Crown store is weak

SimbaLion · July 2015

I want to see this game be a long time success, and so I feel it's worth saying that the crown store is weeeaaaak.

But you probably know that by now.

I think you guys are struggling to come up with ideas because the Elder Scrolls franchise is all serious business and so you cant just sell a bunch of ridiculous mounts or pets like WoW gets away with.

You COULD sell cool mounts that aren't different colored horses.. such as horses with armor and such. What about flying carpets? or a troll mount? Dragon mounts would be an obvious and awesome addition.

If you had player homes you could sell decorative items in the crown store, but you'll need a way to invite other players to your home to show it off or it wouldn't be worthwhile.

Pets are cool and you should make lots of pets. People love customizability and a pet offers a little bit of unique flair to a character.

Whatever you do, please do not sell gear in the crown store.

JamilaRaj · July 2015

SimbaLion wrote: »

I want to see this game be a long time success, and so I feel it's worth saying that the crown store is weeeaaaak.

But you probably know that by now.

I think you guys are struggling to come up with ideas because the Elder Scrolls franchise is all serious business and so you cant just sell a bunch of ridiculous mounts or pets like WoW gets away with.

Right, WoW has subscriptions to live off. I do not want to underestimate local whale population, but it is unlikely ESO will be able to live off ridiculous mounts alone.

SimbaLion wrote: »

]You COULD sell cool mounts that aren't different colored horses.. such as horses with armor and such. What about flying carpets? or a troll mount?

Existing mounts are troll enough imo.

SimbaLion wrote: »

Dragon mounts would be an obvious and awesome addition.

If you had player homes you could sell decorative items in the crown store, but you'll need a way to invite other players to your home to show it off or it wouldn't be worthwhile.

Pets are cool and you should make lots of pets. People love customizability and a pet offers a little bit of unique flair to a character.

Whatever you do, please do not sell gear in the crown store.

Hm, yes, it is a bit too early for gear in the cash shop. Adding it would be controversial. Youtubers could start threads. Some could even accuse ZOS of making the game P2W more than it already is!!!
But the Monetization Department need to earn their salaries. Perhaps they could recycle their XP/CP scroll approach, which is very inconspicuous way to sell levels or CPs for dollars, so instead of selling gear outright they could start selling mats for crafting and improving it. Since it would be disassembled gear moreover sold under category "mats", not "gear", players would not notice they are in fact selling gear.

Arrille · July 2015

Blame it on Molag Bal!

Appleblade · July 2015

Plenty of costume ideas out there that are in lore. I remember enchanting some of the fancy outfits from Shivering Isles with shield spells and using them as armor.

Kurimugann · July 2015

Whatever you do, please do not sell gear in the crown store.

For a moment I read "guar" and I was getting a tiny bit upset. I'd like to see more Guar variety even other than recolors.

Remorce78 · July 2015

JamilaRaj wrote: »

Hm, yes, it is a bit too early for gear in the cash shop. Adding it would be controversial. Youtubers could start threads. Some could even accuse ZOS of making the game P2W more than it already is!!!

Can you tell me how this game is P2W? nothing in the crown store benefits players in power ingame. They are all cosmetic as far as I can tell. The only thing I can even possibly see is the rings of mara and the eso+ that each give 10% increase of xp to the player. Thats not giving you benefits above other players of the same level as you. It just speeds up the growth rate of the character.

But the Monetization Department need to earn their salaries. Perhaps they could recycle their XP/CP scroll approach, which is very inconspicuous way to sell levels or CPs for dollars, so instead of selling gear outright they could start selling mats for crafting and improving it. Since it would be disassembled gear moreover sold under category "mats", not "gear", players would not notice they are in fact selling gear.

On an interview that I read they stated they wouldnt be selling gear in the crown store as EVERYTHING in the crown store is basically cosmetic. Sure you can spend coins ingame to reset your points and modifications which to me negates the stuff in the crown store to do the same as again it just allows people to spend money in exchange for time.

spending money in exchange of time is defo not P2W. how else do you see P2W?

JamilaRaj · July 2015

Remorce78 wrote: »

JamilaRaj wrote: »

Hm, yes, it is a bit too early for gear in the cash shop. Adding it would be controversial. Youtubers could start threads. Some could even accuse ZOS of making the game P2W more than it already is!!!

Can you tell me how this game is P2W?

I did not say the game is P2W. I said youtubers could have said. But....conicidentally, I too would say it is P2W!!!
And, since I kina like to debate P2W, thank you for your question

Remorce78 wrote: »

nothing in the crown store benefits players in power ingame. They are all cosmetic as far as I can tell. The only thing I can even possibly see is the rings of mara and the eso+ that each give 10% increase of xp to the player. Thats not giving you benefits above other players of the same level as you. It just speeds up the growth rate of the character.

But the point is that, say, two players, of which one has exp bonus, one has not, otherwise all things equal, will not have the same level. The one on steroids will have higher level, more CPs, better stats; he will have an advantage over the other he paid for. He will have P2W.

Aside from ring of Mara and ESO+ (which is not just exp bonus), there are following P2W elements:
- XP/CP boosters in the crown store adding astounding 50% bonus (not on consoles, yet)
- various buffs (food, drinks, potions). Again, with all other things equal, people spending money will have better stats, either because they will have these buffs while the others will not, or will spend the time the others will waste on making their own buffs in-game on getting another advantage. Can be also gold-for-cash scheme, see futher bellow.
- riding lessons, which are remarkable in that unlike most of the rest of P2W elements, no amount of time, however insane, would a non-paying player put into the game, he could not ever improve his riding stats at that rate.
- mounts, which among other things, are gold-for-cash scheme, as are respecs, repair kits or soul gems. Again, all things equal, people participating in one or more of these schemes will have more gold. Gold can be used to purchase powerfu items. Powerful items will improve stats. Stats will grant an dvantage over those without these items. Therefore, it is basically just another form of paid for advantage, or P2W.
- as for cosmetics (overlaps with mounts and note that motfis may also be instance of gold-for-cash scheme), for quite a few players (achievers by Bartlet's nomenclature) this kind of items are genuine objectives, as they put as much emphasis on looks as the others would put on plain power a piece of gear would grant them. So arguably it is P2W on par with selling levels or gear in the crown store. Also note that these tend to be unavailable in-game, so no insane amount of grinding will help.

I might have missed something and will not even start on the IC.

Remorce78 wrote: »

But the Monetization Department need to earn their salaries. Perhaps they could recycle their XP/CP scroll approach, which is very inconspicuous way to sell levels or CPs for dollars, so instead of selling gear outright they could start selling mats for crafting and improving it. Since it would be disassembled gear moreover sold under category "mats", not "gear", players would not notice they are in fact selling gear.

On an interview that I read they stated they wouldnt be selling gear in the crown store as EVERYTHING in the crown store is basically cosmetic. Sure you can spend coins ingame to reset your points and modifications which to me negates the stuff in the crown store to do the same as again it just allows people to spend money in exchange for time.

spending money in exchange of time is defo not P2W. how else do you see P2W?

I merely pointed out how they could sell gear without causing too much of a backlash.
May I ask you for a link to where they vowed not to sell gear? It might be well worth of archiving for the day they will sell gear.

Elsonso · July 2015

SimbaLion wrote: »

I want to see this game be a long time success, and so I feel it's worth saying that the crown store is weeeaaaak.

But you probably know that by now.

I think you guys are struggling to come up with ideas because the Elder Scrolls franchise is all serious business and so you cant just sell a bunch of ridiculous mounts or pets like WoW gets away with.

You COULD sell cool mounts that aren't different colored horses.. such as horses with armor and such. What about flying carpets? or a troll mount? Dragon mounts would be an obvious and awesome addition.

If you had player homes you could sell decorative items in the crown store, but you'll need a way to invite other players to your home to show it off or it wouldn't be worthwhile.

Pets are cool and you should make lots of pets. People love customizability and a pet offers a little bit of unique flair to a character.

Whatever you do, please do not sell gear in the crown store.

There is a thread that talks about suggestions for the crown store.

A lot of players theorize about the financials and why they do this or that with subscriptions and store items. People get genuinely worried, or maybe gleeful, over the thought of ZeniMax having financial difficulties.

Only ZeniMax knows what the financials are for the game, and only ZeniMax know whether this is acceptable. They know how game sales, ESO Plus subscriptions, and Crown purchases add to the revenue stream. They have people who watch this, just as they have people who develop for the game.

Suggest what you will in the forum discussion I linked above, but I would not be too concerned about financials and whether or not ESO Plus or Crown sales are floating the ZeniMax boat. If ZeniMax needs to make changes to address problems with financials, they will make changes. They will know best what changes to make and when.

If you see that ZeniMax is not making changes, you might consider the possibility that they do not need to.

Pizza_Magician · July 2015

lordrichter wrote: »

There is a thread that talks about suggestions for the crown store.

A lot of players theorize about the financials and why they do this or that with subscriptions and store items. People get genuinely worried, or maybe gleeful, over the thought of ZeniMax having financial difficulties.

Only ZeniMax knows what the financials are for the game, and only ZeniMax know whether this is acceptable. They know how game sales, ESO Plus subscriptions, and Crown purchases add to the revenue stream. They have people who watch this, just as they have people who develop for the game.

Suggest what you will in the forum discussion I linked above, but I would not be too concerned about financials and whether or not ESO Plus or Crown sales are floating the ZeniMax boat. If ZeniMax needs to make changes to address problems with financials, they will make changes. They will know best what changes to make and when.

If you see that ZeniMax is not making changes, you might consider the possibility that they do not need to.

Your post is predicated on the assumption that people generally know the effects their actions will have upon the future, this is most certainly not the case.

One thing is for sure, the crown store could do with about twenty more funny hats.

Elsonso · July 2015

Pizza_Magician wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

There is a thread that talks about suggestions for the crown store.

A lot of players theorize about the financials and why they do this or that with subscriptions and store items. People get genuinely worried, or maybe gleeful, over the thought of ZeniMax having financial difficulties.

Only ZeniMax knows what the financials are for the game, and only ZeniMax know whether this is acceptable. They know how game sales, ESO Plus subscriptions, and Crown purchases add to the revenue stream. They have people who watch this, just as they have people who develop for the game.

Suggest what you will in the forum discussion I linked above, but I would not be too concerned about financials and whether or not ESO Plus or Crown sales are floating the ZeniMax boat. If ZeniMax needs to make changes to address problems with financials, they will make changes. They will know best what changes to make and when.

If you see that ZeniMax is not making changes, you might consider the possibility that they do not need to.

Your post is predicated on the assumption that people generally know the effects their actions will have upon the future, this is most certainly not the case.

One thing is for sure, the crown store could do with about twenty more funny hats.

You would never know that people in the forum cannot predict the future from reading the forums.

There may actually be 20 more funny hats in the store. I have "Hide Helmet" set to ON so I probably do not see them.

justinbarrett · July 2015

it is weak and I will say it again it should sell the following items in my opinion..

in no particular order.

1) additional bank slots

2) additional character slots

3) armor dyes

4) appearance changing solution...like character creation screen with the race, sex, class and faction disabled

5) additional hair styles and colors

6) breast physics

couldn't help myself

HotToddy · July 2015

I agree - the store is fairly lackluster at times (the occasional 'rare' mount has been the only items that I've spent my crown items on).

Here's my wish list for what I'd like to see changed or added to the store:

1) Bank slots - this one is a BIG want in my world - I hate that most of my in-game money is only ever spent on more bank slots.

2) Inventory Slots - I'm at my maximum for backpack slots (if you don't count what I can purchase one slot at a time for my mount). I would REALLY love this as an option in order to carry more - the micro management of resources for my 'jack of all trades' character really takes the fun out of playing.

3) Costumes I can DYE - this is a must as well. First of all, the costumes that are available for purchase are just 'ok'. If I could at least dye them my opinion would go from 'ok' to 'good' or at a bare minimum, possibly worth purchasing. As they stand now (for me that is) they are a waste of space on the store.

4) Better mount selection - Granted, this has truly been the only item of note that I've bothered purchasing (I've grabbed three mounts at this point - the frost, nightmare, and black horse). Skinning horses is just 'ok', but I do agree with many of the others in that it would be nice to see some more unique mounts as well (lions, tigers, and bears - oh my!).

5) Better pet selection - I've only grabbed up one additional pet (the Senche Tiger), but other than that reskinning dogs isn't really doing it for me and I'm not sure when in MMO culture it became acceptable to only have vanity pets and not functioning pets. Pets that store stuff, pets that collect resources, pets that can fight along side you - these would all be really great additions to the store and mean more than just something cosmetic.

6) Team up member - it would be really nice for a lot of us solo players if we could create a character that could fight along side us. Someone fully customizable as if we were rolling a new character. They could have their own inventory, dyable armor, inventory, and skill tree.

7) HOUSING - Granted, I know this is a BIG wish (let alone complicated request) but yes, the thing a lot of us want (apart from a 'thieves' and 'dark brotherhood' tree). Unique plots would most likely serve best (unless a new area like the upcoming Imperial City, yet as vast as Cyrodill could be created in which we could 'choose' our plot of land - much like many MMO's of yore used to allow). Again, this is a most complicated and lofty wish to put on the list (and one that any of us could get into incredible debate and detail over), but I couldn't help adding it.

Other than that most of the other items (respecs, recipes, etc) are fine as is (with exception to the cost of mount skills - who calculated those ridiculous prices?). Granted the store hasn't been up for more than a few months so I am hoping for some additional improvements in the future.

JamilaRaj · July 2015

HotToddy wrote: »

I7) HOUSING - Granted, I know this is a BIG wish...

I hope there will be some slums too, in which the lesser people will be allowed to survive in case they could not afford housing from the crown store.

Wolfshead · July 2015

Well again if the add a "barbershop" into the game the easy start sell new hairstyles, tattoo, beard, race hairstyles, change your look, change race and so on which people have been ask for as long as i reminder.

Playerhouses have also been ask for as long as i reminder but we have not hear nothing more then the are working on it.

I mean this 2 thing i just wrote about is at least 2 thing in SWTOR that i know many people are buy in that game and seeing that SWTOR have same payment choose the ESO i dont see why ZoS cant add this 2 feature soon then later.

mystercee · July 2015

Mostly I like that options are limited in the Crown Store. So tired of playing games where "he with the most money wins". My one major peeve is the vanity pets. If I'm going to spend hard earned RL dollars, that pet better do something more than just "follow" me.

Definitely keen on the suggestion on being able to hire a mercenary or similar to aid in soloing the game.

Kurimugann · July 2015

Maybe Mercenary should be like in Skyrim. You come across some guy/girl at the bar. they go "If you pay me, I'll be your blade and your shield" or something like that, depending on the class/race/build and you can hire them to follow you around. It really does not have to be Crown exclusive. As a Sorc I can summon my own "party" or sort, but my other toons struggle so much on their own.

That or add other skill branches for other classes to summon allies (with a cap to prevent Sorcs to have an army on their own).

justinbarrett · July 2015

Kurimugann wrote: »

Maybe Mercenary should be like in Skyrim. You come across some guy/girl at the bar. they go "If you pay me, I'll be your blade and your shield" or something like that, depending on the class/race/build and you can hire them to follow you around. It really does not have to be Crown exclusive. As a Sorc I can summon my own "party" or sort, but my other toons struggle so much on their own.

That or add other skill branches for other classes to summon allies (with a cap to prevent Sorcs to have an army on their own).

That is a nice idea. I still feel like those types of options lean on the pay to win side a bit, only because it would, in fact, tilt the balance to players with companions....but no more so than experience scrolls...the difference I see with the scrolls is your likelihood of survival or accomplishing a specific task is unchanged.
bank space, dyes, and character slots...I have seen several times now. along with hair tatoos etc...I also really like the dying of costumes idea.

eventide03b14a_ESO · July 2015

SimbaLion wrote: »

I want to see this game be a long time success, and so I feel it's worth saying that the crown store is weeeaaaak.

But you probably know that by now.

I think you guys are struggling to come up with ideas because the Elder Scrolls franchise is all serious business and so you cant just sell a bunch of ridiculous mounts or pets like WoW gets away with.

You COULD sell cool mounts that aren't different colored horses.. such as horses with armor and such. What about flying carpets?

NO. No flying carpets.

or a troll mount? Dragon mounts would be an obvious and awesome addition.

That doesn't fit the lore, dragons don't exist during this time period.

If you had player homes you could sell decorative items in the crown store, but you'll need a way to invite other players to your home to show it off or it wouldn't be worthwhile.

Pets are cool and you should make lots of pets. People love customizability and a pet offers a little bit of unique flair to a character.

Whatever you do, please do not sell gear in the crown store.

HotToddy · July 2015

I'm in agreement with the idea that 'pay to win' is a bad idea (always is). I'm more of a 'pay to enhance gameplay' player.

I like 'useful' items like bank storage, character customization, functional pets, weapon and armor customization (cosmetic - crafting their characteristics should be earned as it is now in-game), better mount variants, mercenary hirelings, and of course - the ever elusive fully customizable, upgradeable, and functional housing plots.

Even if some of these 'enhancements' gave you optional missions first. I remember back in the Oblivion days when someone came up with a mod to take your existing mount to a specific spot, high in the mountains. Once there you would sacrifice your mount at an altar to create your 'spectral mount'. It was more of a mission of exploration (finding the location of the altar), but a fun twist other than just having something added to your inventory.

Maybe you could take an existing vanity pet to any number of trainers (depending on the pet) to train it for more 'functionality'. Maybe your monkey vanity pet could be trained to help pickpocket people for you (ala the Beast Master with his ferrets). Maybe your dog companion could be trained to run a few things into town to the bank for you or even carry some medical supplies for you incase of emergency (like a St. Bernard). Maybe your Sench Tiger could be trained to eat your enemies (after playing with them a bit first

. Maybe your kitty cat could be trained to help you find those tricky 'rare' fish so you could get the ever elusive 'fishing' badge. These wouldn't necessarily be required things you would need to do with your pet, but optional for those who wanted to take the time to make something that it's purely cosmetic into something useful (form and function are a nice alchemy when done right!).

KiraTsukasa · July 2015

eventide03b14a_ESO wrote: »

That doesn't fit the lore, dragons don't exist during this time period.

Hate to break it to you, but ESO is a side game that exists outside of the lore of the main games. So saying we can't have whatever "because lore" is a poor argument.

VSorceress · July 2015

I would like for them to start selling dyes in the store. Its taking me way to long to earn colors.

marco.cuevas.ventob14_ESO · July 2015

Here are just some of my ideas for the Crown Store some
have already been stated but I will state them again because
in reality if you guys want to make money then put these things
in the crown store..

More mounts
More costumes
reviving shards
And if you guys added housing who knows what you can put in there pretty much anything
housing related.

and yes DYES geez comeon its just color big deal....

Laplace · July 2015

I can't believe they aren't offering new hair styles and colors/makeup/tattoos/jewelry, and a barber shop to go with it.

I'd have though that would be the most obvious choice for a crown shop that is trying to steer clear of outright pay-to-win or breaking lore.