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Crowns are far too expensive

FelisCatus
FelisCatus
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Hello fellow adventurers,

I've been an avid player of Elder Scrolls Online since 2015, and I know this is probably not the first time this has been said. Yet, I think it's time we have an open discussion about a concern that affects many in our community: the high cost of crowns in the ESO store.

The Crown Store is a significant part of ESO, offering a range of items from cosmetic outfits and mounts to DLCs and convenience items. While these offerings are appealing, the cost associated with purchasing Crowns, the game's premium currency, can be quite prohibitive for many players. A significant part of the frustration comes from the perceived value of these digital items. While we understand that ESO is a business and needs to generate revenue, it's important that players feel they are getting fair value for their money. Currently, many in the community feel that the pricing does not reflect the actual value or rarity of the items. Compared to similar MMOs, the pricing structure in ESO seems higher without clear justification.

1. Crown Prices Are Too High
When you consider that a single cosmetic item or mount can cost upwards of 2,500 Crowns, and some of the more desirable items are even higher, it becomes clear how quickly the expenses add up. For those who want to enjoy the full breadth of what the Crown Store offers, the financial commitment can be overwhelming. Crown prices should be set at their sale price permanently to make them more accessible to players. Whilst still going on sale further.

2. Gold-to-Crown Exchange Isn't Practical

While some players opt to buy Crowns with gold, this is not a practical solution for everyone. Farming enough gold to purchase Crowns can take an enormous amount of time, which many players simply don't have. Additionally, the gold-to-Crown exchange rate is often skewed, making it an inefficient method for obtaining Crowns.

Plus, not everyone wants to risk getting banned by buying gold from bot farmers just to afford Crowns. These practices disrupt the game's economy and create an uneven playing field, discouraging legitimate players from engaging with the gold-to-crown exchange.

3. Crown Sales Are Rare and Insufficient
Crown sales in ESO are infrequent, and even when they do occur, the discounts are often not substantial enough to make a real difference. This makes it difficult for players to justify purchasing Crowns, especially when the prices remain high even after a sale. Instead of a few times a year, how about every major DLC/Chapter release? This way players could buy older DLC cheaper whilst the newest release DLC can stay at its release price. Many games follow this sales practice.

4. Lower Prices Would Benefit Everyone
If Crown prices were more reasonable, more players would be motivated to make purchases more frequently. Lowering the cost of Crowns could potentially lead to an increase in overall sales, as players would feel more comfortable spending money on the game. This could lead to a win-win situation where both players and the game developers benefit.

Conclusion
In conclusion, I believe that the current pricing model for Crowns is not sustainable in the long term. By lowering the prices and offering more frequent and meaningful sales, ESO could encourage more players to invest in the game. This would not only improve player satisfaction but also boost the game's revenue.

Let's work together to make our voices heard and hope for positive changes in the future.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
  • Necrotech_Master
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    the prices on crowns themselves are pretty standard, but i agree that prices in the crown store itself are too high, lowering the cost of the items in the crown store would have the same effect of making people buy more crowns (i personally want to get mundus stones for my main house, but at the price of 4000 per stone and theres 13 stones thats close to 60,000 crowns)

    the existing amounts of crown packs would go much further if they just reduced prices, maybe enticing more people to actually buy crowns if they could "get more bang for their buck"

    i also agree that they could add some kind of "official" way to exchange crowns for gold, or vice versa. this would still be between players, just with some interface officially supported by zos
    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
  • FelisCatus
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    the prices on crowns themselves are pretty standard, but i agree that prices in the crown store itself are too high, lowering the cost of the items in the crown store would have the same effect of making people buy more crowns (i personally want to get mundus stones for my main house, but at the price of 4000 per stone and theres 13 stones thats close to 60,000 crowns)

    the existing amounts of crown packs would go much further if they just reduced prices, maybe enticing more people to actually buy crowns if they could "get more bang for their buck"

    i also agree that they could add some kind of "official" way to exchange crowns for gold, or vice versa. this would still be between players, just with some interface officially supported by zos

    Yes, there are two ways to go about it. Lower crown prices or lower crown store item prices.
  • CGPsaint
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    i also agree that they could add some kind of "official" way to exchange crowns for gold, or vice versa. this would still be between players, just with some interface officially supported by zos

    It boggles my mind that there isn't an actual in-game way to trade gold for Crowns, given that it has opened the door less than savory players to scam others out of gold. What makes it truly infuriating is that not only is there not a safe way to trade gold for Crowns, but ZoS has flat out said that it's a "buyer beware" situation. That's just downright poor.

  • Necrotech_Master
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    CGPsaint wrote: »
    i also agree that they could add some kind of "official" way to exchange crowns for gold, or vice versa. this would still be between players, just with some interface officially supported by zos

    It boggles my mind that there isn't an actual in-game way to trade gold for Crowns, given that it has opened the door less than savory players to scam others out of gold. What makes it truly infuriating is that not only is there not a safe way to trade gold for Crowns, but ZoS has flat out said that it's a "buyer beware" situation. That's just downright poor.

    yeah its basically endorsing without endorsing

    if they implemented an actual trusted way to do trades, then there would be significantly less risk, for either party

    a crown seller could currently get scammed out of gold if they gift first, and a crown buyer could get scammed out of gold if they give gold first, an official method would remove all of that risk

    someone is still buying crowns in either environment, but in a "safer" situation zos customer support would be spending less time looking at tickets about scammers
    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
  • JustLovely
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    Simple solution:

    Don't buy crowns or anything from the crown store.
  • FelisCatus
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    CGPsaint wrote: »
    i also agree that they could add some kind of "official" way to exchange crowns for gold, or vice versa. this would still be between players, just with some interface officially supported by zos

    It boggles my mind that there isn't an actual in-game way to trade gold for Crowns, given that it has opened the door less than savory players to scam others out of gold. What makes it truly infuriating is that not only is there not a safe way to trade gold for Crowns, but ZoS has flat out said that it's a "buyer beware" situation. That's just downright poor.

    yeah its basically endorsing without endorsing

    if they implemented an actual trusted way to do trades, then there would be significantly less risk, for either party

    a crown seller could currently get scammed out of gold if they gift first, and a crown buyer could get scammed out of gold if they give gold first, an official method would remove all of that risk

    someone is still buying crowns in either environment, but in a "safer" situation zos customer support would be spending less time looking at tickets about scammers

    As long as they get their money, they don't care. With crown to gold exchange, even if unofficial, someone still has to buy the crowns with real world currency. With gold for real world currency, ZOS does not get a cut, that's why they ban people for it.
    JustLovely wrote: »
    Simple solution:

    Don't buy crowns or anything from the crown store.

    That is not at all a solution.
  • JustLovely
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    FelisCatus wrote: »
    CGPsaint wrote: »
    i also agree that they could add some kind of "official" way to exchange crowns for gold, or vice versa. this would still be between players, just with some interface officially supported by zos

    It boggles my mind that there isn't an actual in-game way to trade gold for Crowns, given that it has opened the door less than savory players to scam others out of gold. What makes it truly infuriating is that not only is there not a safe way to trade gold for Crowns, but ZoS has flat out said that it's a "buyer beware" situation. That's just downright poor.

    yeah its basically endorsing without endorsing

    if they implemented an actual trusted way to do trades, then there would be significantly less risk, for either party

    a crown seller could currently get scammed out of gold if they gift first, and a crown buyer could get scammed out of gold if they give gold first, an official method would remove all of that risk

    someone is still buying crowns in either environment, but in a "safer" situation zos customer support would be spending less time looking at tickets about scammers

    As long as they get their money, they don't care. With crown to gold exchange, even if unofficial, someone still has to buy the crowns with real world currency. With gold for real world currency, ZOS does not get a cut, that's why they ban people for it.
    JustLovely wrote: »
    Simple solution:

    Don't buy crowns or anything from the crown store.

    That is not at all a solution.

    Not participating in anything to do with the crown store is a perfect solution for me.
  • EdjeSwift
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    Crowns exist as a way to support the game.

    If you don't want to pay to have any, then don't.

    The majority of the benefits of the crown store exist as cosmetics or time savers which have no real impact on gameplay. DLCs could be the only exception to this, but the majority of the crown store; houses, outfits, pets, mounts, are all optional parts of the game. Sure many will say that's their entire point of the game, and that's good, but it is primarily optional content and for the most part you can play the game without them.
    Antiquities Addict
  • IncultaWolf
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    The crown trading ratio is around 150:1 on console, very affordable. If you play on PC well, you're kinda screwed. Last time I checked it was 2000:1. I buy a lot of my crowns with in game gold trading with friends/other players. But to be fair, with the trader listing changes, it might be a lot harder to gain gold in general from what I'm reading.
  • Araneae6537
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    Look around in-game — it seems to me that plenty of people buy them.
  • Nharimlur_Finor
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    edited
    Edited by Nharimlur_Finor on August 12, 2024 8:41PM
  • kargen27
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    Lower prices might not equate to more profits for ZoS. I'm thinking they have a whole team of business analysts that run the numbers through a variety of scenarios and have data that supports the current prices being optimal for profit.
    and then the parrot said, "must be the water mines green too."
  • Ph1p
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    Unfortunately, prices are as high as they are, because enough people are willing to pay them. Remember the first paid mount in WoW? It cost $25 at launch and 140’000 people queued up to buy it within 3 hours of release. According to a former Blizzard employee, this one mount made more money than Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty.

    While lower prices would be nice for players, why would ZOS put their revenue at risk?
  • Sarannah
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    Though I do not think crowns and crownstore items are too expensive, I do only buy crown packs when they are 40% off. And only buy something in-game when it is on sale. Only very rarely do I buy something when it is not on sale. Maybe it is the way I manage my crowns that makes me think the crowns and crownstore items are not too expensive. (if you are in a rush or impatient, you will probably pay full price for everything though)

    So if you always buy crowns packs at 40% off and wait for a 20% crown item sale in-game(common discount example), you are basically already receiving a 60% discount. So that mount that costs 2500 crowns is now only 1000 crowns. That house that costs 14000 crowns is now only 5600 crowns. All that saving adds up.

    If I am ever short on crowns while there isn't a crownpack sale and there is something I want to buy, I buy ESO+. Which has only gone on sale once, and probably never will again. ESO+ is something I would buy anyways at some point, and it gives some crowns as well.
  • spartaxoxo
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    Sarannah wrote: »
    Though I do not think crowns and crownstore items are too expensive, I do only buy crown packs when they are 40% off. And only buy something in-game when it is on sale. Only very rarely do I buy something when it is not on sale. Maybe it is the way I manage my crowns that makes me think the crowns and crownstore items are not too expensive. (if you are in a rush or impatient, you will probably pay full price for everything though)

    If nobody thinks it's worth paying full price, then that's an indication that crowns and crown store items are too expensive. And the price they're willing to pay is the sale price.

    ETA

    Some companies purposely price things too high normally and then have frequent sales so people go crazy for their deals. JCPenney used to do that. The sale price being when they expect most folks to buy. IDK if this game is doing that though as it doesn't have crown sales a ton
    Edited by spartaxoxo on August 9, 2024 6:46AM
  • lardvader
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    Yes I agree. I always buy on sale and use the ones I get from eso+
    CP 1200+ PC EU EP
  • Stafford197
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    Crowns are overpriced sure, but we also have Gifting. A tiny percentage of the playerbase will spend unlimited money on this game to acquire cosmetics and to gift away Crown items to players in return for their Gold.

    No matter the price, the Crown Store’s items will sell.
  • tincanman
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    OP - I doubt you are in the target demographic.

    If it's any consolation, nor am I.
  • FelisCatus
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    tincanman wrote: »
    OP - I doubt you are in the target demographic.

    If it's any consolation, nor am I.

    I am a housing enthusiast, so I am. I own a lot of houses but it's extremely costly.
  • Araneae6537
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    FelisCatus wrote: »
    tincanman wrote: »
    OP - I doubt you are in the target demographic.

    If it's any consolation, nor am I.

    I am a housing enthusiast, so I am. I own a lot of houses but it's extremely costly.

    If it feels expensive, but you still buy it, then it’s probably priced just right. I’m not intending to be rude or contradictory, just that we should expect Crowns to be priced to maximize revenue.

    I’m also a housing enthusiast, so I try to buy most of my Crowns on sale, in addition to my sub. I used to regularly purchase Crowns with gold as well, but Crown gold prices haven’t fallen enough to make up for the drop in material prices for me.
  • SkaiFaith
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    I purchase 40% discounted packs on the 3 yearly sales.
    Would I buy more packs if items in crown store would be cheaper? Maybe not.
    What's important is not how much I spend on crowns this year but: how long will I be engaged with the game and keep deciding to invest in it over other games?

    ESO is having some issues recently and retaining players is important, especially those willing to continuously spend in the long run.
    Lowering prices could not produce an immediate gain , but could very well convince players on the fence of leaving to persevere in spite of the issues.

    Having good monetization can be a huge incentive for a player to not leave and go elsewhere. Same with the ability of devs to listen to their community, on every side, comprehensive of what players desire to see added in game and what not.

    So I would say lower prices and more frequent discounts would be a plus looking for a healthy future, if we want to avoid going empty servers in upcoming years.
    A: "We, as humans, should respect and take care of each other like in a Co-op, not a PvP 🌸"
    B: "Too many words. Words bad. Won't read. ⚔️"
  • GuuMoonRyoung
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    ZOS can keep the price of DLCs as they are but the rest needs to be lowered, by a lot. And in some cases, instead of lowering the price, they could make it account wide, for example, armory slot and then add a lower priced option for character unlock, for example 250 crown for one armory slot for a character and 1500 crown for +1 armory slot for whole account. It would increase the number of people buying armory slot to keep multiple builds of the same class.

    Also, some items just need to go, vamp and wolf bite, vamp and wolf cure, crown repair kits, crown soul gems, are just some examples.
  • FlopsyPrince
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    The increasingly expensive price for Crown Gem items does disgust me, and I have bought quite a few Crowns over the years. The only way to get those is to waste money on the horrid drop rates (and pitiful "compensation") of Crown Crates.

    I remember spending far too much at full price when I wanted the ghost wolf (or whatever it is called) when I had just started playing and it was 600 Crown Gems (IIRC). I wanted to match the skin from the event!

    Turns out to grow old far too quickly and I certainly won't pay even that much for a mount now. Nor will I grind Crown Crates to stack up Crown Gems.

    I may give in and buy some Crowns during this sale, but it is quite likely I will just skip it since I have a decent buffer and not much to buy.

    As to the gold price for Crowns, it is only worth selling them, in my situation if it is a lot of gold. I sold a bunch in the past on PC-NA and EU because the gold price was fairly good. I have not sold a single one on the PS4/5 because the gold value there is much too low to make it worth my own money (paid for the Crowns). I can understand why others may think the still cost too much there, but why bother for many of us?

    The growing prices of things is annoying, along with putting things like alternate actions, additional armor spots and even changing my face from the adornment I thought would look good at first.

    I remember that WoW had a "shave and a haircut" option for a gold price when I played that, so I think I expected it here. The gold price for me in WoW was high for me when I noticed it, but it doesn't exist here. I am not going to pay 1500 Crowns just to remove a crown or shave off a beard....
    PC
    PS4/PS5
  • Nharimlur_Finor
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    edited

    Edited by Nharimlur_Finor on August 12, 2024 8:42PM
  • Elsonso
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    FelisCatus wrote: »
    JustLovely wrote: »
    Simple solution:

    Don't buy crowns or anything from the crown store.

    That is not at all a solution.

    It very much is. It is actually the only solution, and if enough people do that, change can happen.

    The message "Crowns are too expensive" while still buying Crowns, is sort of muddied.

    ESO Plus: No
    PC NA/EU: @Elsonso
    XBox EU/NA: @ElsonsoJannus
    X/Twitter: ElsonsoJannus
  • FelisCatus
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    SkaiFaith wrote: »
    I purchase 40% discounted packs on the 3 yearly sales.
    Would I buy more packs if items in crown store would be cheaper? Maybe not.
    What's important is not how much I spend on crowns this year but: how long will I be engaged with the game and keep deciding to invest in it over other games?

    ESO is having some issues recently and retaining players is important, especially those willing to continuously spend in the long run.
    Lowering prices could not produce an immediate gain , but could very well convince players on the fence of leaving to persevere in spite of the issues.

    Having good monetization can be a huge incentive for a player to not leave and go elsewhere. Same with the ability of devs to listen to their community, on every side, comprehensive of what players desire to see added in game and what not.

    So I would say lower prices and more frequent discounts would be a plus looking for a healthy future, if we want to avoid going empty servers in upcoming years.

    Couldn't agree more!
    LaintalAy wrote: »
    EdjeSwift wrote: »
    Crowns exist as a way to support the game.

    What support are you referring to there?

    Needs to be said but this is not an indie dev studio struggling to make ends meet, this is a giant company (ZOS) that owns an AAA studio (Bethesda) that is all owned by a Megacorp (Microsoft).

    Chapters and DLC should be enough to support the game but other stuff in the crown store is incredibly overpriced. It's not like these extortionate prices are the same as those unnecessary founder packs for indie dev games. This is not a company or game that needs kickstarting either.
  • EdjeSwift
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    FelisCatus wrote: »

    Needs to be said but this is not an indie dev studio struggling to make ends meet, this is a giant company (ZOS) that owns an AAA studio (Bethesda) that is all owned by a Megacorp (Microsoft). .

    Not quite.

    ZoS (2007) is a subsidiary of Zenimax Media (1999)which was formed to become the parent company of Bethesda(1986) this matters because it means that the giant company isn't the one developing/supporting ESO. ZoS was specifically made to develop ESO, according to their wiki page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZeniMax_Online_Studios

    They're not the megacorp, they're a studio under the megacorp which needs to do well to continue, or they could go the way of Hammerhead/Roundhouse which got reallocated to ZoS earlier this year.
    Antiquities Addict
  • FelisCatus
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    EdjeSwift wrote: »
    FelisCatus wrote: »

    Needs to be said but this is not an indie dev studio struggling to make ends meet, this is a giant company (ZOS) that owns an AAA studio (Bethesda) that is all owned by a Megacorp (Microsoft). .

    Not quite.

    ZoS (2007) is a subsidiary of Zenimax Media (1999)which was formed to become the parent company of Bethesda(1986) this matters because it means that the giant company isn't the one developing/supporting ESO. ZoS was specifically made to develop ESO, according to their wiki page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZeniMax_Online_Studios

    They're not the megacorp, they're a studio under the megacorp which needs to do well to continue, or they could go the way of Hammerhead/Roundhouse which got reallocated to ZoS earlier this year.

    Ah! well, thanks for the correction, but my point still stands they are not an indie dev studio we should feel sorry for. I'm happy to support the game through chapters and DLCs and can justify those prices being those prices but crowns are far too expensive and you cannot buy a lot even when you spend a lot on them.
  • kargen27
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    FelisCatus wrote: »
    SkaiFaith wrote: »
    I purchase 40% discounted packs on the 3 yearly sales.
    Would I buy more packs if items in crown store would be cheaper? Maybe not.
    What's important is not how much I spend on crowns this year but: how long will I be engaged with the game and keep deciding to invest in it over other games?

    ESO is having some issues recently and retaining players is important, especially those willing to continuously spend in the long run.
    Lowering prices could not produce an immediate gain , but could very well convince players on the fence of leaving to persevere in spite of the issues.

    Having good monetization can be a huge incentive for a player to not leave and go elsewhere. Same with the ability of devs to listen to their community, on every side, comprehensive of what players desire to see added in game and what not.

    So I would say lower prices and more frequent discounts would be a plus looking for a healthy future, if we want to avoid going empty servers in upcoming years.

    Couldn't agree more!
    LaintalAy wrote: »
    EdjeSwift wrote: »
    Crowns exist as a way to support the game.

    What support are you referring to there?

    Needs to be said but this is not an indie dev studio struggling to make ends meet, this is a giant company (ZOS) that owns an AAA studio (Bethesda) that is all owned by a Megacorp (Microsoft).

    Chapters and DLC should be enough to support the game but other stuff in the crown store is incredibly overpriced. It's not like these extortionate prices are the same as those unnecessary founder packs for indie dev games. This is not a company or game that needs kickstarting either.

    They aren't struggling because they know how to maximize profits. Other projects funded ESO when it was being developed and now it is time for ESO to fund current and future developing titles.
    and then the parrot said, "must be the water mines green too."
  • FelisCatus
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    kargen27 wrote: »
    FelisCatus wrote: »
    SkaiFaith wrote: »
    I purchase 40% discounted packs on the 3 yearly sales.
    Would I buy more packs if items in crown store would be cheaper? Maybe not.
    What's important is not how much I spend on crowns this year but: how long will I be engaged with the game and keep deciding to invest in it over other games?

    ESO is having some issues recently and retaining players is important, especially those willing to continuously spend in the long run.
    Lowering prices could not produce an immediate gain , but could very well convince players on the fence of leaving to persevere in spite of the issues.

    Having good monetization can be a huge incentive for a player to not leave and go elsewhere. Same with the ability of devs to listen to their community, on every side, comprehensive of what players desire to see added in game and what not.

    So I would say lower prices and more frequent discounts would be a plus looking for a healthy future, if we want to avoid going empty servers in upcoming years.

    Couldn't agree more!
    LaintalAy wrote: »
    EdjeSwift wrote: »
    Crowns exist as a way to support the game.

    What support are you referring to there?

    Needs to be said but this is not an indie dev studio struggling to make ends meet, this is a giant company (ZOS) that owns an AAA studio (Bethesda) that is all owned by a Megacorp (Microsoft).

    Chapters and DLC should be enough to support the game but other stuff in the crown store is incredibly overpriced. It's not like these extortionate prices are the same as those unnecessary founder packs for indie dev games. This is not a company or game that needs kickstarting either.

    They aren't struggling because they know how to maximize profits. Other projects funded ESO when it was being developed and now it is time for ESO to fund current and future developing titles.

    Unfortunate, ESO's profits should go into ESO. You can tell that they don't when it each chapter after Summerset has been lacklustre.
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