Frequency of returning Crown Store content

Cosmo_Nova

With the ever-growing number of Crown Store-exclusive cosmetics being added to the game, and new crate seasons every quarter, it is a natural consequence that a specific item or crate season returning will become more improbable over time. At the current rate, most items and crate seasons return every two years. If a player wants to buy older items that aren't presently for sale, they will most likely be kept waiting anywhere from several months to over a year.

It's frustrating and it's a problem that's going to get worse as the pool of content available for sale continues to grow.

I know it's futile trying to argue FOMO out of the game - it works, if it didn't, it wouldn't be used in the first place. We live in the reality of ESO being a product that a corporation is selling and so we have to take what is realistic and feasible for the devs into account. But I do think that a better equilibrium needs to be reached between keeping store content desirable and not frustratingly out of reach.

Ideally, items would be rotated frequently enough that nothing goes longer than, say, six months, without being available. More realistically, a year, even, but anything would be better than what we're currently putting up with.

With 2025 being the year of big experimental changes in ESO, I hope this is something that can be addressed. At the very least, it would be nice to have some honest communication from the devs about the subject.

Thysbe

Other

The whole point of unpredictable sales is making you buy it right now and not postpone it + making you log into to game on a regular basis, ideally daily

I personally just fight my FOMO and refuse to buy things I don´t need now just because they are there.

Your suggestions are desirable, no question, but what I see as the most likely solution to this is not just 1 recurring crown crate but 2. This would still have the desired FOMO effect but counters the ever increasing time gap between crown crates beeing on sale.

Soarora

Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates should return at least once per year.

The crown store fomo doesn’t make sense, it just stops people from buying things they want to buy because they weren’t around when things first released. My guess is there’s a limit to the crown store, but just rotate things on a predictable schedule then. Or upgrade the limit. Maybe also remove the useless sketchy stuff like the not even all the crafting stations bundle, vamp/ww cure, etc.

Ezhh

Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates should return at least once every six months.

Some things come up so rarely that it's past a joke. I've been wanting the Illambris weapon style for years. The last time it came up was for all of three days and I was travelling with no way to log in. Now, knowing it might not come up again for a couple years, I've given up and the character I wanted it for is perfectly fine with other things.

For me fomo doesn't really do anything. The current approach just means there's things I'd love to buy that I find alternatives for instead and end up never spending money on.

Cosmo_Nova

Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates should return at least once every six months.

Thysbe wrote: »

Your suggestions are desirable, no question, but what I see as the most likely solution to this is not just 1 recurring crown crate but 2. This would still have the desired FOMO effect but counters the ever increasing time gap between crown crates beeing on sale.

Yeah, I'd be more than happy with just doubling up on crate returns too. It's a very tough balance between 'what feels good' and 'what sells well' when it comes to making this kind of suggestion. I don't want to be that unconstructive guy that just asks for stuff because I want it, lol. But it's enough of a pain point that I at least wanted to start a discussion on it.

Grizzbeorn

Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates should return at least once every six months.

I have seen the Gloam Wolf Mount available ONE time since 2018, and that was close to two years ago.
It was a "Gem Exclusive," and because I didn't have the 400 or 600 gems saved up at that time, I couldn't get it.
I have been waiting since that time for it to return, but of course, because of how video game marketing people choose to operate (it's ALL of them, not just ZOS), all I can do is choke on frustration.

Erickson9610

I don't care/don't use the Crown Store

There is literally nothing I'm waiting for in the Crown Store. I keep asking ZOS to add things that I'd want to buy from the Crown Store, but they haven't added any of it yet. As such, I don't really care what returns or when, because it's all useless to me.

DenverRalphy

The current availability of Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates is fine.

I like it the way it is.

I like being able to obtain prizes that not everybody else will have for a good length of time. The envy I feel for those who have items that I don't is what makes those I do have seem so precious to me. Those obnoxious players who like to park their mounts right next to major wayshrines to show off their prize? That's their moment. Let them enjoy it. No need to cheapen or water it down for them.

Anyhoo. That's my opinion.

VoxAdActa

Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates should return at least once every six months.

The only thing from my collection on Xbox that I truly missed when going to PC was the Taseci style. I was saving 5000 crowns for it (because I forgot how much it cost, and felt 5000 was safe) for three years. It appeared in the store at random times, for a day or three at a time, and I kept missing it. I either wasn't logged in on those days for whatever reason, or I was logged in but it wasn't on the little "featured" window that pops up when you first enter the game. So I'd find out it was JUST there and I missed it because I went three days without engaging with the crown store screen.

I had to start going into the crown store interface and specifically searching for it every day, which I knew I'd have to keep up like a religious ritual for anywhere from a couple weeks to a year or more. It was maddening, and I only managed to do that for about two weeks.

By pure luck and happenstance, I finally got the style this year.

I wouldn't care how often crown store things came back if they came back on a consistent schedule. If I knew "Oh, the Taseci style hits the store in [say] July, so I just have to put it on my calendar," I would be much less annoyed.

Soarora

Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates should return at least once per year.

DenverRalphy wrote: »

I like it the way it is.

I like being able to obtain prizes that not everybody else will have for a good length of time. The envy I feel for those who have items that I don't is what makes those I do have seem so precious to me. Those obnoxious players who like to park their mounts right next to major wayshrines to show off their prize? That's their moment. Let them enjoy it. No need to cheapen or water it down for them.

Anyhoo. That's my opinion.

I think there’s two different kinds of crown store buyers: people like you who buy for the exclusivity, and people like me who buy for the roleplay. I think most people don’t care what mount you have considering it’s just something you bought, but I have seen the rare mount showoff battle so…

ssewallb14_ESO

Other

It's FOMO so you'll impulse buy. Working as intended.

I would personally buy more crown store stuff without this monetization method, but it's most certainly more profitable to target impulsive whales than players with some combination of less disposable income and/or more self control. If this were not the case, it would not be an industry wide standard at this point.

ZOS_Icy

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Destai

Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates should return at least once every six months.

There's simply too much rotation. It's hard to get excited about something knowing that it may cost me getting something else in the future. Looking at the map, most houses outside of base game are unavailable. There's tons of time-gated mounts and skins, and no way to get them in-game. IMO most items should be permanently available in the game, with the crown store simply being sales.

JemadarofCaerSalis

Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates should return at least once per year.

Personally I would be fine with it being just once a year, though my preference is for it to be more often.

I also, and I realize this is probably not that popular, be okay with these types of items coming back in a different way, such as through Golden Pursuits, or something like that.

The caveat would be that there would likely be a time limit of when they would return. IE something like a crown exclusive item would be introduced, then return twice to the store, then it would be added as a reward for some in game action.

That would encourage people who are impatient or just really want it to get it now, while still allowing the chance for others to obtain it (also, as a note, it doesn't have to be Golden Pursuits. that is just one way I could think of). It would be at least a year, more likely two or more, before the items stopped being crown exclusive.

tomofhyrule

I really think the Crown Store offerrings leave a lot to be desired.

First: why can't the store actually complete collections? We've has so many times that the store brings out things that are parts of collections (like the Undaunted Arms packs, or the Daedric Weapon artifacts), and then they're just left unfinished for years. The biggest example here is Sanguine's Rose, which is the only one of the 17 Daedric artifact styles that never released, and since they're always offerred on the respective Prince's Summoning day, that means we need to wait all the way until next February for the chance it'll come back. Also, regarding the Arms packs, we're still missing Stone Husk from a 2020 set of dungeons. We had the Blind release very soon after those dungeons released (even before Bedlam Veil started dropping the motifs), and Roksa's coming at the end of this month from a two year-old dungeon pack, but we still have the packs from Stone Garden (2020), Dread Cellar (2021), Earthen Root Enclave (2022), Scrivener's Hall (2023), and Oathsworn Pit (2024) that never released. Why?!

Second: please stop directing everything new into Crates. We used to get new stuff pop by every so often, but not invariably everything new is in Crates. I guess it's good that we can get stuff with Endeavors, but having some stuff that's not going into Crates would be nice.

Third: things rotate way too slow. With the number of Crates (and Arms Packs) we have, we really should never have a time when there is not an old one on offer. We should not have to wait two (or three or four) years for something to rotate back into the store. The other side of this coin is that the standard offerrings change so slowly that it's not even worth it to look in the store anymore. Why bother window shopping if it's always the same things in there?

coop500

Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates should return at least once per year.

This feels fair. A year is still a long time, so the FOMO is still around. But I shouldn't have to wait possibly years, or never, just for a dang hairstyle.

peacenote

Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates should return at least once every six months.

So I use the Crown Store, but don't really care about this much, such that I voted the most frequent timing because I don't see any downside to it. Six months is still a long time to wait for something!

In my opinion, there are SO MANY years of cosmetics that I do not notice or care what is "rare" and often don't remember how I ended up with something. Sure, I have a few memorable items but generally, while I'll notice if someone has put a nice look together, I won't think "oh, wow, that person has the rare mount from the Shining Rainbow Castle Crown Crate Season" or whatever. Maybe some people notice if you're sporting something rare but they're all just cosmetics to me at this point. If they come around more often I won't notice nor will it make me regret buying something.

Amottica

The current availability of Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates is fine.

Soarora wrote: »

The crown store fomo doesn’t make sense, it just stops people from buying things they want to buy because they weren’t around when things first released. My guess is there’s a limit to the crown store, but just rotate things on a predictable schedule then. Or upgrade the limit. Maybe also remove the useless sketchy stuff like the not even all the crafting stations bundle, vamp/ww cure, etc.

But it also gets people to buy it quickly; in some cases, those people will have to pay full price for the required crowns. That is the driving force behind the LTOs.

Not taking a side on the LTOs. Just noting why they happen.

AScarlato

Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates should return at least once per year.

DenverRalphy wrote: »

I like it the way it is.

I like being able to obtain prizes that not everybody else will have for a good length of time. The envy I feel for those who have items that I don't is what makes those I do have seem so precious to me. Those obnoxious players who like to park their mounts right next to major wayshrines to show off their prize? That's their moment. Let them enjoy it. No need to cheapen or water it down for them.

Anyhoo. That's my opinion.

These aren't "prizes", these are paid digital items. These aren't rare pieces of art, actual collectors items with value, or anything earned. "I happened to be online to buy something in the store" = having a moment? I guess I don't understand this mindset at all.

----

I think every Black Friday they should bring back EVERYTHING and put it on sale, all at once. At least then we know we'd have one time a year where we can have access to everything.

They can continue to do ad-hoc returns as we have them now, but I'd love to have a time when I know I can buy anything I want, at least once a year.

They must really make a ton of money off FOMO from things people don't have much time to think about buying. I know I FOMO"d quite a bit in this game. But in the end I just feel resentment towards this model, and it otherwise shouldn't be so hard to ask to give a company money for digital cosmetics and overall pointless things.

Tyrobag

Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates should return at least once every six months.

Or they could just stop the FoMO altogether and keep all items accessible at all times, you know like reasonable people would when they have an infinite supply of an item others want to give them money for.

katanagirl1

Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates should return at least once per year.

I might not pay close enough attention, but it seems like some crates come up way more often than others. I waited forever for the Baandari crates to come back to get my mount, I think it was 2 1/2 years or more. Some of the more recent ones seem to be in there for a long time, get switched out, then are back again in a very short time.

Soarora

Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates should return at least once per year.

Amottica wrote: »

Soarora wrote: »

The crown store fomo doesn’t make sense, it just stops people from buying things they want to buy because they weren’t around when things first released. My guess is there’s a limit to the crown store, but just rotate things on a predictable schedule then. Or upgrade the limit. Maybe also remove the useless sketchy stuff like the not even all the crafting stations bundle, vamp/ww cure, etc.

But it also gets people to buy it quickly; in some cases, those people will have to pay full price for the required crowns. That is the driving force behind the LTOs.

Not taking a side on the LTOs. Just noting why they happen.

True, but at least personally that’s only ever happened once to me that I can recall and it was with Ezabi because I didn’t realize she was a permanent member of the crown store haha.

DenverRalphy

The current availability of Crown Store exclusives/Crown Crates is fine.

AScarlato wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

I like it the way it is.

I like being able to obtain prizes that not everybody else will have for a good length of time. The envy I feel for those who have items that I don't is what makes those I do have seem so precious to me. Those obnoxious players who like to park their mounts right next to major wayshrines to show off their prize? That's their moment. Let them enjoy it. No need to cheapen or water it down for them.

Anyhoo. That's my opinion.

These aren't "prizes", these are paid digital items. These aren't rare pieces of art, actual collectors items with value, or anything earned. "I happened to be online to buy something in the store" = having a moment? I guess I don't understand this mindset at all.

Sure they are. The crown store is akin to the prize counter at Chuck-E-Cheese, or many an arcade around the world. You play, you earn tickets, and you redeem those tickets for prizes at the counter. Sometimes you've gotta save your tickets to accumulate more over time to eventually purchase a bigger prize. Same in ESO, except that instead of tickets it's Seals of Endeavor.

EvilGoatKing

Other

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