Will we ever be able to gift *some* crown store purchases, like Pledges of Mara?

Deome

Just to get it out of the way, bind on use/equip could be terribly abused with motifs and such. I don't care about those, not suggesting that. I'm only referring to things that do not significantly affect gameplay, such as vanity pets and the aforementioned Pledge of Mara.

But will things like the Pledge of Mara ever be giftable/transferable? I would love to hand out Pledges of Mara in support of marriage equality, and it would be a huge PR "win" for ZOS now, wouldn't it?

Deome

Oh, and full disclosure: I've got a Pledge of Mara sitting in my bank, been there since early launch for Imperial Edition over a year ago. It's still there because I'm afraid of commitment.

On the other hand, I always married Farkas in Skyrim. Furry hunk just did it for me like Neville Longbottom.

MissBizz

"WTS Pledge of Mara 100,000 gold"

I think that's why they don't, although most people have completely good intentions.

Danikat

Maybe they could do it like Guild Wars 2, where you can buy cash shop items for other players as a gift and then it's sent to their account as if they bought it and is still bind-on-acquire.

I can't be completely sure no one ever sells cash shop items for gold, but I've never seen them advertised in game or on forums.

gstewart0413b14_ESO

Danikat wrote: »

Maybe they could do it like Guild Wars 2, where you can buy cash shop items for other players as a gift and then it's sent to their account as if they bought it and is still bind-on-acquire.

I can't be completely sure no one ever sells cash shop items for gold, but I've never seen them advertised in game or on forums.

Gifting from the cash shop still runs into the 'WTS' issue. Although, I do see bound items showing up in the guild stores every once in a while

Epona222

I never used my pledge of Mara, and would happily give it away for marriage equality! I don't get the Farkas thing though, I always preferred Vilkas out of the two brothers. Or Anekka from Darkwater Crossing, of course she was already married

Deome

@Epona222: There's an easy solution for that problem, and thankfully a dragon will come along sooner or later to solve it.

As for the WTS issue: Who wants to buy a Pledge of Mara? I mean, if it was a p2w issue, it would have been an issue with the release of the Imperial Edition. Folks had a fit over the speculatory XP potions, but I never heard boo about the Pledge--everyone wanted the extra race and free horse. The Pledge's only value is when two player characters actually spend time levelling together. And I have similar feelings about the vanity pets--it certainly does not chuff my chausses if someone wants to sell a bat-eared skeever that follows the buyer everywhere they go.

Most other things on the store have some marginal use in-game, and the mounts are vain enough that I can understand not extending "gifting" to the re-skinned Crown dumps. But there are plenty of things that have, as they say in the corporate world of "gifting," only nominal value (much like a pen or keychain with the company logo). Aside from the Pledge of Mara, guild tabards come to mind, and I'm sure there will be many other "flavor" items to come. Plus, guilds have already been giving away Pig Pet codes as raffle prizes for months now, so there's already a precedent.

I'm going to say "Question not answered" unless there's some kind of definitive statement from our friends at ZOS. Right now, there isn't a whole lot of use for my Crowns--I don't even have any of my loyalty pets (earned in the past year of active sub) out, ever, and I've got a stable full of mounts I'll never ride. But I wouldn't mind using my Crown allotment from subbing to give out a Pledge and a Wedding Dress costume once or twice a month (costumes--almost forgot about those "flavor" items).

I think there's room for gifting--I don't remember anyone announcing "WTS Pig Pet Code - 100,000g."

Alphashado

MissBizz wrote: »

"WTS Pledge of Mara 100,000 gold"

I think that's why they don't, although most people have completely good intentions.

It's exactly this. Anything in the store that isn't bound to account would instantly be turned into Crowns to Gold conversion essentially meaning you could buy gold with your credit card. Which would be considered P2W by most standards.

Deome wrote: »

I think there's room for gifting--I don't remember anyone announcing "WTS Pig Pet Code - 100,000g."

It wouldn't matter if they only sold for 20k, 10k, 5k etc. It would still be the same thing as buying gold with a Visa. Gold that would in turn potentially be used to buy a full set of legendary gear making it possible to gear your character out in full gold gear using nothing but a credit card.

Epona222

Deome wrote: »

@Epona222: There's an easy solution for that problem, and thankfully a dragon will come along sooner or later to solve it.

As for the WTS issue: Who wants to buy a Pledge of Mara? I mean, if it was a p2w issue, it would have been an issue with the release of the Imperial Edition. Folks had a fit over the speculatory XP potions, but I never heard boo about the Pledge--everyone wanted the extra race and free horse. The Pledge's only value is when two player characters actually spend time levelling together. And I have similar feelings about the vanity pets--it certainly does not chuff my chausses if someone wants to sell a bat-eared skeever that follows the buyer everywhere they go.

Most other things on the store have some marginal use in-game, and the mounts are vain enough that I can understand not extending "gifting" to the re-skinned Crown dumps. But there are plenty of things that have, as they say in the corporate world of "gifting," only nominal value (much like a pen or keychain with the company logo). Aside from the Pledge of Mara, guild tabards come to mind, and I'm sure there will be many other "flavor" items to come. Plus, guilds have already been giving away Pig Pet codes as raffle prizes for months now, so there's already a precedent.

I'm going to say "Question not answered" unless there's some kind of definitive statement from our friends at ZOS. Right now, there isn't a whole lot of use for my Crowns--I don't even have any of my loyalty pets (earned in the past year of active sub) out, ever, and I've got a stable full of mounts I'll never ride. But I wouldn't mind using my Crown allotment from subbing to give out a Pledge and a Wedding Dress costume once or twice a month (costumes--almost forgot about those "flavor" items).

I think there's room for gifting--I don't remember anyone announcing "WTS Pig Pet Code - 100,000g."

You know what, I have a friend I can think of right now who I have grouped with loads, and I would have loved to be able to gift her one of the limited time senche mounts, or at least the crowns so she could buy one. It would have made me very happy to be able to gift that.

I have had the pig for a while, I got it soon after it was released, as a prize in an event with my main play guild - I kind of love that little pig, and yeah you're right, even though there are clearly codes for it out there, I don't see anyone advertising it in chat.

Deome

Alphashado wrote: »

Deome wrote: »

@Epona222: There's an easy solution for that problem, and thankfully a dragon will come along sooner or later to solve it.
I think there's room for gifting--I don't remember anyone announcing "WTS Pig Pet Code - 100,000g."

It wouldn't matter if they only sold for 20k, 10k, 5k etc. It would still be the same thing as buying gold with a Visa. Gold that would in turn potentially be used to buy a full set of legendary gear making it possible to gear your character out in full gold gear using nothing but a credit card.

It's already possible to gear your character out in mounts, pets, motifs, potions, skill resets, and fancy costumes from one's credit card. And, soon, it'll supposedly be possible to buy riding skill books to max out what would normally take 180 days of play in one day, with your credit card.

One hole in your logic though--again, I never heard anyone hocking pig pets for gold, even though the codes were flying around like fleshflies. No one was going to waste hard-farmed gold on a stupid pig. Few people, if any, are going to waste gold on a stupid pet fox or a Pledge of Mara. I get that you're opposed on the principle of the thing, but the principle doesn't appear in reality--I can't imagine anyone standing around trying to hock a Pledge of Mara, or even a vanity pet, in chat for 100,000 (no one will buy) or 5k (not worth one's time to sell).

On the other hand, pay extra for the Imperial Edition, and you get to play as a super-race with awesome racial passives. P2W has already been in ESO from the start, if you're going to equate out-of-game purchases with in-game character enhancement. So if you're opposed on principle, it's already gameover. Plus, whenever I'm in a tight spot, I'll buy a reset scroll rather than spend the gold at the Temple of the Divines. Resets are upwards of 10k for me, so if I have spare crowns or spare credit, I'll pay for gold right there. We're already nosediving into p2w territory with the Crown store. Sorry... http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/155307/monetization-of-character-creation-concept#latest

Look, I totally agree that buying motifs and mounts that are BoE is wrong. But I'm instantly suspicious of any predictions of how people will behave that aren't grounded in how they have already behaved. I just don't think it's a realistic expectation that people will either spend 700 crowns to sell a Pledge for 5k or 10k or 20k (I wouldn't--it probably wouldn't sell, and that would be a waste of crowns), or buy an item that most of us agree is pretty limited in use for 20k, 100k, or possibly even 5k.

Deome

And, just to be clear, I totally would oppose making Crowns giftable. That just makes everything in the store BoE, effectively. My point is centered on--to be honest--white elephant gifts. Ornamental. Equivalent to that birthday card one might get from the uncle who never puts any money in it.

Alphashado

It's a cautionary tale. Those of us that have played alot of MMOs have seen it with our own eyes. Anything that can be exploited for gold or RL money will be. You may be right in regards to how much demand there would be for Rings of Mara, but it's simply a slippery slope that ZoS would rather avoid all together.

It's really quite simple from a business perspective. Either you allow cash store items to be traded or you don't. Value is irrelevant.

Look at it this way. Some rich kid has daddy's credit card. He doesn't care about rings of mara. He doesn't care if he is getting a "Good deal" on the price. The only thing that matters to him is that he can insert daddy's credit card numbers, deck himself out in legendary gear/weapons, and go pwn stuff. Wealthy people have been known to spend outrageous amounts of money on MMOs just to buy gear. Tens of thousands of dollars. As long as that scenario is possible, regardless how unlikely, they won't do it.

It is a can of worms better left unopened.

psufan5

They should make one called "Thunder Buddies For Life" for guys who just wanna level with each other and not be in a civil union.

Epona222

psufan5 wrote: »

They should make one called "Thunder Buddies For Life" for guys who just wanna level with each other and not be in a civil union.

Just get married, for crying out loud!

Deome

Alphashado wrote: »

It is a can of worms better left unopened.

I wish it hadn't been.

But given the choice between no ESO, and an ESO with a Crown Store offering rich kids with their mother's credit cards (let's pretend it somehow isn't fraudulent) the chance to buy the equivalent of shiny lightsaber coloring-crystals (SWTOR) to use/trade/sell/gift in-game...I'm already invested in the latter.

Should the Crown Store be implemented with care and input from the community? Absolutely, and I'd love to see ZOS try that approach. I ride my Tiger Senche mount, exclusively; her name is "Loyalty." I detest the spotted and black kitties running around Cyrodiil. I cheered when ZOS finally bowed to overwhelming "feedback" about "International Pet Week."

But, well, to sum things up:

Deadskinmask

Allowing us to gift crowns would in fact be a good move for business.. Dont understand why its not already an option

k9mouse

Gifting Crown store items will help the gold farmers. I am very happy that we can not gift items in ESO for that reason.