would never ever buy this. Such a waste of crowns

RottingAlien wrote: »

I would say ESO is at its prime right now. Lots of people coming in from other game(s), lots of content, new class coming up. All is great. And I'm really happy that ESO is finally getting the attention it deserves.
But this crown thing might just be what will turn people away. And I don't like the sound of it.
The problem is not this isolated SkyShard thing but if it will start happening with other stuff too.

TLDR; Being able to buy skyshards with crowns only, can open the precedent to future bought "shortcuts". If this is to be implemented, at least players should be able to buy the skyshards with Gold also. Like when using the shrine of Srendarr or Stuhn.

What are your thoughts on this?

This is already happening with "exotic cosmetic shortcuts" the likes of riding lessons and crafting research scrolls. There are dozens of performance enhancing P2W content locked behind expensive real life money paywall in the store. And NO, giving ZoS money each quarter for ESO Plus does not give you the prerogative to access any of this payway P2W content for the subscription price either.

Bottom line: there isn't a damned thing any of the fan base will be able to do to convince ZoS to stop milking single player TES lore for all it's worth. Too much easy money pushing out superficial content on this lucrative cash cow MVP. The only way ZoS will be inspired to stop going in this dark EA trekked direction is if players like YOU stop gifting them cash flow from ESO Plus and your impulsive, frivolous online consumer habits in their overpriced store.....

My only problem with pay for convenience is that it promoted time wasting mechanics to increase the attractiveness of the convenience purchases.

This is particularly egregious in eastern/asian game markets where they intentionally design mind numbing grindfests so they can market shortcuts and you see it creeping into western games since cash shops and gambling mechanics became the norm.

The psyjic skill ls a good example. It is passable the first time you do it and a little novel compared to the others, but when done on subsequent characters it is just frustratingly boring. I can't help but think this was intentional so they could sell the skill line for 3000 crowns.

Paid-for skyshards and skill lines are clearly p2w, since in conjunction with the broken battle leveling, they give someone who pays an advantage over someone who does not (e.g. under 50 Cyrodiil/BGs).

They also encourage ZOS to make content as mind-numbingly grindy as they can possibly get away with because they now know people will pay to bypass the grind.

In any case, that ship has sailed. ESO is just a shop window to the clown store. ZOS will keep redecorating the window to keep you looking, but the real deal is what's in the store.

RottingAlien wrote: »

JKorr wrote: »

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

I dislike this whole idea. Skyshards for crowns. Because what this basically means is you buy achievements for corwns. Granted you have to get this achievement 1st on at least one character - but this will lead (in my opinion) to more P2W DLC classes and base game classes being total trash in near future.

Why ?

So you would level up this new class and do hardest content on that particular class. What ? Your main is a NB and you are collection achievements on one character ? Well, PAY ! ! !

No one has ever explained what it is exactly that you win. Perfect Maelstrom weapons? Top of the leaderboards for everything? Emperor? Getting skyshards bestows super uber pvp skills instantly? People who buy them get expanded skill bars so they can use all those skill points for skills/abilities and employ them for their character? What is pay to win about skyshards?

The stereotypical munchkin players who find some way to justify being uber gods at level 1 can, after they do the work with one character, buy the skyshards and live their dream. Other people who don't see the point in buying skyshards won't. The only set of skyshards I'd consider buying is the one I'll never be able to; the ones for Cyrodiil. I don't want to deal with pvp at all, even with one character, and never go. I'll never get those shards, and so I'll also never be able to buy them. I can deal with that.

I have been avoiding commenting on such an old thread, but...
"No one has ever explained what it is exactly that you win." this is simply not true. You simply did not bother to read the first page at all. (EDIT: ok ok.. second page.)

And for all the people saying you don't win:
have a really basic lvl 10/15 character (for this example, magicka)
Buy mages guild skill line
Equip meteor
get passives.. not enough skill points? no problemo! just buy the skyshards!
Equip gear of the same level and go battlegrounds.
Behold a lvl10/15 meteor destroying everything in low level bgs

Did you win? if you tried this, i assure you, you did.
Did you pay? if you tried this, i assure you, you did.

is it pay to win? its not pay to win in the usual sense people cal p2w to p2w. but you did win by paying.

I mean, just the thought of having meteor at lvl 15 is hilarius if you think about it (actually think about it).

I never bought skill trees from crown store, but if they start on ONE, then your logic is failed, because you need to level up mage's guild skill tree before you can buy meteor.

And even if you get on full level your advantage still will be irrelevant in later stages when everyone has some sort of ult. You only get advantage for a couple of days over those who also started a new character. Your advantage over an old character is 0.

Im not sure why you people crying for this, For the first: YOU NEED TO HAVE GATHERED ALL SKYSHARD IN A ZONE ON ONE CHARACTER BEFOR U CAN BUY IT ON THE NEXT ONE.
How will this be P2W?
2nd: Pr now there is not one item in crowstore that will give any advantage at all..... Well this is a lie, Riding skills you can buy from day one and ofc u will have advatage with speed in pvp. but how many new players is it? who never have played pvp in eso before? not many so pls stop crying.

They should just make it cheaper thats all :P

flubber77 wrote: »

Im not sure why you people crying for this, For the first: YOU NEED TO HAVE GATHERED ALL SKYSHARD IN A ZONE ON ONE CHARACTER BEFOR U CAN BUY IT ON THE NEXT ONE.
How will this be P2W?
2nd: Pr now there is not one item in crowstore that will give any advantage at all..... Well this is a lie, Riding skills you can buy from day one and ofc u will have advatage with speed in pvp. but how many new players is it? who never have played pvp in eso before? not many so pls stop crying.

They should just make it cheaper thats all :P

If you had bothered to read the thread instead of simply pontificating, you would have noticed that nobody disputes the fact that you need to gather skyshards on some character before being allowed to purchase them.

With that said, you can start a fresh character, get the skill lines and the skill points needed to unlock and morph the skills much earlier than you might otherwise through paying. Then, via the wonders of battle leveling, you can be more competitive in certain scenarios (e.g. under 50 PvP) than a player who hasn't spent the money on the skill lines, hence, pay to get a benefit, hence, pay to win.

The advantage of riding lessons is far less significant, as it only applies to situation where you're trying to escape. If someone catches you because your riding skill isn't fully leveled, the enemy has no advantage in the actual combat (contrary to having access to skills they wouldn't otherwise have at their level). But then again, I despise all clown store sales equally, so to me calling something cosmetic, optional, convenience or p2w is just splitting hairs.

RottingAlien wrote: »

I really hope that ZOS doesn't go down that road. That will be a bullet in the head for eso.
But, let me see if I get this right.
"Buy shortcut for Skyshards! yay!"
"Buy shortcut for Psijic Skill line! yay!"
"Buy shortcut for Mages guild Skill line! yay!"
"Buy shortcut for fighters guild Skill line! yay!"

None of the items in italics have been implemented since you posted.

And I strongly doubt they ever would be implemented.

Edited above per my ignorance.

Contaminate wrote: »

You are able to unlock more skills and passives at low levels than a comparable non-paying player in a PvP environment, creating a clear power imbalance. That’s P2W. Even if you’re not capable of utilizing that advantage it’s still an advantage.

This is P4A ("pay for advantage") or P4C ("pay for convenience") not P2W. The term P2W came from games where if you spent money on virtual items, you'd have a faceroll advantage over others who did not.

If you wanted to spend the time gaining a skill point advantage, you could run the maps and avoid doing questing and killing mobs, thereby collecting skyshards while minimizing XP gains. So you could then step into BGs with an advantage relative to others players who don't have as many skill-points-per-level as you do. But it would be tedious.

mb10 wrote: »

Time = money

So you choose what currency you spend when getting those skyshards. If I play ESO I want to enjoy myself not chase skyshards on an alt for the 5th time for hours. Take some money and save me the hassle/time after a long day of work please!

Congratulations, you are now a proud supporter of grind mechanics and solution selling.

Hell I'd go one step further. I wish we could gift sky shard achievements.