Outrageous Motif Prices

TheMaos · September 2019

All the prices in the crown store are ridiculous, but I wanted to focus on motifs since I think these are one of the worst things in the crown store price wise.

The standard price for most motifs is usually 4k to 5k crowns. (During any conversions I from crowns per dollar I will be using the best "deal" on crowns the 149.99 USD 21,000 crown pack which is 140 crowns per dollar)

This means if you take a motif like Hlaalu or Redoran which were listed for 5k crowns each on the crown store, buying ONE MOTIF would cost you 35.71 USD( The equivalent of 3 copies of the base game currently or 2 months eso plus). Each motif you could easily buy through guild traders for under 130K per. This is with each motif page averaging around 10k each, which is not a lot of gold for most people who take the game seriously or play very often.

These listings are a complete scam, it almost seems they are there to prey on people who don't know any better and buy them, so devs can get easy money by deceiving people by making them think these motifs are worth that much. (This is why I have the problem with the prices)

If you were to add up all motif prices though the crown store (only counting motifs 16-74) with lets say an average cost of 4k crowns per motif (usual price is 5k) it would cost you 1,657.14 USD to buy them all! With that amount of money you could currently buy 165 copies of the game, or buy an eso subscription for 11.8 years!

So on average if you buy a motif in the crown store with an average cost of 4k crowns, you will be paying 28.57 USD for a virtual clothing style, when you can buy two copies of the game and still have 8 dollars left over at the same price.

I don't understand how the devs make up these prices, it just looks like pure greed to me. You're argument is probably "well just don't buy them", and you are right! Don't! But that doesn't mean a bunch of poor suckers aren't still getting ripped off daily since the devs have kept listing the new motifs at the same price in the crown store.

Worst part is, that motifs are only one small category in the whole of the crown store. Don't even get me started on housing prices.

So I ask you, do you think this is fair to the consumers of the game for devs to over price things to prey on people who don't know any better and or are addicted to the game and the mirco transactions they include?(don't get me started on the gambling loot boxes)

ChunkyCat · September 2019

Motifs need a nerf. They’re over performing.

KingZeldaMaster · September 2019

Strictly speaking, entire motifs can be relatively difficult to earn in game, depending on what the motif is. Racial motifs can be randomly found while questing, but dungeon and trial motifs require a significant bit more effort to acquire, given that players must actually clear a dungeon or trial in order to acquire a motif page. If players want a guaranteed motif page drop, they had better be prepared to clear the corresponding dungeon or trial on veteran difficulty, and veteran trials are generally only done by a small percentage of the player base. Thus motif pages are expensive in guild stores, and some players might want to simply have the convenience of being able to buy their desired motif rather than spending tens to hundreds of thousands of gold just to complete a motif chapter. I haven't ever purchased a motif from the crown store personally, but I can understand why some people might want to; and given the difficulty of acquiring certain motifs, I'm sure that there are players who do not mind the motif prices in the crown store.

VaranisArano · September 2019

The in-game motifs in the Crown Store are there for convenience or people who gotta have the new motif day 1, not as a replacement for most players getting the motifs through playing the game.

If you want to skip playing the game, ZOS is going to make you pay through the nose for it.

Of course, sometimes ZOS does it deliberately to make more sales, such as with the Welkynar motif, which ZOS made so annoying to collect in game that many players simply bought it via gifting.

TheMaos · September 2019

Yes sure maybe people don't want to grind for them, but that doesn't excuse the fact that dungeon motifs in the crown store cost twice as much as the dlc themselves. If we are talking about welkynar it costs more than the entire chapter upgrade that you can earn it in.

VaranisArano · September 2019

TheMaos wrote: »

Yes sure maybe people don't want to grind for them, but that doesn't excuse the fact that dungeon motifs in the crown store cost twice as much as the dlc themselves. If we are talking about welkynar it costs more than the entire chapter upgrade that you can earn it in.

That means that the value of the in game motifs is maintained AND that anyone who wants to skip playing the game (to get them or get the gold to buy them) has to pay through the nose for skipping content.

I'm not really seeing why this is a problem for ZOS.

TheMaos · September 2019

It's a problem for consumers addicted to the game and or its micro transactions.. If you need to have the motif day one or are willing to part with 30 dollars for a virtual item you are *** addicted and they know that. So they have make it harder to get on purpose like the new dungeon or trial motifs to rake in more cash from people.

VaranisArano · September 2019

TheMaos wrote: »

It's a problem for consumers addicted to the game and or its micro transactions.. If you need to have the motif day one or are willing to part with 30 dollars for a virtual item you are *** addicted and they know that. So they have make it harder to get on purpose like the new dungeon or trial motifs to rake in more cash from people.

Sounds to me like that's working as intended then. I can't expect game devlopers to make it cheap and easy to skip playing their game.

code65536 · September 2019

Nah. Motifs shouldn't be in the Crown Store, period.

Either do the content or buy motifs from other players who do the content. Buying from the Crown Store is paying ZOS to not do the content.

In a perfect world, motifs wouldn't be in the CS at all. Since we don't live in such a perfect world, I'll settle for the next best thing: prices so prohibitively high that they are essentially not in the CS. To that end, I wouldn't mind a doubling or tripling of the price.

TheMaos · September 2019

VaranisArano wrote: »

TheMaos wrote: »

It's a problem for consumers addicted to the game and or its micro transactions.. If you need to have the motif day one or are willing to part with 30 dollars for a virtual item you are *** addicted and they know that. So they have make it harder to get on purpose like the new dungeon or trial motifs to rake in more cash from people.

Sounds to me like that's working as intended then. I can't expect game devlopers to make it cheap and easy to skip playing their game.

Jesus I've heard about people on the forums being... Well, like you.. seems like this was all a waste of time. If people are that committed to thinking scummy and predatory business tactics like this are just ok well, ill go *** myself then.

Taleof2Cities · September 2019

At least most motifs are obtainable in-game, @TheMaos.

It could be a lot worse by having them all debut as crown store exclusive.

As most of the other forum-goers have said here ... there are other ways to obtain without paying through the nose with an exorbitant crown price.

The full motif can be gifted to you if you buy crowns with gold. That way you're not out-of-pocket.

Or, buy the pages piecemeal in the guild stores.

Either way, having a fit in the forums over cosmetics seems a bit naive ... don't you think??

TheMaos · September 2019

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

At least most motifs are obtainable in-game, @TheMaos.

It could be a lot worse by having them all debut as crown store exclusive.

As most of the other forum-goers have said here ... there are other ways to obtain without paying through the nose with an exorbitant crown price.

The full motif can be gifted to you if you buy crowns with gold. That way you're not out-of-pocket.

Or, buy the pages piecemeal in the guild stores.

Either way, having a fit in the forums over cosmetics seems a bit naive ... don't you think??

Hey moron if you could read, I said the insane prices feed off those addicted to the game, no one would buy something that high if they weren't. Naive and throwing a fit? No just pointing out how they feed of addicts for a quick cash grab and it seems that people are just fine with that. It's not ok, there shouldn't even be an option to buy earnable in game items with real money in the first place. Or will you also defend the fact they price things like werewolf and vampire bites and cures for 7ish USD and that is something that literally take one port to the rift and asking nice for someone to bite you or paying less than a thousand gold for at the mages guild. Is that a *** cosmetic? Or is that preying on actual naive people

TheMaos · September 2019

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

At least most motifs are obtainable in-game, @TheMaos.

It could be a lot worse by having them all debut as crown store exclusive.

As most of the other forum-goers have said here ... there are other ways to obtain without paying through the nose with an exorbitant crown price.

The full motif can be gifted to you if you buy crowns with gold. That way you're not out-of-pocket.

Or, buy the pages piecemeal in the guild stores.

Either way, having a fit in the forums over cosmetics seems a bit naive ... don't you think??

Or what about skill lines or skyshards are they cosmetics i said one of the crown store problems. If you just HAVE TO spend 20 plus dollars to buy a skill line like fighters guild or mages guild to have it because you dont want to grind you are addicted. If you are literally paying to skip the game, just to play the game you are addicted. They make doing these things a grind just so people have to play longer and NOW they give you an option to pay for it to rake in cash.

Taleof2Cities · September 2019

Not sure if you missed what I said or conveniently ignored it ... you don’t have to pay real life money for crown store items because of gifting.

That means you can be addicted all you want. Items are purchased with in-game gold. That’s what I did for the most recent Baandari Crate pack.

No out-of-pocket cost. No cash grab.

But, please, feel free to continue posting your diatribes in the thread. They’re quite amusing.

bluebird · September 2019

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

Not sure if you missed what I said or conveniently ignored it ... you don’t have to pay real life money for crown store items because of gifting.

That means you can be addicted all you want. Items are purchased with in-game gold. That’s what I did for the most recent Baandari Crate pack.

No out-of-pocket cost. No cash grab.

But, please, feel free to continue posting your diatribes in the thread. They’re quite amusing.

While I can't agree with OP's style of writing, his point isn't wrong.

It doesn't matter who is charged insane real money prices; whether it's you if you buy it directly or a gifter if you trade it for gold. ZOS still extremely over-monetizes their digital content and milks a ton of real life money for cosmetic crap, or even worse, gambling cosmetic crap.

The money you have to spend on ESO to get even remotely similar content to other games is vastly disproportionate. For example WoW's $15 sub allows you to have 50 characters that can have as many outfits as you like and hundreds of ingame collectibles. ESO, even with its $15 sub allows you to have only 16 characters (max 8 on each server), and you have to pay $15 extra for any additional characters you want to create, which can only have one outfit with all additional outfit slots being another $15 extra, and mounts (aside from 10 in-game obtainable mounts some of which are seasonally locked I might add) are another $10-35 each.

The price of Crown Store items also doesn't reflect their ingame value, so I disagree with the other point that was mentioned in this thread that they are priced that way to maintain the player economy. They are simply priced as high as ZOS thinks they can get away with it, with no thought for anything else.

Arthg · September 2019

My subscription crowns usually go into motifs.

I can see no better use for them, and my in-game money is all used towards combat-oriented stuff (pots, food, new sets to try, upgrading existing gear, etc.).

Easily_Lost · September 2019

One more way to make the Crown Store items to cost less is to buy them when they go on sale.
Just my 2 cents worth or 1.74 cents on sale.

anitajoneb17_ESO · September 2019

I think it's okay that motifs are quite expensive in the crown store, since obtaining them ingame should be the primary mean of obtaining them (and the only mean, if you ask me, but at least this way, being expensive, they don't interfere too much with the ingame economy).

If people are stupid enough to pay that sort of prices for something without checking what it's worth ingame or how easy or difficult it is to obtain it ingame, then, well, they're stupid.
If you're not stupid and just don't buy them in crowns, then you're fine and you can ignore the issue entirely. Problem solved.

Whether or not a company is entitled to make money out of people's "stupidity" (yes that's being stupid, not naive) is a complex question that could deserve miles and miles of analysis and debate, without ever being solved. After all, someone could just quote me and explain how and why he/she bought motifs in crowns and why he/she did so and that does not make him/her a stupid person, nor a naive person. And he/she would probably be right. Like @Arthg , for instance.

NeroBad · September 2019

Arthg wrote: »

My subscription crowns usually go into motifs.

I can see no better use for them, and my in-game money is all used towards combat-oriented stuff (pots, food, new sets to try, upgrading existing gear, etc.).

As mentioned many ESO+ players have so many Crowns they don't mind to spend it on overpriced items (altough I would recommend selling your Crowns for gold that way you could buy more motifs). I know many who buys homes the same way.

Altough It is a scam, it is a same type of scam when you are in a new town and find a restaurant in the center, and buy their overpriced meals. Also the type of addiction you mentioned is a serious mental health which should be treated by a specialist.

Sorry but I'm on the side that we can't think for everybody, because someone will always be negatively affected (if it would be cheaper the ones who got it ingame would be angry, if it would withdrawn form CS the ones who got many crowns from ESO+ would be disapointed).

If you hear from somebody who got this type of addiction recommend them to seek help, and enlighten them that they are buying overpriced items.

Rykarch · September 2019

They release motifs for that price because some players certainly buy them, otherwise they wouldn't sell and they'd just offer continuous discounts on them.

Community feeds the crown store. The system will only continue that way if there are enough buyers making ZOS feel like they can add more motifs for the future for the SAME price and gain something with it, period.

tomofhyrule · September 2019

It'd be nice if motifs were more available in-game as well...

So far, the only motif I bought was the Tsaesci one, and only because it can't be found in game (it also went for half of what the other motifs are). I'm hoping that the Stalhrim Frostcaster is coming back as well, since that one looks incredible.

Otherwise, I've mostly stuck to buying them from guild stores. I'm still pretty new, so my main managed to scoop up all the racial styles pretty cheap from Guild Traders, and I got the Ancient Elf/Barbaric/Primal as well (just need to get my metalworking high enough), and I was lucky enough to find the Daedric motif on a main quest in Coldharbour.

Otherwise...it'll be a struggle to get them, and even then it's just 1/14th of it (I found Dwemer shoulders, but still got 13 more to go...)

However, 5000 crowns... eesh, that's a bit much. For me at least.

Now that Imperial and Xivkyn are on sale, they're both looking pretty nice. But I'm still not convinced; I still might be able to score them from guild traders. Otherwise, it needs to look amazing before I consider it - the only one I'd realistically consider is Bloodforge since I love how it looks, but even then I'd wait for a Crown sale before I consider spending that much.

There's also getting them from crates as well - I haven't bought any with gems, but I did get the Minotaur when the Flame Atronachs were around last. Still haven't decided if I want to use it (It's ok, but not my favorite) or sell it for gems...

Again, 200 gems for a motif is pushing the limit of what I'd like to spend on a single Crate item. The only thing I spent a lot of gems on was the Flame Atronach skin since I was dying to get that, but otherwise I don't need the expensive things. Mounts to me are not that big of a deal.

Neoealth · September 2019

Most of the crown store is massively over priced. Thier greed back fires though because if things were not so expensive I'd make lots of purchases. But as they stand nothing looks attractive.

You have to make people feel like they're getting a good deal zos.

heaven13 · September 2019

tomofhyrule wrote: »

It'd be nice if motifs were more available in-game as well...

So far, the only motif I bought was the Tsaesci one, and only because it can't be found in game (it also went for half of what the other motifs are). I'm hoping that the Stalhrim Frostcaster is coming back as well, since that one looks incredible.

Otherwise, I've mostly stuck to buying them from guild stores. I'm still pretty new, so my main managed to scoop up all the racial styles pretty cheap from Guild Traders, and I got the Ancient Elf/Barbaric/Primal as well (just need to get my metalworking high enough), and I was lucky enough to find the Daedric motif on a main quest in Coldharbour.

Otherwise...it'll be a struggle to get them, and even then it's just 1/14th of it (I found Dwemer shoulders, but still got 13 more to go...)

However, 5000 crowns... eesh, that's a bit much. For me at least.

Now that Imperial and Xivkyn are on sale, they're both looking pretty nice. But I'm still not convinced; I still might be able to score them from guild traders. Otherwise, it needs to look amazing before I consider it - the only one I'd realistically consider is Bloodforge since I love how it looks, but even then I'd wait for a Crown sale before I consider spending that much.

There's also getting them from crates as well - I haven't bought any with gems, but I did get the Minotaur when the Flame Atronachs were around last. Still haven't decided if I want to use it (It's ok, but not my favorite) or sell it for gems...

Again, 200 gems for a motif is pushing the limit of what I'd like to spend on a single Crate item. The only thing I spent a lot of gems on was the Flame Atronach skin since I was dying to get that, but otherwise I don't need the expensive things. Mounts to me are not that big of a deal.

Don't buy any of those from the crown store. Imperial is usually about 50k for the whole chapter. Not sure what Xivkyn is going for, but still far less than the crown-to-gold equivalent.

Last year during the Undaunted event (which should be later in the year, if it's not canceled due to Dungeon Finder issues), dungeon motifs rained down on anyone who participated so even if you're not doing those dungeons on vet to get the chapters that way, you have a chance to get them from your reward box, or get cheap from traders during the event. The newest dungeons probably won't have the motifs included, but Bloodforge was in last year and conceivably would be this year as well, if I had to guess.

I honestly can't imagine spending crowns for ANY motif in this game, other than ones that are crown exclusive (which are always cheaper because they are exclusive). The only exception might be Welkynar because ZoS made it such a horrible pain to farm but at this point, I have 8/14 (a lot from the anniversary event) so I'm not spending crowns or even gold to buy the store version for the missing 6. If I was going to buy, it'd just be from traders.

tomofhyrule · September 2019

heaven13 wrote: »

tomofhyrule wrote: »

It'd be nice if motifs were more available in-game as well...

So far, the only motif I bought was the Tsaesci one, and only because it can't be found in game (it also went for half of what the other motifs are). I'm hoping that the Stalhrim Frostcaster is coming back as well, since that one looks incredible.

Otherwise, I've mostly stuck to buying them from guild stores. I'm still pretty new, so my main managed to scoop up all the racial styles pretty cheap from Guild Traders, and I got the Ancient Elf/Barbaric/Primal as well (just need to get my metalworking high enough), and I was lucky enough to find the Daedric motif on a main quest in Coldharbour.

Otherwise...it'll be a struggle to get them, and even then it's just 1/14th of it (I found Dwemer shoulders, but still got 13 more to go...)

However, 5000 crowns... eesh, that's a bit much. For me at least.

Now that Imperial and Xivkyn are on sale, they're both looking pretty nice. But I'm still not convinced; I still might be able to score them from guild traders. Otherwise, it needs to look amazing before I consider it - the only one I'd realistically consider is Bloodforge since I love how it looks, but even then I'd wait for a Crown sale before I consider spending that much.

There's also getting them from crates as well - I haven't bought any with gems, but I did get the Minotaur when the Flame Atronachs were around last. Still haven't decided if I want to use it (It's ok, but not my favorite) or sell it for gems...

Again, 200 gems for a motif is pushing the limit of what I'd like to spend on a single Crate item. The only thing I spent a lot of gems on was the Flame Atronach skin since I was dying to get that, but otherwise I don't need the expensive things. Mounts to me are not that big of a deal.

Don't buy any of those from the crown store. Imperial is usually about 50k for the whole chapter. Not sure what Xivkyn is going for, but still far less than the crown-to-gold equivalent.

Last year during the Undaunted event (which should be later in the year, if it's not canceled due to Dungeon Finder issues), dungeon motifs rained down on anyone who participated so even if you're not doing those dungeons on vet to get the chapters that way, you have a chance to get them from your reward box, or get cheap from traders during the event. The newest dungeons probably won't have the motifs included, but Bloodforge was in last year and conceivably would be this year as well, if I had to guess.

I honestly can't imagine spending crowns for ANY motif in this game, other than ones that are crown exclusive (which are always cheaper because they are exclusive). The only exception might be Welkynar because ZoS made it such a horrible pain to farm but at this point, I have 8/14 (a lot from the anniversary event) so I'm not spending crowns or even gold to buy the store version for the missing 6. If I was going to buy, it'd just be from traders.

Thanks for the info. Glad I didn't go ahead and get them then.

I managed to score the Imperial motif at a Guild Trader, and I was going to try to add up chapters to see if it would be cheaper, but if events double drops, then I might be able to get them cheaply.

I'm still pretty new, so I'm nowhere near good enough to be able to farm dungeons yet, but now that I figured out how to use the traders, it's not as bad. I'll keep my eyes open as I'm going around.