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

  • TX12001rwb17_ESO
    TX12001rwb17_ESO
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    Notable Homes = 10,000 Crowns Maximum
    Classic Homes = 6,000 Crowns Maximum
    Staple Homes = 2,000 Crowns Maximum

    A Single Crate should be worth 300 Crowns down from 400
    Pack of 4 Crates should be 1,000 Crowns down from 1,500 (equal to 250 per Crate)
    Pack of 15 Crates should be 3,000 Crowns down from 5,000 (equal to 200 per crate)
    Edited by TX12001rwb17_ESO on September 6, 2023 2:22AM
  • Amottica
    Amottica
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    kah wrote: »
    Amottica wrote: »
    kah wrote: »
    I also think once you buy one assistant, the least they could do is offer a discount on future forms of that assistant. I know I got super bummed out when I bought the ragp
    Amottica wrote: »
    kah wrote: »
    ANYWAY, another price I've discussed recently that is also superrrrr high is the $40 USD mundus stones which are almost considered necessary in order to "complete" a guild hall. That's real close to the price of a AAA game, as previously mentioned, and the cost of the whole set is the same price as a MINDBOGGLING amount of games.

    Not to mention, it's
    $150 USD for a set of assistants (banker, merchant, and deconstructer)
    $60 USD for a trial training dummy

    Whew, it really hurts when you start examining the prices in the crown store.

    I did not pay anywhere near that much for my assistants.

    My math must be off. Each of the assistants (banker, merchant, and deconstructer) cost 5k crowns when paying full price. WIth the 21k crown packages costing $149.99 that comes out to $107.14 for the three assistants. Almost $43 less than what is being claimed. I am a stickler for accuracy on such matters.

    After making that purchase we still have 6k crowns remaining to buy the Iron Atronach Trial Dummy.

    That means the entire purchase of assistants and the trial dummy that is listed above totaling $210 is only 149.99

    That is not all. Crowns go on sale multiple times a year. That 21k crown package costs $90 when on sale (Hope I calculated that correctly) So all three assistants and the atronach target dummy can be purchased for the low price of 90 USD.

    I note the sale because it is better to plan ahead than to pay full price. Especially for anyone who does not like the prices in the Crown Store.

    You make a fair point. You just CAN get a "better" deal. But I think the point still stands. "Only 107.14" for 3 digital assistants and "only 149.99" for 3 digital assistants and a training dummy is veryyyy expensive. Hashing out the exact numbers down to the cent doesn't really matter. It's still equal roughly the cost of two full AAA games and in my opinion not worth the price point.

    EDIT: Due to the difference in crown pack prices and the way you can obtain crowns from various tiers of ESO+, there is no real "accurate" price. It's more a slider. Admittedly, it seems I went for the high end, and you went for the low end. Still I think the slider's skewed to the "nosebleedingly expensive" side regardless.

    I listed the best price for crowns and it was really accurate. The sale times are fairly predictable. I also left out that the assistants do go on sale from time to time which also reduces the cost but I chose to keep the example simple.


    You're acting like I completely disagreed with you. I didn't. I said you made a fair point and that your listed prices were, to some degree, accurate. However, mine was also accurate because, as I said, it depends on how you've obtained the crowns. And, as you said, it also depends on whether the items are on sale. Still, my points stand.

    I did not.
    kah wrote: »
    Amottica wrote: »
    kah wrote: »
    Aislinna wrote: »
    GooGa592 wrote: »
    The most expensive item in the crown store should never cost more than $15 real money. As it is now the most expensive houses cost in excess of $75. The crown store in ESO is by far the most predatory marketing I've ever seen in any video game. I'm certain the excessive costs in the crown store are the primary motivation promoting any fraudulent activity related to the crown store.

    How dd you arrive at the $15 price point?

    Not criticizing the price point but I am also curious as to why you settled on that number. It's cool if there's no reason and you just feel that number is a good value. :smile:

    They did not settle on any price point. They commented on someone else's suggested price point, a post you replied to yourself.

    ... I was responding to the thread, which is what you do in a forum? I commented initially on another point in the post. And I'm sure you know I didn't literally mean them setting a price point because I've explained the purpose of this thread several times now, but to be absolutely clear, I mean, "Why do you think $15 is the best value for the most expensive things in the crown store?" And, again to be clear, I wasn't being critical; I was just curious if there was some reasoning or if it was just a number that felt right to them. And I mean "felt right" hypothetically.

    I don't understand why you're being so antagonistic towards me, but I'd appreciate if you'd at least try to acknowledge when I make good points or rightfully refute what you've said (EX: You never did acknowledge that you mistakenly thought someone else was OP, and as OP, I didn't "mistake" the original purpose of the thread.)

    @Aislinna is not likely to reply to the question since it would not make sense to them. They did not suggest any price. The question asked of them better fits with the post they were quoting.

  • kah
    kah
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    I thank any of the powers-that-be reading for taking a look at this thread and humbly ask that you take what's been said under consideration. Since this thread keeps getting derailed, I'm going to leave the it at that. I hope all the people who provided thoughtful, insightful answers on the topic originally presented have a wonderful week! And, once again, that video by Azura, which may seem harsh, also has some interesting commentary on the crown store as well; the comments below the video are particularly worth checking out in my humble onion.

    I love ESO; I offer feedback out of love for the game and live in the hope that things improve.

    EDIT: One last video that I just came across that's relevant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg4FnifaDW4
    Edited by kah on September 6, 2023 9:41PM
  • Amottica
    Amottica
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    kah wrote: »
    I thank any of the powers-that-be reading for taking a look at this thread and humbly ask that you take what's been said under consideration. Since this thread keeps getting derailed, I'm going to leave the it at that. I hope all the people who provided thoughtful, insightful answers on the topic originally presented have a wonderful week! And, once again, that video by Azura, which may seem harsh, also has some interesting commentary on the crown store as well; the comments below the video are particularly worth checking out in my humble onion.

    I love ESO; I offer feedback out of love for the game and live in the hope that things improve.

    They likely do. However, just as the businesses that many of us work for they also take into account their responsibilities to pay their salaries and the requirements of shareholders.

    To those 86k+ shareholders, a fair price is what the market will bear. Considering the prices in the crown store have held up to the test of time it seems that the feedback that yells loudest has said the pricing is just fine.

  • Freilauftomate
    Freilauftomate
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    @Amottica Ah, i see. That's why the prices for food, living and everything else are skyrocketing. Because people want to pay more for everything. Thank you very much for your great economics and business lessons, very helpful.
  • Amottica
    Amottica
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    @Amottica Ah, i see. That's why the prices for food, living and everything else are skyrocketing. Because people want to pay more for everything. Thank you very much for your great economics and business lessons, very helpful.

    @Freilauftomate

    Interesting that someone would have said that but it seems you have addressed that statement to the wrong person. Please quote that statement as I would like to see it.

    I have only noted that those who choose to pay 100k+ for a home accept that price and that enough do so that Zenimax sees the current pricing as worth keeping.

    I also noted that people can save up to 40% if they buy their crowns on sale. They can save 100% if they do not waste their money on crowns to start with. I am one of those who prefers to save their money and I noted that I have not purchased a home yet have two for free.

  • colossalvoids
    colossalvoids
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    If it was f2p game I'd just slash housing in half and be it, but for b2p, sub based game with direct AAA tag purchases each year it's at the very least 10x less to be counted as okay, imo. Purchases should be complimentary to the game, not vice versa.That's a look from eastern european, obv for someone from America it's fine as is in most cases.
  • Lugaldu
    Lugaldu
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    As someone said, as long as people are willing to pay the current prices, nothing will change. I also think that the prices for the "best" houses are too high, but as said, as long as people are willing to pay these prices, they will continue like this or probably become even more expensive.
    The problem seems to me to be that there are hardly any alternatives if we stick to the housing issue. When I go to a store, I can decide whether I want to buy the expensive or the cheap jeans, but in the Crown Shop there are almost no cheap offers at all - at least when it comes to new houses. The last "cheap" houses for only 4000 crowns (for limited time) were the Exorcised Coven Cottage and Frostvault Chasm last winter. All brand new houses which appear for limited time are 10,000 crowns upwards. This means that people simply don't have a choice between more expensive or cheaper objects and that's not okay.
  • Taggund
    Taggund
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    Everything should be 10% of the current price. I am working on an Alt, and looked at skill lines and such and it would be over $100 if I wanted to bypass the tedious grind to level, and I'd also need an alliance change. Not worth it. I also want some extra armory slots, but refuse to pay $15 per slot per character.

    When i do leave ESO, the crown store will be a part of the reason. I could be enjoying playing an alt for the reason I want it, but it's a grind to get it to have the skills I want for it. I'm spending more time in another game at the moment, and as ESO starts taking a back seat to other games I'll drop the sub.
  • LokiPagan
    LokiPagan
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    Amottica wrote: »
    kah wrote: »
    ANYWAY, another price I've discussed recently that is also superrrrr high is the $40 USD mundus stones which are almost considered necessary in order to "complete" a guild hall. That's real close to the price of a AAA game, as previously mentioned, and the cost of the whole set is the same price as a MINDBOGGLING amount of games.

    Not to mention, it's
    $150 USD for a set of assistants (banker, merchant, and deconstructer)
    $60 USD for a trial training dummy

    Whew, it really hurts when you start examining the prices in the crown store.

    I did not pay anywhere near that much for my assistants.

    My math must be off. Each of the assistants (banker, merchant, and deconstructer) cost 5k crowns when paying full price. WIth the 21k crown packages costing $149.99 that comes out to $107.14 for the three assistants. Almost $43 less than what is being claimed. I am a stickler for accuracy on such matters.

    After making that purchase we still have 6k crowns remaining to buy the Iron Atronach Trial Dummy.

    That means the entire purchase of assistants and the trial dummy that is listed above totaling $210 is only 149.99

    That is not all. Crowns go on sale multiple times a year. That 21k crown package costs $90 when on sale (Hope I calculated that correctly) So all three assistants and the atronach target dummy can be purchased for the low price of 90 USD.

    I note the sale because it is better to plan ahead than to pay full price. Especially for anyone who does not like the prices in the Crown Store.

    You seem to think that's a reasonable price for some pixels that cost Zenimax next to nothing to produce - $149.99 or even $90 isn't a low price by any standard. I'm not really sure why you're defending the extremely aggressive and, quite frankly, ludicrous pricing, but since you seem to think that reducing prices would hurt profits - how many people would buy a $150 home, versus how many people would buy a $15 home? In most other games, even free gacha games, they use a smaller price-range because it's more palatable and people are much more likely to trickle purchases - $5 here, $10 there.

    Very few people are going to drop $150 on a virtual house. And using rare crown sales isn't very "accurate" because the majority of players won't wait six months for them to go on sale, or even know about the sale.

    From what I've seen, Zenimax management is either not listening to their economics and business people, or those people have no idea what they're doing. We can see that time and time again with unpopular choices they make. I predict that to make up for loss of sales they're going to continue on an upward spiral, raising crown store prices higher and higher. $1000 for a virtual home still sound reasonable to you?

    Even worse, the predatory pricing generates a lot of bad will and player dissatisfaction - player retention and feeling like the company cares about you, the player, is vital to a game company, whether it's true or not. Right now I feel like very few players think Zenimax cares about anything more than their wallets.
  • Amottica
    Amottica
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    LokiPagan wrote: »
    Amottica wrote: »
    kah wrote: »
    ANYWAY, another price I've discussed recently that is also superrrrr high is the $40 USD mundus stones which are almost considered necessary in order to "complete" a guild hall. That's real close to the price of a AAA game, as previously mentioned, and the cost of the whole set is the same price as a MINDBOGGLING amount of games.

    Not to mention, it's
    $150 USD for a set of assistants (banker, merchant, and deconstructer)
    $60 USD for a trial training dummy

    Whew, it really hurts when you start examining the prices in the crown store.

    I did not pay anywhere near that much for my assistants.

    My math must be off. Each of the assistants (banker, merchant, and deconstructer) cost 5k crowns when paying full price. WIth the 21k crown packages costing $149.99 that comes out to $107.14 for the three assistants. Almost $43 less than what is being claimed. I am a stickler for accuracy on such matters.

    After making that purchase we still have 6k crowns remaining to buy the Iron Atronach Trial Dummy.

    That means the entire purchase of assistants and the trial dummy that is listed above totaling $210 is only 149.99

    That is not all. Crowns go on sale multiple times a year. That 21k crown package costs $90 when on sale (Hope I calculated that correctly) So all three assistants and the atronach target dummy can be purchased for the low price of 90 USD.

    I note the sale because it is better to plan ahead than to pay full price. Especially for anyone who does not like the prices in the Crown Store.

    You seem to think that's a reasonable price for some pixels that cost Zenimax next to nothing to produce - $149.99 or even $90 isn't a low price by any standard. I'm not really sure why you're defending the extremely aggressive and, quite frankly, ludicrous pricing, but since you seem to think that reducing prices would hurt profits - how many people would buy a $150 home, versus how many people would buy a $15 home? In most other games, even free gacha games, they use a smaller price-range because it's more palatable and people are much more likely to trickle purchases - $5 here, $10 there.

    Very few people are going to drop $150 on a virtual house. And using rare crown sales isn't very "accurate" because the majority of players won't wait six months for them to go on sale, or even know about the sale.

    From what I've seen, Zenimax management is either not listening to their economics and business people, or those people have no idea what they're doing. We can see that time and time again with unpopular choices they make. I predict that to make up for loss of sales they're going to continue on an upward spiral, raising crown store prices higher and higher. $1000 for a virtual home still sound reasonable to you?

    Even worse, the predatory pricing generates a lot of bad will and player dissatisfaction - player retention and feeling like the company cares about you, the player, is vital to a game company, whether it's true or not. Right now I feel like very few players think Zenimax cares about anything more than their wallets.

    I have not said what I think is reasonable. I have said that enough players are willing to pony up the asking price Zenimax has for these digital items so that Zenimax is happy with the revenue and sees no need to adjust the price lower.

    So Zenimax does listen to their economic and business people. After all It is their economic and business people that are involved in setting the prices to start with. Being that the prices have held solid over the years it seems clear that Zenimax is pleased with the results. Considering MS acquired Zenimax for 7.5 Billion USD it seems those economic and business people have a very good idea of what they are doing. A privately held business that sells for that much has some brilliant business people involved.


    @LokiPagan

    Edited by Amottica on September 12, 2023 4:11AM
  • mdjessup4906
    mdjessup4906
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    Utility things like race, name, alliance changes shouldn't be more than 2 or 3$ preferably 1$ cosmetics like outfits, hairs, adornments, 3-8$ Maybe 10$ for a really nice one. Same for mounts.

    Crates are fun but too damn much for something random. 3-5 for a dollar, or something.

    What happened to the "micro" in microtransactions?
    Edited by mdjessup4906 on September 12, 2023 5:49AM
  • Freilauftomate
    Freilauftomate
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    Amottica wrote: »
    Being that the prices have held solid over the years it seems clear that Zenimax is pleased with the results. Considering MS acquired Zenimax for 7.5 Billion USD it seems those economic and business people have a very good idea of what they are doing. A privately held business that sells for that much has some brilliant business people involved.

    Not really. A big fish eating up all the smaller fish to get rid of the competition has nothing to do with "brilliant" economic and business brains. It's a disease. It's happening all over the world and nothing good ever comes of it. And selling your company doesn't mean you are doing great, it doesn't mean you are happy with what you have and it doesn't mean you want to keep doing what you are doing. It means you want to get rid of it and do something else.

    The crownstore is way too expensive (for most of us), and the prices have NOT "held solid over the years", everything is getting more expensive all the time. Considering that the company can take away everything you bought, anytime they want to (because you don't own anything after you bought it here, you are just allowed to use it as long as they let you) it is baffling that anyone would spend even 1 cent on the crownstore. "Buying" something that you don't own after you paid for it, that's another disease some people would call "brilliant".

    I guess it is always a matter of perspective and a question of what you want to do with your life. But all the stuff about investors and making money is completely irrelevant for most players. Most of us in this forum just want to play this game. That's it. We want to see the game doing well. It hurts when you start the game and nothing feels healthy. When it feels like there is nobody really taking care of the game and its customers. When you see something beautiful crumble right in front of your eyes, and can't do anything about it because nobody wants to listen. And when you try to help, by drawing attention to bugs and other issues, people line up to gaslight you, and call you toxic trolls, crybabies and other names.

    I don't know about you, but as a customer i want to feel welcome and heard. I can feel it when someone doesn't care about the service they are offering. When they just want to make money and look at you like a necessary evil. I don't like that feeling, and usually i go somewhere else next time and never come back until something changes. But that's the thing about buying the whole competition, right? If there is only one company left, where else should we go?
  • Necrotech_Master
    Necrotech_Master
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    either the crown-cost of items in the crown store needs to drop, or the cost to buy crowns needs to drop

    i would say a minimum of at least 50% of what its currently at for either method
    plays PC/NA
    handle @Necrotech_Master
    active player since april 2014

    i have my main house (grand topal hideaway) listed in the housing tours, it has multiple target dummies, scribing altar, and grandmaster stations (in progress being filled out), as well as almost every antiquity furnishing on display to preview them

    feel free to stop by and use the facilities
  • boi_anachronism_
    boi_anachronism_
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    The ironic part is if they lowered the prices a lot more people would probably buy. I mean if armory slots were 750 instead of 1000 id probably have 4x as many 😆
  • Vaqual
    Vaqual
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    To determine fair pricing we would have to know development cost for individual items, how much revenue ESO generates and how much of it is spent again on ESO development. I would be willing to pay more if I knew that it will make the game better in the future, not to fund the development of games that I will never care about. I think all employees should also receive their due, if that is even a factor. Convenience items and items that are attainable in game can be more expensive, it is OK for a shortcut to cost you extra.

    Selling store exclusives at extortion rates is just predatory.
    My opinion about crates is mixed, as endeavours are quite OK, only the ugly mounts are overpriced. People who like those can't be helped anyway. Other games do the crate gambling much worse, but overall I am not a fan. But the lower end rewards like Chicken pets (core gaming experience) are reasonably priced within the crates, so that is actually ok for me.
    Edited by Vaqual on September 12, 2023 4:45PM
  • Necrotech_Master
    Necrotech_Master
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    Vaqual wrote: »
    To determine fair pricing we would have to know development cost for individual items, how much revenue ESO generates and how much of it is spent again on ESO development. I would be willing to pay more if I knew that it will make the game better in the future, not to fund the development of games that I will never care about. I think all employees should also receive their due, if that is even a factor. Convenience items and items that are attainable in game can be more expensive, it is OK for a shortcut to cost you extra.

    Selling store exclusives at extortion rates is just predatory.
    My opinion about crates is mixed, as endeavours are quite OK, only the ugly mounts are overpriced. People who like those can't be helped anyway. Other games do the crate gambling much worse, but overall I am not a fan. But the lower end rewards like Chicken pets (core gaming experience) are reasonably priced within the crates, so that is actually ok for me.

    if the items were cheaper in the store, more people would buy them, and it would balance out or outpace fewer sales at a higher cost

    an example would be assistants, we all know that the different assistants with the same functions are basically just reskins, but they charge the absurd cost of 5000 crowns (roughly $20) PER assistant, makes me not bother buying alternate versions of the assistants because of the cost

    if the cost was 50-75% cheaper per assistant, i would buy pretty much all of them just for the variety, but as it stands im not buying them because why spend $20 on another banker assistant thats a reskin of the one i already have?
    plays PC/NA
    handle @Necrotech_Master
    active player since april 2014

    i have my main house (grand topal hideaway) listed in the housing tours, it has multiple target dummies, scribing altar, and grandmaster stations (in progress being filled out), as well as almost every antiquity furnishing on display to preview them

    feel free to stop by and use the facilities
  • ProudMary
    ProudMary
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    Amottica wrote: »
    LokiPagan wrote: »
    Amottica wrote: »
    kah wrote: »
    ANYWAY, another price I've discussed recently that is also superrrrr high is the $40 USD mundus stones which are almost considered necessary in order to "complete" a guild hall. That's real close to the price of a AAA game, as previously mentioned, and the cost of the whole set is the same price as a MINDBOGGLING amount of games.

    Not to mention, it's
    $150 USD for a set of assistants (banker, merchant, and deconstructer)
    $60 USD for a trial training dummy

    Whew, it really hurts when you start examining the prices in the crown store.

    I did not pay anywhere near that much for my assistants.

    My math must be off. Each of the assistants (banker, merchant, and deconstructer) cost 5k crowns when paying full price. WIth the 21k crown packages costing $149.99 that comes out to $107.14 for the three assistants. Almost $43 less than what is being claimed. I am a stickler for accuracy on such matters.

    After making that purchase we still have 6k crowns remaining to buy the Iron Atronach Trial Dummy.

    That means the entire purchase of assistants and the trial dummy that is listed above totaling $210 is only 149.99

    That is not all. Crowns go on sale multiple times a year. That 21k crown package costs $90 when on sale (Hope I calculated that correctly) So all three assistants and the atronach target dummy can be purchased for the low price of 90 USD.

    I note the sale because it is better to plan ahead than to pay full price. Especially for anyone who does not like the prices in the Crown Store.

    You seem to think that's a reasonable price for some pixels that cost Zenimax next to nothing to produce - $149.99 or even $90 isn't a low price by any standard. I'm not really sure why you're defending the extremely aggressive and, quite frankly, ludicrous pricing, but since you seem to think that reducing prices would hurt profits - how many people would buy a $150 home, versus how many people would buy a $15 home? In most other games, even free gacha games, they use a smaller price-range because it's more palatable and people are much more likely to trickle purchases - $5 here, $10 there.

    Very few people are going to drop $150 on a virtual house. And using rare crown sales isn't very "accurate" because the majority of players won't wait six months for them to go on sale, or even know about the sale.

    From what I've seen, Zenimax management is either not listening to their economics and business people, or those people have no idea what they're doing. We can see that time and time again with unpopular choices they make. I predict that to make up for loss of sales they're going to continue on an upward spiral, raising crown store prices higher and higher. $1000 for a virtual home still sound reasonable to you?

    Even worse, the predatory pricing generates a lot of bad will and player dissatisfaction - player retention and feeling like the company cares about you, the player, is vital to a game company, whether it's true or not. Right now I feel like very few players think Zenimax cares about anything more than their wallets.

    I have not said what I think is reasonable. I have said that enough players are willing to pony up the asking price Zenimax has for these digital items so that Zenimax is happy with the revenue and sees no need to adjust the price lower.

    So Zenimax does listen to their economic and business people. After all It is their economic and business people that are involved in setting the prices to start with. Being that the prices have held solid over the years it seems clear that Zenimax is pleased with the results. Considering MS acquired Zenimax for 7.5 Billion USD it seems those economic and business people have a very good idea of what they are doing. A privately held business that sells for that much has some brilliant business people involved.


    @LokiPagan

    You must not know who the original stockholders were or you wouldn't have made this claim in bold. B) MS paid to purchase the entire Elder Scrolls franchise, not just ESO.
  • Amottica
    Amottica
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    ProudMary wrote: »
    Amottica wrote: »
    LokiPagan wrote: »
    Amottica wrote: »
    kah wrote: »
    ANYWAY, another price I've discussed recently that is also superrrrr high is the $40 USD mundus stones which are almost considered necessary in order to "complete" a guild hall. That's real close to the price of a AAA game, as previously mentioned, and the cost of the whole set is the same price as a MINDBOGGLING amount of games.

    Not to mention, it's
    $150 USD for a set of assistants (banker, merchant, and deconstructer)
    $60 USD for a trial training dummy

    Whew, it really hurts when you start examining the prices in the crown store.

    I did not pay anywhere near that much for my assistants.

    My math must be off. Each of the assistants (banker, merchant, and deconstructer) cost 5k crowns when paying full price. WIth the 21k crown packages costing $149.99 that comes out to $107.14 for the three assistants. Almost $43 less than what is being claimed. I am a stickler for accuracy on such matters.

    After making that purchase we still have 6k crowns remaining to buy the Iron Atronach Trial Dummy.

    That means the entire purchase of assistants and the trial dummy that is listed above totaling $210 is only 149.99

    That is not all. Crowns go on sale multiple times a year. That 21k crown package costs $90 when on sale (Hope I calculated that correctly) So all three assistants and the atronach target dummy can be purchased for the low price of 90 USD.

    I note the sale because it is better to plan ahead than to pay full price. Especially for anyone who does not like the prices in the Crown Store.

    You seem to think that's a reasonable price for some pixels that cost Zenimax next to nothing to produce - $149.99 or even $90 isn't a low price by any standard. I'm not really sure why you're defending the extremely aggressive and, quite frankly, ludicrous pricing, but since you seem to think that reducing prices would hurt profits - how many people would buy a $150 home, versus how many people would buy a $15 home? In most other games, even free gacha games, they use a smaller price-range because it's more palatable and people are much more likely to trickle purchases - $5 here, $10 there.

    Very few people are going to drop $150 on a virtual house. And using rare crown sales isn't very "accurate" because the majority of players won't wait six months for them to go on sale, or even know about the sale.

    From what I've seen, Zenimax management is either not listening to their economics and business people, or those people have no idea what they're doing. We can see that time and time again with unpopular choices they make. I predict that to make up for loss of sales they're going to continue on an upward spiral, raising crown store prices higher and higher. $1000 for a virtual home still sound reasonable to you?

    Even worse, the predatory pricing generates a lot of bad will and player dissatisfaction - player retention and feeling like the company cares about you, the player, is vital to a game company, whether it's true or not. Right now I feel like very few players think Zenimax cares about anything more than their wallets.

    I have not said what I think is reasonable. I have said that enough players are willing to pony up the asking price Zenimax has for these digital items so that Zenimax is happy with the revenue and sees no need to adjust the price lower.

    So Zenimax does listen to their economic and business people. After all It is their economic and business people that are involved in setting the prices to start with. Being that the prices have held solid over the years it seems clear that Zenimax is pleased with the results. Considering MS acquired Zenimax for 7.5 Billion USD it seems those economic and business people have a very good idea of what they are doing. A privately held business that sells for that much has some brilliant business people involved.


    @LokiPagan

    You must not know who the original stockholders were or you wouldn't have made this claim in bold. B) MS paid to purchase the entire Elder Scrolls franchise, not just ESO.

    MS paid to acquire the entire Zenimax/Bethesda portfolio of which ESO is part of.

    Well, it is public knowledge who some of those original stockholders are and that the company was privately held and owned during its entire existence until MS acquired it. None of this is a secret.

  • LokiPagan
    LokiPagan
    ✭✭✭✭
    Vaqual wrote: »
    if the cost was 50-75% cheaper per assistant, i would buy pretty much all of them just for the variety, but as it stands im not buying them because why spend $20 on another banker assistant thats a reskin of the one i already have?

    $20? Not sure where you are located, but here the 5500 crown pack is $39.99...so $40 for one assistant. That's the price of an entire game.

    As for @Amottica , I'm sure there are some whales who are willing to spend a few hundred or thousand dollars for crowns for stuff like assistants, but the vast majority of players, like myself, only use the crowns we get via ESO+ or buying it with gold. Now that crown trading is disabled, I think we're going to see some changes, because very few people are willing to pony up those amounts.

    In other games, though, I don't mind dropping $10 or $10 there - it adds up over time. Here Zenimax is just trying to cater to the whales, and it isn't a smart move. If every. Single. Other. Game. is doing something like the "nickle and dime" selling, maybe they're onto something.

    Well, not that it matters, at any rate. They can't lower crown pricing because there would be outrage from the whales.

    Still, I read that the Radiant Apex mount is a 0.1% chance drop rate - so that's 1000 crown crates if you're really unlucky. That's 320,000 crowns if you don't get them on sale - the 21,000 crown pack is $149.99, so roughly $2250 FOR A MOUNT. That's an extreme example, of course, but still...I paid for this game, and I paid for the DLC, and I pay a monthly subscription. It's insulting.
  • Necrotech_Master
    Necrotech_Master
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    LokiPagan wrote: »
    if the cost was 50-75% cheaper per assistant, i would buy pretty much all of them just for the variety, but as it stands im not buying them because why spend $20 on another banker assistant thats a reskin of the one i already have?

    $20? Not sure where you are located, but here the 5500 crown pack is $39.99...so $40 for one assistant. That's the price of an entire game.

    As for @Amottica , I'm sure there are some whales who are willing to spend a few hundred or thousand dollars for crowns for stuff like assistants, but the vast majority of players, like myself, only use the crowns we get via ESO+ or buying it with gold. Now that crown trading is disabled, I think we're going to see some changes, because very few people are willing to pony up those amounts.

    In other games, though, I don't mind dropping $10 or $10 there - it adds up over time. Here Zenimax is just trying to cater to the whales, and it isn't a smart move. If every. Single. Other. Game. is doing something like the "nickle and dime" selling, maybe they're onto something.

    Well, not that it matters, at any rate. They can't lower crown pricing because there would be outrage from the whales.

    Still, I read that the Radiant Apex mount is a 0.1% chance drop rate - so that's 1000 crown crates if you're really unlucky. That's 320,000 crowns if you don't get them on sale - the 21,000 crown pack is $149.99, so roughly $2250 FOR A MOUNT. That's an extreme example, of course, but still...I paid for this game, and I paid for the DLC, and I pay a monthly subscription. It's insulting.

    when crowns are on sale the 5500 pack is $20 lol, probably what i was thinking of since i rarely buy crowns not on sale
    plays PC/NA
    handle @Necrotech_Master
    active player since april 2014

    i have my main house (grand topal hideaway) listed in the housing tours, it has multiple target dummies, scribing altar, and grandmaster stations (in progress being filled out), as well as almost every antiquity furnishing on display to preview them

    feel free to stop by and use the facilities
  • shijian452
    shijian452
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    I think 25% of the current price is more reasonable. The prices of new chapters and the main body can be appropriately increased, and new chapters can give players more gifts. Then the price of the crown product is reduced to 25% of the original price.
  • AngelSunstar
    AngelSunstar
    Soul Shriven
    Crowns are way to high in price when you can buy the latest updates cheaper than a house that's when you stop buying crowns prices need to be more reasonable then i would happily invest more than i already do right now i only buy on sale for birthday or Christmas for myself to much any other time
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