Guild Wars 2

From Arenanet’s perspective I really don’t understand this. I know some people buy these tools for the animations, but from reading the forums it seems that the majority is buying them for their utility, so surely Anet would make more money by leaving these up on the gemstore. I have 6 characters and only purchased one pick for my main as that was the character I played the most at the time. If the pick were a permanent feature of the TP I’d probably have bought two or three by now, and would gradually buy one for all my alts. However, if they bring it back there’s no way I’ll rush out and spend 4000 gems at once just because it’s limited edition.

Most likely because that would mean a permanent way to skip one of the money-sinks in the game.

lordkrall.7241:

Most likely because that would mean a permanent way to skip one of the money-sinks in the game.

That doesn’t make sense, then why would they provide these tools at all? Besides, I’m sure Anet would rather have more cash from the player base and simply come up with new gold sinks.

I don’t think that the forums represent the majority of the players. BTW, I got them for the animation, and to support ANet.

Daemon.4295:

That doesn’t make sense, then why would they provide these tools at all? Besides, I’m sure Anet would rather have more cash from the player base and simply come up with new gold sinks.

Ah but it does.
If x is available only for y amount of time. That means only z amount of people will have access to it.
That means that c amount of people will still spend in-game money to buy gathering tools and we can assume that c > z.

If suddenly c < z there will be a rather big inflation in the game, since less than the majority of players won’t spend in-game money on the tools, which would mean less and less money got out of the system.

Coming up with a new gold sink is probably harder than you would think. Since it must be something that either sinks MASSIVE amount of gold (as in extremely expensive stuff) or something that people will use frequently (such as WP or whatever) enough so that it actually drains the amount of currency from the game.

Apolyon.6937:

I don’t think that the forums represent the majority of the players. BTW, I got them for the animation, and to support ANet.

The forum doesn’t always represent the majority of players, but often it does. I don’t see why players who buy unbreakable harvesting tools for utility should flock to the forums any more than players who buy them for the animations, to be honest. But yeah, they aren’t that great of a quality of life improvement, so I reckon they typical buyer either appreciates both the animations and the utility, or likes supporting Anet when they can (my case). Either way, I still think Anet would make more cash off these items if they were permanent features.

lordkrall.7241:

Daemon.4295:

That doesn’t make sense, then why would they provide these tools at all? Besides, I’m sure Anet would rather have more cash from the player base and simply come up with new gold sinks.

Ah but it does.
If x is available only for y amount of time. That means only z amount of people will have access to it.
That means that c amount of people will still spend in-game money to buy gathering tools and we can assume that c > z.

If suddenly c < z there will be a rather big inflation in the game, since less than the majority of players won’t spend in-game money on the tools, which would mean less and less money got out of the system.

Coming up with a new gold sink is probably harder than you would think. Since it must be something that either sinks MASSIVE amount of gold (as in extremely expensive stuff) or something that people will use frequently (such as WP or whatever) enough so that it actually drains the amount of currency from the game.

I have to disagree, your premise on spending is correct but it makes no sense for Anet to invest time and effort from multiple departments into creating new items for the gemstore, only to then deliberately stint the income off those items because they’re bad for the economy. That’s like helping your kids set up a lemonade stand and then telling them they can only use a handful of lemons a day.

But assuming you were correct, I wonder how much they’d have to increase waypoint costs to cover the loss of the harvesting tool sink. Probably less than you’d think, considering the huge volume of waypoint transfers and the relatively small amount of characters that are actually running with unbreakable tools.

It is pretty simple. Many more people will rush to buy a limited edition item then one that is added permanently because it forces you to act (and spend) without spending too much time thinking about it.

If people sat down and calculated how bad an investment it was many of them wouldn’t buy it. But since it is limited edition they buy now and ask questions later.

Also limited edition means players can’t save up for the item, which means they much more likely have to spend real money to get it instead of slowly saving gold to convert to gems to get it.

Basically limited edition works very heavily in Anets favor. (Not saying its wrong or bad, just an effective business strategy on their part)

lordkrall.7241:

Most likely because that would mean a permanent way to skip one of the money-sinks in the game.

more likely the “limited time” is to incentivise people buying now and not buying later, and possibly buying more than they may normally have done because the item is going.

Not that I expect these to go away permenantly, I expect they’ll add an axe next, and then later on I expect another pick with a new effect will appear…and the cycle will begin anew.

Which I’m fine with.

See this is my point, I reckon limited edition works very well for items like skins, which gain appeal due to being taken off the market, but not for utility items. Hence why items like bag slots, bank tabs, new character slots, etc. are permanent fixtures on the gemstore, because people will buy them as and when they need them. Some people might be inclined to spend a hundred bucks on gems to grab limited edition sickles for all their characters, but my guess is that they’re the minority and Anet is probably losing money by making these items limited edition. Obviously I’m not gonna dish out 2400 gems for a character I hardly ever play anymore, but if the tools had available while I leveled that character I likely would have bought them.

I’m not really bothered about this personally, I would just like to see Arenanet maximize its gemstore sales.

They are selling you the choice as much as the item – wait on it and you no longer have the choice.

I bought picks for about half my characters (and I have a LOT of slots). I occasionally wish I’ve bought 1-2 more, but mostly I’m content. I suspect other versions of the pick with other graphics may come out and I’d buy those for my characters then.

The sickle I bought tons of. I have no doubts about the utility of not having to look up which sickle goes with which plant/zone. And I loves my some dye, so I kill every plant node I see on radar.