Crown Crates, Do You Boycott or Gamble?

Folkb

Is this the gamblers anon meeting? 😐

udaba

Sitting here working for 3euro/hour crying in 0 crates .

Mesite

I bought the game, and bought crowns but I don't buy crown crates. I don't gamble in real life but I don't buy crown crates because I'm frugal with my money, not because its gambling. I don't subscribe because the game is fine without a subscription (except for inventory problems).

Marillea

I just buy crates with gold when there is something I like, which is usually only items for my characters such as costumes, hairstyles and so on. If anything else drops, cool.

Thing is, as long there are players buying 100-500 euros worth of crates, no company has a single reason to take em away. Seeing some older forum threads, there are players investing a month's worth of rent into crown crates just to then blame ZOS that they didn't drop, of course, the item with the lowest drop chance. Again, no reason to take them away. Too many people buy them, and too many people spend a fortune on them.

winterscrolls229prerb18_ESO

For the time i seriously wish that crown crates weren't gambling. The bandari mounts are the only thing ive seriously wanted.. out of the store.. in a long time.

I've got 7k crowns, was even thinking about how to come up with 5k for some crates, but then realised i wouldn't even get what i wanted via gems anyway, by a long shot, hell no. If you seriously wanted a mount you it would probably cost you around $200-250 REAL WORLD MONEY in gems.. what the hell.

That's for endeavours i think, and if they never come back who cares and so be it.

Wow, if you actually went for the apex plus rewards, i personally would feel really preyed upon after the fact. Its not even close that's firmly in the territory of gambling.. nothing in real life would match such cost for such nothing in return.

EDIT: Insurace does as well, good point.

HappyTheCamper

I’ve never bought crown crates to get an item. There have been items in the crates I’ve wanted, but I buy them for the gems, then get what I want if I have enough.

Amottica

Ken_Koerperich wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

I do not boycott crates. I just choose not to outright buy them. There is a difference as I have received and opened crown crates Zenimax provided through other means.

Twitch Streams, and they yiedl 99% of the time....

Heal pots....I've gotten 100+ pots so far...

1 Exp Scroll

Ton's of "POISON" pots.....

Never anything of value....

@Ken_Koerperich The crates that drop from Twitch streams are not crown crates which is the focus of this thread. The crates you are speaking of are not intended to drop the nicer items.

Syrpynt

winterscrolls229prerb18_ESO wrote: »

... but then realised i wouldn't even get what i wanted via gems anyway, by a long shot, hell no. If you seriously wanted a mount you it would probably cost you around $200-250 REAL WORLD MONEY in gems.. what the hell.

Exactly. If you get a duplicate (non-consumable) reward--you don't even get the exact number of gems that the store says they are worth! You get like 5 gems. Such a rip off. When I saw this happen a couple times, I stopped touching crates entirely. Even the free ones! They're pure evil.

adriant1978

I occasionally buy crates because I want to get gems to buy something from the gem store. I never have any expectation of getting what I want directly from the crates.

winterscrolls229prerb18_ESO

adriant1978 wrote: »

I occasionally buy crates because I want to get gems to buy something from the gem store. I never have any expectation of getting what I want directly from the crates.

Well personally, ive had a go. I think overall ive bought 3x the 4 crates, and 1 15 crates. After doing the 15 crates, i was horrified at the experience. Just listen to the cat. Its such a large wart on the game its enough to make you single focus on how evil they are and completely forget anything to do with the story or gamplay, its a huge impending warning of bad things.

So i put them aside and moved on.

The urge to "have a little gamble" doesn't exist.

Its only the items that i care about then. The real equation turns out to be its a $200 macro transaction where you gamble on the cost being less or greatly more than said $200.

Ps. When you've experienced then made your conclusion then moved on, in hindsight they are so blatantly gambling. Thats all they literally are.

adriant1978

winterscrolls229prerb18_ESO wrote: »

adriant1978 wrote: »

I occasionally buy crates because I want to get gems to buy something from the gem store. I never have any expectation of getting what I want directly from the crates.

Well personally, ive had a go. I think overall ive bought 3x the 4 crates, and 1 15 crates. After doing the 15 crates, i was horrified at the experience. Just listen to the cat. Its such a large wart on the game its enough to make you single focus on how evil they are and completely forget anything to do with the story or gamplay, its a huge impending warning of bad things.

So i put them aside and moved on.

The urge to "have a little gamble" doesn't exist.

Its only the items that i care about then. The real equation turns out to be its a $200 macro transaction where you gamble on the cost being less or greatly more than said $200.

Ps. When you've experienced then made your conclusion then moved on, in hindsight they are so blatantly gambling. Thats all they literally are.

Not sure if this is actually directed at me, or just a general comment, but I am under no illusions about Crown Crates being gambling and as I said I do not buy them in the hope of "getting lucky". I occasionally buy crates because:

• I sometimes want gems to buy something which costs gems
• There honestly isn't a lot else to spend my ESO+ crowns on most of the time

I am largely uninterested in the Apex Mounts and prefer to go after the lesser rewards in the gem store. Recently for example I bought a stack of crates and earned enough gems from duplicate items and exchanging the trash potions and such to buy the Knight-Aspirant Style which I think looks great on my humble hero paladin character. Yes I'd much prefer it if this was available for direct purchase (in fact maybe it has been and I missed it, I don't know, yay time limited offers) but I needed gems so I bought crates.

Blinx

I don't normally gamble, BUT if I have a crown balance of 400, I end up wasting that on a crate, if I don't have anything in my sights to buy. All I ever get are potions, but who knows someday...

Xaramasa

I sometimes buy crown crates with the crowns eso plus provides me, but I don't gamble for apex mounts. I'm not really a fan of the radiant apex/apex mounts since there are no guars

I'm more into the "normal" mounts or just the nifty emotes/mementos/costumes.

Kadraeus

I don't buy them at all. I just use whatever crates I get from Twitch streams and turn everything in them into gems I can then spend on the items I really want. It sucks when it's stuff that's over 16 gems, but I just live with it. I got lucky and was able to get 2 of the crown store items I wanted from the Elsweyr event (32 gems altogether). I'm tempted to buy crates because there's other stuff I'd like to have, but I don't really like the idea of crown crates. I think they're scummy. I'm fine with buying things outright from the store, but I hate the practice of "Spend money on fake currency to buy something you don't want, which you then turn into another fake currency so you can buy the things you actually want."

Klad

Syrpynt wrote: »

Yeah, probably just like others before it, but I want to see some changes on this subject.

My opinions that no one asked for, but Zenimax should know:
* I don't subscribe anymore because I am tired of getting crowns and having nothing but crates to spend them on.
* I would purchase crown-items and purchase additional crowns if items were NOT in crates more frequently.
* I don't gamble, and I never will so Zenimax is losing money from me now.
* The more I see items hidden behind a 3-tier ($ --> Crowns --> Crown Gems) currency pay-wall the more I dislike the game overall, like some elitist "Whales only" club.
* Keep your radiant mounts hidden behind crates, fine.
* But maybe allow for 100 gem and lower items to be purchased both/either directly from crowns or found in crates. How? Sell those items for "original prices" if they're subscribers, and 50% more crowns cost for non-subscribers so you make more money?

If you disagree, give a valid reason not: "I don't like seeing others wearing the same thing I am!" Because there are so many aesthetics now in ESO it's going to be so rare to come across more than 3 players wearing/looking the same in a single instance, other than when it just first comes out.

Polling is anonymous.

lol what a skwed poll

I buy crowns I sub, I don't view it as gambling and neither does anyone in the three guilds I belong to.

Gambling is going to Vegas/Reno/Monte Carlo and playing Blackjack/Craps/Poker. Opening up a MTG booster or buying Crown Crates isn't gambling in my opinion.

[snip]
[edited for baiting]

Syrpynt

Klad wrote: »

lol what a skwed poll

I buy crowns I sub, I don't view it as gambling and neither does anyone in the three guilds I belong to.

Gambling is going to Vegas/Reno/Monte Carlo and playing Blackjack/Craps/Poker. Opening up a MTG booster or buying Crown Crates isn't gambling in my opinion.

[snip]

Just because you don't view it as gambling doesn't mean it isn't gambling. It's not an opinion, it's a fact.

Nothing is skewed about the poll, you just simply don't like the tag "gambling" added to your mini-game.

[edited to remove quote]

BloodWolfe

I subscribe but I will NEVER purchase a crown crate! The only crates I've ever gotten are with the C.E. chapters that gave and then the daily login rewards that rarely give one, otherwise I don't touch the crates because I absolutely abhor them!

Ingenon

I do not buy crown crates. Although that may change if I run out of other things to buy with subscription crowns. I watch ESO streams and streamers when my work/family schedule allows, and get gems from those. Got a Senche of Scarlet Regret once from a stream Ouroboros Crate, which several of my alts ride.

Vonkarolinas

Syrpynt wrote: »

coop500 wrote: »

Poll options are biased.

I still sub and I do occasionally buy crown crates, but only when I like almost EVERYTHING in them so it's not gambling to me, cause I am almost always getting something I wanted/liked.

If I only like a few things, I may buy just enough crates with gold to my trusted crown traders to get the gems to buy what I wanted, or just go without.

How are they biased? Please explain.

If you like everything in them, that's YOU. But it doesn't change the fact that it's gambling.

It is not a fact that it is gambling. It is not gambling, that is the fact. If you buy a crate you are guaranteed at least 4 items, a fifth at times. The value of the items varies, but that is not enough of a qualifier to to make it gambling. For it to be gambling there has to be a chance of loss and there is none with crown crates.

That being said I agree with coop500, you poll is biased. You have 3 options for "I boycott crowns" which validate your point. And you only have 2 options for "I purchase", one of which says "I don't agree with them, but", putting a 4th result validating your point. As for the last option, it still flat out calls the crates gambling. You give no neutral option for people who don't share your view at all, in that they buy crates and do not consider it gambling. Because, well, it just isn't.

Also, some things you said either I misunderstood, or you are incorrect about. You mentioned how much you dislike the concept because you have to buy the crates and hope it gives you the item you want, that you want them to implement a method to direct purchase crown crate items. You already can direct purchase.

Everything in crown crates can be bought with crown gems. You don't have the gems you need, buy some crates with just the expectation of turning it all in for gems, and hey, you never know, you might get what you were after in the crate. You would be surprised how many gems you can get this way without spending that much money. I have seen the threads out there, where people have their "formulas" on how much it costs to buy the number of crates you need to achieve a certain number of gems, but that is flawed. There is no set number of gem value per crate, that was just that individual's experience.

LeoXearo

My only problem with crates is the price, I think 5 for $10 would be better pricing.

Kalik_Gold

Only crates I open are Ouroboros. Everything I buy what I want straight up, Gems from Ouroboros (twitch crates) Gold for crowns, and now Endeavors.

Thannazzar

Other games have a no duplicates mechanic, ie if you buy 30 Crates you get one of each item. Can get behind this in a big way.

Gamble Crates don't bother me in principal, I just feel that direct purchase forces better quality standards on designers. If an item is aesthetically pleasing and well animated or designed it will sell, if it's pants it won't.

The problem with current Crates is only about 10% of the content would sell if placed on crown store individually.

Chasing a specific drop while wading through poorly designed detrites is not a customer friendly or quality led strategy for micro-transanctions.

eyeseezombiesub17_ESO

I purchase crates. I also have ESO+. I play this game a lot. I have absolutely no problem supporting a game I enjoy this much. The ride may be my favorite part. Will I get the mount I want? No? That's cool, I have the gems to just buy it then

Tranquilizer

Well, not directly boycott, I just ignore crates. Seems to be the same, but imo boycott implies I'm somewhat upset about it, but I'm not.

When people think it's a good idea to spend real money for the chance of getting a needful item more power to them, but I'm only buying stuff without gambling.

netch_a_sketch

I don't think crown crates are ethical at all. Like, I think there needs to be laws to ban them outright. It's disgusting. They take advantage of vulnerable people especially those who are prone to addiction.

I don't blame or dislike or shame anyone who buys them. You're basically coaxed into it. And if you get items you like like, that's great.

I'll get crowns if they're on sale and I have some extra cash in my bank account that I'd probably spend on a game anyway, but I haven't touched a crown crate since the wild hunt first time round.

Im not fond of microtransactions themselves and I hate the artificial scarcity that the subscription creates. I subscribe for the craft bag and free DLC.

Zenimax would still profit just from sales of the base game and DLC without any other paid content. [snip]

That being said, I'd actually spend more crowns if everything was just in the store and not crates. Even a rotating stock. I just wish they'd take the gambling out.

[edited for bashing]

FaylenSol

Jazzius wrote: »

I don't think crown crates are ethical at all. Like, I think there needs to be laws to ban them outright. It's disgusting. They take advantage of vulnerable people especially those who are prone to addiction.

I have a problem with this particular take.

Vulnerable people who have problems with addiction should seek help and help should be provided for them. But simply banning one avenue that they might abuse isn't going to stop them. They will feed their addiction somewhere else. Banning it just removes access from people without those vulnerabilities to enjoy.

My immediate family has addiction problems bad. It was of the prescription variety but doctors cracked down and their supply was cut off. Did they just stop their substance abuse problems? Nope. They moved to something else that was readily available to them.

Banning things doesn't help people with addictions. It just shoves them to something else that is potentially even more destructive. Banning things just prevents people without addictions from being able to use it legitimately without abuse. Players who spend in-game gold on crates are not suffering because of crates. They didn't spend any cash on it and are at no risk of hurting themselves financially over it.

Granted I live in a state that has casinos so my opinion may be skewed since I've grown up around gambling my entire life and don't view it as all that bad.

DaveMoeDee

Not interested in spending money on cosmetics. If I was, zero chance I get cosmetics through RNG.

MornaBaine

I SEMI-boycott the crates. I hate the upper tier mounts but I'll buy a crate or two if there is a cosmetic or housing item I want that I know I can scrape enough gems together for if I don't get lucky. That said, I DEEPLY resent the gamble boxes and I REALLY HATE that virtually every "promise" that was made when they came out and ZOS found out how horribly unpopular this move was has been flagrantly broken.

Syrpynt

Thannazzar wrote: »

Other games have a no duplicates mechanic, ie if you buy 30 Crates you get one of each item. Can get behind this in a big way.

Gamble Crates don't bother me in principal, I just feel that direct purchase forces better quality standards on designers. If an item is aesthetically pleasing and well animated or designed it will sell, if it's pants it won't.

The problem with current Crates is only about 10% of the content would sell if placed on crown store individually.

Chasing a specific drop while wading through poorly designed detrites is not a customer friendly or quality led strategy for micro-transanctions.

Came back to respond to this amazing comment:

I would not hate crates if they didn't have trash items, gem currency (from said trash items), and no duplicates.

Instead of getting 4-5 cards, just give us one item that isn't a consumable/trash item, and never duplicates. Problem solved. It's still gambling but at least EVERYONE is a winner then.

Aelsioln

Haven't read every response so might be repeating something already said here.

Should add another option to the poll of "I buy crates sometimes and don't consider them to be gambling".

To me gambling would imply a risk of losing money and gaining nothing in return. With crates sure I might get 4 items I didn't want or that I just exchange for gems but I am still getting something for the money spent.

Would I rather just pay directly for specific items? Yeah, but I still want them so if I have some crowns I go ahead and try for it. Worst case scenario I gradually save up the gems/seals for it and get it in the future.

If I could change one thing, and one thing only, about crates I'd make it so you can exchange anything and everything for gems. I've got a few mounts and cosmetics that I know I'll never use so it would be nice to be able to instead get gems to put towards the stuff I do want.