Thank you for the Blackfeather assistants!

SickleCider · April 2021

https://esomodelviewer.com/data-mining/post/13-blackwood-chapter-future-crown-store-items?utm_source=forums-elderscrollsonline-com&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=202104&utm_content=update-7-0-0-blackwood-chapter-crown-store-items

I see them there in that datamine. 👀🐦💜

Really, I'm so excited! And I feel so seen! It really does tickle me when I see one of my highly specific requests get developed!

Tethilia · April 2021

I'm super excited. My only problem is what to do with the adorable Alfiq's?

Tethilia · April 2021

I guess they could become houseguests now.

SickleCider · April 2021

Tethilia wrote: »

I guess they could become houseguests now.

Alternate assistants between toons!

winterscrolls229prerb18_ESO · April 2021

I'm so glad there's nothing from this datamine that i want. Its kinda a relief to stick with what i have for a few months and not be on the edge of my seat on twitch going for drops or trying to min max how im going to gamble.

Time for a nice break and get onto questing. Might even try up and line up all those wall lamps that almost got in the posts of sleek creek.

Wildberryjack · April 2021

They should let those who have an assistant or banker buy the new ones at a reduced rate. The functionality is the same so we're basically buying the same thing over and over and over just with a different skin. Kinda stings tbh, doesn't feel good.

FluffyBird · April 2021

Wildberryjack wrote: »

They should let those who have an assistant or banker buy the new ones at a reduced rate. The functionality is the same so we're basically buying the same thing over and over and over just with a different skin. Kinda stings tbh, doesn't feel good.

You don't get discount on horses because you already have a horse, or on dresses if you already own a dress.

LadySinflower · April 2021

I would really like to have the new ones but I already have Fezez and Ezabi. I love them so much!

tomofhyrule · April 2021

At the risk of sounding like a party pooper here...

Maybe wait with the thanks until they actually release. There are so many things that have been datamined that never ended up coming out - I'm still waiting for that Bard personality that was datamined a year ago, and there have been several hairstyles that even made it as far as PTS without ever going live.

Good luck, and I do hope that ZOS releases all the stuff that people on the forums are hyped about and have yet to release, but just be careful not to count your crows before they hatch...

SickleCider · April 2021

tomofhyrule wrote: »

At the risk of sounding like a party pooper here...

Maybe wait with the thanks until they actually release. There are so many things that have been datamined that never ended up coming out - I'm still waiting for that Bard personality that was datamined a year ago, and there have been several hairstyles that even made it as far as PTS without ever going live.

Good luck, and I do hope that ZOS releases all the stuff that people on the forums are hyped about and have yet to release, but just be careful not to count your crows before they hatch...

Quite right. I'm hoping my enthusiasm will encourage them to catapult these crows to live. 👀🤞

Fennwitty · April 2021

Tethilia wrote: »

I'm super excited. My only problem is what to do with the adorable Alfiq's?

Throw all of them together in a large burlap bag and let them work out their differences

Kalik_Gold · April 2021

What to do with the originals... Nuzhimeh is my favorite.

NotaDaedraWorshipper · April 2021

If these also arrive to the store before the Imperial and Altmer banker and merchant I'm going to be very annoyed. I've waited years for them.

Ratzkifal · May 2021

FluffyBird wrote: »

Wildberryjack wrote: »

They should let those who have an assistant or banker buy the new ones at a reduced rate. The functionality is the same so we're basically buying the same thing over and over and over just with a different skin. Kinda stings tbh, doesn't feel good.

You don't get discount on horses because you already have a horse, or on dresses if you already own a dress.

Horses are only cosmetic in their difference and that is kind of obvious from the start. Most people don't get their first horse from buying it in the crown store, they get it from the stable master for 10k gold and then they start buying skins for their horse. Everyone kind of understands that they are paying for skins.

The assistants on the other hand can't be gotten through gameplay means and there are no functional differences between them either, so releasing a new one is like releasing a skin for it, but expecting people to pay for the functionality of it again or alternatively skip on the product entirely. As cute as they are, an Alfiq pet cosmetic is not worth 5000 crowns and neither is a crow. An Alfiq or crow banker might be. But if we look at it as just a cosmetic to people who already own the service it provides it is very much overpriced.

Other games have also acknowledged this issue. As an example when League of Legends started releasing variant versions of the same skins, they made it so that owning one skin would put the other automatically at a discount because you were paying for the same product again otherwise.
ZOS should learn from this example and offer discounts for people who already own a banker/merchant to:

A: reward customer loyalty and
B: drive sales numbers up by getting people who can't justify getting a second banker to buy "banker skins" instead.

Lady_Galadhiel · May 2021

As far as I remember there where other banker/merchant also datamined last year and they never released.

SickleCider · May 2021

https://esomodelviewer.com/data-mining/

The models for the assistants have been extracted! This is encouraging! 💜

(The model for the fox mount has also been extracted!)

bluebird · May 2021

FluffyBird wrote: »

Wildberryjack wrote: »

They should let those who have an assistant or banker buy the new ones at a reduced rate. The functionality is the same so we're basically buying the same thing over and over and over just with a different skin. Kinda stings tbh, doesn't feel good.

You don't get discount on horses because you already have a horse, or on dresses if you already own a dress.

Except those are totally different from Assistants.

Your ability to ride a mount, the speed with which it rides, the riding capacity and stamina are all independent functions from the skin. You pay tons of gold or Crowns (Riding Lessons) for the function of riding, and then you pay a modest sum for buying Reskins on which to ride (plus many Mounts are earnable ingame too, and we know that there are several skins to choose from).

On the other hand, Assistants were priced so highly to reflect their unique functionality. 'Both assistants can be purchased at any level via the in-game Crown Store, and will be priced at 5,000 crowns to reflect their unique convenience, group-wide utility, and practical services.' Now, if you already paid 5k for this 'unique' functionality, paying a Reskin for that no-longer-unique functionality shouldn't cost 5k again. That's like making you pay 18,000c/45,000g every time you buy a new Reskin of a horse, because the Speed/Stamina/Capacity upgrades you already have paid for cost that much. Or if they started selling Reskins of other Account Upgrades for the same price, like Character Slots with a choosable background costing the same for people who already bought all Character slots earlier.

They should have just left Tythis and Nuzimeh as the base Banker/Merchant for 5k each, and added new Reskins for around 2k that would have required owning Tythis and Nuzimeh first - that way the 5k price would actually reflect the 'unique functionality' for everyone, and the Reskins would be more reasonably priced on par with other Reskins like Mounts and Dresses that you mentioned. I would have bought 2k Reskins for my Assistants, but with this system many people can't justify spending 20k extra just to unlock new Skins for functions they already bought at a premium for 'uniqueness'.

SickleCider · May 2021

bluebird wrote: »

FluffyBird wrote: »

Wildberryjack wrote: »

They should let those who have an assistant or banker buy the new ones at a reduced rate. The functionality is the same so we're basically buying the same thing over and over and over just with a different skin. Kinda stings tbh, doesn't feel good.

You don't get discount on horses because you already have a horse, or on dresses if you already own a dress.

Except those are totally different from Assistants.

Your ability to ride a mount, the speed with which it rides, the riding capacity and stamina are all independent functions from the skin. You pay tons of gold or Crowns (Riding Lessons) for the function of riding, and then you pay a modest sum for buying Reskins on which to ride (plus many Mounts are earnable ingame too, and we know that there are several skins to choose from).

On the other hand, Assistants were priced so highly to reflect their unique functionality. 'Both assistants can be purchased at any level via the in-game Crown Store, and will be priced at 5,000 crowns to reflect their unique convenience, group-wide utility, and practical services.' Now, if you already paid 5k for this 'unique' functionality, paying a Reskin for that no-longer-unique functionality shouldn't cost 5k again. That's like making you pay 18,000c/45,000g every time you buy a new Reskin of a horse, because the Speed/Stamina/Capacity upgrades you already have paid for cost that much. Or if they started selling Reskins of other Account Upgrades for the same price, like Character Slots with a choosable background costing the same for people who already bought all Character slots earlier.

They should have just left Tythis and Nuzimeh as the base Banker/Merchant for 5k each, and added new Reskins for around 2k that would have required owning Tythis and Nuzimeh first - that way the 5k price would actually reflect the 'unique functionality' for everyone, and the Reskins would be more reasonably priced on par with other Reskins like Mounts and Dresses that you mentioned. I would have bought 2k Reskins for my Assistants, but with this system many people can't justify spending 20k extra just to unlock new Skins for functions they already bought at a premium for 'uniqueness'.

If you did that, people would be upset that they would have to buy Nuzimeh and Tythis when they only want Ezabi and Fezez, or these Blackfeather merchants. That isn't a fair solution, really.

If I had to guess at a reason for the price tag, it's that new assistants require new dialogue be written and voice actors brought on, plus the modeling of unique new NPCs. It's outrageously priced, no argument, though it doesn't hold a candle to the gargantuan price tag of many mounts.

bluebird · May 2021

Versispellis wrote: »

bluebird wrote: »

FluffyBird wrote: »

Wildberryjack wrote: »

They should let those who have an assistant or banker buy the new ones at a reduced rate. The functionality is the same so we're basically buying the same thing over and over and over just with a different skin. Kinda stings tbh, doesn't feel good.

You don't get discount on horses because you already have a horse, or on dresses if you already own a dress.

Except those are totally different from Assistants.

Your ability to ride a mount, the speed with which it rides, the riding capacity and stamina are all independent functions from the skin. You pay tons of gold or Crowns (Riding Lessons) for the function of riding, and then you pay a modest sum for buying Reskins on which to ride (plus many Mounts are earnable ingame too, and we know that there are several skins to choose from).

On the other hand, Assistants were priced so highly to reflect their unique functionality. 'Both assistants can be purchased at any level via the in-game Crown Store, and will be priced at 5,000 crowns to reflect their unique convenience, group-wide utility, and practical services.' Now, if you already paid 5k for this 'unique' functionality, paying a Reskin for that no-longer-unique functionality shouldn't cost 5k again. That's like making you pay 18,000c/45,000g every time you buy a new Reskin of a horse, because the Speed/Stamina/Capacity upgrades you already have paid for cost that much. Or if they started selling Reskins of other Account Upgrades for the same price, like Character Slots with a choosable background costing the same for people who already bought all Character slots earlier.

They should have just left Tythis and Nuzimeh as the base Banker/Merchant for 5k each, and added new Reskins for around 2k that would have required owning Tythis and Nuzimeh first - that way the 5k price would actually reflect the 'unique functionality' for everyone, and the Reskins would be more reasonably priced on par with other Reskins like Mounts and Dresses that you mentioned. I would have bought 2k Reskins for my Assistants, but with this system many people can't justify spending 20k extra just to unlock new Skins for functions they already bought at a premium for 'uniqueness'.

If you did that, people would be upset that they would have to buy Nuzimeh and Tythis when they only want Ezabi and Fezez, or these Blackfeather merchants. That isn't a fair solution, really.

The ideal solution would naturally be to add a flexible discount to all Banker/Merchants if people already own any other Banker/Merchant. But I did not consider that feasible because I doubt ZOS are capable of implementing adjusted pricing, when they are currently incapable of discounting Bundled items even if the person already has 2/3 of the items unlocked, so the items in the Crown Store likely have to be a fixed price.

So I think it's a very fair solution.

People who only want the Cat or the Raven assistants pay 5k for 'Banker/Merchant assistant access' (which comes with the default skin of Nuzimeh/Tythis) and they purchase the 'Premium skin' on top of that. Just as every existing player who paid 5k for their assistants can pay the same 2k for the new Cat/Raven Premium skins without feeling scammed. It would be fair to everybody on the long term, rather than only pleasing the people who don't own any Banker/Merchant (which is an ever shrinking demographic as time goes on and as new Reskins are released). Overall, they would make far more money off of people considering buying 2k Reskins, than a lot of people refusing to buy any new assistants due to a distaste of being double-triple charged.

DoomGrunt624 · May 2021

tomofhyrule wrote: »

At the risk of sounding like a party pooper here...

Maybe wait with the thanks until they actually release. There are so many things that have been datamined that never ended up coming out - I'm still waiting for that Bard personality that was datamined a year ago, and there have been several hairstyles that even made it as far as PTS without ever going live.

Good luck, and I do hope that ZOS releases all the stuff that people on the forums are hyped about and have yet to release, but just be careful not to count your crows before they hatch...

The Bard personnality will be maybe in the Jester new crown crates (datamined)

Ashryn · May 2021

When the last two cat merchant and banker came out, there was this same argument for a lower price for those who already had the old models. Well reasoned, it was still ignore by 'the Powers that Be' and there was no discount; I have no hope it will be any way different when these newer two are ever released.

SickleCider · May 2021

bluebird wrote: »

Versispellis wrote: »

bluebird wrote: »

FluffyBird wrote: »

Wildberryjack wrote: »

They should let those who have an assistant or banker buy the new ones at a reduced rate. The functionality is the same so we're basically buying the same thing over and over and over just with a different skin. Kinda stings tbh, doesn't feel good.

You don't get discount on horses because you already have a horse, or on dresses if you already own a dress.

Except those are totally different from Assistants.

Your ability to ride a mount, the speed with which it rides, the riding capacity and stamina are all independent functions from the skin. You pay tons of gold or Crowns (Riding Lessons) for the function of riding, and then you pay a modest sum for buying Reskins on which to ride (plus many Mounts are earnable ingame too, and we know that there are several skins to choose from).

On the other hand, Assistants were priced so highly to reflect their unique functionality. 'Both assistants can be purchased at any level via the in-game Crown Store, and will be priced at 5,000 crowns to reflect their unique convenience, group-wide utility, and practical services.' Now, if you already paid 5k for this 'unique' functionality, paying a Reskin for that no-longer-unique functionality shouldn't cost 5k again. That's like making you pay 18,000c/45,000g every time you buy a new Reskin of a horse, because the Speed/Stamina/Capacity upgrades you already have paid for cost that much. Or if they started selling Reskins of other Account Upgrades for the same price, like Character Slots with a choosable background costing the same for people who already bought all Character slots earlier.

They should have just left Tythis and Nuzimeh as the base Banker/Merchant for 5k each, and added new Reskins for around 2k that would have required owning Tythis and Nuzimeh first - that way the 5k price would actually reflect the 'unique functionality' for everyone, and the Reskins would be more reasonably priced on par with other Reskins like Mounts and Dresses that you mentioned. I would have bought 2k Reskins for my Assistants, but with this system many people can't justify spending 20k extra just to unlock new Skins for functions they already bought at a premium for 'uniqueness'.

If you did that, people would be upset that they would have to buy Nuzimeh and Tythis when they only want Ezabi and Fezez, or these Blackfeather merchants. That isn't a fair solution, really.

The ideal solution would naturally be to add a flexible discount to all Banker/Merchants if people already own any other Banker/Merchant. But I did not consider that feasible because I doubt ZOS are capable of implementing adjusted pricing, when they are currently incapable of discounting Bundled items even if the person already has 2/3 of the items unlocked, so the items in the Crown Store likely have to be a fixed price.

So I think it's a very fair solution. People who only want the Cat or the Raven assistants pay 5k for 'Banker/Merchant assistant access' (which comes with the default skin of Nuzimeh/Tythis) and they purchase the 'Premium skin' on top of that. Just as every existing player who paid 5k for their assistants can pay the same 2k for the new Cat/Raven Premium skins without feeling scammed. It would be fair to everybody on the long term, rather than only pleasing the people who don't own any Banker/Merchant (which is an ever shrinking demographic as time goes on and as new Reskins are released). Overall, they would make far more money off of people considering buying 2k Reskins, than a lot of people refusing to buy any new assistants due to a distaste of being double-triple charged.

I see your logic, but I'm not sure that I agree that because something might be the most likely solution that it constitutes fairness. There are some things to consider, as well. For example, what about people that own the cat merchants but not the other two? Do they now have to purchase the original pair? Is there a grandfather system? Also, how does ZOS cope with the complaints of those who have already purchased both sets? Do they now get retroactive discounts, or is it all fair because they chose to purchase the product at the price point? It's all theoretical, of course.

If I had to wager a guess, the lack of variable pricing has little to do with logistics. As it is, ESO+ members get discounts on items. There's a lot of things they could do--like offering their goods at more reasonable prices from the onset--that unfortunately probably won't happen. If you asked my opinion, the most consumer friendly thing that can be done is a global audit of their pricing and perhaps some kind of gratuity for all members, but that's a unicorn dream.

Hmm, yes. This discussion gives someone a lot to think about. Do I be grateful that they spent time developing content I requested, or is it just expressing enthusiasm that they're offering me the privilege of buying something from them at a premium? I do intend to purchase them regardless, as something I specifically requested and am pleased about, but I'll be ruminating on that.

bluebird · May 2021

Versispellis wrote: »

bluebird wrote: »

Versispellis wrote: »

bluebird wrote: »

FluffyBird wrote: »

Wildberryjack wrote: »

They should let those who have an assistant or banker buy the new ones at a reduced rate. The functionality is the same so we're basically buying the same thing over and over and over just with a different skin. Kinda stings tbh, doesn't feel good.

You don't get discount on horses because you already have a horse, or on dresses if you already own a dress.

Except those are totally different from Assistants.

Your ability to ride a mount, the speed with which it rides, the riding capacity and stamina are all independent functions from the skin. You pay tons of gold or Crowns (Riding Lessons) for the function of riding, and then you pay a modest sum for buying Reskins on which to ride (plus many Mounts are earnable ingame too, and we know that there are several skins to choose from).

On the other hand, Assistants were priced so highly to reflect their unique functionality. 'Both assistants can be purchased at any level via the in-game Crown Store, and will be priced at 5,000 crowns to reflect their unique convenience, group-wide utility, and practical services.' Now, if you already paid 5k for this 'unique' functionality, paying a Reskin for that no-longer-unique functionality shouldn't cost 5k again. That's like making you pay 18,000c/45,000g every time you buy a new Reskin of a horse, because the Speed/Stamina/Capacity upgrades you already have paid for cost that much. Or if they started selling Reskins of other Account Upgrades for the same price, like Character Slots with a choosable background costing the same for people who already bought all Character slots earlier.

They should have just left Tythis and Nuzimeh as the base Banker/Merchant for 5k each, and added new Reskins for around 2k that would have required owning Tythis and Nuzimeh first - that way the 5k price would actually reflect the 'unique functionality' for everyone, and the Reskins would be more reasonably priced on par with other Reskins like Mounts and Dresses that you mentioned. I would have bought 2k Reskins for my Assistants, but with this system many people can't justify spending 20k extra just to unlock new Skins for functions they already bought at a premium for 'uniqueness'.

If you did that, people would be upset that they would have to buy Nuzimeh and Tythis when they only want Ezabi and Fezez, or these Blackfeather merchants. That isn't a fair solution, really.

The ideal solution would naturally be to add a flexible discount to all Banker/Merchants if people already own any other Banker/Merchant. But I did not consider that feasible because I doubt ZOS are capable of implementing adjusted pricing, when they are currently incapable of discounting Bundled items even if the person already has 2/3 of the items unlocked, so the items in the Crown Store likely have to be a fixed price.

So I think it's a very fair solution. People who only want the Cat or the Raven assistants pay 5k for 'Banker/Merchant assistant access' (which comes with the default skin of Nuzimeh/Tythis) and they purchase the 'Premium skin' on top of that. Just as every existing player who paid 5k for their assistants can pay the same 2k for the new Cat/Raven Premium skins without feeling scammed. It would be fair to everybody on the long term, rather than only pleasing the people who don't own any Banker/Merchant (which is an ever shrinking demographic as time goes on and as new Reskins are released). Overall, they would make far more money off of people considering buying 2k Reskins, than a lot of people refusing to buy any new assistants due to a distaste of being double-triple charged.

If I had to wager a guess, the lack of variable pricing has little to do with logistics. As it is, ESO+ members get discounts on items. There's a lot of things they could do--like offering their goods at more reasonable prices from the onset--that unfortunately probably won't happen.

Giving a discount for ESO+ members is easy because it only checks ESO+ status. For Bundles and dynamically adjusted prices, they'd have to cross-check individual item ownership which I imagine is way too much work, when they'd prefer for players to just pay 5k anyway. (Like, having to do an "IF player owns Nuzimeh OR Fezez OR RavenMerchant > THEN > Apply Discount to Nuzimeh AND Fezez AND RavenMerchant" is probably too much work for assisstants and bundles individually.) I do agree that having more reasonable prices from the get-go would solve all of these issues...

And I actually agree with Ashryn, they are probably not going to discount anything. They'll just put them up for 5k or more, as they did with the cats. My suggestion was one that should have been implemented for fairness - not one that I believe will happen for the Ravens. Because apparently a Reskinned assistant that re-uses models from a Chapter (Alfiq) / DLC (Ravens) that has a handful of voice lines costs more than the entire Chapter / DLC with dozens of fully voiced characters, many other unique models, hours of content, a full overland zone, and a trial, class, etc.

*shrug*

(Not trying to take away anybody's enthusiasm for the items btw!

I just find it unfortunate that their chosen monetisation strategy is the least player-friendly and the least popular and will likely result in the least yield in the long run).

SickleCider · May 2021

bluebird wrote: »

Versispellis wrote: »

bluebird wrote: »

Versispellis wrote: »

bluebird wrote: »

FluffyBird wrote: »

Wildberryjack wrote: »

They should let those who have an assistant or banker buy the new ones at a reduced rate. The functionality is the same so we're basically buying the same thing over and over and over just with a different skin. Kinda stings tbh, doesn't feel good.

You don't get discount on horses because you already have a horse, or on dresses if you already own a dress.

Except those are totally different from Assistants.

Your ability to ride a mount, the speed with which it rides, the riding capacity and stamina are all independent functions from the skin. You pay tons of gold or Crowns (Riding Lessons) for the function of riding, and then you pay a modest sum for buying Reskins on which to ride (plus many Mounts are earnable ingame too, and we know that there are several skins to choose from).

On the other hand, Assistants were priced so highly to reflect their unique functionality. 'Both assistants can be purchased at any level via the in-game Crown Store, and will be priced at 5,000 crowns to reflect their unique convenience, group-wide utility, and practical services.' Now, if you already paid 5k for this 'unique' functionality, paying a Reskin for that no-longer-unique functionality shouldn't cost 5k again. That's like making you pay 18,000c/45,000g every time you buy a new Reskin of a horse, because the Speed/Stamina/Capacity upgrades you already have paid for cost that much. Or if they started selling Reskins of other Account Upgrades for the same price, like Character Slots with a choosable background costing the same for people who already bought all Character slots earlier.

They should have just left Tythis and Nuzimeh as the base Banker/Merchant for 5k each, and added new Reskins for around 2k that would have required owning Tythis and Nuzimeh first - that way the 5k price would actually reflect the 'unique functionality' for everyone, and the Reskins would be more reasonably priced on par with other Reskins like Mounts and Dresses that you mentioned. I would have bought 2k Reskins for my Assistants, but with this system many people can't justify spending 20k extra just to unlock new Skins for functions they already bought at a premium for 'uniqueness'.

If you did that, people would be upset that they would have to buy Nuzimeh and Tythis when they only want Ezabi and Fezez, or these Blackfeather merchants. That isn't a fair solution, really.

The ideal solution would naturally be to add a flexible discount to all Banker/Merchants if people already own any other Banker/Merchant. But I did not consider that feasible because I doubt ZOS are capable of implementing adjusted pricing, when they are currently incapable of discounting Bundled items even if the person already has 2/3 of the items unlocked, so the items in the Crown Store likely have to be a fixed price.

So I think it's a very fair solution. People who only want the Cat or the Raven assistants pay 5k for 'Banker/Merchant assistant access' (which comes with the default skin of Nuzimeh/Tythis) and they purchase the 'Premium skin' on top of that. Just as every existing player who paid 5k for their assistants can pay the same 2k for the new Cat/Raven Premium skins without feeling scammed. It would be fair to everybody on the long term, rather than only pleasing the people who don't own any Banker/Merchant (which is an ever shrinking demographic as time goes on and as new Reskins are released). Overall, they would make far more money off of people considering buying 2k Reskins, than a lot of people refusing to buy any new assistants due to a distaste of being double-triple charged.

If I had to wager a guess, the lack of variable pricing has little to do with logistics. As it is, ESO+ members get discounts on items. There's a lot of things they could do--like offering their goods at more reasonable prices from the onset--that unfortunately probably won't happen.

Giving a discount for ESO+ members is easy because it only checks ESO+ status. For Bundles and dynamically adjusted prices, they'd have to cross-check individual item ownership which I imagine is way too much work, when they'd prefer for players to just pay 5k anyway. (Like, having to do an "IF player owns Nuzimeh OR Fezez OR RavenMerchant > THEN > Apply Discount to Nuzimeh AND Fezez AND RavenMerchant" is probably too much work for assisstants and bundles individually.) I do agree that having more reasonable prices from the get-go would solve all of these issues...

And I actually agree with Ashryn, they are probably not going to discount anything. They'll just put them up for 5k or more, as they did with the cats. My suggestion was one that should have been implemented for fairness - not one that I believe will happen for the Ravens. Because apparently a Reskinned assistant that re-uses models from a Chapter (Alfiq) / DLC (Ravens) that has a handful of voice lines costs more than the entire Chapter / DLC with dozens of fully voiced characters, many other unique models, hours of content, a full overland zone, and a trial, class, etc. *shrug*

(Not trying to take away anybody's enthusiasm for the items btw! I just find it unfortunate that their chosen monetisation strategy is the least player-friendly and the least popular and will likely result in the least yield in the long run).

Hey, you (and other posters) make some good points and suggestions! I know it's not meant to dampen enthusiasm. It's important to take stock of things here and there and be aware the ill advised actions you take (in this case, purchases). It's up to each individual to decide whether the cost is worth the entertainment with consideration of all facts.

I agree, their monetisation is... beyond frustrating. I've wondered where my personal line is. I've known people that are frugal to the point of joy-starving themselves, and others that are absolutely flamboyant about their purchases in this game. I think, given everything that's been going on in the world, a lot of people have probably been more spendy than usual. I know I have. But ultimately the onus is on the company to ethically monetize.

...I went on a bit of a tangent there. I think, though we are conceptualizing things a bit differently, we're on the same frustrated page. Well, since you and other posters reminded me to flip to that page, anyway. 🤣

Fischblut · May 2021

I own basic merchant and banker, and I personally don't need any reskin for them. What I would need though, is a crow sitting on my hand while I run around

Purely for RP reasons and fun.

So for me, decision will be simple:
- if Blackfeather Assistants will sit on hand of my character, I will buy one of them. I feel like this is how they will be released, because this is so cool

Also, datamined videos only have crow models - no NPC is attached to them, they are separate beings.
- if Blackfeather Assistants will be sitting on the hand of those generic NPCs (like they are shown on promo picture) - I will not buy any of them

The possibility of this is very slim, but who knows... It would be really uncool.

SickleCider · May 2021

Fischblut wrote: »

I own basic merchant and banker, and I personally don't need any reskin for them. What I would need though, is a crow sitting on my hand while I run around Purely for RP reasons and fun.

So for me, decision will be simple:
- if Blackfeather Assistants will sit on hand of my character, I will buy one of them. I feel like this is how they will be released, because this is so cool Also, datamined videos only have crow models - no NPC is attached to them, they are separate beings.
- if Blackfeather Assistants will be sitting on the hand of those generic NPCs (like they are shown on promo picture) - I will not buy any of them The possibility of this is very slim, but who knows... It would be really uncool.

Oh I agree. I don't think it's likely that an NPC would be attached, but it'd be a deal breaker out of the gate for me, too. Not too keen on people in general, which is why I favor the animal assistants to begin with. 🤣

B0SSzombie · May 2021

So here's something:

https://eso-hub.com/en/collectibles/category/assistants

Eso-hub has the actual data on display for the assistants, and the thumbnails for the Blackfeather assistants look as if they are in flight.

Maybe they simply fly next to your character at all times? Could be to make them easier to find for others since they're about the same size as the Alfiq assistants, but would be present at eye level?

SickleCider · May 2021

B0SSzombie wrote: »

So here's something:

https://eso-hub.com/en/collectibles/category/assistants

Eso-hub has the actual data on display for the assistants, and the thumbnails for the Blackfeather assistants look as if they are in flight.

Maybe they simply fly next to your character at all times? Could be to make them easier to find for others since they're about the same size as the Alfiq assistants, but would be present at eye level?

Oh, good catch! I'd be okay with that! It'd help with that issue of trying to loot corpses and clicking on the assistant, too, if the interaction box doesn't go all the way to the floor.

NotaDaedraWorshipper · May 2021

tomofhyrule wrote: »

At the risk of sounding like a party pooper here...

Maybe wait with the thanks until they actually release. There are so many things that have been datamined that never ended up coming out - I'm still waiting for that Bard personality that was datamined a year ago, and there have been several hairstyles that even made it as far as PTS without ever going live.

Good luck, and I do hope that ZOS releases all the stuff that people on the forums are hyped about and have yet to release, but just be careful not to count your crows before they hatch...

@tomofhyrule Well, I'm still waiting on the imperial and altmer banker and merchant

Been some years now.

Tommy_The_Gun · May 2021

I looked at OP's link and... am I the only one thinking that:

Non-Combat Pet: Nibenese Pony = next inventory increasing pet ?

NotaDaedraWorshipper · May 2021

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

I looked at OP's link and... am I the only one thinking that:

Non-Combat Pet: Nibenese Pony = next inventory increasing pet ?

@Tommy_The_Gun The Baandari pets also carry packages but are not inventory increasing pets. It's possible, but also not.