ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hi everyone, here’s where we are with Crown Crates:

We put systems on the PTS for player feedback for a reason – we have sifted (and continue to analyze) your feedback on Crown Crates, and as such, we’re going to make at least the following changes to the system before it goes live later this year:

• We are working to change the way the system works to ensure that you get higher tiered items more often.
• We will allow you to convert unwanted Crown Crate consumables into Crown Gems. This way, you won’t be stuck with consumables you may not want, and you will also have more Gems to purchase the items that you do want.
• We will also take another look at Crown Crate potions, food, XP scrolls, etc. with an eye towards boosting their effectiveness and/or duration. This may entail us adding new recipes to allow crafters to make similar items.

We may well find other changes we want to make as well, and will let everyone know what we have done when this initial round of changes are in and can test them internally.

Yet on the PST patch notes the only change is:

"Consumables

Increased the duration of all Crown Potion effects. While this change brings Crown Potions a little closer to crafted potions, level-appropriate crafted potions still last longer."

So yet another lie from you ZOS? All you did other then bring the consumables closer to P2W was graphical and voice changes. Non the promised drop rate changes, not the promised ability to turn in consumables for gems, and not the better in game recipes.

@ZOS_GinaBruno I know you are just the messenger passing along the lies of thee devs and the marketing team and not doing the lying yourself, but please pass something back to them. I am another account canceling subscription over their lies and choice to try to scam people in this way. They hired a game killing woman as marketing director and that is just what she is going to do kill this game.

Now I am off to account page to cancel my sub before it renews on the 10th.

Edit: Funny when I canceled no forums to ask for feedback on why or such like their are with ever other sub game I have ever played. I guess that just more proof our feedback truly is meaningless and they don't give a damn about their customers other then milking as much money as they can from them.

AmberLaTerra wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hi everyone, here’s where we are with Crown Crates:

We put systems on the PTS for player feedback for a reason – we have sifted (and continue to analyze) your feedback on Crown Crates, and as such, we’re going to make at least the following changes to the system before it goes live later this year:

• We are working to change the way the system works to ensure that you get higher tiered items more often.
• We will allow you to convert unwanted Crown Crate consumables into Crown Gems. This way, you won’t be stuck with consumables you may not want, and you will also have more Gems to purchase the items that you do want.
• We will also take another look at Crown Crate potions, food, XP scrolls, etc. with an eye towards boosting their effectiveness and/or duration. This may entail us adding new recipes to allow crafters to make similar items.

We may well find other changes we want to make as well, and will let everyone know what we have done when this initial round of changes are in and can test them internally.

Yet on the PST patch notes the only change is:

"Consumables

Increased the duration of all Crown Potion effects. While this change brings Crown Potions a little closer to crafted potions, level-appropriate crafted potions still last longer."

So yet another lie from you ZOS? All you did other then bring the consumables closer to P2W was graphical and voice changes. Non the promised drop rate changes, not the promised ability to turn in consumables for gems, and not the better in game recipes.

@ZOS_GinaBruno I know you are just the messenger passing along the lies of thee devs and the marketing team and not doing the lying yourself, but please pass something back to them. I am another account canceling subscription over their lies and choice to try to scam people in this way. They hired a game killing woman as marketing director and that is just what she is going to do kill this game.

Now I am off to account page to cancel my sub before it renews on the 10th.

I cancelled my sub. Unfortunately I already subscribed through December

They need to remove the exclusives. No way I'm going forward with this.

I finally found style parlor! It's in the crates. Why? What was the point.

Housing. I bet that will be great on the pts too. Then it will be sliced up and put into rng box system as well.

This system is insulting. I am waiting for some reasonable improvements. All we are getting is silence.

silvereyes wrote: »

AmberLaTerra wrote: »

So yet another lie from you ZOS? All you did other then bring the consumables closer to P2W was graphical and voice changes. Non the promised drop rate changes, not the promised ability to turn in consumables for gems, and not the better in game recipes.

I agree that it would have been nice to get the changes on PTS for testing this week, but they never promised they would be in this week. In fact, Matt F specifically expressed doubt in the reddit AMA that the changes would be on the PTS.

I can't really defend ZOS against anything with these scamboxes, but as a software developer myself, I will defend them against the general idea that they can make changes instantaneously. Gina just announced the planned changes last Friday. Implementing a trade-in system for gems, or even "just" tweaking drop rates, is something that will take a week or two at best. Not just for the development, but also for internal testing and probably about 2-3 levels of business-level manager approval, since this will affect the profitability of the crates.

It's unfortunate, but it's just the way it is. It's a shame they waited 2 weeks to introduce the crates on PTS. If they hadn't, there's a chance they would have had time for a round of major feedback-related changes. But as the situation stands, there just isn't any time.

No positive media of these boxes as is

Promise to make slight improvements to the boxes that would cost people real money to test

I'm sure no one at this point has much hope for these boxes. They need to really think these through because as it stands there is no positive input.

They need to make the time. Otherwise this may very well cause them problems. This is definitely something they don't want to rush.

silvereyes wrote: »

@ZOS_GinaBruno, just some quick feedback for the marketing and systems teams about the proposed changes....

For me personally, no amount of tweaking to the crown potions is going to make them desirable if they aren't already. Even if they are buffed all the way to complete 1:1 parity with in-game potions, they will still be useless to me. The same goes for food/drink, soul gems, repair kits and XP scrolls.

The materials to make my own consumables in-game are literally just lying around, waiting to be picked up for free. Even those players using potions that can't be bothered to gather their own mats probably already have some sort of in-game income to finance buying them from other players with gold.

Why not just drop the charade about these boxes being about consumables, eh? If people already want crown consumables/convenience items, they can get them for a better value in the exact type they want directly from the crown store, rather than a random grab bag of consumables that includes stuff they don't want.

The only reason to buy these crates is for the collectibles. Just replace all the consumables drops with gems and save your teams the effort of implementing a complicated trade-in system.

I know that doesn't fit with the current marketing shtick of "these are consumables crates with a chance at collectibles", but does anyone really fall for that hogwash anyways?

Or... Just replace the gem with crowns. An exchange of money for desired product.

No... That's a crazy idea

AegisWolf wrote: »

The crates are completely pointless. Just put the content on the crown store. Players should not pay for something so exploitative. I'm frankly disappointed at what ZOS must think of us, if they actually think we'll buy that.

They aren't for us. They are for kids with credit cards. They are for the rich. They are for people with excess subscription crowns that see them as fake money. They are for collectors that treat cosmetics like Pokemon and need to catch 'em all.

The sad fact is that they *will* be implemented on live. I'd love to fantasize that ZOS will see all the negative feedback and scrap the whole idea, but it's not going to happen.

The only way the crates will die is if they go live and ZOS loses money as a result of the backlash. I really don't see that happening, though. Too many people either fall into the target demographic, don't care, or don't care enough to vote with their wallets.

Right now, ZOS is soliciting feedback on how to improve the crates. In my opinion, it's probably most productive to provide feedback on how to make the crates less exclusive, less dishonest and a better value.

• They need to understand that locking away the majority of new cosmetics behind an RNG wall will make most people sad.
• They need to understand that tweaking consumables closer to P2W is worse than pointless.
• They need to understand that lying to people about the point of the crates is sleazy
• They need to understand that 36,000 crowns for a mount is not acceptable.

If they can address the above issues, I think I can come to peace with the crates. Not a happy peace, but good enough to be content with ignoring their existence.

AmberLaTerra wrote: »

The problem is it is very clear they have no intentions of adjusting those issues.

I definitely agree they haven't been honest about the crates. But I really hope you are wrong about them not fixing anything.

It's in their best interest to make the boxes as agreeable as possible to as many people as possible. Right now, the PTS feedback represents valuable market research. Say whatever else you like about it, but I doubt very much they will ignore market research.

If they can open a larger market for the crates while simultaneously winning back some subscribers that unsubbed over this mess, seems like it's a no-brainer from a business perspective.

AmberLaTerra wrote: »

we will not be doing tests

It would actually be a great service to the community if people who do end up buying these crates on live could video it and broadcast the results. It would only work if they were scientific about it and published everything, regardless of which drops they get.

Or even better, maybe ZOS will listen to us and publish the probabilities for each drop, and commit to keeping the data accurate. Doesn't have to be in-game, but it should definitely be published online at the very least.

Coolio_Wolfus wrote: »

The Storm Atronach Transform needs to be a polymorph rather than a time limited memento for the price it's listed at.

That would certainly be better, but would it work? I haven't seen it yet, but presumably it would need to deactivate whenever you actually tried to do anything, like fight mobs or open chests, whereas the other polymorphs can stay active during other activities.

Edit: Rescinded. Having now seen the Storm Atronach Transform, it would work perfectly well as a polymorph, as it changes your character's appearance but not their humanoid form. Considering it's a Legendary tier reward, it should definitely be worth more than a 7-second memento effect, and a polymorph would be perfect.

Anazasi wrote: »

add gold mats and it might be worth the gamble. Otherwise this is pointless and a waste of money..

Gold mats aren't cosmetic or consumable. Despite all the controversial exclusives that ZOS have implemented with Crown Crates, they haven't overturned their policy on what type of items should appear in the Crown Store.

JKorr wrote: »

I opened my daily crates early this morning. Got several duplicates, including another atronach mount I don't want and yet another dog. Got one crate that had one soulgem and three poison cards for a total of 75 poisons for that one crate. Came to a scary realization....

If we could turn all the potions/poisons/food riding lessons/etc. we've gotten so far into gems, even at the 1 gem each rate, I would have almost enough gems to buy all the atronach mounts.

Look at Wolfkek's post. That would be a good average. 850 poisons? 170 invisibility? Yeah. Way too much crap no one but new players would find useful. Nothing besides the mounts I might want.

Assuming the exchange rate is 1 gem for each, you won't get 1 gem for each item, you'll get 1 gem for each card. So from those 850 poisons, you'll only get 34 gems.

Here is my opinion on the crown crates:

I love the idea to trade the consumables in for gems however how many that will be for worries me, still I think it is a great move and shows you are listening. My main concern at the moment getting a duplicate item is substantially worse in terms of value than getting a new costume, even if you don't like or care for whatever is received.

The amount given for duplicates ideally would be their exact worth in gems as it is a duplicate as it has the same chance as any other of the same category presumably. If I am mistaken then gem returns should be based on the rarity of the item and not the category.

However I understand this is a business and you need to incentivize the purchase of new crates and the continual purchase. At the moment the amount of gems is almost insultingly low, it NEEDS to be at the very least half the value of the item duplicated.

I'm someone who loves the costumes and will likely play the crown crate game to get everything possible, but I'm not going to be able to justify it with the current system. I'm not someone who cares if this is gambling or not, in my opinion it is a fun system that I know is a great business move for the company.

However I think you all should look more long term, say you rotate the crown crates exclusives and non-exclusive drops every year or six months, it is my opinion that you will have significant drop off in purchases of these crates if the first batch doesn't reward the early adopters. If people aren't able to get what they want from the crate which may be a specific item or two, I know they'll get frustrated and not participate in the system.

If you plan to rotate the crate rewards with a shorter than 6 month cycle then those of us who wish to get every item in the crates will be out of luck. It just wouldn't be feasible outside of very wealthy players. That's fine but again I believe you will experience rapid drop off in participation in the following crate cycles.

Another option may be to have a chance to get gems straight. Similar to the chance of getting a fifth card (which never happened in my experience) a flat reward of a reasonable amount of gems would be a pleasant surprise. However a downfall in this is people may horde gems for further packs if not done properly. This isn't an issue for players but it would likely damage your profits slightly.

Tl;Dr: I like the idea of the crates but the duplication rewards need to be increased. If the first round of crates upsets players by them not getting what they want I believe there will be drop off in the participation.

Anyway, I look forward to see what you all do with the crates when it comes to live and I look forward to the long future I know this game can have.

socomseal wrote: »

Here is my opinion on the crown crates:

I love the idea to trade the consumables in for gems however how many that will be for worries me, still I think it is a great move and shows you are listening. My main concern at the moment getting a duplicate item is substantially worse in terms of value than getting a new costume, even if you don't like or care for whatever is received.

The amount given for duplicates ideally would be their exact worth in gems as it is a duplicate as it has the same chance as any other of the same category presumably. If I am mistaken then gem returns should be based on the rarity of the item and not the category.

However I understand this is a business and you need to incentivize the purchase of new crates and the continual purchase. At the moment the amount of gems is almost insultingly low, it NEEDS to be at the very least half the value of the item duplicated.

I'm someone who loves the costumes and will likely play the crown crate game to get everything possible, but I'm not going to be able to justify it with the current system. I'm not someone who cares if this is gambling or not, in my opinion it is a fun system that I know is a great business move for the company.

However I think you all should look more long term, say you rotate the crown crates exclusives and non-exclusive drops every year or six months, it is my opinion that you will have significant drop off in purchases of these crates if the first batch doesn't reward the early adopters. If people aren't able to get what they want from the crate which may be a specific item or two, I know they'll get frustrated and not participate in the system.

If you plan to rotate the crate rewards with a shorter than 6 month cycle then those of us who wish to get every item in the crates will be out of luck. It just wouldn't be feasible outside of very wealthy players. That's fine but again I believe you will experience rapid drop off in participation in the following crate cycles.

Another option may be to have a chance to get gems straight. Similar to the chance of getting a fifth card (which never happened in my experience) a flat reward of a reasonable amount of gems would be a pleasant surprise. However a downfall in this is people may horde gems for further packs if not done properly. This isn't an issue for players but it would likely damage your profits slightly.

Tl;Dr: I like the idea of the crates but the duplication rewards need to be increased. If the first round of crates upsets players by them not getting what they want I believe there will be drop off in the participation.

Anyway, I look forward to see what you all do with the crates when it comes to live and I look forward to the long future I know this game can have.

They'll run into other issues if the "early adopters" make out like bandits, then when other people start buying the crates the drop rates are nerfed to the "real" numbers.

JimT722 wrote: »

Housing. I bet that will be great on the pts too. Then it will be sliced up and put into rng box system as well.

This system is insulting. I am waiting for some reasonable improvements. All we are getting is silence.

Well, I said a few weeks ago that they are dropping Crown Crates out of cycle (between updates) because they need it in place before Housing comes out. They don't want to drop Housing and the Housing Delivery System on us at the same time. Sticker shock, and all.

Seriously, I think they are planning that "Housing" will be the thing that gets people to buy Crown Crates.

Khajiit would have less of an objection if all the contents of the crates were in the store at some point - for a reasonable time and at a sane price.

This changes Tamriel because it changes what is available to this one unless she is willing to take a very risky gamble over and over again.

It adds a content barrier that was not there before. Yes khajiit does consider dresses, eyelashes, mounts and pets to be content.

It restricts what Khajiit can enjoy unless she is willing to do something very dubious and expensive. This sort of gambling is the refuge of only a fool. Khajiit she is no fool.

In Tamriel just as some walls finally fall it seems that others now are to be introduced.

This is not a good thing for Tamriel or the people who travel there.

Yours with paws
Santie Claws