Korah_Eaglecry wrote: »The dont need small purchasing players. They want and need Big Ticket Item purchasing Whales that will fatten their profits.
I am pleased to see that jobs in CS that were lost during The Great Christmas Galway Massacre of 2015 are being replaced with jobs in The Whale Retention Department.
Also, do not be insensitive clod and resub, man. Petyr probably gets only paid if he manages to return a whale back to the herd, he needs your $100.
Korah_Eaglecry wrote: »
Its never been about keeping a large population with games that have these mechanics. If youve ever worked in retail its not the small purchases they are looking for. Its the "Big Ticket Item" sales theyre looking for. If you worked at Toys R'Us youd be told that what they want is to sell those big Power Wheel toys in the back because theyre "Big Ticket Items". The big purchases are what get them closer to their daily and weekly goals. And the faster they hit them the nicer their quarterly and yearly sales will look.
This is why ESO has Limited Time Offer mounts or special costumes like the Hero Costumes. This is why the Dro m'Athra mount spiked at 4,000 Crowns compared to any other LTO mount that cost almost half of that. These are ESOs Big Ticket Items and when they make them hard to get and limited in its time on the store. It drives up sales on them. Im willing to bet the Dro m'Athra mount was ZOS testing the waters. Trying to see if they could get players to pay a substantial amount of money on an item that would of gone for far less among other exclusive items.
The dont need small purchasing players. They want and need Big Ticket Item purchasing Whales that will fatten their profits.
AmberLaTerra wrote: »The problem with that is with no small ticket sales the day to day bills are never met. A business cannot survive on the rare big ticket item, and jacking up the prices on the small ticket items id just as detrimental.
Let's look at your example of Toys R'us. They have locked themselves into living and dying on the big ticket sale, and they are on the verge of bankruptcy due to it.
I am the worst kind of neutral. True neutral.
I'm not going to waste my crowns on crown crates. The idea is simply moronic (knowing ZoS's RNG).
However, if someone else wants to waste a lot of money on crates (thus giving ZoS more money to make better content)- then so be it.
Capitalism at its best.
However... if I find out that I'll no longer be able to purchase new mounts and/or new gear with my crowns without having to gamble for it, I'll be done. It is just a video game, after all. I'll take up some other hobby.
Which is why this is always something you see MMO companies pull shortly before they sell off their assets or shut down the servers. It is a last ditch money grab before the crash. Which is why it is mind boggling to see a company like ZOS pull this with the ELDER SCROLLS franchise just two years into production when by all accounts the game is doing well.
What are they THINKING?
Do they WANT to shut the servers down?
I guess you are done then. Just a quick forum search or PTS download will show you that most of the new mounts and cosmetics are Casino Crate Exclusive.
Same thing with housing items more than likely.
Let's not jump the gun just yet. This is PTS- not the actual game. I don't think anyone knows any specific details about housing yet, either... so let's not assume the sky is falling.
If that were true then Walmart wouldn't be a successful global empire.
This is a total fallacy and surprising to see supposed AAA companies still chasing this delusion. It is like the economics "guru's" that honestly believe the Skinner study of caged rat survival instincts somehow predicts human entertainment behavior like TV ratings. The two are totally unrelated impulses.
Same with this "big ticket item" analogy. They are not a need like the food pellets in the Skinner rat study. So, since they are not needed to survive, the only value they hold is their PERCEPTUAL value, and that of course can change at the drop of a hat.
If ZOS is really going to throw their entire game down the toilet to become just another predatory whale chaser trying to cash in on gambling addiction, then maybe they should at least do a little research on Whale Psychology first? For example, the primary reason whales will buy overpriced items is so they can stand around showing off to all the people that don't have it.
Exclusivity is what gives it the value, because these types of people are shallow materialists and totally insecure and need to buy fancy things like Disney's Lord Farquat from Shrek in order to have people look at them and be impressed by all the quality their money can buy.
Or at least pretend they are.
So, if you throw away your small payments and SUBSCRIBERS to chase the whales, NO ONE WILL BE AROUND TO CARE about their attention disorder.
Which means, THE PERCEIVED VALUE WILL TANK.
WHICH MEANS, you have just thrown your game away chasing a delusion.
And if you think all the loyal customers you just s*** on with this greedy BS are going to come back and give you another chance after you send them the message "we don't even care enough about you to comment, short term whale profits are all that matters to us," well...
Way to learn from history.
AmberLaTerra wrote: »When all the likely solutions can be eliminated the remaining no matter how absurd must be the answer.
whatever feelings of betrayal and disappointment you feel does not affect them at all, we are basically numbers to them, not humans...
ZOS could even give ESO+ subs a free RNG box when they launch
dont forget the free meth samples, though
BruceLeeroy91 wrote: »I will most likely not be purchasing any of these crates, and I do buy a good amount of cosmetic items and will continue to do so, just without gambling.
Esquire1980g_ESO wrote: »Way back in the last thread over these lockboxes, I asked the question, WHY? I even asked if all the people I saw running around were completely F2P and just don't spend their cash. Now, I got this today.
"Hi Jim,
We noticed that you recently cancelled your ESO Plus membership and would like to see if we can tempt you back with a special one-time, buy three months, get one month free offer.
Image
As you probably know, ESO Plus membership comes with the following benefits:
•Access to all DLC Game Packs as long as ESO Plus membership is current
•1500 Crowns per 30-day membership to spend in the in-game Crown Store
•Unlimited use of the Craft Bag
•A +10% Upgrade to character progression
If you would take us up on this unique offer, simply respond to this email. We'll get back to you as soon as possible.
In addition, if there is anything at all we can do to help make your overall ESO experience better, please let us know. We're here to help!
Warm Regards,
Petyr
The Elder Scrolls Online Support Team
The Elder Scrolls Online Tamriel Unlimited"
I haven't seen this type of stuff since Star Wars Galaxies/SOE went into panic mode. Lockboxes, cash grabs, creating a "shortage" of crown store items via taking them out, FREE month(s) - just please come on back and give us some $, etc etc etc. ROFL, I've seen this EXACT offer coming from Funcom for a game they released in 2000. I would expect it there but not for a 2 year old game.
There's something more going on here besides just corporate greed.
And for ZOS, don't waste your effort on me. I seen what lockboxes do to a game 1st hand. The last month that the wife and I played TESO, we spent about $100.00 (crown sale/subs/etc). Now? I spend that $100.00 on connection(s) for my own servers which runs a AAA MMORPG that is in direct competition with yours. Altho, we/I can't charge for anything to do with that game so there's no subs, no store, and NO lockboxes. EVER! We do that and pay the price, due to the fact that we want a game to play that DOESN'T try this type of cash grab and are that fed-up with AAA studios pulling this type of F2P crap/inciting kids to gamble with parents credit cards.
Yeah actually, I totally agree with this. Most polls you see on the forums (not all, but most) are horribly biased either in the way they ask the question, or the options they give you, or both. This poll qualifies as the gold standard for how a poll should be presented. It asks an unbiased question, gives links to the 2 biggest discussion threads on the topic, and gives completely unbiased options for people to pick that should give everyone an option that accurately portrays their opinion on the topic.silvereyes wrote: »First of all, I'd like to give a big cheer for the OP. It's hard to write good polls, and I think you nailed it. The options are equivalent for positive, negative, and neutral views; there are no loaded terms; and you even added cross-tabs for whether a person tested on PTS themselves or not, which is interesting data.
Caius Drusus Imperial DK (DC) Bragg Ironhand Orc Temp (DC) Neesha Stalks-Shadows Argonian NB (EP) Falidir Altmer Sorcr (AD) J'zharka Khajiit NB (AD) |
Isabeau Runeseer Breton Sorc (DC) Fevassa Dunmer DK (EP) Manut Redguard Temp (AD) Tylera the Summoner Altmer Sorc (EP) Svari Snake-Blood Nord DK (AD) |
Ashlyn D'Elyse Breton NB (EP) Filindria Bosmer Temp (DC) Vigbjorn the Wanderer Nord Warden (EP) Hrokki Winterborn Breton Warden (DC) Basks-in-the-Sunshine Argonian Temp |
BruceLeeroy91 wrote: »Simple solution, don't freaking buy them, use some self control.
silvereyes wrote: »First of all, I'd like to give a big cheer for the OP. It's hard to write good polls, and I think you nailed it. The options are equivalent for positive, negative, and neutral views; there are no loaded terms; and you even added cross-tabs for whether a person tested on PTS themselves or not, which is interesting data.
I got this as well, and responded:
This offer might have been appealing before the Crown Crates, but I refuse to do any more business with a company that engages in this predatory gambling scheme. The only reason I have not uninstalled this game and removed my account from your official page is because I hope you folks will come to your senses and ditch this atrocity. If it goes live, all the disposable income I had planned to invest in this game (and had significantly to this point) will go elsewhere, to honest merchants, who appreciate my business, and who don't want to receive ten times market value (or more) for their product.
It's despicable, deplorable, and should be illegal (or at least require a gambling license). The amount of time and effort you spent on the implementation of this system (filling the store with more items than have ever been available before), creating a hypnotic rhythm of soothing sound and appealing artwork, and utilizing a favorite character (Pacrooti) as a skeevy rogue charlatan is reprehensible.
Come back to ESO Plus? You'll be lucky if I darken the doors of Sentinel again. Go hunt your whales in other waters, Jabba.
I could have ignored the gambling and just been annoyed by the exclusives that I would not be acquiring, but seeing the Crown Crates in action removed all doubt of who this company is, what they're capable of, and the direction the game is headed. It's truly very sad.