What do you think of Crown Store Random boxes/Lottery box?

Dread_Viking

No, don't ever add these into the game.

dont you dare to add that ***

eric_1961_ukb16_ESO

No, don't ever add these into the game.

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

megnin wrote: »

eric_1961_ukb16_ESO wrote: »

Will never buy one. It's a good test of how much ZoS value customer feedback though considering how negative that feedback is. Any decent company getting this kind of backlash would take a step back and dump the idea, so how about it ZoS, what kind of company are you?

^^^ This.

ZoS, spend some time improving armor image maps, instead.

See ? That's typically not "legitimate feedback".
How is doing what YOU personally (and the vast majority of players I'd guess don't care about at all) going to feed ZOS' wallet to pay server costs, salaries and investors ?

I don't approve of RNG-boxes, BUT I reckon ZOS needs income, especially since last update was mainly about the base game and next update is entirely about the base game (thus, not "sellable" as DLC and thus not bringing any direct income).
If you want them to take care of your armor maps, you have to let them earn money elsewhere.

If they have to have lockboxes then they should be done the way that DCUO do them, get them as drops which subscribers can open for free and free players need to buy keys for. If they have them like they are on ToR then it's just a money grab aimed at the gullible that will hurt the game.

Miaura

No, don't ever add these into the game.

A little while back I was very glad to see the crownstore starting to fill up with more variety of costumes and pets. Then soon I was quite saddened to see stuff started disappearing, "retiring from the store" to "make room for more stock". (Meaning the retiring of stuff that was not exclusive few days only offers only.) Still I had hopes that some things I missed might return one day in some kind of rotation.
But now that it seems they have retired to fill these gamble boxes, makes me even sadder.

Im a middle aged adult and have been able to afford buying many costumes, pets and two mounts - one "exlusive", the clouded senche leopard , not because it was rare but cause I liked it a lot. Also can afford buying patron at the moment and enjoying it.
I can`t afford to run in credit card swinging every time I see some virtual fluff I want, nor to buy everything I want at once, but was ok with some things being exlusive few days offers and clearly advertised as such.

I certainly would have eventually bought about 4 more non exlusive things that are now "retired" from the store .
But I`m certainly not going to buy an extremely slight chance of getting them from a gambling box, especially if these boxes also contain consumables; meaning I would most propably end up with a virtual drink or snack that would feel like a slap in the face and loss of a perfectly good real life drink moneywise.

Gambling with money is legal in my country, personally not against it and have had some fun sometimes doing it too: but thats me gamblig money against money, if I win I get money and can go buy whatever I want with it.
So the chances of me winning in poker or blackjack are huge compared to me me actually winning with MMO lockboxes, where even if I get some "better " prize than a virtual sausage, even if its one of the old rare mounts, it propably still isn`t the thing I wanted.

If these lockboxes come to be, resources are spent to design stuff exlusive to them and also old crownstore stuff keeps disappearing into them, it does leave a bit of a foul taste to my crownstore shopping experience.
Please ZOS reconsider the boxes, or at least give your non-box customers a regular rotation of the retired items to buy what we whe want fair and square.

Enodoc

Yes I like the random boxes idea so Long as they only have cosmetics

code65536 wrote: »

If ZOS wants to add some "fun" gambling, then there must be one rule: Every possible drop from the RNG crate must be available for direct purchase.

This would allow people to try their luck at getting an item cheaply. But it would not leave RNG as the only way to get an item.

I do not like to gamble, I never gamble, and I would not be tempted to gamble. So these crates have absolutely zero effect on me personally. But they can and do affect people who don't have that kind of self-control. And by having items that are obtainable only through random crates--either items that are "discontinued" or items that are exclusive to the gamble boxes--they are enticing the compulsive players to gamble. And even though it doesn't affect me, it is a low tactic that elicits my disapproval.

So, ZOS, if you want to add gambling, do it right: Make everything that is in your current gamble box pool available for direct purchase. Rotate stuff in and out as you see fit, but there should never by anything in the gamble pool that cannot be direct-purchased. It's just a virtual store of bits--don't insult our intelligence by claiming "limited space". Make this change, and I will withdraw all objections. Don't, and I'll know just how far you are willing to exploit a certain segment of your customer base.

If the lockboxes are guaranteed to be happening, then I think this would be the best compromise. I don't mind if they re-use limited time items, because they can still come back later. But they should not have lockbox-exclusive items. Anything that can be won in a lockbox should have a direct purchase alternative.

starkerealm wrote: »

Enodoc wrote: »

Disclaimer - This isn't a defense of ZOS adding lockboxes. This is a defense of the currently unfounded claim that ZOS said they never would.

It actually kinda is. I'm sorry, but there's no other point to that post. Additionally, there was a "no, never" quote, probably on ESO live, I just can't be bothered to hunt it down for you because, quite frankly, at this point? I've got better things to do with my life.

If the only thing we'd gotten saying, "no lockboxes" was a mealy mouthed, "no plans at this time," I would not have come back. The quote exists out there. If you don't believe me, or want to prove me wrong, you can go prove it's never been stated.

Not so. The point of the post is to defend ZOS against the people who are accusing them of breaking promises or lying. I've often jumped in on threads to defend ZOS' (and anyone else's) integrity while still being neutral (and sometimes in opposition) of their decisions and opinions. They've already fallen down on their moral integrity by introducing something which encourages gambling, but I have yet to see an accusation of outright lying or broken promises that is actually valid, so I am skeptical over what was actually said vs what has been inferred.

And I'm sure you know that asking me to prove non-existence of that quote is a logical fallacy

adriant1978

No, don't ever add these into the game.

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

I don't approve of RNG-boxes, BUT I reckon ZOS needs income, especially since last update was mainly about the base game and next update is entirely about the base game (thus, not "sellable" as DLC and thus not bringing any direct income).

If the game really can't be financially viable without resorting to this kind of tactic, perhaps it shouldn't exist.

Elsonso

Yes I like the random boxes idea so Long as they only have cosmetics

Acrolas wrote: »

ZOS apparently has too many crowns in circulation. That's their fault for dumping tons of crowns into sub accounts each month and having sales on them without really offering anything monthly that truly enhances the game experience. They created the problem. They have to fix it. And they're not really all that great at fixing stuff so this is what we get.

The Studio sometimes follows the strangest path to get from "problem" to "solution". It is like they are looking in some "MMO Cash Store for Dummies" book and just opening it to a random page. Whatever they find, they do whatever it takes, no expense too great, to implement it.

Even if the lucky bags are a good thing, they have piled more upon the whole idea by adding a second store, the Gem Store. One store was not enough, so they needed to add a second store to solve the problems caused by adding one item to the first store. Who thinks up these things? How much money was poured into this "solution" to get to this point?

Do these people get locked into a solution and just follow it no matter where it leads? This is not the first time I have seen what looks like an obsession to implement something, no matter the cost. An obsession that leads them to an improbable solution as they bolt more solutions on it to fix the problems that this obsession leads to.

sAnn92 wrote: »

Denaia wrote: »

Here is the quote where Gina Bruno said there will be no lockboxes in eso "https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/2t6g9i/please_no_locked_rng_boxes/". This was said by Matt Firor aswell, but I remember it being on the initial announcement video of tamriel unlimited, which is ofcourse not accesible anymore.

What? The quote says very clearly they didn't had plans at that time. Why are you trying so hard to misslead something quite obvious?

When @ZOS_GinaBruno said no "locked RNG boxes" were planned, many people assigned their "approval" to the Crown Store based on that. Many hung upon statements from ZOS that they would not do certain things with the Crown Store. Promise or not, this formed an informal "contract" with some players. A "contract" that has been violated by this change, for some players.

Part if this "contract" is built on the condition the Developers feel the same as many of the players and do not want to see the Crown Store become something that is evil, as has happened in many MMO games, successful or not.

When they go back and implement something that they previously made noise about not doing, it brings the whole thing back into question. Do the developers feel that an "evil" cash store is still off the table? Even though they said that they would not put weapons and armor into the cash store, is it now just a matter of time before they "change their mind" on the subject?

Too many people have seen what they consider to be "evil" in cash stores. As long as ZOS continues to hold those same things as "evil" then things are acceptable.

teladoy

No, don't ever add these into the game.

This is a typically marketting strategy. The idea is: "The people will continue buying boxes with ilusion to one day get what they want".

Not too much differente from the idea to go play in the casino.

They play with the imagination, the ilusion, the obsesion and the adiction.

Simple would be, just let the players buy directly what they want... but... we know...

Rosveen

No, don't ever add these into the game.

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

Rosveen wrote: »

Suddenly the existence of lockboxes affects what I can or cannot buy. I'm willing to pay for a mount I really like, but I will not spend a single crown if its hidden behind RNG.

So what ? Can't you live happily without that mount ? Even if you wanted it so badly ?
It's not your own blood that will be in lockboxes guys, c'mon...

How did you get from "not having this item affects my enjoyment of the game" to "I can't live without it"?

petraeus1

No I dislike the random crown store boxes, to much of a gamble

JD2013 wrote: »

I'll never buy one, but they don't ruin the game for me. I rarely look at the crown store, as it's not intrusive in the game.

This is the most professed argument I've read to give ZOS green light to implement lockboxes.

Many don't care because it's not P2W, not realizing that character customization for many is equally if not more important than in-game advantages in say DPS or stats. Others won't buy them because they realize because it's a crappy system for consumers to use. Some even go as far as to say they'd be happy for others to buy them so ZOS gets more dollars.

I could say the same, because I won't buy them either. I could say: 'Does not affect me, by all means.' Two reasons I don't:

1. I think it's a crappy system, of which I think it were better it didn't exist at all, in any game - a system which instead of selling stuff straight aims to squeeze the most out of willing customers through RNG.
2. The slippery slope: now I don't care, but it will be all the more crappy when stuff gets in the gamble boxes that I do actually wish to buy. And based on experience with other games, I daresay the gamble box inventory only ever expands.

The counter argument is often: 'ZOS gotta make money.' To which the easy reply is: they will also make money selling stuff straight, arguably less, but still. It worked for them the last 2,5 years.

Apart from the people who want ZOS to maximize profits above all else, I still don't know why people would actually be in favour of this. I've seen only either opposition or disinterest.

Doctordarkspawn

No, don't ever add these into the game.

petraeus1 wrote: »

JD2013 wrote: »

I'll never buy one, but they don't ruin the game for me. I rarely look at the crown store, as it's not intrusive in the game.

This is the most professed argument I've read to give ZOS green light to implement lockboxes.

Many don't care because it's not P2W, not realizing that character customization for many is equally if not more important than in-game advantages in say DPS or stats. Others won't buy them because they realize because it's a crappy system for consumers to use. Some even go as far as to say they'd be happy for others to buy them so ZOS gets more dollars.

I could say the same, because I won't buy them either. I could say: 'Does not affect me, by all means.' Two reasons I don't:

1. I think it's a crappy system, of which I think it were better it didn't exist at all, in any game - a system which instead of selling stuff straight aims to squeeze the most out of willing customers through RNG.
2. The slippery slope: now I don't care, but it will be all the more crappy when stuff gets in the gamble boxes that I do actually wish to buy. And based on experience with other games, I daresay the gamble box inventory only ever expands.

The counter argument is often: 'ZOS gotta make money.' To which the easy reply is: they will also make money selling stuff straight, arguably less, but still. It worked for them the last 2,5 years.

Apart from the people who want ZOS to maximize profits above all else, I still don't know why people would actually be in favour of this. I've seen only either opposition or disinterest.

The answer to 'why people would be in favor of this' is, stockholm syndrome.

People feel they have sunk too much into the game, feel they cant let go, and want this game to stick around on life support for as long as possible.

I personally would rather ESO end with a bang, rather than go out with a friggin' whimper.

Carbonised

No I dislike the random crown store boxes, to much of a gamble

Wow what a horrible idea.

42 pages of negative discussion as well as a poll showing at least 2/3 who strongly dislike the idea, do you ned any more user feedback, ZOS?

I play this game because I like RPGs, though god knows there isn't much old school 'RPG' left in these MMOs these days.

But I surely don't play ESO to gamble real life money away on tantalizing goods places away behind a wall of chance.
If I wanted something like that, I'd play online poker instead.

Tell your marketing department that they done and screwed up. And on some level, this seems like a bad sign to me. Smells like you're really, really desperate for cash - is this also why the DLCs of this game continue to become smaller and smaller? Hells, update 12 won't even have any DLC, just reworked vanilla stuff.

Lots of people already pay to sub (me including), seems like your crown store sells really well too, looking at all the expensive Dro-m'athra mounts and what not in the game. Shame on you then for forcing those people to the casino table in case they would like to buy something from the time they weren't around in the game.

Elsonso

Yes I like the random boxes idea so Long as they only have cosmetics

adriant1978 wrote: »

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

I don't approve of RNG-boxes, BUT I reckon ZOS needs income, especially since last update was mainly about the base game and next update is entirely about the base game (thus, not "sellable" as DLC and thus not bringing any direct income).

If the game really can't be financially viable without resorting to this kind of tactic, perhaps it shouldn't exist.

Yup. If ZOS cannot make ESO into a game that is profitable, they should move onto another game.

However, I don't think that is what is happening. I feel that ESO is probably bringing in loads of cash, but not as fast as they need it to. They need to repay investors and build cash reserves for future games. If those things are behind schedule, one way of getting "back on schedule" is to milk the players for everything they got. Lucky bags are a terrific way to reducing your player base to a cash cow.

JD2013

No I dislike the random crown store boxes, to much of a gamble

petraeus1 wrote: »

JD2013 wrote: »

I'll never buy one, but they don't ruin the game for me. I rarely look at the crown store, as it's not intrusive in the game.

This is the most professed argument I've read to give ZOS green light to implement lockboxes.

Many don't care because it's not P2W, not realizing that character customization for many is equally if not more important than in-game advantages in say DPS or stats. Others won't buy them because they realize because it's a crappy system for consumers to use. Some even go as far as to say they'd be happy for others to buy them so ZOS gets more dollars.

I could say the same, because I won't buy them either. I could say: 'Does not affect me, by all means.' Two reasons I don't:

1. I think it's a crappy system, of which I think it were better it didn't exist at all, in any game - a system which instead of selling stuff straight aims to squeeze the most out of willing customers through RNG.
2. The slippery slope: now I don't care, but it will be all the more crappy when stuff gets in the gamble boxes that I do actually wish to buy. And based on experience with other games, I daresay the gamble box inventory only ever expands.

The counter argument is often: 'ZOS gotta make money.' To which the easy reply is: they will also make money selling stuff straight, arguably less, but still. It worked for them the last 2,5 years.

Apart from the people who want ZOS to maximize profits above all else, I still don't know why people would actually be in favour of this. I've seen only either opposition or disinterest.

You mistake my comment for being in favour of them. Never put words in my mouth. That's one thing that grates on me, and I have a very high threshold for getting annoyed

My honest feeling is apathy. They are going to implement these sorts of things into MMO's to keep up revenue streams. Do I like it? No, absolutely not. But I have a very good inbuilt ignore mechanism. As long as they remain cosmetic items, which hold limited to no interest for me, then as I don't really even open the crown store tab, to me, it's not there.

That's not to say it isn't there, of course it is. I am never overly happy to see mobile gaming transactions in supposedly AAA (the property certainly is) games, of course I am not. Maybe all this outrage will do something, maybe it won't. And God bless those who asre so dead against them for trying, but as I got older I learned to pick my battles instead of fighting for every cause. Worthy or not.

Doctordarkspawn

No, don't ever add these into the game.

lordrichter wrote: »

adriant1978 wrote: »

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

I don't approve of RNG-boxes, BUT I reckon ZOS needs income, especially since last update was mainly about the base game and next update is entirely about the base game (thus, not "sellable" as DLC and thus not bringing any direct income).

If the game really can't be financially viable without resorting to this kind of tactic, perhaps it shouldn't exist.

Yup. If ZOS cannot make ESO into a game that is profitable, they should move onto another game.

However, I don't think that is what is happening. I feel that ESO is probably bringing in loads of cash, but not as fast as they need it to. They need to repay investors and build cash reserves for future games. If those things are behind schedule, one way of getting "back on schedule" is to milk the players for everything they got. Lucky bags are a terrific way to reducing your player base to a cash cow.

Honestly I'd be willing to pay sub if this games design didn't force my chosen role (Tank) into a very specific corner and that's largely why they -lost- me. But hey. Lets milk everyone for everything they got instead of going to the trouble of finding a new combat lead, who the playerbase knows by name and actively hates.

petraeus1

No I dislike the random crown store boxes, to much of a gamble

JD2013 wrote: »

petraeus1 wrote: »

JD2013 wrote: »

I'll never buy one, but they don't ruin the game for me. I rarely look at the crown store, as it's not intrusive in the game.

This is the most professed argument I've read to give ZOS green light to implement lockboxes.

Many don't care because it's not P2W, not realizing that character customization for many is equally if not more important than in-game advantages in say DPS or stats. Others won't buy them because they realize because it's a crappy system for consumers to use. Some even go as far as to say they'd be happy for others to buy them so ZOS gets more dollars.

I could say the same, because I won't buy them either. I could say: 'Does not affect me, by all means.' Two reasons I don't:

1. I think it's a crappy system, of which I think it were better it didn't exist at all, in any game - a system which instead of selling stuff straight aims to squeeze the most out of willing customers through RNG.
2. The slippery slope: now I don't care, but it will be all the more crappy when stuff gets in the gamble boxes that I do actually wish to buy. And based on experience with other games, I daresay the gamble box inventory only ever expands.

The counter argument is often: 'ZOS gotta make money.' To which the easy reply is: they will also make money selling stuff straight, arguably less, but still. It worked for them the last 2,5 years.

Apart from the people who want ZOS to maximize profits above all else, I still don't know why people would actually be in favour of this. I've seen only either opposition or disinterest.

You mistake my comment for being in favour of them. Never put words in my mouth. That's one thing that grates on me, and I have a very high threshold for getting annoyed

My honest feeling is apathy. They are going to implement these sorts of things into MMO's to keep up revenue streams. Do I like it? No, absolutely not. But I have a very good inbuilt ignore mechanism. As long as they remain cosmetic items, which hold limited to no interest for me, then as I don't really even open the crown store tab, to me, it's not there.

That's not to say it isn't there, of course it is. I am never overly happy to see mobile gaming transactions in supposedly AAA (the property certainly is) games, of course I am not. Maybe all this outrage will do something, maybe it won't. And God bless those who asre so dead against them for trying, but as I got older I learned to pivk my battles instead of fighting for every cause. Worthy or not.

That's not what I did, I said that the same argument you used is often used by people who voted 'Yes'. At least, that's what I meant to say.

Xsorus

Yes I like the random boxes idea so Long as they only have cosmetics

Waseem wrote: »

Rhazmuz wrote: »

Dont care, no P2W stuff in the boxes anyway..

if you don like it, dont buy it, and if you do like it, great go ahead and buy some..

Really dont see how this can affect peoples enjoyment of the game, but each to their own.

its not a matter of pay to win -.-
its a matter of paying 80000 crowns for something you could get for 2000-3000 crowns

Then don't buy the boxes

dsalter

No, don't ever add these into the game.

Xsorus wrote: »

Cazzy wrote: »

Xsorus wrote: »

Waseem wrote: »

Rhazmuz wrote: »

Dont care, no P2W stuff in the boxes anyway..

if you don like it, dont buy it, and if you do like it, great go ahead and buy some..

Really dont see how this can affect peoples enjoyment of the game, but each to their own.

its not a matter of pay to win -.-
its a matter of paying 80000 crowns for something you could get for 2000-3000 crowns

Then don't buy the boxes

Good argument *facepalm*

Explain how its not a good argument..... You dislike how they're selling something... Don't buy what they're selling.

Seems like a pretty simple suggestion...Or maybe your ICD is twitching.

dragon mount becomes available, but only as a box exclusive. now you really want this mount, nay you MUST have this mount, proceed to buy them over and over till finally you have no money left and realise you just spent all your money for the week trying to get something that you knew would normally cost 3-4k crowns

DHale

Nothing is behind a pay wall cosmetic stuff is cosmetic stuff if you want it buy it when it comes out. I like how all you ppl fit and rage the go out and stand in line for 20 hours to get an I phone or spend 20 minutes in line at star bucks to buy a half caff decaf thingamagiger. If you don't want to rng DONT buy it. I still have my white imperial horse... That I got for 1 gold. At PC launch it was a whopping 10 dollars more than vanilla game boo hoo I am poor.

elvenmad

No, don't ever add these into the game.

Xsorus wrote: »

Cazzy wrote: »

Xsorus wrote: »

Waseem wrote: »

Rhazmuz wrote: »

Dont care, no P2W stuff in the boxes anyway..

if you don like it, dont buy it, and if you do like it, great go ahead and buy some..

Really dont see how this can affect peoples enjoyment of the game, but each to their own.

its not a matter of pay to win -.-
its a matter of paying 80000 crowns for something you could get for 2000-3000 crowns

Then don't buy the boxes

Good argument *facepalm*

Explain how its not a good argument..... You dislike how they're selling something... Don't buy what they're selling.

Seems like a pretty simple suggestion...Or maybe your ICD is twitching.

They are not specifically selling anything, only the 'chance' of something with no available odds on this chance.

Online games RNG 'lock boxes' are by design predatory, designed specifically to target people with low self control and constantly marketed to 'tease' those that have some. it is gambling 101 and by design targeted on the vulnerable.
It is just morally wrong and certainly not something you do to customers or people you value

NewBlacksmurf

No, don't ever add these into the game.

Abeille wrote: »

I'm hoping the next episode of ESO Live will shed some light on some important aspects of these bags, like drop rate of the rarer stuff and the Crown Gem conversion.

I want to see if a direct mount->mount trade is possible if they were previously put up in the Crown Store for the same price.
For example, say I get the Clouded Senche from a box. It costed 2500 Crowns when it was put on the store, if I remember it correctly, and I already own it. So, they said I can exchange repeated stuff for these "Crown Gems". I want to know if I will get enough Crown Gems to buy, say, the Pale Velothi Guar, that was 2500 Crowns when it was in the Crown Store.
In short, I want to know if the value of the stuff dropped from the store will match the value of the stuff offered on this special Crown Gem section of the Crown Store. I think this is an important aspect of it, because if you get less Crown Gems than what your duplicate is worth in the Crown Gem section, that would be pretty awful.

It's going to be a very drastic diminishing return.
In ZOS logic, as mentioned, the value of the loot crate is based on the guaranteed items not the value of a chance item.

You're paying 400 crowns for maybe 5 tri pots or 2 exp scrolls and 4 soul gems.

The rare event that a really nice mount drops, you'll keep it but otherwise, I'd assume that gems are of much lesser value and will require many more for that store. The part that may hurt even more is if you can only trade in items you already have vs unwanted items from chance. More details are needed but this is basically how these systems work.

The system is based upon two desires.
1. Game of chance
2. Accumulation of secondary currency

The gems are going to have the better items because thats how these systems work.
You'll also have gem bonus days, etc.

The outrage is going to be justified even if only existing crown consumables are in the store. Just imagine the motif, mounts alone desires.

Daveheart

Yes I like the random boxes idea so Long as they only have cosmetics

For me it's pretty simple. If it's only ever crown store items whether current or past exclusives or whatever, then I'm fine with it. If it includes skins or costumes that come via in game achievements, then that's bad.

dsalter

No, don't ever add these into the game.

Daveheart wrote: »

For me it's pretty simple. If it's only ever crown store items whether current or past exclusives or whatever, then I'm fine with it. If it includes skins or costumes that come via in game achievements, then that's bad.

it's coming with things not obtainable any other way.

Cazzy

No, don't ever add these into the game.

Interesting. Jonathan Lander has been a General Manager at Zenimax for 10 months. He seems to be in charge of all the money making ideas! Perhaps it's him we need to express our opinons to or maybe even understand this isn't going to be the first big change to come: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-lander-9364101

@Lysette @NewBlacksmurf @Rohamad_Ali @Abeille @starkerealm

captainwolfos

Yes I like the random boxes idea so Long as they only have cosmetics

After seeing what they have planned for this in slightly more detail, I'd like to change my stance on this gambling box thing:

Hell. no.

Elsonso

Yes I like the random boxes idea so Long as they only have cosmetics

Xsorus wrote: »

Waseem wrote: »

Rhazmuz wrote: »

Dont care, no P2W stuff in the boxes anyway..

if you don like it, dont buy it, and if you do like it, great go ahead and buy some..

Really dont see how this can affect peoples enjoyment of the game, but each to their own.

its not a matter of pay to win -.-
its a matter of paying 80000 crowns for something you could get for 2000-3000 crowns

Then don't buy the boxes

It is a valid argument, but the validity is implementation dependent.

Ultimately, it is why you see "yes" above this comment. The way it was originally explained, the lucky bags would contain only items already offered in the store. This means that it is valid to say "don't buy them" because all items should be available through other means.

However, what was omitted from the original description that I saw about what Firor said was the "exclusive to the bags" comment. This takes what is an acceptable idea and changes it. Now, the bag is not offering stuff that is, or was, offered in the store, but introducing new items to the store by placing them in the bag. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Then we got more implementation details from @ZOS_GinaBruno that show just how far off the rails Development took this idea. Crown Gems and the Gem Store? They invented a whole new currency and a new store just to deal with duplicate items. What?

[edited to remove quoted nonconstructive posts]

elvenmad

No, don't ever add these into the game.

Daveheart wrote: »

For me it's pretty simple. If it's only ever crown store items whether current or past exclusives or whatever, then I'm fine with it. If it includes skins or costumes that come via in game achievements, then that's bad.

First, Crown Crates will be available later this year, and will only include cosmetic or convenience items. You'll find things like potions and other consumables, pets, costumes, and - yes - sometimes even mounts. This will give you a chance to try and obtain previous limited time offers, or even some very unique items as Matt mentioned. It will not include things like armor or weapons.

They will at contain anything that will generate fast easy revenue, THAT is what they are designed to do

NewBlacksmurf

No, don't ever add these into the game.

petraeus1 wrote: »

I've seen some posts comparing it to a lottery system: buy a ticket, maybe you're in luck, hurray!

I disagree that it's entirely similar though.

In a lottery people buy a ticket for the sake of taking a chance at winning more money.

Here we have customers who actually want to buy something, but the company they're dealing with has a monopoly on the product and decided to put them behind a gambling mechanism only to make the most out of their customers. Customers who in many cases already spent a lot of money at said company.

To me, that's like the company is saying to its loyal customers: 'Tough luck.'

It's ZOS' business, and sure customers can decide for themselves, but it does not leave a good impression on me at all. I think gamble boxes are a nasty way to sell products.

@petraeus1

The whole point in buying a lockbox is for the chance to win something that would otherwise cost you more money. It's the exact same thing because in this or in another lottery, the valued amount of a "win" is undefined until you win.

The draw is based upon the cost to play chance compared to the highest amount of a win possible.

In this system tho it's worse because you're guaranteed to "win" something but you can just buy those things outright so adding a chance system has one goal. They are drawing ppl to buy more crowns in order to get more gems in order to spend more cash and loose sight of how much real money they're spending due to constant changes in currency and currency types with reward tiers and differing stores.

To get people to spend more and more real money. More than before as this system appeals to a different group unlike people who will just buy at a set price.

When you look at human behaviors, notice who likely plays games of chance. Typically it's those who either don't have, won't buy or who make poor financial decisions chronically.

Those in the poll saying it's wrong could actually be in the other bucket largely as well as some who support this and say it's optional and no issue.

Well guess what, there are approx 700k active players who haven't voted who will fall in one of three categories.
I personally don't want another GTA situation where in addition to game stings, we then see a big games of chance situation arrive and on console....a big hassle for age checks due to a greedy company coming up with a chance system that gets out of control contributing to stolen credit cards, overspending, etc.


It's not all doom and gloom tho.
Many of us support ZOS being profitable and would like to actually spend more by means of buying appropriately priced crown items.

Put things in the store at reasonable prices and allow consumers to buy. Limited time and high price short sales followed by a system of chance is very immoral.

Starlink

No, don't ever add these into the game.

I strongly dislike any idea that involves gambling with real currency in an online game.

voreo

Yes I like the random boxes idea so Long as they only have cosmetics

Cosmetics only, but nothing less than the crown value. if its less make it items to make it at the very least worth the crown count.

Some account upgrades would also be neat.

Edgemoor

No, don't ever add these into the game.

Xsorus wrote: »

Edgemoor wrote: »

Xsorus wrote: »

Edgemoor wrote: »

Xsorus wrote: »

Swtor has them; honestly never had a issue with them in that game. They didn't add anything that had an actual effect on the game, it's all cosmetic... People who whine about are just pathetic silly children who demand everything be given to them for free.

But all the good stuff goes into the cartel packs, hardly anything elsewhere. And after a while the chance to get anything good is now so low the only use for them is as a means to convert real money into game cash.

While this is true you can also pretty much spend in game cash on any of these said items vs real life money in that game...so its not a huge issue.

In swtor prices on the GTN are astronomical and utterly bizarre. True other events may well have contributed but there is no doubt that the rarest items are like rocking horse pellets and go for bizarre sums. But, thats not my concern ....

The gamblng pack addiction works two ways; one with players, and second with the developers.

I dislike the gambling packs simply because they suck the creative soul out of a game, in my opinion, and eventually it becomes more a priority to get new packs out than invest in the game; new content, bug fixing enhancements etc. It's not free and I don't expect it to be.

On the other hand, like anything, if restraint and sensible management is used it could be a real crown store asset providing revenue and a source of new cosmetics and content for us all.

ESO have proven pretty sensible so far, my hopes are high.

SWTOR prices have little to do with the Crates you buy and everything to do with Inflation. You can farm an absurd amount of coin in that game very easily.....I stated earlier in this thread i'd login just to send my 8 characters on slicing missions and barely played the game and I was able to pull 20 million credits with ease in that game. Someone who played every day and actually farmed credits could surpass me easily..the Daily Missions alone if ya did them resulted in something like 1 Million Credits Per day.

In a game like swtor, or ESO I doubt it is intended that you should be able to log on click a few buttons and earn much more in game money for a fraction of the effort than you do to actually play the game. But your right that doesn't have anything to do with hypercrates. I believe it was nerfed by the way, I know treasure hunting has been nerfed.

It's 6 characters by the way.