All About the Crown Crates Coming in One Tamriel

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All About the Crown Crates Coming in One Tamriel

During Gamescom last week, it was announced that Crown Crates would be coming to Elder Scrolls Online with the One Tamriel update. The announcement sparked a lot of discussion so we went straight to the source to ask Matt Firor for more details. See what he had to say in our exclusive interview.

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R3d.Gallows

Baby steps towards p2w

NomadMorlock

The way they are executing is very well done. Nothing from a Crown Crate can be sold or traded for gold and can't impact the economy or provide players any advantage by spending real world cash.

Ozmodan

No matter how to try to explain it, RNG boxes are basically gambling.  Really sorry to see Zenimax cheapen the game like this.  The almighty dollar always sees to win out.

Jimt722

I refused to buy these in other games and what I read about here does nothing to change my mind. The only worthwhile items in the crates are the cosmetics. Consumables? I will just craft them. Xp scrolls? I'm near cp cap.

I have no fear that this will turn pay to win as many games have implemented this without letting that happen. Matt misses the problem entirely. Customers want to buy what they want without gambling away their savings. Put these themed "extremely rare" purchases on the store like you should. This is a marketing ploy and your not convincing anyone otherwise.

Razeekster

I can't stop laughing at the fact that the MMO industry has devolved so badly that there's an "exclusive" interview about freaking gacha-like boxes (the West never had these until Eastern games came over here with their gachas-which is what these "crates" are. It's an Asian MMO practice that has invaded Weatern MMOs).

ballisticknife0

As Nomad said, "The way they are executing is very well done. Nothing from a Crown Crate can be sold or traded for gold and can't impact the economy or provide players any advantage by spending real world cash."

Are you guys seriously complaining about this? These items literally don't impact the economy at all... I don't even play this game, but to see people complain about this is honestly sad.

Esquire1980

What they got from me, is 2 canceled subs. Wife's and mine.

This was about the last AAA MMORPG that hasn't went this route. They can say it won't be P2W all they want, I heard the same thing from Cryptic, and about the same exact wording. When their "cosmetics" don't sell as well as they hoped, then P2W is the only answer and it will come. CK out ANY other game with these.

They said "consumables" in the "crates" in their last explanations, That would include crafting upgrades, purple/golds. I wondered why the drop rates had been ninja-nerfed.

Guess it's time for me to put back up my SWGEMU server again. No1 can charge for that, no store, no lockboxes.

Gabemastercash

It's all about mounts like the brown bear that I want but cant purchase. Thanks ESO I can get my frickin bear

Vorthanion

Whether they do it now or down the road, they will eventually put all the "good looking" or "powerful" stuff in the gambling boxes and remove or abstain from implementing them into the content itself.  I could care less about the economy aspect, but removing reward systems from the gameplay and putting them into the cash shop is a huge turn off for me, enough so that I will never return to ESO.

hithere236

Esquire1980 said:

What they got from me, is 2 canceled subs. Wife's and mine.



This was about the last AAA MMORPG that hasn't went this route. They can say it won't be P2W all they want, I heard the same thing from Cryptic, and about the same exact wording. When their "cosmetics" don't sell as well as they hoped, then P2W is the only answer and it will come. CK out ANY other game with these.



They said "consumables" in the "crates" in their last explanations, That would include crafting upgrades, purple/golds. I wondered why the drop rates had been ninja-nerfed.



Guess it's time for me to put back up my SWGEMU server again. No1 can charge for that, no store, no lockboxes.

WDF this game literally makes there money off of membership, DLCS, base game price, and crowns. I'm pretty sure this game is WAY better off not going P2W, and if they were why now? There one of the most successful MMOs so far, all of the newly released MMOs have ALL been fails. ESO stands strong.

sentientlee

LOL you people. Do you understand that in order to keep the game going, they need some source of income? This is a business after all. Do you know that businesses need money in order to stay open?

This is just opening up another POSSIBLE revenue stream... for the people that WANT to buy these crates.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUY THESE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO.

Now get over yourselves. You're not the target audience for these crates. The target audience is people that WANT to buy them.

Will the addition of these Crown Crates affect your personal game play if you don't buy them? No. So what's the problem?

At some point, this game will shut down like most server based games tend to. How long until that happens depends on how much money they make.

Another source of revenue = longer life for the game.

Clearly those at Zenimax/Bethesda are taking the issue seriously to address concerns by doing interviews to clear the air. However their audience is choosing to believe their own tinfoil hat theories over clear and concise stated fact.

To get the older items you had two options:

1) They never re-release them

or

2) You now have the chance with Crown Crates

Don't like the Crown Crates? Cool. Don't buy them. They're not for you. Move on with life.

Gobstopper3D

sentientlee said:

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUY THESE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO.



Now get over yourselves. You're not the target audience for these crates. The target audience is people that WANT to buy them..

Your right and Gamblers don't HAVE to gamble and smokers don't HAVE to smoke, but they do and for many it's an addiction. If the game was doing all that well and raking in the cash, there would be no need for these boxes, but things evidently aren't all that great over the rainbow. That or they are just plain greedy, not sure which it is.

sentientlee

lol. Zenimax & Bethesda are in no way responsible for people's lack of self control. Addicts are responsible for their actions and should seek help where necessary. But as addiction is not the topic of concern, I shall digress.

Albatroes

"There is a very good chance – especially if you are a regular collector of Crown Store items – that you will receive a collectible from a Crown Crate that you already have. When that happens, instead of a duplicate item, you will receive a new form of currency, the Crown Gem. You can then spend Crown Gems in a new section of the Crown Store where you can purchase the item that you want – including Crown Crate-exclusive items. The gem store will contain all of the collectibles available in all the Crown Crates, so you will be able to acquire the collectible you want, even if you don’t get it directly from a Crown Crate."

That's all you had to say Zenimax, I'll stop my complaining now.

H0urg1ass

Razeekster said:

I can't stop laughing at the fact that the MMO industry has devolved so badly that there's an "exclusive" interview about freaking gacha-like boxes (the West never had these until Eastern games came over here with their gachas-which is what these "crates" are. It's an Asian MMO practice that has invaded Weatern MMOs).

Western MMO's for the longest time were built with gameplay and the experience in mind as the first priority and then they simply tacked on the tried-and-true sub model.  Sure, they were out to make money, but they were trying to make it by drawing people into the game, getting them hooked on the content and then they would pay the sub.

Eastern MMO's, however, have been built almost since day one with monetization in mind and gameplay later.  It's why 90%+ of them are god awful, shitty grinders with absolutely no content for dozens of levels except burning mobs... but oh, we have this item you can buy that will make it easier and faster.

Now everyone is hybridizing these two systems.  BDO, for instance, looks pretty damn amazing and has gameplay that most people seem to enjoy... with monetization a high priority.  SWTOR melded western graphics with RNG loot boxes.  Now TESO is doing the same.  More MMO's will fall to this garbage as their populations start to sag.

acidblood

Whale season begins... Was thinking of trying ESO, especially once the world is more open, but gambling boxes are a hard line for me. You can spin it however you like, but that IS what they are, and some people, who probably can't afford it, will spend $100's if not $1000's on them to get the time-limited 'exclusives'; it's just wrong.

danisheraser

Funny to see how so many of you already can predict the outcome of this game because of crown crates. You dont know shit.

Tiamat64

Well, at least they offer a way to get what you want eventually even if you keep getting bad luck with them.  That's better than what most (but not all, as some others do that too) MMOs do with their random boxes.

kosac

lol lol lol...

Steelhelm

It's so mind boggling why game studios install leveling/progression through xp in their games and then sell/introduce items like 'experience point boosting scrolls'.

It's like saying: "We created some shitty content, please have this." LOL!
Or: "Please have this that you can quickly get to end-game that's even more grindy and boring."
Or: "Please have this so you can quickly play through our game and quit it." LOL!

Truly mind boggling...

shalissar

Cool! So instead of being able to by cosmetics outright to please myself and support their game I can buy none at all because it will be a cold day in hell before I ever touch a bloody gacha.

geremady

For the author: why didnt you ask the important questions like why they put gambling for real money in the game. Why not just sell exclusive old and new items in the store?

Also notice they never precisice how many gem crowns you need from duplicate items to be able to buy another item?  1 duplicate item or maybe 10?

Another subscription lost for ESO.

Iselin

I'll just leave this here. I don't think a comment from me is necessary:

(August 2013) http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/the-elder-scrolls-online/artikel/the_elder_scrolls_online,44578,3026853.html

(MF) The Elder Scrolls games are all about allowing the player to go where they want, be who they want, and do what they want. We feel that putting pay gates between the player and content at any point in game ruins that feeling of freedom, and just having one small monthly fee for 100% access to the game fits the IP and the game much better than a system where you have to pay for features and access as you play. The Elder Scrolls Online was designed and developed to be a premium experience: hundreds of hours of gameplay, tons of depth and features, professional customer support - and a commitment to have ongoing content at regular intervals after launch. This type of experience is best paired with a one-time fee per month, as opposed to many smaller payments that would probably add up to more than $14.99/month any way.

And it's important to state that our decision to go with subscriptions is not a referendum on online game revenue models. F2P, B2P, etc. are valid, proven business models - but subscription is the one that fits ESO the best, given our commitment to freedom of gameplay, quality and long-term content delivery. Plus, players will appreciate not having to worry about being "monetized" in the middle of playing the game, which is definitely a problem that is cropping up more and more in online gaming these days. The fact that the word "monetized" exists points to the heart of the issue for us: We don't want the player to worry about which parts of the game to pay for - with our system, they get it all.

Docmandu

Very much against these crown boxes.

yonpachi

First they said No plans for RNG Boxes.


Now they had plans for RNG Boxes.
http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/2016/08/23/gamescom-2016-recap-update-12-and-one-tamriel


First they said cosmetic and convenience items only.

Later in the future you can tell it by Yourself

Sure they said Lootboxes cosmetics only. That is their as for now. But you can't tell what is going happen in the future. The existence of Lootboxes itself is a step towards Pay to win. It has happened with past games in similar fashion, with same exact initial promises. What make you think it would be any different here?

I'm against this. There's many way to generate income for the game. How about selling some real good contents in crown shops? How about putting extra sweats in designing real good costumes, pets, or mounts? (You know the stuffs that make you goes like OMG that is very sexy on my toon I must get those!) If it's not enough put them behind Premium cosmetics price, if it's not enough put them behind bundle pack or something. Not enough? Put them behind time limit.

But instead we are getting Crown RNG Boxes.