Gotta say... congrats, ZOS, keep it up!

bluebird · October 2021

You actually made me buy full-priced Crowns for the first time in over 3-and-a-half years.

And I'm even happy about it, rather than being frustrated. So well done!

The reason, of course, is that for the first time in ESO history, you've actually been bringing back old houses, Crate seasons, costumes, mounts, etc. with unprecedented regularity, every month. This more regular Crown Store rotation is what we've been asking for, for many years, and you finally listened (I mean, it took you long enough, but still...)! So I'm here to tell you, that it's working. Keep it up. Because all those returns haven't gone unnoticed, and many of us are really happy that we're finally able to buy items that haven't been seen for years before. And here I am, having spent more on Crowns this year than I have ever since the first year that I started playing. Who would've thunk that actually putting up items for sale generates more sales, huh?

So anyway, grats to whichever dev figured that out and implemented the new and improved more regular Crown Store rotation.

So well played, and what you can do now is keep up the momentum, and make sure that you rotate back all items within a certain time-frame, so that we don't get certain houses twice a year, while others only once every two years... And let's try to engage in popular sales events too, like the Black Friday sales you did in 2018 where you brought back many highly-sought-after items, rather than just discounting items that are always up for sale anyway, like you did in subsequent years.

To other forum-goers:

What has your experience been with the Crown Store recently? Did you manage to find something that you weren't able to buy before?
Would you agree that ZOS has been managing their Crown Store rotation better than previous years, or do you think it's not better?
Do you think they could do more? I for example think that they could increase the number of returned items every month, as with the giant pool of long-forgotten Crown Store items it will still take a long time for someone to be able to buy a specific thing that they'd like.

Also, just a disclaimer, this isn't trying to be a "pro-vs-contra Crown Store" thread. I agree that many Crown Store prices are insane, and I'm not encouraging anybody to spend more on pixels than what they're comfortable with. And along the same vein, the Crown Store isn't going anywhere, so it would be nice if we could discuss it constructively without the usual "how dare others spend money on the game, when my lag/PvP balance/broken set/nerfed class/whateverissue is a problem" sidetracking that usually gets brought up every time the Crown Store is mentioned.

It's more geared towards people who have been engaging with the Crown Store and whether they find the new changes more player-friendly (I do, for example), and to find out how else the system may be improved.

Araneae6537 · October 2021

I agree; more items have been returning and rotating through the Crown store this year and more both new and old that I wanted to buy. I definitely bought more Crowns this year — most on sale but not all! From what I’ve seen, the new houses have been of good quality and variety and I love Varlaisvea!

I don’t mind saying that this was the first time that I bought Crown crates. I do prefer to buy things directly than RNG and most items are too flashy for my taste but the Ayleid season was mostly items I liked, including the lovely Nenalata Ayleid horse — well done!

So yes, I’ve been pleased with the increased variety of both new and returning items in the Crown store and have been happy with my purchases. Some items I think are overpriced that I would purchase if they cost less, such as outfit slots and a number of individual furnishings, but that is not new so I buy what is worth the cost to me. I think that items should be available at least once a year as many players come and go and to me that feels the longest that is reasonable to wait (still disappointing if you just miss something, but better than not knowing when or if it will ever be available again and at least then can be planned for and looked forward to).

Zorrin · October 2021

We still have items that left in 2015 that have never returned (looking at you, Dapple Grey Palfrey and Grey Yokudan Charger), so they definitely could do a better job of bringing old things back.

I also don't see why we can't have multiple crate seasons return at once. There's 20 seasons of them now and we still have months go by where none of them reappear

I have noticed the increase in returning items though, and I do appreciate that! Hopefully we'll have a ton of items return for Black Fredas this year

Syrpynt · October 2021

• Disappointed that they removed items from the endeavor seals store at the same time they removed from the crown store: It was impossible to purchase those items with Endeavor seals--so the fact they advertised them in the endeavor seals store was a lie to circumvent the law for their FOMO practices. No one could purchase them with endeavors, that's a fact. There is no rebuttal here, they needed to keep those mounts and stuff up until someone could have afforded even 1 radiant.

• I spent more on crowns this year because I'm waiting on a house to return--but like many others will agree, they don't rotate items fast enough still. They're behind, but sure, it's progress. Thanks, but try harder Zenimax.

• I subbed for at least 7 months this year as an effort to support the game, but I'm so tired of grinding and farming the same things to never ever ever get the last piece I need, so until the RNG fix hits next patch, I've unsubbed. I have no reason to grind/farm 3-6 hours a night and get nothing (items are unavailable in Guild Traders), that it just makes me give up entirely. It'll be nice when the RNG drops are smarter. The game has needed this from the start, same with "collections."

• I've always been against crates, but my poor RNG luck has always made me hate it more as time goes on, so I simply just stopped touching them entirely. When your collections gets crowded with stuff you don't even use or like--then you can tell me your opinion on crates. I don't care if I like 50% of the items in crates, I don't enjoy spending $50 to get 1 item I liked and 3 I won't use ever. There's no incentive there.

• My priorities now are: Shalidor's Shrouded Realm --> All other crown items on my wishlist. I won't spend any more money on crowns or subs until the house is available. This is my form of protest, and it probably means nothing since ESO is funded by whales, so I may just slip off into another game that isn't so driven by shady marketing tactics.

BretonMage · October 2021

I don't usually pay too much attention to the Crown Store rotations, but I have to admit my years-long ESO hiatus ended right after I saw the Shimmerene Soiree gown in a forum thread.

winterscrolls229prerb18_ESO · October 2021

No. I'm used to now many items come back during a particular month every year, and i've got all the ones i want now.

The only thing i wanted but i can't get is the collectors editions of content dlc for 2000 crowns as with the events.. i can't believe they didn't add dragonhold and instead offered that incredibly stupid singleplayer plus multiplayer bundle.. worst idea ever. They keep trying to push that bundle as if people actually want it... no!

Anyways, the only one i have outstanding is markarth and will be buying that after the maintenance so doesn't matter anyway.

Im done with anything out of endeavours + twitch gems in crown crates anyway so nothing in those either. Luckily they have been pretty bad quality this year to not be tempted.