Please excuse the initial whine it develops into something better as you read, lol.
Cash Shops in my opinion are the bane of all MMOs and I wish they never even became an idea.
They could have created an achievement and/or quest to unlock mounts or pets instead of being placed straight into the crown store. There are some really unique looking mounts/pets that almost scream for an in-game quest to explain how you came to own one; those little Daedra pets and the new Frost Mare mount are the ones that come to mind.
Excluding the standard stable horses in-game, I was surprised to find that there are almost no other ways to obtain mounts in-game and the same can be said for pets. I know the crown store can support the development of the game but it's the lack of imagination in implementing such things that disappoints me.
What really got me to post this was when I saw how well done some of these mounts and pets are and I simply saw missed potential, I'd really like this to be at least a future consideration.
For example
We're all aware of those random encounters in-game; be it a traveler getting attacked by bandits, two mages dueling or a Dark Fissure. With this random encounter system in place, we could expand on it by adding more rare encounters based in specific areas, times of day etc. You get the picture.
Now I'll use the Frost Mare mount as an example of a scenario of how a rare encounter could work. Let's say the encounter is specific to Eastmarch and during the day involves you having to either save the horse from various enemies or maybe in the case of night, chase it down until you can click on it or w/e. Having successfully completed either of these tasks during the encounter you're awarded with an achievement and the mount is unlocked. It sounds like I'm making this relatively easy but remember that I wanted these to be
rare encounters, something rare enough that when you see it you'll be shocked and stop everything you're doing in-game.
What I said above was just one scenario and we could have many more unique to certain mounts/pets. This could be something that also makes the open world that much more exciting.
From what I remember hearing about what the Crown Stores purpose is that it's for convenience items for people that don't have time for this and that etc. With that being said if you were to implement what I have suggested for certain unique looking mounts and pets being these rare encounters in-game but still having the option to buy them as a "convenience" then the Crown Store will still have it's worth for these items.
And so you can /lurk:
@ZOS_RichLambert
Thanks for reading!