Zos: Why am I forced to gamble so that I can collect the gems I need to get the mount I want?

Tandor · April 2019

oxygen_thief wrote: »

how much are you ready to pay for it? 2000? 5000? with their current system you can spend 10000 or even more to get it. their goal is to rip of as much money as possible. but you are adult why would you need that virtual trash so badly?

Actually, their goal is to cater for the market and thereby raise revenue to fund the game. They're not ripping anyone off, they're selling entirely optional crowns to those players who choose to buy them in order to pay for other entirely optional things.

Bruccius · April 2019

I don't get it.

This mount is merely a cosmetic. You don't need it in the slightest to advance in the game. So why would you blame ZoS for your choice to spend money in an attempt to gain something? You buy those crates, and the only thing those crates have to give you is things out of a list of items and whatnot.

You get what you paid for, it's a chance game. Don't want to lose money? Don't buy those crates.

Osteos · April 2019

Guys...get off your high horses. Yes it is unfortunate that if you want the gloom wolf mount gems is the only way to get it.

OP hopefully it comes around again at a discounted price. Maybe for eso+ players.

Na0cho · April 2019

Although I don’t agree with zos practice and price gouging, I don’t think “forced” is the correct word.

jircris11 · April 2019

wishlist14 wrote: »

The first time I saw the gloam wolves I fell in love with them and said to my partner how cool they'd be as mounts. I did buy crates on several occasions and way back...going 4 years back, I got a couple of mounts drop from crates. 1 rare, one semi rare and a couple of normal ones. I didn't get any of the murkmire ones I wanted so badly...I saw lots of players with them. I recently just got 2 pets and rubbish potions and scrolls which i get from my eso plus anyway. The gems take ages to collect.

Since the last crates I bought with my crowns dropped nothing much, I decided not to spend my crowns gambling...yes I felt my heart race everytime that khajiit threw the cards at me....only to feel deflated when nothing I wanted dropped.

Long story short I want that gloam wolf mount so much and I was hoping it was for sale with crowns since I recently purchased the big pack..it was gifted to me for mothers day ..early gift as my family know how much I want crowns for when Elsweyr goes live and I might want to purchase new outfits or a house or something cool that grabs my attention.

Most birthdays and even christmas I ask for crowns as gifts but it's still my money since it's my immediate family's money. My hubby and my money. I just bought the limited edition Elsweyr expansion. I have kids and they have needs too which always come first.

Im not going to gamble crowns I got for mothers day in the hope of getting something other than potions or scrolls or tattos i dont want or silly emotes...depressing. I have seen streamers recently open crate after crate that was gifted to them by theur followers and all they got was a couple of pets, tattoos and scrolls and those POTIONS. This is gambling.

You should at least have some cool mounts you can buy with crowns that are not freakin' horses. I apologise if I come across as very negative but I'm honestly frustrated with this. I have a real life, i have kids and rent to pay and car to maintain etc etc as much as i love eso Im not rich. Why cant i BUY a mount I really want? Withought having to gamble on crates. I want to buy costumes and hair and housing furnishings and maybe motifs...not crates that may or may not reward anything.

Unless they hold a gun to your head or lock your account behind rng boxes it's not forced. I personally but 10 boxes a month sometimes I win others i dont but the mounts never really look good

thedovahmon · April 2019

max_only wrote: »

thedovahmon wrote: »

You people would not like Gacha games.

Gachapon or coin-egg machines were very popular in the 90s in the US. Haven’t seen them around much now, but people still do the “blind box” thing just for more money. LEGO packets come to mind.

I meant games like Fate/Grand Order and Fire Emblem Heroes though?

max_only · April 2019

thedovahmon wrote: »

max_only wrote: »

thedovahmon wrote: »

You people would not like Gacha games.

Gachapon or coin-egg machines were very popular in the 90s in the US. Haven’t seen them around much now, but people still do the “blind box” thing just for more money. LEGO packets come to mind.

I meant games like Fate/Grand Order and Fire Emblem Heroes though?

Never heard of her.

I was talking about this, same concept, real life: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gashapon

wishlist14 · April 2019

Bruccius wrote: »

I don't get it.

This mount is merely a cosmetic. You don't need it in the slightest to advance in the game. So why would you blame ZoS for your choice to spend money in an attempt to gain something? You buy those crates, and the only thing those crates have to give you is things out of a list of items and whatnot.

You get what you paid for, it's a chance game. Don't want to lose money? Don't buy those crates.

It's just a cosmetic item? Mounts are a way of expressing ourselves in games just like armour styles, hair, pets etc...so to those of us that like to have different mou ts yes it matters. Anyway I can argue my point forever that crates feel like gambling
I was venting so my job is done. I genuinely and strongly believe it's gambling.

wishlist14 · April 2019

Bruccius wrote: »

I don't get it.

This mount is merely a cosmetic. You don't need it in the slightest to advance in the game. So why would you blame ZoS for your choice to spend money in an attempt to gain something? You buy those crates, and the only thing those crates have to give you is things out of a list of items and whatnot.

You get what you paid for, it's a chance game. Don't want to lose money? Don't buy those crates.

The only way to get cool mounts and some of the cooler pets is to buy crates so at least you can collect gems. I can't be bothered arguing with you guys honestly...think what you want. Im not chaging my very strong views. Anyway I got gifted crates so was able to get enough gems to get gloam pet and mount. Im not happy about thie system but I can't change it only vent about it.

Iccotak · April 2019

Subscribe to ESO
save your crowns over the months
buys crown crates

Aulus_Claudius · April 2019

I find it wonderful that ZOS releases the ugliest mounts in the game as the most expensive. I've never seen a 400 gem mount I would use even if it were free, and the stupid transparent wolf is no different. The nice, simple, realistic-looking mounts are always offered at a reasonable price.

To all the people claiming "it's not forced," you're willfully misunderstanding the OP's (legitimate) use of the word and not only engaging in pedantry which doesn't further the discussion, but making abjectly false statements against a straw man. The statement made was "if I want to ______, I'm forced to ______," in this case referring to the fact that if you want the wolf mount you must purchase loot crates in bulk. There is no other way, and they're forcing people who want the mount into one very expensive avenue in order to achieve their goal. That's different from saying "they're forcing me to buy crates at gunpoint, period, with no context or condition."

Look at it another way: you're walking down a public street and there are construction barriers in place to herd foot traffic. It is correct in this context to say that pedestrians are forced to use the path provided, even though in the other context of the word no one was (hopefully) actually held at gunpoint and made to walk down that particular street. They could have gone somewhere else, sure, but that's the only way provided to get to any destination on that street.

The same applies to loot boxes, and those are both acceptable uses of the word. It's considered part of basic reading comprehension to try to figure out which definition of a word is being used based on context. Or is looking in the dictionary every time someone uses definition 1 of a word and answering based on an interpretation using definition 2 some new form of trolling I'm not aware of?

shaielzafine · April 2019

OP, if you really want a solution, I think you can get around this problem by using in game gold to trade with other players for crowns. The TCE on discord conversion is like 225 gold to 1 crown right now. They trade on PC NA and there's a zos employee in that discord.

The reason they have upped the prices on items like horses, included NEW items like event tickets, added crown gem only items, have "limited time crown store exclusive" items (that later on aren't actually exclusive like the griffon pet or the weapons pack styles) is because it makes them more money. They give little Twitch drops for free with abysmal loot, so you get used to gambling on the crown crates, and they have crown crates to make money. People accumulate gems over time and they need a "gem sink" so they start adding NEW LIMITED TIME EXCLUSIVE (all digital, btw, they don't run out) items that you can trade for gems. If you don't have the money, don't spend it. If you have the money and this sort of digital good makes you happy, then go spend it away. ZOS will keep amping up the marketing tactics where bankers & houses cost more than the actual game, as long as people are buying. Personally? I support the housing system in ESO, and now I can see how that has led to all these limited time mansions instead of having new reasonable sized houses that you can actually fill up with furniture.

Your only other option is to not want the mount. Or go play a different game. Lots of other MMOs like FFXIV and WoW and GW2 give mounts as quest rewards, or drops in different raids and as rewards for all kinds of events.

TLDR: Your options are 1. buy crates using in game gold & trade that for crowns 2. buy using your IRL money if you have it 3. don't want it. 4. Play a different game where you can unlock more mounts & cosmetics in game instead of from all kinds of microtransactions

DaveMoeDee · April 2019

Yeah, it is a crappy system.

No, you are not forced.

There are people who have no qualm buying 100 of them or more. The crates are for the whales. Just pretend they don't exist.

If you really want it, compute how many crates you need to get the gems to buy what you want and use that crate count as you baseline for the cost of that crate item. Just ignore the randomness. Assume the cost of the item is the number of crates you will need to buy to guarantee getting it.

Whether you get angry or rage is up to the individual. Not my style.

CompM4s · April 2019

Its a good thing that zos is making revenue. The longer they make money the longer the game stays alive. Plus with crown crates they have revenue in between dlcs and chapters. Which will help their team not rush new content due to money issues.

Peekachu99 · April 2019

Jaraal wrote: »

Unfortunately, the economic divide is real. Desire to purchase nice/exclusive things doesn't scale with ability to purchase such things. Someone will always be disappointed.

I recall a guild conversation in game not long ago, about radiant apex mounts. People wanted it, couldn't afford it, odds were terrible, etc. One guy mentioned that he had gotten the elusive mount we were discussing. How much did you spend to get it, someone asked.

"30k" was the reply.

"30k? 30k Crowns?"

"No, 30k USD."

We were stunned. "Wow, you really wanted that, huh?"

He proceeded to tell us that he was wealthy, and the money was no big deal. He said he was thrilled to finally receive the mount he wanted, and that he got multiples of the other radiant apex mounts that he didn't want, and so forth. Said he would gladly do it all over again.

Cost is relative. Many will be disappointed, but a few will be satisfied. As long as there are people willing to pay, there will always be people looking to sell.

I don’t believe that $30K figure, sorry. Your whole story sounds like a slippery slope fabrication, to be honest. Having spent a pretty penny chasing mounts myself, the statistical odds of that happening are slim to none. Also, there seems to be an inbuilt pity mechanism at about 150 crates, and I’ve yet to EVER see a duplicate radiant. The radiant rewards seem to cycle at least.

Hand_Bacon · April 2019

Maybe someday if UNICEF gets into ESO gloam mounts...

Sounds like a kid I saw in a store that really wanted a toy so they threw a fit. Just because its wrapped up in an argument against their crown crate system and disguised as anti-gambling and victimhood doesn't mean its not just another fit being thrown. We tend to tart things up as we grow up, but its all the same.

Kuramas9tails · April 2019

Right? You have to pay in game currency to get in game currency to get it.

I had gems saved up since I didn't like the other gem offers and like you, when I first saw those cute Gloam Wolves when Clockwork dropped, I was like "OH! That would be so cool as a mount!" and been waiting ever since.

Plus, I saw the preview in the data mine so I knew it was coming out but didn't know which current so I was making sure to save up crowns and gems.

Myrkgrav · April 2019

I bought crowns when they were on sale and got enough easily for the mount and pet opening 30x crates.

Chaos2088 · April 2019

Putting content behind only gambling is not cool.

TelvanniWizard · April 2019

Chaos2088 wrote: »

Putting content behind only gambling is not cool.

Not at all. Actually, it´s a shame.

Acharnor · April 2019

I bought a few crates with extra crowns a long time ago but won't anymore. Too much garbage! I would love to be able to just buy stuff with crowns in the store. So much fun stuff there you can never get without the crates. One of the few parts about ESO I am not on board with.

Goregrinder · April 2019

Who is "forcing" you? Putin behind your computer chair with an AK-47 telling you to either gamble, or sing him the Russian National Anthem Note-For-Note in perfect pitch, or die?