Guild Wars 2

Believe it or not this is a serious question.

Other then selling the game they make all the money through the gem shop. Yet there are items never really on there (such as bunny ears, or the sunglasses)

Sure things like grenths good and outfits only appearing towards certain holidays makes sense but what about everything else?

For example right now I really want Belindas greatsword skin. I’m willing to just throw $10 at the company but they don’t care. They will put it back on only when they feel like it.

I also understand the “put this item on five days only” because then people can’t take there time buying something and are more motivated to buy it right away, but every single day this company has new customers who WANT to give money.

They need a better system for gem store items like every week re-election releasing certain items so each item comes up AT LEAST once every 3 months.

There’s almost certainly considerable market research that supports this practice and shows it to be more profitable than the alternative. Frustrating as hell for us, but business is business.

Making an item limited in availability somehow makes it more desirable. It’s part of our psychology. Which is part of the reason retail stores have limited time sales. They have the item in stock for forever, and it’s not moving much. Put it on sale, and they dramatically reduce their stock. Not only is it a cheaper price (although the company still makes out great on sales), but it’s suddenly in focus. Although the stocking and lower price isn’t an issue in a digital format, the effect is the same.
People do want Belinda’s Greatsword skin. But if it was always available I believe it wouldn’t sell as well. Put it on a limited time for availability, it not only calls attention to it, but it creates a sense of urgency, thus prompting those who might have been on the fence to decide to but it, because they won’t get another chance for a while.
So financially, if said item was always available you’d might have a couple dozen a month buying it. Whereas in a limited sale, you get far more people at once than you’d get over a 3 month period.
As for new players who have money to spend, they see the item in game and want it. Thus increasing anticipation for when said item comes out, resulting in even more sales.
It’s all carefully calculated to provide the best opportunity for sales.

Belinda’s GS was available recently, like last month.

McRib

I wish they would bring back McStuffins. Does anyone else remember those?

DeanBB.4268:

Belinda’s GS was available recently, like last month.

It was at the end of February while I was on vacation and missed it.

So now apparently I may need to wait another year for this skin which is annoying

gw2 made 25 million dollars in q1. that’s a ton of money for a game that charges no subscription.
edited for source:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/4j3ntv/ncsofts_earnings_report_1q16_strong_performance/

Sylent.3165:

DeanBB.4268:

Belinda’s GS was available recently, like last month.

It was at the end of February while I was on vacation and missed it.

So now apparently I may need to wait another year for this skin which is annoying

So wait … Anet doesn’t want your money because you went on a vacation when they planned to sell limited time items? I guess you forgot to send them your schedule!

I too find this weird. There are so many items I’d want to buy but all of them are limited time offers, and they only appear in the gem store once or twice every who knows how long.
It seriously bothers me. I don’t understand why their shop works like that, it makes no sense to me.
Their loss I guess.

Can you imagine how long that scroll would be to find the gem store item you wanted if they left everything in the store?

Skorpse.5978:

I too find this weird. There are so many items I’d want to buy but all of them are limited time offers, and they only appear in the gem store once or twice every who knows how long.
It seriously bothers me. I don’t understand why their shop works like that, it makes no sense to me.
Their loss I guess.

As others have already said, by creating a false sense of scarcity, they’re increasing the likelihood you’ll buy one when it becomes available.

If something is available all the time, then you might or might not buy it on your whim… but if it’s something you can only get during brief periods, you’re more likely to buy it when it becomes available and go outside of any budget you have to do so. Your sense of its value/worth is increased because it’s made ‘scarce.’

It MAKES them money to do it this way, because they are guaranteeing more sales than they would get otherwise.

~EW

Obtena.7952:

Sylent.3165:

DeanBB.4268:

Belinda’s GS was available recently, like last month.

It was at the end of February while I was on vacation and missed it.

So now apparently I may need to wait another year for this skin which is annoying

So wait … Anet doesn’t want your money because you went on a vacation when they planned to sell limited time items? I guess you forgot to send them your schedule!

No, anet does not want my money because right now I am trying to give it to them and they refuse to sell goods that are wanted

Obtena.7952

So wait … Anet doesn’t want your money because you went on a vacation when they planned to sell limited time items? I guess you forgot to send them your schedule!

Crud. That means Character Slots will go on sale but only for the upcoming weekend while I’m away. Who do I send my schedule to? MO?

You know what I’d buy from the store? A permanent hair styling contract and infinite transmutation charges. But for some reason, a cosmetic-based game doesn’t sell them.

I wish they would put in a backdoor way to purchase items that aren’t on the gem store by allowing some things to spawn off into a item purchase panel from the outfits and mini-pet lists on the hero panel along with in game chat codes for items, etc. They could put a gem price on each mini based on popularity even though some of them are available in game from various locations. It would allow players who just want to burn some gems to get them without a hassle and in turn support the game.

I’m still waiting for them to take my money for Southsun Swimsuit skins.

Ellieanna.5027:

Can you imagine how long that scroll would be to find the gem store item you wanted if they left everything in the store?

Why I suggest bringing several items back each week but one thing at least every three months so its quarterly. Except holiday themed items of course.

The thing about the cash shop is that ANet looks at macro trends, not micro trends. There’s no way for them to know that player X wants that GS skin now, so they look at the total sales numbers for items that were available for a limited time and contrast that with similar items that are available 24/7/365.

ANet not only wants money, they need it too keep the lights on. Therefore, they must believe they sell more of certain items when they offer them for a limited time. They would put these things on the store in perpetuity if they thought they’d sell more of them that way.

There’s another reason to offer limited time items, and that’s the gold-to-gems exchange. Sure, the gems have to be purchased, but as we are all doubtless aware, it’s taking more gold to buy gems as time passes. This suggests that, more often, there’s more gold being offered for gems than gems for gold.

If an item is on sale for a limited time, a player who might be inclined to buy stuff via gold rather than cash may not be able to farm enough gold, especially if that potential buyer spends less time playing. If the item is desirable enough, they might be inclined to break out the credit card.

cafard.8953:

You know what I’d buy from the store? A permanent hair styling contract and infinite transmutation charges. But for some reason, a cosmetic-based game doesn’t sell them.

Preach!

This is one of my biggest peeves with this game, constant nickel and diming. It’s the one thing that’s stopped me from ever spending any real money in the gem store. Would love to have some cash only, VIP services offered – completely separate from the gold/gems bit of the economy – Would happily pay the price of a full expansion for each of those contracts you mentioned. .

Sylent.3165:

Obtena.7952:

Sylent.3165:

DeanBB.4268:

Belinda’s GS was available recently, like last month.

It was at the end of February while I was on vacation and missed it.

So now apparently I may need to wait another year for this skin which is annoying

So wait … Anet doesn’t want your money because you went on a vacation when they planned to sell limited time items? I guess you forgot to send them your schedule!

No, anet does not want my money because right now I am trying to give it to them and they refuse to sell goods that are wanted

Those goods aren’t available. Maybe if you give them your schedule, they will work around it for you.

you want it more because it’s not available. when it’s randomly available, you’re going to jump on it. you’re not alone. if everything was for sale all the time, they wouldn’t sell as much.

Given the amount of weeaboos on the internet, not selling the Belinda’s skin and the Bunny Ears all year long for a higher gem price than they currently are when on sale is probably getting them way less money than making those limited.

Just my two cents.

nsleep.7839:

Given the amount of weeaboos on the internet, not selling the Belinda’s skin and the Bunny Ears all year long for a higher gem price than they currently are when on sale is probably getting them way less money than making those limited.

Just my two cents.

But only having them for limited might make players who like the outfit/skin/etc but who don’t have a character who fits the theme now buy it anyway in case when they do get a character that does they might not be selling it.

Edit: Or cause players to just convert gold to gems.

So in essence, limited time sales also help keep the gold —> gem ratio from getting too crazy as well.

“Does gw2 not want money??”

Of course they do. This is why they take the approach that they have. It increases the amount of money they make. If they followed your suggested approach it would reduce their income.

I suppose one could answer your question with a question:

Why do you want GW2 to make less money??

I sometimes wonder if they don’t want money too when looking at the outfits that they sell, they all seem to have the same theme.. big bulky and way too concealing oh yea and " butt capes". If they’d make some sexy armor or outfits maybe similar to black desert outfits(which are gorgeous) & tribal style themes I’m 100% for sure they’d get way more sales than they do off the current outfits they sell. Also whats up with no more dance books? They have had a dance volume 1 for like 2 or 3 years and never any more after that, we don’t have a lot of dances in this game compared to gw1 and other games and half the dances we do have are totally lame, so new dance books with better dances would sell I’m sure. Also makeover kits would sell more if they added more character customization options particularly body modifications( like making some parts bigger/smaller) and more hair styles & facial hair for men, maybe some make up options and body tattoos also, that would make them way more appealing.

Akkeros.1675:

McRib

I wish they would bring back McStuffins. Does anyone else remember those?

I have a feeling the McRib simply isn’t sustainable at the price point over a long period of time. They’d likely have to increase the cost per sandwich to make it as profitable per sale as a Big Mac etc such that people just wouldn’t buy it often enough to bother.

No, GW2 doesn’t want your money. It’s simple.

Grind out PVE for many hours and get some gold, convert into gems and spent $0 of real life money.
Why A-net went in this direction, baffles me. In GW1, if you want something from the “cash-shop” you …actually…have…to…spend …..(oh no)….Money!
There is no program or incentive for people that spend real life cash to get gold/gems. I mean, really, if I spend enough money getting pizza, I end up getting a free pizza once in a while at least.
So really, grind some PVE and convert worthless in-game gold into gems. A-Net doesn’t want your real life cash. They will just make it up in another “expansion”

OP is right, this makes sense with actual physical goods, with digital goods there is no limited availability, these can’t be out of stock. Only real argument is that if everything was on sale all the time the shop window might be crowded so they might have to redesign it or add some search and filters.

Steven.7534:

No, GW2 doesn’t want your money. It’s simple.

Grind out PVE for many hours and get some gold, convert into gems and spent $0 of real life money.
Why A-net went in this direction, baffles me. In GW1, if you want something from the “cash-shop” you …actually…have…to…spend …..(oh no)….Money!
There is no program or incentive for people that spend real life cash to get gold/gems. I mean, really, if I spend enough money getting pizza, I end up getting a free pizza once in a while at least.
So really, grind some PVE and convert worthless in-game gold into gems. A-Net doesn’t want your real life cash. They will just make it up in another “expansion”

Iv’e actually seen a lot of people in the game say they don’t have time or patience for farming gold so they happily spend real life money on gems to trade for gold, believe it or not there’s a lot of people out there who do that. And if they are wealthy they really don’t have anything to lose by it, and time is more precious than money for these people. I’m also guilty of buying gem cards from target and I’m not even wealthy >.<

Steven.7534:

No, GW2 doesn’t want your money. It’s simple.

Grind out PVE for many hours and get some gold, convert into gems and spent $0 of real life money.
Why A-net went in this direction, baffles me. In GW1, if you want something from the “cash-shop” you …actually…have…to…spend …..(oh no)….Money!
There is no program or incentive for people that spend real life cash to get gold/gems. I mean, really, if I spend enough money getting pizza, I end up getting a free pizza once in a while at least.
So really, grind some PVE and convert worthless in-game gold into gems. A-Net doesn’t want your real life cash. They will just make it up in another “expansion”

Except that the gem-gold trade ratio is a reflection of how many people convert both. Without new gems from real money the price would keep rising until you’d have to grind thousands of hours for 100 gems. Thus the gems you aquire with gold were bought by someone else with real money, just not you.

Never assume just because YOU are unwilling/unable to spend leisure cash on a game that others are in the same boat. Every person has his own limit at which he deicides how valuable his time is. If you decide that grinding 10-15 hours for those 200 gold is a wise time investment, many others might consider rather giving up 1 hour of their wage.

That’s why things like these keep showing up:
EVE player uses $28,000 of skill injectors to create max character
http://massivelyop.com/2016/02/15/eve-player-uses-28000-of-skill-injectors-to-create-max-character/

Back on topic: scarcity creates demand. In this case it creates enough demand for Arenanet to offer certain items only during limited time periods. A secondary effect is that is also makes people access the Black Lion Store to aquire these limited available items and who knows, maybe something else gets bought while at the store. That’s all there is to it.

Ellie.5913:

Steven.7534:

No, GW2 doesn’t want your money. It’s simple.

Grind out PVE for many hours and get some gold, convert into gems and spent $0 of real life money.
Why A-net went in this direction, baffles me. In GW1, if you want something from the “cash-shop” you …actually…have…to…spend …..(oh no)….Money!
There is no program or incentive for people that spend real life cash to get gold/gems. I mean, really, if I spend enough money getting pizza, I end up getting a free pizza once in a while at least.
So really, grind some PVE and convert worthless in-game gold into gems. A-Net doesn’t want your real life cash. They will just make it up in another “expansion”

Iv’e actually seen a lot of people in the game say they don’t have time or patience for farming gold so they happily spend real life money on gems to trade for gold, believe it or not there’s a lot of people out there who do that. And if they are wealthy they really don’t have anything to lose by it, and time is more precious than money for these people. I’m also guilty of buying gem cards from target and I’m not even wealthy >.<

Sorry, you missed the sarcasm…

I buy Gem cards too…

The point was kind of at the fact that Gold for real life cash have no real incentive. Like I said, if I buy enough pizzas, I at least get a “free” one once in awhile.

Ashen.2907:

“Does gw2 not want money??”

Of course they do. This is why they take the approach that they have. It increases the amount of money they make. If they followed your suggested approach it would reduce their income.

I suppose one could answer your question with a question:

Why do you want GW2 to make less money??

Right now if the belinda greatsword for example went into the gem shop they’d automatically $10 from me. If they wait another 3 months I’ll have the gold to convert to gems, or heck be playing another class that doesn’t fit the theme and simply not want it anymore

Sylent.3165:

Ashen.2907:

“Does gw2 not want money??”

Of course they do. This is why they take the approach that they have. It increases the amount of money they make. If they followed your suggested approach it would reduce their income.

I suppose one could answer your question with a question:

Why do you want GW2 to make less money??

Right now if the belinda greatsword for example went into the gem shop they’d automatically $10 from me. If they wait another 3 months I’ll have the gold to convert to gems, or heck be playing another class that doesn’t fit the theme and simply not want it anymore

Marketing and promotion decisions are not based around what one individual wants. If you can buy the gems from gold and get the sword that way, great for you and great for every one who is selling gems since you are driving the price of gems up.

If they lose your business that is unfortunate but very likely covered a multiple of times by every customer they get who would otherwise not have bought the sword.

I think they should have like a weekly poll and to see what people are interested in buying. Throw ten items up, let us vote for 72hrs and release the deal on Friday night. I don’t know about you guys, but I have a small fortune invested in this game. This is partly due to me wanting to support such an awesome game and partly because I’m hooked lol.