep it factual, and be understanding of the fact that it is a game full of varied people with varied interests and desires. The 3 second sever message that you might twitch at is the one message that let another player know he could get a sweet sweet senche-leopard. He's only jealous of your senche-tiger he can't get after all.

I'm on the wall with this.. I love the ZOS team, I really do.. I'm still glad you guys did take the sub off, it did make me come back to give it another shot. I have bought the mount (not because of the in game advert, but because of watching the stream and looking out for it.) I also did have subscription however I'll take one month off since I had to do the random splurge of money because there wasn't enough notice PRIOR to spending my monthly crowns.. but on topic... This method is tacky for real.. yes its something Trion would do or some of the worse MMOs I've been on. Please do work to find a different method. I understand you guys wanting to make sure people get it, but don't kill your immersion and look tacky in doing so. Saying people don't look at launcher is silly, especially since there was a patch around the time with this info on the launcher.. Then theres the site, in game mail, in game chat, featured in store, etc.. If people at that point, don't see it.. I'm sorry but I have no sympathy for them. I've personally not seen these messages myself, it's possible I have the addon to hide it. I agree at the very least to have it so people can toggle this method on/off as they wish, then everyone wins =]

Turelus

I'm just waiting for the rage thread a few months from now when this mount returns for round 2.

Bouvin

Silverangel wrote: »

This is so unbelievably bad that I can't believe anyone is here defending this.

This erases any faith I had in this company, for even greenlighting this. This garbage is the reason I never played Neverwinter after beta.

Just so disappointing to see Zenimax/Bethesda stoop so low. If I see this in game, I will uninstall on the spot, just like with Neverwinter.

Actually, I played Neverwinter.

And even they didn't pull this bs.

Yes.. lock boxes... having the stuff pop up at login. But never Big Yellow Letters across the screen while you were playing. Even Neverwinter didn't cross that line....

Not to mention.. look at how much additional content Neverwinter has released. FOR FREE. Plus, in addition to content they have Holiday and Seasonal festivals to add a lot to do.

What have we seen from ESO? Craglorn, the Cash Shop, and some reworked dungeons for Vet.

Bouvin

Turelus wrote: »

I'm just waiting for the rage thread a few months from now when this mount returns for round 2.

Especially when in another thread Gina said that it's not "one time offer only". It's just for sale for a limited time and could be brought back.

So expect round 2, and probably at a discount.