Seminolegirl1992 wrote: »

I see it as monetizing something that should only cost gold.

bying old skyshards for alts with gold is actually not a bad idea.

No. Just no. Once a toon has found every skyshard in the base game (and thus can buy the skyshard furnishing), purchasing and applying those skyshardd to alts should be a free possibility, akin to a New Game+. At worst it should be purchasable for both in-game gold and out-of-game currency.

Skyshards should be unlocked per account for free, not something that you have to pay for. Same with mount feeding and alliance rank.

Universe wrote: »

Hey everyone,
It is known that ZOS are planning to allow players to buy Skyshard zone packs unlocks through the crown store for alt characters, only if the relevant zone skyshard achievement is already unlocked on other character.
There will be no option to buy the skyshard packs through ingame option(such as gold), the player will have to either grind for skyshards or buy the relevant zone/s skyshard pack/s(if the achievement was unlocked on other character).
This is planned for Elsweyr Update.

Do you think that Skyshard packs should be made available for purchase through the Crown Store ?
This poll is not about if it is Pay to win/Pay For Convenience or not, this poll is only about if skyshard packs be made available for purchase through the crown store while there will be no ingame option to get them other than doing the grind.
Note: Crown store skyshard packs can't be gifted to other players.

Note for the Mods:

This is not a duplicate discussion since this discussion's topic is not about if skyshards are P2W or not, this discussion is about if ZOS should include skyshard packs in the crown store for alt characters while there is no other option to unlock them other than grinding.

What they have coming is fine. Still have to hunt then at least once. It makes it a bit easier for altaholics, and frankly skyshards offer no true advantage

InvictusApollo wrote: »

Unlocking skyshards is super easy. I don't know why even bother with it since there is another much more grindy thing that you have to do for your alts: leveling Undaunted to get that resources buff.
Furthermore I don't care if someone gets skyshards from the crown store or by running around a zone.

The discrepancy lays in the fact that Undaunted requires knowledge of the game, it's mechanics and your class. You are tied in to and are required to complete content to level Undaunted where as skyshards are just run and grab, even the ones in delves.

Universe wrote: »

I believe that skyshards shouldn't be made available for purchase in the crown store since it is directly tied to a very long grind for power by skill points(3 skyshards = 1 skill point) and making it available through the crown store is a shortcut for the whales.
No one should be allowed to skip this grind despite the fact he already earned the relevant skyshard achievement/s before.
It is an integral part of the game.
Also, there will be no ingame option to buy the skyshard packs(such as, gold) to skip the long grind of unlocking them, this makes this type of crown store monetization of skyshard packs even more greedy and it will be the only way to obtain the skyshards fast.
Crown Store Shortcuts for Hard/long grinds, such as skyshards, champion points, skill lines and Monster Helm drops etc. shouldn't be available in the crown store.
The game should be played, not bought by a thousand micro transactions.

I will explain by answering to your comment.

The game already has shortcuts for whales, or people who sub and get crowns each month. Some of these include:

• riding lessons
• motifs (which some are quite hard to get or cost a ton in game)
• research scrolls
• xp gains
• storage, banker, merchant
• furnishings/houses (I included them because with crowns you save gold which can be used at something else)

Also your gear is shared, which is the greatest shortcut this game has. When I played WoW, I got a rare BiS rogue dagger on my mage alt (for him it was useless), and there was nothing I could do about it, there was no system to trade between party members (at that time) or alts. In this game things are much much more convenient regarding the most important issue in mmos, which is gear.

Your dyes and cosmetic look of the motifs you learn are also shared.

You say that none should be allowed to skip the grind, but you already skip a lot of grind when you use your main char to boost your alt with gear, enchants, food, xp potions. Getting skill points from your main is not different, it is even less than getting boosts and gear, because the skill points only allow you to enable some skills faster and get in the game you want to play (pvp/dungeons, whatever) faster.

So your only point comes from the sad reality that people have to pay for something they have already unlocked, or done, to skip that time sink on an alt. Because there are many other shortcuts of which you do not complain in this post, like I pointed out. Paying for those is or is not fair, and we need to see the price. Regardless, getting those does not give you an edge, that would be true if a player could buy and add more champion points than others, or if you could buy very powerful weapons from the cash shop, like in TES Blades

P.S. I forgot to mention that I unlocked all the skyshards in the base game, including Cyro, and I only need a few from Murkmire which I do not bother with because I have enough already. Getting the skyshards locked behind the enemy gates was the hardest of all. But that is not the issue. The devs are after some cash with this move, but they also encourage people to complete certain achievements and thus to "reward" the ones commited enough to do some completionist style achievements. If you want a game that does not charge money, you need to go back a couple of decades.

To be honest, buying Welkynar from the cash shop is more a slap in the face to those doing vCR or farming fragments, than this skyshard boost is to most players. I have several alts and am playing them less because I like to do new stuff with my main, rather than doing the same chore all over again.

People keep saying "This doesn't harm anyone," and, at face value, they're technically right. Your buying skyshards in and of itself doesn't hurt anyone. I'm also not opposed to ZOS making money, as I'm realistic enough to realize they're a company, not a charity, and if they don't make profit, there's no reason for their doors to stay open.

The issue I have with the argument is that, whether you can see it or not, this has the potential to hurt everyone. Let's say that, next year, ZOS decides to design a new skill line or create a new guild, similar to what they did with Summerset. As they're making it, they have a choice. They can make it good and fun and enjoyable, in which case they make profit off the chapter. Or they make it incredibly strong, but make the grind hellacious, in which case they profit off the people buying the chapter to access the skill line and the people buying the instant levelup to get it over with on their alts. And if you don't think they would or that people wouldn't accept it, just look at how many people are clamoring for Psijic Order to be added. Then imagine they made a skill line with stronger skills, but a leveling process far more tedious, and tell me how many people would fork over money. Then try to tell me the folks at marketing wouldn't be the least bit tempted.

In that sense, your paying for convenience now has the very real potential to become paying for everyone's inconvenience later. And that harms everyone playing the game, and is reason enough to be, if not opposed to the idea, at least extremely wary of the idea and the effects and incentives it brings with it.

As much as I dislike the Clown Store, I would actually consider buying Skyshard unlocks only for the shards located in PVP zones. I am not a huge fan of the PVP portion of this game, and not having to infiltrate rival factions to collect the Skyshards, Treasure maps, etc. is something I would save up for with my monthly Crowns allowance from ESO+.

Talk about some lazy BS. You know what, I don't want to have to run Vet maelstrom arena anymore to get weapons i need for my alts lets add that to the crown store too (*sarcasm*)...smh. Hell lets just make quest completion payable too (*More sarcasm*) .

RDMyers65b14_ESO wrote: »

Skyshards should be unlocked per account for Free, not something that you have to pay for
Same with mount feeding and alliance rank.

Amen... how many times do we need to do the main quest line... for the love of God! Please give us global or account achievements. Skyshards, lore books and the Psijic skill line to name a few.

Didnt wow have a feature where if you had a max lvl character you could just roll a new one and not have to do all the damb grinding?

I enjoy pvp and dont particularly care to be forced to pve over and over for each new toon. "Play your way" for me equals ending the pve grind.

AlnilamE wrote: »

Tyreal1974 wrote: »

As much as I dislike the Clown Store, i would actually consider buying Skyshards unlocks only for the shards located in PVP zones. I am not a huge fan of the PVP portion of this game, and having to infiltrate rival factions to collects the Skyshards, Treasure maps, etc. is something i would save up for with my monthly Crowns allowance from ESO+.

You will need to have the achievement on at least one character to unlock the skyshards in a zone, though. Now, considering that there are 3 separate skyshard achievements for Cyrodiil (one for each alliance zone), there could be a way around that if they don't require the Cyrodiil Skyshard Hunter for it.

That's kind of what I was thinking. Only having to hunt Skyshards once in Cyrodil on my main and then being able to pay some of my stashed away Clowns on my alt characters would be worth it to me.

BrightOblivion wrote: »

People keep saying "This doesn't harm anyone," and, at face value, they're technically right. Your buying skyshards in and of itself doesn't hurt anyone. I'm also not opposed to ZOS making money, as I'm realistic enough to realize they're a company, not a charity, and if they don't make profit, there's no reason for their doors to stay open.

The issue I have with the argument is that, whether you can see it or not, this has the potential to hurt everyone. Let's say that, next year, ZOS decides to design a new skill line or create a new guild, similar to what they did with Summerset. As they're making it, they have a choice. They can make it good and fun and enjoyable, in which case they make profit off the chapter. Or they make it incredibly strong, but make the grind hellacious, in which case they profit off the people buying the chapter to access the skill line and the people buying the instant levelup to get it over with on their alts. And if you don't think they would or that people wouldn't accept it, just look at how many people are clamoring for Psijic Order to be added. Then imagine they made a skill line with stronger skills, but a leveling process far more tedious, and tell me how many people would fork over money. Then try to tell me the folks at marketing wouldn't be the least bit tempted.

In that sense, your paying for convenience now has the very real potential to become paying for everyone's inconvenience later. And that harms everyone playing the game, and is reason enough to be, if not opposed to the idea, at least extremely wary of the idea and the effects and incentives it brings with it.

Exactly, you described my "yucky" feelings with words. Thank you!

Vandril wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

MornaBaine wrote: »

My support for this, or lack of same, will depend entirely on the price ZOS sets for it.

I figure it is going to be really really cheap, or "time to mortgage the house".

I actually suspect it'll cost just enough to make me wary of purchasing it, but just little enough for it to remain appealing.

Either that, or, as you said, it'll be priced at "time to mortgage the house" levels and will see almost no one buy them.

I expect them to take a page out of the Event Ticket and Outfit Slot play book. The Crown Store will offer skyshards in packs such that there is a minimum cost, for those who just want a few, and a maximum cost, which is just a few Crowns past "OMG!"

I expect that the cost for the smallest pack, or option, with skyshards will be at the high end of "reasonable" to discourage over use.

MikaHR wrote: »

They already know VERY well how bad/tedious/anti-gameplay Skysahrd/Lorebooks/Psijic are. And they have 5 years of "feedback" from numerous players complaining about it as well.

Yes, and they also have 5 years of players saying that they don't want this.

Honestly, I think that people are getting this because the Crown Store makes it attractive to the business to do this. If they had to eat the cost of it, they probably would not do it.