A thread about all the negativity about the ESO Store

mikejezz

I get it. It’s annoying that all the cool mounts costs crowns and aren’t obtainable in the game like other mmorpgs, but people seem to forget that this game doesn’t require a subscription to be played compared to for an example World of Warcraft.

ZoS has to earn money, especially since there’s probably many players without a subscription. Now, I do agree that the prices for the mounts can be a bit high, and crown crates is cancer, but they do have to make the game profitable.

Crates should be removed and instead make t possible for us to just buy what we want. Maybe they earn more, maybe they earn less, but I think they overall would earn more since it would, for a customers view, more enjoyable to just buy what you want instead of gambling.

You might wonder why I just post this post like this, but there’s just so many complaining about the crown store, and while I do agree that crates are cancer and the prices for mounts etc maybe are a it too high, keep in mind that ZoS is a company and not a charity.

huntgod_ESO

I"m confident you're right and that the marketing department and design group are just misreading ALL the data that says the contrary is true, or ALL the other companies that have moved to this model of freemiun or modified B2P are clearly shifting to this model because it is significantly less profitable than a purely a la carte model.

Syncronaut

Micro is more profiteable than sub. Just look at Ea charts

KivakWolf

I understand the concern to be about two things: artificial scarcity and crates vs buying outright.

I don't think the majority of people playing a free game have a problem with buying cosmetic items in ESO. If anything, I think people are more likely to buy cosmetic items knowing their access to the game will not be dependent on a sub.

That being said, the implementation of artificial scarcity, which doesn't allow new players (like myself) who want to throw money at ESO to mounts they see people riding on, is not only disappointing but I am convinced it also hurts ESO's bottom line. For example: I would buy about 5 mounts right this moment if I could... I even offered ESO almost 5x the worth of the Karthwolf Charger to support only to be declined. That's frustrating and TBH it doesn't make me MORE likely to buy a mount when it is on sale. Either I like the mount enough to buy it or not. You're not going to make me buy a mount I don't like just because I might not be able to buy it later. And these 4-day sales don't allow people to save up money for them if they need to make a budget.

Crown crates are another ball of wax that I am on the fence about. If it was 100% down to an RNG, I would hate them. But you can buy everything from the crown crates using gems (except the Radiant Apex -- which is acceptable in my book). You can mathematically calculate how much $$ you need to spend for a guaranteed Apex reward of your choosing (it's 45 boxes fyi) and have some fun with maybe getting the other items you want along the way. However, I wish I could 'melt' everything I didn't want into gems - not just duplicates and selective low-gem items. (I don't like the minipets I have and I rather trade them for gems to get something I actually want). So while I don't like crown crates, I think they're acceptable ONLY because you can buy them outright with enough gems.

I do think some mounts should be based on achievements and I think that's in ESO's best interest as well. It keeps people playing the game which makes them more likely to spend money to make them look better in the game they play. Sure, achievement mounts are "free" and don't directly make ESO money. But at the end of the day, I want to look good getting that achievement, I will probably pay a sub to get to the DLC that has it or the craft bag to have mats to get it, and I'll definitely show it off to others so they do the same.

TL;DR: My opinion: ESO's better money-making strategy and happier players = remove artificial scarcity, keep crown crates, make some super cool mounts achievements. That's a win-win-win IMHO

PS: Another thought for how to tackle artificial scarcity -- put things on the store for a limited time to buy outright (and make it like 3 months not 4 days), then push those items to a season of crown crates - similar to now. However, unlike now, allow people to buy any series of crown crates at any time. That allows for a degree of artificial scarcity to "buy it now or it will cost more later", but doesn't make it impossible to get at a later time.

DarkWombat

mikejezz wrote: »

I get it. It’s annoying that all the cool mounts costs crowns and aren’t obtainable in the game like other mmorpgs, but people seem to forget that this game doesn’t require a subscription to be played compared to for an example World of Warcraft.

Fine, then when we subscribe for ESO plus, more mounts should be made available to obtain in game, like World of Warcraft.

DaveMoeDee

The "ESO will make more money because of my personal anecdote" argument isn't persuasive.

davey1107

It’s funny that you wrote a post saying you wanted to commend the store, then managed to call part of it cancerous like three times, lol.

Game developers are struggling to figure out how to create profit streams from games like this. I think Zos is mostly on the right track, with a few missteps. The way I view it, I sub to play the game. At $12/month, or whatever the larger packages cost, as an entertainment product it costs about as much as one movie per month.

Then with that sub, I get a crown allowance as a loyalty reward. I have a positive view of this system because I see my crowns as a bonus. I tend to save them up and buy things that give me significantly higher play value. Most notably, I bought the island, where I’ve spent a couple dozen hours screwing around.

I’ve never spent on crates. At this point, I’ve received...what? Twenty free crates during the plus events? Mostly I’ve received junk, although I got super lucky and drew the ice wolf mount AND puppy in one event. On the one hand, if I’d spent crowns on those crates I could view it as just blowing my free crowns, so who cares what I draw. But on the other hand, if I’d spent like $50 on a package of crates and got the junk I’ve received, I wouldn’t call it a good purchase.

So what I would recommend to Zos is to think about what sort of small changes could they make that wold enhance the experience without affecting revenue too much. They tend to, honestly, suck at this. But there are some easy ideas:

- I’m betting that very, very few players play enough crown crates to earn multiple Apex rewards. I would recommend making an apex draw a token that allows a player to choose the mount. I think there are tons more people who would buy crates if they knew drawing a camel could be exchanged for...anything but a camel...than there are players who draw the camel and keep going.

- crate seasons should eliminate very similar items. Like when there’s a robe costume, then the exact same costume with a fur fringe. Bring in a variety of rewards or collapse the categories.

- in the larger store, stop with the stupid three day sales. Your marketing department doesn’t know what they’re talking about - yes this is giving you a spree of sales that help meet sales goals, but you’re making less in the long run. You’ll make more if you use a more tried and proven model. Make limited time offers run for the whole month, especially on big purchases LIKE THE HOMES. Then twice a month run a flash sale on piddly items - old costumes, motifs and flashbacks.

SydneyGrey

davey1107 wrote: »

- in the larger store, stop with the stupid three day sales. Your marketing department doesn’t know what they’re talking about - yes this is giving you a spree of sales that help meet sales goals, but you’re making less in the long run. You’ll make more if you use a more tried and proven model. Make limited time offers run for the whole month, especially on big purchases LIKE THE HOMES. Then twice a month run a flash sale on piddly items - old costumes, motifs and flashbacks.

I agree. I don't know why they think this makes them more money. Limited time items are ok, but they need to run a full month, not four freaking days. All that means is that most people will miss getting it in that 4-day span. Yes, I know the argument is they hope that people will impulse buy, but you can't impulse buy if you're out of town that week and miss it because the sale was four days long.

JJBoomer

Except, ESO was doing fine without crown crates? Like, they were still making money from micros anyway? Lootboxes are a cashgrab. End of.

Yzalirk

I have nothing against the Crown Store. I just wish they would add certain in-game assets you see NPC’s have, specifically hair and beard styles unavailable to us. I would mold my money into a ball and toss it their way.

Most people are annoyed with Crown Crates and for good reasons. A lot of the nicer cosmetic items tend to be put in them and if you want something from them, you have to spend money that could easily exceed the realistic cost for said item. There are games that do this in a more scummy way, of course, but with the gem system, you get a lot less in return for what the item is priced at. In one of the free crates, I got a XP Scroll priced at 100 gems but the return was 33. At the end of the day, we just have to accept that they will not go away and nicer items will continue to be placed in them. It is a tough pill to swallow.

Inoki

Thanks for saying this.

I believe you're right. The game needs to sustain itself, but prices are out of reasonable margins.

When you realise (also based on feedback), that overall lowering of prices could actually make you profit more as it would encourage more sales but you don't do it and raise prices instead, it's what is referred to as greed.

You don't need models like the crown crates either. Crown crates are shady business to begin with. They promote negativity instead of positivity and encouragement because they are RNG with super low chances of success. Moreover, gambling is an illness and anything promoting an illness or leading to one should be banned.

I support the game because I like it and with price reductions I'm pretty sure not just me but also many more would gladly pitch in and the game could prosper for many years to come.

ZOS, please promote a healthy environment by getting rid of loot boxes, significantly decrease prices for items and give people the freedom to choose the items they desire for reasonable prices and they will love you for that and you will build up a loyal player base. People will spread the word and your customer numbers will double, triple, quadruple perhaps, you name it, possibilities are endless.

Wishing, hoping, forcing, demanding, these things don't work in life.

MerlinPendragon

Leave the Crown Store as is.

The ESO store is far better than the overwhelming majority of what you will see another games.

VaranisArano

Hey, I'm all for removing stuff from crown crates and selling it directly in the Crown Store. Adding value to the Crown Store AND letting me buy what I want rather than just a chance at what I want is something I can get behind.