LF: New Ideas for Crown Store "Quest Starters"

EttinTheBreton

We've all seen the "Quest Starters" section of the Crown Store below. It currently has the beginning house quest where you help the broker retrieve his stolen property deed, but that is all we have.


As I understand, when holiday events are going on, the beginnings of these quests are found here too, right? So I'm guessing that this section of the store is currently being reserved for holiday events and this housing quest.

Here is my question: what if there were new quests here that we could pay for, similarly to DLC? This raises several other questions:

• How many crowns would you be willing to pay for a new quest?
• What kind of rewards would the quests have to give you upon completion, for your payment to be worth it?
• How do we prevent these quests from being a form of pay-to-win?
• Would making new quests for already existing zones be worth the developers' time?

Ideas from other people!

1. "Give quests to open up the costumes, mounts, emotes, etc. with quests maybe making the rewards somewhat random within a certain category" ( @Tenn60 ).
2. " 'Quest Packs' would simply add more story material to the game [...]. They could encompass sequels to quests already taken, or be completely new stories" ( @ProfesseurFreder ).

I think it would be cool to pay for new quests once I've completed all the quests in the base game. Personally, I would enjoy the quests if they were highly focused on the story and character development of some of my favorite NPCs, like High King Emeric. I could also see people paying for new quests if they have certain rewards advertised in the Crown Store, like "beat this quest and get this cool new [title / costume / emote]!" I would like that, and I would also be willing to pay for a new quest that was significantly more difficult than normal quests.

I do think that caution should be taken if new quests are added to the "Quest Starters" section. I believe ZOS is the best in the MMO business with the high quality of all their quests, with full voice-acting, and specifically in the Crown Store for avoiding any kind of "pay-to-win" options. I could see some weaker companies selling a Quest Starter that has a huge experience bonus at the end of it or some high-tier weapon, which would be a form of pay-to-win. It would not be an instant bonus, but having someone pay for a simple quest that makes them more powerful than everyone else that did not buy the quest would be unfair and should be avoided.

What do you think?

MissBizz

As an active (and always have been active) ESO+ member, I would not pay for singular quests.

I'm not sure if I'm just stingy or what, but I feel quests should not be involved in microtransaction store at that level. We already pay for DLC's and Chapters, I wouldn't want to see singular quests being for sale.

EttinTheBreton

Thanks for replying @MissBizz you are the best

MissBizz wrote: »

As an active (and always have been active) ESO+ member, I would not pay for singular quests.

I'm not sure if I'm just stingy or what, but I feel quests should not be involved in microtransaction store at that level. We already pay for DLC's and Chapters, I wouldn't want to see singular quests being for sale.

But not even for 50 to 100 crowns? What if 100 crowns got you some awesome new story line and voice acting with someone as AWESOME as High King Emeric? I can understand concern for microtransactions taking over all development, but what if this is the only way ZOS would be able to spend the time to make new quests for us? I agree that the best case scenario would be giving us new singular quests for free. But what if that's not possible?

Also, I'm thinking about creating a poll for something like the top 5 ideas, based on the number of Insightful / Agree / Awesome points people get in their posts, if this thread does take off.

MissBizz

EttinTheBreton wrote: »

Thanks for replying @MissBizz you are the best

MissBizz wrote: »

As an active (and always have been active) ESO+ member, I would not pay for singular quests.

I'm not sure if I'm just stingy or what, but I feel quests should not be involved in microtransaction store at that level. We already pay for DLC's and Chapters, I wouldn't want to see singular quests being for sale.

But not even for 50 to 100 crowns? What if 100 crowns got you some awesome new story line and voice acting with someone as AWESOME as High King Emeric? I can understand concern for microtransactions taking over all development, but what if this is the only way ZOS would be able to spend the time to make new quests for us? I agree that the best case scenario would be giving us new singular quests for free. But what if that's not possible?

Also, I'm thinking about creating a poll for something like the top 5 ideas, based on the number of Insightful / Agree / Awesome points people get in their posts, if this thread does take off.

To be honest I'm not sure why I feel so against it. Part of it I guess would be the fear of the better/higher quality storylines being only available via micro transaction. As well, it opens up a whole can of worms on what else they could start selling us individually. I'm an avid user of the crown store myself, so I'm not afraid of paying above and beyond my sub, but there are some things that should not be parted out from the rest of the game in my mind.

IMO, if the only way they could make money/give us quest content, would be to sell them individually.. I would doubt they had any quality at all at that point.

Tenn60

I think one way they could incorporate an idea like this would be to give quests to open up the costumes, mounts, emotes, etc. with quests maybe making the rewards somewhat random within a certain category i.e. Do this quest and you'll unlock a random mount at a discounted price than just buying the one you want straight up. I know that probably doesn't appeal to a lot of people buying those items, but 4000 crowns for a mount seems excessive to me personally. So adding a quest to go along with the mount or whatever it is(maybe making it optional) I think would at least make the value seem more fair. However I do think it is a slippery slope because so far the game has stayed relatively away from p2w and I think crown store should stay cosmetic(even motifs, again in my opinion, shouldn't be sold on crown store). I think it is a interesting idea though.

ProfesseurFreder

I was just about to suggest something similar. An old, classic boardgame called HERO*QUEST used to have expansion sets that they called "Quest Packs."

Dungeons and delves are nice, but there are a lot of us out here who love Questing and Stories, and surely there are more stories to be told...

"Quest Packs" would simply add more story material to the game, and they could have the added virtue (from the production end of things) of taking place in already existing locations on the map. They could encompass sequels to quests already taken, or be completely new stories.

But while the "Quest Packs" themselves would be buyable in the Crown Store, where we part company is in how to actually begin playing the content. I think that the "quest starters" that we already have in the crown store are a pretty lame way to begin a quest or event, and I **ALWAYS** make the effort to pick up these housing and holiday quest lines from within the game itself, the same as we do with other DLC. I think the "quest starters" as we currently know them in the Crown Store are a complete waste of space.

If dungeon-based content that adds new locations to the game costs 1500 - 2500 crowns, I would think that story-based content could drop somewhere in the 1000 to 2000 crown range. On the other hand, things do seem to be getting more expensive lately. 4000 for a mount? No.

EttinTheBreton

@Tenn60 I do like your idea of making buying mounts, emotes, costumes, and other items tied with additional quests for us to complete. Maybe the new quest could be related to the pool of rewards possible at the end of the quest, e.g., a Morrowind quest that you buy gives you a random Crown Store reward that is Morrowind themed.

@ProfesseurFreder I would really enjoy sequels to quests already taken. An extension to the Mages Guild quest line would be awesome. Or, as I've said before, I just finished my last quest with High King Emeric in Bangkorai and I want to know more! I especially like this idea because ZOS could add a poll where all players could vote for which quest-line they want to see developed more next. As for beginning the content, what if some of the quests added to the "quest starters" section somehow involves an NPC coming up to you in game, such as a courier? The courier has been a way of beginning quests in several of the past Elder Scrolls games.

Thanks for the ideas! I've added quotes from each of your posts that summarizes your main ideas onto the original post. Let's keep 'em coming!

bebynnag

you mention high king emeric, who is of course voiced by Bill Nighy.

to get him back in to record a new quest would cost MONEY

to make this profitable using your suggestion there would be nothing micro about the transaction, which is why i am against the idea.

if Zos are gonna get Bill Nighy back in the studio - i want a full on story worthy of its very own DLC!

Danikat

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I don't subscribe to ESO, which means I have to buy the DLC separately etc. and in theory this wouldn't be any different. But I think for it to make sense they'd have to both justify releasing these quests on their own and not as part of a DLC and justify charging for them after giving us holiday content, the Morrowind intro quest and occasional others for free.

So it has to be good enough to be worth paying for whilst also somehow small and independent enough that it makes sense for it not to be included in a DLC. And I can't imagine there would be a lot of quests that would fit both those categories. Maybe if it was a series of quests, or a long quest, set in existing zones (since they've established a pattern of DLCs including a new area) with a self-contained storyline. But then why not just call it DLC?

One thing I would like to see, and I wish they'd done since the crown store was introduced, is to offer two options for mounts and maybe pets and costumes as well - one is the system we've got now where you pay crowns and get the item immediately, so those who just want the item have that option. The other would be to pay the same amount* and start a quest that ends with you getting the mount/costume/pet etc.

For example when wolf mounts were introduced there were books added to the game detailing how people were able to tame and train wolves and what the rider needed to know and do to be able to ride them. It would be great if there was a quest where you found someone who knew all that and learned how to ride and tame a wolf and then went and got your mount.

*I think this should cost the same as just getting the item because it's a trade-off - you get more content in the form of a quest (although I suspect most would be quite short and basic) and some lore relating to your purchase - but it also delays getting the item you bought and requires more effort, similar to items obtained for free in-game.