ZO$ you killed the whale !

Maintenance for the week of February 17:
• PC/Mac: No maintenance – February 17
• PC/Mac: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – February 19, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
• Xbox: NA and EU megaservers for patch maintenance – February 19, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
• PlayStation®: NA and EU megaservers for patch maintenance – February 19, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
• ESO Store and Account System for maintenance – February 19, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC) https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/673215
Arundo
Arundo
✭✭✭✭✭
I have to admit I’m a whale when it comes to cash shops in games. In most MMO’s I play I spend good amounts of euro’s to get those nice cosmetics. Furthermore I’m a collector and due to that whenever I see something I need to get it. Did this in other games like WoW, GW2, SWTOR and ofcourse ESO. With ESO I managed to get all stuff until the crown crates and even with the crown crates, the first two seasons I got all items eventually because you actually could even if your RNG sucked. But ZO$ being greedy added more items and added items you could not get through the gems so basically you had the chance (a very big one) to not get everything before the season was over.

Which meant as collector I could not get everything anymore. Because of this I have been spending less money on the cash shop then before, this whale got killed. So I made an analysis from my expenses from the account page and holy *** I spend over 4000 euro’s on ESO. But the good thing is that ever since the change to the way ZO$ is trying to grab more cash I spend less and less on ESO. So I would like to thank ZO$ for this, got cash to spend on other games which do not throw me under the RNG bus.

Below my spend euro's on ESO on crowns over the years per quarter:

nexbmf.png
  • AlienatedGoat
    AlienatedGoat
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Lol, you made a chart.

    I agree with your points though. The aggressive monetization of this game is going too far. They really would do more with less.
    PC-NA Goat
  • Morgul667
    Morgul667
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yeah my expenses are reducing too

    Seems they take us for granted.

    "Increase the IRL crown price for foreign currencies, increase crown cost of items in Game, make lower discount on the crowns, make ridiculous prices for new features (outfits), hide the new cool stuff behind a gambling wall "... wow that tells a lot about ZOS
  • Voxicity
    Voxicity
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I seem to be spending much less these days too, although I'm not a whale

    Can't complain though ;)
  • Jim_Pipp
    Jim_Pipp
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I kind of felt the game was being built for whales? What a fail!

    I'm a snail, I give a slow and steady profit to zos. I've played since launch and spent at least £100 on crowns every sale and sub occasionally, but I refused to buy any crowns in the faux sale - and as I won't buy crowns I will stop using the crown store.

    Zos your money grabbing is a fail, you are loosing whales and snails.
    #1 tip (Re)check your graphics settings periodically - especially resolution.
  • Runefang
    Runefang
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭
    That makes ZOS Ahab and you what? A Moby D...
    Edited by Runefang on May 9, 2018 7:39AM
  • Beardimus
    Beardimus
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    €4k on a game,damn!!
    Xbox One | EU | EP
    Beardimus : VR16 Dunmer MagSorc [RIP MagDW 2015-2018]
    Emperor of Sotha Sil 02-2018 & Sheogorath 05-2019
    1st Emperor of Ravenwatch
    Spoiler
    Alts - - for the Lolz
    Archimus : Bosmer Thief / Archer / Werewolf
    Orcimus : Fat drunk Orc battlefield 1st aider
    Scalimus - Argonian Sorc Healer / Pet master

    Fighting small scale with : The SAXON Guild
    Fighting with [PvP] : The Undaunted Wolves
    Trading Guilds : TradersOfNirn | FourSquareTraders

    Xbox One | NA | EP
    Bëardimus : L43 Dunmer Magsorc / BG
    Heals-With-Pets : VR16 Argonian Sorc PvP / BG Healer
    Nordimus : VR16 Stamsorc
    Beardimus le 13iem : L30 Dunmer Magsorc Icereach
  • ArchMikem
    ArchMikem
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Then there's those of us with a budget... Buying a pack of 5500 crowns once in a blue moon is a thought out decision.
    CP2,000 Master Explorer - AvA One Star General - Console Peasant - The Clan
    Quest Objective: OMG Go Talk To That Kitty!
  • Kalgert
    Kalgert
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I feel sad that you are so willing to call yourself a "Whale" (The derogative term made by the Triple A industry to call the people who spend a lot of money on a game). Get some dignity back, man!

    However, I do agree that the monetization tactics that are being used and implemented seem to be much more orientated towards trying to squeeze money out of people.

    I remember a time when cosmetic items were unlocks that you got through playing the game. Nowadays, this seems much more of a foreign concept. Now it's all about those live services and lootboxes and ***.

    And the worst part is, people are perfectly okay with this.
  • dsalter
    dsalter
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭
    Kalgert wrote: »
    I feel sad that you are so willing to call yourself a "Whale" (The derogative term made by the Triple A industry to call the people who spend a lot of money on a game). Get some dignity back, man!

    However, I do agree that the monetization tactics that are being used and implemented seem to be much more orientated towards trying to squeeze money out of people.

    I remember a time when cosmetic items were unlocks that you got through playing the game. Nowadays, this seems much more of a foreign concept. Now it's all about those live services and lootboxes and ***.

    And the worst part is, people are perfectly okay with this.

    "it'll be fine its just cosmetics ThE DeVs NeEd tO PaY BiLlS To" is how it all started. bend over once, and they'll keep going deeper.
    PLEASE REPLY TO ME WITH @dsalter otherwise i'm likely to miss the reply if its not my own thread

    EU - [Arch Mage Dave] Altmer Sorcerer
    Fight back at the crates and boxes, together we can change things.

  • Zordrage
    Zordrage
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Kalgert wrote: »
    I feel sad that you are so willing to call yourself a "Whale" (The derogative term made by the Triple A industry to call the people who spend a lot of money on a game). Get some dignity back, man!

    Lets face it... We both wish we could be called a Whale... Lol
  • Arundo
    Arundo
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Phage wrote: »
    Lol, you made a chart.

    I agree with your points though. The aggressive monetization of this game is going too far. They really would do more with less.

    Yeah I'm a chart guy :)

    The most annoying things to me are the way they handle things, adding RNG items in the crates you cant get with gems, crown discounts not as they were before. I know they need to make money to keep the shop running but there is a maximum to it, go too far and you will alienate your customer base.

    My awesome chart shows that for me personally atleast :hushed:
  • ssorgatem
    ssorgatem
    ✭✭✭✭
    Dude, did you even look at your chart?

    Your spending has doubled every year.

    And while this year you've spent less than last year... you have still spent more than the first 2 years.

    Even if you end up spending less this year, that'd be understandable; you can't expect people to keep spending 2000€/year on the game... or even more.
  • swippy
    swippy
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Kalgert wrote: »
    I feel sad that you are so willing to call yourself a "Whale" (The derogative term made by the Triple A industry to call the people who spend a lot of money on a game). Get some dignity back, man!

    However, I do agree that the monetization tactics that are being used and implemented seem to be much more orientated towards trying to squeeze money out of people.

    I remember a time when cosmetic items were unlocks that you got through playing the game. Nowadays, this seems much more of a foreign concept. Now it's all about those live services and lootboxes and ***.

    And the worst part is, people are perfectly okay with this.

    "whale" is a derogatory term? i guess that explains something: one time i wrote a long, thoughtful post explaining why a big spender would be comfortable doing so in this game. the only feedback i got was an image macro featuring a whale, and i couldn't figure out why that guy got a dozen Awesomes with 3 words, while my post was otherwise ignored. he was making fun of me in a way i guess people thought was clever? i didn't know it was mean-spirited; it looked like he was showing off that he knew a word.

    i also don't know why that would be derogatory, though. if i'm happy to subsidize some of the players whose budgets are too tight to support the game beyond purchase, i would think a community would welcome that. keep the servers running and all that... except i know that there is a vocal subset of players who insist that players should pressure content producers through attrition. but a city never increased food production while under seige, so that seems misguided.

    by the way, the term "whale" being used to describe people who spend far more than the average on a service was in use at least as early as the 1960s in the casino industry, so i doubt the gaming industry made it up unless they're much more clever than i'm giving them credit for ;)
  • Vahrokh
    Vahrokh
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭
    ssorgatem wrote: »
    Dude, did you even look at your chart?

    Your spending has doubled every year.

    And while this year you've spent less than last year... you have still spent more than the first 2 years.

    Even if you end up spending less this year, that'd be understandable; you can't expect people to keep spending 2000€/year on the game... or even more.

    2k euros are pocket change for some.
    What annoys is not 2k-4k but the fact that if you really, REALLY want something, you still won't have it because of RNG + time limits they impose.

    What happens is that if a collector starts missing 2-3 items, he's not feeling being a collector any more. Thus he drops the whole operation and hops to another game where he CAN purchase ALL.
    Edited by Vahrokh on May 9, 2018 8:22AM
  • Arundo
    Arundo
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Vahrokh wrote: »

    2k euros are pocket change for some.
    What annoys is not 2k-4k but the fact that if you really, REALLY want something, you still won't have it because of RNG + time limits they impose.

    What happens is that if a collector starts missing 2-3 items, he's not feeling being a collector any more. Thus he drops the whole operation and hops to another game where he CAN purchase ALL.

    Perfectly worded, this is indeed how I feel as a collector.
  • Derra
    Derra
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Phage wrote: »
    Lol, you made a chart.

    I agree with your points though. The aggressive monetization of this game is going too far. They really would do more with less.

    Stupid pricetag through gems instead of pure rgn would have worked wonders. Eventually people get tired of gambling if they never win anything.
    <Noricum>
    I live. I die. I live again.

    Derra - DC - Sorc - AvA 50
    Derrah - EP - Sorc - AvA 50

  • lakaisl
    lakaisl
    ✭✭✭
    Mine too, the RNG of the 'special mounts' are insane so why bother? And then again most aren't even that good.

    I usually just buy motifs in the crown store, to lazy to farm (not enough time). Or I buy them with Gems.

    Edited by lakaisl on May 9, 2018 8:36AM
  • Kalgert
    Kalgert
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    swippy wrote: »

    "whale" is a derogatory term? i guess that explains something: one time i wrote a long, thoughtful post explaining why a big spender would be comfortable doing so in this game. the only feedback i got was an image macro featuring a whale, and i couldn't figure out why that guy got a dozen Awesomes with 3 words, while my post was otherwise ignored. he was making fun of me in a way i guess people thought was clever? i didn't know it was mean-spirited; it looked like he was showing off that he knew a word.

    i also don't know why that would be derogatory, though. if i'm happy to subsidize some of the players whose budgets are too tight to support the game beyond purchase, i would think a community would welcome that. keep the servers running and all that... except i know that there is a vocal subset of players who insist that players should pressure content producers through attrition. but a city never increased food production while under seige, so that seems misguided.

    by the way, the term "whale" being used to describe people who spend far more than the average on a service was in use at least as early as the 1960s in the casino industry, so i doubt the gaming industry made it up unless they're much more clever than i'm giving them credit for ;)

    I know it was brought to life (Or at least popularized in the gaming industry) around the early 2k's or 2010's, when there was some kind of expo for developers on how to sustain verility and how to attract whales (You can thank Jim Sterling for that one), and as time went on, the term "Whale" evolved in to a derogative term in spirit, for someone who spends heaps of money on a monetized videogame.

    I guess you aren't wrong to think that people who spend money to "Sustain a game" would be great, but the only thing they are good for is showing developers what they can get away with. Those people tend to not really care the ecosystem that they are playing in, and would shower money on a developer in any way shape or form.

    And the people trying to do a push-back on this, saying they aren't spending any more money than they have to? Well, those people pretty much are trying to cause a bit of a change in things. I sure know that Battlefront 2 EA suffered the backlash that it did, when it pushed lootboxes past the breaking point for a majority of people.

    I wonder what will be the breaking point for people in ESO. When Crown Crates start dropping Motifs instead of full style books? I wonder...
  • swippy
    swippy
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Kalgert wrote: »

    I guess you aren't wrong to think that people who spend money to "Sustain a game" would be great, but the only thing they are good for is showing developers what they can get away with. Those people tend to not really care the ecosystem that they are playing in, and would shower money on a developer in any way shape or form.

    And the people trying to do a push-back on this, saying they aren't spending any more money than they have to? Well, those people pretty much are trying to cause a bit of a change in things. I sure know that Battlefront 2 EA suffered the backlash that it did, when it pushed lootboxes past the breaking point for a majority of people.

    I wonder what will be the breaking point for people in ESO. When Crown Crates start dropping Motifs instead of full style books? I wonder...
    Kalgert wrote: »

    I know it was brought to life (Or at least popularized in the gaming industry) around the early 2k's or 2010's, when there was some kind of expo for developers on how to sustain verility and how to attract whales (You can thank Jim Sterling for that one), and as time went on, the term "Whale" evolved in to a derogative term in spirit, for someone who spends heaps of money on a monetized videogame.

    I guess you aren't wrong to think that people who spend money to "Sustain a game" would be great, but the only thing they are good for is showing developers what they can get away with. Those people tend to not really care the ecosystem that they are playing in, and would shower money on a developer in any way shape or form.

    And the people trying to do a push-back on this, saying they aren't spending any more money than they have to? Well, those people pretty much are trying to cause a bit of a change in things. I sure know that Battlefront 2 EA suffered the backlash that it did, when it pushed lootboxes past the breaking point for a majority of people.

    I wonder what will be the breaking point for people in ESO. When Crown Crates start dropping Motifs instead of full style books? I wonder...

    i really disagree with the bolded part. i suspect i could be considered a "whale" (or at least i might have until they introduced the crate items that cannot be purchased and my spending dropped to about a fifth of what it was) but i know that if they started selling combat advantages i'd cancel my subscription. i suppose you can consider me a liar and i won't bother convincing you, but i know that your statement isn't true for some of those people.
  • TheCyberDruid
    TheCyberDruid
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I expected as much :) You spend money on a game when you feel good about it and not when you feel that you are forced to do it.
  • teiselaise
    teiselaise
    ✭✭✭
    I really respect you calling yourself a whale, I don't think it's should be used as a degrading term. Instead we should be thankful that someone support the game we love when we can't afford to ourselves. The only problem is devs abusing said whales, even sometimes making the game less enjoyable to draw in more whales. By less enjoyable I don't mean actively removing the fun of the game, but by locking parts of the game to players, or adding over the top cosmetics which ruin immersion etc from players who play for that. But please don't take this as an attack on you or any whale, if it's an attack it's against the devs.
    Argonian masterrace
  • EvilCroc
    EvilCroc
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I just pretend there are no radiant apex items in this game. This is silly, but works for me.
  • Jerkling
    Jerkling
    ✭✭✭✭
    Arundo wrote: »
    I have to admit I’m a whale when it comes to cash shops in games. In most MMO’s I play I spend good amounts of euro’s to get those nice cosmetics. Furthermore I’m a collector and due to that whenever I see something I need to get it. [...]
    you are the problem, not ZOS!
    carrot-motivation-300x207.jpg

    stop blaming a company for trying to make money or the way they do it (unless it's actually hurting people or the environment). if you are dumb enuf to throw money at them for pets, mounts, houses, cosmetics and all that useless and utterly pointless crap you deserve to be taken advantage of.
    it's people like you why mmo's are this way today and developers seem to spend more time and resources on bunny ears for the ingame shop instead of real content, so you get to have that 9,99,-EUR thrill that last for 5 minutes.
    Edited by Jerkling on May 9, 2018 10:43AM
  • JaZ2091
    JaZ2091
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I don't understand the appeal of collecting game items thru a RNG pay wall; however, I do see why they continue doing so. There's probably thousands just you, I can't imagine the killing they are making and I don't blame them for continuing this path even though its a shame.
  • pod88kk
    pod88kk
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭
    Yeah I agree completely. I happily bought crown crates when there was a change that I could buy the mounts I wanted for gems but now I've stopped buying them altogether. Now I just save my ESO+ crowns for a nice house or maybe a race change token.

    You got greedy Zos
  • Peekachu99
    Peekachu99
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭
    I spend about $1000/quarter on this game, too, and lately I’ve spent less simply because I know I have to be choosy given the proliferation of items that are Crown Store/ Crate only. I’m sitting on about 100k crowns and I don’t even know if I’ll buy a single crate next season with the new housing and cosmetic components. That, and the Psijic mounts are seriously ugly—worst since the flame atro, melted cheese batch.
    Edited by Peekachu99 on May 9, 2018 10:50AM
  • Cously
    Cously
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I used to be a collector as well but eventually the crown crates exclusive items, limited items and other shenanigans kinda trampled over my monthly ESO stipend. Now I spend bare bones, enough to buy useful stuff like storage chests and maybe a cosmetic I like. It was hard to let go of the collector and completionist mentality at first but gets easier day by day. I find I care lesser about the game however, from hardcore PVEr and former emperor to now fisher and roleplayer (Dragonknights got destroyed as a class multiple times). Hard to leave it behind though, 8,000 hours invested in a single character, many beloved friends made as a guild leader. I log less often, spend less and play other games where as ESO was the only thing I played for 3 years. I believe the game is getting there slowly, some things they made are really great like housing and other systems so I will stick around to see where my investment goes. They are getting too greedy in my opinion, so I try to be part of the solution by holding my money back, they will only see it at crown sales with 40%+ discount.
  • SydneyGrey
    SydneyGrey
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I've started spending less on ESO, too. I'll still maintain my subscription, but if they want to keep on raising prices ... and now reducing the discount we can get on crowns ... then I'll just spend less.
  • DieAlteHexe
    DieAlteHexe
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭
    I'm...watching. I used to buy crates but haven't really felt like it lately. I vastly prefer direct purchase with an occasional foray into "let's see what I end up with".

    What I think they're doing badly is the "limited time" stuff. Not everyone logs in often enough to partake (I do, but I know a lot of guildies don't).

    I also think the prices on some things is just a bit too high.

    Dirty, filthy casual aka Nancy, the Wallet Warrior Carebear Potato Whale Snowflake
  • Kalante
    Kalante
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    When somebody says they will stop subbing it doesn't matter because you got whales like this guy who can make up 50 people of non subs. Once the whales start leaving the devs basically loose interest and leave the game to die due to lack of whale money.
    Edited by Kalante on May 9, 2018 11:09AM
Sign In or Register to comment.