No free crates for ESO+ members during the next trial period

Rain_Greyraven · November 2018

Arciris wrote: »

I am more concerned about how they read feedback at Zenimax.

Player feedback:
Some of us don't like gambling and therefore dislike Crown Crates and would prefer to be able to make direct purchases from the Crown Store.
Zenimax response:
Ok, we are removing free crates as incentives or signs of appreciation and we have rework the Eso+ perks to give you discounts on Crown Store purchases, as long as a free item once in a while.

At first glance, so far so good, it seems Zeni got that part right.

But, that feedback was provided in the context of Crown Crates containing exclusive items, which never were, nor ever will be, available for direct purchase from the Crown Store.

That means that if we want some statue, or pet, or mount, or costume that are Crown Crates Exclusives, we are now "forced" into gambling, whereas the free crates system allowed to those that would never buy crates in the first place, to have somewhat access to those exclusive Crown Crate items, either by sheer luck, or by careful planning and savings (gems).

It's not only the free trial crates that were removed: daily rewards also now contain less crates, and even Eso Live now gives pretty much 1 crate when it uses to give up to 5.

Zenimax is simply turning off the supply of "free" gems and is using "player feedback" as an excuse to do so: "you don't like crates, fine, no more free crates" style..

This will not increase the Crown Crate sales. it will only frustrate players who refuse to gamble and who will now see some items locked behind a gambling wall, without any other means to get them.

PS: I have a headache atm so I can't make a list of Zenimax blatantly misreading player feedback but one case come to mind: the Azura Plasm from the Coldharbour estate that players interested in housing asked to be added to the estate, and when the estate came out, the promo text stated (to add insult to injury) that all Azura's plasm had been removed for the convenience of the owners of that estate I can't even...

Well..you aren't wrong, but that's what a company that gets accused of trying to hook five year olds on gambling by giving them a free crate (Think of the Children!!!!!!) is going to do.

They will still make money hand over fist selling crates, (and for those that question the marketing.... Zenimax earned over Five Hundred and Fifty million dollars last year and a good portion of that was from ESO ) they are even rewoking what they give as perks...just no evil crates unless someone makes the conscious choice to buy them.

Excuse my while I laugh my ass off.
Well played Zenimax.....well played.

Delpi · November 2018

I'm a casual player so I don't have ESO+ active all the time. BUT... I need to clean my inventory from time to time with the craftbag. The point is... I always purchase ESO+ in those free trials to just get the crates and enjoy the craftbag for more time. Why would I buy it this time if I can clean my inventory just for free and they didn't give me an incentive for buy it for a month?

Wtb... thanks for the free week craftbag...

Elsonso · November 2018

.

Arciris wrote: »

I am more concerned about how they read feedback at Zenimax.

Player feedback:
Some of us don't like gambling and therefore dislike Crown Crates and would prefer to be able to make direct purchases from the Crown Store.
Zenimax response:
Ok, we are removing free crates as incentives or signs of appreciation and we have rework the Eso+ perks to give you discounts on Crown Store purchases, as long as a free item once in a while.

Those two things are unrelated. The standard response to all suggestions for the game is the same, whether ZOS makes a statement or not. "We have no plans to do that at this time." If the gems are not good enough for you, too bad.

As for the crates for ESO Plus members: Has anyone looked at what ZOS has been doing here in the last half of the year? It is like a giant never-ending party. One million gold. Free Murkmire. ESO Plus free week. Holidays. Celebrations. Anniversaries. New event tickets for a mount. New ESO Plus benefits. Twitch drops. Sweepstakes. It's been nuts trying to keep track of it all. I feel like I need a vacation.

If ZOS were doing nothing else right now, yeah, these few crates would be significant, but this year those crates are like pocket lint.

Eso101rus · November 2018

lordrichter wrote: »

.

Arciris wrote: »

I am more concerned about how they read feedback at Zenimax.

Player feedback:
Some of us don't like gambling and therefore dislike Crown Crates and would prefer to be able to make direct purchases from the Crown Store.
Zenimax response:
Ok, we are removing free crates as incentives or signs of appreciation and we have rework the Eso+ perks to give you discounts on Crown Store purchases, as long as a free item once in a while.

Those two things are unrelated. The standard response to all suggestions for the game is the same, whether ZOS makes a statement or not. "We have no plans to do that at this time." If the gems are not good enough for you, too bad.

As for the crates for ESO Plus members: Has anyone looked at what ZOS has been doing here in the last half of the year? It is like a giant never-ending party. One million gold. Free Murkmire. ESO Plus free week. Holidays. Celebrations. Anniversaries. New event tickets for a mount. New ESO Plus benefits. Twitch drops. Sweepstakes. It's been nuts trying to keep track of it all. I feel like I need a vacation.

If ZOS were doing nothing else right now, yeah, these few crates would be significant, but this year those crates are like pocket lint.

Whilst I partially agree with what you are saying, Zos has been looking at free dlc, holidays, celebrations etc., they have taken their focus on what players want....a game which isn’t broken!! Also I think they are saturating the game with these Indrik feathers way too much, people have started to look away at other games. They can offer as many Indrik mounts as they want, but if they neglect the playability of the main game and release broken patches. So many have stopped eso plus because of this, free eso plus doesn’t fix the problem long term.

Elsonso · November 2018

. NVM (off topic)

geonsocal · November 2018

sign of the times in eso...

lots of new gaming alternatives to eso...

surprising to see them "tightening" their grip on incentives to players, particularly players whom help support the game on a monthly basis...

marketing/community zos folks have their work cut out for them the rest of the year...

I can only speak for myself, but, my perception towards the gaming "value" (and monthly cost of subscription) of eso is declining...

Valen_Byte · November 2018

Stick a fork in it, its done. On to 76!!!

rabidmyers · November 2018

Acrolas · November 2018

majulook wrote: »

For the free items it is not monthly. The article states: "The free items will only be available to ESO Plus members and will be indicated in gold text labeled “Free” next to the Chalice icon. Free items will be added to the Crown Store only on rare occasions and for a very limited time "

They softened the language on the follow-up article.

"We’ll be frequently updating the ESO Plus-exclusive items, including the free collectible, so be sure to check the ESO Plus tab within the Crown Store often to see what’s available!"
https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/55165

The Mara costume is still coming soon. The article was revised to take the Bal statue into account, but still kept the "later in the year" which is basically next month.

"One of the free ESO Plus member-exclusive items includes a unique collectible: the Priestess of Mara costume. Note that the new costume will not be available immediately, but will arrive in the Crown Store later in the year."
https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/54825

The Bal statue would have been approximately 2500 crowns in the crown housing tab. The Mara costume between 1000 and 1200 in the store. So that already exceeds 2400 crowns worth of crown crates at face value. I think 9k to 10k of free items per six month period is a fair projection. Some of that, daresay, may even include some free crates from upcoming seasons.

And it's not all about me. Somewhere somebody is going to be able to earn a Nascent Indrik this year that they may not have otherwise been able to earn otherwise. You can't put a price on happiness, but it's worth more than three dollars of a subscription I was going to have regardless of a free trial or no free trial. I know, taxes are being added, tariffs are making everything more expensive, and income tax season next year is going to poke a whole lot of people in the ***.

So if anything, that Bal statue is reminding me to relax a bit because there really are far crueler masters out there.

DanielMorra · November 2018

This is an important topic, let it remain at the top.

AlienSlof · November 2018

Personally, I couldn't care less - I'd love to see the crates gone entirely and stuff offered directly in the store. Plus: if I didn't buy something in the store when it was available directly, it's because I DIDN'T WANT IT. Why then fill up my collections with something I didn't want before and still don't want now? I could happily weed out about 50% of stuff out of my collections menu that I never use and never will.

Just stop with this gambling nonsense please. RNG needs to be trimmed back, not added to.

Varana · November 2018

Acrolas wrote: »

The Bal statue would have been approximately 2500 crowns in the crown housing tab.

But can I turn it into gems to buy the things I actually want?

Grynnyl · November 2018

A better solution would have been to give ESO+ users XX gems/month instead of an additional 150 Crowns/month.

theyancey · November 2018

I actually like the crates as part of the monthly incentives. I hope to see them again a few days each month.

AlienatedGoat · November 2018

Varana wrote: »

Acrolas wrote: »

The Bal statue would have been approximately 2500 crowns in the crown housing tab.

But can I turn it into gems to buy the things I actually want?

Pretty much. Crown furnishings are useless to me. I decon every one into gems.

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_GinaBruno I find your statements about increasing the value of ESO+ to be quite the opposite. You used to give out 5-6 crates for ESO+ subs during these trials. That's about 6000 crowns of value.

So you take that away, give us a mini statue and an extra 150 crowns (1800 for the year)? I forget how often these trials were, but I know there were at least 2 or 3. This meager crown increase and lackluster ESO+ statue reward aren't worth 12,000-18,000 crowns guys.

If you gave ESO+ subs a sweet exclusive mount equivalent to a radiant apex, then maybe you could argue that you were increasing the value. From where I'm standing, it looks like you devalued ESO+.

You might want to think about stepping up your ESO+ reward items and doing something more fantastic than a mini statue. When people want the 5-6 crates instead of your reward item, that should clue you into the fact that your reward item is ***.

Bhaal5 · November 2018

Make complete sense, theyve already con'd all the eso+ guys so no need to give yous anything.... Just need to convince those that dont have the sub

Thialmer · November 2018

This needs to be addressed more. They need to reduce the price for next month, or they need to give something to those paying for a service that they're giving away for free.

generalmyrick · November 2018

i guess we'll gain a little insight to eso+'s value!

AlienatedGoat · November 2018

Thialmer wrote: »

This needs to be addressed more. They need to reduce the price for next month, or they need to give something to those paying for a service that they're giving away for free.

I have no problem with the free trial period. It serves its purpose.

ZOS is taking away nearly 6000 crowns of value, and switching it for things that are, objectively, significantly less in value.

And then they say they're adding value to the sub. I call BS.

Ertosi · November 2018

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Thank you for sharing your concerns with us. Our goal is to provide our ESO Plus members with valuable benefits and exclusive offers on a more consistent cadence every month, instead of a few bonus rewards every once in a while.

In addition to the original ESO Plus membership benefits such as full DLC access and the Craft Bag, on November 13 we will launch additional monthly improvements to our ESO Plus membership. These new benefits - available only to paid ESO Plus members - include exclusive Crown Store items and deals, free in-game collectibles, and an increase to the monthly Crown stipend. If you haven't yet, you can learn more about them here.

Now that the final items for this first month of the ESO Plus membership bonus rewards have been released to the Crown Store, we are better able to see the value of the new rewards.

So what are we receiving this first month of this new program?:

150 extra crowns
Statuette: Molag Bal, the Brutal for free
Ebon Steel Dwarven Spider for 3600 Crowns

And all of this is at the expense of the bonus Crown Crates we used to receive. So instead we're being given enough crowns to buy 1/3 of a Crown Crate, a furnishing item that's just a resize of an existing statue, and the option to spend $35 additional dollars for a new mount.

Your stated goal is to provide ESO Plus members with valuable benefits, yet you fell very far from your goal. The bonus Crown Crates ESO+ members received during Free ESO+ weeks were are far better reward then these new rewards. I mean, when the difference is between 6 free crates that could contain any number of fun prizes and the option to buy something additional for $35 more bucks, what would you choose? I don't feel like my membership is valuable. I feel like I'm getting milked.

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom

SantieClaws · November 2018

Does any other traveller get the feeling this is somehow a bit … desperate?

Like a sugar junkie they beg for more and more and more crowns. Needing ever more to be satisfied.

I mean how much for an ugly metal spider? This is a membership bonus yes? We are supposed to feel pleased somehow?

This one is puzzled and more than a little confused by this approach.

Yours with paws
Santie Claws

DaveMoeDee · November 2018

code65536 wrote: »

Danikat wrote: »

Kanar wrote: »

There's a lot of zos white knights in here. A couple points:
1. Some have mentioned items/services going on sale after you buy. I would point out that you're a fool if you DON'T go back to the store and get the sale price. Or, price match through credit card. With services like cable, all you have to do is call them and you can get the new customer price. I mean, really, "a fool and his money are soon parted."
2. If you go into a restaurant and buy a burger, pay $4, and then after you the cashier gives free burgers to everyone then you will be mad too. Just because you don't see the ESO+ scenario the same, does not mean it isn't.
3. Zos can just add 1 week to all our subs to make up for the free week.

If you'd tried 1. in any shop I've ever worked in you'd be told "I'm very sorry you missed this promotion, better luck next time maybe". And you could shout and stamp and demand to speak to the manager all you like (and trust me people do) or threaten to report us to Trading Standards or your MP or your mum or whatever other authority figure you imagine might be able to change it and even if you actually did nothing at all would happen. You didn't qualify for the promotion, end of discussion.

As for 2. if you've ever eaten in a restaurant and didn't assume at least 1 table was using a voucher or some other offer to get a discount on the exact same meal you're getting then you're deluding yourself.

3. They can, but they won't.

@Danikat I suppose the more apt analogy would be this:

You buy a widget from a store.

The store announces, "Free widgets for everyone!"

You go to the store and say, "I'll take a free widget. Always wanted a second one."

The store responds, "No, you can't have a free widget because you already bought a widget."

In the restaurant example, if someone bought a sandwich, and the store then offered free sandwiches to everyone, they could take that second sandwich, take it home, put it in the fridge, and eat it later. I.e., being a paying customer does not disqualify you from taking advantage of a promotion. But since ESO+ is a service, you can't really get two ESO+ like you can with physical goods, so being a customer does disqualify you from a promotion. In the past, members were offered alternative promotions.

In any case, as people have mentioned, simply increasing the duration of existing subs would be a reasonable solution to that problem.

These are both excellent analogies.

The point of the crates was that people with subs are for ESO+ paying during a period when ESO+ is free. The crates were to make it feel like people with subs weren't paying for no reason. This is all just part of a larger equation of how much value people feel they are getting from their sub. With so many occasions where ZOS has changed things up such that value people though the sub would add ceased to be value, there are many who aren't hoarding craft bag addicts like me that will just take a pass on subbing.

People like to belittle the people annoyed about free Murkmire. Personally, I am very excited to get free Murkmire, even if I am subbed for 4 more months, because I don't always sub and like to own the DLC for those periods. But if someone was computing in their head the value they thought their sub would give them and figured access to the 1 DLC and 4 dungeons annually would make it worth the cost, it is possible they would have gone a different route if they were warned they would get Murkmire anyway. TBH, I really doubt there are many people who would change their subbing pattern due to the loss of a the annual single medium DLC like this, the analogy above communicates why people find it annoying.

DaveMoeDee · November 2018

I'm glad I read this thread. I had no idea one of the free things was available in the crown store. Sure, I'll never use it. But might as well grab it.

Khaleesi8688 · November 2018

rynth wrote: »

Jesus you morons you get a free statue since you all need free stuff it’s one event they aren’t giving people boxes yet they are giving us more crowns and guess what those that have subs not done yet they are still giving us those free crowns instead of making us wait to resub. A lot of you greedy ass pathetic people need just uninstall and leave.

Ertosi wrote: »

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Thank you for sharing your concerns with us. Our goal is to provide our ESO Plus members with valuable benefits and exclusive offers on a more consistent cadence every month, instead of a few bonus rewards every once in a while.

In addition to the original ESO Plus membership benefits such as full DLC access and the Craft Bag, on November 13 we will launch additional monthly improvements to our ESO Plus membership. These new benefits - available only to paid ESO Plus members - include exclusive Crown Store items and deals, free in-game collectibles, and an increase to the monthly Crown stipend. If you haven't yet, you can learn more about them here.

Now that the final items for this first month of the ESO Plus membership bonus rewards have been released to the Crown Store, we are better able to see the value of the new rewards.

So what are we receiving this first month of this new program?:
150 extra crowns

Statuette: Molag Bal, the Brutal for free

Ebon Steel Dwarven Spider for 3600 Crowns

And all of this is at the expense of the bonus Crown Crates we used to receive. So instead we're being given enough crowns to buy 1/3 of a Crown Crate, a furnishing item that's just a resize of an existing statue, and the option to spend $35 additional dollars for a new mount.

Your stated goal is to provide ESO Plus members with valuable benefits, yet you fell very far from your goal. The bonus Crown Crates ESO+ members received during Free ESO+ weeks were are far better reward then these new rewards. I mean, when the difference is between 6 free crates that could contain any number of fun prizes and the option to buy something additional for $35 more bucks, what would you choose? I don't feel like my membership is valuable. I feel like I'm getting milked.

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom

speak for yourself cry baby I've gotten what I payed for the crates are something extra that they are offering something else instead. you already get 20 dollars worth of free crowns that alone pays for your sub, then crafting bag, as well as free dlc. I don't remember when I sub'd it said I'd get free crown crates regularly, they are offering a statue for free instead this time around. 150 more crowns begins to add up so take some tissue dry your little tears and grow up, as well as everyone else complaining grow the hell up and suck it up. Personally I think all of you complaining are ungrateful and whiney little kids that should unsub and uninstall because you are not needed on this game.

.....Just Lol. Crying about crybabies. You sound more upset than the ones "crying". Also, your math skills need work.

todokete · November 2018

Please give me back the crates and delete that spider.

weedgenius · November 2018

Acrolas wrote: »

That's also the week when we get to see just what kind of discount they're offering on the Ebon Steel Dwarven Spider. If it's a deep discount, then honestly inexpensive collectibles throughout the year will probably feel better than farming some gems every few months.

How is 3,600 crowns for you? Talk about a slap in the face.

BringerOfOmens · November 2018

ZOS has explained their intent is to add value to the ESO+ account. After reviewing their implementation of this:

1. Adding 150 crowns per month for the same price = value added , thanks!
2. Discounts and time limited purchase options in the crown store = value added, thanks!

I dont have a problem with either of those because I do think they add value to the current setup.

I do question why the decision was made to then de-value the account by removing the 6 crates that were given to ESO+ members in lieu of the free 6 days given as a ESO+ trial.

This is the equivalent to charging your ESO+ members for time that you are giving away to non-subscribing members. The 6 crates were a valuable offset to that, and actually added some value to the account for being an ESO+ subscriber during those trial times.

I dont think you can really say you are "adding value" to the account if you add some things but remove things of significantly greater value at the same time. It does feel as though the ESO+ has been de-valued by this action. I hope ZOS reconsiders their position.

Varana · November 2018

3600 crowns for a retextured mount is ridiculous. Seriously. And being a discount makes it even more of a joke.

The statuette - of the antagonist and bad guy of your whole game, for crying out loud - can't even be placed in my home. Because it counts against the collectibles limit, and I've been at the limit for quite a while now.

To sell this as "adding value" is genuinely insulting.

RodneyRegis · November 2018

This is a pathetic argument. Like saying I bought a computer last week and now it's on sale so I should be refunded.

Companies do promos all the time, it doesnt give current subscribers the right to get anything free. You signed up for the subscription, if you don't like it then cancel. It's nice to get free stuff, but there's really no need for sod to give it unless they think the loss of subscriptions will hurt them.

RodneyRegis · November 2018

Now giving away murkmire free and no compensation for subscribers is totally different - dlc for free is supposed to be a perk of subscription, giving it for free to non subscribers forever is a kick in the face.