PLEASE, do not do this again.

TheGamerSeal · June 2023

I'd like to take some time to address ZeniMax personally. Forgive me for skipping my usual pleasantries, but I don't believe in respecting someone who disrespects me or other people.

Shortly after the release of the Ragebound crates, I posted a discussion regarding the 8,000-crown store offer; if anyone would like to read that, the link is here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/630510/please-do-not-do-that-again.

Allow me to explain why I asked for this to never happen again in greater detail. It took me a great deal of consideration, weighing the pros and cons, before I decided to purchase the Ragebound crate offer. As I opened one crate after another, I realized that I had made a terrible mistake; yes, I got the polymorph I wanted so badly, but the gamble I took on the crown crates paid off poorly - around half of those crates contained one collectible and three consumables, with most of those collectibles having already been collected from a previously opened crate, which meant a paltry refund of crown gems in its place. When I had finished opening the crates, my loot consisted of a handful of non-combat pets (which I don't usually use), a single mount, a large green orb furnishing that lags my game and is blinding to look at, and five out of the six items for an outfit style that doesn't match the one and only character I play; there were also some face and body markings, if I remember correctly, but I hardly ever use those. After my anger had reached a controllable level, I wrote the aforementioned discussion - and checked it, and double-checked it to ensure it remained as respectful as I could manage.

Fast-forward to today, just a few moments ago when I logged in, I noticed yet another awesome polymorph locked behind an 8,000-crown store offer. From that, I can see three possible outcomes from my previous discussion. First, the discussion was not seen by ZeniMax, or did not garner enough attention to gain theirs. Second, ZeniMax saw the discussion, but dismissed it as "toxic player chatter" and moved on. Third, ZeniMax read the post, considered it to some degree, and decided to do what they thought was best anyway.

Let me be perfectly clear: this is disrespectful to your players. You hold an awesome collectible ransom behind the façade of a great deal, and players have no choice but to pay that ransom if they really want the collectible. Unfortunately, I am not a member of the one percent, who can throw money around at every little trinket that passes me by.

So I will ask this one more time.

PLEASE, stop disrespecting your players. To be frank, you wouldn't exist without us.

That is all.

Katheriah · June 2023

Luckily this time it's just a polymorph that should have been a motif or maaaaaybe a costume.

Don't fall for it.

Daoin · June 2023

just say no to this one if you got the last one, take a look through the list at how many of the items you would actually like to have. then take a look at what can be bought with gems and seals, this should immediately narrow things down to wether for just the look its worth it. i saw this morph good for one of my charachers with maybe a couple of things more i would like right now only, which i ended up paying gems and seals for. not getting the look too was sad but am more than happy with the long awaited trial motif chapter for gems along with a couple of other things from the boxes for no crown gamble at all.

Aislinna · June 2023

And how dare that car dealership disrespect me by offering that Ferrari for sale!

j/k, but seriously, a company offering a unique item for sale is not disrespecting you in any way.

Unknown_Redemption · June 2023

If you buy the 15 pack of crown crates, for 5,000c, each box costs 333c per.
If you buy the 25 pack of crown crates, for 8,000c, each box costs 320c per.

For a lot of us, the polymorph is an extra gift.

LunaFlora · June 2023

it's just crates, it is a gamble and that doesn't change no matter the amount of crates you bought.
a bundle doesn't guarantee any amount of rare items.
i like the 25 crate bundle because i usually buy more than 15 and now i can buy 25 in one go and get an extra polymorph with it

Quackery · June 2023

I recommend everyone to stay away from the 25 crate option. ZOS has done something to them because all I got were purple items with 1 gold item, the Meridia light orb. They're nothing but a scam.

LunaFlora · June 2023

Quackery wrote: »

I recommend everyone to stay away from the 25 crate option. ZOS has done something to them because all I got were purple items with 1 gold item, the Meridia light orb. They're nothing but a scam.

i got
the meridian motif
the welwa mount
unfeathered staff
unfeathered bow

which is four gold items.

because it is not guaranteed that you get any amount of rare items. zos has done nothing to the crate bundles. it is just a bundle of 25 crates with a polymorph included.

Braffin · June 2023

As a highly respected crow once said: "Want, want, want. We want."

Honestly, if you don't like the deal, don't buy it. Nobody is forcing you but maybe yourself.

rabidmyers · June 2023

polymorph is lame this time around anyways

TheGamerSeal · June 2023

I just want to point out that the concept of disrespecting the players doesn't fall on marketing alone; that's an issue for me and any others who want collectibles but can't just go spewing money around.

I recognize that there are some people who play this game and genuinely don't care about how its maintained, and to those people I would say you're entitled to that, but I would also remind you that there are people who do care, who want to see the game be something better.

Like I said, marketing is my issue, but consider how combat has been handled for the past year. Consider bugs, some of which haven't been fixed in months. What about PvP? Look how long its taken to get ZeniMax to start being open about the game's future. They've made some questionable and frustrating choices regarding player experience.

The bottom line is that the crown store issue is just one aspect of a larger problem. That's what I'm talking about.

Braffin · June 2023

I wouldn't call it disrespecting the playerbase but rather overburdened by the sheer amount of tasks we players demand.

Sure, there are problems zos should address quickly, especially regarding communication.

Given the widely varying interests and demands of the playerbase as well as the rather crappy code, I think they are trying, while working with limited resources.

What's to adress first? Motion sickness caused by animations, combat bugs, bugged quests, visual glitches? Maybe rather focus on crown store instead? Things have to be prioritized and nit everything can be done at once.

Same goes for decisions. Every change will be accepted by some while others are opposing it. There will always some players, which aren't satisfied anymore regardless the decision.

For example for you crown store seems to be important, I couldn't care less. On the other side I'm interested in combat mechanics, but it's maybe nothing to you. And there are thousands of players besides us, every single one with their own priorities.

So no, I don't think they are disrespectful, although they could do better in some cases.

That said, if you for yourself feel this way it's maybe time for a break and getting some distance.

bradleymsimmons · June 2023

I paid the 8,000 gold for the 25 crates and the best thing I got from the 20 crates I opened was the free polymorph that came with them. Literally NO good items. No mounts, not the furnishing I wanted, not the eyes I wanted. All I got was a bunch of non-combat pets, potions, scrolls, etc. The very low tier items. The game makers need to increase the odds of getting the nice stuff. I really felt robbed. The same thing happened with the Ragebound crates. This money-grab tactic and not giving you anything good so you'll spend more really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Jaimeh · June 2023

I skipped the bundle last time and will this time as well, even though the polymorphs are really cool, because besides them the other items are not really worth the price, like OP said. When polies were sold at the store they were 1-2k crowns, the bundle is at 8k, I don't think the rest of the things you get are worth 6k crowns, unless you get extremely lucky and drop a mount etc., but we know the rates for these are extremely low. Although it was a good move to have a guaranteed drop in the bundle, they've nerfed crate contents so much, they nerfed the gem yield from the stuff you convert, they bumped items in more expensive categories that the only thing valuable in the bundle may very well turn out to be just the polymorph, and that's not worth 8k crowns.

Luke_Flamesword · June 2023

I don't know it for sure, but for me it looked like crown crates has hidden rng-scam mechanism - for example when you get blue tier box it's not that you have equal chances for every item from blue tier. More attractive items has lower chances to drop, what pracitally means that against normal probability - you will get a lot of doubles - tattoos, pets and other trash, while the better items will drop if you really lucky.

Whole mechanism tries exploit players on so many levels that's is almost crazy and now they push it even further but yet, people still buy it or even defend it.

Pepegrillos · June 2023

The purpose of the crate-polymorph bundle is to introduce people that would normally only buy a polymorph alone into the whole crate gambling habit. It's basically fishing till someone bites. The money they are not making by selling the polymorph alone is offset by a few hundred and hopefully long-term new crates enjoyers

Giraffon · June 2023

You can buy what you need in game without spending real money.

Brown horse for the win!

NordSwordnBoard · June 2023

Pepegrillos wrote: »

The purpose of the crate-polymorph bundle is to introduce people that would normally only buy a polymorph alone into the whole crate gambling habit. It's basically fishing till someone bites. The money they are not making by selling the polymorph alone is offset by a few hundred and hopefully long-term new crates enjoyers

This.

They want to inspire completionist behavior towards the crate rewards. The people saving up gems probably see it as a way to accelerate gem gains and prepare for the next thing they want. Someone buys it for one polymorph, and end up with consolation currency that's just short of getting something else nice. Some people feel currency not being used means its being wasted.

SilverBride · June 2023

Aren't items from crates eventually available for endeavors?

LunaFlora · June 2023

SilverBride wrote: »

Aren't items from crates eventually available for endeavors?

yea they are immediately available with seals of endeavour. with the exception of the Unfeathered polymorph

Elsonso · June 2023

Just say NO to Crown Crates.

TheGamerSeal · June 2023

Braffin wrote: »

I wouldn't call it disrespecting the playerbase but rather overburdened by the sheer amount of tasks we players demand.

Sure, there are problems zos should address quickly, especially regarding communication.

Given the widely varying interests and demands of the playerbase as well as the rather crappy code, I think they are trying, while working with limited resources.

What's to adress first? Motion sickness caused by animations, combat bugs, bugged quests, visual glitches? Maybe rather focus on crown store instead? Things have to be prioritized and nit everything can be done at once.

Same goes for decisions. Every change will be accepted by some while others are opposing it. There will always some players, which aren't satisfied anymore regardless the decision.

For example for you crown store seems to be important, I couldn't care less. On the other side I'm interested in combat mechanics, but it's maybe nothing to you. And there are thousands of players besides us, every single one with their own priorities.

So no, I don't think they are disrespectful, although they could do better in some cases.

That said, if you for yourself feel this way it's maybe time for a break and getting some distance.

You know, I'm not usually one to back down or let things go, but... you're right - everything you said. It's not often I find a voice of reason - a tempered one, I should add, that doesn't say "get over it" or the like - amidst the other angry voices and those who downplay the concerns of others, so I thank you for that. If it's alright with you, I'd like to include your quote in the original post.

Braffin · June 2023

TheGamerSeal wrote: »

Braffin wrote: »

I wouldn't call it disrespecting the playerbase but rather overburdened by the sheer amount of tasks we players demand.

Sure, there are problems zos should address quickly, especially regarding communication.

Given the widely varying interests and demands of the playerbase as well as the rather crappy code, I think they are trying, while working with limited resources.

What's to adress first? Motion sickness caused by animations, combat bugs, bugged quests, visual glitches? Maybe rather focus on crown store instead? Things have to be prioritized and nit everything can be done at once.

Same goes for decisions. Every change will be accepted by some while others are opposing it. There will always some players, which aren't satisfied anymore regardless the decision.

For example for you crown store seems to be important, I couldn't care less. On the other side I'm interested in combat mechanics, but it's maybe nothing to you. And there are thousands of players besides us, every single one with their own priorities.

So no, I don't think they are disrespectful, although they could do better in some cases.

That said, if you for yourself feel this way it's maybe time for a break and getting some distance.

You know, I'm not usually one to back down or let things go, but... you're right - everything you said. It's not often I find a voice of reason - a tempered one, I should add, that doesn't say "get over it" or the like - amidst the other angry voices and those who downplay the concerns of others, so I thank you for that. If it's alright with you, I'd like to include your quote in the original post.

Sure, it's alright. I already spoke publicly.

merpins · June 2023

This one is just a motif that they made into a polymorph. It's also super ugly, ngl.