If you could set the prices in the crown store, what would you consider fair...or fairer anyway?

kah

As much as I'd love for them to trash the crown store, as there is a practically mandatory subscription on top of the yearly expansion cost, I know that's not realistic. So my more realistic (and yet probably still high bar) hope would be that they make the prices more reasonable. What are some prices you'd be willing to pay for certain items in the crown store?

I love housing, but the $100-$140 USD price point for the best houses has always been mindboggling to me. I could see houses being the more expensive item in the store at like $10-$20 USD and then furnishing packs for a more realistic $5ish USD.

(And of course, the more they can make both buyable and EARNABLE or simply just earnable, the better in my onion.)

wilykcat

Here's my suggestion of what I think will be more fair priced.

No individual item in the in-game shop should cost more that 35 USD. All cosmetics, motifs, and collectibles should be between 5 and 15 usd. Upgrades, housing, and dlc should be between 20 and and 30 usd. Expansions should be a bit more. Temporary dye packs, crown consumables, other small stuff should be 5 USD as well.

Jaimeh

The prices we used to have years back for some things were in a good price point: for eg., 1k-2k for polymorphs, costumes <1k, mounts for 1k-3k. For houses, if they insist on the high prices then then should have a gold option available as well, and also introduce smaller or medium sized house with lower crown price points. Another category they should revisit are furnishings, some are just outrageously expensive, especially given that they can only be placed once if they are a traditional furnishing, and paying 4k-5k for fountain that can only be used once at a time, is just too much.

Lags

kah wrote: »

As much as I'd love for them to trash the crown store, as there is a practically mandatory subscription on top of the yearly expansion cost, I know that's not realistic. So my more realistic (and yet probably still high bar) hope would be that they make the prices more reasonable. What are some prices you'd be willing to pay for certain items in the crown store?

I love housing, but the $100-$140 USD price point for the best houses has always been mindboggling to me. I could see houses being the more expensive item in the store at like $10-$20 USD and then furnishing packs for a more realistic $5ish USD.

(And of course, the more they can make both buyable and EARNABLE or simply just earnable, the better in my onion.)

There prices are obscene, and i personally think they are out of their minds for charging them. And so are the people paying it. I have to spend 30 dollars for a race change?! a faction change? Are you mad? I could go sub to wow for a month, and buy a dlc in a game like gw2.

And the list goes on and on. The houses, insane. The merchants are insane, even the mounts. In gw2 for example, you can spend like 10 bucks and get 2 mount skins, which is basically the same as eso because they look completely different but do the same thing.

Crown crates are on another level of disturbing. Terrible odds, they wont even list the odds of radiant apex mounts in game, where they list the other rewards, because they're like a 0.30% chance. Oh, but you can buy them with gems. How many hundreds of dollars would you have to spend to get 1200, 1600, or 2500 , crown gems? Many hundreds, thats the answer. Its disturbing.

Oh, but you dont have to spend money, you dont need these cosmetics. Okay, and thats why people are leaving, and why new players dont stay. Whether you like it or not, people like cosmetics. They like to look good. And when almost everything is locked behind crates, at obscene prices, people dont like it.

So my answer is, at least half of what everything is now. Minus some smaller things.

spartaxoxo

I wouldn't charge more than a small zone dlc for any single cosmetic.

Tandor

I'm generally happy with these things being decided by supply and demand. However the prices are arrived at, some will be quite happy with them and other will consider them a rip-off. Asking players what they'd like to pay is rather like asking turkeys if they'd like to vote on whether to ban Christmas/Thanksgiving. Personally, I buy very little in the Crown Store but don't have a problem with the prices on those things I do buy.

Amottica

I would consider fair what the market will bear just as it works in every other aspect of business.

Anyone who buys an in-game home for $100+ is fully accepting that price tag. If Zenimax were not able to sell enough homes at that value they would be reducing the price and maybe offering less of the very large homes.

That is how businesses work.

boi_anachronism_

I am foreseeing a decrease in crown store cost. They are losing a ton of buisness...and players. People might say thats an overreaction but at the end of the day its an mmo rpg. Everyone wants their toon to look cool and the fact is that there are so few avenues for the limited in game rewards they offer...welp People are gonna move on. Ive seen it in my trade guild discords and forums, another wave of cc's are leaving or refocusing. The irony of all this is that with all the issues. All the tangible failings of the game this might be the most damaging. Why? Welp because its universally hated. New to vet, quester to raider everyone is just mad and its been a death by a thousand cuts situation for a long time.

Lozeenge

reminder that the crown store is and will always be ZoS's stomping grounds, but to answer the question the only pricing adjustments i would make is for crown crates, especially since gifting them isn't coming back in the foreseeable future. you have way more agency in purchasing houses than you do purchasing cosmetics awarded through dice rolls.

$15 worth of crowns only gets you four crates. like yippee how exciting lol.

Destai

I don’t think any product should be more than a game itself. At minimum, half of what they are. Personally, 10% of what they are now seems fair. And very little rotating stock. Leave it in the game and let me buy it when I want.

ArchMikem

A full AAA title is, or, was $60usd. The fact that Chapters, which is just a zone or two and some other stuff goes for $40 has ALWAYS bugged me. Chapters should be half price at most.

spartaxoxo

boi_anachronism_ wrote: »

I am foreseeing a decrease in crown store cost.

I wonder how many people will buy less crowns now that they can't gift them anymore.

Rohamad_Ali

Everything in the store would be free for 1 year subscribers.

Everything would be 1/4 price for 6 months subscribers.

Everything would be 1/2 off all other for subscribers.

thank you for asking.

Rageypoo

just about everything they offer should be half of what it is now, and certain things shouldn't even be necessary (such as armory slots and outfit slots being PER CHARACTER instead of unlocked account wide)

Some things need to be outright eliminated, like vampirism and lycanthropy purchases when you can easily get it from another player.

Any dye you purchase should be permanently unlocked instead of the weird packs they come in.

Arms packs should cover all arms, not just certain ones (like a sword but not an axe or mace, or a maul and not a battle axe or greatsword etc) or else they're just not worth it.

Apex mounts should have their non-combat pet included.

kah

Amottica wrote: »

I would consider fair what the market will bear just as it works in every other aspect of business.

Anyone who buys an in-game home for $100+ is fully accepting that price tag. If Zenimax were not able to sell enough homes at that value they would be reducing the price and maybe offering less of the very large homes.

That is how businesses work.

Mmm. Fair was perhaps the incorrect word. I mean more what are the players/consumers willing to pay, or what would they consider a good value for their money? I understand that ZOS makes the ultimate decision here and always will and that they charge what they charge currently because there are players willing to pay.

Amottica

kah wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

I would consider fair what the market will bear just as it works in every other aspect of business.

Anyone who buys an in-game home for $100+ is fully accepting that price tag. If Zenimax were not able to sell enough homes at that value they would be reducing the price and maybe offering less of the very large homes.

That is how businesses work.

Mmm. Fair was perhaps the incorrect word. I mean more what are the players/consumers willing to pay, or what would they consider a good value for their money? I understand that ZOS makes the ultimate decision here and always will and that they charge what they charge currently because there are players willing to pay.

The player base as a whole makes the ultimate decision. Not Zenimax.

Pricing comes down to trying to figure out the price to maximize revenue and profit. Price an item too high and it will not sell or not sell much. If the price is too low and the additional units sold do not make up for the lost revenue overall.

All of this is very basic economics and I am pretty certain Zenimax has some pretty sharp people who are well educated in economics and marketing. At the end of the day, the Zenimax bank account says whether the items are priced right or not. That is where the final answer is.

kah

Amottica wrote: »

kah wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

I would consider fair what the market will bear just as it works in every other aspect of business.

Anyone who buys an in-game home for $100+ is fully accepting that price tag. If Zenimax were not able to sell enough homes at that value they would be reducing the price and maybe offering less of the very large homes.

That is how businesses work.

Mmm. Fair was perhaps the incorrect word. I mean more what are the players/consumers willing to pay, or what would they consider a good value for their money? I understand that ZOS makes the ultimate decision here and always will and that they charge what they charge currently because there are players willing to pay.

The player base as a whole makes the ultimate decision. Not Zenimax.

Pricing comes down to trying to figure out the price to maximize revenue and profit. Price an item too high and it will not sell or not sell much. If the price is too low and the additional units sold do not make up for the lost revenue overall.

All of this is very basic economics and I am pretty certain Zenimax has some pretty sharp people who are well educated in economics and marketing. At the end of the day, the Zenimax bank account says whether the items are priced right or not. That is where the final answer is.

I'm not sure why you're arguing with me? Zenimax definitely gets some say on how they set THEIR prices. Yes, I get that what most players are willing to pay factors into that consideration ... as I understand economics just fine. The whole point of this thread was to get a feel for the price points players feel they're getting the best value. Housing was my example, and several others have brought up great points about the price of expansions and other items.

It's not like I expect Zenimax to look at this and be like, "Oh, that's the price they want!" and set it. It just feels relevant to the current issues, and I know I'm not the only one unhappy with the prices--and not just unhappy, because who really cares if we're happy?, but unwilling to pay the current prices. Thus why the crown gifting ban is being poorly received by many.

rpa

If I had to design monetization for a online game it would shrivel and die. I'm not interested of that kind of thing.
To be honest, I wouldn't buy much stuff from Crown store even it it was reasonably priced. I'm fine paying for sub and would prefer getting the rewards just by having fun playing the game (and by fun I do not mean grinding fragments / leads / currencies) instead from ingame store. Not a perfect world. I have never bought crowns and never will. I sometimes buy something I happen to like (for example Gloambound style) with crowns from sub but mostly those just pile up.

Katheriah

€3-5 for arms pack, costume and mount. €8-10 for big houses. €1 for 1 crown crate.

Panchaea

Vial of Fantasia in FFXIV (Race/Appearance Change): 7 bucks.

Race Change Token in ESO: Roughly 25 bucks.

Nothing in the Store is reasonably priced, so ZOS shouldn't don the surprised Pikachu face when people try to use other methods of Store item acquisition. That being said, I still wouldn't buy half the items in the store if they were priced in a fair manner. 70% of what they shove in there should be earnable in game.

Shihp00

deez one don't want to pay another $50 for a new assistant (dat functions the same as the one i own).

Susan_Sto

What this whole saga has exposed is 2 major flaws that ESO suffers from.

1. There are very few rewards for playing the game. Besides motifs, there are very few collectables or cosmetics available just through gameplay. Events offer more, which is why player engagement goes up during those periods. Gold is the only real reward for playing the game.
2. Crown store items are overpriced. Everything is overpriced, cosmetics, mounts, crates, services tokens, skill boosts, etc. (I really wanted Antiquities to be included in the crown store but I knew it would be 3k and I just can't/ won't pay to get that for just 1 of my alts let alone all of them. Even when discounted it will still be 2.5k, which is still overpriced.)

Allowing players to use in-game gold to trade for crowns has simply masked this for years.

We are probably never going to go back to the old system. A long term solution need to include crown item pricing, in game rewards, and a trading system that has proper oversight.

At the very least, subs should get a much better discount than present. Especially as the cost of that will go up, probably sooner than later.

reazea

Crowns should cost less than 25% of what they currently cost.

PrincessOfThieves

reazea wrote: »

Crowns should cost less than 25% of what they currently cost.

This. $25 for a house is still a lot if you compare that to dlcs and chapters.

Amottica

kah wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

kah wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

I would consider fair what the market will bear just as it works in every other aspect of business.

Anyone who buys an in-game home for $100+ is fully accepting that price tag. If Zenimax were not able to sell enough homes at that value they would be reducing the price and maybe offering less of the very large homes.

That is how businesses work.

Mmm. Fair was perhaps the incorrect word. I mean more what are the players/consumers willing to pay, or what would they consider a good value for their money? I understand that ZOS makes the ultimate decision here and always will and that they charge what they charge currently because there are players willing to pay.

The player base as a whole makes the ultimate decision. Not Zenimax.

Pricing comes down to trying to figure out the price to maximize revenue and profit. Price an item too high and it will not sell or not sell much. If the price is too low and the additional units sold do not make up for the lost revenue overall.

All of this is very basic economics and I am pretty certain Zenimax has some pretty sharp people who are well educated in economics and marketing. At the end of the day, the Zenimax bank account says whether the items are priced right or not. That is where the final answer is.

I'm not sure why you're arguing with me? Zenimax definitely gets some say on how they set THEIR prices. Yes, I get that what most players are willing to pay factors into that consideration ... as I understand economics just fine. The whole point of this thread was to get a feel for the price points players feel they're getting the best value. Housing was my example, and several others have brought up great points about the price of expansions and other items.

It's not like I expect Zenimax to look at this and be like, "Oh, that's the price they want!" and set it. It just feels relevant to the current issues, and I know I'm not the only one unhappy with the prices--and not just unhappy, because who really cares if we're happy?, but unwilling to pay the current prices. Thus why the crown gifting ban is being poorly received by many.

I am not arguing. I am merely pointing out the economic reality of the pricing. I will note that there are threads on the gifting ban that have received a lot of posting. If pricing was a big issue I expect this thread will receive similar attention.

Creating such a thread is asking for a discussion on the matter.

Have a good day.

Braffin

Most crown store items are overpriced for my taste, so I don't buy them.

But I realize that a lot of people are fine with the current prices and pay them willingly or out of FOMO.

As we are talking about optional cosmetics, I'm fine with that too. To each their own.

ZOS_Icy

Greetings,

After further review we have decided to move this thread to a category we think is more appropriate for this topic.

Thank you for your understanding.

Trobaka

Amottica wrote: »

The player base as a whole makes the ultimate decision. Not Zenimax.

Pricing comes down to trying to figure out the price to maximize revenue and profit. Price an item too high and it will not sell or not sell much. If the price is too low and the additional units sold do not make up for the lost revenue overall.

All of this is very basic economics and I am pretty certain Zenimax has some pretty sharp people who are well educated in economics and marketing. At the end of the day, the Zenimax bank account says whether the items are priced right or not. That is where the final answer is.

I highly doubt that.

And calling your point of view "economic reality" or "facts", while extremely oversimplifying complex topics, doesn't make you right. People like that making important decisions is one of the biggest problems with this game and the gaming industry in general.

emilyhyoyeon

costumes 100-500 crowns
mounts 500-1000cr
pets 100-500cr
houses 300-1500cr
dyes 50cr
furnishings 3-50cr for non-unique items like a chair, 500cr max for unique like aetherial well/dummies etc

name change 200cr
appearance change 100cr (in game needs barbershop though for hair/makeup/adornments)
race change 100cr
alliance change 500cr

crown crates shouldn't exist but I'd say 50cr per crate

kah

Amottica wrote: »

kah wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

kah wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

I would consider fair what the market will bear just as it works in every other aspect of business.

Anyone who buys an in-game home for $100+ is fully accepting that price tag. If Zenimax were not able to sell enough homes at that value they would be reducing the price and maybe offering less of the very large homes.

That is how businesses work.

Mmm. Fair was perhaps the incorrect word. I mean more what are the players/consumers willing to pay, or what would they consider a good value for their money? I understand that ZOS makes the ultimate decision here and always will and that they charge what they charge currently because there are players willing to pay.

The player base as a whole makes the ultimate decision. Not Zenimax.

Pricing comes down to trying to figure out the price to maximize revenue and profit. Price an item too high and it will not sell or not sell much. If the price is too low and the additional units sold do not make up for the lost revenue overall.

All of this is very basic economics and I am pretty certain Zenimax has some pretty sharp people who are well educated in economics and marketing. At the end of the day, the Zenimax bank account says whether the items are priced right or not. That is where the final answer is.

I'm not sure why you're arguing with me? Zenimax definitely gets some say on how they set THEIR prices. Yes, I get that what most players are willing to pay factors into that consideration ... as I understand economics just fine. The whole point of this thread was to get a feel for the price points players feel they're getting the best value. Housing was my example, and several others have brought up great points about the price of expansions and other items.

It's not like I expect Zenimax to look at this and be like, "Oh, that's the price they want!" and set it. It just feels relevant to the current issues, and I know I'm not the only one unhappy with the prices--and not just unhappy, because who really cares if we're happy?, but unwilling to pay the current prices. Thus why the crown gifting ban is being poorly received by many.

I am not arguing. I am merely pointing out the economic reality of the pricing. I will note that there are threads on the gifting ban that have received a lot of posting. If pricing was a big issue I expect this thread will receive similar attention.

Creating such a thread is asking for a discussion on the matter.

Have a good day.

The purpose of this thread was simply to discuss the hypothetical: what do players feel would be a good value for their money in regards to crown items? Telling me I don't understand economics or that this can't be valid because it's not as long a thread as others on the crown ban is not very helpful or relevant to the question posed. If you don't want to speculate because you feel it's a waste of time, that's cool, but please just move along.

kah

If anyone's interested, Azura put out a video called "R.I.P. CROWN STORE GIFTING" on YT, and there's a lot of talk in the comments in line with this discussion. So we're not alone!

If not lowering the price, it'd be great to see a way to purchase anything in the crown store with gold as well--or even endeavors would be a better step. Or we could get crowns as a reward (it'd be a great monthly login reward!) for ingame tasks--or simply as a thank you for being patient during maintenance or unscheduled downtimes. I feel It would go a long way to increase goodwill in the community.