Welcome to the new ESO: Limited time, all the time!

BejaProphet

Here at ESO we understand how important it is that players feel like each and every time they log in, something must urgently be done or they will forever miss out.

To that end we are proud to introduce Tamriel: Limited time, all the time!

We are working hard to make sure you know that every minute of every day something is there to be obtained which is forever lost if you aren’t playing right now.

However, we know that many of you have jobs, families, and responsibilities. So to make sure you don’t miss out, we are absolutely committed to making sure every time a limited-time opportunity ends, another one immediately begins. That’s right! We have prepared a lifetime of once in a lifetime opportunities! You will never again be troubled by logging on and being overwhelmed by freedom. Each time you will know exactly what you must do so you won’t miss out on a limited time opportunity!

We hope you love it for years to come! And we hope you love it every minute and second of every nervous waking moment.

Welcome to Tamriel limited time, all the time!

Zacuel

Lol... Kinda true.

I'm mostly over it.... If not for the powdered mother of pearl drops.
That's what got me.

Well played zos... Well played.

tinythinker

Artificial Scarcity + FOMO.

Companies do it because it works. As long as people flock to such sales and throw loads of cash at the "rare" items, these techniques will become more common and frequent.

It's definitely OK to voice concern or dissatisfaction over such tactics. Some Crown store decisions have been modified in the past.

Yet companies go with what works in the short term to increase profits for shareholders, so the latest greatest tactic is always around the corner.

The other option for players unhappy with such marketing and sales decisions is to ignore the shiny things or make a limited list of the few things they want the most and ignore the rest.

Gorguzkhalrwb17_ESO

The artificial scarcity tactic in selling their digital content is utterly disgusting.
Just fill the crown store with everything you have ever designed to be sold on there & allow players to buy what they wish when the wish.

Of course they will not do this because unfortunately it does not guarantee a steady stream of impulsive, fear purchases.

Ufretin

They do know how to tap into players' compulsive behavior and addiction, don't they?

baltic1284

Thing is if you play to get the stuff that wont return you send the we accept this message to theme don't play it and you send this I wont play this message. Same goes for the wallet too.

BomblePants

Of course....

But the Mother of Pearl thing.... over on PS4 20 are selling for 6k so it’s not really a thing, shame cause I’ve had several in my boxes.....

idk

First of all Zos thanks you for being hooked on getting the latest offering and spending such large amounts of your money in the crown store.

Second, how important is that new mount, new pet, etc., that’s only available for a few days? . . . Exactly, it’s not. We already have lots of pets and mounts

Turn the tables and don’t strive to get the next pets and mounts. (Or customs) Teach Zos a lesson.

red_emu

BejaProphet wrote: »

Here at ESO we understand how important it is that players feel like each and every time they log in, something must urgently be done or they will forever miss out.

To that end we are proud to introduce Tamriel: Limited time, all the time!

We are working hard to make sure you know that every minute of every day something is there to be obtained which is forever lost if you aren’t playing right now.

However, we know that many of you have jobs, families, and responsibilities. So to make sure you don’t miss out, we are absolutely committed to putting everything into crown crates 6 months later and making you pay through your nose for it, because reasons.

We hope you love it for years to come! And we hope you love it every minute and second of every nervous waking moment.

Welcome to Tamriel limited time, all the time!

Fixed it there for you buddy ^

Narvuntien

The game did have a bit of an issue where we'd get a lot of players for new content then they would become disengaged until the next release of content.

So I get that its a psychological trick but I also like having plenty of players to play with and a nice lively world.

yodased

Ever been to a grocery store that wasn't having a clearance or a circular with coupons that expire if you don't use them within a set time period?

Ever seen a movie in a thetre during its limited release?

Ever bought a limited edition widget because it said limited?

Its sales and marketing first day stuff, you have the freedom to ignore the events wholeshot and have 0 affect on your gameplay experience. Same way a closeout on kale for 90% off has 0 affect on me.

Danikat

Thing is, very few of the festival rewards are actually limited and with very few exceptions (specifically New Life and the Jester's Festival) there is absolutely no new or limited time content.

There's the indrik berries and feathers of course and possibly the outfit pieces (and even those can be bought from other players after the event, although the price will shoot up). But as far as I know everything else available is the same materials, motifs etc. that you can get all year round.

That's why, until this year, I never really bothered with any of the special events - an extra chance at the same stuff we normally get doesn't interest me, especially when so many events (not this one, but many others) involve competing with other players to complete the quests.

I understand starting off feeling like you have to do it because ZOS are telling you it's special and limited and you'll miss out if you don't. But I would have thought once each person has been through that once and realised there's not really anything to miss out on if you don't do it they wouldn't fall for exactly the same marketing a second time. If you enjoy it then sure, go ahead and do as much as you like. But the people complaining about being forced to grind special events whilst continuing to do it make no sense to me.

Davor

yodased wrote: »

Ever been to a grocery store that wasn't having a clearance or a circular with coupons that expire if you don't use them within a set time period?

Ever seen a movie in a thetre during its limited release?

Ever bought a limited edition widget because it said limited?

Its sales and marketing first day stuff, you have the freedom to ignore the events wholeshot and have 0 affect on your gameplay experience. Same way a closeout on kale for 90% off has 0 affect on me.

Difference is, those are PHYSICAL items. Stuff that needs to be sold because it will be spoiled/garbage or something you can only see for a short time. Not like you can still see movies on the big screen.

Also with physical products, once they are gone, they are gone. Stores have limited space. So they want that space sold so they can put the next thing on so that can sell. With digital products, there is no need for space. There is no worry that it will be gone and never come back. So using those tactics that need to be sold for physical products and get rid of inventory is really not needed in a digital world.

It just goes to show that Zenimax has no faith in their team, that Zenimax doesn't believe in their game when for them to make money they need to use gambling and other tactics for money instead of just making a GREAT VIDEO GAME.

How sad, all the hard work people do, and the bosses at Zenimax, Todd Howard and company up there don't believe in their teams to make money by making a great product.

I guess this is proof that the games are really not that popular if you need to go by gambling and making artificial stuff scarce to make people buy them.

adriant1978

This works especially well when they don't even tell you that something is time limited.

Yes, I'm still salty over the Chrysamere sword described as "available in the Crown Store on all platforms starting on March 21" with no end date given, but apparently gone in three days.

Darkstorne

Play YOUR Way!

Except this week, where you must do dailies if you want the limited time mount.

And next week, where you must do world bosses and delves.

And the week after that, where you must PVP.

And the week after that, where you must do group dungeons.

ZOS!!! Are you for real!? Take a step back and look at what your game is becoming. Is this really the vision you had for ESO? It’s becoming less and less of an enjoyable open world game, and more and more of a never-ending barrage of pop-up messages at log-in making you aware that you MUST do X for Y period of time or you’ll miss out on EXCLUSIVE Z.

WhyMustItBe

Gorguzkhalrwb17_ESO wrote: »

The artificial scarcity tactic in selling their digital content is utterly disgusting.

The only thing more disgusting than predatory marketing tactics is the inevitable legions of desperate enablers who show up to defend it at every turn.

Over the years I have heard all the arguments and they are invariably the same: "Businesses exist to make money." As if somehow making money at any cost were morally and ethically acceptable so long as money is made, the ends justifying ANY means.

It is like saying "wars exist to kill the enemy" and then rationalizing the use of biological weapons because they do in fact kill millions of people, none could deny. But there are always lines that we draw as sane and civilized beings which should not be crossed just for the sake of a quicker, easier outcome.

Quicker and easier outcomes are rarely the best, and desperately grasping at acquisition and comparison in the short term YOLO mindset is the sign of a deeply afflicted mind and a truly diseased culture we have created.

Modern capitalist is so busy figuring out whether it CAN push that next boundary just for the sake of extracting more value in the short term that it never stops to ask if it SHOULD. That is why regulations are necessary to limit the ravenous greed of lesser men and women who make acquisition and comparison with others the defining value of their life.

Modern capitalism pushes addiction marketing because it is itself addicted. It is a mindless runaway ends justifying any means of acquiring more more more for the sake of it, never enough, a desperation and hunger without end that without responsible oversight absolutely will consume itself, because it has no concept of right and wrong or the consequences of it's own shortsighted actions.

Modern capitalism itself should be treated like the desperate mental patient that it is.

Consider the following from the Battlestar Galactica season 4 finale, Daybreak:

Baltar: There's never enough you know. Never enough money, fame, women... The more you want the more you need the more you want, there's always a hunger for more money, greater fame, different women.

Calvin: Oh yeah? It's a tragedy, your life.

Baltar: The point I'm trying to make Calvin, the point you're missing, is that there's a certain futility in centering one's entire life around trying to satisfy appetites that can truly never be sated.

Katheriah

Darkstorne wrote: »

Play YOUR Way!

Except this week, where you must do dailies if you want the limited time mount.

*Sorry, I cut the crap*

Dude, you gotta login and eat a cake.

Goregrinder

So basically it's an MMORPG that has MMORPG time and money sinks.

Mathius_Mordred

Well over at STO (Star Trek Online) they have recently engaged in the same continual events system, only there it's a bit different, all you have to do is queue up and then go afk, come back 15min later and you're done. Those who actually take part get exactly the same reward as those who are afk LMAO.

Personally I think you have to treat it like a menu, go for only the things you really must have, not everything, don't be greedy, just plan your gaming time around the one or two items that are of great interest to you.

Jamdarius

BejaProphet wrote: »

Here at ESO we understand how important it is that players feel like each and every time they log in, something must urgently be done or they will forever miss out.

To that end we are proud to introduce Tamriel: Limited time, all the time!

We are working hard to make sure you know that every minute of every day something is there to be obtained which is forever lost if you aren’t playing right now.

However, we know that many of you have jobs, families, and responsibilities. So to make sure you don’t miss out, we are absolutely committed to making sure every time a limited-time opportunity ends, another one immediately begins. That’s right! We have prepared a lifetime of once in a lifetime opportunities! You will never again be troubled by logging on and being overwhelmed by freedom. Each time you will know exactly what you must do so you won’t miss out on a limited time opportunity!

We hope you love it for years to come! And we hope you love it every minute and second of every nervous waking moment.

Welcome to Tamriel limited time, all the time!

You know whatever limited time offer exists, I bet you can always contact support to allow you to buy it, I mean which company would ever not allow you to spend your money on their digital stuff just cause it was supposed to be limited stuff for a time only...

Mysanne

I was reading this and suddenly, I realised that I have forgoten the luxury vendor this weekend !

Can someone tell me what were the furnitures this week ? I usually spend a lot of money (in game money) to buy funiture and it's very ennoying for me to forget this vendor...

Jayne_Doe

People are talking about two different things in this thread: limited-time events and limited-time CS/crates.

Not entirely certain which one the OP was referring to, but it sure pushed a few people's buttons.

This event, while seemingly exhausting, is still about personal choice. You can do all the specific types of dailies every week for the companion pages and other goodies from the Anniversary boxes, or just eat the cake for the tickets for the Indriks, or you can choose to do both.

I've done all crafting dailies on 2 platforms Thursday-Saturday, then only on one platform yesterday. I've got all the Prophet pages, which are pretty much worthless now and certainly will be trash by week 5. I'm taking it easy on dailies the next few weeks, even skipping week 3. But, I'll log in as I usually do for the daily log-in reward and to eat my cake for the tickets. Week 5, I'll go all out for a while, but will probably tire of it and just buy any remaining pages I need.

As far as the crown store, I don't like the crates or excessive limited-time stuff, but I also have a responsibility to set my own limits. I don't need to be greedy and want everything that's on offer. I pick what I like most and, if I can afford it, I'll get it. Simple. The only reason such tactics work is that is how people work. Start with changing yourself. Speak out about your dislike of it, certainly, as I have, and then actually follow up with moderation or closing your wallet entirely. In the end, it's all digital stuff that is entirely unnecessary to playing and succeeding in the game.

JumpmanLane

I don’t even look in the crown store anymore.

Waffennacht

WhyMustItBe wrote: »

Gorguzkhalrwb17_ESO wrote: »

The artificial scarcity tactic in selling their digital content is utterly disgusting.

The only thing more disgusting than predatory marketing tactics is the inevitable legions of desperate enablers who show up to defend it at every turn.

Over the years I have heard all the arguments and they are invariably the same: "Businesses exist to make money." As if somehow making money at any cost were morally and ethically acceptable so long as money is made, the ends justifying ANY means.

It is like saying "wars exist to kill the enemy" and then rationalizing the use of biological weapons because they do in fact kill millions of people, none could deny. But there are always lines that we draw as sane and civilized beings which should not be crossed just for the sake of a quicker, easier outcome.

Quicker and easier outcomes are rarely the best, and desperately grasping at acquisition and comparison in the short term YOLO mindset is the sign of a deeply afflicted mind and a truly diseased culture we have created.

Modern capitalist is so busy figuring out whether it CAN push that next boundary just for the sake of extracting more value in the short term that it never stops to ask if it SHOULD. That is why regulations are necessary to limit the ravenous greed of lesser men and women who make acquisition and comparison with others the defining value of their life.

Modern capitalism pushes addiction marketing because it is itself addicted. It is a mindless runaway ends justifying any means of acquiring more more more for the sake of it, never enough, a desperation and hunger without end that without responsible oversight absolutely will consume itself, because it has no concept of right and wrong or the consequences of it's own shortsighted actions.

Modern capitalism itself should be treated like the desperate mental patient that it is.

Consider the following from the Battlestar Galactica season 4 finale, Daybreak:

Baltar: There's never enough you know. Never enough money, fame, women... The more you want the more you need the more you want, there's always a hunger for more money, greater fame, different women.

Calvin: Oh yeah? It's a tragedy, your life.

Baltar: The point I'm trying to make Calvin, the point you're missing, is that there's a certain futility in centering one's entire life around trying to satisfy appetites that can truly never be sated.

Damn, was it Nietzsche that send to be unsatisfied is to be human? Something like that, something along the lines of that insatiable drive is what brought us into consciousness...?

I know someone said the satisfied man is dead...

Anyway...

OP is hilarious, made me laugh!

TheBonesXXX

idk wrote: »

First of all Zos thanks you for being hooked on getting the latest offering and spending such large amounts of your money in the crown store.

Second, how important is that new mount, new pet, etc., that’s only available for a few days? . . . Exactly, it’s not. We already have lots of pets and mounts

Turn the tables and don’t strive to get the next pets and mounts. (Or customs) Teach Zos a lesson.

I don't buy *** from ZOS minus the sub. I refuse.

MartiniDaniels

It's time to stock for mother pearl for years to come

Danikat

Darkstorne wrote: »

Play YOUR Way!

Except this week, where you must do dailies if you want the limited time mount.

And next week, where you must do world bosses and delves.

And the week after that, where you must PVP.

And the week after that, where you must do group dungeons.

ZOS!!! Are you for real!? Take a step back and look at what your game is becoming. Is this really the vision you had for ESO? It’s becoming less and less of an enjoyable open world game, and more and more of a never-ending barrage of pop-up messages at log-in making you aware that you MUST do X for Y period of time or you’ll miss out on EXCLUSIVE Z.

If you're referring to the indrik then you don't need to do any of those things. Just logging in and using the 2019 cake memento (and eating a slice) will get you the event tickets.

The anniversary boxes are for a chance at the outfit pieces, which can also be bought with event tickets if you don't want the mount, or can be bought from other players if you can find them for sale.

Mysanne wrote: »

I was reading this and suddenly, I realised that I have forgoten the luxury vendor this weekend !

Can someone tell me what were the furnitures this week ? I usually spend a lot of money (in game money) to buy funiture and it's very ennoying for me to forget this vendor...

It was 4 of the Divines sigils (Akatosh, Dibella, Julianos and Arkay I think), plus a few different altars and stands for them to go on. Oh, and a Trinimac sigil. I'm hoping next week will be the other 4 Divines, and presumably the stands will be available again as well.

Jayne_Doe wrote: »

People are talking about two different things in this thread: limited-time events and limited-time CS/crates.

Not entirely certain which one the OP was referring to, but it sure pushed a few people's buttons.

This event, while seemingly exhausting, is still about personal choice. You can do all the specific types of dailies every week for the companion pages and other goodies from the Anniversary boxes, or just eat the cake for the tickets for the Indriks, or you can choose to do both.

I've done all crafting dailies on 2 platforms Thursday-Saturday, then only on one platform yesterday. I've got all the Prophet pages, which are pretty much worthless now and certainly will be trash by week 5. I'm taking it easy on dailies the next few weeks, even skipping week 3. But, I'll log in as I usually do for the daily log-in reward and to eat my cake for the tickets. Week 5, I'll go all out for a while, but will probably tire of it and just buy any remaining pages I need.

As far as the crown store, I don't like the crates or excessive limited-time stuff, but I also have a responsibility to set my own limits. I don't need to be greedy and want everything that's on offer. I pick what I like most and, if I can afford it, I'll get it. Simple. The only reason such tactics work is that is how people work. Start with changing yourself. Speak out about your dislike of it, certainly, as I have, and then actually follow up with moderation or closing your wallet entirely. In the end, it's all digital stuff that is entirely unnecessary to playing and succeeding in the game.

It didn't even occur to me that the OP might be talking about crown store stuff, but now a lot of the comments which made no sense to me are clearer.

Maybe because I'd just been dealing with someone in-game complaining that they were "forced" to do crafting dailies on all their characters and they're still "missing out" because they don't have the maximum number of characters. The rest of the guild was trying to explain that they don't have to do it if they don't want to, and seemed to be getting nowhere.

jainiadral

LOL, OP

All I know is with this constant parade of FOMO crap everywhere you turn, this game is turning into an MMMO*. I've taken four or five days off in the last two weeks, when I used to log in daily. Just feeling the event pressure is starting to make me dread pushing the PLAY button, and all I'm doing are a couple crafty things on my main and eating cake

*Making Me Miss Out

Seri

jainiadral wrote: »

LOL, OP

All I know is with this constant parade of FOMO crap everywhere you turn, this game is turning into an MMMO*. I've taken four or five days off in the last two weeks, when I used to log in daily. Just feeling the event pressure is starting to make me dread pushing the PLAY button, and all I'm doing are a couple crafty things on my main and eating cake

*Making Me Miss Out

ZOS are maintaining a 50% uptime on in-game events for 2019 so far. Not a bad improvement from not even wanting in-game events a couple years back. And honestly, it sucks. I much preferred logging in when I wasn't heavy encouraged to participate in a limited time event whereas now I log in, do the barest minimum and then leave again - to the point I feel more burned out despite spending less time in the game.

MasterSpatula

Yep, it's getting really tiresome.

"Companies do it because it works." Yeah, but when tactics like this stop working, they tend to stop hard.

Zamuro

i wish the game only had a subscription and box cost on the expansions/dlcs and not have a *** cash shop(just how wow was before activision). i hate cash shops so *** much... AND THEY EVEN ADDED LOOTBOXES! is this EA/Activi$ion game?