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Matt Firor Announces Crown Shop Item Boxes Coming to Game

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
edited August 2016 in News & Features Discussion

imageMatt Firor Announces Crown Shop Item Boxes Coming to Game

Elder Scrolls Online News - The Elder Scrolls Online will be getting new Crown Shop boxes containing random cosmetic items in the future. The boxes will be for sale in the item shop and can contain mounts and other cosmetic items. The Reddit and official ESO forums are busy with debates raging about the merits of adding such a thing and with prognostications for the future.

Read the full story here



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Comments

  • Joseph_KerrJoseph_Kerr Member RarePosts: 1,113
    RNG loot boxes? No thanks, why not just put the items on the Crown store and let their customers decide what they want? Oh, yeah... greed.
  • FelixMajorFelixMajor Member RarePosts: 865
    Lame.

    Originally posted by Arskaaa
    "when players learned tacticks in dungeon/raids, its bread".

  • NokksonwoodNokksonwood Member UncommonPosts: 91
    Not a good idea. Boxes seemed fine for a cheap looking game like Neverwinter, but to have them in ESO.....:(
  • OzmodanOzmodan Member EpicPosts: 9,726
    edited August 2016
    This cheapens the game immensely!  What a horrible idea.  

    RNG anything does not belong in a AAA title.  Just making a casino of the game.
  • Tiamat64Tiamat64 Member RarePosts: 1,545
    The house always wins!
  • AethaerynAethaeryn Member RarePosts: 3,150
    DMKano said:
    Smart move as far as making money - nothing else comes close in comparison to RNG boxes.

    My guess is that Firor has seen the same research data showing the huge profitability of RNG boxes. 


    Sure some players will grumble, some might even leave over this but the profits still win overall.

    I think finding boxes and selling keys is even better / worse :)  You have the box. . you just need to open it (the bad?).  Also players who don't care can sell keys to other players (the good?)

    In the end it is cosmetic so you don't have to buy in.  I got ruined in Fallen Earth because I bought one box and it had the rarest pet in it.  First purchase of anything like that.  Now. . . only disappointment so I don't bother unless I have money to burn.

    As soon as they get into gambling though (which is what this is) things get a little less moral in my opinion.  They are hooking into something that purposefully goes around some peoples common sense.  Gateway to sitting in an alley outside a casino I say!

    Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!

  • ianicusianicus Member UncommonPosts: 665
    Pft, want a little cheese with that.....? As long as what they add to the crown shop does not effect gameplay, ie pay2win, have at it, there is 100% NO harm to this.
    "Well let me just quote the late-great Colonel Sanders, who said…’I’m too drunk to taste this chicken." - Ricky Bobby
  • Nickhead420Nickhead420 Member UncommonPosts: 251
    "...mounts and other cosmetic items." Not game-breaking, not the big deal it's being made out to be.
  • AeanderAeander Member LegendaryPosts: 8,028
    ianicus said:
    Pft, want a little cheese with that.....? As long as what they add to the crown shop does not effect gameplay, ie pay2win, have at it, there is 100% NO harm to this.
    That depends on how you define harm. For example, the way aesthetics are handled in Guild Wars 2's cash shop is not pay-to-win and therefore does not hurt the playability and legitimacy of the game, but it has a huge impact on the game's skin development.

    On the weapon side, a majority of new weapon skins are locked behind RNG boxes. And because they increase ticket prices of these skins over time and even remove their availability, older skins become hyper-inflated and almost non-existent in the trading post. 

    The armor side is even worse. Once they decided that outfits, which cannot be mixed with other armor skins, are both easier to make and more profitable than armor skins, new armor sets have become rarer than honest politicians. It is very telling that an entire expansion was released with only 3 armor sets per armor class.  
  • jdnewelljdnewell Member UncommonPosts: 2,237
    I have to agree with the people saying this is only the beginning. It will start out with a few mounts and cosmetics, then eventually go to exclusive motifs, armors, ect. that while may not be p2w will only be available through gambling boxes.

    So instead of developing items for expansions, DLC or base game patches you will have development focused around what will sell the most loot boxes.

    No thanks!

    I have stayed away from games with RNG boxes in them for this very reason. Maybe its just me.... I remember when you paid a sub and had access to the whole game and everything in it. If RNG loot boxes are in MMOs to stay then I guess I will find another genre to spend my time in.
  • UhwopUhwop Member UncommonPosts: 1,791
    People are free to gamble if they want, and should always have that right.

    That freedom doesn't mean that companies that use gambling for profit are any less piles of turds.

    There should be rules that require developers/ publishers to disclose the percentage rate of the drops within an RNG box.
  • H0urg1assH0urg1ass Member EpicPosts: 2,380
    I guess it was only a matter of time before all games started to capitalize on gambling addictions.  Why don't they just start human trafficking and arms sales on the side?  I'm sure they can make extra money that way too.  Since they're going down the Vegas route, maybe they can start hitting up indie game studios for protection money.  I mean, if you want your indie game to be protected by us, then pay up or Vinnie might wanna break your kneecaps.

    One of the major problems that I see with games that start down the loot box path, or even basing their model around the cash shop, is that it quickly becomes the focus of game development.  MechWarrior Online had a pretty ambitious design philosophy from the start which all of us Mech Heads were excited about.  Then the focus became the premium mech store almost exclusively for two years.  No kidding, we didn't see a single scrap of extra content for nearly two years that didn't reside exclusively in the cash shop.

    SWTOR's game model is based entirely around the RNG loot box system.  Hell, they even have seasonal loot boxes that can only be purchased during a specific time frame so they can fire up that sense of urgency to "spend your money now!".

    OverWatch started out with a fair system that included coins in their loot boxes that players could buy specific items with, and then at the first chance they got, they removed the coins and instituted pure RNG in their first seasonal loot boxes.  I guess 10+ million copies sold, plus hundreds of loot boxes purchased, wasn't enough for their shareholders so they decided to harpoon the whales before the financial quarter was over.
  • NildenNilden Member EpicPosts: 3,916
    It's pretty telling when the news about a game is about monetization instead of actual game content.

    "You CAN'T buy ships for RL money." - MaxBacon

    "classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon

    Love Minecraft. And check out my Youtube channel OhCanadaGamer

    Try a MUD today at http://www.mudconnect.com/ 

  • BillMurphyBillMurphy Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565
    As long as you can get keys to unlock them in game too, I'm ok with this. A la, GW2.

    Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.

    My Review Manifesto
    Follow me on Twitter if you dare.

  • Nickhead420Nickhead420 Member UncommonPosts: 251

    Nilden said:

    It's pretty telling when the news about a game is about monetization instead of actual game content.



    Wasn't there just a content update like 3 weeks ago? Zenimax has been pretty on point with content, IMO.
  • TalulaRoseTalulaRose Member RarePosts: 1,247
    BillMurphy said:
    As long as you can get keys to unlock them in game too, I'm ok with this. A la, GW2.
    I had 100+ chests, I think about 5 keys dropped in the 2000+ hours I had in game, deleted the chests.


  • GeezerGamerGeezerGamer Member EpicPosts: 8,857
    edited August 2016
    As long as you can get keys to unlock them in game too, I'm ok with this. A la, GW2.
    I had 100+ chests, I think about 5 keys dropped in the 2000+ hours I had in game, deleted the chests.


    You can't farm keys anymore. ANET fixed that.
  • gervaise1gervaise1 Member EpicPosts: 6,919
    Nilden said:
    It's pretty telling when the news about a game is about monetization instead of actual game content.
    Yeah. I started a thread about the other stuff but its understandable since ZoS asked what people thought on the official forums and .... on balance I would have to say the feedback is not positive.

    My biggest surprise is that more people are not upset that the "limited time availability" mounts and so forth will now be "available". Poor move imo.

    Doesn't take much imagination to assume that today's "super rare only available from loot boxes" will be tomorrow's "limited time availability" cash shop items. 
  • Gobstopper3DGobstopper3D Member RarePosts: 970
    edited August 2016
    Well that didn't take long.  Sit back people, this is just the beginning.  Even though I dumped this game before it ever went B2P,  if I ever thought I may give it a try again in the future, there is no way I will now.  Like others, I won't touch a game with loot boxes.

    I'm not an IT Specialist, Game Developer, or Clairvoyant in real life, but like others on here, I play one on the internet.

  • H0urg1assH0urg1ass Member EpicPosts: 2,380
    BillMurphy said:
    As long as you can get keys to unlock them in game too, I'm ok with this. A la, GW2.
    I take a slightly different tack than this.  I'm not happy about RNG boxes at all, but I'm a little less angry about them if all of the stuff in the boxes is able to be sold or traded in the in-game markets.  As long as there's a way to go about getting the items without dumping hundreds or thousands into the system, then, sigh OK, I guess I'll let the whales pay for my content.

    But if I can't get those items without also dumping hundreds into the system, then seriously that game can shove right the hell off on the horse they rode in on.  For instance, I will never buy another single loot box for Overwatch again after the Seasonal Lootbox BS they pulled on us this month.  They got 80 dollars out of me and I'm done.  I'll take my free heroes and maps from here on out and be content.
  • AlbatroesAlbatroes Member LegendaryPosts: 7,671
    Its cool guys. Cash shops are the norm in all mmos regardless of payment models. RNG boxes will be the same as well.
  • laseritlaserit Member LegendaryPosts: 7,591
    If you would have asked players 10 years ago if they would want this stuff in their game, they would have told you you're fucking nuts. Now it's everyday business as usual.

    10 years from now when you do a dungeon and a boss drops some loot it will be BOVCP (bind on visa card payment)

    You may laugh now, but I would have laughed at the thought of RNG loot boxes in an RPG a few years back.

    IMHO it kind of puts an MMORPG on the same level as Candy Crush or Game of War. Maybe it's time Arnold does a commercial for ESO.

    "Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee

  • ianicusianicus Member UncommonPosts: 665
    I lol at this, nothing in those boxes will be necessary to complete game content, is skins and flashy gear!!!
    "Well let me just quote the late-great Colonel Sanders, who said…’I’m too drunk to taste this chicken." - Ricky Bobby
  • ianicusianicus Member UncommonPosts: 665

    MisterZebub said:


    ianicus said:

    I lol at this, nothing in those boxes will be necessary to complete game content, is skins and flashy gear!!!


    And again sure, for now. However predicting by how this exact feature was treated by several MMOs in the past, pretty soon in all of those the content creating focus shifted to quite a lot of this kind of content leaving stuff achieved through actual game play rather scanty. Whereby making games feel less like an adventure for fun and more like just cosplaying at a gaming convention, with all the nickel and dime expenses that enatils.



    It might happen, and it might not happen. I understand the skeptics, but I guess being an optimist in the gaming community is bad form these days.
    "Well let me just quote the late-great Colonel Sanders, who said…’I’m too drunk to taste this chicken." - Ricky Bobby
  • GeezerGamerGeezerGamer Member EpicPosts: 8,857
    edited August 2016
    ianicus said:



    ianicus said:

    I lol at this, nothing in those boxes will be necessary to complete game content, is skins and flashy gear!!!


    And again sure, for now. However predicting by how this exact feature was treated by several MMOs in the past, pretty soon in all of those the content creating focus shifted to quite a lot of this kind of content leaving stuff achieved through actual game play rather scanty. Whereby making games feel less like an adventure for fun and more like just cosplaying at a gaming convention, with all the nickel and dime expenses that enatils.



    It might happen, and it might not happen. I understand the skeptics, but I guess being an optimist in the gaming community is bad form these days.
    If we'd never seen this scenario acted out in prior games I'd agree. However let's once again shoot for blind optimism as while its never seen us through in the past I'm positive it will this time. :p
    Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

    But this forum..............
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