Why is an event reward locked behind an ESO + membership?

Yellow_Monolith

Why is the Hero's of High Isle Apple Salamander pet reward for reaching 100% on the Hero's of High Isle Pathfinder progress bar locked behind ESO + Membership? This isn't a free reward, it costs at least $14.99/€12.99 to get this pet on top of the price of the High Isle chapter. This is a bad sign for events going forward @ZOS_GinaBruno

MafiaCat115

Probably because for the Bounties of Blackwood 100% reward last year. Everyone who partook got the Deadlands DLC for free as a bonus reward, which isn't that good of a deal for ESO+ members who would've got it anyways through ESO+. Having a pet has some benefit for the ESO+ players assuming they'll give out Firesong for free this event as well.

FluffWit

MafiaCat115 wrote: »

Probably because for the Bounties of Blackwood 100% reward last year. Everyone who partook got the Deadlands DLC for free as a bonus reward, which isn't that good of a deal for ESO+ members who would've got it anyways through ESO+. Having a pet has some benefit for the ESO+ players assuming they'll give out Firesong for free this event as well.

This could be it. A lot of us complained that their most loyal customers got nothing for that events main reward.

But honestly, I'd rather not be given anything then be given another pet. Because giving me all these random ones makes it harder for me to find the ones I actually like.

If you're gonna do pets sell them with event ti lets so I can opt out.

And jeez I just looked at this rewards.... an emote, tattoos, a pet and... a crown crate?

This events had some amazing rewards in the past. Guess those days are past.

Danikat

I suspect it is because the secret reward is the next DLC. But it could also be simply throwing in something extra as an incentive to subscribe.

These events are ultimately marketing - you have to own the chapter to participate and get the rewards, so there's an incentive for people who haven't bought it yet to do so and because everyone's rewards depends on total participation those who are undecided might get extra pressure from their friends to do it. Likewise it gets people who have bought it but haven't yet done much with it to actually try it out, making the new zone look more active and maybe encouraging them to buy the dungeon DLCs/subscribe for the full story. Adding an incentive to buy at least 1 month's subscription would make sense.

grkkll

just another pointless pet, no way is that a reward. A reward has to be something worthwhile and while in RL a pet is very rewarding in Eso it is not, just more crud to clog up the machine.... imho

tohopka_eso

As a plus member I have more worthless pets then I can count. Wish I could give them away.

svendf

The most important goal in a game like ESO, must be to get tools into the game, so people can get together (find each other). For some people guilds is their way and other player´s in ESO feell, guilds aren´t their cup of tea. How on earch can they put people´s progression into the hands of guilds, knowing some of those are competitive at the same time.

You can get into five guilds. It doesn´t matter. People are asking for help in chat just to get ignored and two to three day´s later leave the guild. Why did they invite them to the guild in the first place ?

I do agree to crossplay and as mention above MS and Sony want a piece of the cake. I don´t believe it eighter. If crossplay have to work in a balanced way a platform should not have any advantage over others and that is something ZOS don´t want to get into, as they have to add a sett of rules all can play by.

They should start to clean up all the mess in this game and focus on, how they can get people into the game, instead implementing things excluding player´s in certain content, because they play healer or tank. It´s total off balace.

Jaimeh

It's the first time they are doing an exclusive reward for subscribers during a community event, and I suspect it's either because people who subbed complained last year about Deadlands being free (though if you think about it, subscribers only rent content, so having a DLC permanently, is still a win, imo, in case they drop their sub at some point), or because subs decreased due to U35, so they are using it to entice 'must have all the collectibles' players who are considering re-subbing. Either way, I don't think it's a great idea to introduce a sub-only reward during a community event, because it's kind of alienating for the rest of the community.

LanteanPegasus

FluffWit wrote: »

[snip] And jeez I just looked at this rewards.... an emote, tattoos, a pet and... a crown crate?
This events had some amazing rewards in the past. Guess those days are past.

It isn't a crown crate. Just scroll a few lines further in the News announcement, and you'll see the contents.
It's the same box-in-a-box-in-a-box like last year, and there are various things in them, for example Tel Var, Outfit Change Tokens, Unattuned Crafting Stations and a statue.

Kiralyn2000

<looks at event page>

Ah, I see. There's plenty of other "100%" rewards, there's just an additional small one (it's a pet, it's a small reward. There's one almost every month for logins) for ESO+ members. So it's not "the 100% reward is restricted to ESO+ members" it's just "and ESO+ members get a small additional bonus". Just like their small additional bonus statues in the Crown Store every month.


Just made up drama, not actual drama. /meh

FluffyBird

I'd say that a little something for subscribers would be nice if the rest of the rewards weren't so mediocre. The only interesting thing is that legendary companion gear. And I'd bet that 100% reward is a Q4 DLC. If that's the case... It feels dishonest. One story DLC ("chapter", my ***) is bought with real money, while the other one is essentially free, but only if you already bought the chapter)? What's going on there? Why is it so convoluted? No wonder quality gets only worse if ZOS themselves can't make their mind up about how much their work is worth and they have to resort to this kind of marketing gymnastics.

I just want big, high-quality shinies for the big event. Not full hands of stuff I have no use for.

Blinx

just how many pets does one even need?, it would be nice if they offered something else for a change.

IMO ESO+ members should have gotten something better, and I say this as a current unsubbed player.

MaraxusTheOrc

You say “locked behind” I say “provided as an additional, bonus reward.”

Potato potato.

Remathilis

If we get Firesong for free, the pet is supposed to be compensation for plus not getting anything. However, the DLC is worth 2000 crowns (based on previous small dlc pricing) and the pet is maybe 700-1000 tops. It should be that they free bonus to Plus members is a mount around 1500-2000 crown value, not a pet.

M_Volsung

@svendf I think you may have posted that in the wrong forum thread...

Kiralyn2000

FluffyBird wrote: »

I'd say that a little something for subscribers would be nice if the rest of the rewards weren't so mediocre. The only interesting thing is that legendary companion gear. And I'd bet that 100% reward is a Q4 DLC. If that's the case... It feels dishonest. One story DLC ("chapter", my ***) is bought with real money, while the other one is essentially free, but only if you already bought the chapter)? What's going on there? .

The entire event is marketing, to get the people who didn't buy High Isle to get it. And the actual $ from a High Isle sale is probably worth more to them than selling the DLC for Crowns (especially since people can get the crowns with their ESO+, buy it with gold from one of those ESO+ people, etc).

It worked on me, last year. I hadn't decided to get Blackwood or not, and the addition of the Deadlands giveaway put me over the edge. (I don't have ESO+)

Remathilis wrote: »

If we get Firesong for free, the pet is supposed to be compensation for plus not getting anything. However, the DLC is worth 2000 crowns (based on previous small dlc pricing) and the pet is maybe 700-1000 tops. It should be that they free bonus to Plus members is a mount around 1500-2000 crown value, not a pet.

Eh, no. Remember, ESO+ people are still getting the DLC unlock, which they'll continue to have if they drop ESO+.

Amottica

It is a promotion for the chapter. It seems they do something like this every year. Business wise it makes sense to promote the product.

and looking, I do not see what event reward requires ESO+.

Remathilis

Remathilis wrote: »

If we get Firesong for free, the pet is supposed to be compensation for plus not getting anything. However, the DLC is worth 2000 crowns (based on previous small dlc pricing) and the pet is maybe 700-1000 tops. It should be that they free bonus to Plus members is a mount around 1500-2000 crown value, not a pet.

Eh, no. Remember, ESO+ people are still getting the DLC unlock, which they'll continue to have if they drop ESO+.[/quote]

That's the issue, the value comes from dropping the subscription to Plus, which I think is the opposite of what ZoS wants us to do. But a pet is kinda the cheapest compensation for us to not drop plus for 3 months while we do the new zone. It just feels very lackluster as a top reward to people who don't drop plus while they are actively playing, and I think a mount is a worthy reward to give people who aren't using this to save on a few months of plus.

Lady_Galadhiel

It is more sad to me that we most likely won't get another house.
This is the first expansion since Summerset where we wont get a free house with it.
In Summerset people got Psijic Villa, in Elsweyr the Lunar Hall,in Greymoor the alpine house, last year the event ticket house even tho I belive others where able to unlock it too despite no having Blackwood.
But heck where is the house this year?

N00BxV1

It's funny how people that only sub to eso+ somehow think they're so special... The exclusive rewards should only go to those who've purchased all collector's edition chapters, zone dlc, dungeon dlc, and also subscribe to eso+. /s.

Honestly though a community event reward exclusive to eso+ members is kinda lame. What if I don't feel like subbing that month but still have purchased all dlc separately. Because the only useful thing I get from eso+ is the craft bag and a few crowns to spend.

AcadianPaladin

It seems to me that the full range of what the game has to offer in terms of rewards should be available to those who own all the content and subscribe to ESO+. Anything less is a slap in the face to those who fully and financially support the game.

maximusrex45

This bad pet is trying to make up for giving ESO+ subs nothing last year.

virtus753

Amottica wrote: »

It is a promotion for the chapter. It seems they do something like this every year. Business wise it makes sense to promote the product.

and looking, I do not see what event reward requires ESO+.

"100%—Appleback Salamander pet (ESO Plus members only)"

https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/62811

Dr_Con

because they operate on an active development model and are not deaf to player feedback

spartaxoxo

Probably a response to all the whining about a free permanent unlock not being good enough of a prize for ESO+ members. I think it's wacky tacky, but I'll take and use the pet regardless. I get a lot out of ESO+ already, but I'm not complain about getting a little extra.

WinterHeart626

Make the salamander give us 10 extra bag space then it will be useful, rather than kept in a list and never brought out.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to adventure with my new favourite pet, Sir Robin the Brave, a chicken.

Hapexamendios

The extra reward is a bloody salamander pet. Unless you're a salamander fan, you're not missing much.

Tommy_The_Gun

Short answer: It is there so that people who don't have ESO+ would buy it for a short time, just to grab the reward - not realizing they are falling into a trap as it is very easy to get "addicted" from ESO+ - mainly craft bag.

Transitioning from ESO+ back to "regular" inventory management is a nightmare and I have been through this at some point. I once tried it out (ESO+) and I actually realized what it is and what it does... I barely managed to clear the mess that ESO+ did to my inventory... never again.

Looking on the bright side - at least it is only a pet and not even a super cool one.

TwinStripeUK

Yellow_Monolith wrote: »

Why is the Hero's of High Isle Apple Salamander pet reward for reaching 100% on the Hero's of High Isle Pathfinder progress bar locked behind ESO + Membership? This isn't a free reward, it costs at least $14.99/€12.99 to get this pet on top of the price of the High Isle chapter. This is a bad sign for events going forward @ZOS_GinaBruno

More importantly, why is the entire event locked behind a chapter purchase? This is just as bad as the Blackwood event, where you not only had to buy the chapter to take part, but you also ended up getting the DLC for 'free' (even though anyone with an ESO+ sub was already entitled to it). I'd already bought the chapter and was a sub, but I absolutely felt for all those not in that position.

Like A LOT of other players, I didn't buy High Isle because I'm personally not interested in buying a chapter for a stupid card game nobody asked for, and I'm certainly not going to get bullied into it via event FOMO either (especially when the PS4/PS5 announcement has already stated that the DLC is the big 'reward' for 100%).

Unless you're completely oblivious to what's going on in the world, there are a lot better things to be spending money on (and, by the looks of it, a lot better things you could be doing for the next couple of weeks).

I'm personally predicting some pretty severe massaging of the figures to get that 100% over the line..

Danikat

TwinStripeUK wrote: »

More importantly, why is the entire event locked behind a chapter purchase? This is just as bad as the Blackwood event, where you not only had to buy the chapter to take part, but you also ended up getting the DLC for 'free' (even though anyone with an ESO+ sub was already entitled to it). I'd already bought the chapter and was a sub, but I absolutely felt for all those not in that position.

Because the point of the event is to sell the chapter. They've been doing these at least since Summerset - a few months after the chapter is released they have an event which requires it so there's an added incentive to buy it, especially for subscribers who could otherwise wait until next year when it's re-branded DLC and included in their subscription.

But like any incentive you can simply ignore it if it's not worth it to you. We know what will be included, so everyone's got the info they need to make an informed decision.

TwinStripeUK wrote: »

I'm personally predicting some pretty severe massaging of the figures to get that 100% over the line..

There won't be any figures. They'll show a percentage completion which will be updated about once a day, but they won't tell us the actual numbers so there will be no way to know how many people are doing it, or any need for ZOS to change the thresholds for each reward.

BlueRaven

There is this much controversy over a salamander pet re-skin?