Guild Wars 2

Just checking but does everyone need multiple Queen Jennah Mini’s? I have 8 toons I made all of them during head start and I now have 8 Queen Jennah Minis that are account or soul bound. Either give us random minis or make them none bound because it mite as well be account based gifts if its the same for all toons.
My guess is this was an oversight because surely Anet employees understand their player base dosnt want 8 of the same mini as a gift. So that said I’m sure they will patch them none soul bound or sort some exchange sceme. Everyone else not impressed with this?

What’s the point of making them not account bound if everyone is going to get one anyway?

Vayne.8563:

What’s the point of making them not account bound if everyone is going to get one anyway?

I’m not sure how this all works but I assume each character that is 1 year old as of creation date gets this.

I’m sure there are lots of people still who don’t have characters that are one year old but do what the mini for their collection now rather than 6 months from now or whatever.

But in GW1 everyone got random mini’s and that worked so much better, because they were collectible with different rarities….funny how they had a good idea once and failed to repeat it. Another one for that list.

Let us forge the minis or something. For now, they’ll just sit stacked in my bank collectibles with my Orian Priests.

I would say that you could sell it, but they would be the cheapest Mini on the market if you couldn’t Mystic Forge them. I think you might be able to Mystic Forge them, just saying.

It didn’t fail it is not appreciated just for what it is. Could they have given you 600g plus a precursor of choice, absolutely. They did what they did.

Yargesh.4965:

It didn’t fail it is not appreciated just for what it is. Could they have given you 600g plus a precursor of choice, absolutely. They did what they did.

We’re not really asking for that. That’s not the point. Generally the point is that these minis are worthless in every way, because not only can they not be MFed but everyone gets one, so they’re not really unique in any way.

We’re not asking for hundreds of gold, something along the lines of everyone who’s 1 year old gets a queen jennah mini as well as a pack of minis from the new or even the old edition. Something as simple as that would have made just a huge difference.

So you feel that you are not ‘special’ enough?

Delryn.7235:

Yargesh.4965:

It didn’t fail it is not appreciated just for what it is. Could they have given you 600g plus a precursor of choice, absolutely. They did what they did.

We’re not really asking for that. That’s not the point. Generally the point is that these minis are worthless in every way, because not only can they not be MFed but everyone gets one, so they’re not really unique in any way.

We’re not asking for hundreds of gold, something along the lines of everyone who’s 1 year old gets a queen jennah mini as well as a pack of minis from the new or even the old edition. Something as simple as that would have made just a huge difference.

Yargesh.4965:

So you feel that you are not ‘special’ enough?

Nice stab below the belt…I think the word you’re looking for is “appreciated”.

Gehenna.3625:

Yargesh.4965:

So you feel that you are not ‘special’ enough?

Nice stab below the belt…I think the word you’re looking for is “appreciated”.

Special fits moreso.

I appreciated the first gift and the three items in it, even though I probably won’t use any of them. I giggled at the second gift and the same three items as the first gift. Five gifts later and I’m no longer amused. I feel more “trolled” having to delete the items to not waste space.

make them mystic forgeable ill gladly trade four for something else. you could even make the ones we get account bound. i got 9 slots five had b-days today. i dont need or want 9 mini jennas let me mystic forge 8 of them please and if i have to trash them you might as well call me ticked of. its bad ill probably trash several of the scrolls doubt ill ever use 9 total of them

Pennry.9215:

I appreciated the first gift and the three items in it, even though I probably won’t use any of them. I giggled at the second gift and the same three items as the first gift. Five gifts later and I’m no longer amused. I feel more “trolled” having to delete the items to not waste space.

why would you have to delete stuff that stacks…especially the mini which has it’s own collectible space.

My bday will be in 3 days!!!! i cannot wait for my own booster and a scroll. Gonna be awesome

As I said in another thread…I personally find getting multiples of the same mini-pet as a birthday gift insulting considering they just added 46 mini-pets to the Gem Shop.

But you do realize if they gave unique minis to each person who was an altoholic, people would say they were trying to force people to buy character slots, and people who play one character would complain that people with multiple characters have an in game advantage.

No matter what Anet did, they were going to get flack.

When my characters get their Queen Jennah mini-pet, I am going to destroy them in protest. I like GW1 birthday presents much better.

Vayne.8563:

But you do realize if they gave unique minis to each person who was an altoholic, people would say they were trying to force people to buy character slots, and people who play one character would complain that people with multiple characters have an in game advantage.

No matter what Anet did, they were going to get flack.

Unique minis? Not necessary. Random minis from a pool set aside specifically for birthday gifts? I don’t see any harm in that.

What if you could dye the minis? You could have a veritable herd of Queen Jennahs with no two alike!

Tachenon.5270:

What if you could dye the minis? You could have a veritable herd of Queen Jennahs with no two alike!

No….just no.

A random selection from a predetermined series of minis would be fine.

EDIT: If you want to get all ‘cavalier’ about dyes, go for weapons and not minis.

Vayne.8563:

But you do realize if they gave unique minis to each person who was an altoholic, people would say they were trying to force people to buy character slots, and people who play one character would complain that people with multiple characters have an in game advantage.

No matter what Anet did, they were going to get flack.

That’s a true statement, but some actions earn an awful lot more flak than others. And ArenaNet seem to be very, very good at attracting impressive amounts of flak.

It wouldn’t have been nearly so much if they’d just done it Guild Wars style. That was a great system that kept people excited for years. I really, truly look at what they did do an shake my head, wondering what they expected. They just don’t seem to be on the same planet as the rest of us.

But there are now 40-something new minis in the gem store, and multiple copies of the same untradeable mini in my storage, a scroll I can’t use unless I buy more character slots (hmmm…), and a booster that’s actually kind of nice, but rather overshadowed by the other stuff, and will, at any rate, be forgotten 2 hours after it’s been used.

Man I hate to sound ungracious, but…thanks for the free stuff and all…but…how connected to your community are you?

I have eight characters at level 80. In a few days, I’ll have:

- 8 mini queen Jennah (1 is fine, 7 are useless)
- 8 XP scrolls (I had one more, so 9. Useless, all of them)
- 8 boosters (8 days with +100%mf… well, not bad?)

Seriously, who has created this gift? There are plenty of better gifts, for example:

- 1 random miniature from pack 2 (a not very expensive gift)
- 1 new random tonic with infinite uses (not very expensive, and funny)
- 1 random ascended trinket (account bound, so it doesn’t affect market)
- a birthday cupcake (come on, this is 100 thousand times better than a booster, even if they give us the same buff)
- some clothes
- some toys for clothes
- …

I don’t know, there are a lot of things better than the thing we have received.

Yargesh.4965:

It didn’t fail it is not appreciated just for what it is. Could they have given you 600g plus a precursor of choice, absolutely. They did what they did.

I would have settled for a precursor, but that’s just me. If you don’t have a precursor after a year. Anet is doing it wrong.

Pennry.9215:

Let us forge the minis or something. For now, they’ll just sit stacked in my bank collectibles with my Orian Priests.

I want to Forge the Queen mini with the Logan mini and make Logan Jr mini.

I actually still haven’t gotten my bday gift even tho its past the 12 month point. :o

Some people are missing the point. I have 8 slots, I have 6 level 80’s a level 50 and a level 36. I have no need for 7 nontradable mini jennahs and xp scrolls that only work on toons lower then level 20 are useless.
Make the scrolls 20 levels useable for any level and make the mini’s a random from maybe a pool of all the special events and not account bound so that the gifts are not 100% useless.
As it stands the booster is the only item of any use and is limited because of most peoples levels and requirements. Just put some thought into this Anet.

If my friend (or someone I know) gives me a gift or gifts, and not an insult gift to make fun of me, but a gift that they spend time making or buying or acquiring, I will be grateful for them. I don’t care if it’s a pad paper that I don’t ever use, a dozen colored pencil of the same color, or a set of crayon I already have or just a stone-paperweight which will actually end up cluttering my work space. The fact is, someone spend sometime to give me something.

The thought counts, the actual gift makes it better, no matter what that might be.

DeathMetal.8264:

If my friend (or someone I know) gives me a gift or gifts, and not an insult gift to make fun of me, but a gift that they spend time making or buying or acquiring, I will be grateful for them. I don’t care if it’s a pad paper that I don’t ever use, a dozen colored pencil of the same color, or a set of crayon I already have or just a stone-paperweight which will actually end up cluttering my work space. The fact is, someone spend sometime to give me something.

The thought counts, the actual gift makes it better, no matter what that might be.

Yep. I have to admit I’m a bit perplexed about the hostility towards the gift. Anet was certainly under no obligation to give us anything. But we still got a decent booster. The experience scroll is useful to anyone who is leveling an alt—am I to believe that the majority of players have all 80s? I personally don’t care for Minis enough, but I still got an exotic one with no effort on my part; what’s not to like?

Like you said, it’s the thought that counts. The fact that I got something despite not paying a subscription fee is good enough.

Glenstorm.4059:

DeathMetal.8264:

If my friend (or someone I know) gives me a gift or gifts, and not an insult gift to make fun of me, but a gift that they spend time making or buying or acquiring, I will be grateful for them. I don’t care if it’s a pad paper that I don’t ever use, a dozen colored pencil of the same color, or a set of crayon I already have or just a stone-paperweight which will actually end up cluttering my work space. The fact is, someone spend sometime to give me something.

The thought counts, the actual gift makes it better, no matter what that might be.

Yep. I have to admit I’m a bit perplexed about the hostility towards the gift. Anet was certainly under no obligation to give us anything. But we still got a decent booster. The experience scroll is useful to anyone who is leveling an alt—am I to believe that the majority of players have all 80s? I personally don’t care for Minis enough, but I still got an exotic one with no effort on my part; what’s not to like?

Like you said, it’s the thought that counts. The fact that I got something despite not paying a subscription fee is good enough.

I have an old, used left shoe and a pile of dried canine excrement. I could give them to you…or would you prefer I gave you nothing instead?

I would have preferred ArenaNet gave me nothing than the useless, annoying junk in that birthday ‘gift’.

If there ever needed to be evidence that this game is filled with over-entitled children, this thread would provide ample evidence.

It’s a gift. You did absolutely nothing to earn it, it’s just a token of appreciation. If you never use it or throw it away, who cares? To see people come onto a thread and whine that they wanted a better birthday present is just about as sad as watching a child throw a tantrum because they didn’t get the birthday presents they wanted.

It’s sickeningly entitled. And quite frankly it’s beneath the maturity level of players who are supposed to be at least 13 to play this game. This kind of whining would only be okay if you were younger than that.

funkylovemonkey.3097:

If there ever needed to be evidence that this game is filled with over-entitled children, this thread would provide ample evidence.

It’s a gift. You did absolutely nothing to earn it, it’s just a token of appreciation. If you never use it or throw it away, who cares? To see people come onto a thread and whine that they wanted a better birthday present is just about as sad as watching a child throw a tantrum because they didn’t get the birthday presents they wanted.

It’s sickeningly entitled. And quite frankly it’s beneath the maturity level of players who are supposed to be at least 13 to play this game. This kind of whining would only be okay if you were younger than that.

And what exactly am I supposed to do with 8x Queen Jennah mini-pets? What am I supposed to do with the booster? They are worthless to me and they take up too much of my inventory space. I am forced to take time out of my schedule to delete them. My time is valuable.

funkylovemonkey.3097:

If there ever needed to be evidence that this game is filled with over-entitled children, this thread would provide ample evidence.

It’s a gift. You did absolutely nothing to earn it, it’s just a token of appreciation. If you never use it or throw it away, who cares? To see people come onto a thread and whine that they wanted a better birthday present is just about as sad as watching a child throw a tantrum because they didn’t get the birthday presents they wanted.

It’s sickeningly entitled. And quite frankly it’s beneath the maturity level of players who are supposed to be at least 13 to play this game. This kind of whining would only be okay if you were younger than that.

you don’t show appreciation with worthless things.

Elbegast.6970:

funkylovemonkey.3097:

If there ever needed to be evidence that this game is filled with over-entitled children, this thread would provide ample evidence.

It’s a gift. You did absolutely nothing to earn it, it’s just a token of appreciation. If you never use it or throw it away, who cares? To see people come onto a thread and whine that they wanted a better birthday present is just about as sad as watching a child throw a tantrum because they didn’t get the birthday presents they wanted.

It’s sickeningly entitled. And quite frankly it’s beneath the maturity level of players who are supposed to be at least 13 to play this game. This kind of whining would only be okay if you were younger than that.

And what exactly am I supposed to do with 8x Queen Jennah mini-pets? What am I supposed to do with the booster? They are worthless to me and they take up too much of my inventory space. I am forced to take time out of my schedule to delete them. My time is valuable.

You mean those valuable seconds?

You know how I know your time isn’t valuable? Because you just spent longer then it would take to delete those presents to respond to me.

funkylovemonkey.3097:

Elbegast.6970:

funkylovemonkey.3097:

If there ever needed to be evidence that this game is filled with over-entitled children, this thread would provide ample evidence.

It’s a gift. You did absolutely nothing to earn it, it’s just a token of appreciation. If you never use it or throw it away, who cares? To see people come onto a thread and whine that they wanted a better birthday present is just about as sad as watching a child throw a tantrum because they didn’t get the birthday presents they wanted.

It’s sickeningly entitled. And quite frankly it’s beneath the maturity level of players who are supposed to be at least 13 to play this game. This kind of whining would only be okay if you were younger than that.

And what exactly am I supposed to do with 8x Queen Jennah mini-pets? What am I supposed to do with the booster? They are worthless to me and they take up too much of my inventory space. I am forced to take time out of my schedule to delete them. My time is valuable.

You mean those valuable seconds?

You know how I know your time isn’t valuable? Because you just spent longer then it would take to delete those presents to respond to me.

My time is far more valuable than the worthless junk in that Birthday gift. Nice strawman argument, though.

DeathMetal.8264:

If my friend (or someone I know) gives me a gift or gifts, and not an insult gift to make fun of me, but a gift that they spend time making or buying or acquiring, I will be grateful for them. I don’t care if it’s a pad paper that I don’t ever use, a dozen colored pencil of the same color, or a set of crayon I already have or just a stone-paperweight which will actually end up cluttering my work space. The fact is, someone spend sometime to give me something.

The thought counts, the actual gift makes it better, no matter what that might be.

This gift is a bit underwhelming to people who played GW1, and the gifts there were already only so so.

Sure if a friend gives me a generally underwhelming gift I’ll appreciate it.

However that’s not the case, it’s more like a friend gave me a collection of bad gifts, but then also gave every single other person he knew an identical copy of the exact same gifts for their birthdays. So now everyone I know has what I got, it’s really underwhelming and becomes entirely insignificant, if not even a bit offensive.

No I’m not asking to be special, no I don’t want a unique and new item that was crafted just for me. It’s just they really could have done so little and have been so much better.

I’m not here to complain or rage, when I saw what they were gonna give us as a gift, I immediately thought “well, guess that’s something I’ll generally ignore” because it really was completely worthless (other than the nice little booster).

But even though I cared nothing for the gifts doesn’t mean I shouldn’t speak up about my personal opinions towards this.

Discussing and QQing are different things, a lot of people often times forget this fact.

I would love to see a random 1st year mini like Gw1 had.

Darklimbo.1476:

I would love to see a random 1st year mini like Gw1 had.

*tradeable mini

Just going to leave this link here to the thread I started (3 pages long currently).
We should make an effort of posting in one thread, so it’s easier to see the issue through.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Opinions-on-Birthday-Presents/first

Yargesh.4965:

it is not appreciated just for what it is.

Actually I think that the various threads and posts on this subject indicate that it IS being appreciated for exactly what it is.

Elbegast.6970:

Glenstorm.4059:

DeathMetal.8264:

If my friend (or someone I know) gives me a gift or gifts, and not an insult gift to make fun of me, but a gift that they spend time making or buying or acquiring, I will be grateful for them. I don’t care if it’s a pad paper that I don’t ever use, a dozen colored pencil of the same color, or a set of crayon I already have or just a stone-paperweight which will actually end up cluttering my work space. The fact is, someone spend sometime to give me something.

The thought counts, the actual gift makes it better, no matter what that might be.

Yep. I have to admit I’m a bit perplexed about the hostility towards the gift. Anet was certainly under no obligation to give us anything. But we still got a decent booster. The experience scroll is useful to anyone who is leveling an alt—am I to believe that the majority of players have all 80s? I personally don’t care for Minis enough, but I still got an exotic one with no effort on my part; what’s not to like?

Like you said, it’s the thought that counts. The fact that I got something despite not paying a subscription fee is good enough.

I have an old, used left shoe and a pile of dried canine excrement. I could give them to you…or would you prefer I gave you nothing instead?

I would have preferred ArenaNet gave me nothing than the useless, annoying junk in that birthday ‘gift’.

You missed this part:
“not an insult gift to make fun of me, but a gift that they spend time making or buying or acquiring”…

If your canine excrement is something you value though, and you figure giving it to me will give me equal joy as it gives you, then why not? From the term itself, a gift, is something that expresses the giver’s GOOD intentions.

For reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift

From the link above, some occasions where a gift is given:
“The occasion may be:
Expression of love or friendship.
Expression of gratitude for a gift received.
Expression of piety, in the form of charity.
Expression of solidarity, in the form of mutual aid.
To share wealth.
To offset misfortune.”

So again, if your canine excrement is one of the things you value in your life, and you wish to share, without ill intention, go ahead. However, if you think it’s bad and you’re still giving it away as a way to insult or have bad intention, then keep it to yourself. Follow the golden rule:
“That which you hate to be done to you, do not do to another.”[

DeathMetal.8264:

Elbegast.6970:

Glenstorm.4059:

DeathMetal.8264:

If my friend (or someone I know) gives me a gift or gifts, and not an insult gift to make fun of me, but a gift that they spend time making or buying or acquiring, I will be grateful for them. I don’t care if it’s a pad paper that I don’t ever use, a dozen colored pencil of the same color, or a set of crayon I already have or just a stone-paperweight which will actually end up cluttering my work space. The fact is, someone spend sometime to give me something.

The thought counts, the actual gift makes it better, no matter what that might be.

Yep. I have to admit I’m a bit perplexed about the hostility towards the gift. Anet was certainly under no obligation to give us anything. But we still got a decent booster. The experience scroll is useful to anyone who is leveling an alt—am I to believe that the majority of players have all 80s? I personally don’t care for Minis enough, but I still got an exotic one with no effort on my part; what’s not to like?

Like you said, it’s the thought that counts. The fact that I got something despite not paying a subscription fee is good enough.

I have an old, used left shoe and a pile of dried canine excrement. I could give them to you…or would you prefer I gave you nothing instead?

I would have preferred ArenaNet gave me nothing than the useless, annoying junk in that birthday ‘gift’.

You missed this part:
“not an insult gift to make fun of me, but a gift that they spend time making or buying or acquiring”…

If your canine excrement is something you value though, and you figure giving it to me will give me equal joy as it gives you, then why not? From the term itself, a gift, is something that expresses the giver’s GOOD intentions.

For reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift

From the link above, some occasions where a gift is given:
“The occasion may be:
Expression of love or friendship.
Expression of gratitude for a gift received.
Expression of piety, in the form of charity.
Expression of solidarity, in the form of mutual aid.
To share wealth.
To offset misfortune.”

So again, if your canine excrement is one of the things you value in your life, and you wish to share, without ill intention, go ahead. However, if you think it’s bad and you’re still giving it away as a way to insult or have bad intention, then keep it to yourself. Follow the golden rule:
“That which you hate to be done to you, do not do to another.”[

I agree completely, but keep in mind that birthday gifts in a game of this sort are a form of marketing. The intention, a good one in my opinion is to promote the game.

Ashen.2907:

Yargesh.4965:

it is not appreciated just for what it is.

Actually I think that the various threads and posts on this subject indicate that it IS being appreciated for exactly what it is.

DeathMetal.8264:

Elbegast.6970:

Glenstorm.4059:

DeathMetal.8264:

If my friend (or someone I know) gives me a gift or gifts, and not an insult gift to make fun of me, but a gift that they spend time making or buying or acquiring, I will be grateful for them. I don’t care if it’s a pad paper that I don’t ever use, a dozen colored pencil of the same color, or a set of crayon I already have or just a stone-paperweight which will actually end up cluttering my work space. The fact is, someone spend sometime to give me something.

The thought counts, the actual gift makes it better, no matter what that might be.

Yep. I have to admit I’m a bit perplexed about the hostility towards the gift. Anet was certainly under no obligation to give us anything. But we still got a decent booster. The experience scroll is useful to anyone who is leveling an alt—am I to believe that the majority of players have all 80s? I personally don’t care for Minis enough, but I still got an exotic one with no effort on my part; what’s not to like?

Like you said, it’s the thought that counts. The fact that I got something despite not paying a subscription fee is good enough.

I have an old, used left shoe and a pile of dried canine excrement. I could give them to you…or would you prefer I gave you nothing instead?

I would have preferred ArenaNet gave me nothing than the useless, annoying junk in that birthday ‘gift’.

You missed this part:
“not an insult gift to make fun of me, but a gift that they spend time making or buying or acquiring”…

If your canine excrement is something you value though, and you figure giving it to me will give me equal joy as it gives you, then why not? From the term itself, a gift, is something that expresses the giver’s GOOD intentions.

For reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift

From the link above, some occasions where a gift is given:
“The occasion may be:
Expression of love or friendship.
Expression of gratitude for a gift received.
Expression of piety, in the form of charity.
Expression of solidarity, in the form of mutual aid.
To share wealth.
To offset misfortune.”

So again, if your canine excrement is one of the things you value in your life, and you wish to share, without ill intention, go ahead. However, if you think it’s bad and you’re still giving it away as a way to insult or have bad intention, then keep it to yourself. Follow the golden rule:
“That which you hate to be done to you, do not do to another.”[

so lets say he really loves the dog poop he gives you. does that make it a good gift? what exactly are you going to do with it besides throw it out? gifts can be given with love and still be terrible,

I’m glad they went the single minipet for everyone idea rather than the GW1 model where players with more characters essentially got richer than those with less. I know I personally made 8 characters on launch day for that exact reason and I’m pretty sure a lot of other people also did this

However, I feel we should have received a separate mail with the minipet for the account birthday (so that you only receive one) and a birthday present per character that contained the extra boosts.

Elbegast.6970:

I have an old, used left shoe and a pile of dried canine excrement. I could give them to you…or would you prefer I gave you nothing instead?

I would have preferred ArenaNet gave me nothing than the useless, annoying junk in that birthday ‘gift’.

I’ll take the shoe and the canine excrement please. There is a place near me that takes oddball shoes for the homeless. The canine excrement would be a nice addition to my compost heap. That compost makes my plants and garden look great. Your gifts would not only benefit me but my community as well.

gidorah.4960:

so lets say he really loves the dog poop he gives you does that make it a good gift what exactly are you going to do with it besides throw it out gifts can be given with love and still be terrible

No.

(I expect I’ll get flack for this but whatever)

The gift, in the example given, was the love itself. Any physical object in that sort of situation is merely a symbol of the affection. How useful that symbol is, regarding its non symbolic functionality, is irrelevant to its quality as a gift.

I keep in my wallet a lock of my wife’s hair folded inside piece of paper on which she wrote a poem as her first gift to me.

Last year, for Christmas, she bought me a new computer.

I would give up the computer before I would ever even think of giving up the poem and lock of hair.

The reason this does not apply here is that birthday gifts in a game such as this are a form of marketing. They are a means of promoting the game in some way. They are a form of reciprocation for money spent.

Ashen.2907:

gidorah.4960:

so lets say he really loves the dog poop he gives you does that make it a good gift what exactly are you going to do with it besides throw it out gifts can be given with love and still be terrible

No.

(I expect I’ll get flack for this but whatever)

The gift, in the example given, was the love itself. Any physical object in that sort of situation is merely a symbol of the affection. How useful that symbol is, regarding its non symbolic functionality, is irrelevant to its quality as a gift.

I keep in my wallet a lock of my wife’s hair folded inside piece of paper on which she wrote a poem as her first gift to me.

Last year, for Christmas, she bought me a new computer.

I would give up the computer before I would ever even think of giving up the poem and lock of hair.

---

The reason this does not apply here is that birthday gifts in a game such as this are a form of marketing. They are a means of promoting the game in some way. They are a form of reciprocation for money spent.

you will get flak because the gift is the gift and the thought behind it is the thought behind it you are combining them. they are separate things. although you are right about this being more a marketing tool that a heartfelt gift it would still be bad as a heartfelt gift.

gidorah.4960:

it would still be bad as a heartfelt gift.

There is no such thing.

Ashen.2907:

gidorah.4960:

it would still be bad as a heartfelt gift.

There is no such thing.

there most certainly is

I’d hate to go to peoples birthdays who get presents, and promptly crack it when it’s not something they want.
“You got Jim this gift for his birthday, what makes you think I WANT IT?!”

Could of easily of gotten nothing at all.

I never really got birthday gifts anyway. It seems like the parents should get the gifts. After all they did all the work.