Official Discussion Thread for Crown Crates

Elsonso

Dominoid wrote: »

I did a thing here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/53tr8e/discussion_thoughts_on_current_crate_system_with/

I actually love the following idea from the longer post above:

Crown Crate Reward Token Purchase

As an alternative to not making items just RNG Crown Crate Exclusive, you could implement a Crown Crate Reward Token purchase. Purchasing a tier token would allow you to select any item within that tier. This keeps the gem refund/purchase structure in place, keeps items exclusive to a particular crate run as designed, and allows users to outright purchase items as they see fit. As this is a compromise the token purchase can be quite exorbitant such as:

• Apex Reward Token - 5000
• Legendary Reward Token - 3500
• Epic Reward Token - 2500
• Superior Reward Token- 1500

I think that we are missing a vital part of the whole picture.

The Gems are part of the game. The Crown Crate Game. They are designed to give the player something to work towards, which encourages additional Crown Crate purchases. Solutions like this are "pay to win".

For that reason, if they ever did something like this, they would consider the suggested Crown values to be too low. If you want that Apex reward, pony up 10,000 Crowns or get in line with the rest of the Crown Store players.

I will say this. For as much as ZOS struggles with how to make a successful MMO, they seem to have no problem when it comes to stuff like this. It is like two different studios worked on this, which I think is exactly what happened. These Crown Crates are way too refined for it to come from ZOS. Seriously. I think they hired someone to come in and run the Crown Store for them. (Edit: so they (ZOS) could "focus" on developing for the game)

ZunaRoath

Preyfar wrote: »

ZunaRoath wrote: »

Listen to us Zenimax. We are the ones paying for the game, paying you to do these things. We are the ones who will or will not spend our money on this.

I subscribe to the game. In fact, I've subscribed since launch. I've purchased Crowns, bought pretty much everything from the Crown Store. I've invested into the game, and put a lot of time and effort into it. And I've recommended the game to countless people.

And with these crates, I feel like ZOS is just going "Yeah, but what else you got?" I've given you above and beyond, I've subscribed and bought everything from the Crown Store, and ZOS is sitting there like Velidreth going "HUNGRY! FEED ME!" and trying to dig into my pockets.

Gem exchange rates need to change. Gems need to be found via cards, and the cards need to guarantee at least one non-consumable (mount, pet, costume, etc).

Same here. I won't lie, there were some months I couldn't suscribe because real life stuff, but I am now suscribed again because by then I thought: "Damn, I'm playing this game I really enjoy, Zenimax deserves it." I didn't even do it for the XP thing, or the crowns, because I could have perfectly bought the 5k pack, I did it because I thought Zenimax -deserved- it. Now... I am not sure anymore.

I tend to buy every cool stuff I see in the Crown Store that fits my characters for RP, and believe me, I go crazy on this...

silvereyes

Yet another crown crate review video. It's brief though, under 8 minutes:
https://youtu.be/_3y3esI1VNc

Kendaric

I wonder what their next step is... 20 minutes of quest content every month as DLC? Since they try hard to emulate SWTOR's cartel crates (only with an even worse implementaion), they might as well use their "episodic story" content model.

MissBizz

Preyfar wrote: »

MissBizz wrote: »

Seriously? Wow. I haven't got one with a "5th card" but every pull I did get at least 1 non-consumable. I was "lucky" once and actually got 2 collectible cards and 2 consumable cards.

I get the 5th card every 3 or 4 crates, but I still haven't gotten any Storm Atro stuff. A few mounts I already had, but even after opening 26 crates I only have 60 gems (which is not leaving a good feeling in my gut towards the long term value of these things).

Hmm. I got the atro aura, and have 15 gems so far on PTS - but would have had 20 if this were live since I owned something. Haven't had a chance to open today's yet.

project-2501-84neb18_ESO

As a follow up to my last post I'd like to go into detail about what i got from 23 of these boxes.
If i were to buy any of these, I'd be wanting to obtain either the Storm Atronoch Horse, Senche or Wolf.

To give these items a bit of perspective, the total boxes i would have bought would of been 23.
23 x 400 crowns = 9,200. This works out at roughly £40

from the boxes i got:
Apex - 0
Legendary - 2
Epic - 1
Superior - 12

Legendary
Costumes
Battlemage Scout Captain
Battlemage Tribune
Evening Dress
Soul Shriven Armor
Soul Shriven Leather
Pets
Daedric Scamp
Helstorm Ancestor
Everything else
Jaw Bone Blades
Shadow Striping
Sotm Atronoch Aura
Wrestler Burr Cut

Epic
Golden Eye Guar Mount

Legendary
Frost Mare Mount
Orchid Nixad Pet

So £40 ($51) for 1 thing i would actually pay for, and nothing on the list of things i would want.

Adding this in it's current state will be abusing the player base (Basically anyone not willing to gamble will be unable to obtain the "rarest" most sought after items.

In my previous post i said it needs heavily re-working so it doesn't abuse the player base, But i'm starting to think the whole thing needs to be scrapped to ensure it's not seen as "pay to win" even if it's heavily re-worked.

You are guaranteed 1 item from the list per draw, and i have not seen 2 items from the list on any draw, only 1 item and the rest is filler.

If there is someone out there listening and relaying people's views and opinions to people that can actually change them, please relay this: Scrap the idea of crown crates, as continuing down this road is going to lead to protests, people leaving ESO and outrage on the forums.

A recent MMO Black Desert Online has been labelled as Pay To Win, and now EVERY time they post a youtube video, post on Facebook, or post updates (patch notes, etc) on their forums there are people complaining about the game being p2w, suggesting other players avoid playing the game and generally having negative things to say about the pay to win aspect of the game.
If ESO get's labelled pay to win Zeni will not be able to post anything without people saying how disappointed they are and how they left the game because of unfair practices that abuse the players.
We do not mind a cash shop, we do not mind paying £12 for a mount if it's good and we really want it, but when a player can spend £40 and not even get a mount they were aiming for, and get substitute junk that they would not otherwise spend money on, you're abusing the people you made this game for.
The majority of the filler content in these boxes is complete junk:
the 50% XP Scrolls, ALL Elixir's, 1 Mount skill (This is junk as it's only 1 at a time), and Invisibility potions are totally useless to pretty much everyone and the only reason someone would use them is because you've forced the player to own them.

I'll see how it goes, but i can see our cries not being listened to and i'm fully expecting to have to set up some form of protest / petition to ensure ESO doesn't get ruined like many other MMO's have been.

DBZVelena

When i first heard of this crown crate thing i was like: Hmmm maybe i'll buy them if the cost isn't to high and the loot is ok/good enough.

But now seeing the insane amount of trash consumables, and the way to low return on duplicates. I'll pass.

Come back when i can turn in unwanted consumables for crate tokens. Then, I'll consider it. Up the tokens for duplicates and you might actually get some crowns from me.

For now, i'll keep them in my purse until i see something i actually want, instead of rng-ing my crowns away for no reward.

andreasranasen

Crown crates is a disgusting idea encouraging gambling. ZOS should get dragged on here for this stupid concept.

Mx13

project-2501-84neb18_ESO wrote: »

A recent MMO Black Desert Online has been labelled as Pay To Win, and now EVERY time they post a youtube video, post on Facebook, or post updates (patch notes, etc) on their forums there are people complaining about the game being p2w, suggesting other players avoid playing the game and generally having negative things to say about the pay to win aspect of the game.
.

But BDO wasnt labeled "P2W" beacuse cosmetic loot crates...
It is kinda P2W beacuse you can sell the stuff you bought with money for in game currency.

How thse crown crates are related to P2W...im missing something?

arasysb14_ESO

lordrichter wrote: »

I will say this. For as much as ZOS struggles with how to make a successful MMO, they seem to have no problem when it comes to stuff like this. It is like two different studios worked on this, which I think is exactly what happened. These Crown Crates are way too refined for it to come from ZOS. Seriously. I think they hired someone to come in and run the Crown Store for them. (Edit: so they (ZOS) could "focus" on developing for the game)

This was my first impression when I was testing crates on PTS yesterday, as soon as I was done opening 13 crates; I felt something was missing; there were no bugs, their gambling mini game ran far too smoothly compared to everything they put in the game since beta.

That's when I decided to hit ALT + F4 with a bad taste in my mouth for several reasons:

1- I didn't care when Crown Store pop ups appeared every time I logged in, but this time this is literally poking our eyes with ZOS' blatant and horribly marketed greed. Putting stuff out there saying "No harm" is at college freshman marketing 101 level, especially when you can't even back it up with your past actions.

2- Should I even dare to put more time in to this game, knowing how game's potential has been butchered for years? At this point we all know a lot of things players asked for (such as housing) will be so monetized, and if it goes on like this game will start looking like a side product built around Crown Store. That's really what I am afraid of.

3- Now I have more questions about the potential quality of actual content than ever.

4- Is ESO in such a bad shape that they are willing to sacrifice customer loyalty over few players' impulse purchases for game's survival? I think your community has already endured bunch of inexcusable game breaking bugs, and cheating for so long.

if they only offered decent quality DLCs and really added in game mini games like this but asked for subscription, I wouldn't even think twice. But adding F2P games' revenue methods into a so called AAA B2P MMO with optional subscription game appears to be a desperate move at this point. It's like ZOS decided to copy everything EA's Bioware has been doing.. Same game engine, same monetizing methods, launching the game in beta phase.. and so on.

If ZOS thinks a lot of disheartened TES fans are going to forget stuff like this in the long term, they are so wrong.

JKorr

I'll log in today and play with the crates. One pts toon has bought all the costumes and mounts that I won't buy on my "real game" because I don't like or want them, so I might get dups to check out the gems and how they work. However, even before I do that, I will say, given the other posts about the people who've bought them on the pts. I will not be touching them in the live game.

I have, iirc, one set of costumes. If I would attempt to get the two limited time mounts I want that I missed, I would be spending a LOT of money because I have nothing that would be duplicated. I would have to get the costumes and mounts I don't own first, then I could get the same mounts and costumes a second time to get the few gems in trade to finally maybe get the two mounts I want. Sorry; my mortgage and car payments need to be made; I can't use that money for crown crates. Even then I doubt I'd ever get the two mounts I want. RNG doesn't like me in this game.

If the new mounts, like the black lion, are going to be crown crate only and not for sale in the store, I don't see myself buying much of anything in the crown store again, with the possibility of mimic stones for crafting. Gambling for the chance of possibly eventually getting the one item I want and tons of stuff that I don't like and wouldn't buy is not going to work for me. Knowing this is how things are going to be done from now on has really killed my interest in getting things from the crown store period. Kind of ironic, since the new outfits are ones that I actually like and would be willing to buy.

XyrosTheLizard

In my opinion I think the best thing they could do to fix crown crates is

1. Double the amount of gems you get per duplicate(at least the increase the most common duplicates from 5 to 10)

2. Make it so that people can choose any of card they get and turn it into gems as if it was a duplicate.

Even if they only did the second thing it would be 100x better. If anyone thinks doing both would be to much, at least make it so we can choose cards to turn into gems.

Adernath

ZOS is gambling with ESO's future.

Jailbirdy

I offered a possible idea for the crown crates in the post below:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/292747/eso-free-loot-crate-idea#latest


I thought it might be useful and relevent to post in here, if not, the mod can delete this reply.

Thanks

JB

Braddec

FLuFFyxMuFFiN wrote: »

I am not against these crates but after seeing the amount of consumables I got compared to the actual cosmetics I would actually use I am not sure I will be buying the crates very often. .

I'm in agreement with this, of the crates I opened, roughly 95% of the items I received were consumables (which I wouldn't use). As it stands I will not be buying any of these when they go live.

Kendaric

Jailbirdy wrote: »

I offered a possible idea for the crown crates in the post below:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/292747/eso-free-loot-crate-idea#latest


I thought it might be useful and relevent to post in here, if not, the mod can delete this reply.

Thanks

JB

Nice in theory, but it won't solve any of problems most people have with the crates. And to be honest, I don't want the crates even for free with my subscription. They just don't belong in ESO.

Danikat

Here's my suggestions for ways to improve these:

1) Clarify the descriptions

The description on the box itself is misleading. It currently says "A mystery collection of Storm-Atronach-related items" when in fact only a few of the items are Storm-Atronach related. I think a better description would be something like "A mystery collection of items including exclusive Storm-Atronach related items."

It would also help to let players know they can right click and preview the crate to see (and preview) a full list of the contents, I didn't know about that until I saw it mentioned in this topic and it's a useful feature.

The items individual descriptions should make it clear which are exclusive to the crates and (if applicable) which are exclusive to just one crate vs. unavailable elsewhere but in multiple versions of the crate.

2) Improve the crown gem reward rate

Right now it's extremely low. You have to get at least 4 duplicates to buy an item of equal value. IMO it should give at least half the gems it would cost to buy that item, ideally the full value so there's a 1:1 exchange rate on duplicates.

3) Let us choose to trade in rewards

Many players have pointed out that they're getting rewards they can never use, such as hairstyles and accessories exclusive to races they don't play. I think rather than automatically unlocking any collectable we don't already have it would be better if players had the option to trade in any collectable for gems.

If using it then selling it is a concern this could be available only within the crown crate UI - so you have to decide right when you first get a collectable if you're going to unlock it or trade it in.

Other feedback

I'm really not impressed with the drop rates on these but I can't think of a way to improve it that I think you'd accept. My preference (of the realistic options) would be to drastically reduce the amount of stuff that can drop and by extension improve the drop rate, so for example your chance to get any Storm-Atronach mount becomes your chance to get a Storm-Atronach Bear mount, and then cycle the crates slightly more frequently to allow for all the different versions. (Or use the freed up development time to work on other things.)

Minno

Did anyone test using the creates with the treasure hunter CP passive?

I know it says "treasure chests" but you know their coding could effect the chance rate on these lol.

hrothbern

Minno wrote: »

Did anyone test using the creates with the treasure hunter CP passive?

I know it says "treasure chests" but you know their coding could effect the chance rate on these lol.

I opened 26 crates with a character that had the Treasure Hunter unlocked and got only normal stuff, 4 cards per crate.
no Legendary and no Storm atro mounts

Minno

hrothbern wrote: »

Minno wrote: »

Did anyone test using the creates with the treasure hunter CP passive?

I know it says "treasure chests" but you know their coding could effect the chance rate on these lol.

I opened 26 crates with a character that had the Treasure Hunter unlocked and got only normal stuff, 4 cards per crate.
no Legendary and no Storm atro mounts

Thanks for the test!

Now it seems like a complete waste.

FLuFFyxMuFFiN

Minno wrote: »

hrothbern wrote: »

Minno wrote: »

Did anyone test using the creates with the treasure hunter CP passive?

I know it says "treasure chests" but you know their coding could effect the chance rate on these lol.

I opened 26 crates with a character that had the Treasure Hunter unlocked and got only normal stuff, 4 cards per crate.
no Legendary and no Storm atro mounts

Thanks for the test!

Now it seems like a complete waste.

Not if you like crown potions

Minno

FLuFFyxMuFFiN wrote: »

Minno wrote: »

hrothbern wrote: »

Minno wrote: »

Did anyone test using the creates with the treasure hunter CP passive?

I know it says "treasure chests" but you know their coding could effect the chance rate on these lol.

I opened 26 crates with a character that had the Treasure Hunter unlocked and got only normal stuff, 4 cards per crate.
no Legendary and no Storm atro mounts

Thanks for the test!

Now it seems like a complete waste.

Not if you like crown potions

lol has anyone ever bought crown potions?

colbydotcom

Dominoid wrote: »

I did a thing here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/53tr8e/discussion_thoughts_on_current_crate_system_with/

This. All of it.

Rosveen

10400 crowns later, I'm 40 gems away from the Red Pit Wolf.

FireCowCommando

Poor console teenagers, i wonder how many grandparents christmas money will be blown in its entirety to obtain the new $200-$400 mounts.

Llogwey

@MissBizz , oki!! found it... well if you add this to the fact you only have One chance out of four to get one such item, and that the three other consumables are "worthless" for collectors, and that you can't even bundle them up to exchange them for crown gems.... that's outrageously expensive to get the fluff item, almost ten or twenty times more expensive than "premium" mounts or disguises or motifs you can select to buy on crown store....

I understand the need to make money through the crown store but that's not making money here that's almost racket

If i want to get one of those atronach mounts, I'd need to spend , what ? fifty crates? 12 crates is almost 5000 crown coins, which is the price of a DLC, mounts are usually 2500 coins... now that makes atronach mounts worth 20 000+ crowns... almost ten times the price of a premium promotional mount oO

FLuFFyxMuFFiN

Minno wrote: »

FLuFFyxMuFFiN wrote: »

Minno wrote: »

hrothbern wrote: »

Minno wrote: »

Did anyone test using the creates with the treasure hunter CP passive?

I know it says "treasure chests" but you know their coding could effect the chance rate on these lol.

I opened 26 crates with a character that had the Treasure Hunter unlocked and got only normal stuff, 4 cards per crate.
no Legendary and no Storm atro mounts

Thanks for the test!

Now it seems like a complete waste.

Not if you like crown potions

lol has anyone ever bought crown potions?

Can't speak for everyone but I sure haven't wasted crowns on any convenience items aside from a one-time purchase of riding lessons. I only use them on Cosmetic items

Delpi

Rosveen wrote: »

10400 crowns later, I'm 40 gems away from the Red Pit Wolf.

And even without using real money it's hurts...

FLuFFyxMuFFiN

Rosveen wrote: »

10400 crowns later, I'm 40 gems away from the Red Pit Wolf.

Hooray for spending over 10x the amount of crowns the pet would cost on its own!

VerboseQuips

I haven't tested the Crown Crates in PTS and I don't intend to, so my reactions arise only from what I read here and what I saw in the videos.

Nevertheless, here is my reaction. It's long and it's angry.