Official Discussion Thread for "Introducing the Dwarven Crown Crate Season"

raj72616a

MissBizz wrote: »

Tyrion87 wrote: »

In addition to the Apex rewards listed above, you may also reveal one of these very rare mounts, which are currently only obtainable as a reward from a Dwarven Crown Crate:

So now we have the ultra-Apex mounts not being purchasable via crown gems?

Nice try ZOS! Your greed is limitless.

Where is the end of all this...

This is ridiculous. What's next? Limited time (3 day) crates? With no gem refund or purchase option? This is terrible.

next is deleting details from the mounts to improve performance, after you won them from lottery crates

sinak03

I lost 35k crowns and i wont be sad if you please let me just buy the vitrine wolf for 1k gems or whatever... Please?

Threemoons

OK, bought 5K worth of crates--15 last night--and I have to say the drop rate is ABYSMAL.

On the last two sets of crates, I got at least 1 extra card every 2 or 3. Here I got ONE.

AND I got repeats--all repeats--of crap I already have; only came away with one head ornament and two hats (meh). You're asking the whales out here to pay literally the cost of the original game or the expansion for 15 crates of CRAP.

Let me add that IIRC it looks like the gem exchange rate got changed also. I got tons and tons of potions and only one gem per 25 items? That to me is an admission that the boxes are packed full of said items to the point of almost being worthless.

On the other boxes, I at least got a MOUNT on the set of 15.

This is just customer abuse at this point, from a goodwill standpoint. Yeah, you can always say "nobody is forcing you to buy X Y or Z" but then don't offer it if you know it's a craven cash grab.

Also, what others said RE the crafting styles. Either put em in the cash store (as time limited if you want) or make them easier to get in game.

Finally, I'm with everyone RE "crate only items." They suck as a concept.

And yet again, how about some pictures of the crate-only items? Still can't find a picture of this sweetroll that people are talking about.

I beta tested this game and have dropped an inordinate amount of money into the system. This latest round of crates, however, makes me want to throw up my hands and say "forget it." Literally squeezing hundreds of dollars out of players on top of the subscription fees and the cost of the expansion (Morrowind) is just not cool.

PS from a collector's standpoint, yeah, I'd like at least one mount, but by the Divines they are ugly-ass reskins. You want a unique Dwemer mount? How about a "power suit" that you step in that looks like a Centurion that lets you run at mount speed, like the power suit from Aliens? Or something like a skateboard? IMHO the Dwemer wouldn't be making vehicles that look like above-ground animals; they would be extensions of the tech already in place. Hell, even a three-wheeled dune-buggy sort of thing would be more in line with lore. If you're squeezing your whales for $100 and up per crate binge, you can pay your designers a little more than just fees for a freaking reskin.

Enodoc

Threemoons wrote: »

AND I got repeats--all repeats--of crap I already have; only came away with one head ornament and two hats (meh). You're asking the whales out here to pay literally the cost of the original game or the expansion for 15 crates of CRAP.

There are considerably fewer blue items and considerably more gold items in this crate - that will definitely result in more repeats than before.

Let me add that IIRC it looks like the gem exchange rate got changed also. I got tons and tons of potions and only one gem per 25 items? That to me is an admission that the boxes are packed full of said items to the point of almost being worthless.

The gem extraction for consumables is the same as it always has been. It's one gem per card for any of the white or green cards.

Abeille

TonyRockaroni wrote: »

Is it weird that I like the fact that I can FINALLY have Eoki's hairstyle more than I like those Dwarven mounts? XD

I don't think it is weird, I think that hair style is the only decent thing in these crates. Only my opinion, of course.

Doesn't look so good on my characters (it's ok on my Argonian but I made a point with her to never have feathers) but it is something that I would most likely have impulse-bought if it was available for direct purchase.

ignio

I freaked out when I got the ebon senche. I guess I had good reason to!

ignio

I do, however, wish the ALL CRAFTING RESEARCH scroll weren't crate only. Pls ZOS.

LadyNalcarya

Why most of the collectibles in those crates are so *** ugly?
No offense, but what the hell is this?

TonyRockaroni

LadyNalcarya wrote: »

Why most of the collectibles in those crates are so *** ugly?
No offense, but what the hell is this?

Inspiration for a B-level scary movie during a dump month?

DarknessShallFall

I got the Adamat Dwarven Horse, and love it so much. Tho I got a lot of nix hounds pets in the crates. -.- Im not the only person having that problem tho. xD

VerboseQuips

Enodoc wrote: »

Turelus wrote: »

Regarding the no gem purchases I'm going to make this short, critical and polite.

ZOS, whoever it is who is running the marketing side of things and keeps pushing these absurd prices and insulting marketing schemes is hurting both yours and the games reputation.

They are showing to have no respect for this game or it's community. It's insulting to every one of us that you keep allowing this to continue.

If you want my opinion as a Community Ambassador then it's that you need to speak with the people who are doing this and get them to start listening or opening a dialogue with the games community.

I may discuss more with you in private when I have cooled off a little.

Indeed. With everything being available for Gems, the Crates had just fallen on the acceptable side of "don't like it". I will always be against the exclusive-to-crates non-thematic items, but now having exclusive-to-crates and not even available for Gems tips that 'acceptable' to the other side.

I agree with both of you. I disliked the Crates from the start as it was very clear they were a way to ask too much for what they sold, but with the "everything purchasable by gems" option, it was always possible to assess a worst case scenario price for obtaining a given item, or completing a collection. There was also a possible best purchase strategy for completionists, which was to not buy anything with gems before you had enough gems to buy everything you want, as buying early would increase the risk of getting the desired items as duplicates, thus only getting one third of their value.

Now this "currently no-gem-only-RNG could mean two things.
At best, a time-limited gem sale at some point in the future, which makes the Crates worse but would still allow for budgetization - but the lack of clear communication on this issue and the lack of assurance that such a future sale will indeed occur is really problematic. I can't interpret it any other way than "Pay now, we'll discuss later", which is highly disrespectful.
At worst, it means that they introduced a potentially infinite money-sink in the game, targetting completionist collectors. And while "way too expensive" is higly dislikable but still defensible, "potentially infinite with no warranty of getting there" is not defensible by any conceivable way, and utterly despicable and disgusting. (And, by the way, it's also stupid: when a completionist collector is sure that his collection will never be complete anymore, by any possible way, there is also no reason to maintain high expenses in maintaining it complete, so I kind of expect the move to fire back for the next crate season.)

I know I use severe words, but I see no more diplomatic or polite way to express my thought on this issue that would even begin to approach sincerity. To be even more clear: with this move, ZOS collapsed in my esteem and destroyed all credibility I had for them.
When Morrowind came out, I was impressed by their rendition of Second-Era Vvardenfell. In my eyes, they had regained a credibility that had become eroded during the last year. I don't doubt this "Chapter" required a lot of work, and the result is undeniably great, so it's even sadder to destroy the restored image ZOS obtained with Morrowind so soon after the Chapter is out.
In the last two months, due to personal and professional issues, I have played ESO less and less. Until this week, I intended to put some effort back in the game whenever it would be possible for me. Now, well... I am not so eager anymore to get back into it. This fiasco, one week after the disapointing E3 show, might very well make my interest in ESO dwindle and fade entirely. That's sad, but I guess I'll have more time for other occupations.

sinak03

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_AntonioP @ZOS_GaryA @ZOS_TristanK
Anyone who is responsible about this matter pls say something, this is really important to us!

Elsonso

sinak03 wrote: »

Anyone who is responsible about this matter pls say something, this is really important to us!

In general, the Marketeers are invisible hands.

Even if the people you mentioned were allowed to walk on the same floors, and breathe the same air, as the people who make money, what they learned from them would cause them to be banished for eternity, if shared. The first rule of Marketing is to not talk about Marketing.

More seriously, they are never going to explain. We can see what it is, and it is what it is. If they feel something needs to be fixed, and it is important that it be fixed, it will be fixed. There is nothing to explain.

Meanwhile: Just say 'No' to Crown Crates.

sinak03

@lordrichter well thx for explaining it, tho as you may have seen this:

sinak03 wrote: »

I lost 35k crowns and i wont be sad if you please let me just buy the vitrine wolf for 1k gems or whatever... Please?

I have spent alot of crowns already (no apex or ultra-apex tho) I have about 1k gems but now I just want to buy some of the re-colors. Well I just have to accept it now.

Druachan

In the name of Molag Bals reptilian backside, who came up with this one ZOS? It sounds like those players, (you remember players right?) who objected to crown crates in the beginning are being proved right. So now you can only get some new shiny shiny if you are willing to gamble away your hard earned actual money on something you might or might not get. Also now you can't cash in the garbage you did get and hope you might get some return (minus interest) that you could put towards getting said new shiny shiny by other fairer means. Lets not beat about the bush here, what you are doing is encouraging people to gamble as the only way to get something in the game.

I mean, really??? Someone in your business thought that was a great idea? I've never bought a crown crate and have zero intention of doing so, but I suppose plenty of people do or you wouldn't be doing this. Stop though, because any of the good stuff you do is now being forgotten about and now we just see that ZOS wants your money, anyway it can and if the players feel like they have been cheated out of their money then thats too bad.

Come on, you can do better than that surely? What happened to a great game, a great experience for people thats now being turned into some shoddy casino. I pay (some might say stupidly) for a plus membership because I hope its going towards paying for a great game. I'm not going to find myself having paid £50-100 of real cash on a crown crate slot machine only to find I've been conned and that well I should have read the small print that says its all fair and above board terms and conditions apply etc etc etc...

There's a right thing and a wrong thing to do here. Everybody screws up now and again. This is one of those times. You can fix it and you can restore some of the faith thats ebbing away. If not well maybe that next awesome upgrade you want me to pay for maybe I won't. Plus membership, hmm maybe not. Now, go organise a meeting and put an end to this.

Druachan

LadyNalcarya wrote: »

Why most of the collectibles in those crates are so *** ugly?
No offense, but what the hell is this?

Looks like some kind of discarded mockup of a cyberman from doctor who, circa 1969 I'd say, 2 shekels and a bag of camel dung to take it off your hands..

russelmmendoza

This crate system is so devlish.
Gamble for something you want.
Collect tidbits to get what you want.
Either way you will be spending a lot.

I could have buy the breton hero costume for 2-3k crown.
Now i lost 3k crown for things i dont care for.
I hate ***$ like this.

newtinmpls

Druachan wrote: »

In the name of Molag Bals reptilian backside, who came up with this one ZOS? It sounds like those players, (you remember players right?) who objected to crown crates in the beginning are being proved right.

Sadly... yeah.

Queencammy

Hi ZoS, i have spent almost 100 british pounds on crown crate and i don't even get the dwarven mount, can u please just send me 1 mount at least as that is my monthly allowance for gaming and can't afford to buy more crate. I just want to enjoy my game with the new dwarven mount without having to morgage my house soon. Please do me a big favor and just send me a mount as i am quite pissed about spending 100£ on nothing in return.

Anunakis

Queencammy wrote: »

Hi ZoS, i have spent almost 100 british pounds on crown crate and i don't even get the dwarven mount, can u please just send me 1 mount at least as that is my monthly allowance for gaming and can't afford to buy more crate. I just want to enjoy my game with the new dwarven mount without having to morgage my house soon. Please do me a big favor and just send me a mount as i am quite pissed about spending 100£ on nothing in return.

did you even made some sacrifice for god of deals before opening the crates?

Galwylin

Looking back, these crates were what started my dissatisfaction with this game. I like having my characters look and own certain things which the crown store used to provide at reasonable prices. But now I rarely even log in to train my mounts and even then its just on my current main.

More and more things started being noticed. The Morrowind patch really threw me into pure dislike territory but what killed my ESO love entirely was the woefully underwhelming lack of content in the Morrowind dlc/chapter/expansion. Crates got me started but that finished the job for me. Now, I don't sub to this game and have started playing less and less to the point of periods of time I don't even log in. (I just thought I'd check the news in the forums and saw this).

And that was just from the crates as first introduced. I think my first complaint thread here was on pricing. This is dangerous territory for a game to start messing with. If all you're known for is how well you cash grab then it will never matter how good the game actually ever was. But I guess ZOS couldn't let milking those new Morrowind players pass them by.

I guess you could say the crates are a gamble for both now. Players could gamble on getting items and ZOS can gamble on losing players.

MornaBaine

As usual the gamble boxes continue to disappoint but this is a "good" thing as it just makes it easier for me to keep my money rather than give it to ZOS. How I wish they'd put as much effort into a few unique horses I could buy outright.

KingSoren

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Let's all worship the mighty sweetroll.

Threemoons

KingSoren wrote: »

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Let's all worship the mighty sweetroll.

I now have Sweetroll Envy. I hope I get that and the crafting motifs in my gift crates. That's all I really want (even though I must say the motifs are hella ugly, I am something of a completionist).

WhiteCoatSyndrome

@Threemoons Last I checked the Motifs in the crates were available-in game. Why not save yourself the trouble and just buy them at a guild trader?

Threemoons

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

@Threemoons Last I checked the Motifs in the crates were available-in game. Why not save yourself the trouble and just buy them at a guild trader?

Thanks, will try that. Still really hoping for the Sweet Roll....

alexkdd99

Totally don't agree with not being able to buy with gems and I also defended the crates. That is not to say I don't see why they did it.

On the first crate season I bought a ton of crates and stocked up on gems. So the second season I just bought whatever I wanted with gems and still have close to 500 gems and didn't buy a single crate during the second season. Luckily I got the dwemer horse from the free crate.

I would guess that others also have crown gems saved and they want to sell more crates. Screwed up. I won't be purchasing anymore crates. Also won't be purchasing anymore crowns. Been playing the necromancer in D3 lately anyways.

MornaBaine

When the store first opened the one thing players said repeatedly was, "Don't do ANYTHING like they do it in SWTOR!" Then they hired the very person responsible for the store in SWTOR. We really shouldn't be surprised by any of this.

Neyane

The drop rate is insane. I've bought tons of these crates and I've gotten about 50 bloody nix hounds.

Beardimus

How often do seasons change? Really don't care for the dwarven stuff.