Too Many Currencies

Aashiana · March 30

I can't open my caches of tome points. I assume once I do they will appear in "tome points" which is 0 now. I don't quite get why the caches appear in the currency list but not in our inventory, like other caches (e.g., transmute crystals). And premium tome tokens are yet another thing? All this prompted some larger thoughts about currencies in ESO.

Not even counting gold and crowns, I now have 14 (!) different types of in-game currencies. Can some of this be consolidated? It seems unnecessarily restrictive. For example, maybe we only need one type of PvP currency to replace tel var, alliance points, and imperial fragments. Maybe one type of currency for group PVE content, to replace crystals and keys. Instead of earning gems when you deconstruct crate rewards, maybe you could instead just get some crowns back. So many possibilities for simplification.

Also maybe eliminating outfit change tokens and just letting us change our outfits when we want, like the recent very popular respec changes.

Oh. and a guildie reminded me we also have race change tokens, name change tokens and alliance change tokens, which for whatever reason appear on your login screen rather than in your currencies...

Please simplify this system. "Play the way you want" would be furthered in concept by not requiring so many different types of activities to earn distinct currencies, when all give similar types of things - skins, mounts, costumes, consumables, etc.

PeacefulAnarchy · March 30

Tome points may end up being tied to a specific tome. You should be careful about opening them before this is clarified, as you might end up earning enough tome points for everything and "wasting them." Or maybe not. But the fact that they're in caches and not openable until after the tomes show up suggests they'll be tied to a tome.

tomofhyrule · March 30

Each tome will have a currency, called tome points, that you use to buy stuff from the tome itself. You earn tome points by doing Endeavor-like tasks while the season is active, and then spend them to get things like cosmetics or scrolls like what we got in the daily rewards.

For players with ESO+, we also get caches of tome points, which we can cash in to get a bunch of points for that specific tome without having to do the tasks. Those are best used if there's something you want but you're short on points and you're not going to be playing much that season.

WuffyCerulei · March 30

I assure you, ESO has a SUBSTANTIALLY less amount of currencies than games like GW2. GW2 has so dang many, it’s beyond confusing.

Soarora · March 30

WuffyCerulei wrote: »

I assure you, ESO has a SUBSTANTIALLY less amount of currencies than games like GW2. GW2 has so dang many, it’s beyond confusing.

Hahahaha I brought up GW2 in the pre-forum discussion. Apparently WoW is even worse! By a large margin!

WuffyCerulei · March 30

Soarora wrote: »

WuffyCerulei wrote: »

I assure you, ESO has a SUBSTANTIALLY less amount of currencies than games like GW2. GW2 has so dang many, it’s beyond confusing.

Hahahaha I brought up GW2 in the pre-forum discussion. Apparently WoW is even worse! By a large margin!

Oh dang, really? I was just overwhelmed by GW2’s over 50 kinds of currency vs ESO’s mere 16-ish ones.

wolfie1.0. · March 30

ESO’s currency count is low... I have to track over 100 irl, and be able to know a lot more. Especially cryptos

alenae1b14_ESO · March 31

Still too many currencies, note everytime a currency becomes abundant another appears.

DoofusMax · March 31

Ehhhh... there are as many as there are. For most cases, particular items may only be purchased with one specific currency, so it doesn't matter how many Transmute Crystals or Trade Bars or Writ Voucher I have when I'm wanting to buy a Hakeijo Rune in Imperial City. By the same token, it doesn't matter how much Tel Var, Alliance Points, or Crowns I have if I want to buy a couple of Gilding Wax from Hlaalu. Would it be a lot easier if everything were priced in one currency? Sure. Does it bother me that there are a dozen different currencies in the game? Not really.

tsaescishoeshiner · March 31

Event Tickets were removed, so that's -1

rockDokRock · March 31

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

Event Tickets were removed, so that's -1

And replaced with trade bars so that's +1

Soarora · March 31

rockDokRock wrote: »

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

Event Tickets were removed, so that's -1

And replaced with trade bars so that's +1

And then we got 3 more!

KapiteinBoterham · April 10

Please put the premium tokens and tome point caches in a seperate window.

Tyralbin · April 10

Just be thankful every zone doesn't have its own currency

Displaced_Salad · April 10

The better to part from your actual money, my dear

KapiteinBoterham · April 11

The tome points slot machine animation is getting old already, especially when you want to quickly check how much tome points you have.

Or maybe remove the Premium Tokens and Caches of Tome Points from the inventory's currency tab, so I can more easily check i there.

RebornV3x · April 11

Me getting flashbacks from playing Star Trek Online... Elder Scrolls Online is by far better than any MMO Ive ever seen

zenonuk · April 11

To be fair, most of the currencies are there to reward a specific type of play.

For example:
- Alliance Points are awarded in Cyrodiil. and used to buy PVP/Cyrodiil themed rewards for PVP play
- Archival Fortunes are awarded for running Infinite Archive so you can buy IA bonuses, sets, etc. to reward IA play

Crowns are there to separate "cash" equivalent from in-game "earned" currencies.

And the list goes on... except for three (types of) currencies which can be removed/simplified.

First, the most useless: Seals. These can now be replaced with the existing Gems.

Seals were originally introduced as a way to enable us to buy items from Crown Crates without needing to buy Crowns, and/or convert unwanted items into Gems. This is why the Seals Store is a replica of the Crown Crates store with the same items, but taking Seals instead of Gems. Seals were awarded through Endeavours (now Challenges that award Tomb Points).

Given everything now in play, right now, the ONLY way to obtain Seals is through Tamriel Tombs; buying Seals, which in effect converts your Tomb Points into Seals (as a reward for Challenges, previously Endeavours) and taken from the various Tomb pages.

ZOS could "easily" (may not be that easily technically) remove Seals completely... get rid of the Seals Store... have the Tombs Pages allow us to buy Gems, which we can use directly in the Crown Store. Obviously, there'd need to be a one-off conversion of what Seals people own into Gems... but it would remove one currency that no longer has any real purpose (it's just a weaker version of the Gems currency). In this version of currencies, we'd earn Tomb Points, buy Gems, and spend them in the Crown Store (versus earning Tomb Points, buying Seals, and spending them in the Seals store which is a replica of the Crown Store element that uses Gems as a currency).

Second, QoL adjustments: switch AP and Writs from "character" to "account" currencies.

There's no reason why we need to deposit Alliance Points and Writs in the bank. Each character can continue to progress it's own AP levels in respect to titles/rewards etc.; unlike IC, there's no "get back to base unharmed" mechanic that makes you lose AP on the battlefield. AP and Writs were, as all original base game currencies, implemented in the same way as gold... the account wide currencies came in later, and AP/Writs could be moved over into that system.

Note: the only two currencies that need remain inventory/character specific are gold and Tel Var, both of which have gameplay mechanics that need them to be tied to the character.

Finally, third: "tokens".

There's a whole bunch of "token" currencies: alliance change, name change, race change, outfit station, etc. In all cases these are generally obtainable via Crowns, Reward, or some other conversion (e.g. Gems/Seals). All of these could be removed (or at least simplified), to the point they're acquired at the point of use (e.g. when making a name change). Specifically, when requesting something (e.g. a name change) it could follow the existing system as we see in the outfit station where there are a choice of payment methods: Crowns, Gems, Gold. etc. Anything that awards these "tokens" could continue (in the same way you can still use Respec scrolls, although they're also pointless now that Respec is in-UI free), but the need to "buy first, spend later" could easily (again, technical limitations may contradict "easy") be simplified.

To make understanding easier, these "tokens" could be removed from the "account currency", and added (along with Premium Tomb Tokens) into an "upgrades" section in the UI, thereby making it clearer.

Doing all three of these would leave us with Character currencies (gold, tel var) and account currencies. Account currencies could be further split into "gameplay currencies" (e.g. AP, Writs, Archival Fortunes, Gems, Tomb Points, Transmute Crystals, Keys, Imperial Fragments, Trade Bars), and "upgrade currencies" (Crowns, "tokens" if you get any still, Caches of Tomb Points, and Premium Tomb Tokens).

So yes, ultimately I agree there's room for some rationalisation, and doing so would probably make the whole system less confusing.

zenonuk · April 11

Aashiana wrote: »

Please simplify this system. "Play the way you want" would be furthered in concept by not requiring so many different types of activities to earn distinct currencies, when all give similar types of things - skins, mounts, costumes, consumables, etc.

Just to expand upon this a little, given my previous post - the idea is that you CANNOT get what you want by playing ANYTHING you want.

ESO has, and unless ZOS say otherwise, always rewarded specific gameplay with specific skins, mounts, costumes, styles, etc. If you want the PVP themed outfit, you need to play PVP - if you want the class-specific sets from IA, you need to play IA. The different currencies enforce this design.

Yes ZOS could change this - but this is a fundamental change in game design/philosophy, and not an issue with the currencies per se. Currencies are only the way in which ZOS has chosen to enforce this design. We need/should be clearer whether we disagree with the philosophy itself, or the way the controls have been implemented through currencies.

mocap · April 11

There are over 400 different crafting materials in ESO. 14 types of currency don't feel like such a big deal in comparison.

cyberjanet · April 11

mocap wrote: »

There are over 400 different crafting materials in ESO. 14 types of currency don't feel like such a big deal in comparison.

Can I ask you to please explain these 14 currencies to my husband?

twisttop138 · April 11

zenonuk wrote: »

To be fair, most of the currencies are there to reward a specific type of play.

For example:
- Alliance Points are awarded in Cyrodiil. and used to buy PVP/Cyrodiil themed rewards for PVP play
- Archival Fortunes are awarded for running Infinite Archive so you can buy IA bonuses, sets, etc. to reward IA play

Crowns are there to separate "cash" equivalent from in-game "earned" currencies.

And the list goes on... except for three (types of) currencies which can be removed/simplified.

First, the most useless: Seals. These can now be replaced with the existing Gems.

Seals were originally introduced as a way to enable us to buy items from Crown Crates without needing to buy Crowns, and/or convert unwanted items into Gems. This is why the Seals Store is a replica of the Crown Crates store with the same items, but taking Seals instead of Gems. Seals were awarded through Endeavours (now Challenges that award Tomb Points).

Given everything now in play, right now, the ONLY way to obtain Seals is through Tamriel Tombs; buying Seals, which in effect converts your Tomb Points into Seals (as a reward for Challenges, previously Endeavours) and taken from the various Tomb pages.

ZOS could "easily" (may not be that easily technically) remove Seals completely... get rid of the Seals Store... have the Tombs Pages allow us to buy Gems, which we can use directly in the Crown Store. Obviously, there'd need to be a one-off conversion of what Seals people own into Gems... but it would remove one currency that no longer has any real purpose (it's just a weaker version of the Gems currency). In this version of currencies, we'd earn Tomb Points, buy Gems, and spend them in the Crown Store (versus earning Tomb Points, buying Seals, and spending them in the Seals store which is a replica of the Crown Store element that uses Gems as a currency).

Second, QoL adjustments: switch AP and Writs from "character" to "account" currencies.

There's no reason why we need to deposit Alliance Points and Writs in the bank. Each character can continue to progress it's own AP levels in respect to titles/rewards etc.; unlike IC, there's no "get back to base unharmed" mechanic that makes you lose AP on the battlefield. AP and Writs were, as all original base game currencies, implemented in the same way as gold... the account wide currencies came in later, and AP/Writs could be moved over into that system.

Note: the only two currencies that need remain inventory/character specific are gold and Tel Var, both of which have gameplay mechanics that need them to be tied to the character.

Finally, third: "tokens".

There's a whole bunch of "token" currencies: alliance change, name change, race change, outfit station, etc. In all cases these are generally obtainable via Crowns, Reward, or some other conversion (e.g. Gems/Seals). All of these could be removed (or at least simplified), to the point they're acquired at the point of use (e.g. when making a name change). Specifically, when requesting something (e.g. a name change) it could follow the existing system as we see in the outfit station where there are a choice of payment methods: Crowns, Gems, Gold. etc. Anything that awards these "tokens" could continue (in the same way you can still use Respec scrolls, although they're also pointless now that Respec is in-UI free), but the need to "buy first, spend later" could easily (again, technical limitations may contradict "easy") be simplified.

To make understanding easier, these "tokens" could be removed from the "account currency", and added (along with Premium Tomb Tokens) into an "upgrades" section in the UI, thereby making it clearer.

Doing all three of these would leave us with Character currencies (gold, tel var) and account currencies. Account currencies could be further split into "gameplay currencies" (e.g. AP, Writs, Archival Fortunes, Gems, Tomb Points, Transmute Crystals, Keys, Imperial Fragments, Trade Bars), and "upgrade currencies" (Crowns, "tokens" if you get any still, Caches of Tomb Points, and Premium Tomb Tokens).

So yes, ultimately I agree there's room for some rationalisation, and doing so would probably make the whole system less confusing.

I think they have to have seals as a complete separate thing from the store. They didn't give us seals by choice, but were forced if they wanted to keep selling gamble boxes in Europe. So keeping it separate may be something they have to do. Otherwise I agree that some currency is just redundant.

mocap · April 11

cyberjanet wrote: »

Can I ask you to please explain these 14 currencies to my husband?

Sure, LMAITFU!

Gold: The primary universal currency used for player trading, vendor purchases, and repairs.

Alliance Points (AP): Earned through PvP activities in Cyrodiil and Battlegrounds; used to buy PvP gear and siege weapons.

Tel Var Stones: Earned (and potentially lost on death) in the Imperial City; used to buy powerful Hakeijo runes and unique gear.

Writ Vouchers: Earned by completing "Master Writs"; spent at Mastercraft Mediators for rare furnishing recipes and crafting stations.

Trade Bars: A newer currency that replaced Event Tickets in 2026; used at the Gold Coast Bazaar to buy returning event collectibles and previous promotions.

Archival Fortunes: Earned within the Infinite Archive; used to purchase unique class-based set items and upgrades.

Transmute Crystals: Earned from dungeon pledges, trials, and PvP; used to change the "traits" of your equipment.

Undaunted Keys: Earned by completing daily dungeon pledges; used to purchase "Monster Shoulder" pieces from Undaunted masters.

Tome Points: The currency for the Tamriel Tomes (battle pass); earned by completing seasonal challenges to unlock pass rewards.

Imperial Fragments: Used in the Imperial City's Trophy Vaults to purchase specific zone-themed rewards.

Crowns: The premium currency bought with real money or granted via ESO Plus; used to buy items in the Crown Store.

Crown Gems: Obtained by converting unwanted items from Crown Crates; used to buy specific crate-exclusive items directly.

Seals (Seals of Endeavor): Earned by completing Tome/Endeavor challenges; used to buy Crown Crate items without spending real money.

Outfit Change Tokens: Used specifically at Outfit Stations to change your character's visual appearance; often found in the Crown Store or Bazaar.

Ok, "jokes" aside, I understand that keeping track of everything can be difficult. However, MMOs are inherently complex even at launch. 12 years have passed since ESO's release. It's natural that the game has become more complex.

KapiteinBoterham · April 11

Remove the Premium Tokens and Caches of Tome Points from the inventory's currency tab.

lillybit · April 11

twisttop138 wrote: »

zenonuk wrote: »

To be fair, most of the currencies are there to reward a specific type of play.

For example:
- Alliance Points are awarded in Cyrodiil. and used to buy PVP/Cyrodiil themed rewards for PVP play
- Archival Fortunes are awarded for running Infinite Archive so you can buy IA bonuses, sets, etc. to reward IA play

Crowns are there to separate "cash" equivalent from in-game "earned" currencies.

And the list goes on... except for three (types of) currencies which can be removed/simplified.

First, the most useless: Seals. These can now be replaced with the existing Gems.

Seals were originally introduced as a way to enable us to buy items from Crown Crates without needing to buy Crowns, and/or convert unwanted items into Gems. This is why the Seals Store is a replica of the Crown Crates store with the same items, but taking Seals instead of Gems. Seals were awarded through Endeavours (now Challenges that award Tomb Points).

Given everything now in play, right now, the ONLY way to obtain Seals is through Tamriel Tombs; buying Seals, which in effect converts your Tomb Points into Seals (as a reward for Challenges, previously Endeavours) and taken from the various Tomb pages.

ZOS could "easily" (may not be that easily technically) remove Seals completely... get rid of the Seals Store... have the Tombs Pages allow us to buy Gems, which we can use directly in the Crown Store. Obviously, there'd need to be a one-off conversion of what Seals people own into Gems... but it would remove one currency that no longer has any real purpose (it's just a weaker version of the Gems currency). In this version of currencies, we'd earn Tomb Points, buy Gems, and spend them in the Crown Store (versus earning Tomb Points, buying Seals, and spending them in the Seals store which is a replica of the Crown Store element that uses Gems as a currency).

Second, QoL adjustments: switch AP and Writs from "character" to "account" currencies.

There's no reason why we need to deposit Alliance Points and Writs in the bank. Each character can continue to progress it's own AP levels in respect to titles/rewards etc.; unlike IC, there's no "get back to base unharmed" mechanic that makes you lose AP on the battlefield. AP and Writs were, as all original base game currencies, implemented in the same way as gold... the account wide currencies came in later, and AP/Writs could be moved over into that system.

Note: the only two currencies that need remain inventory/character specific are gold and Tel Var, both of which have gameplay mechanics that need them to be tied to the character.

Finally, third: "tokens".

There's a whole bunch of "token" currencies: alliance change, name change, race change, outfit station, etc. In all cases these are generally obtainable via Crowns, Reward, or some other conversion (e.g. Gems/Seals). All of these could be removed (or at least simplified), to the point they're acquired at the point of use (e.g. when making a name change). Specifically, when requesting something (e.g. a name change) it could follow the existing system as we see in the outfit station where there are a choice of payment methods: Crowns, Gems, Gold. etc. Anything that awards these "tokens" could continue (in the same way you can still use Respec scrolls, although they're also pointless now that Respec is in-UI free), but the need to "buy first, spend later" could easily (again, technical limitations may contradict "easy") be simplified.

To make understanding easier, these "tokens" could be removed from the "account currency", and added (along with Premium Tomb Tokens) into an "upgrades" section in the UI, thereby making it clearer.

Doing all three of these would leave us with Character currencies (gold, tel var) and account currencies. Account currencies could be further split into "gameplay currencies" (e.g. AP, Writs, Archival Fortunes, Gems, Tomb Points, Transmute Crystals, Keys, Imperial Fragments, Trade Bars), and "upgrade currencies" (Crowns, "tokens" if you get any still, Caches of Tomb Points, and Premium Tomb Tokens).

So yes, ultimately I agree there's room for some rationalisation, and doing so would probably make the whole system less confusing.

I think they have to have seals as a complete separate thing from the store. They didn't give us seals by choice, but were forced if they wanted to keep selling gamble boxes in Europe. So keeping it separate may be something they have to do. Otherwise I agree that some currency is just redundant.

I think if they just combined seals with gems the problem would be more the ratio - seals need many more for purchases and it skewed towards the hight value rewards being better value. With endeavours we could earn around 500 a month (obviously that's different now but it'll probably settle down to something similar after the first few seasons), with gems we'd be lucky to get 50 and I think most people would see that as a bit stingy. It would be much harder to get some of the radiant apex mounts, which are currently the same with seals but not gems.

It would be nice to see but I don't think it's any more likely than them giving away crowns

KapiteinBoterham · April 11

@lillybit No no, this is far too many words for the game developers to read.

Try something like this:

Remove the Premium Tokens and Caches of Tome Points from the inventory's currency tab.

twisttop138 · April 11

lillybit wrote: »

twisttop138 wrote: »

zenonuk wrote: »

To be fair, most of the currencies are there to reward a specific type of play.

For example:
- Alliance Points are awarded in Cyrodiil. and used to buy PVP/Cyrodiil themed rewards for PVP play
- Archival Fortunes are awarded for running Infinite Archive so you can buy IA bonuses, sets, etc. to reward IA play

Crowns are there to separate "cash" equivalent from in-game "earned" currencies.

And the list goes on... except for three (types of) currencies which can be removed/simplified.

First, the most useless: Seals. These can now be replaced with the existing Gems.

Seals were originally introduced as a way to enable us to buy items from Crown Crates without needing to buy Crowns, and/or convert unwanted items into Gems. This is why the Seals Store is a replica of the Crown Crates store with the same items, but taking Seals instead of Gems. Seals were awarded through Endeavours (now Challenges that award Tomb Points).

Given everything now in play, right now, the ONLY way to obtain Seals is through Tamriel Tombs; buying Seals, which in effect converts your Tomb Points into Seals (as a reward for Challenges, previously Endeavours) and taken from the various Tomb pages.

ZOS could "easily" (may not be that easily technically) remove Seals completely... get rid of the Seals Store... have the Tombs Pages allow us to buy Gems, which we can use directly in the Crown Store. Obviously, there'd need to be a one-off conversion of what Seals people own into Gems... but it would remove one currency that no longer has any real purpose (it's just a weaker version of the Gems currency). In this version of currencies, we'd earn Tomb Points, buy Gems, and spend them in the Crown Store (versus earning Tomb Points, buying Seals, and spending them in the Seals store which is a replica of the Crown Store element that uses Gems as a currency).

Second, QoL adjustments: switch AP and Writs from "character" to "account" currencies.

There's no reason why we need to deposit Alliance Points and Writs in the bank. Each character can continue to progress it's own AP levels in respect to titles/rewards etc.; unlike IC, there's no "get back to base unharmed" mechanic that makes you lose AP on the battlefield. AP and Writs were, as all original base game currencies, implemented in the same way as gold... the account wide currencies came in later, and AP/Writs could be moved over into that system.

Note: the only two currencies that need remain inventory/character specific are gold and Tel Var, both of which have gameplay mechanics that need them to be tied to the character.

Finally, third: "tokens".

There's a whole bunch of "token" currencies: alliance change, name change, race change, outfit station, etc. In all cases these are generally obtainable via Crowns, Reward, or some other conversion (e.g. Gems/Seals). All of these could be removed (or at least simplified), to the point they're acquired at the point of use (e.g. when making a name change). Specifically, when requesting something (e.g. a name change) it could follow the existing system as we see in the outfit station where there are a choice of payment methods: Crowns, Gems, Gold. etc. Anything that awards these "tokens" could continue (in the same way you can still use Respec scrolls, although they're also pointless now that Respec is in-UI free), but the need to "buy first, spend later" could easily (again, technical limitations may contradict "easy") be simplified.

To make understanding easier, these "tokens" could be removed from the "account currency", and added (along with Premium Tomb Tokens) into an "upgrades" section in the UI, thereby making it clearer.

Doing all three of these would leave us with Character currencies (gold, tel var) and account currencies. Account currencies could be further split into "gameplay currencies" (e.g. AP, Writs, Archival Fortunes, Gems, Tomb Points, Transmute Crystals, Keys, Imperial Fragments, Trade Bars), and "upgrade currencies" (Crowns, "tokens" if you get any still, Caches of Tomb Points, and Premium Tomb Tokens).

So yes, ultimately I agree there's room for some rationalisation, and doing so would probably make the whole system less confusing.

I think they have to have seals as a complete separate thing from the store. They didn't give us seals by choice, but were forced if they wanted to keep selling gamble boxes in Europe. So keeping it separate may be something they have to do. Otherwise I agree that some currency is just redundant.

I think if they just combined seals with gems the problem would be more the ratio - seals need many more for purchases and it skewed towards the hight value rewards being better value. With endeavours we could earn around 500 a month (obviously that's different now but it'll probably settle down to something similar after the first few seasons), with gems we'd be lucky to get 50 and I think most people would see that as a bit stingy. It would be much harder to get some of the radiant apex mounts, which are currently the same with seals but not gems.

It would be nice to see but I don't think it's any more likely than them giving away crowns

Oh I think it'd be a cool idea. What I'm saying is I don't think they can. I think seals has to be completely separate from a currency you earn gambling. A separate thing earnable totally free in game, to be in good standing with Europe, no smell of gambling.