What's the point of limited time offers in housing?

ynimma · April 2020

I remember how much community effort went into convincing ZOS that having a classic orc longhouse-kind of property would be a good idea.
And there came Forgemaster Falls.
As a limited time offer.

My ESO-gaming became quite hectic lately so when I spotted Forgemaster Falls, it has been already history.
This is the second time I wanted to buy a property for crowns and had to miss it because they are, however part of the game's contents, not available to buy.

I know it's some kind of marketing wizardry and there are brains believe this is a great strategy to monetise contents but I really am a weirdo apparently and it certainly rather backfires on me.
Reason being that instead of being motivated to raise the excitement and wait another 10 months to be able to access a certain game content, I rather feel demotivated to spend my time in a game which has a concept of keeping me away from some parts of it.
This Forgemaster Falls, if I'm correct is now completely inaccessible content no matter if I'm a hardcore or casual player, whether I pay for ESO+ or not, may I purchase all the DLCs/chapters or not - really I can do the maximum possible to "earn the right" to access some contents, I am still a persona non-grata reagrding certain parts of the game because I missed a tiny time slot to be part of something.

Not sure how this can be profitable to ZOS spending loads of hours to create content but making it inaccessible for most of the playerbase most of the time but let me give a feedback on this "business model" as a simple customer.
I wanted to buy a 6 months ESO+ membership to have enough crowns to buy Forgemaster Falls but now I will not do that.
I had to skip Linchal Grand Manor the same way last year (also for RL reasons I did not have access to my PC when it was available to purchase) which was another reason I would have bought some crowns and/or ESO+ for it - didn't happen.
That's quite an amount of money I literally couldn't adequately pay into this game because this strange time limits of existing game contents.

If anyone knows any ways to bypass this and have access to contents in the game already available (which makes completely sense to me) please let me know.
Right now I try to comprehend this situation in which I have no access to some parts of the game I have really been waiting for, even if I would like to pay for it.
Help me out please.

Milo · April 2020

People thinking, "OMG i luv that house so much, and if i dont buy it now its gone FOREVERRR".

It works if you do it from time to time, now it just pisses people off, therefore less sales. But ZOS knows best i guess..

redspecter23 · April 2020

Limited time offers are part of a marketing strategy called FOMO (fear of missing out). Consumers make more impulsive decisions out of fear they may not be able to acquire the item later on when they have more time or resources to make the decision. ZOS puts a ticking clock on the purchase forcing you to make that decision NOW. They get to funnel sales into a specific time frame and manipulate human brains into it.

Whatever we think of the people in charge of game balance, optimization and new features, I guarantee that the people in the marketing department are absolutely some of the most intelligent, logical and manipulative brains in the company. They can't afford to have slackers as far as money is concerned.

Milo · April 2020

redspecter23 wrote: »

Limited time offers are part of a marketing strategy called FOMO (fear of missing out). Consumers make more impulsive decisions out of fear they may not be able to acquire the item later on when they have more time or resources to make the decision. ZOS puts a ticking clock on the purchase forcing you to make that decision NOW. They get to funnel sales into a specific time frame and manipulate human brains into it.

Thank you i did not have the rethorical ability to say that xD

YandereGirlfriend · April 2020

To induce FOMO.

FOMO then overrides your more logical thought processes (as fear tends to do) and causes you to end up spending money that you might not have otherwise.

Nestor · April 2020

Marketing based on people's needs and wants is much more effective with gamers as they tend to be thinkers and planners.

In other words, limited time needs to be a month. Or two. Not a week.

ynimma · April 2020

They certainly couldn't manipulate me.
Quite the opposite.
But now I see that it's the decadent psychological capabilities of the average, easy-to-manipulate gamer masses what prevents the non-automatons like my kind to play full contents in a game.
I don't know what is the bigger disaster: that this is the average gamer mind or that there are business models abusing this human defect successfully.

bearbelly · April 2020

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

To induce FOMO.

FOMO then overrides your more logical thought processes (as fear tends to do) and causes you to end up spending money that you might not have otherwise.

Can't really induce that fear in the supposed hordes of new people that come to this game regularly if you go months (or years?) between limited-time offerings.

I missed the initial offering of the Hunter's Glade (another limited-time house). As far as I know, they haven't offered it since the Wolfhunter DLC dropped.
How they gonna scare me into buying it if they never offer it again?

All they are succeeding in doing with this "strategy" is creating disgruntled whale-ish customers who don't have unlimited patience for marketing schemes.

redspecter23 · April 2020

bearbelly wrote: »

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

To induce FOMO.

FOMO then overrides your more logical thought processes (as fear tends to do) and causes you to end up spending money that you might not have otherwise.

Can't really induce that fear in the supposed hordes of new people that come to this game regularly if you go months (or years?) between limited-time offerings.

I missed the initial offering of the Hunter's Glade (another limited-time house). As far as I know, they haven't offered it since the Wolfhunter DLC dropped.
How they gonna scare me into buying it if they never offer it again?

They use that to set a precedent for the next thing that comes along that you might want. Say some other home is coming up and looks like exactly what you want. You'll remember this example and know that if you don't buy the new one right away, it could be years before you get another chance. They don't care about that older house at this moment. They used it to set an example in your mind of how long it might be between offers for any particular item and this manipulates you in the future.

HowellQagan · April 2020

bearbelly wrote: »

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

To induce FOMO.

FOMO then overrides your more logical thought processes (as fear tends to do) and causes you to end up spending money that you might not have otherwise.

Can't really induce that fear in the supposed hordes of new people that come to this game regularly if you go months (or years?) between limited-time offerings.

I missed the initial offering of the Hunter's Glade (another limited-time house). As far as I know, they haven't offered it since the Wolfhunter DLC dropped.
How they gonna scare me into buying it if they never offer it again?

I bought it because I was a werewolf on my main at the time. It's otherwise a pretty boring, mediocre home so you didn't miss out on much. I didn't even finish furnishing it and I'm no longer a werewolf on my main either.

RefLiberty · April 2020

As fomo is already explained, it just a way to make you spend more money on top of your already purchased 6 months sub.
Same as when you see that Only X items left in stock on webshops, than you buy, and they restock a week later.

ynimma · April 2020

redspecter23 wrote: »

bearbelly wrote: »

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

To induce FOMO.

FOMO then overrides your more logical thought processes (as fear tends to do) and causes you to end up spending money that you might not have otherwise.

Can't really induce that fear in the supposed hordes of new people that come to this game regularly if you go months (or years?) between limited-time offerings.

I missed the initial offering of the Hunter's Glade (another limited-time house). As far as I know, they haven't offered it since the Wolfhunter DLC dropped.
How they gonna scare me into buying it if they never offer it again?

They use that to set a precedent for the next thing that comes along that you might want. Say some other home is coming up and looks like exactly what you want. You'll remember this example and know that if you don't buy the new one right away, it could be years before you get another chance. They don't care about that older house at this moment. They used it to set an example in your mind of how long it might be between offers for any particular item and this manipulates you in the future.

And still how many "gamers" (I'll have to redefine this term sometimes because right now, understanding fully what you have described about this FOMO-effect, I'd rather call them as how Molag Bal addresses humans at the dolmens) are supporting a company with their money unquestionably in this absolutely abusive behaviour.
Tragedy.
And the best recipe to avoid quality in gaming as well.
I'm really sad.

xaraan · April 2020

Makes you feel like you have to buy it now. And if you don't have the crowns, and really want it, you have to buy crowns now instead of waiting for them to go on sale months down the road to buy it. And if you don't have or buy the crowns and miss it, you'll remember this next time you see a limited item.

And even for those that buy a ton of crowns on sale and save them, they know they have the crowns, maybe they kind of think they want it, but if it was there permanently would wait until they knew they really wanted it. But b/c they have 5 days to decide, just figure better go ahead and get it now.

PizzaCat82 · April 2020

It makes it look like there's something new in the crown store when in fact there was nothing but a few scraps added every few months.

EvilAutoTech · April 2020

I think it's just whalebaiting.

Although I have spent crowns on housing in this game, I will never buy anything that is only available for crowns.

AcadianPaladin · April 2020

I don't dispute some of the marketing logic but, at least for me, it backfires just as OP describes. If it is not convenient or there when I want it, I'll convince myself I don't need it. And I won't change my mind so a possible sale is permanently gone.

Somewhat similarly, mystery boxes (crates) and, as a result, gem store items are merely a curiosity to look at. I would happily buy quite a few of the items in crates/gem items if offered for normal crowns in the normal crown store. But I won't buy something if I don't know exactly what I'm getting and exactly how much it costs. This applies to anything marketed to me, including crown crates.

End result is I make lemonade out of lemons and congratulate myself for saving money.

January1171 · April 2020

ynimma wrote: »

I remember how much community effort went into convincing ZOS that having a classic orc longhouse-kind of property would be a good idea.
And there came Forgemaster Falls.
As a limited time offer.

My ESO-gaming became quite hectic lately so when I spotted Forgemaster Falls, it has been already history.
This is the second time I wanted to buy a property for crowns and had to miss it because they are, however part of the game's contents, not available to buy.

I know it's some kind of marketing wizardry and there are brains believe this is a great strategy to monetise contents but I really am a weirdo apparently and it certainly rather backfires on me.
Reason being that instead of being motivated to raise the excitement and wait another 10 months to be able to access a certain game content, I rather feel demotivated to spend my time in a game which has a concept of keeping me away from some parts of it.
This Forgemaster Falls, if I'm correct is now completely inaccessible content no matter if I'm a hardcore or casual player, whether I pay for ESO+ or not, may I purchase all the DLCs/chapters or not - really I can do the maximum possible to "earn the right" to access some contents, I am still a persona non-grata reagrding certain parts of the game because I missed a tiny time slot to be part of something.

Not sure how this can be profitable to ZOS spending loads of hours to create content but making it inaccessible for most of the playerbase most of the time but let me give a feedback on this "business model" as a simple customer.
I wanted to buy a 6 months ESO+ membership to have enough crowns to buy Forgemaster Falls but now I will not do that.
I had to skip Linchal Grand Manor the same way last year (also for RL reasons I did not have access to my PC when it was available to purchase) which was another reason I would have bought some crowns and/or ESO+ for it - didn't happen.
That's quite an amount of money I literally couldn't adequately pay into this game because this strange time limits of existing game contents.

If anyone knows any ways to bypass this and have access to contents in the game already available (which makes completely sense to me) please let me know.
Right now I try to comprehend this situation in which I have no access to some parts of the game I have really been waiting for, even if I would like to pay for it.
Help me out please.

As mentioned above, they're playing on FOMO to get people to impulse buy things.

As for bypassing, I have known people who were successful in submitting a support ticket asking to buy x item. Definitely not guaranteed, probably depends on who answers your ticket and how nicely you ask, but possibly worth a shot

Wandering_Immigrant · April 2020

To put in perspective why this strategy is so effective, essentially for every person who missed a sale on an item they really want, there'll be another person who makes a impulse purchase on an item that, if given an infinite amount of time to think about, would eventually talk themselves out of it or simply moved on to something else they want forgetting about the original item altogether. And since the person who missed out will likely keep an eye out for the item to come back and buy it then, and since ZOS doesn't really care when you buy it as long as you buy it, this creates a win-win for them with the potential to double their sales on these "special" items.

The real genius behind this type of strategy is that even if you're fully aware you're being manipulated you're still just as susceptible as everyone else. Because if it's something you really want you're going to buy it anyway because 6 months or more is a long time to wait on principle, and if it's not then you likely would have been the type to leave it on the back-burner indefinitely anyway, so it's no loss. Unless of course you're the type to just not pay much mind to the crown store in general, in which case you're not the target demographic for this and would be considered an anomaly on their sales figures.

I've heard that if you put in a ticket requesting an item you missed the sale on they'll often be willing to sell it to you off cycle. I've never tried that but I see no reason why they wouldn't as their goal in all this is make the sale, when they do doesn't really matter. So you can always try that route if it's something you really want.

ynimma · April 2020

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

I don't dispute some of the marketing logic but, at least for me, it backfires just as OP describes. If it is not convenient or there when I want it, I'll convince myself I don't need it. And I won't change my mind so a possible sale is permanently gone.

Somewhat similarly, mystery boxes (crates) and, as a result, gem store items are merely a curiosity to look at. I would happily buy quite a few of the items in crates/gem items if offered for normal crowns in the normal crown store. But I won't buy something if I don't know exactly what I'm getting and exactly how much it costs. This applies to anything marketed to me, including crown crates.

End result is I make lemonade out of lemons and congratulate myself for saving money.

That's how I feel really about all this.
(Un?)fortunately I am quite confident about what I need and why and whether I really need that or not.
Impulse buying is a nonsense term for me, I don't remember anything in my life I bought from such a drive (ooops, I may be lying, I needed a pair of shoes once when the one I was wearing dropped the sole in the middle of my travels, LOL. But that new pair of shoes I NEEDED right there for obvious reasons so I don't consider this as impulse-buying either).
I also rather do my research on things I believe I'd be happy to pay money for - an avid strategy but works well without any remorse that I wasted money or other resources on things what were smoke and mirrors.

Here I'm a bit struggling, not much time spent in ESO lately, I love the game's atmosphere but there are other games I do like playing as well. Stumbling into this lovely orc property I envisioned earlier a lot, I thought I might buy me some more time in ESO (I enjoy tinkering around in housing) but then hit this glass wall of - for me at least - anomaly people seem to accept as a successful business strategy.

It certainly didn't help me getting a grip and coming back to ESO more frequently.

Ohtimbar · April 2020

FOMO. It’s sleazy, but it works (not on me).

Nanfoodle · April 2020

Impulse buying

tsaescishoeshiner · April 2020

I'd like to double that I've also heard that they'll let you buy a previously available home if you submit a support ticket

idk · April 2020

The point is to sell more crowns. That should be obvious that if they offer a home during a limited period of time that some players that really want it will pay full crown price to obtain it if they do not have enough. Otherwise, people would just wait until the crowns go on sale.

In other words, those that plan ahead and buy crowns when they are on sale are the early bird that gets the worm. Those that did not and really want a limited time home will either go without or pony up the big bucks.

Personally, I go for the win/win part and could care less about any of these new homes. Save a lot of money that way.

GoodFella146 · April 2020

They still haven't re-released Hunter's Glade which is really interesting.

Elsonso · April 2020

Nestor wrote: »

Marketing based on people's needs and wants is much more effective with gamers as they tend to be thinkers and planners.

In other words, limited time needs to be a month. Or two. Not a week.

We also have a lot of collectors, so ZOS is not getting maximum revenue from these items. However, I am sure that people stock up on Crowns, just in case. The problem is that they have to be in the game long enough to spend it.

Ratzkifal · April 2020

It's to pressure the potential buyer's Amygdala (lizard brain) to dread missing out on something and cause an impulsive buy.

newtinmpls · April 2020

FOMO .... huh...

Back in my day we use to call it FMS

Fear of Missing Sh*t

Sylvermynx · April 2020

Ratzkifal wrote: »

It's to pressure the potential buyer's Amygdala (lizard brain) to dread missing out on something and cause an impulsive buy.

Hmmm. Are you a Relic fan?

Bradyfjord · April 2020

Some people have the money, and want to buy it.
Some people have the money, but don't want to buy it.
Some people don't have the money, and want to buy it.
Some people don't have the money, and don't want to buy it.

If you don't want to buy it, just move on. There is no one making you buy it.
If you do want to buy it, and you have the money, why not? No harm no foul. You get what you want, and so does ZOS.
If you don't have the money, then you can't buy it anyway. It is best to move on.

Marketing is simply making a value proposition to you. Only you can choose to buy or not.

Lysette · April 2020

To me it is like this - the more things I miss due to not having crowns at that time where it is offered, the more I get used to just missing out on things and it doesn't bother me anymore. i won't be forced to buy crowns just because they want me to buy their stuff. I'm the customer and if they want my money they will have to please me or do me a favor, not trick me.

kardie · January 2021

I'm going to agree, 2020 was a *** year, a lot of people myself included were laid off work due to a global freaking pandemic. I return to the game once I'm back to work only to find I missed out on a house, that honestly I really really want and would've even purchased furnished when I rarely do that.

I really hope they bring this house back this year so I can have a chance to buy it, now that I'm actually working again.