Crown crates = stopped recommending ESO to friends

Biro123

What justifies the annual cost of ESO being my favourite game is one thing only... The time I spend playing it. Adding new cosmetic stuff in crates hasn't affected that at all.

I pay ESO+ primarily to support my favourite game, for the bank space/qol improvements. For me, access to all the dlc is just a bonus.

MornaBaine

Jade1986 wrote: »

Even though I love the game, I fell in love withit before scam crates became their primary focus. When dlc and content was their primary focus. Which is when we got jewels like wrothgar. Ever since then the dlcs have suffered tremendously becaus ethey spend SO much time hyper focusing their greed into scam crates. I cannot in good conscience recommend this game to people now a days. Nope.

Exactly this. I've been here since pre-launch and in the days before B2P we got Craglorn and Wrothgar. Now for something on the scale of Wrothgar we're expected to pony up another 40 bucks or more even if we maintain a sub. The crown store and gamble crates have NOT resulted in a better game with more stability and richer content. DLC is laughably small. And every other DLC is nothing more than yet another dungeon. Prices keep going up and we can't even get a crown sale this year. As much as I love this game... I don't recommend it to friends anymore either.

JD2013

ChaosWotan wrote: »

JD2013

35-40 hours of content in one year is basically nothing when paying between 400 and 800 dollars on crown crates annually, in addition to lots of dollars on other items in the CS. With the introduction of "extremely rare" apex mounts the Elder Store Online has become an offensive money scheme.

I’ve been here since beta and not spent a penny on crates?

So ... ?

duendology

This is ridiculous.
You people don't recommend it to other people because you've quested everything there is to quest and don't get MOOOAR the way you want and in time you want?
As for crown store... I don't get this argument! I really don't! As MANY people said it before me, these are just bloody cosmetics and don't affect the gameplay (which is a relief actually!! If you want them must pay for them. It's a little like saying "I am not going out because everybody there will wear Versace and I can't afford".
The Crown Crates are what they are..when you buy them you must assume you may get ***...so either clench your teeth and hope for something nice or don't buy them.

Aaaaaaaaand speaking of the prices in Crown Store... how's that no one, NO ONE, ***** about some ridiculous prices players sell items in the game? Some of them cost more than houses themselves or alike!!!!!!how's that different from ESO being, supposedly, greedy? In both cases...capitalism ehh?

And just in case someone brings up the argument in-game golds vs real money...it's as real as real money, you pay with your time spent on accumulating the gold, it's a real time OF YOUR LIFE...someone who does not understand it, does not understand the basics of economics.

Everyone's greedy, it seems, when presented with an opportunity...so stop whining!

Elsonso

ChaosWotan wrote: »

JD2013

35-40 hours of content in one year is basically nothing when paying between 400 and 800 dollars on crown crates annually, in addition to lots of dollars on other items in the CS. With the introduction of "extremely rare" apex mounts the Elder Store Online has become an offensive money scheme.

Just say NO to Crown Crates. Seriously.

Zhaedri

$100 to $200 for a mount? Ridiculous.

You do know they sell mounts in the 'Mounts' section of the crown store, yes? And sometimes they have really good bundle-deals that include a mount (the one that had the piebald horse, for instance). 800 crowns HARDLY = $100-$200!

You also know that you can buy a few mounts in game with in-game gold, too? The cheapest is 10k or so, while the most expensive is around 40k. You don't even need to give them crowns or be an ESO+ subscriber for these! Steal a bunch, or sell stuff in guild stores, or whatever and the money is easy to make. You got something against the Sorrel Horse? It's a good, solid, dependable steed.

They also sometimes give mounts away, too. Did you not get your Nix Ox War Mount, or the Dwarven Steed, or the Imperial Horse with those DLC/Expansions/Giveaway? Yes, yes, you had to buy the DLC or Expansion for that, but they still gave you a mount to go along with it.

Perhaps you forgot the free crate events too, where they seem to boost the better item drops from the free ones. I've gotten multiple mounts from my FREE crates. The last two events haven't even required ESO+, just log in and kill an enemy mob. I got a Senche Lioness from the first crate I opened from the last event or the one before. It was free, and I got a mount! Whee!

jaschacasadiob16_ESO

Which mount was sold at 100$?

Mounts, costumes and stuff can be received to reach milestones or complete quests. Lately, you are getting free crates. On top of that, 1. there are many nice looking sets tha tcan be crafted and 2. you don't need vanity items to win the game.

But of course, crown items are way nicer.

Tandor

I don't know what the OP wants added to Cyrodiil, but in saying that nothing has been added to it since 2014 he's implying that there's been nothing new for PvPers in that time, while they've actually had Imperial City, dueling and Battlegrounds as well as (I believe, not being a PvPer I don't know the details) new/changed campaigns. It's not a pure PvP title in any event so they've also benefited from all the other new content.

As for the crates, you either buy them or not, but they don't contain anything that's necessary to play and enjoy the game and if someone only wants to play a MMORPG for the mounts or costumes then there's not a lot to be said anyway!

Loc2262

Since crown crates are completely optional, and their contents just cosmetic without any influence on gameplay... I couldn't care less about them. The only ones I've opened so far are those they gave out for free. Otherwise I'm quite content with the DLC contents.

Elsonso

MornaBaine wrote: »

Exactly this. I've been here since pre-launch and in the days before B2P we got Craglorn and Wrothgar.

Minor correction. You got Craglorn, not Wrothgar, before B2P.

I know I am re-opening the whole "Chapters is evil" thing, but a reminder is probably necessary for newer people. Orsinium is a $30 "list price" DLC that could be rented at no additional charge by ESO Plus members, or purchased at a discount due to various sales and package deals. The most obvious difference with Morrowind, aside from the $40 price tag, is that they want their money in cash, up front.



Edit: For the record, I think Morrowind should have been priced at $30 or $35, not $40.

Kel

I'm not one to tell somebody how to spend your money. That's up to you to decide. If you don't like crates, don't buy them. With that in mind, how about you let your friends make up thier own mind about how they want to spend thiers? Why wouldn't you recommend a great game, and let them decide for themselves what's best for them and thier wallet? I don't get that. You personally don't like it, so you make the decision for them? Kind of selfish, in my opinion.
As far as the DLC's are concerned...too small? I'd rather have frequent dlc's than years between content as some other games out there provide. You look at some of WoW's patches like 7.2. Yes, it was 11 weeks of quests, but you got one quest a week that was basically go kill 100 things that you completed in less than an hour, and that's it. Wait for next week time gated BS. I'll take ESO's quarterly DLC's over that any day.

ADarklore

Whenever I talk about ESO to others, I tell them both sides of the game. The fact that you have options to buy stuff from the Crown Store or try for different things through Crown Crates while being offered Gems for duplicate items and being able to eventually buy the mount you want- outside of the 'crate only' mounts. Almost all of the people have said, "Are those mounts necessary to play?" "No" I tell them, "They're usually only cool looking re-skins of existing mounts." "So what's the big deal?" they say, "If you don't need them, then don't buy them." Funny how most people get that, yet apparently some who have actually been playing the game do not.

Radinyn

Can i have your stuff?

For me crowncrates are perfectly fine. As long as crownstore is not p2w everything is ok to me.

Ilithyania

ESO has alot more to offer then just the Crates

Elsonso

Radinyn wrote: »

Can i have your stuff?

For me crowncrates are perfectly fine. As long as crownstore is not p2w everything is ok to me.

Aside from Crown Crates, the main thing in the Crown Store that makes me hesitate are the XP scrolls, which they religiously defend against in-game intrusion. That is not to say that the riding lessons and other "time saving conveniences" should be there. All of them are mistakes, in my opinion. These should be in the game, not the Crown Store. They should have limited the "convenience" to meta activities (name change, race change, etc) and Crown analogs for attainable in-game items, like the food and drink, soul gems, and repair kits.

Crown Crates did not make me stop recommending ESO, though. The reason that I don't recommend ESO is that all of my friends do PVP, and ESO has not had good PVP for quite a while. The raiding will only hold their interest for a little while, and then they move on to some game that has PVP. I am much more tolerant of PVE than they are, which is why I am still here. It was the PVP in Cyrodiil that got me to join the game, though. This no longer exists.

Raideen

jaschacasadiob16_ESO wrote: »

Which mount was sold at 100$?

Mounts, costumes and stuff can be received to reach milestones or complete quests. Lately, you are getting free crates. On top of that, 1. there are many nice looking sets tha tcan be crafted and 2. you don't need vanity items to win the game.

But of course, crown items are way nicer.

If one is trying to get the "purple gem" mounts, they have to purchase crates and sell back the RNG items from the crates at a DISCOUNTED rate to get the purple gems. Due to RNG you can easily spend a few hundred and not get the mount you want. One has to easily spend 100-200 dollars to get enough purple gems to purchase the mount if it does not drop.

25 dollars is insanely ridiculous for a mount. 100 is simply nauseating, 200 is the dictionary definition of pure 100% unadulterated greed. This is peoples complaint.

DieAlteHexe

Jade1986 wrote: »

DieAlteHexe wrote: »

Jade1986 wrote: »

Biro123 wrote: »

Just roleplay someone who can't afford that stuff ?

I think there's plenty of great looking gear in the base game.

I think that if they have to put something behind the paywall, its better to be cosmetic than p2w

I think that the simple ESO+ would give enough crowns to but the crown store gear at a reasonable rate... If that's your spending priority.

I don't like the whole concept of loot boxes. At all. I'm just happy that not having them doesn't impact my ability to play through the content/PvP on a level playing field.

Thats what I do. Spend my crowns each month on those things. However, it would be nice if we had a single good clothing outfit in the base game. As of now , I dont think there is a single one. There is a lot of HA, a lot of medium armor, some light armor, but no clothing.

Anyway that isnt my major grip. My gripe is with crown crates and how much effort they put into them, and how little they put into dlc lately.

Pretty sure that the folks who do the art for the crate contents are not the same folks who do DLC content.

Not sure what you consider a "good clothing outfit" so can't really comment there as that is going to be very subjective.

Any, lol, I cant think of a single clothing costume in the base game. Tons of various armor, but no clothing.

As for the crown crates, I know it is different people, however it is clear they put a lot of funding into them, if they didnt do that they could focus on what matters most, content and bug fixing.

Ah! I get what you mean now re: the clothing. Honestly? I dislike most of the armor in the game anyway. It's the style of the franchise and just doesn't appeal to me. Thankfully there are costumes.

How do you figure that? I think you'd find that the art guys are there daily, doin' their thing. The content guys are too, etc. Most likely they are salaried as well.

DieAlteHexe

lordrichter wrote: »

DieAlteHexe wrote: »

Pretty sure that the folks who do the art for the crate contents are not the same folks who do DLC content.

It is a fair bet that they are. Even one of the audio guys just stated on ESO Live that he worked on Crown Store stuff.

The devs that do art (recolors) will probably be the ones to turn the lights out on ESO, so it is only reasonable to expect that they are all working on Crown Crate stuff. If they stick around the studio doing ESO work for long enough, they won't be able to avoid it. There won't be anything else to work on that is related to ESO.

Designers design. Coders code. There is overlap, sure but the idea of "putting more resources into DLC" which I am assuming means content vs. fluff? You aren't going to see the design/art folks doing the coding for the DLC. Nor will you see (most of) the coders doing design work. Or am I completely misunderstanding?

Niobium

ChaosWotan wrote: »

When introducing ESO to new people now, I start by telling them that one single mount can cost 100-200 dollars. At that point they just laugh

I too like to misrepresent something I enjoy to people I consider friends in order to drive them away.

How about saying something like: There's lots of cool stuff in the game, some of it is free, some can be bought with in game currency and some of it with real world money if you like flashy things, but most importantly the gameplay is amazing. Give it a try and judge for yourself.

ChaosWotan wrote: »

... but in it's current state today I don't generally recommend ESO to anybody who are looking for an addictive rpg, because it costs too much.

ESO is $30 now with Morrowind. Then you don't have to pay a SINGLE CENT more. How is that costing too much? If $30 is too much then there are bigger problems.

Anti-crate people annoy the heck out of me. This game they all love so much? It needs income or it's over. They all want a free ride with their b2p and then complain when updates aren't done fast enough or bugs aren't fixed according to their time schedule. No one wanted the subscription model so it was scrapped - this is the replacement. Congratulations. You only pay for FLUFF items now if you want to dress up in a damn wedding dress or put on a new skin.

The best part is, if you don't want any of that stuff - YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY A CENT! Fantastic! And if you do want it? Then get your head out of your rear end and support the game by paying for it.

Iccotak wrote: »

That being said there should be parental controls on accounts that have underage players on them. This way to prevent kids from making transactions without parents knowing.

This isn't a kids game. It's not rated for children. Parents should do the parenting - it's not up to businesses to become parents.

Elsonso

Raideen wrote: »

25 dollars is insanely ridiculous for a mount. 100 is simply nauseating, 200 is the dictionary definition of pure 100% unadulterated greed. This is peoples complaint.

Maybe.

I think that $25 is more along the lines of "not unusual" than "insane". High end, probably, but there were mounts in WoW that sold for that much. I have no idea what they sell for, today.

To back up your prices... The standard Apex mount is going to require an average of about 30 Crown Crates to have even odds of getting it. Some will need more crates, some will need less. They might be able to get the 400 Gems before then, or they might be lucky and get one before then. At $4 list price per Crate, that comes to $120.

Of course, for that price you get stocking stuffers that no one buys (food, drink, soul gems, poison), costumes, pets, and what not. For many people, that is all they are going to get.

Forsakiin

Why would your recommendation of the game be based on availability of certain cosmetic items rather than actual gameplay experience? Are you telling me that because some items you believe are cool are in the crates you've turned friends away from something they could really enjoy? I mean... can't you see how ridiculous that sounds?

Seriously, the only items out of reach in crown crates are the apex rewards. Getting 100 gems or below that to buy things from the other reward tiers equates to roughly the same crowns as if they were available for an instant buy in the crown store (from my experience). What is wrong with spending some money on cosmetic items on a game where you can rack up years of play time for FREE (except for Morrowind), and still be on an equal playing field with everyone else. I swear this whole EA and Battlefront 2 fiasco has sent the crown crate haters a little too crazy lately. Gain some perspective people.

Slack

"DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME!! - THE MOST IMPORTANT PART (GLOWING MOUNTS) IS LOCKED BEHIND GAMBLE BOXES"

Slyjinxy

The whining about crown crates has become totally ridiculous.

1) They don't give anyone a game play advantage

2) They are 100% optional

3) Why are people so concerned with how other people spend their money?

4) To discourage people from playing because of something so inconsequential and again OPTIONAL is childish

I have never spent a single dime on crates, they don't interest me. The only time I even think about them is when people start these stupid threads.

It is most certainly not something that detracts from the game in any way.

bellatrixed

I hate the crown crates, but that doesn't mean the whole game sucks. By all means, share your feedback with the devs and lobby for change. But what good does it do to steer people away from the game? None.

And the outright lying about mounts, lol... I just use my midnight steed, you know, one of the ones bought with gold and not crowns. I've bought crates when trying to get a few cosmetic things I really wanted like lipstick or hairstyles and stopped as soon as I had enough gems for them. The game is really what you make it, crappy crates included.

You don't NEED that swirling tornado lightning bear to enjoy ESO.

KingMagaw

I always say ESO was a good game, dont start playing it now is my advice to anyone that enquires through me.

Huyen

ChaosWotan wrote: »

Slick_007

When I wrote that I'm an ESO addict, you should have been able to deduce that I tell people about the pros and cons of the game, but can't generally recommend a rpg game when many of the coolest items have to be bought, at an insane prize, and not earned as achievements in the game.

One can say much about capitalism, but one of the advantages of this system is that companies care about their reputation and (often) change strategy when noticing that they are losing a significant amount of customers.

The game will suffer if not more players are protesting when ESO is going down a path that is laughable - to the point of becoming speechless when seeing that the annual cost of cosmetic items can now be equally expensive as a pretty decent hardware upgrade, like a new CPU or GPU.

People are different, so if a person just wants some casual free to play rpg, then ESO is still a great game obviously, but in it's current state today I don't generally recommend ESO to anybody who are looking for an addictive rpg, because it costs too much.

Better stop playing any game then, as this is the way to go these days.

Doctordarkspawn

Slyjinxy wrote: »

The whining about crown crates has become totally ridiculous.

1) They don't give anyone a game play advantage

2) They are 100% optional

3) Why are people so concerned with how other people spend their money?

4) To discourage people from playing because of something so inconsequential and again OPTIONAL is childish

I have never spent a single dime on crates, they don't interest me. The only time I even think about them is when people start these stupid threads.

It is most certainly not something that detracts from the game in any way.

And yet, through all this apology, two countries are still looking at taking the legislative axe to them, following -outrage- over a issue persistant for years.

The gravy train is over, apologist.

Geroken777

ChaosWotan wrote: »

Have always recommended ESO to friends and acquaintances, but don't do it anymore, because when new players see all the cool gear and mounts they will get disappointed when hearing that these items are from the crown crates and are therefore either not available anymore or they cost like 100 dollars for a regular apex mount or perhaps 200 dollars for an "extremely rare" apex mount.

When introducing ESO to new people now, I start by telling them that one single mount can cost 100-200 dollars. At that point they just laugh.

Btw, in earlier threads I have defended the crown crates, and I used to be a "whale" myself in the CS, because I was naive enough to think that more money to ESO would result in better DLCs, but after seeing that 1) quarterly DLCs are too small, 2) the greedy ones have now introduced "extremely rare" apex mounts, not available through gem transactions, and 3) Cyrodiil still lacks new content since 2014, even an ESO addict like me must admit that the game isn't worth it.

If you're leaving can I have all of your items?

You are crying for cosmetic items.

DieAlteHexe

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

Slyjinxy wrote: »

The whining about crown crates has become totally ridiculous.

1) They don't give anyone a game play advantage

2) They are 100% optional

3) Why are people so concerned with how other people spend their money?

4) To discourage people from playing because of something so inconsequential and again OPTIONAL is childish

I have never spent a single dime on crates, they don't interest me. The only time I even think about them is when people start these stupid threads.

It is most certainly not something that detracts from the game in any way.

And yet, through all this apology, two countries are still looking at taking the legislative axe to them, following -outrage- over a issue persistant for years.

The gravy train is over, apologist.

Stretched that a bit. Some people in two countries have come out recently to make statements that they think this should be looked into. Neither country has actively started looking into it, so far as I can see. A politician in Belgium and one (or was it two) in Hawaii.

nolangrady

This won't be a popular opinion and I could care less but what's with so many people being so concerned about optional in-game purchases? Do you campaign to end gambling where it is legal? Do you post on mobile game forums about their predatory practices? Nothing is forced upon you to purchase and unlike a lot of games the Crown Store is barely in your face.

What I believe this comes down to is a relatively large group of folks that plague "free to play" games. These individuals want to enjoy all aspects of the game for free. They want the craft bag free because it's not fair that most adults that play this game chooses to spend their hard earned money on a subscription. They want DLC access for free because it isn't fair they cannot use a particular item set. Free to play and buy to play games are plagued with gamers that do not want to contribute to the game financially but want to reap the same rewards. I understand some folks can't afford the $15 a month but why should the game be neutered because you spent $400 on a gaming console you cannot afford to play this game on?

The video game welfare mentality is worse than offering optional crown crates. This subset of gamers is why most free to play and optional subscription games have such toxic communities (toxicity directed towards the game and the folks that spend their money on it) in my opinion.

Again, this won't be a popular topic based on the dozens of recent posts about loot crates being the spawn of Satan and subscribers being elitists. Focus should be placed on how ZoS fails to deliver on fixing bugs and performance issues not on how I choose to spend my money.

Now let the ragefest begin....