What do you think of Crown Crates? -- New Poll for PTS Implementation

Cazzy

Negative: I have tested the crates, and I do not want this feature to be implemented in the game.

It started off as a game for fans of TES, I remember the E3 showcase. I was up until 5am to see it. Can I say the same as it is now? Sadly not. It's steadily appearing to drive the people who poured their soul into the game to replace them with cash cows who play/spend for a couple of months then leave.

The most awful thing about this though is how it's tainted my love for TES as a series. I've seen the wizard behind the curtain.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Elsonso

Negative: I have tested the crates, and I do not want this feature to be implemented in the game.

Whatzituyah wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

Whatzituyah wrote: »

I would like to say I kinda agree to both sides seeing the company's side aswell as the customer's side. We may see it as ridiculous but if the company needs money to keep the game going along with themselves in turn giving us a game to play, I hate it but it gives us a game to play.

It lacks imagination and reeks of just following an established pattern. MMO Cash Stores for Dummies. Any studio can roll out a cash store and gamble boxes. Nothing inspired here. There are other ways to make money, but they are taking the easy way, at the expense of tailoring a solution that better suits their customers.

I guess this is what we can expect from ZOS, Bethesda, and probably the whole family of Zenimax companies.

Would you prefer we earned the box but had to buy a key? @lordrichter

Of course not. What I expect of a studio that aspires to be a AAA studio is something better than Crown Crates, or locked boxes and purchased keys. I really expect more than MMO Cash Shops for Dummies.
.

JimT722

Negative: I have NOT tested the crates, and I dislike the idea/direction and/or I dislike what I have read.

GrumpyMuffin wrote: »

The most depressing thing about the crown crates is players are happy to give Zos their money, we are not expecting a free ride, we just want an honest, and fair, way to change real money for in game goods we want. We will buy what we want, we won't buy the hope of obtaining what we want.

It's been proven that if you put a bunch of exclusives in a box, temptation will cause people to spend hundreds. It's a horrible and greedy thing to do. The fact ZOS would do this has severely reduced my respect for them.

The statement posted after the crates were removed from pts indicate that they really aren't open to much feedback. They are more interested in using the same greedy tactics of other games and won't be swayed to change the crates because they know their potential. Greed has won.

Whatzituyah

Neutral: I have NOT tested the crates, and my feelings are neutral, noncommital, or do not apply.

lordrichter wrote: »

Whatzituyah wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

Whatzituyah wrote: »

I would like to say I kinda agree to both sides seeing the company's side aswell as the customer's side. We may see it as ridiculous but if the company needs money to keep the game going along with themselves in turn giving us a game to play, I hate it but it gives us a game to play.

It lacks imagination and reeks of just following an established pattern. MMO Cash Stores for Dummies. Any studio can roll out a cash store and gamble boxes. Nothing inspired here. There are other ways to make money, but they are taking the easy way, at the expense of tailoring a solution that better suits their customers.

I guess this is what we can expect from ZOS, Bethesda, and probably the whole family of Zenimax companies.

Would you prefer we earned the box but had to buy a key? @lordrichter

Of course not. What I expect of a studio that aspires to be a AAA studio is something better than Crown Crates, or locked boxes and purchased keys. I really expect more than MMO Cash Shops for Dummies.
.

We just described not only MMOs with a cash shop but some F2P games aswell. @lordrichter

JimT722 wrote: »

GrumpyMuffin wrote: »

The most depressing thing about the crown crates is players are happy to give Zos their money, we are not expecting a free ride, we just want an honest, and fair, way to change real money for in game goods we want. We will buy what we want, we won't buy the hope of obtaining what we want.

It's been proven that if you put a bunch of exclusives in a box, temptation will cause people to spend hundreds. It's a horrible and greedy thing to do. The fact ZOS would do this has severely reduced my respect for them.

The statement posted after the crates were removed from pts indicate that they really aren't open to much feedback. They are more interested in using the same greedy tactics of other games and won't be swayed to change the crates because they know their potential. Greed has won.

Greed has always a say in business; its not that greed has won its that it happens every day.

GhostwalkerLD

Negative: I have tested the crates, and I do not want this feature to be implemented in the game.

JimT722 wrote: »

Cazzy wrote: »

What makes me laugh is ZoS saying we've seen your feedback and want to make it better for you. People then say Oh it's not going to be too bad, maybe they do care.

No. If the cared about feedback they wouldn't implement them. What they care about is sales. They're trying to make them more appealing because we've said we won't buy them.

Don't fall for these type of gross manipulation tactics.

Community: we want them removed
ZOS: we hear you. We are buffing the consumables you don't want. Since you don't want them regardless of what we do you can trade them for a very small amount of gems!

Facepalm

It would be funny if it wasn't true. Unfortunately, it IS true. And it's also very, very sad. My ESO+ membership ran out yesterday, and I decided "Hell with it, I'm not renewing it before the crown crates go live." I barely even log in to feed mounts anymore, knowing these crates will eventually come.

*sigh*

Rhian-Skybladeb16_ESO

Negative: I have NOT tested the crates, and I dislike the idea/direction and/or I dislike what I have read.

I have not tested the crates and I dislike this direction ZoS is taking. Even if those boxes would contain useful gear, this would just be "pay to win". I have had very bad experience with that sort of bull-poo in DDO and left that game instantly because of it.

I love Elder Scrolls, but ESO has taken a direction I am not happy about.
Their RNG for Items and Traits inGame is bull-poo, too. Item/Set/Trait Combos that make no sense, especially not on end game content!
I wonder if this terrible Item RNG is intentional,so people with terrible loot luck are more easily goaded into buying those chests.

If those chests would only contain pure cosmetics, OK...but otherwise it smells like a hustle or PTW...

Kuningatar

Negative: I have tested the crates, and I do not want this feature to be implemented in the game.

From the previous threads;

verenkutoja
✭✭
No, don't ever add these into the game.
Personally in response to this and other repeated behaviours from Zenimax, I have cancelled my subscription. I will not support such treatment of the player base and I certainly will not support 'gamble boxes'

In the future if something worthy of my attention were released, I might return, but right now? It looks pretty grim. I have cancelled by subscription once before shortly after the game switch to B2P due to the fact that Zenimax repeatedly lied claiming they would never come off the subscription model, so this is just a repeat of their usual lies and crap.

That and I opened a ticket asking for help with something, in spite of being perfectly reasonable and not at all abusive or profane, my ticket were set to 'solved' repeatedly without being given any answer to it. Even when I told them point blank "You can not just set a ticket to solved and assume its solved, I want a human response." - never got one until I cancelled my subscription and filed a new ticket explaining exactly why I cancelled. That to be honest were the last straw that I could tolerate.

--

verenkutoja
✭✭
No, don't ever add these into the game.
People want 'citation' as proof that Zenimax ever said they would not come off the subscription model, firstly that is not even really relevant to this thread, it were just something I brought up as one of my personal grievances. But you want citation? I can not pull up any videos, any forum posts, or anything like that. I am sure those opposed to my opinion will claim this proves I am wrong, but seriously.. keep deluding yourself, you really think Zenimax is not and has not lied and does not continue to lie?

Get a clue. They are a corporation. Corporations in large are almost exclusively dishonest and deceptive, its the 'modus operandi' for business practices.

Come on, I give people more credit than that. I can not believe anyone would be so blind as to not see it, you know the way they always word things in such a way that shines them in an unquestioningly positive light no matter what happens or what is done? You know how they keep saying We have no 'plans' at this time to/for - That is it, right there. That is the dishonesty, that is the deception. You know what people think and thought when they read that.

Its intentionally and intelligently deceptive too. Screw your player base over and make sure to word things in such a way that you can claim you are not responsible and surely some white knights will rise up to defend your company because they are apparently not wise enough to figure out what is actually going on.

I myself have emails from them in which they point blank told me back when I were fearing the worst for the game (near its launch) that they had no 'plans' to abandon the subscription model and it were working quite well for them and were successful. They literally said this point blank to me. Shortly thereafter? Game goes B2P.

You seriously think that were not planned? Honestly?

You are idealistic and naïve if you believe so. This were planned from the start.

Promise all this amazing stuff, spin everything in such an incredibly positive light, and get die hard fans hyped so that they pony down on your €110 collectors edition, so that they stay subscribed until the very end, the very end which by the way just happened to coincidentally coincide just a few months with the timing of their console launch and then open a crown store that offers everything (including a recoloured version of the 'exclusive senche mount' and even the then exclusive and no longer exclusive mudcrab pet) to screw your early supporters over extra hard and give everyone else the chance to get basically the same thing, of course for money.

Its all incredibly and intentionally, intelligently manipulative. If you can not see it, you are blind.

If you still love the game, good for you. I never disliked the game to be honest, I just dislike Zenimax' business practices.

You can keep defending them until the very end, it will find you in the same place as everyone else. Screwed with your butt in the air, sore, and wondering what happened and how it all went wrong.

To be perfectly honest, lately I am just fed up with mmos in general. "Back in the day" the mmo industry produced quality games with very few bugs and good game play. They actually tried. Now? Now they have fools (I am one of those fools) that fall for their hype and pay for something before its released, even PAY TO BETA TEST FOR THEM which is ridiculous. Nothing is how it used to be and the business model that mmos currently push is not sustainable, its killing the industry.

NOTE: the citation for them promising to not come off the subscription model were later found here


I stand by all I have said. This is an intelligent design, nothing they have done have been by chance or 'coincidence', Zenimax have actively and intelligently and repeatedly screwed their customer base over, lied to them outright, and abused the good faith of their players time and time again, offering their fake smiles and 'happy' customer support in response while giving no real solution to the problem.

Same tired dance of other mmos. I still think I was a fool to have hope in Zenimax and expect something better.

JimT722

Negative: I have NOT tested the crates, and I dislike the idea/direction and/or I dislike what I have read.

What I don't get is they release eso gold recently which means they have no immediate plans to change from buy 2 play. However, these crown crates make the game feel like a very cheap free to play game with an entry fee. this game doesn't feel like a premium mmo anymore, but still has a premium price tag?

GhostwalkerLD

Negative: I have tested the crates, and I do not want this feature to be implemented in the game.

verenkutoja wrote: »

From the previous threads;

verenkutoja
✭✭
No, don't ever add these into the game.
Personally in response to this and other repeated behaviours from Zenimax, I have cancelled my subscription. I will not support such treatment of the player base and I certainly will not support 'gamble boxes'

In the future if something worthy of my attention were released, I might return, but right now? It looks pretty grim. I have cancelled by subscription once before shortly after the game switch to B2P due to the fact that Zenimax repeatedly lied claiming they would never come off the subscription model, so this is just a repeat of their usual lies and crap.

That and I opened a ticket asking for help with something, in spite of being perfectly reasonable and not at all abusive or profane, my ticket were set to 'solved' repeatedly without being given any answer to it. Even when I told them point blank "You can not just set a ticket to solved and assume its solved, I want a human response." - never got one until I cancelled my subscription and filed a new ticket explaining exactly why I cancelled. That to be honest were the last straw that I could tolerate.

--

verenkutoja
✭✭
No, don't ever add these into the game.
People want 'citation' as proof that Zenimax ever said they would not come off the subscription model, firstly that is not even really relevant to this thread, it were just something I brought up as one of my personal grievances. But you want citation? I can not pull up any videos, any forum posts, or anything like that. I am sure those opposed to my opinion will claim this proves I am wrong, but seriously.. keep deluding yourself, you really think Zenimax is not and has not lied and does not continue to lie?

Get a clue. They are a corporation. Corporations in large are almost exclusively dishonest and deceptive, its the 'modus operandi' for business practices.

Come on, I give people more credit than that. I can not believe anyone would be so blind as to not see it, you know the way they always word things in such a way that shines them in an unquestioningly positive light no matter what happens or what is done? You know how they keep saying We have no 'plans' at this time to/for - That is it, right there. That is the dishonesty, that is the deception. You know what people think and thought when they read that.

Its intentionally and intelligently deceptive too. Screw your player base over and make sure to word things in such a way that you can claim you are not responsible and surely some white knights will rise up to defend your company because they are apparently not wise enough to figure out what is actually going on.

I myself have emails from them in which they point blank told me back when I were fearing the worst for the game (near its launch) that they had no 'plans' to abandon the subscription model and it were working quite well for them and were successful. They literally said this point blank to me. Shortly thereafter? Game goes B2P.

You seriously think that were not planned? Honestly?

You are idealistic and naïve if you believe so. This were planned from the start.

Promise all this amazing stuff, spin everything in such an incredibly positive light, and get die hard fans hyped so that they pony down on your €110 collectors edition, so that they stay subscribed until the very end, the very end which by the way just happened to coincidentally coincide just a few months with the timing of their console launch and then open a crown store that offers everything (including a recoloured version of the 'exclusive senche mount' and even the then exclusive and no longer exclusive mudcrab pet) to screw your early supporters over extra hard and give everyone else the chance to get basically the same thing, of course for money.

Its all incredibly and intentionally, intelligently manipulative. If you can not see it, you are blind.

If you still love the game, good for you. I never disliked the game to be honest, I just dislike Zenimax' business practices.

You can keep defending them until the very end, it will find you in the same place as everyone else. Screwed with your butt in the air, sore, and wondering what happened and how it all went wrong.

To be perfectly honest, lately I am just fed up with mmos in general. "Back in the day" the mmo industry produced quality games with very few bugs and good game play. They actually tried. Now? Now they have fools (I am one of those fools) that fall for their hype and pay for something before its released, even PAY TO BETA TEST FOR THEM which is ridiculous. Nothing is how it used to be and the business model that mmos currently push is not sustainable, its killing the industry.

NOTE: the citation for them promising to not come off the subscription model were later found here


I stand by all I have said. This is an intelligent design, nothing they have done have been by chance or 'coincidence', Zenimax have actively and intelligently and repeatedly screwed their customer base over, lied to them outright, and abused the good faith of their players time and time again, offering their fake smiles and 'happy' customer support in response while giving no real solution to the problem.

Same tired dance of other mmos. I still think I was a fool to have hope in Zenimax and expect something better.

That pretty much sums it up perfectly. And I'm very sad to read that news post about the monthly sub fee and plans, and all the things that they said and I remember thinking at the time, "Oh, FINALLY, an MMO that gets it..."

And now we can look back now and see them breaking every single one of those statements, one right after another, even after paying lip service to the fact that doing so "goes against every principle we feel the ESO game should be based on." All of it summed up so neatly in that article.

Bravo. Now I'm even more depressed. Arghhh...

Caff32

Other: My feelings are more complex than the above sentiments. (Comment below.)

I don't really care one way or the other, but I think it's too early to tell. They are redoing the way the loot drops, what drops, and how gems are acquired. I think with enough tinkering, it'll be fine. That's what the PTS is for and for once, they listened to our feedback. Let's see what the next version is before grabbing the pitchforks or celebrating their creation.

laurajf

Negative: I have tested the crates, and I do not want this feature to be implemented in the game.

I'm still really bummed over the fact that I've been so excited and looking forward to housing for so long and now my enthusiasm for that has completely tanked because of just knowing housing stuff is going to end up in those boxes. The timing of these boxes being introduced and the housing coming shortly thereafter is just a big red flag to me.

I really want them to prove me wrong.

MadLarkin

Negative: I have NOT tested the crates, and I dislike the idea/direction and/or I dislike what I have read.

Caff32 wrote: »

I don't really care one way or the other, but I think it's too early to tell. They are redoing the way the loot drops, what drops, and how gems are acquired. I think with enough tinkering, it'll be fine. That's what the PTS is for and for once, they listened to our feedback. Let's see what the next version is before grabbing the pitchforks or celebrating their creation.

The "next version" will be live in game and the changes they are going to make will do little to improve the worth of the boxes or decrease the amount of money players have to spend to get something worthwhile. Spending an inordinate amount of money before getting something decent is why gambling crates exist, and if they were to change them to suddenly become fair, they wouldn't be serving their purpose.

As I said on the PTS thread, any feedback ZOS claims to have taken to heart and any changes they make were most likely approved ahead of time. They won't conpromise the money-making integrity of the boxes, as that's all they exist to do. If they were trying to provide the player base with new options, the crate items could have been added directly to the crown store. The feedback threads and promised changes were just for show.

Whatzituyah

Neutral: I have NOT tested the crates, and my feelings are neutral, noncommital, or do not apply.

MadLarkin wrote: »

Caff32 wrote: »

I don't really care one way or the other, but I think it's too early to tell. They are redoing the way the loot drops, what drops, and how gems are acquired. I think with enough tinkering, it'll be fine. That's what the PTS is for and for once, they listened to our feedback. Let's see what the next version is before grabbing the pitchforks or celebrating their creation.

The "next version" will be live in game and the changes they are going to make will do little to improve the worth of the boxes or decrease the amount of money players have to spend to get something worthwhile. Spending an inordinate amount of money before getting something decent is why gambling crates exist, and if they were to change them to suddenly become fair, they wouldn't be serving their purpose.

As I said on the PTS thread, any feedback ZOS claims to have taken to heart and any changes they make were most likely approved ahead of time. They won't conpromise the money-making integrity of the boxes, as that's all they exist to do. If they were trying to provide the player base with new options, the crate items could have been added directly to the crown store. The feedback threads and promised changes were just for show.

Well is there any great MMO's that don't follow this trend? Please no advertising just yes or no but you can PM me a list.

JimT722

Negative: I have NOT tested the crates, and I dislike the idea/direction and/or I dislike what I have read.

Whatzituyah wrote: »

MadLarkin wrote: »

Caff32 wrote: »

I don't really care one way or the other, but I think it's too early to tell. They are redoing the way the loot drops, what drops, and how gems are acquired. I think with enough tinkering, it'll be fine. That's what the PTS is for and for once, they listened to our feedback. Let's see what the next version is before grabbing the pitchforks or celebrating their creation.

The "next version" will be live in game and the changes they are going to make will do little to improve the worth of the boxes or decrease the amount of money players have to spend to get something worthwhile. Spending an inordinate amount of money before getting something decent is why gambling crates exist, and if they were to change them to suddenly become fair, they wouldn't be serving their purpose.

As I said on the PTS thread, any feedback ZOS claims to have taken to heart and any changes they make were most likely approved ahead of time. They won't conpromise the money-making integrity of the boxes, as that's all they exist to do. If they were trying to provide the player base with new options, the crate items could have been added directly to the crown store. The feedback threads and promised changes were just for show.

Well is there any great MMO's that don't follow this trend? Please no advertising just yes or no but you can PM me a list.

Yes there are. However, they all feel kinda slow or dated. Also they are not elder scrolls which is the main reason I started playing this one. Just because it's a new trend doesn't mean it's a good one.

AmberLaTerra

Negative: I have tested the crates, and I do not want this feature to be implemented in the game.

Morimizo wrote: »

I received a reply to my earlier response from Petyr at ZOS:

"Thank you for the feedback. I'll pass this along to the dev team. I appreciate you sharing it with me, it shows that you WERE very passionate about the game."

I responded,


Fixed the quote.


Petyr, to be very clear about why this devious selling tactic is so disheartening, I would have quite happily purchased many of the items available on the new Crown Gem part of the store had they been offered as straight-up purchases; like I have for the past year and a half (check your records, I'm sure you'll find my investment to be significant). But it wasn't enough apparently, and I need to be fooled out of giving more money, and not necessarily (edit: not likely) getting what I desired. How long will it be before Skill Lines and DLCs find their way into these crates? It doesn't have to be "pay to win" items, these crates will limit variety in all aspects of the game, not just cosmetics/aesthetics.


Whoever green-lighted this decision is someone I will never support again, and that is not an RNG box, you may consider that an absolute.


I feel great sympathy for those who have to be on the front line defending this filth. Please know that my ire is not meant for customer service representatives or the fine folks developing the actual game content. It is completely reserved for the gold-sickness-stricken stockholder-sycophant managers that think it's perfectly fine to gouge their player base of every coin, without any guarantee of them actually receiving what they wanted in return. It's thievery, and may Sheogorath himself come up with a most fitting curse for the remainder of their existence. Something akin to being transformed into a block of Colovian cheddar and being eternally gnawed on by skeevers...

Unfortunately I must say in reply to my long e-mail about cancling my sub and listing the reasons why these crates are bad and sever ways how they could be made bearable (only costing 100 crowns with a sure mount within 2500 crowns and so forth) if we indeed have to suffer them though stating over all just not adding them at all would be the ideal solution. I got the exact same reply from Petyr so I must assume it may just be the cookie cutter answer.

I hope I am wrong but it looks like that is all it is.

Lookstowindwards

Negative: I have NOT tested the crates, and I dislike the idea/direction and/or I dislike what I have read.

Mandragora wrote: »

I wish ZOS would consider other possibilities how to improve their market shop and multiple their goods there, like by dividing the current cosmetic to more of pieces - players wanted to have more complex cosmetic system by letting them choose different parts of body - you can use it for more complex offers in your shop. Players even asked for possibility to have different tops/pants/gloves/hats/shoes. Please, before going into extremes, think more about such possibilities and implement them first, above any predatory mechanics, that will lead into negative reputation and thus lack of payment in any area.

This, so much this!

I did not buy much from the store. Why? Because there is little I'm interested in:
1. Without Wardrobe-Slots I'm not interested in buying a costum just to look like hundreds of other players (example: The Imperial dress; found it nice, logged in - just beside me in the bank of Stormhold I see two toons wearing it.. Did i buy it? No.)
2. I dont RP, but i like my game sticking to the lore (so i have headaches often enough already... like: being in the Thieves Guild and HAVING TO became a member of the Dark Brotherhood just to see the content of the next DLC ... really? How about making it possible to work for the opposite faction?), alas i will NEVER buy a stupid dead or lightening mount (I did buy a guar and the HIST-DLC-Collectors however). Also i do not buy medieval european costumes for my Dunmer or Aragonian.
3. To make me pay for the changing of HAIRSTYLE (not talking about race or name change, thats okay imho), does not make it very interesting for me to buy style packs, as i dont make alts very often, and will not pay real money to give my toons a HAIRCUT. So if you want me to buy hairstyles, make a barber shop (yes, ingame, as in other games!).

So, lets talk about the crates: I have seen them before in other games, they always tend to change into p2w after a time, but thats not the only problem:
In this other games i did buy costumes from the store (as there was a Wardrobe system, so i could combine different pieces), and even a mount now and then - but with the boxes I stopped. Why? Not just because i dont like the crates and did not want to support a predatory business model (this was one reason*), but also because all the nice things i WOULD have brought - and the company now FINALLY, "surprisely"! WAS able to produce after long years of suggestions and pleas from the community - now only appeared inside the boxes... And i dont gamble.

So, long story short: Instead of making me buy more, these crates made me bye LESS, and every time something nice i wanted to have appeared inside these boxes, i was a little frustrated, making me even LESS willing to give money to that company.

cheers,
Lookstowindwards

*Again (first time was after the IC desaster), for the second time, I did not renew my sub. After the first time it took me over half a year to regain enough trust in ZOS to reactivate to sub - just to get hit in the face again with the crates. So i will wait and see if they now start to scrap DLC/making less of them, before i - maybe - will renew my sub again.

Edit: Typo

Danikat

Negative: I have tested the crates, and I do not want this feature to be implemented in the game.

Tabbycat wrote: »

I haven't really read up on them. Are these things similar to the Black Lion boxes that drop in the world in GW2 for which you have to buy keys to unlock?

Is there anything in these boxes that would give you an unfair advantage over other players that don't purchase them?

That's where I draw the line personally. I'm not worried about costumes and mounts but if they start dropping exclusive end-game quality gear in them then it becomes pay to win.

Are they like Black Lion Chests? Yes and no.

They're similar in that they only contain cosmetics and crown store consumables. Also the drop rate for exclusive items seems to be about the same. (Although it's important to remember weapon skin claim tickets are one of the more common black lion drops. The drop rate for apex and legendary mounts here is more like the rare material nodes or permanent contracts.)

The important differences (to me) are:
1) There is no way to get crown crates with gold.
2) Absolutely none of the items in them are tradable so if you want them you have to buy the crates.
3) That also means if you get something you don't want you don't have any choice, it's added to your account anyway. If it's a duplicate costume or mount you get a small amount of gems which Can be saved up to buy a different cosmetic item. On the PTS you had to get 4 repeat cosmetics to buy 1 from the same tier.

I still won't buy black lion keys (even with gold) because I think gambling is a complete waste of money, but I don't mind them as much because if you really want an exclusive reward you can buy it from someone else. Which turns their "good" but useless drop into something nice.

Also because after 4 years I'm reasonably confident they're not going to suddenly add pay-to-win items, or even existing items like ascended gear to the chests. I don't know ZOS would either, but they've made a lot more changes to their business model so I'm more wary.

MornaBaine

Negative: I have NOT tested the crates, and I dislike the idea/direction and/or I dislike what I have read.

Uphz wrote: »

What I dislike the most is the amount of non-themed collectibles that are in those crates (or they seem to be in there on the pts).

Also I thought the crates were announced as a chance to get collectibles that were once but are no longer in the crownstore with a small chance of getting a special mount, but the majority of the items seem to be new?

This seems to be the most disingenuous part of the whole scheme and the powers that be are remaining completely silent about it despite continual questioning from players. That they won't come clean about this issue and admit that there are exclusives well above and beyond the special mounts is deeply troubling.

CaineCarver

Positive: I have tested the crates, and I like the direction this feature is headed.

Having waded through all nine pages of this thread I have to say that just like gambling in real life, people have strong opinions. I am about to share mine but first I want to share my background so you hopefully will understand why I feel the way I do. I am a 53 year old male from Ohio. For as long as I can remember I have liked to play games of all kinds and also bet and gamble in one way or another on just about anything you can imagine. Since I was a child I have played cards of all kinds, flipped and pitched coins or dice, handicapped horses and dogs, bet on fights, played the lottery & bingo, sports betting and spent many days in casinos with all their games. Legal and illegal I have tried it.

I prefer games with some skill element over games of pure chance. Darts or poker over the lottery or slot machines as examples. I look for ways to have an edge towards winning but regardless I love the action. I was a poker player by trade long before it became popular on TV. I have been around people who gamble my whole life and seen how people handle the action differently. I guess You could say I am one of the fortunate ones in that despite gambling being a vice for me I am not "addicted" to it. I have not lost my cars, houses, spouses, jobs to uncontrolled habitual behavior. I fact I have been successful and benefited from my gambling most of my life. Everyone has loosing streaks if you gamble sometimes you loose. Knowing when to and being able to get up and walk away when you are at your limits and loosing is key to being a winner.

All that being said a few years back Ohio had a state wide vote to allow casinos in the state. Prior to the vote we hand access to casinos in neighboring states on the rivers. I love casinos and poker rooms. But I voted against the casinos. Why? because I have seen the effects gambling has on some people up close and in person. I have seen those that can not get up and walk away loose everything. Money, cars, houses, jobs and family. I have seen the resulting crime and destruction in the wake of uncontrolled gambling addictions. Still I believe grown adults have a right to make adult decisions for themselves. Just like with alcohol or tobacco we each can make informed decisions and do as we please. Overall I think bring gambling into ESO will nit hurt the game but it will hurt some players and perhaps they will loose too much and end up quitting the game as a result one way or another. As far as the crown store crates go I am sure I will buy one or two every now and then just like I do lottery tickets once or twice a month.

ZOS I have a proposal for you. While most of us will not be effected one way or the other if we decide to play the crate game or not there will be those who suffer. Big tobacco puts warning labels on the product, casinos provide support lines to help gamblers, so on and so forth. I realize this is not a multi billion dollar enterprise like those. my idea is simple. Simply limit the number of crates any one account can buy in a month. I am not sure what a reasonable number would be and some thought would have to go into it. And of course some may have multiple accounts but since the stuff is bound the gamblers would have no real temptation to go the route of getting more accounts just to gamble. If they are that addicted they will just get a different fix somewhere else. Its a win win win, You get to make some extra money, those that want to play a little have fun, and you are helping those who cant control themselves.

What do you think?

SilentRaven1972

Negative: I have tested the crates, and I do not want this feature to be implemented in the game.

Unfortunately, having tested and knowing they are coming no matter what, I've been struggling to even log in to just take care of riding lessons and mail. It's such a let-down. My brother and I each have 2 copies of the game, plus several purchased for others because we believed in it. It was different and fun. Now it's going to be just like all the others. Thank the Divines there's still Skyrim.

FireCowCommando

Negative: I have NOT tested the crates, and I dislike the idea/direction and/or I dislike what I have read.

4% positive, 17% neutral, 77% negative.

100% a feature that took a huge amount of hours of coding, artwork, and game developer design to decide how to implement this system.

There is at least a small chance that ZoS will take the Crown Crate failure to heart, and change the way they plan to introduce housing into the game, but i doubt it.

Elsonso

Negative: I have tested the crates, and I do not want this feature to be implemented in the game.

FireCowCommando wrote: »

4% positive, 17% neutral, 77% negative.

100% a feature that took a huge amount of hours of coding, artwork, and game developer design to decide how to implement this system.

There is at least a small chance that ZoS will take the Crown Crate failure to heart, and change the way they plan to introduce housing into the game, but i doubt it.

That 4% is what ZOS probably calls a "good start". Once Crates are introduced, that 4% will grow handsomely as new players just consider it normal for a cheap knock-off MMO to offer them, and a way for them to pay to catch up to those older players that remain.

Dymence

Negative: I have tested the crates, and I do not want this feature to be implemented in the game.

Haha, 3% positive.

Sadly I think that's about the same percentage ZOS cares about the feedback regarding these crates.

hrothbern

Other: My feelings are more complex than the above sentiments. (Comment below.)

lordrichter wrote: »

FireCowCommando wrote: »

4% positive, 17% neutral, 77% negative.

100% a feature that took a huge amount of hours of coding, artwork, and game developer design to decide how to implement this system.

There is at least a small chance that ZoS will take the Crown Crate failure to heart, and change the way they plan to introduce housing into the game, but i doubt it.

That 4% is what ZOS probably calls a "good start". Once Crates are introduced, that 4% will grow handsomely as new players just consider it normal for a cheap knock-off MMO to offer them, and a way for them to pay to catch up to those older players that remain.

I worked for more than 30 years in a global industrial B2B service business, and got regular trainings, mostly Business to Consumer tweaked to B2B and "completed" with interesting B2B cases, because so little is available on Service Business to Business.
And that marketing knowledge is also a bit dusty....


but from what I remember from B2C, any positive user acceptance percentage below 15% is real bad,
and 3 or 4% is in the zone of a so called "fatal error".

Elsonso

Negative: I have tested the crates, and I do not want this feature to be implemented in the game.

hrothbern wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

FireCowCommando wrote: »

4% positive, 17% neutral, 77% negative.

100% a feature that took a huge amount of hours of coding, artwork, and game developer design to decide how to implement this system.

There is at least a small chance that ZoS will take the Crown Crate failure to heart, and change the way they plan to introduce housing into the game, but i doubt it.

That 4% is what ZOS probably calls a "good start". Once Crates are introduced, that 4% will grow handsomely as new players just consider it normal for a cheap knock-off MMO to offer them, and a way for them to pay to catch up to those older players that remain.

I worked for more than 30 years in a global industrial B2B service business, and got regular trainings, mostly Business to Consumer tweaked to B2B and "completed" with interesting B2B cases, because so little is available on Service Business to Business.
And that marketing knowledge is also a bit dusty....


but from what I remember, any positive user acceptance percentage below 15% is real bad,
and 3 or 4% is in the zone of a so called "fatal error".

Yeah, but you have to remember that ZOS looks at their customer base and sees a bunch of people moving in and out of the game. They leave and come back. New people join the game. Old people leave the game. A lot of churn. They expect it. My thought is that they can afford to annoy their current base because a year from now, the base will be different. If they introduce the Crown Crates in November 2016, by November 2017 the base will be much more happy with them, and looking for more.

As with Buy 2 Play, the player demographics will shift to a place where the base supports Crown Crates.

I do not assume that ZOS/Bethesda Marketing is dumb or stupid. There is no other reason for them to drive Crown Crates like it is the second coming. If they thought this would spiral them out of business, they would not be ramming these things through no matter what. I have no background in marketing, but I have to look at it like this.

This is why I expect a transition to F2P in the next few months. This opens the door for new players, Crown Crate friendly players, to join the community. Crown Crates will give them a perfect opportunity to collect all the Bling they did not get when ZOS was being "unreasonable" and charging for the game. If we do not buy Crown Crates, and even if we do, ZOS will bring in players that will buy them and not complain.

Slurg

Negative: I have tested the crates, and I do not want this feature to be implemented in the game.

FireCowCommando wrote: »

4% positive, 17% neutral, 77% negative.

100% a feature that took a huge amount of hours of coding, artwork, and game developer design to decide how to implement this system.

There is at least a small chance that ZoS will take the Crown Crate failure to heart, and change the way they plan to introduce housing into the game, but i doubt it.

More likely, they will interpret it as "hey, over 20% of the players don't hate the crate, we can tweak it a little and get enough sales that the other 80% won't matter!"

GhostwalkerLD

Negative: I have tested the crates, and I do not want this feature to be implemented in the game.

AmberLaTerra wrote: »

Morimizo wrote: »

I received a reply to my earlier response from Petyr at ZOS:

"Thank you for the feedback. I'll pass this along to the dev team. I appreciate you sharing it with me, it shows that you WERE very passionate about the game."

I responded,


Fixed the quote.


Petyr, to be very clear about why this devious selling tactic is so disheartening, I would have quite happily purchased many of the items available on the new Crown Gem part of the store had they been offered as straight-up purchases; like I have for the past year and a half (check your records, I'm sure you'll find my investment to be significant). But it wasn't enough apparently, and I need to be fooled out of giving more money, and not necessarily (edit: not likely) getting what I desired. How long will it be before Skill Lines and DLCs find their way into these crates? It doesn't have to be "pay to win" items, these crates will limit variety in all aspects of the game, not just cosmetics/aesthetics.


Whoever green-lighted this decision is someone I will never support again, and that is not an RNG box, you may consider that an absolute.


I feel great sympathy for those who have to be on the front line defending this filth. Please know that my ire is not meant for customer service representatives or the fine folks developing the actual game content. It is completely reserved for the gold-sickness-stricken stockholder-sycophant managers that think it's perfectly fine to gouge their player base of every coin, without any guarantee of them actually receiving what they wanted in return. It's thievery, and may Sheogorath himself come up with a most fitting curse for the remainder of their existence. Something akin to being transformed into a block of Colovian cheddar and being eternally gnawed on by skeevers...

Unfortunately I must say in reply to my long e-mail about cancling my sub and listing the reasons why these crates are bad and sever ways how they could be made bearable (only costing 100 crowns with a sure mount within 2500 crowns and so forth) if we indeed have to suffer them though stating over all just not adding them at all would be the ideal solution. I got the exact same reply from Petyr so I must assume it may just be the cookie cutter answer.

I hope I am wrong but it looks like that is all it is.

I'm not surprised. At all. I'm just even more saddened. *sigh*

gard

Negative: I have NOT tested the crates, and I dislike the idea/direction and/or I dislike what I have read.

I am a former Neverwinter player. Neverwinter was/is really big on lockboxes that require keys to unlock (which had to be purchased.) I despise them for the sleazy money grab that they are.

ESO is on console, where there are younger players not wise enough to see it for what it is. It feels underhanded to me, and I won't be part of it.

UrQuan

Negative: I have tested the crates, and I do not want this feature to be implemented in the game.

AmberLaTerra wrote: »

Morimizo wrote: »

I received a reply to my earlier response from Petyr at ZOS:

"Thank you for the feedback. I'll pass this along to the dev team. I appreciate you sharing it with me, it shows that you WERE very passionate about the game."

I responded,


Fixed the quote.


Petyr, to be very clear about why this devious selling tactic is so disheartening, I would have quite happily purchased many of the items available on the new Crown Gem part of the store had they been offered as straight-up purchases; like I have for the past year and a half (check your records, I'm sure you'll find my investment to be significant). But it wasn't enough apparently, and I need to be fooled out of giving more money, and not necessarily (edit: not likely) getting what I desired. How long will it be before Skill Lines and DLCs find their way into these crates? It doesn't have to be "pay to win" items, these crates will limit variety in all aspects of the game, not just cosmetics/aesthetics.


Whoever green-lighted this decision is someone I will never support again, and that is not an RNG box, you may consider that an absolute.


I feel great sympathy for those who have to be on the front line defending this filth. Please know that my ire is not meant for customer service representatives or the fine folks developing the actual game content. It is completely reserved for the gold-sickness-stricken stockholder-sycophant managers that think it's perfectly fine to gouge their player base of every coin, without any guarantee of them actually receiving what they wanted in return. It's thievery, and may Sheogorath himself come up with a most fitting curse for the remainder of their existence. Something akin to being transformed into a block of Colovian cheddar and being eternally gnawed on by skeevers...

Unfortunately I must say in reply to my long e-mail about cancling my sub and listing the reasons why these crates are bad and sever ways how they could be made bearable (only costing 100 crowns with a sure mount within 2500 crowns and so forth) if we indeed have to suffer them though stating over all just not adding them at all would be the ideal solution. I got the exact same reply from Petyr so I must assume it may just be the cookie cutter answer.

I hope I am wrong but it looks like that is all it is.

Well, for what it's worth the reply I got from Petyr was definitely not a cookie-cutter answer. I think they are reading the feedback in emails (and hopefully the feedback on the forums too). Whether the people on the crown crate team are actually making any changes based on that feedback is anybody's guess.