The Elder Scrolls Online Reddit community has been ablaze this week over a recent in-game promotion in the cash shop that appeared to encourage players to buy the Vampire and Werewolf cure potions from the crown store, without any clear notice that this is a feature easily and cheaply purchased in-game. MMO players will recall that Vampires and Werewolves are getting a thorough revamp with Greymoor in just a couple of weeks, making this the sort of promotion that will catch attention indeed and could easily mislead new and returning players.
One heavily upvoted comment spells out the problem. “[I]t is NOT clear to players that either the Vampire/Werewolf bites or the cures can be acquired in-game, and these are things that are deeply connected to your build,” Redditor BuildingAirships explains. “The cure isn’t even a convenience, because it’s so damn easy to travel to a temple and get cured for a few hundred gold. These particular Crown Store items don’t milk rich and lazy players, they trick everyday players into paying real money for an important thing they can essentially acquire for free. To promote it just before Greymoor, when changes to Vampirism may necessitate a cure, is even worse.”
On the other hand, some players have defended ZeniMax, pointing out that information about cures is easily found with a basic Google search and arguing that the cure’s inclusion in the cash shop constitutes a “stupid tax” which helps fund the game.
Either way, let this serve as a solid reminder not only to not buy these cures in the shop but also to Google everything in every MMO before you drop real money on it – because game companies don’t necessarily have disclosure at the top of their priority list.
The promo for the potions isn’t still in the feature slider in-game as of this morning when we checked, but it is still in the cash shop for a whopping 800 crowns.
