Buying Crowns with Gold (How does the idea make you feel?)

Chrysa1is · July 2018

I personally really dislike this idea, even though i am fully aware that it doesnt affect me directly because all i need to do is ignore it and not get involved.

I cant help but feel like this is a dingy idea. I think that crowns acquired through a direct purchase or ESO+ should be for you and only you. Its hard to word it, but i feel a bit disappointed that gifting crowns is even a thing in the game, almost like it feels cheap or not genuine.

The use of gold should only be allowed on anything that requires gold to buy, and it should not be allowed to be used to buy what is technically our real money (crowns) that comes from our pockets regardless if the person selling crowns is willing.

Acrolas · July 2018

You can't directly sell crowns as per the license when you purchase them.

Once you redeem them for in-game items, though, it's an exchange of items with no real economic value. So if somebody is willing to trade a giftable in-game item for gold, they can. There's no way to 'profit' from it outside of entertainment and enjoyment you get from playing the game.

The problem would be if somebody put an in-game item from their account on a real world marketplace (eBay, Amazon) and asked for a real world currency in exchange for it.

VaranisArano · July 2018

It doesn't matter how I feel, since ZOS allowed it. I don't intend to trade gold/crowns.

I do think ZOS should have designed an actual trade interface that helps prevent scamming in addition to the gifting system, since I am of the opinion that if ZOS is going to do something, they ought to do it right. But no, we have the basic gifting system, where ZOS basically says "Record evidence of your trade and contact us if you get scammed."

DanteYoda · July 2018

I like it, puts the in game economy whales in their place.

Mister_DMC · July 2018

I like it, it's allowed me as one of the so called in game gold whales to purchase the latest crown store motif with in game gold.

Cpt_Teemo · July 2018

Would have been much easier for Zo$ to just make ESO tokens that either adds a month of sub or 1500 crowns per token just like the WoW token.

idk · July 2018

I think it is great I can gift an item from the crown store if I choose to.

While I respect people have different opinions on this and pretty much everything about the crown store it does not mean any aspect is actually right or wrong. It just is.

jainiadral · July 2018

I think it's a great idea, honestly. I've used game store currency- in-game currency exchange in several games and they've only enhanced my experience. In GW2, I've picked up a couple of living world seasons through their exchange, picked up additional character slots in SWL-- things that have extended and enhanced my gameplay time.

I'd love to have something equivalent here. And it would make me more likely to keep up my ESO+ status.

Dracan_Fontom · July 2018

I honestly don't care, sorry if that is rude. If people want to waste gold for crowns or real money on crowns for gold or whatever these people do go right ahead. There's more important issues to be worried about.

Knootewoot · July 2018

I don't care if someone does it. There is nothing pay-2-win in the crownstore so who cares.

f047ys3v3n · July 2018

I think it is nice for everybody involved and provides a round about way for ZOS to effectively turn gold into crown purchases.

Until they make a safe way to actually carry out the transaction in the trading dialog I will not be doing it though. Also, I would like to be able to buy sub tokens from folks with gold as in other MMO's but unlike crown purchases, I really doubt that would generate any revenue for ZOS. Realistically, most folks who would buy subs with gold are already going to be subbed.

jaschacasadiob16_ESO · July 2018

Acrolas wrote: »

You can't directly sell crowns as per the license when you purchase them.

Once you redeem them for in-game items, though, it's an exchange of items with no real economic value. So if somebody is willing to trade a giftable in-game item for gold, they can. There's no way to 'profit' from it outside of entertainment and enjoyment you get from playing the game.

The problem would be if somebody put an in-game item from their account on a real world marketplace (eBay, Amazon) and asked for a real world currency in exchange for it.

You can put it down like that, but essentially ZOS enabled exchanging in-game items and money for real money. This is obvious even if officially denied, mostly due to local laws and to avoid the label of P2W.

They should make it a safer and easier process, which prevents or reduces scams. Nothin gfancy, just some way for two people to exchange items asyncronously and in a secure way.

Mayrael · July 2018

Simple pay-2-win mechanic. It transfers real money into game goods like gold, services etc.

bellatrixed · July 2018

I like it, but wish they would have gone all the way if they were gonna do it.

For example, can someone tell me the logic of being able to pay someone gold for a brand new crown decoration, but I can't just trade someone a crown decoration I already have?

I would LOVE to be able to give my unwanted crown furniture to other players... but alas.

Other games do this. I played SWTOR for years and you could just directly sell any item you bought from the cash shop on the auction house for game currency. It didn't wreck anything.

So, while I like it since it gives me the chance to buy some stuff with gold, I wish they had just made it an intentional part of the system rather than having it be "allowed" but extremely clunky. (Seriously, the UI for gifting is BAD. Bad bad bad. If you're buying and gifting multiple items it takes forever.)

Not to mention the way it is now opens up either party to being scammed, whereas if you could just trade an already purchased item to another player it would be far safer. I am really confused by the thought behind this.

Mayrael wrote: »

Simple pay-2-win mechanic. It transfers real money into game goods like gold, services etc.

You should probably look up what pay to win means.

Sheezabeast · July 2018

It makes me pretty dang happy. I was having money issues irl and unabe to buy the Tsaesci motif in the crown store. It was going to be the only crown store motif I didn't have. Then I bought it from a guild auction and couldn't be happier! Using game gold to get something I didn't have real money for really made my day.

Chrysa1is · July 2018

Sheezabeast wrote: »

It makes me pretty dang happy. I was having money issues irl and unabe to buy the Tsaesci motif in the crown store. It was going to be the only crown store motif I didn't have. Then I bought it from a guild auction and couldn't be happier! Using game gold to get something I didn't have real money for really made my day.

This is the only thing that makes me stop and think, "hmm maybe its not so bad". I guess i feel like i have to withdraw my original OP and opinion after what you wrote because i can totally get it and understand.

Carbonised · July 2018

It's a win/win/win situation. People with too much gold get to buy their crown stuff with gold. People who constantly have gold problems (like me) can buy millions with a few bucks, and actually enjoy doing stuff in the game instead of constantly trying to make gold for our needs. And ZOS ofc gets a piece of the cake with more Crowns bought.

The only salty people are the ones who care too much about how other people spend their gold and money.

Runs · July 2018

I like it.

I got all 13 of the Mundus stones for my guild hall this way through 4 different sellers at a total of 9,320,000 gold. I could never justify the cost of the Mundus stones in cash, they were just too expensive for what could be accomplished with a quick ride from a waysrhine.

I am happy with the transactions, the players who sold them are happy with the transaction, and ZOS made money so I'm sure they are happy with the transactions. Win-Win-Win

Eso101rus · July 2018

I recently bought the crown exclusive motif doing this. I have plenty of in game gold, but was short of crowns. Many people have eso plus but don’t use the crowns as the guy in this case did. He’s happy I’m happy, can’t see a problem, plus it allows Zos to have better control of economy than someone say selling gold on eBay which is another story as it’s against the terms.

Turelus · July 2018

I'm fine with it but I've also come from other MMO games which have allowed it (EVE Online's PLEX, SWTOR's unbound market items).

Personally I think it can be a good thing for the game as it helps two sides of the community.
Those who have a lot of free time to play but not much spare money can spend the gold they're making buying items they really desire. Those who don't have much free time but lots of spare money can buy gold to get materials and gear they need for playing the fun parts of the game.

It also means that gold is moving around the game more, rather than sitting with players who have amassed great wealth and have nothing to spend it on.

Fischblut · July 2018

I love new gifting system!

I do save my crowns for emergency cases, but I absolutely prefer to buy cosmetics for gold.

I only wish that in addition to gifting, we got also some simple interface in crown store where we could buy different packs of crowns for our gold (and maybe even for AP, I almost never spend my AP in game and would definitely love to use it for some store cosmetics). So yes, I like the idea of tokens which other people suggest

It can be really handy in case of some limited time offers, if you can't find a person willing to gift the item in short time span until the offer is gone from the store

JKorr · July 2018

Mayrael wrote: »

Simple pay-2-win mechanic. It transfers real money into game goods like gold, services etc.

I keep seeing people say this. I have yet to have an explanation of what/how anyone with tons of gold is "winning" anything.

If you can acquire a huge amount of gold you might be able to set up a guild and outbid one of the established guilds for a prime spot for a week or two. Won't keep it unless you and your guild are willing to do a lot of work, though. You might be able to bribe the sitting emperor to allow you to kill him and take the title for 30 seconds or so.... I really can't see how having billions in gold would change the standings on the leader boards for trials, unless you bribed everyone else to let you/your team win.... You could buy tempers to gold out your gear/weapons/jewelry, but if your skills are crap that really won't matter at all.

So, yes, someone could get a lot of gold quickly if they're willing to spend RL money to buy crowns and take chances on getting scammed. I'm still trying to understand what they paid to "win".

Soella · July 2018

I like it. Pretty reasonable gold sink for most wealthy, ability to bypass mindless grind without coming to P2W situation.

I would like, though, that some limitation would be introduced - something like "not more than 10/20K crown bought per month".

Kuramas9tails · July 2018

Mmeh. I honestly don't care. On one hand I can see how ZOS would say that's not ok but on the other hand, I can see why it is a thing.

_Salty_ · July 2018

Its greasy. Its an exchange for real money for in game gold or items. No matter how much lipstick they put on it, its still a pig.

People who don't have the time to farm or grind for gear and mats can just pay for what they want with real money. Greasy.

Kiralyn2000 · July 2018

jaschacasadiob16_ESO wrote: »

You can put it down like that, but essentially ZOS enabled exchanging in-game items and money for real money.

But the person giving the gold does not end up with "real money", so how can you say that they're exchanging gold for "real money".

They're exchanging gold for a locked-in-game digital item.*

Mayrael wrote: »

Simple pay-2-win mechanic. It transfers real money into game goods like gold, services etc.

"Transfers real money into game goods & services". That sounds like a general description of the crown store by itself.

And what are people "winning" via this, given that there's nothing in the crown store that will make you "win"?

(As I said elsewhere, this - if anything - reduces the possibility of "pay 2 win" in the game, since for p2w to exist, there has to be something that can only ever be gotten for cash, that gives you a power advantage over other players in a competition. This removes the "can only ever be gotten for cash" from the equation. )

---
* random aside about the "value" of digital in-game goods. Star Trek Online recently started a giveaway, one of those "follow all the sponsoring companies on social media, get entries into sweepstakes" things where the top prize is a gaming PC, and the lesser ones are cash-shop items. The official sweepstakes rules, which include the prizes/$value/etc? List all the digital prizes being given away (including the $130 new expansion 'collectors' pack) as having a retail value of $0. Congratulations to everyone who exchanged $130 for nothing of any value.

neverwalk · July 2018

I actually like this idea, " Community helping others who need help getting some Crowns." nothing wrong here.

supaskrub · July 2018

I'm fine with it, but i think it needs one BIG improvement from a security point of view to protect the seller and the buyer.

1) agreement is made between seller and buyer.
2) an optional exchange/escrow function is integrated into the gifting UI, seller deposits item into the escrow with a request for gold from <insert gt here>, buyer deposits gold to complete exchange. If gold not deposited in X amount of hours then exchange is voided. (similar to CoD i suppose)
3) both seller and buyer can not complete until both gold and item are placed into the system.

N00BxV1 · July 2018

I think trading crown items (real money) for in-game items like gold, materials, gear, etc is disgusting. Just because you have money to blow in real life should not make you wealthy in-game as well. Sure you're not "winning" anything, but you are getting an advantage in-game that you wouldn't have had without paying for it. If you don't have the time to play the damn game and earn the gold/items then maybe you don't deserve to have them.

AlnilamE · July 2018

supaskrub wrote: »

I'm fine with it, but i think it needs one BIG improvement from a security point of view to protect the seller and the buyer.

1) agreement is made between seller and buyer.
2) an optional exchange/escrow function is integrated into the gifting UI, seller deposits item into the escrow with a request for gold from <insert gt here>, buyer deposits gold to complete exchange. If gold not deposited in X amount of hours then exchange is voided. (similar to CoD i suppose)
3) both seller and buyer can not complete until both gold and item are placed into the system.

The problem with this is it only works when you are trading goods. If you are trading achievement runs, for example, or skyreach carries, you are out of luck.

supaskrub · July 2018

AlnilamE wrote: »

supaskrub wrote: »

I'm fine with it, but i think it needs one BIG improvement from a security point of view to protect the seller and the buyer.

1) agreement is made between seller and buyer.
2) an optional exchange/escrow function is integrated into the gifting UI, seller deposits item into the escrow with a request for gold from <insert gt here>, buyer deposits gold to complete exchange. If gold not deposited in X amount of hours then exchange is voided. (similar to CoD i suppose)
3) both seller and buyer can not complete until both gold and item are placed into the system.

The problem with this is it only works when you are trading goods. If you are trading achievement runs, for example, or skyreach carries, you are out of luck.

did you actually read the thread title?