Question to ZOS regarding Crown Crates

Edgemoor · September 2016

There's a lot of exclusive items that many would like in the crown crates. Is there any plans to offer these items as direct sales on the Crown Store at some point in the future?

Magicka_DK · September 2016

Nice joke
They're called exclusive for a reason. Sorry

Edgemoor · September 2016

Magicka_DK wrote: »

Nice joke
They're called exclusive for a reason. Sorry

True, but I asked because another game has box exclusives, but from time to time offers some items as direct sales.

JimT722 · September 2016

This would be nice but it will never happen. They want to leave you with 2 options.

1. Buy crates until you get the items you want. Apex would have a 1.5% chance to be the one you want based on if they double current drop rate on pts. Might be wrong on this but probably not.
2. Hope you get enough gems. Low conversion rate especially if you don't have a lot of collectables.
Either way it may be likely you would need to open nearly a 100 crates. Great system.

People will do it though. I hope people won't but it's proven its effectiveness in other games.

ZOS is determined to go forward. Silence on most issues seems to be their policy. I am sure your suggestion will never happen as it defeats the purpose of the crates.

nimander99 · September 2016

Remember the first announcement was "Exclusive Mounts only" Mr. Firor said in Germany. Well that turned out to be not the whole truth...

JimT722 · September 2016

nimander99 wrote: »

Remember the first announcement was "Exclusive Mounts only" Mr. Firor said in Germany. Well that turned out to be not the whole truth...

He said exclusive themed mounts. He later stated he should have said and other items. Unfortunate knowing that means practically anything could end up in there.

Acrolas · September 2016

I found the team's dignity.

Wait.

This is not a crown crate. This is a Dumpster.

Edgemoor · September 2016

JimT722 wrote: »

nimander99 wrote: »

Remember the first announcement was "Exclusive Mounts only" Mr. Firor said in Germany. Well that turned out to be not the whole truth...

He said exclusive themed mounts. He later stated he should have said and other items. Unfortunate knowing that means practically anything could end up in there.

But if they had an untapped market for direct sales, then why not offer select items after the crown crate has been replaced by a newer one ....

JimT722 · September 2016

Edgemoor wrote: »

JimT722 wrote: »

nimander99 wrote: »

Remember the first announcement was "Exclusive Mounts only" Mr. Firor said in Germany. Well that turned out to be not the whole truth...

He said exclusive themed mounts. He later stated he should have said and other items. Unfortunate knowing that means practically anything could end up in there.

But if they had an untapped market for direct sales, then why not offer select items after the crown crate has been replaced by a newer one ....

Because if you can wait until next season you won't spend $400 on a mount. It's wrong but there you have it.

elvenmad · September 2016

Edgemoor wrote: »

JimT722 wrote: »

nimander99 wrote: »

Remember the first announcement was "Exclusive Mounts only" Mr. Firor said in Germany. Well that turned out to be not the whole truth...

He said exclusive themed mounts. He later stated he should have said and other items. Unfortunate knowing that means practically anything could end up in there.

But if they had an untapped market for direct sales, then why not offer select items after the crown crate has been replaced by a newer one ....

Because people would not buy crates they would simply wait for their current contents to rotate then buy what they want directly which is the complete opposite of what the Crates were designed for.

The crates are designed to offer certain rare items as poss drops and to force players to gamble with a 'chance' to get them spending what could be infinite amounts of crowns only to still not get the item..............simply put it is just a very easy, low maintenance huge influx of cash for the publishers, and there is only one winner ZoS

Coatmagic · September 2016

That wizards hat will be mine! Here, take my life savings ZoS

Edgemoor · September 2016

elvenmad wrote: »

Edgemoor wrote: »

JimT722 wrote: »

nimander99 wrote: »

Remember the first announcement was "Exclusive Mounts only" Mr. Firor said in Germany. Well that turned out to be not the whole truth...

He said exclusive themed mounts. He later stated he should have said and other items. Unfortunate knowing that means practically anything could end up in there.

But if they had an untapped market for direct sales, then why not offer select items after the crown crate has been replaced by a newer one ....

Because people would not buy crates they would simply wait for their current contents to rotate then buy what they want directly which is the complete opposite of what the Crates were designed for.

The crates are designed to offer certain rare items as poss drops and to force players to gamble with a 'chance' to get them spending what could be infinite amounts of crowns only to still not get the item..............simply put it is just a very easy, low maintenance huge influx of cash for the publishers, and there is only one winner ZoS

I know as with all gambling the only winner is the game owner, and everyone else is a looser more often than not :'(

But if they put exclusives into the this batch of crates, which is called the storm atranoch I think. Do they then fill up the next crate batch with same? At some point they will have to remove the exclusives items from previous batches, and it will be the new batch that is the attraction.

I mean the amount of folk that don't want to wait and will gladly pay for stuff to be first is outragous, but equally there is a whole bunch of players that won't buy crates period.

So would it not make sense a year after they release the crates to start selling some of the exclusives as direct sales?

I get your point though all too well.

Rosveen · September 2016

JimT722 wrote: »

nimander99 wrote: »

Remember the first announcement was "Exclusive Mounts only" Mr. Firor said in Germany. Well that turned out to be not the whole truth...

He said exclusive themed mounts. He later stated he should have said and other items. Unfortunate knowing that means practically anything could end up in there.

Isn't that just what he said referring to his earlier answer in the Reddit AMA, not Germany? Or did he say it on another occasion too?

JimT722 · September 2016

Rosveen wrote: »

JimT722 wrote: »

nimander99 wrote: »

Remember the first announcement was "Exclusive Mounts only" Mr. Firor said in Germany. Well that turned out to be not the whole truth...

He said exclusive themed mounts. He later stated he should have said and other items. Unfortunate knowing that means practically anything could end up in there.

Isn't that just what he said referring to his earlier answer in the Reddit AMA, not Germany? Or did he say it on another occasion too?

I think I had seen it on the official discussion copied from possibly redit q/a

Edgemoor · September 2016

JimT722 wrote: »

Rosveen wrote: »

JimT722 wrote: »

nimander99 wrote: »

Remember the first announcement was "Exclusive Mounts only" Mr. Firor said in Germany. Well that turned out to be not the whole truth...

He said exclusive themed mounts. He later stated he should have said and other items. Unfortunate knowing that means practically anything could end up in there.

Isn't that just what he said referring to his earlier answer in the Reddit AMA, not Germany? Or did he say it on another occasion too?

I think I had seen it on the official discussion copied from possibly redit q/a

Be interesting to see the wording of it

JKorr · September 2016

Coatmagic wrote: »

That wizards hat will be mine! Here, take my life savings ZoS

You won't have to worry about the hat. Really.

I've been messing around with the crates on pts. They give you 5500 crowns a day. I've bought all the 400 crown crates you can for the 5500 they give you for 4 days.

I now have every hat, some 4 times over. Riding skill scrolls I don't need on the live game, experience scrolls/potions I don't need or want on the live game, every costume I don't like and didn't buy on live, horns and frills for the argonian characters I don't have and will never make, Out of all the crates, I got one of the atronach mounts that I didn't want. Haven't seen the two I do want and would pay for outright. Ended up with 117 gems for duplicate costume/non-consumable items like hats and argonian frills. Let's see....4 days, 5500 crowns a day....22,000 crowns. Got craploads of items I don't want and won't use, and can't trade in for gems to get the items I do want.

Yeah. Not going to touch these on the real game, no matter what changes they make to them. When I see someone in game with the exclusive mount, I won't be saying, "Whoa, cool mount.", I'll be saying "Gee, wonder how much that poor sap paid for that?"

JimT722 · September 2016

Edgemoor wrote: »

JimT722 wrote: »

Rosveen wrote: »

JimT722 wrote: »

nimander99 wrote: »

Remember the first announcement was "Exclusive Mounts only" Mr. Firor said in Germany. Well that turned out to be not the whole truth...

He said exclusive themed mounts. He later stated he should have said and other items. Unfortunate knowing that means practically anything could end up in there.

Isn't that just what he said referring to his earlier answer in the Reddit AMA, not Germany? Or did he say it on another occasion too?

I think I had seen it on the official discussion copied from possibly redit q/a

Be interesting to see the wording of it

Copied from redit

sunlitsonata • 1d, 1h
Thank you so much for answering.

As long as the Red Pit Wolf doesn't somehow count as a themed mount, I can sleep well at night.

11
ZOS_MattF • 1d, 1h
that should have been "special themed mounts and other items" - I'll edit my original answer to make that explicit. I don't know off the top of my head which category the Red Pit Wolf falls into, as it is a datamined item that is planned for the future.

7
Rosveen • 1d, 1h
The Red Pit Wolf is already on PTS as one of the crown crate rewards. Could you tell us if the current rewards are all exclusive to crown crates or is it just the atronach mounts, while the rest will also be sold in the regular crown store for a fixed price?

12
MissBizzCommunity Ambassador • 1d
Can you please expand on "and other items". With the cloudy answer we have concerning how to determine if an item is exclusive to crates or not, it's difficult to tell. Currently "and others" worries me that my guess of 67% exclusives vs 33% past items that we currently see on the PTS server (yes, including the red pit wolf) is correct. Can you provide what is exclusive vs what is not, or at least a ratio of how many exclusive items vs past items are to be expected in crown crates?

6
More comments (3)
More comments (2)

Edgemoor · September 2016

JKorr wrote: »

Coatmagic wrote: »

That wizards hat will be mine! Here, take my life savings ZoS

You won't have to worry about the hat. Really.

I've been messing around with the crates on pts. They give you 5500 crowns a day. I've bought all the 400 crown crates you can for the 5500 they give you for 4 days.

I now have every hat, some 4 times over. Riding skill scrolls I don't need on the live game, experience scrolls/potions I don't need or want on the live game, every costume I don't like and didn't buy on live, horns and frills for the argonian characters I don't have and will never make, Out of all the crates, I got one of the atronach mounts that I didn't want. Haven't seen the two I do want and would pay for outright. Ended up with 117 gems for duplicate costume/non-consumable items like hats and argonian frills. Let's see....4 days, 5500 crowns a day....22,000 crowns. Got craploads of items I don't want and won't use, and can't trade in for gems to get the items I do want.

Yeah. Not going to touch these on the real game, no matter what changes they make to them. When I see someone in game with the exclusive mount, I won't be saying, "Whoa, cool mount.", I'll be saying "Gee, wonder how much that poor sap paid for that?"

Basically setting the drop rate for the most desired items so low that you may as well not even bother; making it not even fun opening the packs cos you know it's going to be full of junk.

Ilmarthethief · September 2016

***, folks, I can't get why you are so bitchy about this crates? If someone wants mount or some other fluffy stuff so badly he or she would spare 500$ to get it - ok, way to go. Nobody is forced to buy it.
Until they don't add some stuff that turns the game into P2W it is fine. Game need to earn money somehow after all.

Abeille · September 2016

Ilmarthethief wrote: »

***, folks, I can't get why you are so bitchy about this crates? If someone wants mount or some other fluffy stuff so badly he or she would spare 500$ to get it - ok, way to go. Nobody is forced to buy it.
Until they don't add some stuff that turns the game into P2W it is fine. Game need to earn money somehow after all.

I am a little tired of answering these questions since the reasons the Crates are a bad news were explained so many times already, so I'll just ask you a question as to determine where you stand and how long of an explanation is needed: Do you have any kind of experience with the introduction of RNG boxes in past MMOs?

JimT722 · September 2016

Ilmarthethief wrote: »

***, folks, I can't get why you are so bitchy about this crates? If someone wants mount or some other fluffy stuff so badly he or she would spare 500$ to get it - ok, way to go. Nobody is forced to buy it.
Until they don't add some stuff that turns the game into P2W it is fine. Game need to earn money somehow after all.

Read the many arguments. When you sell cheap items that make tons of money, why make dlc's. Dlc's take massive effort. There is a market for cosmetics and those that want them shouldn't be ripped off. No good comes from rng cash grabs.

Edit. They need to make money. If they release quality products they will sell. If they can sell crap in a box for money then what we will get is boxes full of crap with the promise they might contain something desired. Dlc's? No thanks why make that just put more crap in a box. Just say it might contain an ice wolf and people will spend hundreds. Fix bugs? No need. we got we want... Tons of money

JD2013 · September 2016

Edgemoor · September 2016

JimT722 wrote: »

Ilmarthethief wrote: »

***, folks, I can't get why you are so bitchy about this crates? If someone wants mount or some other fluffy stuff so badly he or she would spare 500$ to get it - ok, way to go. Nobody is forced to buy it.
Until they don't add some stuff that turns the game into P2W it is fine. Game need to earn money somehow after all.

Read the many arguments. When you sell cheap items that make tons of money, why make dlc's. Dlc's take massive effort. There is a market for cosmetics and those that want them shouldn't be ripped off. No good comes from rng cash grabs.

Edit. They need to make money. If they release quality products they will sell. If they can sell crap in a box for money then what we will get is boxes full of crap with the promise they might contain something desired. Dlc's? No thanks why make that just put more crap in a box. Just say it might contain an ice wolf and people will spend hundreds. Fix bugs? No need. we got we want... Tons of money

And why make an outfit or mount for direct sale at 2500 crowns when you can put it in an rng box and get someone to spend 10,000 or more crowns for it?

JimT722 · September 2016

Probably more. As for the people in disagreement. I get it. You don't care about cosmetics. You just play the game. However, people see items that they really like for their characters. The role playing part of rpg. Remember, we all don't play for the same reasons. We should be able to enjoy the game without getting ripped off as well.

Edgemoor · September 2016

JimT722 wrote: »

Probably more. As for the people in disagreement. I get it. You don't care about cosmetics. You just play the game. However, people see items that they really like for their characters. The role playing part of rpg. Remember, we all don't play for the same reasons. We should be able to enjoy the game without getting ripped off as well.

Sorry I was actually trying to agree with you and support your point

Was trying to say if an outfit can be sold for an average of 10,000 crowns why even bother putting them on direct sale any more, just put it all in rng boxes. As players we'd get less choice, not more. And pay more to boot.

JimT722 · September 2016

Edgemoor wrote: »

JimT722 wrote: »

Probably more. As for the people in disagreement. I get it. You don't care about cosmetics. You just play the game. However, people see items that they really like for their characters. The role playing part of rpg. Remember, we all don't play for the same reasons. We should be able to enjoy the game without getting ripped off as well.

Sorry I was actually trying to agree with you and support your point

Was trying to say if an outfit can be sold for an average of 10,000 crowns why even bother putting them on direct sale any more, just put it all in rng boxes. As players we'd get less choice, not more. And pay more to boot.

I know you were in agreement. I was emphasizing the more part of your argument as it's likely the case. The rest of my argument was to explain why these boxes suck for people who want to collect certain items as it does affect the enjoyment of the game.

Now to further the discussion

Trying to craft or collect items that I want for my characters is what kept me playing since launch despite the bugs.

Knowing that everything going forward could be tied to an exploitive rng system for real money makes me reconsider if I want to continue. I was really looking forward to style parlor. They removed most of the stuff that was on the pts and now they are appearing in boxes. I wanted housing badly as well but I know it will likely involve the boxes. It's frustrating as I would buy these things from the store but won't even consider the crates. nothing eso has ever done made me question wether I will continue playing. Until now. It makes me question what enjoyment will be walled off by an unquantifiable price tag.

Ilmarthethief · September 2016

JimT722 wrote: »

Ilmarthethief wrote: »

***, folks, I can't get why you are so bitchy about this crates? If someone wants mount or some other fluffy stuff so badly he or she would spare 500$ to get it - ok, way to go. Nobody is forced to buy it.
Until they don't add some stuff that turns the game into P2W it is fine. Game need to earn money somehow after all.

Read the many arguments. When you sell cheap items that make tons of money, why make dlc's. Dlc's take massive effort. There is a market for cosmetics and those that want them shouldn't be ripped off. No good comes from rng cash grabs.

Edit. They need to make money. If they release quality products they will sell. If they can sell crap in a box for money then what we will get is boxes full of crap with the promise they might contain something desired. Dlc's? No thanks why make that just put more crap in a box. Just say it might contain an ice wolf and people will spend hundreds. Fix bugs? No need. we got we want... Tons of money

Oh, pretty nice logic! RNG boxes are profitable, so they stop doing new content and make just fluffy stuff to put to this boxes instead. According to this, as gambling is more profitable than any MMO they should close this game at all and open a casino. Or start selling drugs or weapons, as these are the most profitable goods.
Don't you think that without new DLCs most of the players will be bored to death soon enough and will quit the game? Even if they put Big Pink Unicorns to the RNG boxes.
They predicted death of the game when it was converted to B2P. With the same arguments - now ZOS will make nothing but cash shop stuff. Instead we saw massive remake of the game (yes, removal of vet rangs, level scaling and One Tamriel is a huge change, much more efforts consuming than any DLC if you ask me). AND we saw DLCs too. And of course nes stuff in cash shop.
Now RNG boxes gonna kill the game. Again. It's like waiting for the apocalypse to begin in 2000, in 2012, what is the next date?

JimT722 · September 2016

Ilmarthethief wrote: »

JimT722 wrote: »

Ilmarthethief wrote: »

***, folks, I can't get why you are so bitchy about this crates? If someone wants mount or some other fluffy stuff so badly he or she would spare 500$ to get it - ok, way to go. Nobody is forced to buy it.
Until they don't add some stuff that turns the game into P2W it is fine. Game need to earn money somehow after all.

Read the many arguments. When you sell cheap items that make tons of money, why make dlc's. Dlc's take massive effort. There is a market for cosmetics and those that want them shouldn't be ripped off. No good comes from rng cash grabs.

Edit. They need to make money. If they release quality products they will sell. If they can sell crap in a box for money then what we will get is boxes full of crap with the promise they might contain something desired. Dlc's? No thanks why make that just put more crap in a box. Just say it might contain an ice wolf and people will spend hundreds. Fix bugs? No need. we got we want... Tons of money

Oh, pretty nice logic! RNG boxes are profitable, so they stop doing new content and make just fluffy stuff to put to this boxes instead. According to this, as gambling is more profitable than any MMO they should close this game at all and open a casino. Or start selling drugs or weapons, as these are the most profitable goods.
Don't you think that without new DLCs most of the players will be bored to death soon enough and will quit the game? Even if they put Big Pink Unicorns to the RNG boxes.
They predicted death of the game when it was converted to B2P. With the same arguments - now ZOS will make nothing but cash shop stuff. Instead we saw massive remake of the game (yes, removal of vet rangs, level scaling and One Tamriel is a huge change, much more efforts consuming than any DLC if you ask me). AND we saw DLCs too. And of course nes stuff in cash shop.
Now RNG boxes gonna kill the game. Again. It's like waiting for the apocalypse to begin in 2000, in 2012, what is the next date?

It did in every other game I've played. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. So I would be insane to expect these to be any better in this game.

nimander99 · September 2016

JimT722 wrote: »

nimander99 wrote: »

Remember the first announcement was "Exclusive Mounts only" Mr. Firor said in Germany. Well that turned out to be not the whole truth...

He said exclusive themed mounts. He later stated he should have said and other items. Unfortunate knowing that means practically anything could end up in there.

Yeah, it was late and I was going from memory but basically the same statement, but you are right to correct me since I put it in quotations.

Doesn't really matter what he said later, what he said first was the first fact we got about them. Then it snowballed as I figured it would.

jeevin · September 2016

Acrolas wrote: »

I found the team's dignity.

Wait.

This is not a crown crate. This is a Dumpster.

I think this needs to be stickied somewhere