Crown Crates feedback from someone who never spent a dime on Crown Store until today

MaKTaiL · December 2016

Hey guys, how are you doing?

I've heard everything I can about Crown Crates, all the positive and negative opinions, I've even seen famous Youtubers opening them live. Basically, I knew what I was getting into. I've been playing ESO since it launched on PS4 and I never spent a dime on the Crown Store outside from the DLCs. I don't have ESO Plus and all the Crowns I acquired were from Crown discounts with the sole purpose of buying them. I also never bought any horses, pets or costumes. The only horse I've had since launch was the one from Imperial Edition.

I had 2000 crowns left here and I was saving it for a future DLC but after giving it much thought I decided to buy 4 Crown Crates. Long story short, I got 1 new horse (Paladino), 2 new pets, 1 body marking for my Khajiit and 2 new hats. All that from 4 crates (1500 crowns). I feel like it was worth it (for me). Since I never bought any stuff from the store, anything that comes from the crates is refreshing. Of course I wanted the Atronach Horses, everyone wants them, but at the moment I feel like the crates are worth it if you never had anything. 1500 for stuff you would have spent 5000+ for back in the day is a great deal in my opinion.

I'm not saying they are the best deal ever. but they are far from a horrible business decision a lot of people claim it to be. The only thing I could add as a personal opinion is this: crate business works on other games (like Overwatch) because players can get them by other means, not just with real money. Giving a free crown crate every month for everyone would help a lot in my opinion. Anyway, that's all I had to say.

Happy holidays everyone!

Gothren · December 2016

you must be working for zos. a spy!

MaKTaiL · December 2016

Gothren wrote: »

you must be working for zos. a spy!

I wish! Hahahaha.

starkerealm · December 2016

Yeah, the one thing I can say with the crates, and it moved me off actively hostile towards them, is that you will get something of reasonable value from each crate, that you can rationalize spending 4 bucks on.

I'm still more than a little worried about them on the whole, but what I've seen appears to be making the attempt to ensure the player, at least feels like they're getting something from them.

starkerealm · December 2016

MaKTaiL wrote: »

Gothren wrote: »

you must be working for zos. a spy!

I wish! Hahahaha.

@ZOS, pay me. I'll say nice things about your crates.

nimander99 · December 2016

The gem conversion (although personally I think it should be more) kinda saved the day with crates. I still believe they are negative but I spent $150 dollars on Crates and have gotten every cosmetic of all the tiers besides Apex of which I've gotten the Atronach Wolf mount. So, about $150 worth of crowns all the categories complete except the remaining Apex mounts and I have 7 gems left.

Fair? Maybe... IDK, I guess, but to get the remaining apex mounts? LOL Id have to either get really luck or invest a lot of money since I seemed to average about 190 to 210 gems per 30 crates. You do the math.

Edit: Let me re amend that cause I don't want misinfo out there or to seem like I'm spreading misinfo, since I'm not bother to give the exact amount of money I spent so Ill tell you how many crates I opened: 64 crates, that got me everything but 5 of the Atronach Mounts and left me with 7 gems.

Recremen · December 2016

A crate a month isn't going to do anything for folks who don't think we should need to gamble for the chance of getting cosmetic gear. When it gets down to it, they had a perfectly-functional Crown Store, and lots of customers perfectly willing to buy things from there. What we have now is a complete divorce from one of the major selling points of the game: customization. More than half of new items are exclusive to the gambling box system, so it's no longer about looking how you want, it's about looking how these RNG results permit you to look.

Apparently the marketers were tired of sinking the costs for items that didn't sell well, so instead of buckling down and making sure they have Crown Store gear that hits every demographic, they've decided to distribute the risk onto the players instead. Now everything has a high chance of "selling" because it's all doled out randomly. No need to do adequate market research when you can make one or two highly appealing things and a ton of niche-market items, group them together, and make people cast their luck to see if they hit what they were after. It's even worse for the people who actually are interested in the niche items because now they have terrible chances for actually getting them, since the gambling boxes are so saturated with other things they weren't interested in. It's absolutely the most player-unfriendly marketing strategy out there.

Acrolas · December 2016

The crates are fine if you're not really looking for anything in particular and would be happy with any result of that 400 crowns spent. That's not gambling, that's just accepting a random reward.

Where the crates go wrong is where every other reward system in the game goes wrong - when you're looking for a very specific outcome and having to repeat something over and over for just a chance of achieving it. The dungeons have that weakness. The arenas have that weakness. These holiday events have that weakness.

I'm fine dumping gold to speed through these New Life achievements. In game gold has no real value, does not accrue interest, and other than housing there are very few things for me to spend it on. But I'm not spending 400 crowns to maybe get a pit wolf or a lightning senche. Not when I can enjoy a pizza instead. In the eternal battle between imaginary reward and real pizza, pizza whoops *** every time.

Ackwalan · December 2016

That first crack hit is wonderful and has no side affects. 6 months later, you have no job, no home, no family, no teeth and your dog has run away.

Nyghthowler · December 2016

Ackwalan wrote: »

That first crack hit is wonderful and has no side affects. 6 months later, you have no job, no home, no family, no teeth and your dog has run away.

I don't care about the rest of it, but if my dog ran away I would be devastated! Say NO to Crates...er, Crack!

Prof_Bawbag · December 2016

Recremen wrote: »

A crate a month isn't going to do anything for folks who don't think we should need to gamble for the chance of getting cosmetic gear. When it gets down to it, they had a perfectly-functional Crown Store, and lots of customers perfectly willing to buy things from there. What we have now is a complete divorce from one of the major selling points of the game: customization. More than half of new items are exclusive to the gambling box system, so it's no longer about looking how you want, it's about looking how these RNG results permit you to look.

Apparently the marketers were tired of sinking the costs for items that didn't sell well, so instead of buckling down and making sure they have Crown Store gear that hits every demographic, they've decided to distribute the risk onto the players instead. Now everything has a high chance of "selling" because it's all doled out randomly. No need to do adequate market research when you can make one or two highly appealing things and a ton of niche-market items, group them together, and make people cast their luck to see if they hit what they were after. It's even worse for the people who actually are interested in the niche items because now they have terrible chances for actually getting them, since the gambling boxes are so saturated with other things they weren't interested in. It's absolutely the most player-unfriendly marketing strategy out there.

No one other than the money men at ZoS know that. For all we know, the crown store could have been dying on it's arse and still could be struggling. The fact they've resorted to introducing almost all new mounts on a "limited time" basis could be some sort of indication that even the mounts aren't selling as well as they once were if they were to just place them there and leave 'em. Put a limit on an item and it shifts more. We all know that is a potent selling strategy, but a strategy that can have many reasons behind doing it.

MakoFore · December 2016

nup. its all junk.
the potions and food an all of that crap are sub cp150- had they made those potions and poisons of a decent level , added a wider variety of items, such as armour sets, more costumes ,weapons even , motifs- it might be worth it. but as it is - its 90 percent junk- 10 percent aero mounts. if that .

Recremen · December 2016

Prof_Bawbag wrote: »

Recremen wrote: »

A crate a month isn't going to do anything for folks who don't think we should need to gamble for the chance of getting cosmetic gear. When it gets down to it, they had a perfectly-functional Crown Store, and lots of customers perfectly willing to buy things from there. What we have now is a complete divorce from one of the major selling points of the game: customization. More than half of new items are exclusive to the gambling box system, so it's no longer about looking how you want, it's about looking how these RNG results permit you to look.

Apparently the marketers were tired of sinking the costs for items that didn't sell well, so instead of buckling down and making sure they have Crown Store gear that hits every demographic, they've decided to distribute the risk onto the players instead. Now everything has a high chance of "selling" because it's all doled out randomly. No need to do adequate market research when you can make one or two highly appealing things and a ton of niche-market items, group them together, and make people cast their luck to see if they hit what they were after. It's even worse for the people who actually are interested in the niche items because now they have terrible chances for actually getting them, since the gambling boxes are so saturated with other things they weren't interested in. It's absolutely the most player-unfriendly marketing strategy out there.

No one other than the money men at ZoS know that. For all we know, the crown store could have been dying on it's arse and still could be struggling. The fact they've resorted to introducing almost all new mounts on a "limited time" basis could be some sort of indication that even the mounts aren't selling as well as they once were if they were to just place them there and leave 'em. Put a limit on an item and it shifts more. We all know that is a potent selling strategy, but a strategy that can have many reasons behind doing it.

It's possible the store was dying, but that's goes against every piece of evidence that we have. For one thing, they're still only doing cosmetic items and trash consumables. Why would they be doing that if buying cosmetics the normal way wasn't making total bank? Is the prospect of not getting the item you want really so appealing that there'd be a sudden influx of buyers once they shoved more than half the new content into gambling boxes? Seems a bit unlikely.

Elsonso · December 2016

MaKTaiL wrote: »

I'm not saying they are the best deal ever. but they are far from a horrible business decision a lot of people claim it to be.

For many, it is not about what is in the crates as much as what the crates mean to the game. A few free crates or not, they are still in the game.

Prof_Bawbag · December 2016

Recremen wrote: »

Prof_Bawbag wrote: »

Recremen wrote: »

A crate a month isn't going to do anything for folks who don't think we should need to gamble for the chance of getting cosmetic gear. When it gets down to it, they had a perfectly-functional Crown Store, and lots of customers perfectly willing to buy things from there. What we have now is a complete divorce from one of the major selling points of the game: customization. More than half of new items are exclusive to the gambling box system, so it's no longer about looking how you want, it's about looking how these RNG results permit you to look.

Apparently the marketers were tired of sinking the costs for items that didn't sell well, so instead of buckling down and making sure they have Crown Store gear that hits every demographic, they've decided to distribute the risk onto the players instead. Now everything has a high chance of "selling" because it's all doled out randomly. No need to do adequate market research when you can make one or two highly appealing things and a ton of niche-market items, group them together, and make people cast their luck to see if they hit what they were after. It's even worse for the people who actually are interested in the niche items because now they have terrible chances for actually getting them, since the gambling boxes are so saturated with other things they weren't interested in. It's absolutely the most player-unfriendly marketing strategy out there.

No one other than the money men at ZoS know that. For all we know, the crown store could have been dying on it's arse and still could be struggling. The fact they've resorted to introducing almost all new mounts on a "limited time" basis could be some sort of indication that even the mounts aren't selling as well as they once were if they were to just place them there and leave 'em. Put a limit on an item and it shifts more. We all know that is a potent selling strategy, but a strategy that can have many reasons behind doing it.

It's possible the store was dying, but that's goes against every piece of evidence that we have. For one thing, they're still only doing cosmetic items and trash consumables. Why would they be doing that if buying cosmetics the normal way wasn't making total bank? Is the prospect of not getting the item you want really so appealing that there'd be a sudden influx of buyers once they shoved more than half the new content into gambling boxes? Seems a bit unlikely.

Like I said, no one other than ZoS can answer that. All I know, with them introducing gambling, the CS now caters to a larger group of people. You'll have people who will never buy a single item from there, now throwing £100's at it. I think they would stand to lose a lot more people if they began to sell The Uber 1-shot Sword of Awesomeness and the likes, and they know it too.

Recremen · December 2016

Prof_Bawbag wrote: »

Recremen wrote: »

Prof_Bawbag wrote: »

Recremen wrote: »

A crate a month isn't going to do anything for folks who don't think we should need to gamble for the chance of getting cosmetic gear. When it gets down to it, they had a perfectly-functional Crown Store, and lots of customers perfectly willing to buy things from there. What we have now is a complete divorce from one of the major selling points of the game: customization. More than half of new items are exclusive to the gambling box system, so it's no longer about looking how you want, it's about looking how these RNG results permit you to look.

Apparently the marketers were tired of sinking the costs for items that didn't sell well, so instead of buckling down and making sure they have Crown Store gear that hits every demographic, they've decided to distribute the risk onto the players instead. Now everything has a high chance of "selling" because it's all doled out randomly. No need to do adequate market research when you can make one or two highly appealing things and a ton of niche-market items, group them together, and make people cast their luck to see if they hit what they were after. It's even worse for the people who actually are interested in the niche items because now they have terrible chances for actually getting them, since the gambling boxes are so saturated with other things they weren't interested in. It's absolutely the most player-unfriendly marketing strategy out there.

No one other than the money men at ZoS know that. For all we know, the crown store could have been dying on it's arse and still could be struggling. The fact they've resorted to introducing almost all new mounts on a "limited time" basis could be some sort of indication that even the mounts aren't selling as well as they once were if they were to just place them there and leave 'em. Put a limit on an item and it shifts more. We all know that is a potent selling strategy, but a strategy that can have many reasons behind doing it.

It's possible the store was dying, but that's goes against every piece of evidence that we have. For one thing, they're still only doing cosmetic items and trash consumables. Why would they be doing that if buying cosmetics the normal way wasn't making total bank? Is the prospect of not getting the item you want really so appealing that there'd be a sudden influx of buyers once they shoved more than half the new content into gambling boxes? Seems a bit unlikely.

Like I said, no one other than ZoS can answer that. All I know, with them introducing gambling, the CS now caters to a larger group of people. You'll have people who will never buy a single item from there, now throwing £100's at it. I think they would stand to lose a lot more people if they began to sell The Uber 1-shot Sword of Awesomeness and the likes, and they know it too.

Conversely, though, by making more than half the content exclusive to gambling boxes they wind up losing out on sales from people who would be willing to buy, but refuse to gamble.

Prof_Bawbag · December 2016

Recremen wrote: »

Prof_Bawbag wrote: »

Recremen wrote: »

Prof_Bawbag wrote: »

Recremen wrote: »

A crate a month isn't going to do anything for folks who don't think we should need to gamble for the chance of getting cosmetic gear. When it gets down to it, they had a perfectly-functional Crown Store, and lots of customers perfectly willing to buy things from there. What we have now is a complete divorce from one of the major selling points of the game: customization. More than half of new items are exclusive to the gambling box system, so it's no longer about looking how you want, it's about looking how these RNG results permit you to look.

Apparently the marketers were tired of sinking the costs for items that didn't sell well, so instead of buckling down and making sure they have Crown Store gear that hits every demographic, they've decided to distribute the risk onto the players instead. Now everything has a high chance of "selling" because it's all doled out randomly. No need to do adequate market research when you can make one or two highly appealing things and a ton of niche-market items, group them together, and make people cast their luck to see if they hit what they were after. It's even worse for the people who actually are interested in the niche items because now they have terrible chances for actually getting them, since the gambling boxes are so saturated with other things they weren't interested in. It's absolutely the most player-unfriendly marketing strategy out there.

No one other than the money men at ZoS know that. For all we know, the crown store could have been dying on it's arse and still could be struggling. The fact they've resorted to introducing almost all new mounts on a "limited time" basis could be some sort of indication that even the mounts aren't selling as well as they once were if they were to just place them there and leave 'em. Put a limit on an item and it shifts more. We all know that is a potent selling strategy, but a strategy that can have many reasons behind doing it.

It's possible the store was dying, but that's goes against every piece of evidence that we have. For one thing, they're still only doing cosmetic items and trash consumables. Why would they be doing that if buying cosmetics the normal way wasn't making total bank? Is the prospect of not getting the item you want really so appealing that there'd be a sudden influx of buyers once they shoved more than half the new content into gambling boxes? Seems a bit unlikely.

Like I said, no one other than ZoS can answer that. All I know, with them introducing gambling, the CS now caters to a larger group of people. You'll have people who will never buy a single item from there, now throwing £100's at it. I think they would stand to lose a lot more people if they began to sell The Uber 1-shot Sword of Awesomeness and the likes, and they know it too.

Conversely, though, by making more than half the content exclusive to gambling boxes they wind up losing out on sales from people who would be willing to buy, but refuse to gamble.

Ahhh, but they're also selling a lot more garbage via those crates too. Who would buy 5 potions for 400crs? Who would buy a single mount lesson for 400crs, when you can purchase 10 of them for 1000crs? The list of complete crap in those crates is too much to list here. For every mount sale they've missed out on, they've probably made umpteen times that through those trash items people wouldn't normally buy.

redspecter23 · December 2016

Acrolas wrote: »

The crates are fine if you're not really looking for anything in particular and would be happy with any result of that 400 crowns spent. That's not gambling, that's just accepting a random reward.

Where the crates go wrong is where every other reward system in the game goes wrong - when you're looking for a very specific outcome and having to repeat something over and over for just a chance of achieving it. The dungeons have that weakness. The arenas have that weakness. These holiday events have that weakness.

I'm fine dumping gold to speed through these New Life achievements. In game gold has no real value, does not accrue interest, and other than housing there are very few things for me to spend it on. But I'm not spending 400 crowns to maybe get a pit wolf or a lightning senche. Not when I can enjoy a pizza instead. In the eternal battle between imaginary reward and real pizza, pizza whoops *** every time.

This is it exactly. It's the reason some people are fine with the crates and others hate them. This is also the disconnect between ZOS and many players. I don't think ZOS considers the players only looking for the chase item or the BIS dungeon drop weapons or sharpened Maelstrom weapons. ZOS believes that players are looking for a wide variety of items from dungeons, arenas and crates and when the extra special shiny thing comes along, they'll just be pleasantly surprised. While this is the case for some players, it's not that way for everyone. If I buy a crate, it would be because I want an Apex mount and mathematically, that is a horrible gamble. If I go into Maelstrom, it's because I want one of 3 possible out of 96. I don't run vet Maelstrom anymore as those odds are horrendous. 93 out of the 96 potential items are just proof that I threw away an hour of my time.

acw37162 · December 2016

Crown Crates are marketing 101.

They are the answer to the question; How do you get people to pay more then why normally would for thing they wouldn't buy anyway.

The OP got what five six things he never would have bought anyway so an extra 2K crown sales to ZOS for things he wouldn't have bought if listed on the store and the added benefit of having to buy crowns again for the next DLC he wants to purchase.

But wait there is more; this awesome little gamble crate affects those who would spend money in the store anyway as the third or fourth poster who dropped $150.00 on the boxes and wait there is more.....

So they guy with a job and coin and some semblance of impulse control drops 150.00 what about those who don't have discretionary income or worse sneak mommy and daddies credit card into the crown, PSN store, or Xbox live marketplace they get you 400 crowns at the time.

Are crown crates evil, no.

Are crown crates the end is nigh the sky is falling chicken little event, no.

But they are not good either especially as currently constituted.

At some point several months to a year ago a couple of people sat in an office and discussed at length how to get me and you "the end consumer" to spend more money then when we otherwise would. They tested the market and raised the price on limited edition mounts and looked at sales figures and although it wasn't pitched or posted as such came to conclusion they were going to rip off the player base.

They haven't posted the odds for an apex reward. (Although players have a running spreadsheet)

They haven't posted the average dollar cost of an apex reward (and I guarantee you they know).

They could have been very honest, open, and transparent and said hey the odds are "X" and we expect the average dollar spent on a apex mount will be "Y". Play at your own risk.

They didn't; they are being dishonest by withholding information and dishonest with their player base by omission.

I hate needing laws for things like this but as long as combined will put these behavior patterns into practice there should exist laws that regulate the behavior, force honesty will the consumer, and levy susbustatial civik penalties for those who do not comply.

Not that the people who need this info will ever read this, I wouldn't stash crown gems thinking they will carry over into next season. They will change the currency, guaranteed.

nimander99 · December 2016

acw37162 wrote: »

Crown Crates are marketing 101.

They are the answer to the question; How do you get people to pay more then why normally would for thing they wouldn't buy anyway.

The OP got what five six things he never would have bought anyway so an extra 2K crown sales to ZOS for things he wouldn't have bought if listed on the store and the added benefit of having to buy crowns again for the next DLC he wants to purchase.

But wait there is more; this awesome little gamble crate affects those who would spend money in the store anyway as the third or fourth poster who dropped $150.00 on the boxes and wait there is more.....

So they guy with a job and coin and some semblance of impulse control drops 150.00 what about those who don't have discretionary income or worse sneak mommy and daddies credit card into the crown, PSN store, or Xbox live marketplace they get you 400 crowns at the time.

Are crown crates evil, no.

Are crown crates the end is nigh the sky is falling chicken little event, no.

But they are not good either especially as currently constituted.

At some point several months to a year ago a couple of people sat in an office and discussed at length how to get me and you "the end consumer" to spend more money then when we otherwise would. They tested the market and raised the price on limited edition mounts and looked at sales figures and although it wasn't pitched or posted as such came to conclusion they were going to rip off the player base.

They haven't posted the odds for an apex reward. (Although players have a running spreadsheet)

They haven't posted the average dollar cost of an apex reward (and I guarantee you they know).

They could have been very honest, open, and transparent and said hey the odds are "X" and we expect the average dollar spent on a apex mount will be "Y". Play at your own risk.

They didn't; they are being dishonest by withholding information and dishonest with their player base by omission.

I hate needing laws for things like this but as long as combined will put these behavior patterns into practice there should exist laws that regulate the behavior, force honesty will the consumer, and levy susbustatial civik penalties for those who do not comply.

Not that the people who need this info will ever read this, I wouldn't stash crown gems thinking they will carry over into next season. They will change the currency, guaranteed.

This is about the best and most to the point post ive seen on this whole issue, @acw37162 sums it up nicely. Makes his/her points perfectly and saliently. Bravo. You absolutely hit the nail on the head.

Elsonso · December 2016

acw37162 wrote: »

They will change the currency, guaranteed.

I hate Crown Crates, don't buy them, and tell people not to buy them. I think they will ultimately lead to the ruination of the game. I don't think they will change the crown gem currency. I might be wrong, but I don't think they will do it..

itehache · December 2016

Yup, if you don't really care what you're getting it's fine. I bought only 1 crate just to see if I was lucky enough to get a mount and I got 1 accesory I didnt have and 1 pet I didnt have, so it was worth it to me as well.

Valethar · December 2016

Another individual assimilated by the Greed Collective™.

Raise your flagons brothers, and drink a toast to the fallen!

Agalloch · December 2016

We must have some crates as a reward for some achievements/achievement points) in the game ..or like the system in Guild Wars 2..

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Achievement_rewards

I'm sure this incentive will be beneficial for the game.

English is not my native language.