ZO$ you killed the whale !

Kalgert

teiselaise wrote: »

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.

Dude, don't be supporting the idea of whales.

What you're essentially confirming, is that there are people who are not seen as people, but sea mammals due to the size of their wallet and their spending habit.

Stop calling one's self a whale, and get some god-damn dignity back.

We are not sea mammals. We are human beings.

DieAlteHexe

I'm not dead yet...

SydneyGrey

Kalante wrote: »

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.

If that happened, it would be their own fault for continually raising prices until their customers left.

Anotherone773

DieAlteHexe wrote: »

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.

Yeah the limited time stuff in really annoying. I dont like sales gimmicks like that, it just annoys me. Not a great thing to do to someone you want to buy from you. And the limited time crown exclusive housing is really annoying, especially considering the price tag they put on it. That is completely and utterly ridiculous to price those that high. Id love to have the GTH but im not spending $100 for it or any other house in this game i dont care if its the size of coldharbour

pshift

The chart makes no sense. You are misreading your own data since you did a stacked chart by quarter instead of chronologically. You have actually doubled your spending each year (except for a downward trend as of last quarter). If you want quarter granularity, it would make more sense to chart by quarter chronologically (e.g. Q1 2015, Q2 2015, etc), which would actually show your spending trends.

Xuhora

Anotherone773 wrote: »

DieAlteHexe wrote: »

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.

Yeah the limited time stuff in really annoying. I dont like sales gimmicks like that, it just annoys me. Not a great thing to do to someone you want to buy from you. And the limited time crown exclusive housing is really annoying, especially considering the price tag they put on it. That is completely and utterly ridiculous to price those that high. Id love to have the GTH but im not spending $100 for it or any other house in this game i dont care if its the size of coldharbour

thats just marketing... The coffee seller in my City has limited editions and i allways catch my self buying the doubled ammount because i know it will be gone soon. For the love of god i could actually buy unicorn froot loops in the market next to my house as a limited edition. The scheme works, and thus will continue.

DieAlteHexe

SydneyGrey wrote: »

Kalante wrote: »

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.

If that happened, it would be their own fault for continually raising prices until their customers left.

Oh, I wouldn't leave (not over that...raised prices) because it's not essential to the game. But I will and have slowed waaaaay down on my purchasing.

DieAlteHexe

Xuhora wrote: »

Anotherone773 wrote: »

DieAlteHexe wrote: »

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.

Yeah the limited time stuff in really annoying. I dont like sales gimmicks like that, it just annoys me. Not a great thing to do to someone you want to buy from you. And the limited time crown exclusive housing is really annoying, especially considering the price tag they put on it. That is completely and utterly ridiculous to price those that high. Id love to have the GTH but im not spending $100 for it or any other house in this game i dont care if its the size of coldharbour

thats just marketing... The coffee seller in my City has limited editions and i allways catch my self buying the doubled ammount because i know it will be gone soon. For the love of god i could actually buy unicorn froot loops in the market next to my house as a limited edition. The scheme works, and thus will continue.

Oh, it does work but are the schemes you're referring to measured in hours? Those are the ones that boggle my mind and whilst I may have missed any...never on the weekend when there's a higher amount of folk online. Then again, that could be exactly why they do it, to get folk to login during the week to check out the "limited time offer".

xeNNNNN

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.

I mean their dedication is... impressive...

Enslaved

Voxicity wrote: »

I seem to be spending much less these days too, although I'm not a whale

Can't complain though

this

Jimmy

I consider myself a whale too. And the #1 reason I stopped buying crown crates is the despicable, disgusting, scummish practice of putting items behind a 100% RNG wall in the crown crates. When I failed to obtain the Shadow Senche Mount, even after obtaining nearly 2,000 Gems for my troubles, I realized ZOS has lost it and as a consequence lost me. Not only am I no longer spending money, but I'm barely playing the game anymore. I log on just to keep myself from being kicked out of trade guilds. One thing ZOS is good at, and that is ZOS has done a brilliant job of pushing me out of the game with there selfish, sickening business model.

TheYKcid

ArchMikem wrote: »

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.

In my case, once every time they go on 40% discount.

The recent sale of merely 20% succeeded in making me hold onto my cash for the time being...

DieAlteHexe

TheYKcid wrote: »

ArchMikem wrote: »

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.

In my case, once every time they go on 40% discount.

The recent sale of merely 20% succeeded in making me hold onto my cash for the time being...

Same here. 20% just wasn't enough enticement. I can wait.

Charliff1966

Big spenders keep games alive (money wise) but make it less attractive for small spenders.

Xuhora

@DieAlteHexe nope they are not measured in hours. but then again i never saw a limited offering in ESO beeing up four a few hours. 3 Days is the least i saw if i recall correctly.

DuskMarine

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. 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:

i have no problem with anything zos has done and im a major whale in this game. they have only done right by us in many ways. but one thing you have to understand a mega rare mount shouldnt be buyable with the gems. thats like going to the casino and hitting the jackpot its meant to feel like an accomplishment. but i have the ability to whale out on 3 games not just eso, starcraft 2, and also monster hunter but i whale out extensively on the games cause i enjoy their direction. the monetization of this game isnt even remotely predatory which is nice imho but after playing anything owned by ea you tend to feel that way with a game like eso.

DieAlteHexe

TheYKcid wrote: »

ArchMikem wrote: »

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.

In my case, once every time they go on 40% discount.

The recent sale of merely 20% succeeded in making me hold onto my cash for the time being...

Same here. 20% just wasn't enough enticement. I can wait.

Xuhora wrote: »

@DieAlteHexe nope they are not measured in hours. but then again i never saw a limited offering in ESO beeing up four a few hours. 3 Days is the least i saw if i recall correctly.

Thought I'd seen 2 days but I am happy to be corrected. Point still holds. I've rarely seen (as in can't remember seeing) offers in the "real world" that were that limited timewise.

Rawkan

There's always gonna be whales, you're just one of many. Not everyone's a "whale" either. Some people have a disposable income that they don't spend on other frivilous stuff, so they drop a grand on some crates now and then instead.

Eyro

Ive been taking a break lately and have been playing some WoW again after 10 years. It is sort of sad to go back and see just how much things have changed since then.

I can run around in game and be sure that what seems like 90% of the mounts, pets, or costmetics I can earn in game. With a simple subscription fee.

Back when morrowind came out there was a lot of noise about having to pay for a dlc because they relabeled it a chapter. And the defenders would use lines along, all the other MMOs do it. Look at wow you pay a sub and have to pay for an expansion. And our expansion is just as big!

Even if it was exactly the same size it is hard not to notice that wows expansion gave away for free hundreds if not thousands dollars worth of mounts, pets, cosmetics. At least in ESO world. And what do you get with your eso subscription? More bag space and 1500 crowns. That isn’t even enough for 1 mount.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand they launched in different times. And WoW has a massive sub base. So different approaches had to be made. And maybe different decisions were made for different reasons. Who knows. But it still makes me frown. Seeing how much things have changed in just my life time. It will probably only be a matter of time before the consoles start launching with a credit card reader on the front so we can swipe to play for an hour.

DieAlteHexe

Eyro wrote: »

--snip--
Don’t get me wrong, I understand they launched in different times. And WoW has a massive sub base. So different approaches had to be made. And maybe different decisions were made for different reasons. Who knows. But it still makes me frown. Seeing how much things have changed in just my life time. It will probably only be a matter of time before the consoles start launching with a credit card reader on the front so we can swipe to play for an hour.

That is essentially how it used to be back in the 80s and early 90s. Credit card on file, charged by the hour and oh boy oh boy could you rack up some nasty bills.

Not that I actually did anything like that.

maroite

DieAlteHexe wrote: »

TheYKcid wrote: »

ArchMikem wrote: »

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.

In my case, once every time they go on 40% discount.

The recent sale of merely 20% succeeded in making me hold onto my cash for the time being...

Same here. 20% just wasn't enough enticement. I can wait.

Xuhora wrote: »

@DieAlteHexe nope they are not measured in hours. but then again i never saw a limited offering in ESO beeing up four a few hours. 3 Days is the least i saw if i recall correctly.

Thought I'd seen 2 days but I am happy to be corrected. Point still holds. I've rarely seen (as in can't remember seeing) offers in the "real world" that were that limited timewise.

Anything offered on Black Friday?

DieAlteHexe

maroite wrote: »

DieAlteHexe wrote: »

TheYKcid wrote: »

ArchMikem wrote: »

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.

In my case, once every time they go on 40% discount.

The recent sale of merely 20% succeeded in making me hold onto my cash for the time being...

Same here. 20% just wasn't enough enticement. I can wait.

Xuhora wrote: »

@DieAlteHexe nope they are not measured in hours. but then again i never saw a limited offering in ESO beeing up four a few hours. 3 Days is the least i saw if i recall correctly.

Thought I'd seen 2 days but I am happy to be corrected. Point still holds. I've rarely seen (as in can't remember seeing) offers in the "real world" that were that limited timewise.

Anything offered on Black Friday?

Now that's a good point. We don't have that where I live so I'd totally forgotten about it.

MerlinPendragon

From one fellow whale to another, I like your Excel chart and enthusiasm. Keep up the good work!

Eyro

DieAlteHexe wrote: »

Eyro wrote: »

--snip--
Don’t get me wrong, I understand they launched in different times. And WoW has a massive sub base. So different approaches had to be made. And maybe different decisions were made for different reasons. Who knows. But it still makes me frown. Seeing how much things have changed in just my life time. It will probably only be a matter of time before the consoles start launching with a credit card reader on the front so we can swipe to play for an hour.

That is essentially how it used to be back in the 80s and early 90s. Credit card on file, charged by the hour and oh boy oh boy could you rack up some nasty bills.

Not that I actually did anything like that.

I forgot about that. I was still playing MUDS at that time since I was still to young to support a expensive video game habit.

Asardes

During my almost 3 years of playing ESO I dished out ~330 EUR. Do I qualify for "whale" status?

craigr02

Its hard for me to understand why someone would spend that much money on crown store items. In my opinion the stuff on there is lackluster, the only good thing on there are the apex mounts, which you cant even buy with gems anymore.
I typically buy about one crown packs a year, mainly for race change.
If they added alliance change i would buy that. Otherwise i just save my crowns from eso + to get things. Oh and I dont buy crates.

GreenhaloX

This can be the case of an online gaming addict.. or just one dedicated and hardcore ESO fan. Either way, Zenimax should thank you and others alike. However, you may need to seek therapy. Ha ha

DieAlteHexe

Eyro wrote: »

DieAlteHexe wrote: »

Eyro wrote: »

--snip--
Don’t get me wrong, I understand they launched in different times. And WoW has a massive sub base. So different approaches had to be made. And maybe different decisions were made for different reasons. Who knows. But it still makes me frown. Seeing how much things have changed in just my life time. It will probably only be a matter of time before the consoles start launching with a credit card reader on the front so we can swipe to play for an hour.

That is essentially how it used to be back in the 80s and early 90s. Credit card on file, charged by the hour and oh boy oh boy could you rack up some nasty bills.

Not that I actually did anything like that.

I forgot about that. I was still playing MUDS at that time since I was still to young to support a expensive video game habit.

I'm not allowed to forget about it. LOL

Good times, was really a fascinating concept back then. I was thrilled to bits when I discovered UO which was x per month (think it was like 10 bucks).

DieAlteHexe

craigr02 wrote: »

Its hard fir me to understand why someone would spend that much money on crown store items. In my opinion the stuff on there is lackluster, tge inly good thing on there are the apex mounts, which you cant even buy with gems anymore. I typically buy about one or two crown packs a year, mainly for race change. If they added alliance change i would buy that. Otherwise i just save my crowns from eso + to get things. Oh and I dont buy crates.

And I don't understand the whole BiS/über equipment (given my playstyle) thing but I do understand that we aren't all the same and that's a good thing.

I'm not much interested in the Apex stuff either simply due to the propensity for the mounts to be on fire, glowing, rotting and skeletal but I appreciate that some folks love that stuff.

To each their own.

Kiralyn2000

Kalgert wrote: »

Dude, don't be supporting the idea of whales.

What you're essentially confirming, is that there are people who are not seen as people, but sea mammals due to the size of their wallet and their spending habit.

Stop calling one's self a whale, and get some god-damn dignity back.

We are not sea mammals. We are human beings.

Don't call yourself a tank when you go into a dungeon. You're a human, not an armored vehicle. You're not an object, get some dignity back.



(another thing humans use is language, simile, metaphor, etc)