I want to buy most expensive house but..

Vanya

That one in Blackreach consumed my mind, I loved the setting and visuals, but is it still available to purchase? i haven't played since September

17,000 Crowns?

Taleof2Cities

Bastion Sanguinaris was available in August, @Vanya ... before you left the game.

As with any Crown Store exclusive homes, these are only available for a limited time (return date unknown).

Price was 17,500 Crowns furnished (14,000 unfurnished).

Vanya

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

Bastion Sanguinaris was available in August, @Vanya ... before you left the game.

As with any Crown Store exclusive homes, these are only available for a limited time (return date unknown).

Price was 17,500 Crowns furnished (14,000 unfurnished).

Thanks well i did not had funds back then sucks for limited offer, not all can afford sadly

Araneae6537

Assuming the goal is to wow guests, I would purchase whichever notable home most appeals to you when it is available and then, if you are not big into decorating yourself, hire one of the talented builders in ESO to do something custom with your place, including featuring some of the grandest Crown furnishings, or whatever fits your tastes and budget. Unique and creative builds are far more impressive than price tags, IMHO, and if you’ve the desire and means, you could have both.

Vanya

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Assuming the goal is to wow guests, I would purchase whichever notable home most appeals to you when it is available and then, if you are not big into decorating yourself, hire one of the talented builders in ESO to do something custom with your place, including featuring some of the grandest Crown furnishings, or whatever fits your tastes and budget. Unique and creative builds are far more impressive than price tags, IMHO, and if you’ve the desire and means, you could have both.

Hmph, true to some extent , I'd rather not hire anyone, I prefer to do all by myself, ESO is gigantic i yet have too see maority of stuff , especially relate to housing, Bastion Sanguinaris was really unqiue because of gloomy setting, yea agree with creative builds

Grizzbeorn

The trend for almost all of the newer homes to be limited-availability only (and extremely limited, at that) is infuriating.

Araneae6537

Vanya wrote: »

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Assuming the goal is to wow guests, I would purchase whichever notable home most appeals to you when it is available and then, if you are not big into decorating yourself, hire one of the talented builders in ESO to do something custom with your place, including featuring some of the grandest Crown furnishings, or whatever fits your tastes and budget. Unique and creative builds are far more impressive than price tags, IMHO, and if you’ve the desire and means, you could have both.

Hmph, true to some extent , I'd rather not hire anyone, I prefer to do all by myself, ESO is gigantic i yet have too see maority of stuff , especially relate to housing, Bastion Sanguinaris was really unqiue because of gloomy setting, yea agree with creative builds

I was thinking along the lines of what is the most impressive ESO house money could buy, and without knowing your own interest in furnishing. I like doing my own decorating too for although it won’t be nearly as impressive as some builders create, it will be mine.

Bastion Sanguinaris was first introduced last year so perhaps it will at least be available yearly, which is more than many notable homes (two years is of course much too soon to extrapolate a pattern, but yet I would be surprised if they didn’t regularly make it available around Halloween).

Edit: Sorry, I was thinking of Wraithhome, which is also 14k/17.5k Crowns.

Vanya

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Vanya wrote: »

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Assuming the goal is to wow guests, I would purchase whichever notable home most appeals to you when it is available and then, if you are not big into decorating yourself, hire one of the talented builders in ESO to do something custom with your place, including featuring some of the grandest Crown furnishings, or whatever fits your tastes and budget. Unique and creative builds are far more impressive than price tags, IMHO, and if you’ve the desire and means, you could have both.

Hmph, true to some extent , I'd rather not hire anyone, I prefer to do all by myself, ESO is gigantic i yet have too see maority of stuff , especially relate to housing, Bastion Sanguinaris was really unqiue because of gloomy setting, yea agree with creative builds

I was thinking along the lines of what is the most impressive ESO house money could buy, and without knowing your own interest in furnishing. I like doing my own decorating too for although it won’t be nearly as impressive as some builders create, it will be mine.

Bastion Sanguinaris was first introduced last year so perhaps it will at least be available yearly, which is more than many notable homes (two years is of course much too soon to extrapolate a pattern, but yet I would be surprised if they didn’t regularly make it available around Halloween).

Exaclty! Also I would rather fashion something entirely new or doing as I please then copying style of ideas of other builers,random players. Bastion got my eye because twas a perfect dark setting and style for my character. Two years is outrageous lmao, 1 year for some super notable house,arlight, but two years, cmon You can do wonders in two years of waiting :C

Araneae6537

Vanya wrote: »

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Vanya wrote: »

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Assuming the goal is to wow guests, I would purchase whichever notable home most appeals to you when it is available and then, if you are not big into decorating yourself, hire one of the talented builders in ESO to do something custom with your place, including featuring some of the grandest Crown furnishings, or whatever fits your tastes and budget. Unique and creative builds are far more impressive than price tags, IMHO, and if you’ve the desire and means, you could have both.

Hmph, true to some extent , I'd rather not hire anyone, I prefer to do all by myself, ESO is gigantic i yet have too see maority of stuff , especially relate to housing, Bastion Sanguinaris was really unqiue because of gloomy setting, yea agree with creative builds

I was thinking along the lines of what is the most impressive ESO house money could buy, and without knowing your own interest in furnishing. I like doing my own decorating too for although it won’t be nearly as impressive as some builders create, it will be mine.

Bastion Sanguinaris was first introduced last year so perhaps it will at least be available yearly, which is more than many notable homes (two years is of course much too soon to extrapolate a pattern, but yet I would be surprised if they didn’t regularly make it available around Halloween).

Exaclty! Also I would rather fashion something entirely new or doing as I please then copying style of ideas of other builers,random players. Bastion got my eye because twas a perfect dark setting and style for my character. Two years is outrageous lmao, 1 year for some super notable house,arlight, but two years, cmon You can do wonders in two years of waiting :C

I agree the limited near-never availability of many things is quite frustrating! Many notable homes have gone YEARS without being available and I’ve been waiting to buy Tel Galen since I started playing ESO in July 2019.

Grizzbeorn

Bastion was introduced this year (2020), so it has only been available once so far. It was sometime during the summer, a couple of months after the Greymoor Chapter was released.

LadySinflower

Grizzbeorn wrote: »

The trend for almost all of the newer homes to be limited-availability only (and extremely limited, at that) is infuriating.

You're right and it's annoying! It's bad enough that they don't make the home available for gold. They think they need this false sense of exclusivity and scarcity to sell those homes, and they don't! I wonder if they've gathered statistics to compare the overall sales of one of those big, expensive homes being available all year to selling one just for a few days / weeks and taking it away. The truth is that most players will only have a large amount of crowns like that once in a while, like at a yearly renewal for eso plus. They will look for that big home in the crown store if they wanted it, but if it's not there will they actually have the willpower to hold on to that big pile of crowns waiting for that home to maybe come back eventually? I think they're more likely to buy what's around when they have the crowns, or spend smaller amounts until they are gone. ZOS is "shooting themselves in the foot" with sales by doing this, in my opinion.

I mean, sure there are people with the disposable income and willingness to drop $100+ on crowns when they see a big item they want. But I bet those guys aren't as numerous as the ones waiting for eso plus renewals or other big influxes of crowns at certain times of the year, and who only buy things that are available when those crowns come in.

Good luck, @Vanya. Hey, are you named after the dude with long hair and the bright colored pirate coat in (the Amazon prime show) AFK? That guy is a jerk, but the show is hilarious.

Grizzbeorn

LadySinflower wrote: »

Grizzbeorn wrote: »

The trend for almost all of the newer homes to be limited-availability only (and extremely limited, at that) is infuriating.

You're right and it's annoying! It's bad enough that they don't make the home available for gold. They think they need this false sense of exclusivity and scarcity to sell those homes, and they don't! I wonder if they've gathered statistics to compare the overall sales of one of those big, expensive homes being available all year to selling one just for a few days / weeks and taking it away.

I *think* (just my opinion based on what I've seen explained by other gaming companies in the past) they do it in part to exert a kind of targeted control over their revenue stream; holding back high-demand items to release them at specific times when a spike in revenue is needed. I've seen one employee at another company admit that they needed such manufactured revenue spikes in order to occasionally mollify their investors.

Araneae6537

Grizzbeorn wrote: »

Bastion was introduced this year (2020), so it has only been available once so far. It was sometime during the summer, a couple of months after the Greymoor Chapter was released.

My bad! Sorry for the misinformation! I was thinking of Wraithhome — the one made from pieces if Crypt of Hearts. I could have sworn it was called something more like Bastion Sanguinaris — and really such a name seems more suited to it than Wraithhome, but that is not to the point. I have edited my posts.

tomofhyrule

Grizzbeorn wrote: »

LadySinflower wrote: »

Grizzbeorn wrote: »

The trend for almost all of the newer homes to be limited-availability only (and extremely limited, at that) is infuriating.

You're right and it's annoying! It's bad enough that they don't make the home available for gold. They think they need this false sense of exclusivity and scarcity to sell those homes, and they don't! I wonder if they've gathered statistics to compare the overall sales of one of those big, expensive homes being available all year to selling one just for a few days / weeks and taking it away.

I *think* (just my opinion based on what I've seen explained by other gaming companies in the past) they do it in part to exert a kind of targeted control over their revenue stream; holding back high-demand items to release them at specific times when a spike in revenue is needed. I've seen one employee at another company admit that they needed such manufactured revenue spikes in order to occasionally mollify their investors.

If the investors only needed one bump in sales every three to four years, I guess they're doing incredibly well!

Seriously though, I get that they have these LTO releases do drive up sales, and it'd make sense to time them when they need to prove to the board that they're doing well. It just seems... that nothing rotates around. There are houses/costumes/hairstyles that have been out of the store for over three years at this point. I think they could stand to have these a bit more often, particularly if it's not even the same thing going up every time they need a boost.

I just feel that the art team is spending all this time (and getting paid a non-insignificant amount of the investors' money) to make something that ends up sitting on a shelf. Especially with housing - you don't really even get the chance to see other peoples' houses unless you're invited - it's not like having a flashy mount that you can ride past someone to show off.

If we want to impress the investors, let's do a blowout every two-three months - a load of 'lost' things that haven't been in the store in ages return all at once, and time that to when the investors are wanting to see funds. Huge influx, right there. And if that was on a three-month cycle, people would start to get excited to see what's coming back for the blowout sale... which would make that as interesting as the new crate season dropping. They could even time them to be spaced evenly, so they'd get loads from the crates one month, and then another big sale a month and a half later when people are jumping on some three-year-gone hairstyles or houses.

They do realize that not everyone playing now was playing since the beginning, right? Like there are loads of new players who joined with Elsweyr or Greymoor who would also pay a lot to get stuff that left the crown store before they even started...

Grizzbeorn

tomofhyrule wrote: »

Grizzbeorn wrote: »

LadySinflower wrote: »

Grizzbeorn wrote: »

The trend for almost all of the newer homes to be limited-availability only (and extremely limited, at that) is infuriating.

You're right and it's annoying! It's bad enough that they don't make the home available for gold. They think they need this false sense of exclusivity and scarcity to sell those homes, and they don't! I wonder if they've gathered statistics to compare the overall sales of one of those big, expensive homes being available all year to selling one just for a few days / weeks and taking it away.

I *think* (just my opinion based on what I've seen explained by other gaming companies in the past) they do it in part to exert a kind of targeted control over their revenue stream; holding back high-demand items to release them at specific times when a spike in revenue is needed. I've seen one employee at another company admit that they needed such manufactured revenue spikes in order to occasionally mollify their investors.

If the investors only needed one bump in sales every three to four years, I guess they're doing incredibly well!

Seriously though, I get that they have these LTO releases do drive up sales, and it'd make sense to time them when they need to prove to the board that they're doing well. It just seems... that nothing rotates around. There are houses/costumes/hairstyles that have been out of the store for over three years at this point. I think they could stand to have these a bit more often, particularly if it's not even the same thing going up every time they need a boost.

I just feel that the art team is spending all this time (and getting paid a non-insignificant amount of the investors' money) to make something that ends up sitting on a shelf. Especially with housing - you don't really even get the chance to see other peoples' houses unless you're invited - it's not like having a flashy mount that you can ride past someone to show off.

If we want to impress the investors, let's do a blowout every two-three months - a load of 'lost' things that haven't been in the store in ages return all at once, and time that to when the investors are wanting to see funds. Huge influx, right there. And if that was on a three-month cycle, people would start to get excited to see what's coming back for the blowout sale... which would make that as interesting as the new crate season dropping. They could even time them to be spaced evenly, so they'd get loads from the crates one month, and then another big sale a month and a half later when people are jumping on some three-year-gone hairstyles or houses.

They do realize that not everyone playing now was playing since the beginning, right? Like there are loads of new players who joined with Elsweyr or Greymoor who would also pay a lot to get stuff that left the crown store before they even started...

I agree with all of this.

rpa

[snip]. Artificial scarcity is common method to sell overpriced luxuries.

[edited to remove baiting comments.]

Anotherone773

Araneae6537 wrote: »

I agree the limited near-never availability of many things is quite frustrating! Many notable homes have gone YEARS without being available and I’ve been waiting to buy Tel Galen since I started playing ESO in July 2019.

Many homes are available near the same time every year. That one was a bit different. It was just shy of two years between the times it was available which means its probably going to be coming up again this coming year. Its 8k crowns unfurnished/10k furnished so be ready.

And yes the McDonald's style "limited time only" is annoying. I impulse buy homes when i discover them as i always have 20k-40k crowns in my account. I would have bought Shalidor's if it was available when i looked at it. It is available now but i haven't bought it because i lost interest in owning it when i left.

Ive done that with quite a few homes because when i first discover them i am like "Ohhh i could do X and Y with this space!" and then i can't buy it and i leave disappointed and the inspiration i had leaves me along with the will to buy ridiculously overpriced virtual real estate. Stone Eagle Aerie is probably the only one that i have looked when not on sale that i will actually buy when it goes on sale.

Otherwise they have missed out on tens of thousands of crown home sales with me over the last few years. One day i may visit those places again and get inspired but i usually only preview homes when i am out and about and get a bit curious.I have a lot of projects homes now to do, so it's not like i actually need more anyway and if i do plenty of always available gold homes.

bluebird

rpa wrote: »

[snip] Artificial scarcity is common method to sell overpriced luxuries.

Except the 'scarcity' has nothing to do with selling overpriced luxuries. The price difference between regularly-available houses and limited-time houses of the same category is negligible.

Enchanted Snow Globe: 400 slots, 4200 Crowns, limited time.
Lucky Cat Landing: 400 slots, 4400 Crowns, always there.

Shalidor's Shrouded Realm: 700 slots, 13,000 Crowns, limited time.
The Observatory Prior: 700 slots, 12,000 Crowns, always there.

People are buying the regularly-available houses at those prices all the time that they are available. And we can buy those at any time we want, because ZOS allows them to be bought throughout the year. Meanwhile, the same size houses with similar price tags are offered for 4days - 2weeks at a time, and clearly less people will be able to buy those than the regular notables, since those have been in the store for YEARS.

This isn't a 'crown prices are too high and consumers are sheep' thread or whatever it is you're trying to turn it into. This is simply people voicing what they want, especially when limited-time-offers seemingly only frustrate the playerbase and are highly unlikely to turn a profit with such small sales windows during which the majority of players will never even log in.

[edited quoted content]

Taleof2Cities

Well-said, @bluebird ... here's an agree.

rpa

bluebird wrote: »

rpa wrote: »

Maulclaw wrote: »

You people are insane.

Let the obedient consumers beg for opportunity to consume. Artificial scarcity is common method to sell overpriced luxuries.

Except the 'scarcity' has nothing to do with selling overpriced luxuries. The price difference between regularly-available houses and limited-time houses of the same category is negligible.

Enchanted Snow Globe: 400 slots, 4200 Crowns, limited time.
Lucky Cat Landing: 400 slots, 4400 Crowns, always there.

Shalidor's Shrouded Realm: 700 slots, 13,000 Crowns, limited time.
The Observatory Prior: 700 slots, 12,000 Crowns, always there.

People are buying the regularly-available houses at those prices all the time that they are available. And we can buy those at any time we want, because ZOS allows them to be bought throughout the year. Meanwhile, the same size houses with similar price tags are offered for 4days - 2weeks at a time, and clearly less people will be able to buy those than the regular notables, since those have been in the store for YEARS.

This isn't a 'crown prices are too high and consumers are sheep' thread or whatever it is you're trying to turn it into. This is simply people voicing what they want, especially when limited-time-offers seemingly only frustrate the playerbase and are highly unlikely to turn a profit with such small sales windows during which the majority of players will never even log in.

(I'm totally spoiled by Wildstar housing myself so I'm myself not bothering with it in this game beyond storage utility.)

Large houses IMO are overpriced luxuries, limited time or not. The possibility missing the limited purchase window and uncertainty when/if it's ever available again does make (some) people more anxious to aquire the limited time thing than if it was always available. Not having access to statistics I have no idea if it increases revenue but in any case that invonvenience to customers is deliberate, not accidental. Predatory marketing or not the Crown shop is not customer friendly and I'm honestly puzzled why many players seem to be fine with it.

ZOS_Ragnar

We have removed a few posts from this thread that were considered to be baiting others and the responses to those posts. Thank you for your understanding.

bluebird

rpa wrote: »

bluebird wrote: »

rpa wrote: »

Maulclaw wrote: »

You people are insane.

Let the obedient consumers beg for opportunity to consume. Artificial scarcity is common method to sell overpriced luxuries.

Except the 'scarcity' has nothing to do with selling overpriced luxuries. The price difference between regularly-available houses and limited-time houses of the same category is negligible.

Enchanted Snow Globe: 400 slots, 4200 Crowns, limited time.
Lucky Cat Landing: 400 slots, 4400 Crowns, always there.

Shalidor's Shrouded Realm: 700 slots, 13,000 Crowns, limited time.
The Observatory Prior: 700 slots, 12,000 Crowns, always there.

People are buying the regularly-available houses at those prices all the time that they are available. And we can buy those at any time we want, because ZOS allows them to be bought throughout the year. Meanwhile, the same size houses with similar price tags are offered for 4days - 2weeks at a time, and clearly less people will be able to buy those than the regular notables, since those have been in the store for YEARS.

This isn't a 'crown prices are too high and consumers are sheep' thread or whatever it is you're trying to turn it into. This is simply people voicing what they want, especially when limited-time-offers seemingly only frustrate the playerbase and are highly unlikely to turn a profit with such small sales windows during which the majority of players will never even log in.

Large houses IMO are overpriced luxuries, limited time or not. The possibility missing the limited purchase window and uncertainty when/if it's ever available again does make (some) people more anxious to aquire the limited time thing than if it was always available. Not having access to statistics I have no idea if it increases revenue but in any case that invonvenience to customers is deliberate, not accidental. Predatory marketing or not the Crown shop is not customer friendly and I'm honestly puzzled why many players seem to be fine with it.

Again, that's a 'prices are too high' point. Yes, all virtual content in a video game are first world luxuries. This question is about why some luxuries should be limited-time, when other luxuries sell throughout the year anyway and make much more profit. Ferragamo is a luxury clothes brand, but you can buy their stuff all year round; they don't just open for 1 week and close down for the remaining 51 weeks of the year, lol. We know the LTO pressure is deliberate; we're just saying that it actually loses out on potential buyers and makes no sense.

(Here's a graph, apparently I can't embed the image since it shows up as a broken link)
https://pasteboard.co/JHdoreE.png

1. Seeing 'limited time' on an item doesn't make people buy it. I've seen countless LTO Pets and bought none of them, because I don't care about the item. So LTO in itself won't convince people to buy the items, it only works on people who were already on the fence about it and considering a purchase.

2. The 4-day or even 2-week windows are too small. What % of the entire target demographic of that item will be playing the game (with enough funds on the spot and a purchasing willingness, to convert that presence into an actual sale) at any given week? With tons of new players joining, old players going back and forth, LTOs reach only a fraction of their potential buyerbase.

As a creator too, I would prefer to have my creation in the Store for YEARS, so more people can see it, buy it, and enjoy it - rather than appearing for 4 days, then getting shelved so most people don't even know that it exists, and maybe appearing in Crate Season returns ONCE every 2 years or so. For the development time that goes into these items, the ones that are more widely available clearly make more money.

3. And then of that fraction, the whole shtick relies on some people maybe being pressured into buying it when they would not have otherwise. Disregarding all the other ways people would be convinced to buy it, such as Black Friday, Christmas, or Anniversary sales when people are actively looking for purchases. Also disregarding impulse purchases, like people being in the mood for something who can't act on those impulses because the items aren't available. The allure of 'Only NOW! Don't miss out!' to people who are on the fence about an item for 4 days, isn't greater than all the denied impulses and denied purchase willingness of 'Ooh, shiny! I WANT it, and I want it now!' of people who can't buy what they want throughout the rest of the year.

This is basically me. I was leveling a new character through the Dark Brotherhood, and was totally in the mood for Dark Brotherhood stuff. I would've bought the LTO House for 16k Crowns, but it wasn't available. I eventually settled for Velothi Reverie for gold, and over time customised it to my liking, so that I no longer want to spend any Crowns on Erstwhile Sanctuary. It came back twice since, and I stopped caring about it, because the haze of the impulse purchase lifted from my eyes.

The same goes for my Bosmer char who really wanted some Wild Hunt Crate stuff - but it never returned, so I just got an Indrik from ingame events and the dungeon motif from LoM, and I'm happy with it too, so even when the Crates do return, I will no longer be interested in them and won't spend any Crowns thanks to their unavailable LTO policy.

4. So the 4-days 'Fear Of Missing Out' pressure pales in comparison to the other impulses and other purchase willingness and exponentially greater demographic of buyers that the item will never reach due to its limited time life. There are people who only buy things because they are 'limited' and wouldn't want them otherwise (this is the 'artificial scarcity' argument in your post), but that's minuscule. There's also people who will buy the item no matter what if they can. But again, LTOs are gambling on the assumption that the number of people who will buy the item due to its LTO status in 4 days will be greater than the number of people who would absolutely buy the item on the other 361 days of the year but can't. From conversations with guildies, from personal experience, and from forum posts of people who want to throw their money at the screen but can't, LTOs really don't seem to be successful at all.

There are also other considerations why ZOS thing this might be a good idea, but they also don't make up for all the lost purchases that LTOs cause.

5. They might assume for example, that if people see an LTO, they will buy full-priced Crowns on the spot; but if it's regularly available they will buy Crowns during a sale. However, that's wrong. Many people stock up on five-figure amounts of Crowns during a sale, and then live off of that throughout the year. Others buy their Crowns with gold, from sellers who stock up their Crowns during a sale. Also, if people know they have items available that they will be able to purchase, they will buy more Crowns in anticipation. And even when the LTO does suddenly pressure some into buying Crowns on the spot, the majority of people won't be able to do so, and will just watch that LTO sadly disappear by the time they get their monthly allowance, or their next paycheck, or their Birthday/Christmas money or whatever.

6. They might also assume that the unavailability of certain items makes others more desirable. Like, if the fancy Altmer dress is only available for 4 days a year, people might buy the less fancy Altmer dress throughout the year. However, again, I' pretty sure that doesn't add up either. People who really really want the fancy dress won't settle for anything less. Some people will buy the less-fancy dress, and will buy the fancy dress when its LTO comes up; but they would have bought them all anyway because they like all the dresses and they want to play dressup - so the number of people who bought the less-fancy-dress ONLY because the fancy-dress wasn't available is once again minuscule. And it disregards all the people mentioned earlier: who would 100% buy the fancy dress on 361 days of the year, but can't.

Anotherone773

bluebird wrote: »

This is basically me. I was leveling a new character through the Dark Brotherhood, and was totally in the mood for Dark Brotherhood stuff. I would've bought the LTO House for 16k Crowns, but it wasn't available. I eventually settled for Velothi Reverie for gold, and over time customised it to my liking, so that I no longer want to spend any Crowns on Erstwhile Sanctuary. It came back twice since, and I stopped caring about it, because the haze of the impulse purchase lifted from my eyes.

The same goes for my Bosmer char who really wanted some Wild Hunt Crate stuff - but it never returned, so I just got an Indrik from ingame events and the dungeon motif from LoM, and I'm happy with it too, so even when the Crates do return, I will no longer be interested in them and won't spend any Crowns thanks to their unavailable LTO policy.

You are basically me. I already have several houses that i need to work on so im not looking for a house. If i am i will likely buy a smaller gold house to work on because the big projects get exhausting especially since i am so limited in furnishing amounts for such large homes.

BUT there have been several houses i would impulse buy. Shalidor's is one of them. It was not available when i looked at it so i didn't buy it. I might buy it in the future or i might never own it. But had it of been available when i was standing in it, i would have owned it. There have been multiple houses i would have owned but don't because of the way they market them.

The same is true with crown crates. I was going to buy 5 crown crates for my wife and 5 for me as in game christmas present, but we dont really like any of the stuff that is in them. So i didnt. Christmas has passed and i no longer have the desire to buy crown crates. Also i don't like that older seasons of crown crates are still the same price as new seasons. I know they dont lower them because of the gems and while that is logical, the gems should maybe only be tied to a year rather than something continuous so those older seasons can be sold cheaper. That would be a great selling point for older seasons.

There limited time sales only work on items like necessities and they don't get that. When you do Mc Donalds limited time deal for the Mc Rib or Monopoly, you go there because you need to eat anyway. When you do a sale on clothes at Old Navy, you do so because need clothes anyway. Appliance sale at Lowes? Need a stove anyway because ours is going out. If i don't need those things i don't care about those sales. As you said, i have to already be on the fence and have the money in my pocket to spend for limited time sales. The less of a need it is and the more expensive it is the less chance your limited time sale is going to work at all at grabbing my attention.

They have lost out on so much money from me because they overprice stuff and do a really poor job of making it appeal to me. I rarely buy crowns outside of my sub even when they are on sale. I have a $200/month gaming budget which 75% of is free every month and ZOS only claims their $15 a month sub from me. There is a $150 a month of untapped revenue in my wallet they don't utilize because they don't know how to make stuff appeal to someone like me.

That is a HUGE problem if your in marketing. They probably arent even reaching a quarter of their marketing potential because of the way things are marketed.

tomofhyrule

bluebird wrote: »

Again, that's a 'prices are too high' point. Yes, all virtual content in a video game are first world luxuries. This question is about why some luxuries should be limited-time, when other luxuries sell throughout the year anyway and make much more profit. Ferragamo is a luxury clothes brand, but you can buy their stuff all year round; they don't just open for 1 week and close down for the remaining 51 weeks of the year, lol. We know the LTO pressure is deliberate; we're just saying that it actually loses out on potential buyers and makes no sense.
[snip]

ALL OF THIS!

THIS is my current feeling about the Crown Store. There's so much that I would buy if I could, but instead I'm just saving my crowns. I'm at the point of wondering if I even want to buy more crowns since they seem unlikely to release things that have been in the store for a while.

I know this thread started talking about housing, but housing's really not a big thing for me. I personally thing they're overpriced, and there's only one house that impresses me enough to get me to consider buying - Hunter's Glade. Beyond that, I don't need them for that price - I'll never be able to decorate them anyway. So as nice as Stone Eagle Aerie or Pariah's Pinnacle looks, I'm not going to shell out that many crowns for it.

But aside from housing? Look at all of the hairstyles we don't have (The Heroic Poet left the store in November 2017), or the personalities they could release. Those are the kinds of things I'd buy right away. Heck, I was champing at the bit for this crate season since they announced the contents so I could buy Unruly Bangs with gems the first day they were out (and honestly nothing else in this season interests me...). And yet I have to just sit and not get what I want.

Your point 3 is a great one - I'm writing a story for my character, and I'm at a point where I need a specific thing that hasn't been available in years. If I can't get it and have to make do with something else, then I'm not going to need to buy it and retake all of the screenshots (and redo all of the quests) now that I got something that works a bit better. Sure, losing out on the sale of a costume or hairstyle for 1000 crowns isn't much, but I've heard people say that with 10k+ houses, which is a lot bigger of a loss.

There's also the fact that the store is missing out on the people who are prone to impulse purchases because these people are not browsing the store. Since the store always has the same stuff in it, there's not much impetus for anyone to look through and see what the new offers are - doubly now that the monthly showcases give us everything up front, and it's about one or two new things a week (for one week only!). I remember that even last year the showcases would give us the stuff that released Thursday-Monday, but every Monday there would be a surprise sale or something might come back, and now we don't even get that. It's just the Starter Pack, Adept for 40% off again. Now is someone isn't looking through the store, they're not going to be buying anything.

I just can't get that having something (anything!) available for only a week will offset the profits that could be made from it being unavailable for the next 155 weeks. Housing especially, since there's really no way to show it off. At least with hairstyles/costumes/mounts/pets, you can walk past someone and show it off (though the advertising value of "Where did you get that!?" "You can't anymore, sucks to be you!" is suspect).