Monthly Crown Showcase Problem...

DarkPicture · April 2021

Moonsprite wrote: »

Browart wrote: »

[Quoted post was removed]

This advertisement didn’t show up until yesterday, the day it released. The crown gem exclusive was on the crown store showcase for April in small print. I expected it to be about 200 gems, not more than an apex mount or almost the price of a gem exclusive mount.

Thats not true, they didnt change anything. It was from the beggining annoucement as Crown exclusive. As always.

Moonsprite · April 2021

Browart wrote: »

Moonsprite wrote: »

Browart wrote: »

[Quoted post was removed]

This advertisement didn’t show up until yesterday, the day it released. The crown gem exclusive was on the crown store showcase for April in small print. I expected it to be about 200 gems, not more than an apex mount or almost the price of a gem exclusive mount.

Thats not true, they didnt change anything. It was from the beggining annoucement as Crown exclusive. As always.

Yes, it was always advertised as a gem exclusive. I didn’t say it wasn’t. The advertisement in your post, however, with the giant letters saying gem exclusive, didn’t exist until yesterday. The only announcement was in the crown store showcase with little letters saying gem exclusive.

I guessed it would be 200 gems at most. 500 gems is too much. I think more than anything people would like prices added to the showcases so they can plan better. I still think it’s way too much, but maybe other players would like to save for it and not spend gems on other things.

SilverBride · April 2021

Would looking like a spriggan enhance your experience so much that you'd spend that much real money for it?

I just don't get it.

Moonsprite · April 2021

SilverBride wrote: »

Would looking like a spriggan enhance your experience so much that you'd spend that much real money for it?

I just don't get it.

I would have liked to have it because it’s fun. I have enough gems to buy it, I won’t because it’s not worth it to me personally to choose it over an apex mount. There are a lot of people who RP though. I’m sure it’s more important to them.

Prof_Bawbag · April 2021

Edit...

Goregrinder · April 2021

Moonsprite wrote: »

I don’t understand why they don’t make things more affordable for players. The time developing the item is the same whether they sell a few spriggan morphs for 500 gems or thousands for 100 gems. They would make more money making it cost less because people would actually buy it. The same goes for the majority of the items they sell. It would also make the players happier.

You're wondering why a for profit company doesn't lower their profit margins? I mean... if the board of directors can prove to investors that the company can sell something for X amount, wouldn't it be the fiduciary duty of the CEO to sell it for that amount?

Moonsprite · April 2021

Goregrinder wrote: »

Moonsprite wrote: »

I don’t understand why they don’t make things more affordable for players. The time developing the item is the same whether they sell a few spriggan morphs for 500 gems or thousands for 100 gems. They would make more money making it cost less because people would actually buy it. The same goes for the majority of the items they sell. It would also make the players happier.

You're wondering why a for profit company doesn't lower their profit margins? I mean... if the board of directors can prove to investors that the company can sell something for X amount, wouldn't it be the fiduciary duty of the CEO to sell it for that amount?

It wouldn’t lower their profits. It would increase them. More affordable more people buy the items. Happy people keep buying. Unhappy people leave and shop elsewhere.

So let’s say 500 gems is about $250 and they sell 100 spriggans at that price. That’s $25,000.

100 gems is $50 and 2000 players buy the spriggans at that price. That’s $100,000.

That’s why I don’t understand the motivation to make things so expensive. If the initial one time cost of development is around $5,000. 500 gems is $20,000 profit vs $95,000 profit at 100 gems.

Ashryn · April 2021

My guess is that they don't want a lot of Spriggans running around. Perhaps its an issue with the servers, since special effects are more draining.

It is totally disappointing that it is set at that amount of gems when so many (including myself) were waiting for this. A bit lazy to release it as well without unique animations!

For me, any future versions just won't be the same other then leafy GREEN! 500 gems and such a short window of time to purchase make it impossible!

ThreeXB · April 2021

I personally think exclusive AND non exclusive crown gem item prices need a complete rework and lowered...500 gem polymorph, 2500 gem mount. Outrageous.....OR give back a 1/1 ratio for crown items extracted

BrentBlemish · May 2021

Moonsprite wrote: »

Goregrinder wrote: »

Moonsprite wrote: »

I don’t understand why they don’t make things more affordable for players. The time developing the item is the same whether they sell a few spriggan morphs for 500 gems or thousands for 100 gems. They would make more money making it cost less because people would actually buy it. The same goes for the majority of the items they sell. It would also make the players happier.

You're wondering why a for profit company doesn't lower their profit margins? I mean... if the board of directors can prove to investors that the company can sell something for X amount, wouldn't it be the fiduciary duty of the CEO to sell it for that amount?

It wouldn’t lower their profits. It would increase them. More affordable more people buy the items. Happy people keep buying. Unhappy people leave and shop elsewhere.

So let’s say 500 gems is about $250 and they sell 100 spriggans at that price. That’s $25,000.

100 gems is $50 and 2000 players buy the spriggans at that price. That’s $100,000.

That’s why I don’t understand the motivation to make things so expensive. If the initial one time cost of development is around $5,000. 500 gems is $20,000 profit vs $95,000 profit at 100 gems.

i agree and have been making this same exact argument about housing price. Your legit paying like $100 for an empty space. when you look at content your paying for... lets even look at the price of a chapter.... $40-60 and your getting sooo much content. whole zones, quest lines, new systems, sets, trial, ect. Yet they ask you to pay over $100 for an empty space.

My argument is bring that price down and not only would i buy a house but id also prolly buy furnishing packs for said house... It's all about the bang for your buck. I dont have an issue paying$ 100 if im actually getting a lot of stuff.

KovalskyNestor · May 2021

I think that there are many people who hoard a lot of gems, and they are looking for ways to empty them out. In last few months there were so many expensive gem exclusives + they added so you can purchase apex mounts with gems.

Moonsprite · May 2021

KovalskyNestor wrote: »

I think that there are many people who hoard a lot of gems, and they are looking for ways to empty them out. In last few months there were so many expensive gem exclusives + they added so you can purchase apex mounts with gems.

While this may be true, targeting a a small group of the playerbase and leaving the rest unable to attain the items, isn’t a great idea either. They want to attract new and returning players, but this isn’t going to leave them with a positive impression. The cost of the game, the necessity of having ESO+, the crown store, and crown gems are all things that act more like a deterrent than something to draw players in.

Time + Money= Investment

If people who play don’t have access to the majority of items (even if it’s cosmetic) because there isn’t a reasonable way to obtain these items, they usually cut their losses and just walk away. The investment wasn’t paying out in fun. Now endeavors might help with this, but this system isn’t out until June. The spriggan, in my opinion, is overpriced. It may be a way to dump gems for players who have a lot, but most don’t.

BloodWolfe · May 2021

BrentBlemish wrote: »

STOP doing this.

Then stop buy the Scam Crates! Players like you throwing stupid amounts of money at these scam crates are what's fueling this entire problem in the gaming industry and why companies keep getting shadier and shadier because they know they can because of people with more money (or more credit) than brains who just throw absurd amounts of money at this crap. If everybody stopped buy the scam crates they wouldn't exist and these kinds of shady tactics wouldn't exist either.

Hymzir · May 2021

Remember when people were in an uproar over the grossly overpriced Elk mount back in 2016? "4500 crowns for an elk? WTF? It should be no more than 1500 tops!"

Like I mentioned in a recent post: All online monetization is based on FOMO, exclusivity, timed offers and in baked fake "sales."

Stuff like this is not intended for the average player anyway. It's not really intended for whales either (that's what those ultra super duper rare bling mounts from crates are for), it's aimed at the people to whom this game is their main hobby. The game they spend several hours on each day, and who spend 300 or so a month on it. People who buy several 14000 crowns packs during each sale, and can afford to buy a 5000 crown crate pack each week. They got thousands of gems squirreled away and ZOS has the metrics to track how many there are.

So ZOS releases a gems only exclusive, priced according to that data, to rein in the gem supply, and to give the people who keep buying those crate packs an incentive to continue doing so. See, if you too spend 50 bucks each week on ESO, you too can be extra special.

Would they make more money by listing this thing as a crown exclusive thing for 5k crowns? Possibly, but it's not really what they are going after here. What they want to do is to reinforce that spending habit some people have on crate packs. It's about the big picture and generating steady revenue, instead of a single maximized sales spike.

And honestly, I'm kinda fine with that. I still find it annoying, and would prefer a different monetization model for ESO. It just isn't what I would choose to use my disposable income on, but who am I to criticize those who do? I mean... I'm planning on dumping about 900€ this month on a couple of medieval repro swords I've been eyeing since January, so... Yeah, to each their own and all that.

Moonsprite · May 2021

Hymzir wrote: »

Remember when people were in an uproar over the grossly overpriced Elk mount back in 2016? "4500 crowns for an elk? WTF? It should be no more than 1500 tops!"

Like I mentioned in a recent post: All online monetization is based on FOMO, exclusivity, timed offers and in baked fake "sales."

Stuff like this is not intended for the average player anyway. It's not really intended for whales either (that's what those ultra super duper rare bling mounts from crates are for), it's aimed at the people to whom this game is their main hobby. The game they spend several hours on each day, and who spend 300 or so a month on it. People who buy several 14000 crowns packs during each sale, and can afford to buy a 5000 crown crate pack each week. They got thousands of gems squirreled away and ZOS has the metrics to track how many there are.

So ZOS releases a gems only exclusive, priced according to that data, to rein in the gem supply, and to give the people who keep buying those crate packs an incentive to continue doing so. See, if you too spend 50 bucks each week on ESO, you too can be extra special.

Would they make more money by listing this thing as a crown exclusive thing for 5k crowns? Possibly, but it's not really what they are going after here. What they want to do is to reinforce that spending habit some people have on crate packs. It's about the big picture and generating steady revenue, instead of a single maximized sales spike.

And honestly, I'm kinda fine with that. I still find it annoying, and would prefer a different monetization model for ESO. It just isn't what I would choose to use my disposable income on, but who am I to criticize those who do? I mean... I'm planning on dumping about 900€ this month on a couple of medieval repro swords I've been eyeing since January, so... Yeah, to each their own and all that.

Imagine you expected to spend 900 on your swords because they’ve been 900 in the past. Then you go up buy them and it’s 4500. You planned ahead for months, only to find out the price increased 5 times what is was before. That’s what happened when polymorphs were previously 100 gems, now this one is 500 gems.

The prices of items should be included on the monthly showcases. There is no reason not to let players know ahead of time how much things will cost.

Wildberryjack · May 2021

Saw it would be 500 gems and just laughed. Nope. If it were 100 I'd probably get it but at 500 it isn't worth it at all. The lack of special animations plus it just looking like a green woman with thunder thighs, I mean it doesn't even look like a real Spriggan. Yeah hard pass at 500 gems.

Hymzir · May 2021

Moonsprite wrote: »

Hymzir wrote: »

Remember when people were in an uproar over the grossly overpriced Elk mount back in 2016? "4500 crowns for an elk? WTF? It should be no more than 1500 tops!"

Like I mentioned in a recent post: All online monetization is based on FOMO, exclusivity, timed offers and in baked fake "sales."

Stuff like this is not intended for the average player anyway. It's not really intended for whales either (that's what those ultra super duper rare bling mounts from crates are for), it's aimed at the people to whom this game is their main hobby. The game they spend several hours on each day, and who spend 300 or so a month on it. People who buy several 14000 crowns packs during each sale, and can afford to buy a 5000 crown crate pack each week. They got thousands of gems squirreled away and ZOS has the metrics to track how many there are.

So ZOS releases a gems only exclusive, priced according to that data, to rein in the gem supply, and to give the people who keep buying those crate packs an incentive to continue doing so. See, if you too spend 50 bucks each week on ESO, you too can be extra special.

Would they make more money by listing this thing as a crown exclusive thing for 5k crowns? Possibly, but it's not really what they are going after here. What they want to do is to reinforce that spending habit some people have on crate packs. It's about the big picture and generating steady revenue, instead of a single maximized sales spike.

And honestly, I'm kinda fine with that. I still find it annoying, and would prefer a different monetization model for ESO. It just isn't what I would choose to use my disposable income on, but who am I to criticize those who do? I mean... I'm planning on dumping about 900€ this month on a couple of medieval repro swords I've been eyeing since January, so... Yeah, to each their own and all that.

Imagine you expected to spend 900 on your swords because they’ve been 900 in the past. Then you go up buy them and it’s 4500. You planned ahead for months, only to find out the price increased 5 times what is was before. That’s what happened when polymorphs were previously 100 gems, now this one is 500 gems.

The prices of items should be included on the monthly showcases. There is no reason not to let players know ahead of time how much things will cost.

You know, I wasn't really saying that to you specifically. I realize that was the original intent of the thread, and heck gave you an "agree" on your post too. They should mention it, I'm not disputing that notion.

Maybe the other thread, the "will you buy this thingie" mentioned in this thread, would've been better place for my post, but... Eh, threads do tend to meander. And people were speakign about the price, that it should be cheaper, that crates equal bad, and that lower price would mean more sales meaning more money for ZOS, and bunch of posts about how odd the patching process seems to be on consoles. So by the time I started to write my take on the matter of this thing, I had moved, in my mind, past just the point about the lack of a heads up from ZOS.

As for the thing about polymorphs being 100 gems before... Well, inflation happens, and prices go up. To me it was obvious this thing was gonna be gems only, as are all even remotely unusual things these days. I had no doubts it would be in the 400+ range, as is also usual these days. Lot of people by crates, and some of them buy a lot of crates. My advice to anyone who wants to partake in gems only exclusives, and crown store offerings in general, is to aim for a reserve of 700-800 gems so that you wont miss out on any special items you really want, and replenish it with more crates once you use it.

It is a bit excessive, and constitutes way more money than I am willing to invest in this thing. However, that is the reality of crown store pricing these days. It is what is.